RESIDUAL STRESS FIELDS IN HEAT-TREATED CASE-HARDENED CYLINDERS

Based on experimentally generated data such as thermal and transformation strains, temperature-dependent elastic-plastic properties, time-dependent thermal profiles, and core and case chemistry, this paper traces the stress history and development of residual stress fields in case-hardened carburized-steel cylinders from the onset to the final stages of quenching. Results were obtained by the use of a modified thermoelastic-plastic finite-element procedure. Special emphasis was given to establishing quantitatively the degree of involvement of the temperature fields associated with the heat treatment, plastic flow, austenite-to-body-centered-tetragonal phase transformation, and case and core chemistry in the development of such residual fields in both the case and the core. To verify the results, rhe final fields were corroborated by the X-ray diffraction procedure.