Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded

Materials

M.S.RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

(An Autonomous Institute, Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum)
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
BANGALORE – 560 054

III Sem M.Tech – Manufacturing Science and Engineering

Subject : Project Preliminaries

Subject Code : MMSE 32

Name of the Candidate : - M.Gauthaman Udaya Suriyan

USN : - 1MS09MSE03
Discipline : - Manufacturing Science and Engineering

Proposed Title : - “STUDY OF THERMOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES

OF FUNCTIONALLY GRADED MATERIALS”

Signature of Candidate Signature of Guide

M. Gauthaman Udaya Suriyan Mr.Siddaraju

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 1

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

SYNOPSIS

Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) have continuous variation of material

properties from one surface to another unlike a composite which has stepped (or
discontinuous) material properties. The gradation of properties in an FGM reduces the
thermal stresses, residual stresses and stress concentrations found in traditional
composites.

This work will explore FGM applications in severe thermal environments, such as
aerospace and space vehicles. FGM performance is first characterized under thermal
environments and mechanical loading in order to understand the unique characteristics of
FGMs and to compare FGM structural response to traditional metal structure.
Conclusions from FGM characterization are used to support the goal of this work for the
use of FGM in applications demanding improved thermomechanical properties

An exhaust nozzle separates exhaust gas from aircraft structure for vehicles which
have internally exhausted engines that is stealth aircraft and UAVs with engines that
don’t exhaust directly to the atmosphere. Hot high speed engine exhaust flows over the
top surface of exhaust nozzles which in turn causes large deflections. Cracking typically
forms at the boundary of the exhaust nozzle where it is attached to stringers and stiffeners
which limit deflection and rotation. Because the hot gas causes the panel to expand and
the boundary region is held rigid by Stiffeners, a large moment develops at the boundary
and cracking results.

An FGM patch applied to the underside of the exhaust nozzle can used such that
thermally induced deflection of the FGM patch is in a direction opposite to the exhaust
nozzle deflection. An FGM patch can be tailored because of the change in material
properties through the thickness, namely the coefficient of thermal expansion. It is
hypothesized that a FGM patch can reduce thermally induced deflections and halt further
crack growth by changing the stress field at the boundary of the exhaust nozzle.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 2

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

Additionally it is hypothesized that an FGM exhaust nozzle can provide substantial

reduction in thermally induced deflection and stress.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 3

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

INTRODUCTION
Many structural components encounter service conditions and it is required to
material performance and it is varies with location within the component. For example,
body of the gear must be tough where as surface of the gear must be hard and wear
resistant and hence abrupt transition in material composition and properties within the
component often results in sharp local concentration of stress whether stress are applied
externally or internally. Consequently in mechanics, failure mechanism occurs in
materials the nature of interface or interfacial region would play an extremely important
role. From mechanics point of view material discontinuities would have generally
undesirable consequences such as higher residual stress, thermal and mechanical stress
and weaker bonding strength. Alternate concepts to overcome these difficulties very often
the interfacial regions are modified by introducing the third medium in the form of
interlayer and mechanically roughing the surfaces or by using coupling agents called
Functionally Graded Material (FGM).

Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) is a class of composites that have

continuous variation of material properties from one surface to another and thus alleviate
the stress concentration found in laminated composites. The mechanical and thermal
response of materials with spatial gradients in composition and microstructure is of
considerable interest in numerous technological areas such as tribology, optoelectronics,
biomechanics, nanotechnology and high temperature technology. The graded transition
in composition across an interface of two materials can essentially reduce the thermal
stresses and stress concentration at intersection with free surfaces. Similarly the stress
intensity factor at the crack tip can be altered by varying the gradient properties across the
interface. The ceramic-metal FGMs exhibit higher fracture resistance parameters
resulting in higher toughness due to crack bridging in a graded volume fraction. Varying
thermal expansion in graded layers induces residual stress and affects the crack growth
mode. In fact the interface bonding is much improved by providing smooth composition
variation when traversing the interface. The interest in graded materials focused
primarily on the control of thermal stresses in elements exposed to high temperatures (to
1600C), For example the Space Shuttle utilizes ceramic tiles as thermal protection from

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 4

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

heat generated during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. However these tiles are
laminated to the vehicle’s superstructure and are prone to cracking and debonding at the
superstructure/tile interface due to abrupt transition between thermal expansion
coefficients. In other words the ceramic tile expands a different amount than the
substructure it is protecting. The difference in expansion causes stress concentrations at
the interface of the tile and superstructure which results in cracking or debonding. This
work will explore FGM applications in severe thermal environments such as aerospace
and space vehicles.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 5

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Experiments have been conducted with the goal of analyzing flat plates under thermal
loading is to characterize the effect ‘ n’ has on the structural response to thermal loading
by taking the flat plate of material Aluminum-Zirconia with sides a=0.2 m and thickness
h = 0.01 m is exposed to various surface temperatures. The top surface is exposed to
isothermal temperatures in a range 0ºC to 600ºC and the bottom temperature is exposed to
a constant temperature of 20ºC and each top surface temperature examined is treated as
an independent model. The ‘n’ values of 0 (ceramic), 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and ∞ (metal) are
examined.

Journals have also been published on theoretical formulation, Navier's solutions of

rectangular plates and finite element models based on the third- order shear deformation
plate theory are presented for the analysis of through-thickness of functionally graded
plates. The plates are assumed to have isotropic, two-constituent material distribution
through the thickness and the modulus of elasticity of the plate is assumed to vary
according to a power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents.
The formulation accounts for the thermo mechanical coupling, time dependency and the
von karman-type geometric non-linearity.

In the journal “Design and Fabrication of Symmetric FGM Plates”expermiments were

carried on optimization of symmetric FGM plates and disks during sintering by computer
simulation was illustrated with respect to processing parameters such as green density,
particle size and composition profiles. The goal was to minimize the FGM distortion to
avoid cracks and to generate an optimum residual stress distribution. As an example,
FGM hard metal cutting tools and wear resistance disks were designed and fabricated
using Electro Phoretic Deposition (EPD) and Pressure less sintering. The results show
that optimal parameters in the FGM could be reasonably determined by the simulations in
order to achieve a successful fabrication. FGM cutting tools for high-speed cutting have
been developed and the processing of such materials by PM methods has often faced
undesirable excessive bending or warping of the component after sintering. Due to

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 6

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

excessive thermal residual stresses, cracks and other defects may often be observed in the
final component unless properly manufactured. To solve this problem and to provide a
better control of the processing parameters, Symmetric FGM plates (SFGM) can be
designed to have a surface compressive state (crack propagation suppressing), suitable
mechanical properties and easier manufacturing using PM. Finally they conclude that
optimisation of the design of SFGM by computer simulation was shown to be very useful
to investigate a variation of processing parameters. Calculation of the stress relaxation
during sintering should be considered using all adjustable materials parameters such as
phase fraction, green density and particle size in the different gradated layers.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 7

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

PROBLEM DEFINITION

Hot high speed engine exhaust flows over the top surface of exhaust nozzles
which in turn causes large deflections. Cracking typically forms at the boundary of the
exhaust nozzle where it is attached to stringers and stiffeners which limit deflection and
rotation. Because the hot gas causes the panel to expand and the boundary region is held
rigid by Stiffeners a large moment develops at the boundary and cracking results.

An FGM patch applied to the underside of the exhaust nozzle can be used such that
thermally induced deflection of the FGM patch is in a direction opposite to the exhaust
nozzle deflection. An FGM patch can be tailored because of the change in material
properties through the thickness namely the coefficient of thermal expansion. It is
hypothesized that a FGM patch can reduce thermally induced deflections and halt further
crack growth by changing the stress field at the boundary of the exhaust nozzle. The
following Fig1.1 shows typical exhaust wash in which hot gasses flows and Fig 1.2
shows portion of the exhaust nozzle to which FGM patch has to be applied. Fig1.3
Demonstrates the stress concentrations found in conventional thermal protection panels at
the tile / superstructure interface. It also shows how an FGM can alleviate those stress
concentrations by gradually changing material properties through-the-thickness of the
material but still provide the thermal protection found in conventional thermal shielding.

Hot gasses flow

through exhaust
Nozzle.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 8

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

Fig 1.3 Comparison of conventional and FGM thermally induced stress

An FGM composed of ceramic on the outside surface and metal on the inside
surface eliminates the abrupt transition between coefficients of thermal expansion offers
thermal/corrosion protection and provides load carrying capability. This is possible
because the material composition of an FGM changes gradually through-the-thickness.
Therefore stress concentrations from abrupt changes in material properties (coefficients of
thermal expansion) are eliminated. Subsequent applications include fusion and fast-
breeder reactors as a first-wall composite material, piezoelectric and thermoelectric
devices, high density magnetic recording media, in structures as fire retardant doors and
penetration resistant materials for armour plates and bullet-proof vests.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 9

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT STUDY

• Obtain FGM-AMCs reinforced with SiC particles by centrifugal casting

technique.

• Characterize and analyze Volume Fraction distribution of reinforcement particles

(composition gradient).

• Determine Microstructural characteristics.

• To study and understand the mechanics and behavior of functionally graded

material.

• To study the thermomechanical properties of the functionally graded material.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 10

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND PROCEDURE

Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) is cast by introducing varying percentage of SiCp

in the melt and pouring into the mold of the Centrifuge Casting Machine . Then the mold
is rotated at the required speed.

A centrifugal machine is used, which contains a power rotation system and a mould fixed
on the centrifugal casting equipment for forming cylinder samples.

Centrifugal casting is one of the most effective methods for processing metal matrix

composites (MMCs).

Centrifugal casting process is industrially used for production of axially symmetric

components as tubes, cylinder liners, rolling mill rolls, rings and bushes with main
application on iron and steel production industry and paper manufacturing.
This process allows to obtain high quality castings, being associated to several
advantages with respect to other foundry processes. This technique uses centrifugal
force generated from rotation of a cylindrical mould around its revolution axis for
"throwing" liquid metal to the inner surfaces of the mould and for solidifying it in the

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 11

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

desired shape. Therefore solidification is quite rapid and a good metallurgical quality
is achieved, due to two main reasons:
• Solidification starts from mould inner surface, corresponding to casting outer
surface, so low-melting-point impurities are carried by the solidification front to
the casting inner surface,
• Gas porosity is also “forced” at the casting inner surface, because of its low
density.

With a simple machining operation, the inner defective surface is easily removed.
Cores are not needed for obtaining the inner cavity and the “feeding” system consists
of centrifugal force, that can reach up to 150 times the gravity force: additional risers
are not necessary to compensate solidification shrinkage.

Several parameters influence the characteristics of FGMs:

• Melting Pour Temperature

• Mold temperature

• Particle size and dispersion of the reinforcement

• Pouring rate and

• Centrifugal Force (G)

These parameters affect several phenomena when the liquid metal containing
reinforcement particles solidifies in the mold such as: interaction and/or chemical
reactions between the solidification front and the moving particles; rate of variation of the
melt viscosity during solidification; interaction between particles and liquid; or the initial
position of the particles in the mould, before starting their movement in the liquid. This
helps in producing suitable FGMs which offers high Wear resistance and increased
Hardness with varying microstructures from one end of the cast to the other.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 12

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

MATERIALS USED

The raw material used in this study is Al6061 reinforced with 20% (volume fraction)
silicon carbide particles). The Al6061 alloy whose composition is listed in Table 1. The
reinforcement particles are chosen as commercial SiC with 99.5% purity, and a mean
particle size of (15.8±5.2) μm.

The mechanical properties of Al6061 are:

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 13

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 14

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

TESTING AND CHARATERISATION

MECHANICAL TESTING

Various testing are carried out for the aluminium alloy. For example, the tensile test is
carried out using a tensometer to find the tensile strength of the material. Various other
test can be carried out for the material.

WEAR ANALYSIS

The wear analysis is carried out using the pin on disk type wear analyzer. The test
material is placed into turntable fixture and specifies the test variables. A pre-determined
Hertzian pressure is automatically applied to the pin using a system of weights. Rotating
the turntable while applying this force to the pin includes sliding wear as well as a friction
force. Since pins can be fabricated from a wide range of materials virtually any
combination of metal, glass, plastic, composite, or ceramic substrates can be tested.
Software included with this model provides for quick calculation of the Hertzian pressure
between the pin and disc.

MICROSTRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

The microstructure analysis is done by cutting the specimen at different distances and the
specimen is mounted in the plastic pipe with the help of the dental powder. The
specimens are polished using the different grades of water emery paper in the polishing
machine at different speeds. The diamond paste is applied on the pieces and polished on a
cloth to get a final finish. Then the pieces are placed in the natal acid for etching to take
place. After the etching process the microstructure examination is carried out in an optical
microscope for different magnification.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 15

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 16

Study of ThermoMechanical Properties of Functionally Graded
Materials

REFERENCES

1. A functionally graded particulate composite: Preparation, measurements and failure

analysis, Acta mater. Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 259±268, 1999.

2. Processing techniques for functionally graded materials, Materials Science and

Engineering A362 (2003) pp 81–105

3. Reddy, J. N. Mechanics of Laminated Composite Plates and Shells (2nd Edition).

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC, 2004.

4. Michael M. Gasik, Baosheng Zhang, Omer Van der Biest, Jozef Vleugels, Guy Anne,
Stijn Put. “Design and Fabrication of Symmetric FGM Plates” Materials Science
Forums, Vol.425, 2003, pp.23-28.

5. Aerospace Specification Metals, Inc. “Titanium Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo, Duplex

Annealed.” http://asm.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp bassnum=MTA641.
December 2003.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MSRIT 17