Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of Functionally Graded Material Plate under Transverse Loading for Varying Volume Gradation

Abstract

Functionally graded material (FGM) has a unique design in which material properties vary smoothly and continuously which leads to having better thermal and mechanical performance. Functionally graded material has a wide area of application from the pressure vessel to aerospace due to its tailoring properties. The main emphasis has been made here, to present a structural mechanical and steady-state thermal analysis of functionally graded flat plate made up of aluminum and ceramic. The flat plate is subjected to various boundary and loading condition. Material properties of FGM is calculated across the thickness using power law with the help of MATLAB programming. An analysis is performed for various volume gradation using MACROS in ANSYS APDL. The analysis results for functionally graded materials are compared with a composite sandwich plate for the same boundary conditions. It was found that von-Mises stress generated in FGM is 14.6% less than compared to sandwich structure, the stress in x and y-direction is 16.5% less, XY-Shear is 13.5% less and deflection is 33% less than a sandwich plate of aluminum and ceramic.