Steady-state thermal stress analyses are performed to study the effect of thermal barrier coating of various thicknesses
of the stabilized 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. The piston model used in the simulation is
manufactured for the diesel engine. The engine chosen for this analysis is adirect 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 watercooled.
The geometric compression ratio is 19:1. In the simulation, an axi symmetric finite element model is used to
reduce the total number of elements and computational time because of geometrical symmetry, thermal boundary
conditions and loading. Uniform shapes and forms of elements play a significant role in providing accurate results.
Therefore, the meshing of the piston, bond coat and coating is achieved with a axisymmetric 2D plane (thermal-stress)
element with eight nodes in such a way that it can support irregular shapes without losing too much accuracy. The
system is modeled in multi-layers with a defined interface between them such as a top coat, bond coat and substrate.
Pistons body is aluminum and piston crown is are made of SiC. These materials are assumed to be linearly elastic and
isotropic.