Transient temperature and internal stress analysis of quenched centric and eccentric cylindrical tubes

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the transient temperature, structure and internal stress evolution and distribution of oil-quenched centric and eccentric cylindrical tubes by a finite element method. Thermal analysis is first performed to obtain the cooling curves for the core and surface of the tubes, and then followed by a structural analysis. The study finds that at the initial stages of the quenching process, the residual axial stresses are tensile at the surface and compressive in the core for both geometries. However, toward the end of quenching, the interactions of thermal and transformation stresses make the surface and core axial stresses of the centric tube reverse their sign several times. Under the same quenching process, it has been found that the residual stress distribution of the eccentric tube is quite different from the centric one.