International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18

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International Journal of Thermal Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijts

Temperature and thermal stress analyses of a ceramic-coated

aluminum alloy piston used in a diesel engine
Muhammet Cerit*, Mehmet Coban
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sakarya University, Esentepe Campus, 54187 Sakarya, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The goal of this paper is to determine both temperature and thermal stress distributions in a plasma-
Received 18 November 2012 sprayed magnesia-stabilized zirconia coating on an aluminum piston crown to improve the perfor-
Received in revised form mance of a diesel engine. Effects of the coating thickness on temperature and thermal stress distributions
15 October 2013
are investigated, including comparisons with results from an uncoated piston by means of the finite
Accepted 15 October 2013
element method. Temperature and thermal stress analyses are performed for various coating thicknesses
Available online 9 November 2013
from 0.2 to 1.6 mm excluding the bond coat layer. Temperature at the coated surface is significantly
higher than that of the uncoated piston. It is observed that the coating surface temperature increases
Keywords:
Temperature distribution
with coating thickness by decreasing rate. Increase in the maximum temperature according to the un-
Thermal stresses coated piston is 64.3% for 1.0 mm thick coating. The higher combustion chamber temperature provided
Diesel engine piston by means of coating results in the better thermal efficiency of the engine. It also provides for a reduction
Ceramic TBC in the substrate surface temperature. The normal stress on the coated surface decreases with increasing
Computer simulation coating thickness. Maximum normal stress occurs on the bond coat surface. Its value is approximately
Finite element analyses two and three times greater than substrate and coating surfaces respectively. Maximum shear stress
occurs on the bond coat surface and its magnitude is nearly double that of the substrate surface.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are commonly applied to sub-
strates to insulate them thermally so as to allow for higher operating
temperature. The desire to increase thermal efficiency or reduce fuel
consumption of engines makes it tempting to adopt higher
compression ratios, in particular for diesel engines, and reduced in-
cylinder heat rejection [1]. Coating of the diesel engine pistons is
one engineering application of TBCs among others. TBCs are applied
to insulate combustion chamber components or selected surfaces
like the piston crown. Heat rejection is then reduced in the cylinder
and the metallic surfaces are protected from thermal fatigue, espe-
cially from power and exhaust strokes of the diesel engine cycles. The
coating is a ceramic-based material that has low thermal conduc-
tivity and good strength is capable of enduring higher temperatures
than metals. One of the widely used materials is zirconia, which is
applied by a plasma-spraying technique. The main purpose of this is
to raise the temperature of the piston crown’s surface during the
expansion stroke, thereby decreasing the temperature difference
between the wall and the gas to reduce heat transfer. Some of the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ90 264 2955854; fax: þ90 264 295 56 01.
E-mail address: mcerit@sakarya.edu.tr (M. Cerit).
additional heat energy in the cylinder can be converted and used to
increase power and efficiency [1e6]. Additional benefits include
protection of metallic combustion chamber components from ther-
mal stresses and reduction of cooling requirements. A simpler cool-
ing system will reduce the weight and cost of the engine while
improving reliability. There are many potential advantages of low
heat rejection (LHR) for engine concepts such as reducing fuel con-
sumption and emissions as well as more durable pistons and exhaust
valves [7e10].
The bond coat layer is used between the TBC and the metal
substrate. The bond coat material is an intermetallic alloy that
provides oxidation resistance at high temperatures and aids in the
adhesion of the TBC layer to the substrate. The bond coat plays an
important role in reducing the internal stresses which may arise
between the substrate and the ceramic coating because of thermal
shock. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the bond coat
should be between that of the TBC and the metal substrate [1e5].
The coating thickness has a significant effect on the combustion
temperature, the temperature gradient and the stress distribution
in both coating and interfacial stresses. The thermal shock resis-
tance of a ceramic coating depends on its elastic modulus, thermal
expansion coefficient and thermal conductivity [11e15]. It is known
that thicker coating can provide better insulation, but residual
thermal stress leads to spallation of thicker coatings. Therefore,

1290-0729/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2013.10.009
12 M. Cerit, M. Coban / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18
determining the proper thickness of the TBC plays an important
role not only in the accurate assessment of the temperature drop,
but also in the resulting performance of the coated system.
Although many factors affect the overall performance of the coat-
ings, two of them are more important: oxidation of the bond coat
and thermal mismatch between the substrate (SUBS) and the top
coating (TC), which affect the lifetime of the coating system [2e4].
Thermal mismatch causes high stress value at the interface. On the
other hand, the lifetime of the TBCs can be limited by stresses
owed to changing thermal loads during the operation which lead to
crack nucleation and propagation in a parallel direction to the
ceramic-bond coat interface, leading in turn to delamination of
coating. Arising from normal stress, the other typical TBC failure
occurs through spalling of the ceramic top coat from the bond coat
(BC) [1,16].
Modeling of the piston temperature distribution is very impor-
tant for keeping the thermal stresses within acceptable levels at the
interfaces (BC/TC and SUBS/BC). Computer simulations of thermal
stress analyses are very useful and economically viable for reducing
the time and cost at the design stage of a piston in diesel engines
before the first prototype is constructed [17e21]. There are many
research papers on the calculation of the temperature distribution
[3,4,10,19,20], but thermal stress analyses are limited [2,14].
The aim of this paper is to investigate the aluminum piston
temperature and stress distribution by using various thicknesses of
the coating materials to achieve higher diesel engine performance.
As shown in Fig. 1a, the aluminum piston model used in the
simulation is a diesel engine piston. Thermal stress analyses have
been carried out by means of the finite element technique, which is
a powerful numerical tool. A quarter of the piston model and
thickness of the coatings are shown in Fig. 1b. Analyses have been
performed for various conditions: an uncoated piston crown and a
ceramic-coated piston crown with a ceramic top coat ranging in
thickness from 0.2 to 1.6 mm [2]. The coating is composed of a
0.1 mm bond coat (NiCrAl) and the ceramic (MgZrO3) deposited
onto the piston crown or substrate (SUBS) by air plasma spraying
(see Fig. 1b). The variation of the temperature on the piston is
examined as well as the interfacial stresses at the BC/TC and SUBS/
BC interfaces. They are compared with the results of the uncoated
piston.
2. Thermal barrier coating materials
Thermal barrier coatings are used to increase the operating tem-
perature of the material. The coating has a ceramic-metal
Fig. 1. The piston used in the FE analyses: a) photograph of the piston used diesel engine, b) meshing a quarter of the model and coating parameters.
configuration and may not be isotropic. Usually, non-homogeneous
ceramic coatings are applied to metal substrates. Thermally-sprayed
ceramic material has layered structures with a defect density result-
ing from successive impact of a multitude of fully or semi-molten
particles. Plasma-sprayed coatings have exhibited transversely
isotropic symmetry. Although properties of coating materials are
different in through thickness and in-plane directions, the material
behaves linearly in each direction. Elasticity modulus of the thermal
spray ceramic coating in the in-plane directions is approximately
Ex ¼ Ez ¼ 1.6 Ey [22]. The most important problem with the coated
system is the thermal stresses which occur during operation because
of the considerable mismatch between the thermal expansions co-
efficients of the metal substrate and the ceramic coating. TBCs are
preferred because of their low conductivity and their relatively high
coefficients of thermal expansion.
In this study, magnesia-stabilized zirconia (MgZrO3) used in
TBCs as a deposit material is preferred because of its good thermal
insulating properties and thermal stability at cryogenic and high
temperature applications [1,3,4,6] compared with other coating
materials such as alumina. The coating material is stabilized
magnesia-zirconia which has flexural strength of 520 MPa and
compressive strength of 1450 MPa. The thickness of the ceramic top
coating has been changed from 0.2 mm to 1.6 mm with a 0.2 mm
increment. Some of the thermo-mechanical properties of the zir-
conia, interlayer metallic bond coat, rings and piston are listed in
Table 1. The piston material is aluminum alloy including silica,
copper, chromium, magnesium, etc. Mechanical properties of the
aluminum alloy piston are 485 MPa, 450 MPa and 295 MPa for
ultimate, yield and shear strength respectively.
3. Temperature and thermal stress analyses
Steady-state thermal stress analyses are executed to study the
effect of thermal barrier coating of various thicknesses of the sta-
bilized magnesia-zirconia on diesel engine pistons. The variations
of temperature and thermal stress on the piston are investigated for
both coated and uncoated piston crowns. Thermal stress analyses
are performed by using the general purpose package software
ANSYS, produced by ANSYS Inc. PA [23]. The piston model used in
the simulation is manufactured for the diesel engine. The engine
chosen for this analysis is the MWM TBRHS 518-V16 direct-
injection diesel engine with a 130 mm bore and 160 mm stroke.
The engine is rated at 300 kW at 1500 rev/min for turbocharged
configuration and water-cooled. The geometric compression ratio
is 19:1 (see Fig. 1aeb).
 M. Cerit, M. Coban / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18 13

Table 1
Materials properties of the piston, bond coat and ceramic top coat [1,3,4,10].

Material Modulus Poisson’s ratio Thermal Thermal Density Specific heat

of elasticity [m/m] conductivity expansion [kg/m3] [J/kg  C]
[GPa] [W/m  C] 106 [1/ C]

Piston (aluminum alloy) 90 0.33 155 21 2700 910

Bond coat (NiCrAl) 90 0.27 16.1 12 7870 764
Ceramic coating (MgZrO3) 46 0.20 0.8 8 5600 650
Rings (cast iron) 200 0.30 16 12 7200 460

In the simulation, an axially symmetric finite element model is
used to reduce the total number of elements and computational
time because of geometrical symmetry, thermal boundary condi-
tions and loading. Uniform shapes and forms of elements play a
significant role in providing accurate results. Therefore, the mesh-
ing of the piston, rings, bond coat and coating is achieved with a
second-order couple field (thermal-stress) element with eight
nodes in such a way that it can support irregular shapes without
losing too much accuracy [23]. Moreover, line-to-line contact ele-
ments are defined between piston rings and ring groves. The model
including coating layers contains approximately 142,000 elements.
The system is modeled in multi-layers with a defined interface
between them such as a top coat, bond coat and substrate. Pistons
are aluminum and rings are made of cast iron. These materials are
assumed to be linearly elastic and isotropic.
It is well known that heat transfer phenomena are complex in
the diesel engine piston. So, it is assumed that the major mecha-
nism of heat transfer between the combustion chamber and the
piston surface is the convection in the thermal stress analyses
[3,24]. A convection heat load including the radiation effect is
applied to the piston crown surface. That is, the convection heat
load is enhanced to take into account the radiation effect. The en-
gine in wide open throttle (WOT) condition is considered. The
thermal circuit method is used to model the heat transfer in the
ring land and skirt region with the following assumptions: the ef-
fect of piston motion on the heat transfer is neglected, the rings do
not twist, the rings and skirt are fully engulfed in oil and there is no
cavitation, and also the conductive heat transfer in the oil film is
neglected [20]. Symmetric constraints are imposed in the axially
symmetric axis. That is, all of the displacements on the axially
symmetrical axis are set to zero in the radial direction. The sym-
metric thermal boundary condition is also applied to the radial
direction on the symmetry axis. Local average heat transfer coef-
ficient and gas temperature boundary conditions are determined
by using the engine cycle simulation code for the piston top [3,4,11].
The code calculates the heat transfer coefficients with an interval of
one crank angle degree. The piston surface is heated at the outlet of
the swirl chamber and cooled through contact with cooler com-
ponents of the combustion chamber. In the analyses, the following
equation devised by Hohenberg [25] is used to predict instanta-
neous heat transfer coefficients,
hgas ðtÞ ¼ a VC ðtÞ0:06 PðtÞ0:8 TðtÞ0:4 ðSP þ bÞ0:8
where hgas(t) is the instantaneous convective heat transfer coeffi-
cient (W/m2 K), VC(t), P(t) and T(t) are the instantaneous cylinder
volume (m3), pressure (105 Pa) and temperature (K), and SP the
mean piston speed (m/s), respectively. The calibration constants a
and b are calculated as 130 and 1.4. Averaged cycle values of heat
transfer coefficient and temperature are used for the piston top.
Boundary conditions for the oil-cooled part of the piston are ob-
tained from the literature as 95  C and 1500 W/m2 C, respectively
[11]. The other boundary conditions (temperature and heat transfer
coefficient) are taken from the literature [3,4]. Temperatures of the
rings are 200, 180, 160 and 140  C for first and second compression,
cooling and oil rings, respectively. The average heat transfer coef-
ficient and temperatures predicted as the boundary conditions are
given in Fig. 2. This model process is successfully applied by piston
manufacturers to evaluate design alterations [3,4,11].
4. Results and discussion
Results obtained from the thermal stress analyses by the finite
element technique, the temperature and stress variations for the
uncoated piston and coated pistons with various coating thick-
nesses of the ceramic material are discussed systematically. For the
uncoated piston, a counter-plot of the temperature is shown in
Fig. 3. As expected, the high temperatures are observed at the
crown center and bowl lip areas, since it is subjected to the heat flux
circumferentially. The maximum temperature is at the center and
the minimum is at the bottom of the crown bowl on the piston top
surface. To be more precise, the extreme values are 292.1  C and
243.8  C respectively. In the radial direction, the temperature de-
creases from the crown center to the bottom of the bowl, then it
increases towards the bowl lips and finally decreases again at the
edge of the crown surface.
Under the same conditions, counter-plots of the temperature
distributions are shown in Fig. 4aed for the ceramic coating
thicknesses of 0.4 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm and 1.6 mm. It is observed
that the values of maximum temperature at the crown center of the
pistons on the coating surface are 387.7  C, 455.2  C, 503.9  C and
h=700 W/m2C, T=700 C
Symmetry boundary condition
Radial displacement Ur=0 h=500 W/m2C
Adiabatic .O T=225 C
A.
h=400 W/m2C
T=180 C
h=400 W/m2C
h=1500 W/m2C T=170 C
(1) T=110 C
h=400 W/m2C
T=160 C
h=1500 W/m2C
T=110 C
Temprature of the rings are 200, 180,
160 and 140 ºC for first and second
compresion, cooling and oil, respectively
Fig. 2. Thermal boundary conditions of the piston used in the FE Analysis.
14 M. Cerit, M. Coban / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18

Counter-plots of the temperature distribution of the aluminum

alloy SUBS for the coated pistons are shown in Fig. 5aed. It is
observed that the values of the maximum temperature at the
crown center of the pistons’ substrate are 266.7  C, 250.6  C,
241.6  C and 235.1  C respectively, corresponding to coating
111.156 thicknesses of 0.4 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm and 1.6 mm. As is well-
known, the strength of the material depends on the temperature.
Therefore, it decreases with increasing temperature. Since the
131.264 strength of the piston is improved by lower operating temperature,
this results in increased piston life. Therefore it is important that
the temperature of the substrate is lower.
151.372 A special path known as radial distance is defined along line OA
(see Fig. 1b), starting from piston crown center O and ending at the
outer edge A. The OA line is over half of the piston crown surface
171.48 including extended bowl length. The temperature of the top
coating surface versus radial distance along line OA for various
thicknesses including the uncoated piston is plotted in Fig. 6. The
191.588 maximum temperature occurs at the crown center, and is 32.7%,
55.8%, 72.5% and 84.8% for coatings with a thickness of 0.4 mm,
0.8 mm, 1.2 mm and 1.6 mm, respectively. Although the coating
211.696 thickness increases rhythmically, the temperature increase does
not increase at the same rate.. The maximum temperature value
increases with coating thickness by decreasing rate on the top coat
231.804 surface.
The temperature distribution of the aluminum alloy substrate
surface for the coated piston with various coating thickness versus
251.912 radial distance along OA line is plotted in Fig. 7. As expected, the
aluminum substrate surface temperature is significantly lower than
that of the uncoated piston surface thanks to the low ceramic
272.02 coating coefficient of thermal conductivity. Temperatures of the
curves obtained for various thicknesses along the radial line OA are
similar to each other and roughly parallel. The maximum temper-
292.128 ature occurs at the crown center at 8.7%, 14.2%, 17.3% and 19.5% for
coatings with thicknesses of 0.4 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm and 1.6 mm,
respectively. The temperature reduction on the metal surface pro-
Fig. 3. Counter plot of the temperature [ C] distribution of a quarter part of the un-
vides a positive contribution to the strength of the piston material.
coated piston. Variations in maximum temperatures of coating thickness for
coating, bond coat and substrate surfaces are shown in Fig. 8. The
539.9  C respectively. Counter-plots of the temperature on the maximum temperature of the coating surface increases with the
quarter piston are similar to each other, but the temperature values coating thickness by decreasing rate. The maximum temperature in
are different. As expected, the maximum amount of increase in the the bond coat and substrate surfaces reduces with the coating
temperature of the piston’s crown top surface is observed for thickness. There is no significant difference between the temper-
1.6 mm thick coating, because of the low ceramic thermal con- ature curves of substrate and bond coat material; they are almost
ductivity with respect to the aluminum alloy. It is obvious that the parallel with each other and the temperature difference between
temperature of the piston top surface increases with coating them is less than 4  C. This temperature variation is similar to the
thickness. behavior of heat transfer in the substrate and bond coat.

111.142 111.133 111.127 111.123

141.877 149.369 154.769 158.77

172.613 187.604 198.412 206.418

203.349 225.839 242.054 254.066

234.084 264.075 285.696 301.714

264.82 302.31 329.338 349.362

295.556 340.546 372.981 397.009

326.291 378.781 416.623 444.657

357.027 417.017 460.265 492.305

387.763 a) 455.252 b) 503.908 c) 539.953 d)

Fig. 4. Temperature [ C] distribution of the top coating surface for various coating thickness: a) 0.4 mm, b) 0.8 mm, c) 1.2 mm and d) 1.6 mm thick ceramic top coat.
 M. Cerit, M. Coban / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18 15

111.142 111.133 111.127 111.123

128.426 126.628 125.625 124.894

145.71 142.123 140.124 138.665

162.994 157.619 154.622 152.436

180.279 173.114 169.121 166.207

197.563 188.609 183.619 179.978

214.847 204.104 198.117 193.749

232.131 219.599 212.616 207.52

249.416 235.094 227.114 221.291

266.7 a) 250.589 b) 241.612 c) 235.062 d)

Fig. 5. Temperature [ C] distribution of the piston (substrate) for various coating thickness: a) 0.4 mm, b) 0.8 mm, c) 1.2 mm and d) 1.6 mm thick ceramic top coat.

Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of the bond coat and sub-
strate is much higher than that of the ceramic coating and the BC is
rather thin compared with the ceramic coating.
As a diesel engine is subjected to severe thermal loading, ther-
mal stresses occur at the interfaces between layers, and the coating
can be damaged. Depending on the nature of the crack, any point
where maximum thermal stress occurs has the greatest potential in
terms of formation of crack nucleation. One of the ceramic char-
acteristics is brittleness, so small imperfections can easily spread
into large cracks and the coating may delaminate from the bond
coat. Therefore, it is important to determine the interfacial thermal
stress distribution so as to keep the stresses within acceptable
levels. For this reason, the detailed thermal stress investigation
focuses on the surfaces of the top, bond coat and substrate. At these
locations multi-axial stresses are produced because of the complex
geometry and thermal loading. Therefore, von Mises stress is used
as a combined normal stress. The numerical results obtained from
the finite element analyses (FEA) are presented as normal and shear
stress. Each component is discussed in terms of the radial distance,
which is the above-mentioned OA line on the piston.
At the top surface of the coating, distributions of normal stress,
which may cause surface cracks in the coating, versus radial dis-
tance along line OA for various thicknesses are plotted in Fig. 9. All
of the normal stress curves are nearly parallel with each other but
their stress values are different. The maximum normal stresses
occurring almost at the piston’s edge are seen as 142.9, 95.7, 74.9
and 61.5 MPa for coatings with thicknesses of 0.4, 0.8, 1.2 and
1.6 mm respectively. The maximum normal stresses are diminished
with the increasing coating thickness. Coating thickness increases
rhythmically; maximum normal stress reductions are 33.1, 47.6 and
56.9% respectively. The reduction of the stress magnitude is not
linear.
At the bond coat surface, distributions of normal stress, which
may cause spalling of the coating, versus radial distance along line
OA for various thicknesses are plotted in Fig. 10. The normal stress
distributions are complex because of the piston crown geometry.
All of the curves are parallel and especially close to each other for
higher thicknesses but their stress values are different. The
maximum normal stresses occur close to bowl lips and are 291.6,
278.7, 274.1 and 270.5 MPa for coating thicknesses of 0.4, 0.8, 1.2
and 1.6 mm, respectively. The maximum normal stresses diminish

305 305
525 525

290 290
Uncoated
475 475
0.4 mm
275 0.8 mm 275
Temperature [°C]

425 425 1.2 mm

Temperature [ °C]

260 1.6 mm 260

375 375
245 245
Uncoated
325 325
0.4 mm
230 230
0.8 mm
275 1.2 mm 275
1.6 mm 215 215

225 225
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 200 200
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Radial distance along OA [mm] Radial distance along OA [mm]

Fig. 6. Top surface temperature distribution with coating thickness along the radial Fig. 7. Substrate surface temperature distribution with coating thickness along the
distance OA. radial distance OA.
16 M. Cerit, M. Coban / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18

550 550
300 300
0.4 mm
500 500
0.8 mm
280 280
1.2 mm
450 450
Maximum temperature [ºC]

von Mises stress [MPa]

1.6 mm
260 260
400 Substrate 400

Bondcoat 240 240

350 350
Top surface
220 220
300 300

200 200
250 250

180 180
200 200 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7
Radial distance along OA [mm]
Coating thickness [mm]
Fig. 10. Normal stress distributions on the bond coat surface for various coating
Fig. 8. Maximum temperature distribution as a function of the coating thickness.
thicknesses versus radial distance along OA on the piston crown.

with increasing coating thickness. Coating thickness increases

The variations of the maximum normal stress distributions with
rhythmically; the maximum normal stress reductions are 4.4, 6.1
the coating thickness on the TC, the BC and the SUBS surfaces are
and 7.2% respectively. The reduction of the stress magnitude is non-
shown in Fig. 12. The maximum value of the thermal stress is
linear.
observed on the BC surface and its value is 302.5 MPa for 0.2 mm
At the substrate surface, distributions of normal stress, which
coating thickness. When the coating thickness increases gradually,
may cause spalling of the coating, versus radial distance along line
the maximum stress decreases by decreasing rate. The reason for
OA for various thicknesses are plotted in Fig. 11. The normal stress
the decreasing thermal stress is that the ceramic material has low
distributions are complex because of the piston crown geometry.
thermal conductivity. As regards the coating surface, the maximum
All of the curves are approximately parallel and close to each other
normal stress is 174.8 MPa for the same coating thickness. When
but their stress values are different. The maximum normal stress
the coating thickness increases gradually, the maximum normal
occurs at the edges of the piston crown as 67.8, 81.1, 83.6 and
stress decreases at a decreasing rate on the top coating and bond
84.5 MPa for coating thicknesses of 0.4, 0.8, 1.2 and 1.6 mm thick
coat surface. Reduction of the thermal stress on the coating surface
respectively. The maximum normal stresses increase with
is higher than that of the bond coat surface. In the substrate, the
increasing coating thickness. When coating thicknesses are
maximum normal stress rises with coating thickness but at a
increased rhythmically, the maximum normal stress increments
decreasing rate. Its value is 161.1 MPa for 1.6 mm coating thickness.
are 19.6, 23.2 and 24.6% respectively. Percentage reduction of the
It is obvious that the maximum thermal stress is a function of
thermal stress magnitude is non-linear.
coating thickness. The reason for this is that SUBS material has high

90 90
160 160
0.4 mm 0.8 mm 1.2 mm 1.6 mm
80 80
140 140
70 70
120 120
von Mises stress [MPa]

von Mises stress [MPa]

60 60
100 100
50 50
0.4 mm
80 80
40 40
0.8 mm
60 60
30 1.2 mm 30

40 40 1.6 mm
20 20

20 20 10 10

0 0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Radial distance along OA [mm] Radial distance along line OA [mm]

Fig. 9. Normal stress distributions on the top coating surface for various coating Fig. 11. Normal stress distributions on the substrate surface for various coating
thickness versus radial distance along OA on the piston crown. thicknesses versus radial distance along OA on the piston crown.
 M. Cerit, M. Coban / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 11e18 17

350 350 almost linearly. The maximum shear stress is inversely propor-
tional to the coating thickness.

300 300
5. Conclusions
Maximum von Mises stress [MPa]

250 250
Coating surface The numerical simulations clearly show that temperature and
Substrate surface thermal stress distribution are a function of coating thickness. For
200 200 all the coating thicknesses, the highest temperature appeared at
Bondcoat surface
the crown center and on the edges of the bowl rim on the top
surface of the coating and on the piston surface. The temperature at
150 150
the surface of the coated region is significantly higher than that of
the uncoated piston surface. Increase in the maximum temperature
100 100 at the crown center, compared with the uncoated piston, is 32.7%,
55.8%, 72.5% and 84.8% for 0.4 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm and 1.6 mm
thick coating, respectively. It is clear that a higher combustion
50 50
chamber temperature is provided by means of TBC. As a result,
thermal efficiency of the engine increases. Moreover, reduction of
0 0 the piston (substrate) surface temperature has a positive effect on
0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 engine performance.
Coating thickness [mm]
It is quite obvious that the maximum thermal stress is a function
Fig. 12. Maximum normal stress distributions for various coating thicknesses on the of coating thickness. The maximum normal and shear stress com-
top, bond coat and substrate surfaces of coated piston crown. ponents occur in the bond coat. The results indicate that thermal
stress is related to coating thickness. It increases with the coating
thickness on the SUBS. The greatest value of the normal stress
thermal conductivity. When the maximum normal stresses for which produces spalling of the ceramic is produced on the bond
various thicknesses are compared with the strength of all materials, coat. It is nearly twice the value of the maximum normal stress on
the values are lower than that. the substrate. As seen here, thermal performance of the piston
TBCs have a limited life because of crack nucleation and prop- increases with increased coating thickness. When stress values
agation in a direction parallel to the ceramic-bond coat interface. obtained from FEA are compared with the mechanical properties of
Another important thermal stress is the shear stress which leads to the aluminum alloy and zirconia material, it can be seen that
the coating delamination. The maximum thermal shear stress dis- calculated stress values are lower than the allowable stress values
tribution versus coating thickness at the bond coat and substrate of the materials, as shown in the figures.
surface is plotted in Fig. 13. The maximum value of the shear stress
is observed on the bond coat surface and its value is 138.4 MPa for
0.2 mm coating thickness. When the coating thickness increases Nomenclature
gradually, the maximum shear stress diminishes as a non-linear
behavior. The character of the curve is convex. As regards the TBCs thermal barrier coatings
substrate surface, maximum normal stress is 74.1 MPa for 0.2 mm CTE coefficient of thermal expansion
coating thickness. When the coating thickness increases rhythmi- LHR low heat rejection
FEM finite element method
cally, the maximum shear stress of the substrate surface decreases
FEA finite element analysis
OA curved line on section plane of the piston crown surface
(mm)
hgas(t) instantaneous convective heat transfer coefficient (W/
140 140
m2 K)
VC(t) instantaneous cylinder volume (m3)
P(t) instantaneous pressure (bar)
125 125
T(t) instantaneous temperature (K)
Maximum shear stress [MPa]

SP mean piston speed (m/s)

110 110 a calibration constants
b calibration constants
Bondcoat surface
T temperature ( C)
95
Substrate surface
95 BC bond coat
SUBS substrate
TC top coating
80 80

References
65 65
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