Effect of superalloy substrate and bond coating on TBC lifetime

Several different single-crystal superalloys were coated with different bond coatings to study the effect of composition on the cyclic oxidation lifetime of an yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) top coating deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition from a commercial source. Three different superalloys were coated with a 7 μm Pt layer that was diffused into the surface prior to YSZ deposition. One of the superalloys, N5, was coated with a low activity, Pt-modified aluminide coating and Pt-diffusion coatings with 3 and 7 μm of Pt. Three coatings of each type were furnace cycled to failure in 1 h cycles at 1150 °C to assess average coating lifetime. The 7 μm Pt diffusion coating on N5 had an average YSZ coating lifetime > 50% higher than a Pt-modified aluminide coating on N5. Without a YSZ coating, the Pt-modified aluminide coating on N5 showed the typical surface deformation during cycling, however, the deformation was greatly reduced when constrained by the YSZ coating. The 3 μm Pt diffusion coating had a similar average lifetime as the Pt-modified aluminide coating but a much wider scatter. The Pt diffusion bond coating on superalloy X4 containing Ti exhibited the shortest YSZ coating lifetime, this alloy-coating combination also showed the worst alumina scale adhesion without a YSZ coating. The third generation superalloy N6 exhibited the longest coating lifetime with a 7 μm Pt diffusion coating.