2010 Volume 4 Issue 2 Pages 221-234
A fundamental study for an inelastic deformation of freestanding plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) has been conducted. Cantilever-type bending tests are carried out to obtain a stress-strain curve of the freestanding ceramic coating peeled from the TBC coated sample by an electrochemical treatment. In order to investigate about an inelastic deformation and its mechanism appeared in the sample, in-situ scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation is performed by means of a small tensile testing device that can be inserted into the SEM vacuum chamber. The bending test result indicated that the coating deforms with a nonlinear behavior under a monotonic loading and with a hysteresis loop under cyclic loading, in spite of that it is ceramic material. In-flight particle velocity in the spraying parameter affected the stress-strain curve significantly. In-situ SEM observation during the bending test revealed that sliding at boundary between splats plays an important role in an inelastic deformation.
