Abstract
Hybrid water-stabilized plasma (WSP-H) torches provide high-enthalpy plasma which may be utilized for high-throughput and yet economical spraying of coatings from powders, suspensions, and solutions. It was previously demonstrated that microstructures and functional properties of the WSP-H coatings may be tailored to a wide extent for new applications, namely those requiring high coating thickness and/or coating of large components. In this study, applicability potential of WSP-H technology for spraying of novel thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) is demonstrated. WSP-H technology was used for spraying of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) top-coats from powder, suspension, and solution. Yttria content in the top-coat feedstock was 7-8 wt.%. In addition, gadolinium zirconate (Gd2Zr2O7-GZO) was sprayed from suspension for comparison. NiCrAlY bond-coat was also deposited by WSP-H, and Hastelloy-X alloy was used as substrate material. Microstructure, phase composition, and endurance of the deposited coatings in thermal cycling fatigue (TCF) test and during high-temperature short-term annealing were evaluated. All coatings showed excellent high-temperature stability and TCF resistance withstanding more than 650 cycles, surpassing some of the currently commercially used TBCs. Lifetime of the TBC with columnar top-coat deposited from YSZ suspension exceeded even more than 900 cycles.
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Financial support through the Project 19-10246S “Deposition mechanisms and properties of multiphase plasma sprayed coatings prepared with liquid feedstocks” funded by Czech Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.
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This article is an invited paper selected from presentations at the 2019 International Thermal Spray Conference, held on May 26-29, 2019, in Yokohama, Japan, and has been expanded from the original presentation.
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Musalek, R., Tesar, T., Medricky, J. et al. Microstructures and Thermal Cycling Properties of Thermal Barrier Coatings Deposited by Hybrid Water-Stabilized Plasma Torch. J Therm Spray Tech 29, 444–461 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-020-00990-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-020-00990-2