A Finite Element Simulation for Induction Heat Treatment of Automotive Drive Shaft

A finite element model was developed to predict deformation, temperature, phase fraction and hardness during heat treatment of an automotive drive shaft. The heat generation due to induction was treated as one of the boundary conditions for heat flux on the specimen together with the conduction heat loss during quenching. As for diffusional transformation, the transformation kinetics were modeled by Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov equation, whereas the Marburger equation was used for displacive martensitic transformation. The transformation plasticity was considered through the constitutive equations corresponding to each transformation mechanism and these equations were incorporated into the finite element model. Besides the transformation plasticity, an implicit procedure to calculate the thermo-elasto-plastic deformation was implemented in the model. The prediction accuracy for phase evolution, residual stress, hardness and dimensional change of the specimen was verified from the measured data. The effect of transformation plasticity on whole deformation behavior was described by the developed model.