Identification of failure mechanisms of thermal spray coatings by means of traditional fractography of failed parts is often troublesome. The reason for this is a highly inhomogeneous character of the coating microstructure and harsh in-service conditions which may obscure evidentiary fractographic marks. In this study, failure evolution of advanced thermal barrier coating (TBC) prepared by plasma spraying was studied in-situ at high magnification in a scanning electron microscope under well-defined laboratory conditions of three-point bending (3PB). © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.