Tailoring periodic vertical cracks in thermal barrier coatings enabling high strain tolerance

Lifetime is a basic support for the thermal insulation function of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). Therefore, extending the life span is essential to develop next-generation TBCs. For this objective, the columnar structure formed by vertical cracks appears to make sense. However, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. This work scrutinizes the influence of periodic vertical cracks on cracking behavior in order to tailor high strain tolerant TBCs. A finite element model was evolved to explore the crack behavior influenced by thermal mismatch strain between substrate and coating. The virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) was used to describe the propagation of crack under load. It is found clearly that the space between two vertical cracks (short for SVC) along the in-plane direction has a noteworthy influence on the strain tolerance of TBCs. Results indicate that the strain energy release rate (SERR) and stresses at the pre-crack tip increase continuously with the increase of the SVC, suggesting that the driving force for cracks is increasing. The crack is not propagated when the SVC is very small, whereas the crack grows continuously with the increase of the SVC. The growth of a crack can be prevented by reducing the SVC. A critical value for the SVC was found. When the SVC is less than the critical value, the SERR can be dramatically reduced. Thus, the SVC of periodic cracks can be tailored to obtain TBCs with high strain tolerance.