MODELING OF INDUCTION

HARDENING PROCESS
PART 1: INDUCTION HEATING

Dr. Jiankun Yuan

Prof. Yiming (Kevin) Rong

Acknowledgement: This project is partially supported

by Delphi and CHTE at WPI. Dr. Q. Lu was involved
in the early work of the project.

http://me.wpi.edu/~camlab
 Induction: Why Induction Heat Treatment?
Advantages

Greatly shortened Highly Highly energy Less-pollution

heat treatment cycle selective efficiency process

Practical Problems
• Lack of systematic heating time and temperature distribution control inside WP.
• Nonlinear effect of material properties.
• Lack phase transformation data inside WP for hardness and residual stress determination.
• Evaluate combination effect of AC power density, frequency and gap on final hardness pattern.
• Trial and error, cost and design period.

Research content: FEM based electromagnetic/thermal analysis

Numerical modeling + quenching analysis + hardening analysis
may provide better
prediction Research objective: (1) Provide T field, time history inside WP
(2) Determine formed content of martensite, pearlite and bainite.
(3) Determine hardness distribution in WP.
(4) Guidance for induction system design.
 Introduction: Induction Hardening Process

• Induction heating:
metal parts heated to
austenite Phase

•Fast quenching
process transforms
austenite to
martensite phase
workpiece Inductor/coil

Heating
•Martensite process
content determines
the hardness
Joule heat by
eddy current
•Martensitic
structure is the
most hardest Electromagnetic Induction High
microstructure field coil freq. AC
power
 Principle: Electromagnetic and Thermal Analysis WP Coil

Electromagnetic Analysis Thermal Analysis with

finite element model
Input AC
power to coil

0  I dl
Calculation of
magnetic vector potential (A)
A
4  C r

Calculation of (Gauss’ Law for

B =A
magnetic flux density (B) magnetic field)

(a) WP geometry (b) FEA model

Calculation of H=B/
magnetic field intensity (H)
QN QN

Calculation of B (Faraday’s Law)

 E 
electric field intensity (E) t QW QC QEt QE
QB
QR+ QCV
(Outside)
Calculation of D=E QS
electric field density (D) QS
(c) Interior element (d) Surface element
Calculation of D (Ampere’s
 H  J Circuital Law) Heat conduction
current density (J) t

T
Calculation of Qinduction = E  J = J2/  c  k   2T  Qinduction
Inducting heat (Qinduction) t

T
Output:
Heat generation Qinduction in WP
 c
t
 
 k   2T  Qinduction  A      F  T 4  Tair4  A  h  T  Tair 

Induced Joule heat Heat radiation Heat convection

 Case Study: Complex Surface Hardening

concave
Material: Carbon
Steel, AISI 1070
convex
Automotive parts from
Delphi Inc.,
Sandusky,Ohio

•Concave and convex on

surface of workpiece make
the heating process not easy Real spindle to be hardened Geometry Model
to control.

•ANSYS system is employed

for the analysis.

•Mesh should be much finer

at locations of convex and
concave in both coil and
workpiece.

FEA model and B.C. Mesh generated by ANSYS

 Case Study: Material Properties -- AISI 1070

(a) Electromagnetic Properties

conductivity
WP relative Electrical
permeability Resistivity

(b) Thermal Properties

Emissivity
Specific
heat
Convection
coefficient
Case Study: Magnetic Field Intensity Distribution
 Effect of current density distribution

• Constant current distribution in

coil can not result in good heating
pattern, especially at concaves of
workpiece

• Better hardened pattern

resulted from modification of
Finer coil mesh and enhanced
(a1) Constant current distribution in coil (a2) heated pattern
coil current density at area
neighboring to surface concaves
of workpiece.

• Enhanced coil current density

suggests utilization of magnetic
controller at those area in coil
design process. Physically this
can be fulfilled by magnetic
controller.
(b1) Adjusted current distribution in coil (b2) heated pattern
Case Study:Temperature Variation with Time in Induction Heating Process

t=0.5s t=2s
Total heating time
th = 7.05s

f=9600Hz
s=1.27mm
J=1.256e6 A/m2

t=4s
 Case Study: Heating Curves

Summary
• A finite element method based modeling system is developed to analyze the
coupled electromagnetic/thermal process in induction heating and
implemented in ANSYS package, with following capabilities.
• Provide electrical and magnetic field strength distribution.
• Provide instantaneous temperature field data in workpiece.
• Provide Temperature history at any location in heating process.
• Provide guidance for inductor/coil design based on adjustment of current
density distribution and desired heating patterns.