Relaxation kinetics of the intrinsic compressive stress in powder aerosol deposited titania films during thermal treatment

This study investigated the relaxation of intrinsic compressive stress in powder aerosol deposited films. For this purpose, titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) was deposited on thin YSZ substrates, and it was investigated how the stress declines with time at 150 °C and 200 °C. Based on the relaxation curves, two different processes were identified, one of which dominates at high stresses. For the high-stress-dominating process an activation energy of 0.22 eV was determined. For the other process, it was determined to be 0.11 eV. The relaxation itself was attributed by Coble creep and grain boundary sliding.