Thermal Barrier Coating Development on Automobile Piston Material (Al-Si alloy), Numerical Analysis and Validation

Abstract

Abstract This work is focused on the thermal barrier coating (TBC) development on aluminium - silicon (Al-Si) alloy casting materials, widely used as automobile components (cylinder blocks, pistons etc.). TBCs enable enhanced combustion within the chambers of diesel engines resulting in improved performance and components life. Uniform coating thickness development on complex contours of automobile pistons is a challenging task worldwide which results in varying thermal barrier characteristics across the non-uniform thickness. In consistent (in thickness) coatings are most likely to lead to uneven thermal barrier effects across the TBC thicknesses which directly affect the performance and the lubrication system of the engine. This warrants the development of stable and consistently thick coatings for ideal performance of the Low Heat rejection (LHR) engine. The present research work involved building different thicknesses (100, 125 and 150µm) of commercial 6-8%Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) TBCs on 50µ to 75µ thick nickel aluminide (NiAl) bond coat. The influence of thickness on thermal barrier characteristics via experimentation and numerical analysis has been studied. Flat plates machined from automobile pistons were used as substrates. The coatings were characterized for thermal barrier effects for hot ceramic surface face temperatures up to 550°C (by using oxy-acetylene flame to heat up the TBC surface), structural phase analysis by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and microstructure analysis in metallographic cross section by employing Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). An analytical investigation also was carried out to determine the approximate temperature at each interface. A code was developed to calculate the temperature drops across the coated plate and the net heat available at the coated surface using MATLAB. This is important considering the effects, small changes in temperatures will bring on the creep life on the metal.