Degradation of a two-layer thermal barrier coating under thermal cycling

A two-layer plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating on a directionally solidified nickel-base eutectic alloy substrate was characterized prior to and after thermal cycling to 1095 C in an accelerated furnace test. The coating was comprised of an inner layer of Ni-16.4Cr-5.1Al-0.15Y (wt%) bond coat and an outer layer of ZrO2-7.9Y2O3 (wt%) thermal barrier. Characterization of the bond coat revealed that substantial amounts of yttrium and aluminum were oxidized during plasma-spraying in air. The oxidation of these elements reduced the protective capacity of the bond coat so that, on thermal exposure, severe degradation of the bond coat resulted and large amounts of nickel oxide formed. This nickel oxide was demonstrated to grow outward into the thermal barrier, which appears to have increased the stresses in the thermal barrier and contributed to its failure near the thermal barrier-bond coat interface.