Modelling of the Coupled Electromagnetic-Thermomechanical Problem and its Application to Heat Treatment

Abstract

When a metallic workpiece is subjected to heat treatment the crucial role in obtaining the final mechanical properties plays, apart from that of the initial chemical composition, the thermal history, ie. heating and cooling. Understanding of mechanisms and identification of parameters influencing the phase transformation kinetics is therefore of major importance for designing a heat treatment technology. The considered problem is characterized by extreme complexity and its investigation demands an interdisciplinary knowledge. Although a vast empirical knowledge about the problem, which is rather complex, has been gained, experience proves that it is often not sufficient. It seems that mathematical modelling, when based on experimentally verified models and adequately numerically modelled, could enable through a computer simulation an efficient design of more complex problems in a very objective and reliable way.