The behavior of plasma sprayed thermal barrier coating with laser microtextured bond coat under high temperature testing

Abstract

In this work, the laser microtexturing is exploratory studied for controlling the interface between the oxidation resistant metallic bond coat and thermally insulating ceramic top coat in Thermal Barrier Coatings.The 80 to 100 μm thick NiCrAlY layer was deposited by Atmospheric Plasma Spraying over the nickel-based super alloy substrate. Then, the infrared fiber nanosecond laser was used for shaping the topography of bond coat prior to the top coat deposition. The surface geometry was adapted by selecting the laser set-up operational conditions, mainly: (i) laser power, (ii) frequency, (iii) scanning velocity and (iv) inter-pass spacing. The two groove-based patterns were finally selected for further work together with one as-sprayed bond coat, as a reference. The 8 wt% yttria stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) was deposited by means of Suspension Plasma Spraying over all three types of bond coats. The samples were then subjected to isothermal oxidation and thermal cyclic fatigue testing in order to study the influence of bond coat topography on the overall behavior of coatings under high temperature conditions. The microstructural studies revealed that the as-sprayed bond coat topography may be progressively modified by multistep laser microtexturing. The uniform bond coat topography is found to be beneficial in promoting formation of homogeneous, columnar-like top coat. However, the modification of bond coat topography affects the behavior of the bond coat/top coat interface during high temperature testing. The study shows that the microtexture depth should be precisely controlled, otherwise the through bond coat thickness oxidation is observed, which has a detrimental effect on the overall durability of the TBC system. The bond coat asperity width plays also an important role. If it is too narrow, then the failure may propagate locally through the bond coat or the thermally grown oxide layer.