Thermal mechanical stress modeling of GCtM seals

Finite-element thermal stress modeling at the glass-ceramic to metal (GCtM) interface was conducted assuming heterogeneous glass-ceramic microstructure. The glass-ceramics were treated as composites consisting of high expansion silica crystalline phases dispersed in a uniform residual glass. Interfacial stresses were examined for two types of glass-ceramics. One was designated as SL16 glass -ceramic, owing to its step-like thermal strain curve with an overall coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) at 16 ppm/oC. Clustered Cristobalite is the dominant silica phase in SL16 glass-ceramic. The other, designated as NL16 glass-ceramic, exhibited clusters of mixed Cristobalite and Quartz and showed a near-linear thermal strain curve with a same CTE value.