Research on High Temperature Ceramic Insulation for Electrical Conductors

Three methods for applying ceramic coatings to wires were examined in depth and a fourth (chemical vapor deposition) was studied briefly. CVD coatings were not reported in the thesis because it was realized early in the study that the deposition rate of the coatings was too slow to be used in a commercial process. Of the methods reported in the thesis, slurry coating was the most promising. This method consists of slowly drawing a platinum wire through a thixotropic slurry of alumina in a vehicle composed of polyvinyl butyral, methyl ethyl ketone, and toluene. The coatings produced by this method were continuous and free of cracks after sintering. The sintered coatings crack when the wire is bent around sharp corners, but most of the coating remains in place and still provides electrical insulation between the wire and any metallic structure to which the wire may be attached. The coating thickness was 0.61 mm (16 micrometers). The electrical resistivity of the intact coating was 340 M-Ohm-cm at 800 C and 23 M-Ohm-cm at 1050 C. Therefore, these coatings more than meet the electrical requirements for use in turbine engines. Although adherence of the coating to the wire was generally excellent, a problem was noted in localized areas where the coating flaked off. Further work will be needed to obtain good coating adherence along the entire length of the wire. The next most promising coatings were made by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of Al2O3 onto platinum wires, using mixtures of ethanol and acetone as the suspending liquid. These EPD coatings were made only on short lengths of wire because the coating is too fragile to allow spooling of the wire. The worst coatings were those made by electrophoretic deposition from aqueous suspensions. Continuous slurry coating of wire was achieved, but due to lack of suitable equipment, the wire had to be cut into short lengths for sintering.