Europium-doped yttria-stabilized zirconia for high-temperature phosphor thermometry

In this paper a study of the temperature-dependent luminescence properties of europium-doped yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ:Eu) powder are presented with a view to evaluating the potential of this material and lanthanide-dop ed YSZ generally for temperature measurement in the thermal barrier coating systems used in gas turbines. The time constant of the exponential emissio n decay occurring after ultraviolet excitation with a pulsed neodymium-dope d yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG:Nd) laser was shown to be temperature depen dent with a dynamic range from 26 to 800 degreesC. Temperature dependence w as observed for two distinct emission Lines at 591 and 607 nm and the preci sion with which temperatures can be measured was estimated to be +/-0.05 de greesC at the elevated temperature. The results demonstrate that YSZ:Eu can be considered as a thermographic phosphor and employed for temperature or heat Aux measurements on surfaces in gas turbines or for monitoring purpose s during coating production where the temperature is an important controlli ng parameter. Possible improvements in the measurement system to enhance it s performance, the optimization of the YSZ:Eu formulation and the use of ot her lanthanides dopants are proposed for future work.