Multi-field coupling simulation of vacuum carburizing and high-pressure gas quenching process

Vacuum carburizing and high-pressure gas quenching process is being widely used in the heat treatment industry. There is an urgent need for a mature technology to predict the influence of carbon content and quenching gas flow on the microstructure and mechanical performance of workpieces. In this paper, a coupling simulation system of the flow field, temperature field, phase field, and stress–strain field was established. And simulations and experiments were carried out for an 18CrNiMo cylindrical sample and a 20CrMnTi gear hub. The results prove that this system can realize the synchronous coupling simulation of the above physical fields, and the simulation results are accurate and applicable to complex shape parts, therefore can guide the design of the process control scheme of the vacuum carburizing and high-pressure gas quenching process.