Simulation of carburizing-quenching of a gear. Effect of carbon content on residual stresses and distortion

Abstract
Predictions of deformation, residual stresses and hardness after heat treatment of gears by numerical simulation are very useful to determine optimum condition to decrease the distortion of machinery parts. In this paper, simulation on carburizing quenching of a helical gear made of carbon steel SCr420 was carried out using three-dimensional coupled analysis based on thermo-mechanical theory considering phase transformation. The expansion and latent heat due to phase transformation at various carburizing conditions were measured by TMA and DSC to determine the thermal physical properties of SCr420 carbon steel. The influence of the transformation plasticity strain on deformation, residual stress and hardness of a gear was clarified in the simulation. The accuracy of simulation also is verified by the comparison between the experimental data and the simulated result of the distortion and residual stress. From the predicted results, improvement of the hardness and strength on surface of the gear due to the carburizing-quenching process can be verified.