Jinxing Ni

Failure Behavior of Plasma-Sprayed Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Thermal Barrier Coatings Under Three-Point Bending Test via Acoustic Emission Technique

In this paper, the failure behavior of plasma-sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia thermal barrier coatings fabricated by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS-TBCs) under three-point bending (3PB) test has been characterized via acoustic emission (AE) technique. Linear positioning method has been adopted to monitor dynamic failure process of the APS-TBCs under 3PB test. The investigation results indicate that the variation of AE parameters (AE event counts, amplitudes and AE energy) corresponds well with the change of stress–strain curve of the loading processes. The failure mechanism was analyzed based on the characteristics of AE parameters. The distribution of frequency of crack propagation has been obtained. The AE signals came from two aspects: i.e., plastic deformation of substrates, initiation and propagation of the cracks in the coatings. The AE analysis combined with cross-sectional observation has indicated that many critical cracks initiate at the surface of the top-coat. And some main cracks tend to propagate toward the substrate/bond-coat interface. The actual failure mechanism of the APS-TBCs under 3PB test is attributed to the debonding of metallic coating from the substrates and the propagation of the horizontal crack along the substrate/bond-coat interface under the action of flexural moment.

Evolution of Residual Stresses in PS-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings on Thermal Cycling

Plasma spray-physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD) is an advanced technique to fabricate quasi-columnar structured thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) with excellent thermal cyclic lifetime. In this study, PS-PVD TBCs were investigated via burner rig test. The residual stresses in both of the topcoat layer and the thermally grown oxide (TGO) scale were measured non-destructively using Raman spectroscopy and Cr3+ photoluminescence piezo-spectroscopy, respectively. Evolution of the microstructures and distribution of residual stresses in such kind structured TBCs before and after thermal cycling test were investigated. The accumulated tensile stress in the as-sprayed ceramic topcoat changed to compressive state after 100 cycles and then gradually increased. In addition, the mapping compressive stresses in the TGO measured through the ceramic topcoat surface decreased rapidly and then essentially maintained at a relatively stable state with further testing. Moreover, the pre-heating of the bondcoat could significantly affect the stress distribution in the TGO, in contrast, no obviously influence on the stresses in the YSZ topcoat.