Abstract: The influence of salt spray corrosion on high-temperature cyclic oxidation behavior of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) prepared by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) have been investigated. It is found that there are more and greater cracks on the top-coat and the ZrO₂ crystal produces deformation by being squeezed after the salt spray corrosion. The volume expansion associated to the bond-coat oxidation severely decreases the bonding strength between the top-coat and the bond-coat during high-temperature oxidation and reduces the lifetime of cyclic oxidation of thermal barrier coatings.

Key words: thermal barrier coatings, cyclic oxidation, salt spray corrosion, lifetime of the coating, Ni-substrate superalloy