DISTORTION PREDICTION IN QUENCHING AISI 4140 C-RINGS WITH DIFFERENT QUENCHANTS

摘要

Quenching commonly causes a geometric distortion in the parts, associated with the thermal contraction and with the change in the mechanical and geometrical properties of austenite and martensite. It is of importance to predict the geometric behavior of mechanical components during heat treatment in order to improve the quality of the product, modifying the heat treatment process, or even defining a straightening process in order to correct the distortions. This study presents the finite element (FE) simulations of the quenching of AISI 4140 steel C-rings in oil and water. The severity of the water quenching was responsible for the larger distortion when compared to the oil water quenching process. The simulations are carried out with coupled analysis of heat transfer, deformation mechanics and phase transformations. In addition, hardness and phase transformation were conducted through numerical simulation.