Quality Assurance Evaluation of Thermal Barrier Coatings by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

Abstract

The technique of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to examine the behavior of intact thermal barrier coatings (TBC) at ambient temperature. Cross-sectional morphological examination of TBC was conducted by scanning electron microscope (SEM). By correlating the SEM visual examination with EIS data, TBC was characterized non-destructively. A model of EIS alternative current (AC) equivalent circuit was proposed to establish the relationship between the EIS elemental parameters in the circuit and the microstructural characteristics of TBC. A linear relationship was found to exist between the electrical impedance of TBC topcoat and the thickness of the topcoat. The porosity of TBC top coat showed a linear relationship with the capacitance of ceramic TBC, and the pore shape in the TBC topcoat was represented by the value of the electrical impedance of the pore. The result in the study has demonstrated that EIS can be used as a non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique for quality assurance of TBC.