Technological parameters evaluation of gas quenching based on the finite element method

Several technological parameters have an effect on residual stress, hardness, distortion and other quenching results in the process of high pressure gas quenching. In order to research the effect of technological parameters, finite element method (FEM) is used to simulating the high pressure gas quenching in the paper. The evaluation functions are built on the average surface hardness, the standard deviation of surface hardness, the average equivalent residual stress of surface, the standard deviation of surface equivalent residual stress and the distortion of quenched part. The heat transfer coefficient, the preheat temperature and the quenchant temperature are regarded as the objective variables to evaluating their effects to the quenching results in the paper. The research results show that, the heat transfer coefficient is the most important factor of affect the quenching result, the preheat temperature and the quenchant temperature have a slight effect on the quenching result. The heat transfer coefficient is a perfect objective variable for optimization.