The performance of gas turbine engines may be improved by increasing the tolerance of the turbine blades to hot gases emerging from the combustor. One approach to achieving high operating temperatures involves application of a thermal barrier coating (TBC) to the exterior surface of a blade, while passing cooling air through the blade. Typically, the blade is made from a high-temperature super alloy, such as Inconel (k ˜ 25 W/m · K), while a ceramic, such as zirconia (k ˜ 1.3 W/m · K), is used as a TBC.
Consider conditions for which hot gases at T 8,o = 1700 K and cooling air at T8,i = 400 K provide outer and inner surface convection coefficients of ho = 1000 W/m2 · K and hi = 500 W/m2 · K, respectively. If a 0.5-mm-thick zirconia TBC is attached to a 5-mm-thick Inconel blade wall by means of a metallic bonding agent, which provides an interfacial thermal resistance of Rt,c = 10-4 m2 . K/W, can the Inconel be maintained at a temperature that is below its maximum allowable value of 1250 K? Radiation effects may be neglected, and the turbine blade may be approximated as a plane wall. Plot the temperature distribution with and without the TBC. Are there any limits to the thickness of the TBC?