Computer aided simulation of heat treatment

Computer-aided simulation of the heat treatment of components and charges is examined. Existing programs for the simulation of heat treatment are reviewed. Test simulations including calculation of temperature, phase composition and stresses and strains during heating and cooling are performed with selected programs. The results of the simulations are compared with the results of heat treating experiments. Heat transfer during heating-up varies considerably between different treatments, components of the charge and surfaces of the component. Therefore, heat transfer data defined on the baisi of the measurements has to be used in exact simulation instead of literature data. According to the simulation results non-uniform temperature distribution, plastic straining and residual stresses after heating can be formed in an AISI 316 bar heated up at the edge of a charge in a pit furnace. Permanent bending of these bars as a result of heating is not observed. In the oil quenching of a 42CrMo4 cylinder, where martensite and bainite are formed in austenite decomposition, the simulation results (especially amounts of phases and residual stresses) are crucially dependent on the TTT-diagram describing the kinetics of the phase transformations. Several TTT-diagrams for the steel grade are found, leading to different simulation results