The fracture of the functionally graded thermal barrier coating (TBC) under the thermal loads is a key for the engineering application of this kind of materials. In the previous studies, the functionally graded TBC is usually simplified into a laminate by homogenizing the material of each interlayer as an isotropic layer. Nevertheless, this method is a macro equivalent method, which neglected the microstructure characteristics of materials. In this paper, the computational micromechanics method (CMM) is employed to study the fracture problem of the functionally graded TBC with the interface crack. Essentially, CMM is a finite element analytical method based on the real microstructure of materials, which combines the digital image processing technique, the auto mesh generation technique with the finite element method. Firstly, the microstructure photos of the functionally graded TBC are required. Secondly, the digital image processing technique and the auto mesh generation technique are used to construct the finite element model. Finally, the finite element method is utilized for the fracture analysis of the functionally graded TBC under the thermal shock loads. Moreover, the problem is also analyzed using the macro equivalent method and the results from the two methods are compared. The temperature field obtained using CMM is basically consistent with the one obtained from the macro equivalent method and the influences of the interface crack on the temperature fields are limited in a local region. But results of the driving forces for the crack propagation, J-integrals, from the two methods are quite different. Comparing with the CMM results, J-integrals from the macro equivalent method are smaller. It means that the macro equivalent method tends to underestimate the driving force of the interface crack. On the other hand, the prediction of the critical location of the interface crack from the two methods is also different. Since the influence of the microstructure is taken into account by CMM, results of the present work may suggest that CMM is a more useful and accuracy method for the fracture analysis of the functionally graded TBC.
Analysis of an interface crack for a functionally graded strip sandwiched between two homogeneous layers of finite thickness
