Fabrication of samarium strontium aluminate ceramic and deposition of thermal barrier coatings by air plasma spray process

Abstract

Thermal barrier coatings (TBC) with the metallic NiCrAlY bond coat are often used in many aircraft engines to protect superalloy components from high-temperature corrosion thereby to improve the life of gas turbine components. The search for new TBC material has been intensified in recent years due to lack of thermo-physical properties of conventionally used Yttria stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) TBCs. Recently, the rare earth containing Samarium Strontium Aluminate (SSA) based ceramic was proposed as a new TBC material due to its matching thermo-physical properties with the substrate. The present work focused on the synthesis of SSA ceramics for TBCs application and its coatings development on Ni-based superalloy Inconel 718 substrate by air plasma spray process. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) result confirmed the formation of single phase SSA ceramic after synthesis. The surface morphology of SSA TBCs is mainly composed of melted splats, semi and un-melted particles. The cross-sectional SEM micrographs did not show any spallation at the interface which indicated good mechanical interlocking between the bond coat and ceramic top coat. The Young’s modulus and hardness of SSA TBCs were found to be 80 and 6.1 GPa, respectively. The load-depth curve of SSA TBC showed good elastic recovery about 47 %.