Impact of superalloy composition, bond coat roughness and water vapor on TBC lifetime with HVOF NiCoCrAlYHfSi bond coatings

The performance of thermal barrier coating (TBC) specimens with superalloy 1483 and X4 substrates and high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF)-NiCoCrAlYHfSi bond coatings was evaluated in dry and wet air in 1 h furnace cycles at 1100 °C. Compared to a prior study of NiCoCrAlYHfSi bond coatings, the HVOF bond coatings were rougher Ra = 8 μm, closer to commercial HVOF coatings. For TBC coatings on the X4 substrates cycled in air with 10% water vapor, increasing the roughness from Ra = 5 to 8 μm had little effect on the average TBC lifetime. The presence of 10% water vapor reduced the average TBC lifetime for 1483 by 13%, however, in both wet and dry conditions, the lifetimes for this substrate were 30–50% below those observed for X4 substrates. This may be attributed to the lower Al content and higher Ti content in 1483. Roughness and residual stress in the alumina scale were measured on specimens without a ceramic top coating, but no effects were observed due to the change in substrate or the addition of water vapor.