EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF THE QUENCHING OF CARBON-STEEL

An investigation of the quenching of 1080 carbon steel cylinders has b een carried out to determine the validity of a quenching process model for carbon steels. The process model included a description of the au stenite-pearlite and austenite-martensite transformations in carbon st eels, temperature-dependent material properties, and an elastic-plasti c stress analysis. The model was stimulated using the finite element m ethod (FEM). An experimental study of the quenching of 1080 steel cyli nders in water and two types of polymeric quenchants has also been car ried out. The temperatures at three points within the cylinder during quenching were measured using thermocouples. The hardness and residual stress distributions along a cross-section of the quenched cylinders were determined using a Rockwell hardness test and an X-ray diffractio n technique, respectively. The temperature-time histories, residual st ress, and hardness distributions predicted from the FEM simulation of the quenching model were found to be in good agreement with the corres ponding measurements. The quenching process simulation described in th e study appears to be a promising tool for the design of heat-treatmen t process parameters for carbon steels.