Unveiling microsecond diffusion bonding phenomena enabled by air plasma spraying zirconia thermal barrier ceramics onto rare earth environmental barrier silicates

Scientific Reports, vol. 15, pp. 27031

Abstract

While global propulsion and energy technology slowly progresses toward cleaner and renewable sources, gas turbine engines are still a workhorse infrastructure in these domains - for which achieving increased operating efficiency and reduced emissions is of significant importance. Reaching these ambitious goals would be enabled by the integration of more ceramic components in future turbines. Ceramic turbine components offer both reduced weight and reduced cooling needs, thereby benefitting turbine operating efficiency. However, these new components require robust and multifunctional surface coating solutions, which will be challenged by the future conditions of new turbines. Recently, a new class of multifunctional surface coatings achieved by layering state-of-the-art zirconia thermal barriers atop state-of-the-art rare earth disilicate environmental barriers has been shown. Despite their intrinsic thermomechanical incompatibility, these MultiLayered Thermal-Environmental Barrier Coatings (T-EBCs) have proven to offer several significant functionalities compared to their alternatives. Characterization limitations prevented the adequate description of the observed intrinsically-enhanced bonding between the zirconia and disilicate layer. In this work, advanced high-resolution characterization techniques are used to examine the T-EBC interface on the micro, nano, and atomic scale. A mechanism by which ceramic diffusion bonding can be achieved in-situ during fabrication of the layers is derived from the characterization results.

Authors 8

1. Edward J. V. Gildersleeve

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Energy Materials and Devices, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IMD-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany. e.gildersleeve@fz-juelich.de

2. Emine Bakan

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Energy Materials and Devices, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IMD-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany

3. Marcin Rasinski

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Fusion Energy and Nuclear Waste, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Management (IFN-1), 52425, Jülich, Germany

4. Moritz Kindelmann Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE), RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Ernst Ruska Zentrum (ERC), 52425, Jülich, Germany

   Institute of Energy Materials and Devices, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IMD-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany

5. Ashok Vayyala

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Ernst Ruska Zentrum (ERC), 52425, Jülich, Germany

   Institute of Energy Materials and Devices, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IMD-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany

6. E. Wessel

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   institute of Energy Materials and Devices, Microstructure and Properties of Materials (IMD-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany

7. Joachim Mayer Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE), RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Ernst Ruska Zentrum (ERC), 52425, Jülich, Germany

8. Robert Vaßen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Energy Materials and Devices, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IMD-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany