Seven different thermal barrier coatings (TBC) intended for coating the inside of an exhaust manifold to reduce its material temperature were studied. They comprised five plasma-sprayed (mullite, forsterite, La2Zr2O7, 8YSZ, and nanostructured 8YSZ) and two sol-gel composite (one sprayed and one dipped) coatings, which were examined for their thermal insulation properties and oxidation and spallation resistance. Thermal cyclic tests in air and in exhaust gas in a diesel test engine showed that thermal expansion mismatch between substrate and TBC was most crucial for TBC lifetime. Moreover, thermal modeling indicated that it is possible to reduce the material temperature by 50°C, which is important for improving the fatigue life of exhaust manifolds. This reduction can be obtained with a 0.2mm thick TBC with thermal conductivity close to 0.1W/m K, or a 3–6mm thick TBC with thermal conductivity 1.5–3W/m K.

Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) may be used on the inner surfaces of exhaust manifolds in heavy-duty diesel engines to improve the fuel efficiency and prolong the life of the component. The coatings need to have a long thermal cyclic life and also be able to reduce the temperature in the substrate material. A lower temperature of the substrate material reduces the oxidation rate and has a positive influence on the thermo-mechanical fatigue life. A test rig for evaluating these properties for several different coatings simultaneously in the correct environment was developed and tested for two different TBCs and one oxidation-resistant coating. Exhausts were redirected from a diesel engine and led through a series of coated pipes. These pipes were thermally cycled by alternating the temperature of the exhausts. Initial damage in the form of cracks within the top coats of the TBCs was found after cycling 150 times between 50°C and 530°C. Temperature calculations showed that, besides evaluating the thermal cyclic life, the test method has the potential to provide a quick ranking of coating materials with respect to thermal insulation by measuring the temperature on the outer surface of the coated pipes. One of the major advantages of the presented test method compared to other methods described in the literature is that it ranks the thermal cyclic life and thermal properties of different coatings under realistic conditions in the correct environment. More cycles and higher temperatures are recommended for future tests, to accelerate the test, as well as evaluate whether the initial cracks in the TBCs will lead to spallation.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) may improve the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty diesel engines by reducing heat losses. A combination of durability, low thermal conductivity, and high directional hemispherical reflectance is required for a TBC in the combustion chamber. These properties are evaluated for yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings, produced using atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) and plasma spray–physical vapour deposition (PS-PVD). The influences of different types of microstructure and metallic coatings on the surface are studied. APS coatings with segmentation cracks and PS-PVD coatings with columnar microstructure have the best thermal cycling lifetime, while nanostructured and conventional APS coatings have the lowest thermal conductivities. The nanostructured APS coating has the highest reflectance at low temperatures, while the columnar PS-PVD coating has the highest reflectance at elevated temperatures. It is further demonstrated that a thin silver layer improves the reflectance of a dense, segmented APS YSZ coating.

Thermal barrier coatings have the potential to improve the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty diesel engines by reducing heat losses. A method for in-situ measurement of heat flux from the combustion chamber of a heavy-duty diesel engine has been developed and was used to study the running-in behaviour of different thermal barrier coating materials and types of microstructures. The in-situ measurements show that the initial heat flux was reduced by up to 4.7% for all investigated thermal barrier coatings compared to a steel reference, except for an yttria-stabilized zirconia coating with sealed pores that had an increase of 12.0% in heat flux. Gd2Zr2O7 had the lowest initial value for heat flux. However, running-in shows the lowest values for yttria-stabilized zirconia after 2?3?h. Potential spallation problems were observed for Gd2Zr2O7 and La2Zr2O7.

Thermal barrier coatings can be used to reduce the heat losses in heavy-duty diesel engines. A relatively new coating method for thermal barrier coatings is suspension plasma-spraying. Single-cylinder engine tests have been run to evaluate how heat losses to piston, cylinder head and exhausts as well as the specific fuel consumption are influenced by coating pistons with two different suspension plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings and one atmospheric plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating, and comparing the results to those from an uncoated steel piston. The two suspension plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings showed reduced heat losses through the piston and less heat redirected to the cylinder head compared to conventional atmospheric plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating, while one suspension plasma-sprayed coating with yttria-stabilized zirconia as top coat material showed increased exhaust temperature. However, the indicated specific fuel consumption was higher for all tested thermal barrier coatings than for an uncoated engine. The best performing thermal barrier coating with respect to indicated specific fuel consumption was a suspension plasma-sprayed coating with gadolinium zirconate as top coat material.