Abstract
Quality control in heat treatment of steel is often conducted after the treatment. Failure to confine within the specified range of mechanical properties may lead to wasted energy and production resources. Performing quality control in-line in the heat treatment process allows for early detection and possibility to react to changes in the process. The prospects of utilizing the change in the electromagnetic (EM) properties of steel, as means for quality control, are investigated in this paper. The focus is on the tempering process of hardened SS2244 (42CrMoS4) steel. The tempering takes the hardness of the steel from approximately 600 HV down to around 400 HV. The EM signature of the steel is recorded during the tempering process. This is later compared with results from more traditional means of material characterization, such as laser scanning microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and Vickers microhardness measurement. This initial study shows clear indications of precise detection of the hardness through EM properties during the tempering process of selected material.
Highlights
Tempering is a heat treatment technique in which the goal is to reduce the hardness of hardened steel and thereby increase its toughness
To ensure the performance of the heat-treated steel, or finished product, is as specified, quality control is traditionally performed after the tempering process
This paper focuses on tempering, other heat treatment processes of steels could be suitable to utilize with this technique
Summary
Tempering is a heat treatment technique in which the goal is to reduce the hardness of hardened steel and thereby increase its toughness. The tempering process is dependent on both process temperature and time as well as material composition. Empirical relations, such as Holloman–Jaffe [1], between hardness and tempering time and temperature are usually used to determine the appropriate process parameters. These give good guidelines, but perhaps not the sufficiently correct value for any given steel if the data available is insufficient [2]. If the performance is substandard, the process parameters can be adjusted This procedure is fine while tuning the process but will become a problem if something unexpected occurs. Inductive sensors have been used to measure temperature in domestic induction cooktops [3] as well as in harsh environments [4, 5]
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