Austenitic Fe-Ni-Cr alloys are commonly used for the production of castings intended for high-temperature applications. One area where Fe-Ni-Cr castings are widely used is the equipment for heat treatment furnaces. Despite the good heat resistance properties of the materials used for the castings, they tend to develop cracks and deformations over time due to cyclic temperature changes experienced under high temperature operating conditions. In the case of carburizing furnace equipment, thermal stresses induced by the temperature gradient in each operating cycle on rapidly cooled elements have a significant influence on the progressive fatigue changes. In the carburized subsurface zone, also the different thermal expansion of the matrix and non-metallic precipitates plays a significant role in stress distribution. This article presents the results of analyses of thermal stresses in the surface and subsurface layer of carburized alloy during cooling, taking into account the simultaneous effect of both mentioned stress sources. The basis for the stress analyzes were the temperature distribution in the cross-section of the cooled element as a function cooling time, determined numerically using FEM. These distributions were taken as the thermal load of the element. The study presents the results of analyses on the influence of carbide concentration increase on stress distribution changes caused by the temperature gradient. The simultaneous consideration of both thermal stress sources, i.e. temperature gradient and different thermal expansions of phases, allowed for obtaining qualitatively closer results than analyzing the stress sources independently.
The paper presents FEM approach for comparative analyses of wall connections applied in cast grates used for charge transport in furnaces for heat and thermal-chemical treatment. Nine variants of wall connection were compared in term of temperature differences arising during cooling process and stresses caused by the differences. The presented comparative methodology consists of two steps. In first, the calculations of heat flow during cooling in oil for analysed constructions were carried out. As a result the temperature distributions vs cooling time in cross-sections of analysed wall connections were determined. In the second step, based on heat flow analyses, calculations of stresses caused by the temperature gradient in the wall connections were performed. The conducted calculations were used to evaluate an impact of thermal nodes reduction on maximum temperature differences and to quantitative comparison of various base design of the cast grate wall connection in term of level of thermal stresses and their distribution during cooling process. The obtained results clearly show which solution of wall connection should be applied in cast grate used for charge transport in real constructions and which of them should be avoided because the risk of high thermal stresses forming during cooling process.
The purpose of this study was to establish a relationship between the type of wall connection used in the cast grates, which are part of the equipment operating in furnaces for heat treatment and thermal-chemical treatment, and stresses generated in these grates during the process of rapid cooling. The places where the grate walls are connected to each other are usually characterized by the thickness larger than the remaining parts of walls. Temperature variations in those places are responsible for the formation of hot spots, and in the hot spots temperature changes much more slowly. The type of wall connection shapes the temperature gradient in the joint cross-section, and hence also the value of thermal stresses generated during cooling. In this study, five different designs of the grates were compared; the difference in them was the type of the designed wall connection. The following design variants were adopted in the studies: X connections with and without holes, T connections with and without technological recesses, and R (ring) connection. Numerical analysis was performed to examine how the distribution of temperature changes in the initial phases of the cooling process. The obtained results served next as a tool in studies of the stress distribution in individual structures. The analysis were carried out by FEM in Midas NFX 2014 software. Based on the results obtained, the conclusions were drawn about the impact of different types of wall connections on the formation of thermal stresses in cast grates.
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