Piston performance has an important on vehicle reliability, efficiency and
exhaust emissions. The thermal barrier coating is an effective method to
prevent heat transfer from combustion chamber to the substrate. The
numerical model of thermal barrier coating piston is established by using
finite element method, and a comprehensive thermal-mechanical result is
given to determine the influence of ceramic thickness on ceramic layer and
substrate. Compared with uncoated piston, the maximum temperature and the
thermal stress of substrate decreased by 3.34%, 4.09%, 5.19%, 5.95% and
6.69%, corresponding to ceramic thicknesses of 0.15mm, 0.2 mm, 0.25 mm ,0.3
mm and 0.35mm. The maximum thermal stress decreases from 78 MPa to 73 MPa.
For ceramic layer of the thermal barrier coating piston, the maximum
temperature appears at the top surface of the ceramic layer, while the
maximum thermal stress occurs at the bottom of the ceramic layer. As the
ceramics thickness increased from 0.15mm to 0.35mm, the maximum temperature
of the ceramic layer increased from 322? to 377?, while the maximum
thermal stress decreased from 95 MPa to 89 MPa. Thermal-mechanical coupled
stress analysis shows that the maximum coupling stress occurs at the pinhole
and its value does not change significantly. The thickness of the ceramic
layer has little effect on the pinhole, but has a great influence on the
ceramic layer.