Enhanced mechanical properties and mechanisms of SiC whisker-reinforced YTaO4 composites

An ideal thermal barrier coating (TBC) material requires high fracture toughness to suppress crack initiation and propagation and excellent wear resistance to withstand abrasion under the conditions of ultra-high temperature, high pressure, and severe gas erosion. Although rare-earth tantalates are promising materials for TBCs, their low fracture toughness and high wear rates limit their application under extreme operating conditions. Here, SiC whiskers (SiC w ) are introduced into YTaO 4 to optimize both fracture toughness and wear resistance through crack deflection, whisker bridging, and whisker pull-out mechanisms. The results demonstrate that SiC w , as a second phase, can increase the fracture toughness of YTaO 4 by 146% and reduce the wear rate by 69.16%. Compared to traditional TBC materials, SiC w -reinforced YTaO 4 composites exhibit higher fracture toughness and lower wear rates, significantly extending the service life of YTaO 4 TBCs. Download: Download high-res image (456KB) Download: Download full-size image