Team Smart Coatings

The team develops layer systems with additional functional properties such as sensing properties, self-healing capabilities or enhanced strain tolerance. In addition, the team combines the achievements of the high temperature protective coating and the thermal coating technology teams. A further activity is the development of functional layers for gas separation applications or for solid oxide fuel cells. Furthermore, innovative coating processes especially suitable for functional coatings, such as the aerosol deposition process, are developed.

Additional Functionalities in High Temperature Coatings
Sensing properties are added into YSZ based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) using an adapted laser cladding process for the deposition of thermocouple clads without degrading the TBC structure. Embedding is then achieved by a subsequent deposition on YSZ by an atmospheric plasma spraying process (APS). Other sensors, such as strain sensors, can also be produced via this approach. Self healing TBCs can be produced by adding specific MoSi2 powders into the YSZ TBC layer. An adaption of the APS process is necessary to avoid the decomposition of the MoSi2 powder. This approach can also be used for other protective coating systems.

Strain-Tolerant Coating Systems
The team is using suspension plasma spraying (SPS) and plasma spray physical vapor deposition (PS PVD) techniques to develop columnar structured coatings with extreme strain tolerance.

Dense Functional Coatings
The team uses advanced thermal spray techniques to produce different functional coatings with high gas-tightness e.g. for applications as oxygen or hydrogen separation membranes, as electrolytes in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) or as chrome evaporation barriers in SOFCs. In addition the developments are used to produce environmental barrier coatings (EBCs).