Effect of CMAS Infiltration on Radiative Transport Through an EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coating

One of the adverse effects of sand ingestion in gas turbines is that the thermal barrier coatings on the blades and vanes can be infiltrated at high temperatures by molten calcium–magnesium–aluminum–silicate (CMAS) and cause premature failure of the coating. To investigate the effect of CMAS penetration, the optical properties of a synthetic glass representative of CMAS are reported from 500 nm to 2.5 μm. Results are then presented to show that silicate infiltration of an electron beam-deposited TBC can increase radiative transport through the coating. The results are qualitatively consistent with a simple optical scattering model for radiative transport through a porous coating.