Thermal spray technology is already well established in the energy & IGT industry, specifically in land based gas turbine manufacturing, where plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBC’S) are commonly applied.

Thermal spray coatings applications in the Energy & IGT industry include:

Combustor cans
Transition ducts
Blades
Vanes
Abradable seals

The temperature in the combustion chamber exceeds 1300°C, therefore TBCs are used to limit the overheating of blades, vanes and combustion chambers above approx. 950°C, a long term operation temperature limit for super-alloys. Typical thermal barrier coatings are multi-layer systems based on a duplex structure, a dense metallic bond coat layer (typically MCrAlY) providing corrosion/oxidation resistance and strong adhesion for top thermally insulating ceramic layer (typically Yttria Stabilised Zirconia – YSZ).