Patent ID: 6979498

Claim:
A bond coat for adhering a thermal barrier coating to an underlying metal substrate, the bond coat having an upper portion and which comprises: (1) a bond coating material selected from the group consisting of aluminide diffusion coating materials, overlay alloy coating materials other than a beta-phase NiAl intermetallic overlay coating material, and combinations thereof, and (2) a dispersion within at least the upper portion of the bond coat of particles having a particle size of about 2 microns or less and comprising a substantially insoluble bond coat strengthening compound, the amount of dispersed particles within the at least upper portion of the bond coat being sufficient to impart increased strengthening to the bond coat, wherein the bond coat strengthening compound is selected from the group consisting of, zirconium carbide, hafnium carbide, tantalum carbide, aluminum nitride, zirconium nitride, hafnium nitride, and mixtures thereof.