Abstract Background Thermal barrier coatings are a promising concept to improve the lifetime of the copper liner of a rocket engine. Due to the high heat fluxes and the large thermal conductivity of copper, coatings have to be designed especially for this application. Methods In this paper, we perform fully thermo-mechanically coupled finite element analyses of a small section of a combustion chamber with a coating system comprising a NiCuCrAl bond coat and a NiCrAlY top coat. Results Heat fluxes are calculated to determine reasonable coating thickness values. Elastic and plastic deformation in the materials is considered to study the stress evolution. A crack model serves to estimate the possibility of vertical cracks propagating through the coating system. Conclusions Several design guidelines are developed from these results that will aid future development of thermal barrier coatings.
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