Detecting key topics shifts in thermal barrier coatings (TBC) as indicators of technological advancements for aerospace engines

Thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems reduce the temperature of the metallic substrate of modern gas turbines, resulting in improved component durability and increased efficiency. This study examine the research publications and patents on thermal barrier coating in Scopus and USPTO patent database, respectively, during the period 1981-2018. Bibliometrics analysis reveal the developments in country and institution contribution to thermal barrier coating research as well as the trends in topics evolution and technology advancement. Results show that USA, China, Germany, Japan, India and United Kingdom are the top countries in thermal barrier coating research, and the Chinese Academy of Science, Beihang University, Forschungszentrum Juelich, NASA Glenn Research Center and Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- Und Raumfahrt are among the leading institutions that have high scholarly research output during 1981-2018. While USA dominated the TBC publication output during 1981 to 2010, China takes the lead after 2011 on TBC papers, and India took over Germany to become the third leading country on TBC research in 2018. The terms of the titles, keywords and abstracts of the publications, mapped visually using the VOSviewer reveal the progress of thermal spray technology. Results show that atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) and electron beam physical vapour deposition (EB-PVD) are well-established deposition techniques for TBC coating preparation, and plasma spray physical vapour deposition (PS-PVD) and low-pressure plasma spraying (LPPS) are two new emerging deposition techniques in TBC research. The journal papers cited by patents have low correlation to the highly cited papers in Scopus.