Relationship Between Lamellar Structure and Elastic Modulus of Thermally Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings with Intra-splat Cracks

The elastic modulus of plasma-sprayed top coating plays an important role in thermal cyclic lifetime of thermally sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), since the thermal stress is determined by the substrate/coating thermal mismatch and the elastic modulus of top coating. Consequently, much attention had been paid to understanding the relationship between elastic modulus and lamellar structure of top coating. However, neglecting the intra-splat cracks connected with inter-splat pores often leads to poor prediction in in-plane modulus. In this study, a modified model taking account of intra-splat cracks and other main structural characteristics of plasma-sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia coating was proposed. Based on establishing the relationship between elastic modulus and structural parameters of basic unit, effects of structural parameters on the elastic modulus of coatings were discussed. The predicted results are well consistent with experimental data on coating elastic modulus in both out-plane direction and in-plane direction. This study would benefit the further comprehensive understanding of failure mechanism of TBCs in thermal cyclic condition.