A method of repairing a thermal barrier coating (16) on a component (10)
designed for use in a hostile thermal environment, such as turbine, combustor and
augmentor components of a gas turbine engine. The method more particularly involves
repairing a thermal barrier coating (16) on a component (10) that
has suffered localized spallation (20) of the thermal barrier coating (16).
After cleaning the surface area (22) of the component (10) exposed
by the localized spallation (20), a ceramic paste (24) comprising
a ceramic powder in a binder is applied to the surface area (22) of the
component (10). The binder is then reacted to yield a ceramic-containing
repair coating (26) that covers the surface area of the component and comprises
the ceramic powder in a matrix of a material formed when the binder was reacted.
The binder is preferably a ceramic precursor material that can be converted immediately
to a ceramic or allowed to thermally decompose over time to form a ceramic, such
that the repair coating (26) has a ceramic matrix. The repair method can
be performed while the component (10) remains installed, e.g., in a gas
turbine engine. Immediately after the reaction step, the gas turbine engine can
resume operation during which the binder is further reacted/converted and the strength
of the repair coating increases.
