Spray powder for the manufacture of a thermally insulating layer which remains resistant at high temperatures

• US 7,462,393 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2003
• Issued: 12/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sulzer Metco Incorporated (Sulzer AG)
• Original Assignee: Sulzer Metco Incorporated (Sulzer AG)
• Inventors: Honegger, Kaspar, Damani, Rajiv J.
• Primary Examiner(s): KILIMAN, LESZEK B
• Application Number:
  US10/705,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20040106015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,856 Days
• Field of Search: 428/402, 428/403, 428/404, 427/212, 427/214, 427/213.3, 427/215, 427/419.2
• US Class Current: 428/402
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 28/042 including a refractory ceramic layer, e.g. refractory metal oxides, ZrO2, rare earth oxides
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 4/11 Oxides
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/2982 Particulate matter [e.g., sphere, flake, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/2991 Coated
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/2993 Silicic or refractory material containing [e.g., tungsten oxide, glass, cement, etc.]

Abstract

The spray powder can be used for the manufacture of a thermally insulating layer which is resistant to high temperatures. A coating of this kind, a so-called TBC, can be produced on a substrate by means of a thermal spraying process. The substrate can already be coated with a single- or multi-layered part coating, in particular a primer. At least one thermally insulating functional material is used, which on the one hand has a lower thermal conductivity than the substrate and on the other hand forms a chemically and thermally stable phase at high temperatures. The spray powder comprises particles (1) which respectively have an agglomerate-like micro-structure (2) which is formed by a plurality of granules (3) adhering to each other. These granules are made up of the functional material or the functional materials. At least one further component is present made of an additive (4) or a plurality of additives. This further component is distributed finely dispersed on the surfaces (30) of the functional material granules (3), i.e. primarily in the boundary zones. The further component in the given form or in a transformed form exerts a retarding or eliminating effect with regard to sintering compounds, which can form at high temperatures between the functional material granules.

Claims

1. A spray powder for the manufacture of a thermally insulating layer produced on a substrate by means of a thermal spraying process, wherein the substrate has already been coated with a single- or multi-layer part coating, and wherein at least one thermally insulating functional material is used, which on the one hand has a lower thermal conductivity than the substrate and on the other hand forms a chemically and thermally stable phase at elevated temperatures, characterized in that the spray powder comprises particles which have an agglomerated microstructure formed by a plurality of granules adhering to each other, the granules being made of the at least one functional material, and at least one further component made of an additive or a plurality of additives, the further component being distributed finely dispersed on surfaces of the functional material granules, the further component exerting a retarding or eliminating effect with regard to sintering compounds which form between the functional material granules, wherein surfaces of the granules comprise micro-pores that produce low mass boundary zones where the granules contact each other.

2. A spray powder in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that, in relation to all the components, the component which is formed from the additive or the additives has a proportion of not more than 5 mol %, in that the functional material granules have an average diameter d₅₀ greater than 1 mm and smaller than 10 μ

m and that the particles of the spray powder have an average diameter d₅₀ in the range of 1 μ

m to 100 μ

m.

3. A spray powder in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the additive or the additives are deposited between the functional material granules of the particle in a phase comprising metal salts, wherein these salts can be transformed thermally into metal oxides, so that the additive only takes on the effective form, which influences the sintering compounds after a transformation of the salts by means of a thermal treatment step.

4. A spray powder in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the particles contain communicating pore spaces open against an outer surface of the particle and the additive or the additives are deposited in the pore spaces and also on the outer surface.

5. A spray powder in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the functional material granules comprise one or more of the following materials:

zirconium oxide, in particular stabilized zirconium oxide YSZ;

a ceramic material such as lanthanum zirconate, which has a pyrochloric structure A₂B₂O₇, wherein A and B are present in a cationic form Aⁿ⁺ and B^m+, respectively with value pairs n, m=3, 4, or 2, 5 applying to their charges n+ and m+, the formula for the pyrochloric structure generally being A<sub>2−

x</sub>B_2+x0<sub>7−

y</sub>, and the following chemical elements can be selected as A and B;

A=La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb or a mixture of these elements and B=Zr, Hf, Ti;

a magneto plumbite phase MMeAl₁₁0₁₉,

with M=La, Nd and Me=Mg, Zn, Co, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cr;

while the additive or the additives comprise at least one of Al-, Mg-, and/or La-oxide, yttrium aluminum oxide or a spinel.

6. A spray powder in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that each additive or the transformed form of this which can effectively influence the sintering process is not miscible with the functional material, so that diffusion into the functional material is substantially avoided.

11. A spray powder according to claim 1, wherein the further component is finely dispersed in boundary zones of the surfaces.

12. A spray powder according to claim 2, wherein the component which is formed from the additive or the additives has a proportion of at most 3 mol %.

13. A spray powder according to claim 5, wherein the spinel comprises magnesium aluminum oxide.

7. A method for the manufacture of a spray powder having particles which have an agglomerated microstructure formed by a plurality of granules adhering to each other, the granules being made of the at least one functional material, and at least one further component made of an additive or a plurality of additives, the further component being distributed finely dispersed on surfaces of the functional material granules, the further component exerting a retarding or eliminating effect with regard to sintering compounds which form between the functional material granules, the method comprising forming micro-pores on surfaces of the granules to produce low mass boundary zones where the granules contact each other, and wherein

A1) at least one of the additives is introduced into a porous agglomerate of the functional material granules by means of an impregnating process or

A2) agglomerates are manufactured from a mixture of the functional material granules and the finely dispersed additive or a homogenous or colloidal solution of the additive.

8. A method in accordance with claim 7, characterized in that, in a first step, the additives are added to the agglomerated microstructure in the form of a metal salt solution or are mixed with the granules, whereby the salts can be transformed thermally into metal oxides, in a second step the mixture is dried, and in a third step the salts are transformed by means of a thermal treatment into a form which influences the sintering process effectively.

9. A method in accordance with claim 7, characterized in that, in a concluding step, the particles are melted in a plasma flame.

14. A method according to claim 7, wherein the agglomerates are produced by spray drying a slurry and subsequent calcining.

10. A coated substrate comprising a thermally insulating layer manufactured from a spray powder comprising particles which have an agglomerated microstructure formed by a plurality of granules adhering to each other, the granules being made of the at least one functional material, and at least one further component made of an additive or a plurality of additives, the further component being distributed finely dispersed on surfaces of the functional material granules, the further component exerting a retarding or eliminating effect with regard to sintering compounds which form between the functional material granules, wherein surfaces of the granules comprise micro-pores that produce low mass boundary zones where the granules contact each other.

15. A spray powder for the manufacture of a thermally insulating layer on a substrate comprising a plurality of agglomerated granules which adhere to each other to form particles and which are made of at least one functional material and at least one component comprising at least one additive, the component being dispersed over surfaces of the granules and retarding the formation of sintering compounds between the granules, wherein surfaces of the granules comprise micro-pores that produce low mass boundary zones where the granules contact each other.