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Modeling the Case Hardening of Automotive Components

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Abstract

A generalized framework has been developed within ABAQUS to model the surface hardening heat treatment processes for automotive steel components. The macro-scale heat transfer and stress calculations during the heating and quenching are coupled with the microstructural phase calculations, defined through a user routine, to estimate key process parameters such as case depth and surface hardness. This model has been applied to predict these parameters in two key industrial processes, i.e., case hardening of crankshafts and case carburization of gears. The results of the case depth and hardness calculations have been validated with the literature and in-house plant data. The effect of varying quench conditions on the overall stress distribution changes within the component has been outlined.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support by Mahesh Karandikar, GM India, for providing process data and material properties pertaining to the Induction Hardening and Ganesan SP and his GM transmission team for providing data pertaining to the gear carburization process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GM Powertrain Engineering, General Motors India Technical Center, Bangalore, India

    Tiruttani Munikamal (Senior Engineer) & Suresh Sundarraj (Technical Specialist, Adjunct Professor)

  2. Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Tri-cities, WA, USA

    Suresh Sundarraj (Technical Specialist, Adjunct Professor)

Authors
  1. Tiruttani Munikamal
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  2. Suresh Sundarraj
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Correspondence to Suresh Sundarraj.

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Manuscript submitted January 26, 2012.

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Munikamal, T., Sundarraj, S. Modeling the Case Hardening of Automotive Components. Metall Mater Trans B 44, 436–446 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-012-9775-7

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