Investigation of Crack Propagation Behavior of Atmospheric Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings under Uniaxial Tension Using the Acoustic Emission Technique

Uniaxial tension is a common technique to characterize the adhesive strength of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). In this work, the crack initiation, growth, and propagation behavior of atmospheric plasma-sprayed TBCs during uniaxial tension testing was investigated using the acoustic emission (AE) technique, x-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and the finite-element method (FEM). The experimental results indicated that the position of crack initiation was usually located within the ceramic layer, and the crack tended to propagate along the tension direction, with some key horizontal cracks reaching the metallic layer/ceramic layer interface, after which vertical cracks initiating at the middle and lower segments of the horizontal cracks propagated along the interface. When some critical cracks were formed at the interface and a series of assembled splats separated from the coating, the coating failed completely. The AE signal could be divided into three typical stages, corresponding to the three stages of the stress–stain curve under uniaxial tension. Detailed analysis of the AE signal associated with the failure behavior was performed. The dynamic propagation patterns of the key cracks in the ceramic layer during the tension process were simulated using the FEM, whose results further confirmed the conclusions drawn from the experimental results.