Patent ID: 8372488

Claim:
A method of coating a surface of a substrate, said method comprising: applying a bond coat onto the surface of the substrate; applying a thermal barrier coating (TBC) system over at least a portion of the bond coat, such that the TBC system has a predetermined TBC system thickness; applying a first TBC comprising a thermal conductivity k A having a first value over at least a portion of the bond coat, wherein the first TBC is applied with a first thickness L A ; applying a second TBC comprising a thermal conductivity k B having a second value over at least a portion of the first TBC to form the TBC system, wherein the second value is different than the first value, wherein the second TBC is applied with a second thickness L B that is different than first thickness L A ; determining what a first TBC system thickness for the TBC system would be if the first thickness L A is substantially equal to second thickness L B ; determining what a first TBC system thermal conductivity value k for the TBC system would be if the first thickness L A is substantially equal to the second thickness L B using: k = ( L A + L B ) ( L A k A + L B k B ) ; using the determined first TBC system thermal conductivity value to select a second thermal conductivity value for the TBC system, wherein the second thermal conductivity value of the TBC system is substantially equal to the determined first TBC system thermal conductivity value; and selecting a thickness L A and a thickness L B for the TBC system with the second thermal conductivity value such that the TBC system with the second thermal conductivity value has a second TBC system thickness that is less than the first TBC system thickness and the second TBC system thermal conductivity value remains substantially equal to the first TBC system thermal conductivity value, wherein the TBC system is applied with the first TBC thickness L A and the second TBC thickness L B selected for the TBC system with the second thermal conductivity value.