37
Development
of Electrically Mediated Electrophoretic Deposition for Thermal Barrier Coating
Systems—Faraday
Technology, Inc., 315 Huls Drive, Clayton, OH
45315-8983; 937-836-7749
Ms.
Heather McCrabb, Principal Investigator, heathermccrabb@faradaytechnology.com
Dr.
E. Jennings Taylor, Business Official, jenningstaylor@faradaytechnology.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-05ER84202
Amount:
$750,000
The gas turbine engine manufacturing industry is an important
aspect of the U.S. commercial economy and critical to both the Departments of
Energy and Defense. This project
will develop an
improved manufacturing process to deposit thermal barrier coating materials to
enable operation at higher temperatures in natural gas and synthesis gas
environments, while maintaining the necessary durability and reliability
required to sustain the engine life expectancy.
Specifically, an electrically-mediated electrophoretic process for the
deposition of thermal barrier systems will be developed. The
process will be easier to control and more cost efficient compared to the more
conventional techniques of plasma spray and electron beam physical vapor
deposition. In
Phase I, an electrically mediated electrophoretic deposition (EPD) process was
used to apply thermal barrier coating materials to Inconel 718 substrates. It
was demonstrated that electrically mediated EPD could uniformly deposit thermal
barrier material sets, including yttria stabilized zirconia and rare-earth-doped
yttria stabilized zirconia, and could increase deposition rates compared to
conventional industrial processes. Phase
II will: (1) optimize and validate
the process to permit the introduction of appropriate microstructures, in order
to prevent coating failure during standard and accelerated turbine engine
operation; (2) develop and validate a post-deposition thermal treatment for the
EPD coatings, in order to preserve the microstructure needed to maintain coating
durability and reliability during operation; and (3) conduct tests (thermal
stability, thermal cycling, thermal conductivity) to determine coating
durability and reliability.
Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: With the application of thermal barrier coatings composed of new materials, higher operating temperatures should be achieved, which would increase fuel efficiency and reduce waste energy and energy costs.