Thermal Cycling Setup for Testing Thermal Barrier Coatings

Different mechanisms of failure can be induced and studied with the experimental setup for thermal‐cycling tests developed by the authors and shown in the Figure. It offers a realistic test rig for a broad range of applications, being suitable for a large surface temperature range (1050–1400 °C) and thermal gradients of 0.4–1.0 K/μm through the ceramic layer. Cycle lengths are variable; typically, 5 min heating and 2 min cooling are chosen, since a steady state is normally reached after about 1 min of heating or cooling.