Modeling and simulation of coupled phase transformation and stress evolution in thermal barrier coatings

The thermally grown oxide layer is known to be responsible for the failure of coating systems due to the generation of severely high stresses. In this work, oxidation induced stresses generated in thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems are investigated for high temperature isothermal oxidation. In that sense, a comprehensive model, where phase transformation is coupled with mechanics is developed for the life-time estimation of TBC systems and a modified version of the Allen-Cahn type phase field approach is adopted in order to model the generation of thermally grown oxide (TGO) in finite strain constitutive framework. The top-coat material behavior is modeled using a rate-dependent Gurson type plasticity for porous materials which also accounts for creep. The results for the isothermal phase transformation analysis and the model validation using experimental results are demonstrated. The capability of the model in predicting the local stresses which is the main variable in the analysis of possible delaminations and accurate lifetime estimation of TBC systems is shown.