Numerical analysis of fracture in ceramic coatings subjected to thermal loading

In this paper the general purpose finite element code ANSYS has been employed to analyse fracture in ceramic coatings subjected to thermal loading. An approach is developed in which hypothetical material properties have been considered as material data for coupled (thermal and structure) finite element analysis. These properties were chosen by assumed changes in some functional properties of ZrO2-G.G. coatings. The aim was to evaluate the stress intensity factors in different coatings. Furthermore, to demonstrate the influence of crack length and coating geometry on the stress intensity in coatings, finite element analyses were carried out for various cases. The normalized stress intensity factors were obtained. The results showed that the shorter the crack length and the thinner the coating, the sounder the coatings. Furthermore, coatings representing a wide range of thermal and mechanical properties have a close normalized stress intensity factor values. It is also concluded that the finite element technique can be used to optimize the design and the processing of ceramic coatings. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.