Mechanical and Thermo-physical Properties of Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings: A Literature Survey

Atmospheric plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (APS TBCs) have been studied from an extensive review of the dedicated literature. A large number of data have been collected and compared, versus deposition parameters and/or measurement methods, and a comparison was made between two different microstructures: standard APS coatings and segmented coatings. Discussion is focused on the large scattering of results reported in the literature even for a given fabrication procedure. This scattering strongly depends on the methods of measurement as expected, but also—for a given method—on the specific conditions implemented for the considered experimental investigation. Despite the important scattering, general trends for the correlation of properties to microstructure and process parameters can be derived. The failure modes of TBC systems were approached through the evolution of cracking and spalling at various life fractions.