G. Pellegrino, F. Chaffotte, J. F. Douce, Air Liquide, Jouy en josas Cedex, France; S. Denis, J. P. Bellot, Ecole des Mines de Nancy, Nancy, France; P. Lamesle, Ecole des Mines d'Albi, Albi Cedex 09, France

Summary: High pressure gas quenching is a growing process for hardening of steel parts, which allows flexibility of operations, a reduced environmental impact, and a potential for control of distortion. However this rather new technology still lacks standardization and experience. Modelling offers an interesting path for extending the knowledge of gas quenching and optimising the process. This paper presents the main modelling approaches developed by Air Liquide and Ecole des Mines de Nancy for gas quenching and the associated numerical codes. These strategies are developed around a basis of heat transfer simulation in a first step, which are enriched with computational fluid dynamics in a second step, and metallurgical and mechanical modelling in a third step. The second and third steps have been developed in the course of a PhD work [1]. Pros and cons of each modelling strategy are discussed depending on required precision and available computational time. Experimental validation results are given.