The effect of thermal loading waveform on the failure mechanism of atmospheric-plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating system

The hot-end components of gas turbine engines in the serviced condition usually suffer from the thermal cycle loading effect. Thermal barrier coating (TBCs) have been used as a protective coating to prevent degradation during practical applications. In the current work, the influence of a loading waveform on the failure mechanism of an atmospheric plasma-sprayed TBCs is investigated at an elevated temperature. The samples under the trapezoidal loading condition present a lower thermal cycling fatigue lifetime than that under the triangular loading condition. Moreover, cracks in the TBCs samples under the triangular loading condition are initiated from the defects on the top coat formed during preparation, and cracks under the trapezoidal loading condition preferentially occur at the thermally grown oxide-top coat interface due to higher stress at the interface. Our results demonstrate that the thermal loading waveform should be carefully designed to characterize the in-service condition of hot-end components.