Low thermal conductivity vapor deposited zirconia microstructures

Low thermal conductivity yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings have been grown using a low-vacuum (0.20 Torr) electron beam directed vapor deposition process. In this approach, a transsonic helium jet was used to entrain and transport an evaporated YSZ flux to a substrate. The interaction of the helium jet with the coating surface resulted in many of the evaporated species making oblique angles of contact with the substrate. This resulted in the formation of a highly porous, columnar microstructure without substrate rotation. When the substrate was positioned perpendicular to the axis of the jet, coatings with intercolumnar pores normal to the substrate surface were formed. The ambient temperature thermal conductivity of a coating grown in this arrangement was 1.9 Wm/K, comparable to that of conventional, high-vacuum electron beam coatings. When the column and pore orientation was inclined (by tilting the substrate) the thermal conductivity was observed to fall. By alternating the inclination angle as growth progressed, coatings containing zig-zag columns and pores could be synthesized. Using this technique, YSZ coatings with thermal conductivities as low as 0.8 W/m K were obtained. The observed thermal conductivity reduction arises from the longer thermal diffusion path of the zig-zag pore micro-structures.