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com Special Issue-1, October 2014

SJ Impact Factor-3.995 ISSN: 2321-9653
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering
Technology(IJRASET)
Investigation of Thermal Barrier Coating on I.C
Engine Piston
S. Lakshmanan1 G. Ranjith Babu2 S. Sabesh3 M. Manikandan4
1
Research scholar, Anna University, Chennai
1
Assistant Professor, 2 3 4 Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Veltech Multi tech Engineering college, Avadi

Abstract: Thermal Barrier Coating(TBC) are used to stimulate the reduced heat rejection in engine cylinders. It reduces the
heat transfer to the water cooling jacket and exhaust system. Thus improves the mechanical efficiency. In this operation
Zirconia Ceramic is coated on the I.C engine piston using Plasma arc technique. Their performance characteristics and
results are studied and tabulated.

I. INTRODUCTION
According to the First law of thermo dynamics, thermal (4) Chemical inertness,
energy is conserved by reducing the heat flow to the cooling
(5) Thermal expansion match with the metallic substrate,
and exhaust systems. it's known that only one third of energy
is converted into useful work, theoretically if rejection of heat (6) Good adherence to the metallic substrate and
is reduced then the thermal efficiency likely to be increased. (7) Low sintering rate of the porous microstructure.
to a considerable extend. The Application of TBC decreases
Among those properties, thermal expansion
the heat transfer to the cooling and exhaust system which
ultimately results in the high temperature gas and high coefficient and thermal conductivity seem to be the most
temperature combustion chamber wall which reduces the level important.
of smoke and hydrocarbon(HC) emission.
III. MATERIALS
In particular, for the latter, durability concerns for the
materials and components in the engine cylinders, which Zirconia PSZ are cream colored blends with approximately
include piston, rings, liner, and cylinder head, limit the 10% MgO and are high in toughness, retaining this property to
allowable in-cylinder temperatures. The application of thin elevated temperatures. it retains many properties including
TBCs to the surfaces of these components enhances high- corrosion resistance at extremely high temperatures, zirconia
temperature durability by reducing the heat transfer and does exhibit structural changes that may limit its use to
lowering temperatures of the underlying metal. In this article, perhaps only 500 C. It also becomes electrically conductive
the main emphasis is placed on investigating the effect of a as this temperature is approached. Zirconia is commonly
TBC on the engine fuel consumption with the support of blended with MgO, CaO, or Yttria (3&4) as a stabilizer in
detailed sampling of in-cylinder pressure. The optimization of order to facilitate transformation toughening. This induces a
the engine cycle and the exhaust waste heat recovery due to a partial cubic crystal structure instead of fully tetragonal during
possible increase in exhaust gas availability were not initial firing, which remains metastable during cooling. Upon
investigated in this study. impact, the tetragonal precipitates undergo a stress induced
II. LITERATURE REVIEW phase transformation near an advancing crack tip.
This action expands the structure as it absorbs a great deal of
The selection of TBC materials is restricted by some basic energy, and is the cause of the high toughness of this material.
requirements: Reforming also occurs dramatically with elevated temperature
and this negatively affects strength along with 3-7%
(1) High melting point,
dimensional expansion. PSZ is adopted
(2) No phase transformation between room temperature and
operation temperature,
(3) Low thermal conductivity,

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SJ Impact Factor-3.995 ISSN: 2321-9653
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering
Technology(IJRASET)
Type Horizontal 4 stroke single schematic of the overall arrangement of the engine test bed.
cylinder water cooled To appreciate the effect of a TBC on engine performance, in
diesel engine particular fuel consumption, obtaining engine indicator
diagrams is necessary. A 10-mm water-cooled piezoelectric
Combustion chamber Direct injection
pressure transducer was used to measure the dynamic cylinder
`Bore 95 mm pressure. Unfortunately, the transducer of this size to be
directly mounted on it because no fill space is available for
Stroke 95 mm
such installation. To fix the transducer, an adapter mounting
Displacement 673.4 cc was fabricated.
Compression ratio 18:1
Max. torque 4.2 kg- /1900 rpm
Max. HP 13 HP@2400 rpm
S.F.C 192 g/ Hp / hr
Cooling system Condenser type thermo
siphon cooling system
Lighting system 12 volts / 35 watts
Std. pulley (DIA) 100 mm/optional 120mm

Table1
Zirconia Ceramic is a ceramic material consisting of
at least 90% of Zirconium Dioxide (ZrO2). Zirconium Oxide
is produced from natural minerals such as Baddeleyite
(zirconium oxide) or zirconium silicate sand. Pure zirconia
changes its crystal structure depending on the temperature: At
temperatures below 2138 F (1170C) zirconia exists in
monoclinic form. At temperature of 2138F (1170C)
monoclinic structure transforms to tetragonal form which is
stable up to 4300F (2370C). Tetragonal crystal structure
transforms to cubic structure at 4300F (2370 C). Structure
transformations are accompanied by volume changes which
may cause cracking if cooling/heating is rapid and non-
uniform and structural failure of any ceramic coating. Additions
of some oxides (MgO, CaO,Y2O3) to pure zirconia depress To draw the pressurized gas out of the combustion chamber, a
allotropic transformations (crystal structure changes) and 1.3-mm through-hole was drilled into the third cylinder at the
allow to stabilize either cubic or tetragonal structure of the rear of the cylinder head (Fig. 2), the only place suitable for
material at any temperature. The most popular stabilizing the mounting of the adapter and bypassing of the water jacket
addition to zirconia is yttria (Y2O3), which is added and of the cylinder head. In addition to pressure measurement, a.
uniformly distributed in proportion of 5.15%. crank shaft encoder was used to trigger the acquisition of the
pressure signal and also to provide crank positional
IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND OPERATION information. The shaft encoder possessed a resolution of 0.1
crank angle (CA); however, the data acquisition was set at a
A fully instrumented CI engine was mounted on a sampling rate of 0.2 CA. In this experiment, a non-dispersive
computer-controlled engine dynamometer. Table 1 tabulates infrared (NDIR) analyser and flame ionization detector (FID)
the specifications of the engine, while figure shows the measured concentrations of carbon monoxide and unburned

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www. ijraset.com Special Issue-1, October 2014
SJ Impact Factor-3.995 ISSN: 2321-9653
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering
Technology(IJRASET)
hydrocarbons (HCs), respectively. The TBC was examined A .T H E R M A L E F F I C I E N C Y O N F U E L C O N S U M P T I O N :
with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after the tests had
been conducted, and the chemical composition was analysed T h e r e je c tio n o f h e a t flo w to th e w a te r c o o l
with an energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) unit ja c k e ts a n d th e e x h a u s t s y s te m w h ic h e n s u re s a b e tte r
c o m b u s tio n in a e n g in e th a n th e b a s e lin e e n g in e .T h e d e c re a se
A. Plasma spraying technique: in th e fu e l c o n s u m p tio n le v e l w h ic h a ls o in d ic a te s a b e tte r
th e r m a l e f fic ie n c y in th e c o a te d I .C . e n g in e
In the various ceramic materials, partially stabilized zirconia

B ra k e M e a n E ffe c t iv e
(PSZ) has excellent toughness, hot strength, and thermal
shock resistance, low thermal conductivity, and a thermal
expansion coefficient close to those of steel and cast iron. PSZ
has been widely used as a thermal barrier coating in the
P re ssu re v s B ra k e T h e rm a l
combustion chambers of diesel engines.(6) Hence, in the E ffic ie n c y
present work, PSZ was chosen as the material for the thermal
barrier coating in the piston crown. In the present 50 B T E ( B a s e lin e )
investigation,(5) the piston crown was coated with the PSZ 0 2 4 6 %
ceramic material, using a plasma spraying technique. Plasma B T E (C o a te d )
spraying is a thermal spray process that uses an inert plasma B M E P (b a r)
%
stream of high velocity to melt and propel the coating material
on to the substrate.(1) In th e e m is s io n m e a s u re m e n ts , th e
ta ilp ip e u H C a n d C O c o n c e n tra tio n s w e re c o n d u c te d . It w a s
V. PERFOMANCES AND CHARTERISTICS d is c o v e re d th a t th e C O d id n o t v a r y m u c h in e ith e r th e
b a s e lin e o r T B C te s t. T h e v a r ia tio n s w e re m o re o r le s s w ith in
Figures compares the results obtained from both the baseline th e r e s o lu tio n o f th e N D I R a n a ly z e r , w h ic h w a s 0 .1 v o l.%
and TBC piston tests. In general, the TBC piston tests showed c o n c e n tr a tio n ,( 2 1 ) w h e r e a s th e r e s o lu tio n o f th e F I D u s e d w a s
lower exhaust gas temperatures, which, combined with the 1 p p m . F ig u re 6 c o m p a re s th e b ra k e s p e c ific fu e l
results shown in Figure, positively indicated that the c o n s u m p tio n b e tw e e n th e b a s e lin e a n d T B C p is to n te s ts .
R e s u lts s h o w th a t, in g e n e ra l, th e fu e l c o n s u m p tio n w a s lo w e r
performance of the engine would be improved.(2)
in th e T B C p is to n te s ts fo r th e s a m e o p e ra tin g c o n d itio n , w ith
a n im p ro v e m e n t o f u p to 6 % a t lo w e r e n g in e p o w e r. T h e s e lf-
Swept volume
Speed Voltage Current Power FC FC FC SFC BMEP CV Fuel EnergyEfficiency
o p tim iz e d c y c le e ffic ie n c y d u e to th e a lte re d ig n itio n
cu.m rpm V A kW s/5cc g/hr kg/s g/(kW.hr) bar kJ/kg kW %
0.000673 1500 230 0 0 28.13 537.5044 0.000149 - 0 42500 6.345539 0
c h a ra c te ris tic s in th e T B C p is to n e n g in e o u tn u m b e re d th e
0.000673 1500 230 2 0.541176 23.38 646.7066 0.00018 1195.001 0.642937 42500 7.634731 7.088351 s lig h tly re d u c e d c o m b u s tio n e ffic ie n c y w ith a n o v e r a ll
0.000673 1500 230 4 1.082353 18.57 814.2165 0.000226 752.2652 1.285873 42500 9.612278 11.26011 im p ro v e m e n t in th e r m a l e ffic ie n c y a s a w h o le . T h e le v e l o f
0.000673 1500 230 6 1.623529 17.31 873.4835 0.000243 538.0152 1.92881 42500 10.31196 15.74414 im p ro v e m e n t th a t h a s b e e n p re d ic te d ra n g e d fro m 2 to 1 2 % .
0.000673 1500 230 8 2.164706 15.87 952.741 0.000265 440.1249 2.571747 42500 11.24764 19.24587 T h e y a ttrib u te th is to in s u la tio n o f in -c y lin d e r c o m p o n e n ts
0.000673 1500 230 10 2.705882 12.31 1228.27 0.000341 453.9258 3.214683 42500 14.50041 18.66073 .
0.000673 1500 230 12 3.247059 11.86 1274.874 0.000354 392.6241 3.85762 42500 15.05059 21.5743
B A S E L IN E E N G IN E V S C O A T E D E N G IN E
B ra k e P o w e r v s F u e l
Swept volume
Speed Voltage Current Power FC FC FC SFC BMEP CV Fuel EnergyEfficiency C o n s u m p t io n
0 .0 0 0 4
cu.m rpm V A kW s/5cc g/hr kg/s g/(kW.hr) bar kJ/kg kW %
0.000673 1500 230 0 0 24.86 608.206 0.000169 #DIV/0! 0 42500 7.180209 0
0.000673 1500 230 2 0.541176 22.85 661.7068 0.000184 1222.719 0.642937 42500 7.811816 6.927665 0 .0 0 0 2
FC
0.000673 1500 230 4 1.082353 20.12 751.4911 0.000209 694.3124 1.285873 42500 8.871769 12.19997
0.000673 1500 230 6 1.623529 18.38 822.6333 0.000229 506.6944 1.92881 42500 9.711643 16.71735
( B a s e lin e )
0 kg/s
0.000673 1500 230 8 2.164706 15.37 983.7345 0.000273 454.4426 2.571747 42500 11.61353 18.63951
0.000673 1500 230 10 2.705882 13.27 1139.412 0.000317 421.0871 3.214683 42500 13.45139 20.116 0 5
0.000673 1500 230 12 3.247059 13.13 1151.561 0.00032 354.6475 3.85762 42500 13.59482 23.88453 B P (k W )

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SJ Impact Factor-3.995 ISSN: 2321-9653
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering
Technology(IJRASET)
EXHAUST EMISSION: that in water-cooled engines. They say this is due to higher
combustion temperature and longer combustion duration. .
A.HYDROCARBONS: Reference reports an increase in the LHR engine NOx
The level of emission of unburned
emissions and concluded that diffusion burning is the
hydrocarbon(UHC) is considerably decreased due to reduction
of flow of heat to the water cool jackets and exhaust controlling factor for the production of NOx. Almost equal
system.But due to high temperature gas and high temperature number of investigations report declining trend in the level of
combustion wall which contributes combustion of lubricating emission of NOx. Reference indicates reduction in NOx level.
oil,which ultimately leads to emission of unburned They reason this to the shortening of the ignition delay that
hydrocarbon. decreases the proportion of the premixed combustion.
Load vs NOx

Load vs HC
Load vs NOx
15
800
10 HC 600 Nox in
(Baseline) 400 ppm(baselin
5 ppm 200 e)
HC (Coated) 0 Nox in
0 ppm 0 10 20 ppm(Final)
0 5 10 15
LOAD (Amps)
LOAD (Amps)

Few drawbacks with TBCs

B. Carbon monoxide(CO):
During operation TBCs are exposed to various thermal and
The higher temperatures both in the gases and at the
combustion chamber walls of the LHR engine assist in mechanical loads such as thermal cycling, high and low cycle
permitting the oxidation of CO.The higher temperature causes fatigue, hot corrosion and high temperature erosion. Currently,
complete combustion of carbon which results in combustion because of reliability problems, the thickness of TBCs is
of CO emission. limited, in most applications, to 500m. Increasing coating
thickness increases the risk of coating failure and leads to a
Load vs CO reduced coating lifetime. The failure mechanisms that cause
0.08 TTBC coating spallation differ in some degree from that of
0.06 CO- by the traditional thinner coatings. A major reason for traditional
volume TBC failure and coating spallation in gas turbines is typically
0.04 %(base line) bond coat oxidation. When the thickness of the thermally
0.02 grown oxide (TGO) exceeds a certain limit, it induces the
CO-by
0 volume critical stress for coating failure. Thicker coatings have higher
0 10 20 %(Coated) temperature gradients through the coating and thus have
LOAD (Amps) higher internal stresses.
Although the coefficient of thermal expansion
C. Nitrogen oxides: (CTE) of 8Y2O3-ZrO2 is close to that of the substrate
NOx is formed by chain reactions involving Nitrogen material, the CTE difference between the substrate and
and Oxygen in the air. These reactions are highly temperature coating induces stresses at high temperatures at the coating
dependent. Since diesel engines always operate with excess interface. The strain tolerance of TTBC has to be managed by
air, NOx emissions are mainly a function of gas temperature controlling the coating microstructure.
and residence time. Most of the earlier investigations show Use of thicker coatings generally leads to
that NOx emission from LHR engines is generally higher than higher coating surface temperatures that can be detrimental if

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SJ Impact Factor-3.995 ISSN: 2321-9653
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering
Technology(IJRASET)
certain limits are exceeded. In the long run, the phase structure Journal of Engineering and Technology Vol.3 (3), 2011,
of yettria stabilized zirconia (8Y2O3-ZrO2) is not stable 256-262.
above 1250C. Also the strain tolerance of the coating can be [3] Pankaj N. Shrirao, Anand N. Pawar. An Overview on
lost rapidly by sintering if too high surface temperatures are Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) Materials and Its Effect
allowed. on Engine Performance and Emission. International
VI. CONCLUSIONS Journal of Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering
(IJARME), Volume1, Issue2, 2011.
The results showed that, increasing the brake thermal [4] H. Samadi, T.W.Coyle. Alternative Thermal Barrier
efficiency and decreasing the specific fuel consumption for
Coatings for Diesel Engines.
Light heat Rejection engine with thermal coated piston
compared to the standard engine. There was increasing the [5] S.H. Chan and K.A. Khor, The Effect of Thermal
NOx emission and O2 for thermal barrier coated engine. Barrier Coated Piston Crown on Engine Characteristics.
However there was decreasing the CO and HC emissions for Submitted 14 July 1998, in revised form 7 June 1999.
thermal coated piston engine compared to the standard engine. [6] V. Ganesan, Internal Combustion Engines. 4th Edition,
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[6] R.D. James, D.L. Paisley, K.A. Gruss, S. Parthasarthi,
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