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Advanced turbine engines require the application of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) to provide still higher reliability, thermal insulation effect and longer lifetime under harsh operating conditions. TBCs with nanostructure proved to be promising to deliver the desired property and performance. To exploit full potentials of the current widely used yttria-partially-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), nano-sized YSZ powders were developed and used as the ceramic source material. By controlling the deposition processes, novel TBCs with outstanding nanostructure such as nano-sized grains and pores were produced by atmospheric plasma spray (APS) and electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD), respectively. The incorporated nanostructure in TBCs resulted in substantial increase in thermal barrier effect and their lifetime. The long-term microstructure stability of the nanocoating was also investigated.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) is one of the main key technology for the high-pressure turbine blades which are the main components of the high-performance aerospace engines. It offers protection for underline metallic components from corrosion, oxidation and localized melting by insulating the metal from hot gases in the engine core. The properties and lifetime of TBCs are greatly influenced by the preparation technology, which includes plasma spraying (PS), physical vapor deposition (PVD) and laser re-melting (LM). In this paper, three technologies used to prepare the TBCs are reviewed. Resulting features of coating fabricated by each technology are also discussed such as: the porosity, the thermally grown oxide (TGO), the erosion resistance, the thermal shock and so on. Especially, it is pointed out that the performances of gradient coating and nano-coating are better than the traditional coatings. In addition, it is widely accepted that laser can be applied to re-melt the PS coating and even directly clad the gradient coating. In the future, the traditional preparation technology should be improved continually in order to enhance the coating lifetime, enhance the properties of coating and lower the cost of process. Moreover, the researches on gradient-nano-structured coatings preparation are absent and should be done with emphasis since the nano-structure and gradient structure can both benefit the lifetime and properties of coatings.