Aside from its importance as a design parameter for thermal barrier coatings, measuring thermal conductivity of thermal sprayed coatings itself provides a unique method to critically characterize the nature, quantity and anisotropy of the defect morphologies in these splat based coatings.

In this paper, we present a systematic assessment of thermal conductivity of wide range of thermal sprayed coatings using the laser flash technique.  The plasma sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings obtained from wide ranging initial powder morphologies as well as those fabricated under different particle states were characterized.  Both in-plane and through-thickness properties were obtained.  Other material systems that were considered include: metallic alloys, semiconductors and other oxides of interests.  Issues such as reproducibility and reliability in measurements were also considered and assessed.  Finally working in collaboration with the high temperature materials laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratories alternate approaches to characterization of thermal conductivity as well as high temperature measurements were explored.