Pulsed Thermal Imaging Measurement of Thermal Properties for Thermal Barrier Coatings Based on a Multilayer Heat Transfer Model

Thermal properties of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are important parameters for the safe and efficient operation of advanced turbine engines. This paper presents a new method, the pulsed thermal imaging–multilayer analysis (PTI–MLA) method, which can measure the coating thermal conductivity and heat capacity distributions over an entire engine component surface. This method utilizes a multilayer heat transfer model to analyze the surface temperature response acquired from a one-sided pulsed thermal imaging experiment. It was identified that several experimental system parameters and TBC material parameters may affect the coating surface temperature response. All of these parameters were evaluated and incorporated as necessary into the formulations. The PTI–MLA method was demonstrated by analyzing three TBC samples, and the experimental results were compared with those obtained from other methods.