Application of High-Velocity Oxygen-Fuel (HVOF) Spraying to the Fabrication of Yb-Silicate Environmental Barrier Coatings

From the literature, it is known that due to their glass formation tendency, it is not possible to deposit fully-crystalline silicate coatings when the conventional atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) process is employed. In APS, rapid quenching of the sprayed material on the substrate facilitates the amorphous deposit formation, which shrinks when exposed to heat and forms pores and/or cracks. This paper explores the feasibility of using a high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) process for the cost-effective fabrication of dense, stoichiometric, and crystalline Yb2Si2O7 environmental barrier coatings. We report our findings on the HVOF process optimization and its resultant influence on the microstructure development and crystallinity of the Yb2Si2O7 coatings. The results reveal that partially crystalline, dense, and vertical crack-free EBCs can be produced by the HVOF technique. However, the furnace thermal cycling results revealed that the bonding of the Yb2Si2O7 layer to the Silicon bond coat needs to be improved.