Thermo-mechanical analysis of a coated cylinder head

This paper presents finite element analysis (FEA) of a coated and uncoated cylinder heads of a diesel engine to examine the distribution of temperature and stress. A thermal barrier coating system was applied on the combustion chamber of the cylinder heads, consists of two-layer systems: a ceramic top coat (TC), made of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ), ZrO2-8%Y2O3 and also a metallic bond coat (BC), made of Ni-Cr-Al-Y. The coating system in this research comprises 300 μm zirconium oxide TC and 150 μm BC. The three-dimensional model of the cylinder heads was simulated in abaqus software and a two-layer viscoplasticity model was utilized to investigate the elastic, plastic and viscous behavior of the cylinder heads. The elastic and plastic properties of BC and TC layers were considered and the effect of thermal barrier coatings on distribution of temperature and stress was investigated. The aim of this study is to compare the distribution of temperature and stress in the coated and uncoated cylinder heads under thermo-mechanical loads. The results of FEA showed that the thermal barrier coating system reduces the temperature about 53°C because of its lower thermal conductivity. As a result, the cylinder heads tolerates lower temperature and fatigue life will increase. The results of thermo-mechanical analysis indicated that the stress in the coated cylinder heads decreased approximately 24 MPa for the sake of depletion of temperature gradient which can lead to higher fatigue lifetime.