Ceramic material, powder and layer system

EP4762026A1Pending Publication Date: 2026-06-24SIEMENS ENERGY GLOBAL GMBH & CO KG

Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
EP · EP
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
SIEMENS ENERGY GLOBAL GMBH & CO KG
Filing Date
2024-08-20
Publication Date
2026-06-24

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing ceramic materials used in high-temperature components, such as turbines, face challenges in achieving optimal thermal insulation properties.

Method used

A ceramic material based on fully stabilized zirconium oxide with specific stabilizers like yttrium oxide and ytterbium oxide, combined with a ceramic layer system that includes a metallic adhesive layer and a ceramic sub-layer, is used to enhance thermal stability and insulation.

Benefits of technology

The proposed ceramic material and layer system demonstrate improved thermal stability and insulation, leading to better performance in high-temperature applications such as gas turbines.

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Abstract

An improved ceramic material for heat insulation is achieved by means of the following selection of specific stabilizers and the adapted proportions: A ceramic material on the basis of zirconium oxide (ZrO2) containing 5.5 wt.% to 8.5 wt.% base stabilizers: yttrium oxide (Y2O3) and / or hafnium oxide (HfO2) and ytterbium oxide (Yb2O3) as an additional stabilizer: 14.0 wt.% to 16.0 wt.%.
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Description

[0001] Description

[0002] Ceramic material, powder and layer system

[0003] The invention relates to a ceramic material, a powder, which are each used for ceramic layer systems.

[0004] Ceramics generally exhibit high temperature stability and are therefore often used as ceramic coatings (TBC) on high-temperature components such as turbines, especially gas turbines.

[0005] US 7,001,859 B2 discloses a zirconium oxide-based TBC with stabilizers of ytterbium oxide, yttrium oxide and gadolinium oxide.

[0006] There is a constant effort to improve the thermal insulation properties of the ceramic material.

[0007] It is therefore an object of the invention to solve the above-mentioned problem.

[0008] The object is achieved by a ceramic according to claim 1, a ceramic powder according to claim 7 and a layer system according to claim 8.

[0009] The subclaims list further advantageous measures which can be combined as desired to achieve further advantages.

[0010] Ceramic materials, powders, or ceramic coatings based on zirconium oxide with stabilizers are known, although fully stabilized zirconium oxide is often used due to its better thermal stability. The goal of the present invention is to use fully stabilized zirconium oxide with improved stability, especially thermal stability.

[0011] The zirconium oxide is stabilized with

[0012] 5.5 wt% to 8.5 wt%, in particular with 6.0 wt% to 8.0 wt% base stabilizers: yttrium oxide and hafnium oxide and with at least one additional stabilizer: 14.0 wt% to 16.0 wt% ytterbium oxide.

[0013] Preferably, erbium oxide (Er2O3) is not used as a stabilizer.

[0014] A ceramic powder made from the ceramic material can contain additional components. These include, in particular, a binder for binder jet printing (3D printing), additives in the production of slurries, or abrasives such as cubic boron nitride, c-BN, or other refractory metals that differ from the ceramic material and are not based on zirconium oxide. The abrasives can be used for sealing systems of turbine blades, where they can be ground into softer materials, such as highly porous ceramics (abradables) or highly porous ceramic layers.

[0015] In a layer system 1 (Figure 1), a ceramic layer 10 is applied to metal, wherein, in the case of preferably used nickel or cobalt-based superalloys, a metallic adhesion layer 7 is present, which forms a layer of aluminium oxide (TGO) in use or in advance, wherein the metallic adhesion promoter layer preferably has an aluminide, platinum aluminide or, as a base, a NiCoCrAlY alloy (NiCoCrAlYRe, NiCoCrAlYSi, NiCoCrAlYTa, NiCoCrAlYFe, NiCoCrAlYFeSi, NiCoCrAlYTaSi, . . ).

[0016] The ceramic powder for the ceramic layer 10 can be optimized with regard to its grain size or sieved accordingly, or bimodal distributions can be selected.

[0017] The ceramic layer 10 made of ceramic material or ceramic powder can be produced using EB-PVD, plasma spraying (APS, etc.), HVOF, or suspensions. Preferably, the ceramic layer 10 has a columnar structure or a segmented or DVC (Dense Vertical Cracked) structure.

[0018] The ceramic layer 10 preferably has a layer thickness of 100pm to 1000pm.

[0019] The porosity is preferably below 10vol%, especially below 8vol%.

[0020] As shown in Figure 2, this ceramic layer 10 can also have a ceramic sublayer 13 in a ceramic layer system (1'), the layer thickness of which, however, is at least 10%, in particular at least 20% thinner than that of the ceramic material of the ceramic layer 10 according to the invention.

[0021] The ceramic underlayer 13 preferably comprises partially stabilized, tetragonal zirconium oxide, in particular 8YSZ, i.e. partially stabilized yttrium-stabilized zirconium oxide.

[0022] The ceramic material according to the invention preferably comprises 4.5 wt.% to 5.5 wt.% yttrium oxide (Y2O3), in particular 5.0 wt.% yttrium oxide (Y2O3).

[0023] The ceramic material preferably also comprises: hafnium oxide (HfCU) with 1.0 wt.% to 3.0 wt.%, in particular 2.5 wt.% hafnium oxide (HfCU). The ceramic material preferably comprises 14.5 wt.% to 15.5 wt.% ytterbium oxide (Yb2O3), in particular 15.0 wt.% Yb2O3. Impurities, in particular aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), and / or titanium (Ti) in the form of oxides are tolerated, in particular up to a maximum of 0.4 wt.% in each case. Advantageous compositions are:

[0024] 5.2% Y2O3 / 15.2% Yb2O3 / ZrO2or

[0025] 4.8% Y2O3 / 2.1% HfO2 / 15.1% Yb2O3 / ZrO2 and as layer 10 with 8YSZ as ceramic underlayer 13 shows a significantly better temperature change behavior than 8YSZ / 20YSZ.

Claims

Patent claims 1. Ceramic material based on zirconium oxide (ZrCt) with 4.5 wt% to 8.5 wt% basic stabilizers: in particular with 6.0 wt% to 8.0 wt% basic stabilizers: Yttrium oxide (Y2O3) and / or hafnium oxide (HfCt) and 14.0 wt.% to 16.0 wt.% additional stabilizer: ytterbium oxide (Yb2Oa).

2. Ceramic material according to claim 1, comprising at least 4.5 wt.% and at most 5.5 wt.% yttrium oxide (Y2O3), in particular 5.0 wt.% yttrium oxide (Y2O3), 3. Ceramic material according to one or both of claims 1 or 2, wherein the content of hafnium oxide (HfCt) is 2.0 wt.% to 3.0 wt.%, in particular 2.5 wt.% hafnium oxide (HfCt).

4. Ceramic material according to one or more of claims 1, 2 or 3, comprising, at least comprising ZrC^-Hf O2-Y2O3-Yb2O3 and in each case a maximum of 0.4 wt.% of other oxides, in particular of aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si) and / or titanium (Ti).

5. Ceramic material according to one or more of claims 1, 2 or 3, comprising, at least comprising ZrO2-Y2O3-Yb2O3 and in each case a maximum of 0.4 wt.% of other oxides, in particular hafnium (Hf), aluminium (Al), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si) and / or titanium (Ti).

6. Ceramic material according to one or more of claims 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, comprising 14.5 wt.% to 15.5 wt.% ytterbium oxide (Yb2O3), in particular 15.0 wt.% ytterbium oxide (Yb2O2).

7. Ceramic powder comprising, in particular consisting of, a composition of a material according to one or more of claims 1 to 6, optionally comprising: binder and / or abrasives.

8. Layer system (1, 1') comprising at least one metallic substrate (4), optionally a metallic adhesion promoter layer (7) and at least one ceramic layer (10) based on the material according to the invention according to claims 1 to 6 or a powder according to claim 7.

9. Layer system according to claim 8, comprising a metallic adhesion promoter layer (7) between the ceramic layer (13, 10) and the metallic substrate (4), in particular based on NiCoCrAlY.

10. Layer system according to one or both of claims 8 or 9, in which a ceramic sub-layer (13) is provided under the ceramic layer (10) made of a material according to one or more of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, wherein the ceramic underlayer (13) is at least 10%, in particular at least 20% thinner than the ceramic layer (10) and wherein the ceramic underlayer (13) comprises tetragonal zirconium oxide, in particular partially stabilized zirconium oxide, very particularly 8YSZ.

11. Layer system according to one or more of claims 8, 9 or 10, wherein the ceramic layer (10) preferably has a layer thickness of 100pm to 1000pm.