In this study, the effect of flow rate ratio (R) and total flow rate (Q) on the surface temperature of thermal barrier coatings (TBC) was investigated using a newly developed small-scale methane-oxygen burner rig. Subsequently, the failure mode of electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) TBC was examined, and the relationship between surface temperature and coating life was established. The surface temperature of the TBC was found to be strongly dependent on both the flow rate ratio and the total flow rate. Specifically, surface temperature exhibited a proportional relationship with total flow rate, while it showed an inverse relationship with flow rate ratio. The failure mode of the EB-PVD TBC involved a gradual increase in delamination from the rim to the center of the coin-shaped specimen, and this failure mode was found to be independent of surface temperature. Additionally, it was determined that the surface temperature of EB-PVD TBC has a perfectly inverse linear relationship with coating life. This finding implies that the derived linear regression line from the burner rig test can be directly used to predict coating life for any untested surface .temperature.

In this study, we developed a new vertical thermal gradient rig that uses methane-oxygen fuel. We conducted thermal gradient testing on a thermal barrier coating system, with a flame temperature of 1,900℃. Our results showed that the maximum surface temperature reached 1,065℃, while the temperature difference between the surface temperature and the temperature of the middle substrate (ΔT) was 70oC. Using the same torch as in this study, our finding suggest that the total flow rate of the flame should be above 12.4 LPM, and the gun distance should be less than 8 cm, to simulate a surface temperature of 1,300℃, while keeping the substrate temperature below 1,000℃. This will ensure that the flame is wide enough to cover the entire surface area of the thermal barrier coating.

A gas turbine is a power plant unit that converts thermal energy into rotational energy by rotating a blade using hightemperature and high-pressure combustion gas. A gas turbine blade is directly exposed to a high-temperature flame. Various studies have aimed to improve the durability of the blade in harsh conditions. One proposes coating the blade with a thermal barrier to protect it from the flame, using a ceramic material with better thermal insulation. Another proposes using internal cooling, by creating an air flow path inside the blade to lower its temperature. Because both these techniques create a thermal gradient in the cross section of the blade, they amplify the difference in thermal expansion, thereby producing thermal stress in the blade and the thermal barrier coating. This study investigates the internal cooling effect on thermal gradient fatigue by using finite element analysis.