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Virginia Tech

Thermomechanical Modeling of Oxidation Effects in Porous Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The effects of oxidation in the thermomechanical response of porous titanium diboride have been investigated. An in-house quasi-static material point method tool was used to perform two -dimensional plane strain simulations on unoxidized hexagonal representative volume elements (RVEs) with macroporosity volume fractions of 10%, 40% and 70% to establish a baseline for the response due to geometric effects. Compressive strains of up to 30% were applied at room temperature. The 10% and 40% RVEs showed shear banding and subsequent shear failure of the inter-pore struts, while shear banding in 70% RVE weakened the struts, which lead to buckling failure. A snapshot oxidation model was then applied to the hexagonal RVEs in place of a transient, diffusion-based oxidation solver. Compressive strain simulations were performed on RVEs with oxide layers ranging from 5 to 50 μm. In RVEs with porosity of 40% or higher, oxide percolation in the struts reduced the effective elastic modulus and compressive strength, though further oxidation beyond the percolation point did not have a significant impact. Ramped and cyclic thermal loads were applied and the damage due to thermal expansion coefficient mismatch at the oxide-substrate interface decreased as the oxide layer was increased. Finally, the snapshot oxidation modeling approach was applied to large porous RVEs derived from micro-computed tomography images of titanium diboride foam. The effective elastic modulus decreased by 47% when the 5 μm layer was applied due to many thin, flexible struts becoming fully oxidized. Subsequent oxidation did not have a significant impact on the thermomechanical response.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Aerospace Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2021

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Morris, Brenton Alexander
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Seidel, Gary D.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Kapania, Rakesh K.
  • Tallon Galdeano, Carolina

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:31567
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/112917

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Morris, Brenton Alexander. Thermomechanical Modeling of Oxidation Effects in Porous Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/112917