Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are an important part of gas turbine engines. TBC is used for power generation and aerospace applications. TBCs increase engine efficiency of the gas turbine while reducing fuel consumption, lowering maintenance time, and reducing the toxic emissions (CO2). Due to increased demand of the gas turbines, TBCs needs to be improved by making them highly durable, cheaper in cost and operable at higher temperatures. At higher combustion temperatures, material issues such as corrosion, microstructure degradation, and oxidation become severe. But they can be reduced by insulating engine components from the combustion gases. The objective of the project was to develop the new generation TBCs produced by Suspension plasma spray (SPS) that has better durability and performance at higher temperatures than the current state-of-the-art.

• SPS process used to spray the topcoat material yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ).

• Investigating microstructure of the coating.

• Various tests performed to better understand the influence of the coating microstructure, including erosion test, and Thermal Cycle Fatigue Test.

• The Porous vertically cracked microstructure showed superior erosion performance compared to the other columnar microstructures.

• Hardness and Fracture toughness test needs to be performed to understand about erosion of coating and Thermal lifetime.