Publications

High efficiency turbine blade coatings

Gallis, Michail A.

The development of advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) that exhibit lower thermal conductivity through better control of electron beam - physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) processing is of prime interest to both the aerospace and power industries. This report summarizes the work performed under a two-year Lab-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project (38664) to produce lower thermal conductivity, graded-layer thermal barrier coatings for turbine blades in an effort to increase the efficiency of high temperature gas turbines. This project was sponsored by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Investment Area. Therefore, particular importance was given to the processing of the large blades required for industrial gas turbines proposed for use in the Brayton cycle of nuclear plants powered by high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). During this modest (~1 full-time equivalent (FTE)) project, the processing technology was developed to create graded TBCs by coupling ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) with substrate pivoting in the alumina-YSZ system. The Electron Beam - 1200 kW (EB-1200) PVD system was used to deposit a variety of TBC coatings with micron layered microstructures and reduced thermal conductivity below 1.5 W/m.K. The use of IBAD produced fully stoichiometric coatings at a reduced substrate temperature of 600°C and a reduced oxygen background pressure of 0.1 Pa. IBAD was also used to successfully demonstrate the transitioning of amorphous PVD-deposited alumina to the -phase alumina required as an oxygen diffusion barrier and for good adhesion to the substrate Ni₂Al₃ bondcoat. This process replaces the time consuming thermally grown oxide formation required before the YSZ deposition. In addition to the process technology, Direct Simulation Monte Carlo plume modeling and spectroscopic characterization of the PVD plumes were performed. The project consisted of five tasks. These included the production of layered periodic microstructures in the coating, the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) modeling of particle transport in the PVD plume, functional graded layer development, the deposition of all layers to form a complete coating, and materials characterization including thermal testing. Ion beam-assisted deposition, beam sharing through advanced digital rastering, substrate pivoting, hearth calorimetry, infrared imaging, fiber optic-enabled optical emission spectroscopy and careful thermal management were used to achieve all the milestones outlined in the FY02 LDRD proposal.