Impact of Feedstock Nature on Thermal Conductivity of YSZ Thermal Barrier Coatings Obtained by Plasma Spraying

Abstract

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings with low thermal conductivity were obtained using three different particle size distributions as starting powder: nano-, submicron- and bimodal submicron/nano-sized particles. On the one hand, these particles were reconstituted into micrometric, spray-dry agglomerates, which were subsequently deposited by means of conventional atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). On the other hand, the starting particles were dispersed in water and the resultant suspensions were deposited by means of suspension plasma spraying (SPS). The coatings were thermally treated to assess their sintering resistance. As-sprayed and thermally treated coatings were then characterized in terms of microstructure (FEG-SEM) and thermal diffusivity (laser flash equipment).

The results showed that SPS coatings exhibited extremely low thermal conductivity at low temperature which drastically augmented with increasing temperature. On the other hand, APS coatings also exhibited low thermal conductivities but their values were higher than those of the SPS coatings at the lowest temperature tested while the conductivities hardly varied with temperature.