SBIR Phase I: A Thermal Barrier Coating with Low Thermal Conductivity for use in Turbine Engines

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses the need for improved thermal barrier coating (TBC) technology. TBCs are advanced materials applied as a thin layer to the surface of substrates, often metals, to protect them from prolonged heat loads. The avionics industry (representing a TBC market of $715 million) has set benchmark standards for the next generation of gas-turbine engines to operate at higher temperatures (1500 C versus the current 1300 C) to achieve a 3.9% increase in overall efficiency and nearly $4 billion in estimated savings to the US airline industry, per year, from fuel costs alone. Thermal protection properties inherent to turbine engine TBCs include a high melting temperature, low thermal conductivity, and high temperature phase stability. Current industry-standard TBCs undergo structural changes at temperatures below this new target operating temperature, necessitating the need for new materials. This project seeks to test a novel material for use as a TBC to meet the demands of next generation gas-turbine engines. Outside the avionics industry, there is the potential for broader application of this material in high-temperature ovens, diesel engines, and power plants. The intellectual merit of this project is the identification of a novel material for use as a superior TBC. The research objectives relate to the application of the material in thin layer form using industry standard processes, characterization of the structural properties of the material, determination of the thermal protection properties of the material in thin layer form, and determination of the response of the material to physical and thermal stresses. The research will involve deposition of this material onto substrates using electron beam vapor deposition, structural analysis of the coating using electron microscopy and ultrasound spectroscopy, evaluation of thermal protection properties including thermal conductivity, melting temperature, and maximum use temperature testing, and physical stress evaluation using thermal cycling and Young's modulus testing. Given the increase in porosity associated with electron beam vapor deposition and the similarities in crystallinity with other TBCs in use, it is anticipated that successful substrate binding with reduced high-temperature thermal conductivity will be exhibited by the material in thin layer form.