High-performance ceramic thermal barrier coatings for carbon fiber-reinforced plastics developed by atmospheric plasma spraying

Coating development and performance evaluation of CFRP-TBCs. Developing ceramic-based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) on the fabric materials is challenging because they lack stable surfaces for achieving high-quality coatings. Herein, we propose the direct deposition of TBCs on the surface of carbon fabric, followed by the manufacturing of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite and the evaluation of its high-temperature performance. Yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) TBCs were deposited on 3K carbon fabric using atmospheric plasma spray (APS). The porosity of the coatings was tailored using a pore-forming agent, polyether ether ketone (PEEK), and the CFRP composite was manufactured through the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. The thermal barrier performance of the resulting TBC-CFRP composite was evaluated at various temperatures, and its mechanical properties were also assessed. The porous YAG TBC, with a porosity of approximately 35 %, exhibited a reduced thermal conductivity of 0.57–0.64 W/m·K in the 25–400 °C range. The thermal barrier performance tests revealed that the back-surface temperature of the TBC-CFRP composite specimen ranged from 253 to 305 °C, while the flame temperature was approximately 500–700 °C. The composite maintained its initial strength up to 500 °C and retained about 25 % even after exposure to 700 °C. This study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating porous YAG TBCs directly onto carbon fabrics to enhance the high-temperature resistance of CFRP composites while maintaining manufacturability through conventional VARTM processing.