Article protected by thermal barrier coating having a sintering inhibitor, and its fabrication

An article protected by a thermal barrier coating system, comprising:

• a substrate having a substrate surface;
• and
• a thermal barrier coating system overlying the substrate, the thermal barrier coating system comprising
• a thermal barrier coating formed of a thermal barrier coating material arranged as a plurality of columnar grains extending generally perpendicular to the substrate surface and having grain surfaces, and
• a form of a sintering inhibitor within the columnar grains, wherein the thermal barrier coating material is a major phase, and the form of the sintering inhibitor is a minor phase distributed within the columnar grains or concentrated at the grain surfaces, and wherein the form of the sintering inhibitor comprises a precursor of at least one of the group consisting of lanthanum oxide, lanthanum chromate, chromium oxide, and yttrium chromate.

An article protected by a thermal barrier coating system, comprising:

• a substrate having a substrate surface;
• and
• a thermal barrier coating system overlying the substrate, the thermal barrier coating system comprising
• a thermal barrier coating formed of a thermal barrier coating material arranged as a plurality of columnar grains extending generally perpendicular to the substrate surface and having grain surfaces, and
• a form of a sintering inhibitor within the columnar grains, wherein the thermal barrier coating material is a major phase, and the form of the sintering inhibitor is a minor phase distributed within the columnar grains of concentrated at the grain surfaces, wherein the form of the sintering inhibitor comprises at least one of the group consisting of lanthanum cheromate modified with cobalt or maganese substituted for at least some of the chromium, and yttrium chromate, modified with cobalt or manganese substituted for at least some of the chromium.

A method for fabricating an article protected by a thermal barrier coating system, comprising the steps of

• providing a substrate having a substrate surface;
• and
• applying a thermal barrier coating system overlying the substrate, the thermal barrier coating system comprising
• a thermal barrier coating formed of a thermal barrier coating material arranged as a plurality of columnar grains extending generally perpendicular to the substrate surface and having grain surfaces, and
• a sintering inhibitor within the columnar grains, the form of the sintering inhibitor being selected from the group consisting of lanthanum oxide, lanthanum chromate, chromium oxide, and yttrium chromate, mixtures thereof, mixtures thereof with aluminum oxide, modifications thereof wherein cobalt or manganese is substituted for chromium, precursors thereof, and reaction products thereof, wherein the step of applying includes the steps of
• depositing the thermal barrier coating, and thereafter
• infiltrating the form of the sintering inhibitor into the thermal barrier coating.