ICME Modeling of Erosion in Coated Metal Alloys and SiC-Based Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC’s)

• Published in: Volume 2: Ceramics and Ceramic Composites; Coal, Biomass, Hydrogen, and Alternative Fuels
• Main Authors: Eftekharian, Amirhossein, Park, Joshua, Morscher, Gregory N., Huang, Dade, Miraj, Rashid, Abdi, Frank
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: American Society of Mechanical Engineers 26.06.2023
• ISBN: 9780791886946; 0791886948
• DOI: 10.1115/GT2023-104088

Abstract Aircraft parts and components operate within harsh environments such as high temperatures, sand and debris attacks, and corrosive conditions. Coating is a typical solution to mitigate harsh environment effects and protect multi-layer (substrate, bond coat, and topcoat) components. However, coated components can experience cracks and bending during process of coating which affects the ultimate functionality and usability of as-built parts due to the manufacturing defects. On the other hand, erosion, which needs to be addressed during the design phase, can limit performance of hot engine components due to EBC/TBC delamination, spallation, and mass loss of CMC as well as fiber breakage and matrix cavity formation. A physics-based ICME tool that guides designers and analysts for erosion of coated components is highly desired considering the complexity of problem and more importantly cost of extensive testing programs. The ICME method is based on virtual manufacturing of coating process integrated to virtual testing of erosion. A physics-based multi-scale model is developed to a) track temperature field during coating process, b) support material modeling of substrate, co-bond, and coating including effects of voids and residual stresses, c) simulate cracks and deformation due to coating, and d) determine erosion rate and cavity size and depth caused by the high velocity impact of erodent particles and high temperatures by considering cracks and anomalies introduced during manufacturing. For this purpose, the ICME tool employs a thermo-physics code for thermal properties and a micro-mechanics solution that degrades mechanical properties based on temperature and voids during coating. The degraded mechanical properties including damages and cracks are then applied to an augmented dynamic finite element analysis that calculates progression of erosion due to bombardment of SPH particles and tracks mass loss, delamination, and damages of material constituents. The ICME tool is test validated for two cases: 1) SiC ceramic panels coated with EBC and 2) Stainless steel substrate with TBC coating. For both examples, simulation results show agreement with test in terms of mass loss and crater size due to erosion. Simulation also demonstrates that coated components suffer from cracks and damages due to coating which can exacerbate erosion rate. Finally, the ICME method is used to predict erosion of a coated SiC/SiC CMC specimens at high temperatures, where multi-scale progressive failure analysis considers fiber/matrix interphase as well as manufacturing defects due to coating process.