Degradation of ceramic coatings in demanding environments

Ceramic coatings have been developed to protect underline substrates for industrial applications such as aero-engine and industrial gas turbine for power generation, while the degradation and failure mechanisms of ceramic coatings in demanding environments like corrosive environments at high temperature is very complex. In this project, various characterisation tools will be used to examine microstructural evolution, residual stresses and mechanical properties of the ceramic coatings. The data generated during this project will be used to understand the degradation and failure mechanisms of the ceramic coatings in the demanding environments. The novelty of the project is developing comprehensive characterization of the ceramic coatings using a combination of advanced characteisationl to examine how the ceramic coatings change during exposure to the demanding environments. .

Energy is one of major research themes in EPSRC, the coating study proposed in this project is directly applicable to energy industry like power generation and aero-engine, so it aligns very well with the EPSRC theme.