FAILURE OF THERMALLY SPRAYED 7YSZ COATINGS UNDER CYCLIC BENDING

In this talk, we will describe damage accumulation and failure of free-standing micro-cantilevers made of 7YSZ coatings during cyclic bending in a nanoindentation system in both, the as-sprayed condition as well as after low-temperature thermal cycling up to 700 oC while attached to the substrate. The technique has been established as a means of tracking elastic modulus, hysteresis/creep, and fracture behavior as a function of coating densification during isothermal treatment at high temperatures. In contrast, low-temperature thermal cycling is designed to simulate operating conditions during which crack healing and sintering, which are known to lead to stiffening, are minimal. The load-displacement curves typically display hysteretic behavior with an increasing permanent residual displacement (ratcheting) after each cycle which increases with an increase in load, accompanied by a reduction in stiffness that is characteristic of damage accumulation. Failure appears to result from the formation of macrocracks after a critical amount of ratcheting. The number of mechanical cycles to failure reduces with the number of prior thermal cycles and with increasing maximum load/stress. Thus, mechanical cycling can act as a proxy for thermal cycling in evaluating progressive damage accumulation in TBCs.
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