Minimizing the Distortion of Steel Profiles by Controlled Cooling

Abstract

A complex thermomechanical model is introduced for the simulation of the transient fields of temperature and stresses during the quenching of steel products. The material behaviour is an extension of the classical J 2 ‐plasticity theory with the extension of temperature and phase fraction dependent yield criteria. The coupling effects, i.e., dissipation of mechanical energy, transformation induced plasticity (TRIP), and phase transformation enthalpy, are considered. The model is used for the determination of the optimal cooling or quenching for reducing the distortion in the long steel profiles. The simulation results are presented in order to investigate the effects of material properties, boundary conditions, profile size and geometry. In the simulations, L‐, T‐ and U‐profiles made of steel C45 and steel C80 are considered. It is demonstrated that with a higher cooling rate in the mass lumped regions of the profiles, the distortion can be reduced.