IR thermography applied to flash experiments of semitransparent TBCs

Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) are applied to protect components of gas turbines from high temperature of combustion gases. ZrO2, the material mainly used in TBCs, is semitransparent to near IR radiation that is typically delivered by the laser in the laser flash equipment and also radiated at working temperatures that are grater than 1000 °C. Thermography and radiometers are utilized to measure thermal diffusivity of TBCs. Discussion is done on the countermeasures to obtain correct results in case of semitransparency.