A fluid–structure interaction approach to investigate the quenching characteristics of a steel tube with temperature dependent properties

Abstract

Quenching is commonly used for improving material properties of steel tubes because of their numerous applications. However, quenching generates some residual stress and deformation in the material due to rapid temperature fluctuations. The properties of the steel are strong functions of these variable temperatures and therefore, the estimated stress and deformation by constant property or static quenching analysis are not very realistic. This study describes the first extensive study of the quenching process of a steel tube including temperature dependent properties by three liquid quenchants using the dynamic fluid–structure interaction quench model. The cooling characteristics of the three liquid quenchants are compared to each other along with the transient temperature distributions in the steel tube. The time-varying nodal, axial, and radial residual stress and deformation of the tube are studied. It is found that, the effectiveness of quenching does not depend only on a particular quenchant, but also on the temperature-varying properties of the steel and the uniformity of the cooling which ultimately determine the criteria for selecting a suitable quenchant for a specific purpose.