Self-healing durable Thermal Barrier Coatings

Thermal barrier coatings (TBC) in combination with sophisticated cooling systems are crucial for the operation of highly efficient gas turbines. SCS proposes developing a new ‘self-healing’ thermal barrier coating enabling high frequency cycling at higher temperature and hence more efficient and sustainable operation of gas turbines for power generation. The increased cycling capability is a significant benefit of the technology as a future energy mix will contain high proportion of renewable energy which will be subject to rapid changes in supply. Eventually, this coating can be utilized beyond the power generation sector for other high temperature applications such as in automotive, oil and gas, rocket engines and obviously jet turbines. There are two immediate benefits of using a ‘self-healing’ coating. First, a decrease in operating costs and, secondly, an increase in sales opportunities into a market with growth perspectives.