<div>Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) provide thermal and environmental protection to superalloy components operating within the combustor and high pressure sections of a gas turbine. However, calcium-magnesium-aluminum silicate (CMAS) deposits originated from particulate matter ingested through the air intake degrade YSZ TBCs, ultimately decreasing the overall efficiency of the engines. With the introduction of biofuels into gas turbines, a new list of impurities with no precedent in jet engines may interact with TBCs, arising the possibility to form CMAS deposits without flying in a particular environment and to exacerbate CMAS negative effect through the addition of other contaminants.</div><div><br></div><div>In this work, a cyclic thermal gradient rig was developed to test TBCs in similar conditions as in a gas turbine. The heat flux and non-contact surface temperature measurements were validated with a thermal transient model. The effect of biofuel impurities on YSZ TBCs was evaluated by spraying the coatings with impurity cocktails, solutions containing the impurities of interest, and subsequently testing their lifetimes in the ablation rig.</div><div><br></div><div>Detailed microstructure analysis revealed that APS and EB-PVD TBCs fail in different ways when exposed to equal concentrations of CMAS. When contaminating APS TBCs with varying combinations of CMAS constituents (e.g., S, C-S, C-A, C-A-S, C-M-S, and C-M-A-S), it was possible to identify that coatings delaminated at different rates depending on the combination of CMAS constituents. Finally, the effect of CMAS in combination with contaminants exclusive of biofuels was analyzed on YSZ TBCs. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and micrographs revealed that glass modifiers (e.g., K₂O and ZnO) accelerated the degradation of YSZ TBCs.</div>

L'évaluation de la résistance interfaciale des systèmes barrière thermique EB-PVD est primordiale afin de pouvoir contrôler la production d'aubes de turbine revêtues et d'améliorer la compréhension des phénomènes d'écaillage de la céramique qui se produisent en fonctionnement. L'essai d'adhésion par choc laser LASAT qui s'appuie sur la propagation bidimensionnelle des ondes de choc (le phénomène LASAT-2D) consiste à mesurer le diamètre de fissure interfaciale pour différents tirs effectués à densité de puissance laser croissante. L'application de l'essai LASAT sur une pièce industrielle nécessite d'effectuer le choc du côté revêtu de céramique. Un adhésif vinylique protecteur ainsi qu'un milieu de confinement par adhésif transparent sont utilisés afin de générer un choc en surface de la céramique. La propagation de l'onde de choc est étudiée à travers des expériences spécifiques ainsi qu'une simulation numérique. La fissuration de l'interface est révélée par la présence d'une tache qui est mesurée par observation optique du dessus de la céramique. La reproductibilité de l'essai LASAT appliqué côté céramique est établie. Dans l'optique de valider un protocole de contrôle non destructif, le cyclage thermique est utilisé pour évaluer la nocivité d'une zone choquée présentant ou non des fissures. La présence de fissures à l'interface entre l'alumine et la zircone ne diminue pas la durée de vie à écaillage d'aubes de turbines lors du cyclage thermique. La tenue mécanique initiale de la céramique est comparée de manière qualitative et quantitative pour différents échantillons et qualitativement pour plusieurs aubes de turbine. L'évolution de la résistance interfaciale en fonction du cyclage thermique est étudiée. On démontre également sur plusieurs échantillons une corrélation entre l'adhérence initiale mesurée par LASAT et la durée de vie à écaillage par cyclage thermique. / The assessment of the interface strength of EB-PVD thermal barrier coating (TBC) is a key issue to control the production and better understand the ceramic spallation that will occur during life duration of coated turbine blades. The Laser Shock Adhesion Test (LASAT) involving bi-dimensional shock wave propagation, namely the LASAT-2D, consists in measuring the interfacial crack diameter when implementing a set of laser shocks with increased laser power densities. Applying the LASAT onto an industrial blade requires implementing the laser shock onto the ceramic side. A protective vinylic adhesive tape and a confinement by transparent adhesive tape are used to generate the shock on the ceramic. Shock wave propagation is studied through specific experiments and a numerical simulation. The interfacial crack is revealed by the presence of a spot that could be measured on a top-view optical image of the ceramic. Reproductibility of the LASAT applied on the coated side of the TBC is thereby established. Harmfulness of a loaded area with and without cracks is investigated thanks to thermal cycling in order to validate a non-destructive protocol. The presence of cracks at the interface between alumina and zirconia does not reduce the life duration of coated turbine blades in thermal cycling. Initial adhesion strength is compared both qualitatively and quantitatively for different samples and qualitatively for some turbine blades. Evolution of the interface strength with thermal cycling is presented. A correlation between initial adhesion and time of spallation of the ceramic is demonstrated on different samples.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) of ZrO2-7wt% Y2O3 were deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) onto stationary flat plates and cylindrical surfaces in a multiple ingot coater. Crystallographic texture, microstructure, and deposition rate were investigated in this thesis. The crystallographic texture of EB-PVD TBCs deposited on stationary flat surfaces has been experimentally determined by comparing pole figure analysis data with actual column growth angle data. It was found that the TBC coating deposited directly above an ingot exhibits <220> single crystal type crystallographic texture. Coatings deposited between and off the centerline of the ingots the exhibited a <311>-type single crystal texture. For coatings deposited in the far corners of the coating chamber either a <111> fiber texture or a <311> single crystal type texture existed. The crystallographic texture of EB-PVD TBCs deposited on cylindrical surfaces was characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) at different angular positions on the cylinder substrate. XRD results revealed that crystallographic texture changes with angular position. Changes in crystallographic texture are attributed to the growth direction of the columns and substrate temperature. Growth direction is controlled by the direction of the incoming vapor flux (i.e. vapor incidence angle), in which competition occurs between crystallites growing at different rates. The fastest growing orientation takes over and dominates the texture. Substrate temperature variations throughout the coating chamber resulted in different growth rates and morphology. Morphology differences existed between cylindrical and flat plate surfaces. Flat cross sectional surfaces of the coatings exhibited a dense columnar structure in which the columns grew towards the closest vapor source. Surface features were found to be larger for coatings deposited directly above an ingot than coatings deposited away from the ingots. Morphological differences result from substrate temperature changes within the coating chamber, which influences growth kinetics of the coating. Cylindrical surfaces revealed a columnar structure in which columns grew towards the closest vapor. Porosity of the coating was found to increase when the angular position changed from the bottom of the cylinder. Change in angular position also caused the column diameter to decreases. Morphology changes are attributed to self-shadow effects caused by the surface curvature of the cylinder and vapor incidence angle changes. Overall, the microstructure and crystallographic texture of EB-PVD coatings was found to depend on the position in the coating chamber which was found to influence substrate temperature, growth directions, and shadowing effects. The coating thickness profiles for EB-PVD TBCs deposited on stationary cylinders have been experimentally measured and theoretically modeled using Knudsen's cosine law of emissions. A comparison of the experimental results with the model reveals that the model must to be modified to account for the sticking coefficient as well as a ricochet factor. These results are also discussed in terms of the effects of substrate temperature on the sticking coefficient, the ricochet factor, and coating density.

No description available.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are advanced material systems used in the hot sections of gas turbines. The TBCs are designed to provide insulation against hot gases by a ceramic top coat and to provide oxidation and corrosion resistance by a metallic bond coat. As the operating environment is harsh and complex, the TBC often requires stricter material properties. Failure of TBCs can limit the longevity of the turbine severely. In this study, failure caused by erosion has been the main focus. The erosion behaviour of TBCs processed by atmospheric plasma spay (APS), electron beam physical vapour deposition (EB-PVD), and plasma spray physical vapour deposition (PS-PVD) has been studied by an experimental investigation and a literature study. The erosion performance of different TBCs was studied by conducting erosion tests under 90° and 15° alumina particle impact (50 μm) and measuring the weight loss and thickness loss of the ceramic top coat. Variables affecting the erosion behaviour were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), investigating the microstructure, the erosion damage, porosity content, and column density. Hardness tests were also conducted to investigate a potential correlation between hardness and erosion performance. It was evident that the 8YSZ top coat processed by EB-PVD had higher erosion resistance than APS, which in turn had higher erosion resistance than PS-PVD. Their microstructures are significantly different, resulting in different erosion failure mechanisms. APS TBCs have a splat-on-splat lamellar microstructure, and the failure mechanismsare ploughing of furrows, splat boundary failure, and tunneling via pores. In contrast, EB-PVD TBCs have columnar microstructure and fail by near-surface cracking. The investigated PS-PVD TBC had a feathery columnar microstructure, containing many large grain boundaries and flaws, making grain boundary failure the governing mechanism. The APS and EB-PVD TBCs impacted at a 90° angle had significantly higher erosion rates than those eroded at 15°, which also was reported in literature. However, the opposite was observed for the PS-PVD TBCs. The level of porosity and hardness of the TBC top coat was found to affect the erosion rate, even though no evident correlations could be observed in this study. No factor alone was found to dictate the erosion behaviour of the investigated TBCs. Based on the literature study and findings in the experimental study, a TBC with good erosion performance has, in general, low porosity, few defects, high hardness and high fracture toughness. Specifically for APS TBCs, good splat bonding is favourable and for EB-PVD and PS-PVD it recommended to have high column density, columns orthogonal to the substrate, and low gap width between the columns.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been extensively employed as thermal protection in hot sections of gas turbines in aerospace and power generation applications. However, the fabrication of TBCs still needs to improve for better coating quality, such as achieving coating thickness' uniformity. However, several previous studies on the coating thickness prediction and a systematic understanding of the thickness evolution during the deposition process are still missing. This study aims to develop high-fidelity computational models to predict the coating thickness on complex-shaped components. In this work, two types of models, i.e., ray-tracing based and heat transfer based, are developed. For the ray-tracing model, assuming a line-of-sight coating process and considering the shadow effect, validation studies of coating thickness predictions on different shapes, including plate, disc, cylinder, and three-pin components. For the heat transfer model, a heat source following the Gaussian distribution is applied. It has the analogy of the governing equations of the ray-tracing method, thus generating a temperature distribution similar to the ray intensity distribution in the ray-tracing method, with the advantages of high computational efficiency. Then, using a calibrated conversion process, the ray intensity or the temperature profile are converted to the corresponding coating thickness. After validation studies, both models are applied to simulate the coating thickness in a rotary turbine blade. The results show that the simulated validation cases are in good agreement with either the experimental, analytical, or modeling results in the literature. The turbine blade case shows the coating thickness distributions based on rotating speed and deposition time. In summary, the models can simulate the coating thickness in rotary complex-shaped parts, which can be used to design and optimize the coating deposition process.

Using experimentally measured temperature-process-dependent model parameters, the failure analysis and life prediction were conducted for Atmospheric Plasma Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings (APS-TBCs) and electron beam physical vapor deposition thermal barrier coatings (EB-PVD TBCs) with Pt-modified -NiAl bond coats deposited on Ni-base single crystal superalloys. For APS-TBC system, a residual stress model for the top coat of APS-TBC was proposed and then applied to life prediction. The capability of the life model was demonstrated using temperature-dependent model parameters. Using existing life data, a comparison of fitting approaches of life model parameters was performed. The role of the residual stresses distributed at each individual coating layer was explored and their interplay on the coating’s delamination was analyzed. For EB-PVD TBCs, based on failure mechanism analysis, two newly analytical stress models from the valley position of top coat and ridge of bond coat were proposed describing stress levels generated as consequence of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between each layers. The thermal stress within TGO was evaluated based on composite material theory, where effective parameters were calculated. The lifetime prediction of EB-PVD TBCs was conducted given that the failure analysis and life model were applied to two failure modes A and B identified experimentally for thermal cyclic process. The global wavelength related to interface rumpling and its radius curvature were identified as essential parameters in life evaluation, and the life results for failure mode A were verified by existing burner rig test data. For failure mode B, the crack growth rate along the topcoat/TGO interface was calculated using the experimentally measured average interfacial fracture toughness.

This master thesis project was performed in collaboration with Scania CV AB, Engine Materials group. The purpose with the project was to investigate different ceramic TBC (Thermal Barrier Coating) thermal insulation properties inside the combustion chamber. Experimental testing was performed with a Single-Cylinder engine with TBC deposited on selected components. A dummy-valve was developed and manufactured specifically for this test in order to enable a water cooling system and to ease the testing procedure. The dummy-valve consists of a headlock, socket, valve poppet and valve shaft. Additionally, a copper ring is mounted between the cylinder head and the valve poppet to seal the system from combustion gases. Thermocouples attached to the modified valve poppet and valve shaft measured the temperature during engine test to calculate the heat flux. The TBCs consisted of three different materials: 7-8% yttrium-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ), gadolinium zirconia and lanthanum zirconia. The 8YSZ TBC was tested as standard, but also with microstructural modifications. Modifications such as pre-induced segmented cracks, nanostructured zones and sealed porosity were used. The results indicated that the heat flux of 8YSZ-standard, 8YSZ-nano and 8YSZ-segmented cracks was in level with the steel reference. In the case of 8YSZ-sealed porosity the heat flux was measured higher than the steel reference. Since 8YSZ-standard and 8YSZ-sealed porosity are deposited with the same powder it is believed that the high heat flux is caused by radiative heat transfer. The remaining samples have had some microstructural changes during engine testing. 8YSZ-nano had undergone sintering and its nanostructured zones became fewer and almost gone after engine testing leading to less heat barrier in the top coat of the TBC. However, for 8YSZ-segmented cracks and gadolinium zirconia lower heat flux was measured due to the appearance of horizontal cracks. These cracks are believed to act as internal barriers as they are orientated perpendicular to the heat flow. During long-time (5 hour) engine tests the 8YSZ-standard exhibited the same phenomena: a decrease in heat flux due to propagation of horizontal cracks. One-dimensional heat flux was not achieved and the main reason for that was caused by heating and cooling of the shafts outer surface. However, the dummy-valve system has proven to be a quick, easy and stable to perform tests with a Single-Cylinder engine. Both water-cooling and long-time engine tests were conducted with minor issues. The dummy-valve has been further developed for future tests. Changes to the valve shaft are the most remarkable: smaller diameter to reduce heat transfer and smaller pockets to ensure better thermocouple positioning. Another issue was gas leakage from the combustion chamber through the copper ring and valve poppet joint. The copper ring will be designed with a 1 mm thick track to improve sealing, hence better attachment to the valve poppet.