In order to study the thermal insulation and cooling properties of thermal barrier coatings of a flame baffle,several ZrO2 thermal barrier coatings with different thicknesses were prepared on the surface of aluminium-alloy flame-baffle samples by plasma spraying.The relations between temperature and time of these samples were tested when they were heated by combustion flame.The relations between temperature of the coatings and the sample bodies and time were also tested when the samples at high temperatures were cooled by water.The experimental results indicated that ① the thicker the thermal barrier coatings,the better the thermal insulation effect of the thermal barrier ; ② the higher the temperature,the more significant of the thermal insulation of the thermal barrier.Also,in the case of water-cooling,the cooling rate of the coatings was greatly subject to the plate body and the cooling rate of coatings below 1.0 mm was equivalent to that of the plate body.