The Contribution of Thermal Barrier Coatings to Improvements in the Life and Performance of Gas Turbine Components

SummaryCeramic coatings have significantly increased the lives of components in high temperature environments by insulating metal substrates from a hot gas stream. Service applications are on combustors; subsequent tests showed that ceramic coatings could extend the lives of other ‘hot end’ components. The coatings are now standard to certain components as they give greater opportunity to improve designs. The paper covers the need for high temperatures in gas turbine engines, the opportunities for and requirements from thermal barrier coatings, bench and service engine evaluation and analysis of tested parts from which the features of successful coating systems were derived.