Thermal analysis of functionally graded coating AlSi alloy and steel pistons

Functionally graded coatings are coating systems used to increase performances of high temperature components in diesel engines. These coatings consist of a transition from the metallic bond layer to cermet and from cermet to the ceramic layer. In this study, thermal behavior of functional graded coatings on AlSi and steel piston materials was investigated by means of using a commercial code, namely ANSYS. Thermal analyses were employed to deposit metallic, cermet and ceramic powders such as NiCrAl, NiCrAl+MgZrO3 and MgZrO3 on the substrate. The numerical results of AN and steel pistons are compared with each other. It was shown that the maximum surface temperature of the functional graded coating AN alloy and steel pistons was increased by 28% and 17%, respectively. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.