Plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings with segmentation cracks

Plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been widely used on stationary components in turbine engines. The thermal shock resistance of such coatings is usually limited by their typical lamellar structure. In this work, a segmented structure was induced in the plasma-sprayed yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings by using a 'hot' spraying condition. The thermophysical properties, mechanical properties and thermal cycling behaviors and associated failure mechanism of the segmented TBCs were addressed. The segmented TBCs exhibited very promising potential in improving the thermal cycling lifetime as compared to traditional non-segmented TBCs.