Thermal spray coatings enhance the material properties of substrates but this attribute may be negated if the coatings themselves fail. This paper investigates the performance of an important family of coatings as one step in improving the resistance of the coating/substrate system to mechanical failure.Thermal barrier coatings of yttria partially stabilized zirconia (YSZ) with a NiCrAlY bond coat were air plasma sprayed onto mild-steel substrates. The spray process parameters were varied according to top and bond coat thickness, stand off distance, and substrate temperature. These 17 groups of coating types, with six identical samples in each group, were four point bend tested while coupled with an in-situ acoustic emission transducer. Optical microscopy was then used to examine and map the resulting crack patterns. Measurements of the number of cracks, crack separation, delaminating length, and micro-crack density were also made. The combination of this information, along with properties obtained from the four point bend tests and acoustic emission signals, provided insight into the cracking and delaminating processes.
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