Depth profiling of thick layers of graded metal zirconia ceramic coatings using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

The feasibility of depth profiling of thick layers (>100 mu m) consisting of partially stabilized zirconia coating and graded metal-ceramic coating on Inconel steel (ZrO2-Y2O3/NiCrAlY/steel and ZrO2-CeO2/NiCrAlY/steel) was studied on the basis of the use of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (LA-ICP-AES). An ICP spectrometer equipped with a multichannel detection was used for the simultaneous measurements of the line intensities, The ablation was performed with a Nd:YAG laser operated in a Q-switched mode at 266 nm. To study the erosion rate, we used either a static or a translation mode for the ablation, and the corresponding temporal behavior of the signals was studied, A higher erosion rate was found for the translation mode when depths higher than several hundred micrometers were probed.