 Such a TGO will have a structure that has a low diffusivity for oxygen, so that further growth is controlled by diffusion of metal from the bond-coat rather than the diffusion of oxygen from the top-coat.The TBC can also be locally modified at the interface between the bondcoat and the thermally grown oxide so that it acts as a thermographic phosphor, which allows for remote temperature measurement

TBCs fail through various degradation modes that include mechanical rumpling of bond coat during thermal cyclic exposure, especially, coatings in aircraft engines; accelerated oxidation, hot corrosion, molten deposit degradation.There are also issues with oxidation (areas of the TBC getting stripped off) of the TBC, which reduces the life of the metal drastically, which leads to thermal fatigue.