Gopal Dwivedi

Bioinspired Hybrid Materials from Spray‐Formed Ceramic Templates

Thermally sprayed ceramics, when infiltrated with polymer, exhibit synergistic increases in strength and toughness. The structure of such composites-a dense, brick-mortar arrangement-is strikingly similar to that of nacre, as are the mechanisms underlying the robust mechanical behavior. This industrial-scale process thus presents an exciting tool for bio-mimetic exploration.

Process-Property Relationship for Air Plasma-Sprayed Gadolinium Zirconate Coatings

The continuous need of elevating operating temperature of gas turbine engines has introduced several challenges with the current state-of-the-art yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)-based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), requiring examination of new TBC material with high temperature phase stability, lower thermal conductivity, and resistance to environmental ash particles. Gadolinium zirconate (Gd2Zr2O7) (GDZ) has been shown to meet many of these requirements, and has, in fact, been successfully implemented in to engine components. However, several fundamental issues related to the process-ability, toughness, and microstructural differences for GDZ when compared to equivalent YSZ coating. This study seeks to critically address the process-structure-property correlations for plasma-sprayed GDZ coating subjected to controlled parametric exploration. Use of in-flight diagnostics coupled with in situ and ex situ coating property monitoring allows examination and comparison of the process-property interplay and the resultant differences between the two TBC compositions. The results indicate that it is feasible to retain material chemistry and fabricate relevant microstructures of interest with GDZ with concomitant performance advantages such as low conductivity, mechanical compliance, sintering resistance, and suppression of environmentally induced damage from ash particles. This study provides a framework for optimal design and manufacturing of emergent multi-layer and multi-material TBCs.

An Experimental Study of Microstructure : Property Relationships in Thermal Barrier Coatings

The thermal-mechanical properties of thermal barrier coatings are highly influenced by the defects present in coating microstructure. The aim of this study was to meet the future needs of the gas turbine industry by further development of zirconia coatings through the assessment of microstructure-property relationships. A design of experiments was conducted for this purpose with current, spray distance, and powder feed rate as the varied parameters. Microstructure was assessed with SEM and image analysis was used to characterize porosity content. Evaluations were carried out using laser flash technique to measure thermal properties. A bi-layer beam curvature technique in conjunction with controlled thermal cycling was used to assess the mechanical properties, in particular their nonlinear elastic response. Coating lifetime was evaluated by thermo-cyclic fatigue testing. Relationships between microstructure and coating properties are discussed. Dense vertically cracked microstructure and highly porous microstructure with large globular pores were also fabricated. Correlations between parameters obtained from nonlinear measurements and lifetime based on a priori established microstructural analysis were attempted in an effort to develop and identify a simplified strategy to assess coating durability following sustained long-term exposure to high temperature thermal cycling.

Partnership for accelerated insertion of new technology: case study for thermal spray technology

IntroductionMaterials and manufacturing innovation in complex engineering systems such as those in aerospace, energy, heavy machinery is extremely challenging as they typically involve lengthy and costly development cycles and generally follow stringent guidelines and defined road maps. Incorporating academic science and disruptive advances into this product development cycle is challenging. Effective partnerships via integrated academic-industry study groups and joint value proposition of scientific advances and models, can accelerate insertion of new knowledge/technologies in this class of materials and manufacturing ecosystems.Case DescriptionThis paper describes such a partnership and integration framework through exemplary case studies in thermal spray materials processing. Thermal spray is a platform materials manufacturing technology enabling deposition of advanced coatings for wide range of materials applications in aerospace, energy, heavy machinery, electronics and biomedical devices. It is a complex process involving many facets of engineering sciences including thermo-fluids, heat transfer, materials science and mechanics, incorporating non-equilibrium phenomena and multi-scale structure/behavior. The required breadth and depth of process and materials knowledge for advancing the technology is very significant, resulting in lengthy, trial and error based developments.Specific case studies illustrate knowledge advancement through science and models, development of measurement tools and simulations, along with industrial demonstration studies, addressing the utility in the manufacturing enterprise. Together, they represent a framework for establishing integrated computational and experimental materials engineering concepts and serve as a model ecosystem for accelerating innovation in complex industrial manufacturing processes.

Elastic and Anelastic Behavior of TBCs Sprayed at High-Deposition Rates

Coatings sprayed at high-deposition rates often result in stiff, dense, and highly stressed coatings. The high deposition temperature at which the coatings are formed is responsible for these characteristics. In this paper, TBCs were sprayed at high-deposition rates, increasing the tensile quenching stresses beyond the threshold of crack opening during spraying. Dense structures were observed within a pass, in the presence of micro and macro defects specifically horizontal cracks within interpasses and vertical segmentation cracks. Mechanical properties, mainly the elastic and anelastic behavior of TBCs were significantly affected by the strain accommodation and friction occurring within intersplats and interpass interfaces. The strain tolerance obtained in as-sprayed conditions decreased as the microstructure and defects sintered during high-temperature heat cycles. The non-linearity degree decreased while the elastic modulus of the various coatings increased to a maximum value.

Determination of Thermal Spray Coating Property with Curvature Measurements

Real-time curvature measurement of a coating-substrate system during deposition has facilitated the monitoring of coating stresses and provided additional insights into thermal spray deposition mechanisms. However, the non-equilibrium state of coating formation along with harsh spray booth environment introduces complexity not only in data interpretation but also in the coating properties estimation. In this paper, a new procedure is proposed to estimate the elastic modulus of thermal sprayed ceramic coatings using in situ curvature and temperature measurements. In order to correlate the measurable parameters to coating elastic modulus, a systematic study is conducted to develop a suitable methodology. First, various finite element model analyses are carried out to formulate suitable relations between the measurements and elastic modulus. Subsequently, experiments are conducted to validate the procedure to estimate coating moduli. The results are compared with more accurate measurements obtained from post-deposition characterization technique under low temperature thermal cycles. The comparison suggests that the moduli estimated using the proposed procedure are in good agreements with those obtained from the post-deposition technique. Further, the nonlinear response of coatings are evaluated from the estimated moduli during deposition and cool down, which offer additional information on the characteristics of thermal spray coatings.

Characterizing Suspension Plasma Spray Coating Formation Dynamics through Curvature Measurements

Suspension plasma spraying (SPS) enables the production of variety of microstructures with unique mechanical and thermal properties. In SPS, a liquid carrier (ethanol/water) is used to transport the sub-micrometric feedstock into the plasma jet. Considering complex deposition dynamics of SPS technique, there is a need to better understand the relationships among spray conditions, ensuing particle behavior, deposition stress evolution and resultant properties. In this study, submicron yttria-stabilized zirconia particles suspended in ethanol were sprayed using a cascaded arc plasma torch. The stresses generated during the deposition of the layers (termed evolving stress) were monitored via the change in curvature of the substrate measured using an in situ measurement apparatus. Depending on the deposition conditions, coating microstructures ranged from feathery porous to dense/cracked deposits. The evolving stresses and modulus were correlated with the observed microstructures and visualized via process maps. Post-deposition bi-layer curvature measurement via low temperature thermal cycling was carried out to quantify the thermo-elastic response of different coatings. Lastly, preliminary data on furnace cycle durability of different coating microstructures were evaluated. This integrated study involving in situ diagnostics and ex situ characterization along with process maps provides a framework to describe coating formation mechanisms, process parametrics and microstructure description.