A study on the impact of coefficient of thermal expansion of Thermo-mechanical stresses on structural components

Abstract

Abstract Thermal expansion is the tendency to change in volume with respect to increase in temperature. Structural components in Aerospace, Industrial and Automotive having thermal exposures such as Aerospace Engine nacelle components, Gas turbines and heavy engines should have high strength to withstand thermal loading, i.e., metals to have very low coefficient of thermal expansion. From past few decades, the importance of weight reduction is being considered in both Automotive and Aerospace Industries, it is the requirement of every Engineers to design a specific component having less dense, low cost, and high stiffness with better quality by satisfying the needs of the part to perform its primary function. The present work gives us an insight of selecting a particular alloy based on its Engineering applications, Aluminium Alloys AL7075, AL2024, Titanium Alloy Ti6AL4V, Nickel Alloy NI718 are predominantly used as structural components and chosen as alloys of our interest to study the impact of a fundamental property “Coefficient of Thermal Expansion” on the Thermo Mechanical stresses. In this work Structural components were modelled and Static structural strength check is done by FEM Analysis to study the effects of coefficient of thermal expansion for various designs for the selected alloys and finally it will be useful in selecting the appropriate material (Alloy) for respective design and environmental (Thermal or non-Thermal) conditions.