Numerical Study of the Effect of Different Factors on Residual Stresses and Distortion in Quenched Large Complicated Thin-Wall A357 Aluminum Alloy Workpieces
Xiawei Yang1,2*, Jingchuan Zhu2, Wenya Li1, Zhonghong Lai2, Zhisheng Nong2
1State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, PR China
2School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology,
Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang, PR China
Abstract
Finite element (FE) simulation of the quenching processes of large complicated thin-wall A357 aluminum alloy workpieces was carried out using ABAQUS software. A 3D coupled thermo-mechanical model was established owing to the symmetric characteristic of A357 complicated workpieces. The effects of factors including stress boundary conditions, solid solution temperature and wall thickness of on the residual stresses and distortion of workpieces after quenching were investigated numerically. The results show that, the stress boundary conditions and wall thickness are all classified as the sensitive factor to residual stresses and distortion but the solid solution temperature is not a sensitive factor. The results can be used as a technological guidance to solve the problems in quenching large complicated workpieces.
Keywords: finite element simulation; A357 alloy; complicated thin-wall workpieces; residual stress; distortion