With the rising demands of industry to increase the working temperature of gas turbine blades and internal combustion engines, thermal barrier coatings (TBC) were found to be an effective way to further enhance the lifetime of aero components through the improvement of mechanical properties and oxidation-resistance. Thus, this paper aims to review coating technologies with special emphasis on plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (PS), and those produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods. Each technology was assessed in terms of its effectiveness to enhance the mechanical response and oxidation resistance of nickel-based parts working at high temperature. The effect of coating technology on mechanical strength, hardness, fatigue and creep of nickel alloys was discussed to reveal the potential candidates for future applications in aggressive environments.

The nanocomposite structure of Fe-Al intermetallic coating, created in situ during gas detonation spraying (GDS) of as-milled self-decomposing powder and containing disordered 8 nm FeAl nanocrystals, was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED), and x-ray diffraction methods. It is found that the Fe-Al coating is characterized by a sublayer morphology consisting of flattened and partially melted splats containing a wide Al range from about 26 to 52 at.%, as well as Al₂O₃ oxides, created in situ at the internal interfaces of splats during the GDS process. The complex oxide films, identified as amorphous Al₂O₃, which are formed in the nanocrystalline Fe-Al matrix of the GDS coating behave like a composite reinforcement in the intermetallic Fe-Al coating. The combined presence of nanosized subgrains in the Fe-Al matrix and the Al₂O₃ nanoceramic dispersoids significantly increases the microhardness of the coating.

In this paper, mechanical properties of the as-received and aluminide layer coated MAR 247 nickel based superalloy were examined through creep and fatigue tests. The aluminide layer of 20 µm was obtained through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process in the hydrogen protective atmosphere for 8 h at the temperature of 1040 °C and internal pressure of 150 mbar. A microstructure of the layer was characterized using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that aluminide coating improve the high temperature fatigue performance of MAR247 nickel based superalloy at 900 °C significantly. The coated MAR 247 nickel based superalloy was characterized by the stress amplitude response ranging from 350 MPa to 520 MPa, which is twice as large as that for the uncoated alloy.

In this paper, aluminide coatings of various thicknesses and microstructural uniformity obtained using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) were studied in detail. The optimized CVD process parameters of 1040 °C for 12 h in a protective hydrogen atmosphere enabled the production of high density and porosity-free aluminide coatings. These coatings were characterized by beneficial mechanical features including thermal stability, wear resistance and good adhesion strength to MAR 247 nickel superalloy substrate. The microstructure of the coating was characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Mechanical properties and wear resistance of aluminide coatings were examined using microhardness, scratch test and standardized wear tests, respectively. Intermetallic phases from the Ni-Al system at specific thicknesses (20–30 µm), and the chemical and phase composition were successfully evaluated at optimized CVD process parameters. The optimization of the CVD process was verified to offer high performance coating properties including improved heat, adhesion and abrasion resistance.