Thermophysical properties and cyclic lifetime of plasma sprayed SrAl12O19 for thermal barrier coating applications

About 6-8 wt% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is the industry standard material for thermal barrier coatings (TBC). However, it cannot meet the long-term requirements for advanced engines due to the phase transformation and sintering issues above 1200 degrees C. In this study, we have developed a magnetoplumbite-type SrAl12O19 coating fabricated by atmospheric plasma spray, which shows potential capability to be operated above 1200 degrees C. SrAl12O19 coating exhibits large concentrations of cracks and pores (similar to 26% porosity) after 1000 hours heat treatment at 1300 degrees C, while the total porosity of YSZ coatings progressively decreases from the initial value of similar to 18% to similar to 5%. Due to the contribution of porous microstructure, an ultralow thermal conductivity (similar to 1.36 W m(-1) K-1) can be maintained for SrAl12O19 coating even after 1000 hours aging at 1300 degrees C, which is far lower than that of the YSZ coating (similar to 1.98 W m(-1) K-1). In thermal cyclic fatigue test, the SrAl12O19/YSZ double-ceramic-layer coating undertakes a thermal cycling lifetime of similar to 512 cycles, which is not only much longer than its single-layer counterpart (similar to 163 cycles), but also superior to that of YSZ coating (similar to 392 cycles). These preliminary results suggest that SrAl12O19 might be a promising alternative TBC material to YSZ for applications above 1200 degrees C.