Preparation of ceramic coatings based on ultrahigh-temperature ceramic nanocomposites (UHTC-NCs) from precursors

M.Sc. Samuel Aeneas Kredel (1^st cohort)

Supervisors: PD Dr. Emanuel Ionescu, PD Mathias Galetz

In the frame of the RTG 2561, Project 2 is responsible for the preparation of ceramic top coats that allow further pushing the operation temperature, thereby increasing turbine efficiency.

The aim of this project is to realize a polymer derived ceramic protective coating system based on single-source precursors (which are developed in Project 1) on (inter)metallic substrates (developed by Project 7 and Project 8). The coating should consists of two layers: an environmental barrier coating (EBC) and a thermal barrier coating (TBC) with target application temperatures exceeding 1200 °C.

Thus, both the environmental and thermal barrier coating layers need to be resistant to decomposition and should further not show detrimental long-term or cyclic damages even under oxidative or corrosive environments up to temperatures of 1300-1500 °C. In addition, the EBC should possess low diffusivity of corrosive species such as oxygen or pesting agents and the TBC should feature low thermal conductivity.

While the first cohort’s main objective was the development of a suitable processing method, the second and third cohort will focus on the evaluation of (micro)structure and morphology, physical properties as well as behavior under harsh conditions. Herein, the second cohort will center around environmental and the third cohort around thermal barrier coatings.