Modelling the hardening of steel by the Kuyucak method.

AGALIOTIS ELIANA M.; MARIO R. ROSENBERGER; CARLOS E. SCHVEZOV; SANCHEZ SARMIENTO, GUSTAVO

San Antonio, Texas

Congreso; 2013 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium: CFD 4th International Symposium on High-Temperature Metallurgical Processing; 2013

TMS

Properties, such as hardness and strength of steels are dependent on the cooling time-temperature profile exhibited by the quenching medium.Heat treatments as tempering involve heating the steel to an elevated temperature and then hardening, which takes place in a vaporizable liquid medium.In the laboratory, the temper of steel is studied by inserting thermocouples in the specimen to determine the time-temperature profile during quenching process. This is not always possible; recently Kuyucak has described a process involving the measurement of the temperature increase of the quenchant. From these data cooling curves of the specimen are calculated which are then used to predict microstructure and hardness.The objective of this study is obtain a model by computer simulation through the finite element method for validate the Kuyucak calorimetric method. The material studied is an AISI 5115.The results obtained from the simulation are successfully used to predict the cooling curves.