Thin-Film, Ceramic Thermocouple Sensors Fabricated by Enhanced Plasma Deposition and Shadow-Mask Patterning

The U.S. Navy is interested in the development of non-intrusive, low-profile, conformal-coated sensors on critical components for in-situ measurement of temperature, pressure, and strain on static (e.g., vane) and rotating (e.g., blades, disk, or blisk) components in turbine engines. Ideally these thin-film sensors would operate and survive in the harsh operating environments of the engine, which induces vibration, thermal-cycling, oxidation, corrosion, and sand-erosion conditions. Engineered Coatings, Inc. (ECI) with our team member Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), propose to demonstrate an enhanced plasma deposition method to deposit a nanostructured multilayer (ML) ceramic sensor/dielectric coating system for temperature measurement under high heat-flux conditions. Initially the ML sensor system will be deposited onto Ni-alloy coupons for measurement of adhesion/toughness, residual stress, and thermal cycling / oxidation resistance to verify ML integrity. A preliminary Materials and Process specification will be developed for the best deposition parameters and materials. A cost/benefit analysis and technology integration plan will be developed. In the Option effort, SwRI will demonstrate their shadow-mask patterning technique to deposit thin-film ceramic sensor traces for thermoelectric voltage measurements. In addition, patterning of a complex-curvature component (e.g., engine blade) with the thin-film sensor will be demonstrated in the Option Program.