CMAS Corrosion and Bending Resistance of Ultraviolet Laser-glazed YSZ Powder Thermal Barrier Coatings

KAN Shengpan; WANG Dafeng; YUAN Jianghuai; ZHANG Mina; JIANG Tong; ZHOU Xianglin

doi:10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2026.12.013

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Surface Technology ›› 2026, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (12) : 188-200. DOI: 10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2026.12.013

Laser Surface Modification Technology

CMAS Corrosion and Bending Resistance of Ultraviolet Laser-glazed YSZ Powder Thermal Barrier Coatings

KAN Shengpan^1,2, WANG Dafeng^2*, YUAN Jianghuai³, ZHANG Mina³, JIANG Tong², ZHOU Xianglin^1*

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Abstract

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) serve as critical thermal protection materials for hot-section components in aero-engines and gas turbines (collectively referred to as two engines). To withstand increasingly severe thermo-mechanical coupled environments, ultraviolet pulsed laser glazing has been employed to effectively enhance the overall service performance of TBCs. In this study, two types of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders with different morphologies-nanocrystalline agglomerated and sintered-crushed - are selected to prepare TBCs via atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) onto nickel-based superalloy substrates with NiCoCrAlY bond coats. The coatings are subject to surface glazing with an ultraviolet pulsed laser. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is utilized to analyze the microstructural evolution and characteristic element distribution of the coatings before and after glazing. The coatings' resistance to thermal corrosion is evaluated through CMAS corrosion tests, while their resistance to bending-induced cracking is assessed via bending tests.
After ultraviolet pulsed laser glazing, significant differences are observed in the surface and cross-sectional morphologies between the two coatings. In terms of surface morphology, the areal average roughness (S_a) of the laser-glazed coating prepared from nanocrystalline agglomerated powders is 9.25 μm, approximately 13.9% lower than that of the coating prepared from sintered-crushed powders (10.73 μm), indicating a more uniform and denser laser-remelted quality. Furthermore, the glazed coating from nanocrystalline agglomerated powders exhibits finer grains and fewer defects in the remelted layer. Statistical results show that its average grain area is 4.54 μm², reduced by approximately 2.10 μm² compared with the 6.64 μm² of the glazed coating from sintered-crushed powders, representing a decrease of 31.6%. In the cross-sectional structure, neither of the APS coatings exhibits pronounced vertical cracks. However, the glazed coating from nanocrystalline agglomerated powders demonstrates a more uniform remelted layer thickness of approximately 1.7 μm, while the sintered-crushed powder coating, due to its irregular surface morphology, exhibits non-uniform absorption and melting of laser energy, resulting in an uneven remelted layer thickness ranging from 1 to 2 μm. Under CMAS corrosion conditions (1 240 ℃, 4 h, 15 mg/cm²), the surface infiltration area ratio of the glazed nanocrystalline agglomerated coating is only 26.71%, significantly lower than the 69.32% of the sintered-crushed powder coating, with a difference exceeding 42 percentage points. Microscopically, the former exhibits only slight particle separation at the surface layer, while the latter shows significant localized degradation of approximately 3 μm. This particle separation phenomenon induced by CMAS attack can be attributed to the dissolution-reprecipitation mechanism between YSZ and CMAS. Specifically, CMAS initiates dissolution at the interface, leading to particle separation, and the fine-grained regions gradually transform into globular structures containing numerous small circular pores. Regarding bending performance, NA-TBC-LG exhibits a superior strength-toughness match. Its flexural strength is 386 MPa, slightly lower than that of SC-TBC-LG (583 MPa). However, during loading, the cracking area of NA-TBC-LG accounts for only 20.48% under a load of 6 789 N, whereas the cracking interface of SC-TBC-LG accounts for 47.99% of the total interface under a load of 6 571.8 N.
In summary, the laser-glazed coating prepared from nanocrystalline agglomerated powders demonstrates significant advantages in surface quality, CMAS corrosion resistance, and damage tolerance. Its overall performance surpasses that of the traditional sintered-crushed powder coating, exhibiting higher service reliability and greater application potential.

Key words

thermal barrier coatings / YSZ powder morphology / atmospheric plasma spraying / UV laser glazing / CMAS corrosion / bending resistance

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KAN Shengpan, WANG Dafeng, YUAN Jianghuai, ZHANG Mina, JIANG Tong, ZHOU Xianglin. CMAS Corrosion and Bending Resistance of Ultraviolet Laser-glazed YSZ Powder Thermal Barrier Coatings[J]. Surface Technology. 2026, 55(12): 188-200

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