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Process-integrated gas- and spray-quenching for high-strength ductile forged components

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Abstract

The metal working industry is continuously seeking for process chain improvements, involving, for instance, forging techniques, principally aiming at reducing the process costs, and improving the mechanical properties of the automotive parts. Promising new forging materials (e.g., high-strength ductile bainite ‘HDB’ steel alloy) offer new fields for process combinations, such as cold and warm forging, machining, and controlled in-process quenching. In the present paper, the design, implementation, and validation of a controlled gas and spray-quenching unit within an automated forging unit is described. A two-fluid, flat-spray nozzle is characterized for spray-quenching purposes (droplet size, mass flux, and heat-transfer distributions). Experiments are utilized to validate transient heat transfer simulations in order to extend the numerical model for quenching scenarios of complex specimen geometries (a stepped shaft and a common rail), involving various steel grades from the forging heat. The scenarios are validated using the automated forging/quenching unit, through hardness and microscopy tests. The high potential of the combination of forging and heat treatment (gas and spray-quenching) into a single manufacturing unit to ensure the homogeneous bainitizing of forged components is demonstrated in the present paper.

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Abbreviations

A :

air

Bi :

Biot-number [−]

h, HTC :

heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2.K)]

m:

mass [kg]

Q3 :

cumulative particle size distribution [−]

q3 :

particle size density distribution [1/m]

t :

time [s]

T :

temperature [°C]

\( \dot{\mathrm{V}} \) :

flow rate [L/min]

W:

water

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this project under “Leading Technologies for Tomorrow” fundings from the AiF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen “Otto von Guericke” e.V.) through resources from the BMWi (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Process Engineering, IWT Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Thibaud Bucquet, Steffen Waldeck, Sören Sander & Udo Fritsching

  2. Department of Materials Sciences, IWT Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Timo Hoja

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  1. Thibaud Bucquet
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  2. Timo Hoja
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  3. Steffen Waldeck
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  4. Sören Sander
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  5. Udo Fritsching
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Correspondence to Thibaud Bucquet.

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This study was funded by the AiF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen “Otto von Guericke” e.V.) through resources from the BMWi (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Bucquet, T., Hoja, T., Waldeck, S. et al. Process-integrated gas- and spray-quenching for high-strength ductile forged components. Int J Mater Form 11, 1–10 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12289-016-1336-1

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