S. Schuettenberg, M. Hunkel, U. Fritsching, H. W. Zoch, Institut fuer Werkstofftechnik (IWT), Bremen, Germany

Summary: The distortion of a workpiece within the heat treatment process might be influenced by the control of temporal and/or spatial inhomogeneous cooling conditions. Suitable heat transfer conditions at the workpiece within the quenching process are realizable by impressing and regulation of flexible flow fields on the basis of jet arrays inside liquid or gaseous media. For analysis of workpiece distortion in heat treatment, the locally asymmetric quenching process is analysed and modelwise described in the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB570) "Distortion Engineering" at the University of Bremen (Germany). Here the potential of measures for avoidance as well as reduction of distortion within the heat treatment process is appraised on the basis of simulation models. The potential for distortion compensation by using asymmetric quenching can be ascertained by means of an integral process model. The model calculations are verified by experimental examination of model geometries in the framework of flexible quenching conditions.