Thermal and sputtered aluminum oxide coatings for high temperature electrical insulation

Aluminum oxide coatings have been investigated as electrically insulating layers for mounting thin film Pt–Pt/Rh thermocouples on gas turbine blade and vane alloys (MAR M200 + Hf and MAR M509). Thermal oxides were grown directly onto NiCoCrAlY and FeCrAlY coatings on these alloys at temperature between 1300 and 1400 K in oxygen partial pressures 10−7 to 2×104 Pa. Although these thermal oxides exhibited good adherence, analytical characterizations using electron and optical microscopy, as well as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that they had defects and impurities which limited their insulating ability. The insulating quality of the coating was greatly improved however by reactively sputtering an aluminum oxide film over the thermal oxide. Results are presented on the electrical performance of the 2–5 μm thick composite layers for temperatures up to 1300 K.