Anisotropic thermal conductivities of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings in relation to the microstructure

Anisotropic thermal conductivities of the plasma-sprayed ceramic coating are explicitly expressed in terms of the microstructural parameters. The dominant features of the porous space are identified as strongly oblate (cracklike) pores that tend to be either parallel or normal to the substrate. The scatter in pore orientations is shown to have a pronounced effect on the effective conductivities. The established quantitative microstructure-property relations, if combined with the knowledge of the processing parameters-resulting microstructure connections, can be utilized for controlling the conductivities in the desired way.