PREDICTION OF THE RESIDUAL-STRESSES INDUC ED BY HEAT-TREATMENTS AND THERMOCHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENTS

Predicting the results of a heat treatment in terms of microstructures and hardnesses, residual stresses and deformations implies modelling the thermal, metallurgical and mechanical phenomena that intervene dur ing treatments and their couplings. In the last fifteen years, importa nt advances have been made in this field, especially in the case of st eels. The results obtained make it possible today to use digital simul ation as an aid for a better optimization of heat treatment processes.