Multiphysics Simulation of Quenching Process of a SAE 1080 Steel Cylinder, Coupling Electromagnetic, Thermal and Microstructural Analysis

Mechanical components, such as parts of internal combustion engine, subject to cyclic loads can be submitted to quenching process in order to improve mechanical properties preventing fatigue failures in service. It is important that such components, due to quenching process, get a high hardness surface layer, increasing the resistance to fatigue, and a tenacious core, with a high capacity of absorbing impacts. In this paper, a multiphysics simulation method of quenching process using Finite Element Method is presented. The proposed simulation method include two stages: heating and cooling. In the first stage, the mechanical component, initially at ambient temperature, is heated by electromagnetic induction to a temperature above the steel austenitization. In the second one, the component is cooled by liquid immersion. The resulting microstructure is calculated using the Johnson–Mehl– Avrami–Kolmogorov model and Sheil’s additive rule for diffusional transformation, while austenite-martensite transformation is calculated by Koistinen-Marburguer equation. The proposed method takes into account the variation of the material thermal properties as a function of temperature and microstructure, while the material electromagnetic properties are a function of temperature and strength of the electromagnetic field (magnetic permeability). As a result, the distribution of microstructure and hardness profile after quenching is obtained for a typical carbon steel, SAE 1080, for a mechanical component application.