Microstructural non-uniformity and mechanical property of air plasma-sprayed dense lanthanum zirconate thermal barrier coating

Abstract

Lanthanum zirconate is a promising thermal barrier coating material. In this work, imaging technique was used to characterize the microstructural non-uniformity of the coating. The imaging analyses revealed that, along the thickness of the coating, the cracks were primarily horizontal in the top and middle regions, while vertical cracks became dominant in the bottom region. The calculated porosities showed a non-uniformity (4.8%, 5.3%, and 5.5% in the top, middle, and bottom regions, respectively). They were lower than the experimentally measured one, 7.53%, using the Archimedes method. This is because imaging analysis does not take internal porosity into account. Additionally, the measured Vickers hardness was 5.51±0.25 GPa, nanoindentation hardness was 8.8±2.1 GPa, and Young's modulus was 156.00±10.03 GPa.