Simulation and experimental studies of induction hardening behavior of a new medium-carbon, low-alloy wear resistance steel

TL;DR

This study combines numerical simulations and physical experiments to analyze the induction hardening behavior of a new low-alloy steel used in slurry pipes, enabling optimized heat treatment parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a coupled phase transformation model that considers heating rate effects, facilitating the design of induction hardening processes for new steel alloys.

Findings

Successful prediction of microstructure and hardness profiles through simulation and experiments

Validation of the phase transformation model with physical Gleeble tests

Design of induction hardening parameters tailored for the new steel

Abstract

Flux2D commercial software together with a Gleeble thermomechanical simulator has been employed to numerically and physically simulate the material properties profile of an induction hardened slurry transportation pipe made of a recently developed 0.4 wt.% C, Nb-microalloyed steel. After calculating the thermal history of a 400 mm diameter, 10 mm thick pipe at various positions through the thickness, different heating and cooling paths were physically simulated using the Gleeble machine to predict the through-thickness material microstructure and hardness profiles. The results showed that by coupling a phase transformation model considering the effect of heating rate on the austenite transformation temperatures which allows calculations for arbitrary cooling paths with calculated induction heating and quenching thermal cycles, it has been possible to design induction hardening parameters for a slurry transport pipe material.