Governing Parameters Influencing CMAS Adhesion and Infiltration into Environmental/Thermal Barrier Coatings in Gas Turbine Engines

Sand particulate ingestion into modern gas turbine engines for fixed wing and vertical lift aircraft is a significant challenge for both military and civilian missions. ARL as part of a DoD funded Laboratory University Collaborative Initiative (LUCI) and Vannevar Bush Fellowship at UCSD are investigating the governing parameters that primarily influences the CMAS adhesion kinetics and infiltration on the standard Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) as part of metallic single crystal Nickel superalloys TBC and SiC/SiC CMC T/EBCs. Current research shows various parameters including CMAS viscosity, porosity, adhesion strength, contact angle (wettability factor), geological factors affecting sand formation, coating and structural substrate roughness and surface temperature, internal flow Reynolds number, temperature, pressure, Mach number, boundary layer and bleed air, coating process (columnar vs splat morphology), tortuosity factor et al affects the CMAS adhesion and infiltration. This paper is a summary of our current research to identify and study the governing parameters that affects the CMAS formation, adhesion and infiltration and the underlying interfaces between CMAS and T/EBC, bond coat and the structural substrate. This work is aligned with Army Modernization Priority Future Vertical Lift and PEO Aviation Advanced Turbine Engine (ATE) Program.