Influence of "island-like" oxides in the bond-coat on the stress and failure patterns of the thermal-barrier coatings fabricated by atmospheric plasma spraying during long-term high temperature oxidation

Thermal-barrier coatings (TBCs) are very important ceramic-coating materials due to their excellent performance at high temperature. The inner zone of the bond-coat is often easily endured oxidized (internal oxidation) in the process of thermal spraying and the long-time exposure to the high temperature, and the "island-like" oxides can be formed. Especially, when the bond-coat was fabricated by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS), this trend is more evident. In this paper, the stress distribution around the thermally grown oxide (TGO) has been calculated by the finite element method when the "island-like" oxides have been considered. The simulation results indicate that the maximum tensile stress and compressive stress existed in the TGO, and the existence of the "island-like" oxides will further decrease the maximum tensile stress level in the TGO. While the "island-like" oxides in the bond-coat will decrease the effective thickness of the TGO at the metallic layer/ceramic layer interface due to the oxidation of the metallic elements in the bond-coat. The crack propagation equation has been established and the failure mechanism of the TBC due to the formation and growth of the TGO has also been discussed in detail. The lifetime of the TBCs which have experienced high temperature oxidation has been predicted and the theoretical results agreed well with the experimental data.