Degradation of the Mechanical Properties of Aluminide Coatings as a Result of Thermal Cycling

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are typically composed of a ceramic top coat, a thermally grown oxide, and an aluminide bond coat. These three layers each have specific roles in protecting super alloy substrates. State-of-the-art TBCs use Zirconia for the ceramic top coat and develop Alumina thermally grown oxide. Although the bond coats almost universally contain aluminides, their composition and processing vary greatly. In this work, a platinum aluminide bond coat system which was processed using an unactivated pack cementation process is studied. This bond coat system was formed on 1 inch diameter CMSX-4 super alloy disks.