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ICME TOOLS CAN HELP CONTROL
GEAR DISTORTION FROM HEAT TREATING
INTEGRATED COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS ENGINEERING TOOLS ENABLE ACCURATE SIMULATION
OF GEAR HEAT TREATMENT TO PREDICT PHASE TRANSFORMATION KINETICS AND DISTORTION.
Junsheng Wang, Xuming Su, and Mei Li
Ford Research and Advanced Engineering Lab, Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich.
Ronald Lucas and William Dowling*
Powertrain Manufacturing Engineering, Ford Motor Co., Livonia, Mich.
Most gears used in industrial applications
are carburized and quenched to meet
surface and core hardness and overall
fatigue strength requirements. Low
pressure vacuum carburizing (LPC) com-
bined with high pressure gas quench-
ing (HPGQ) offers the opportunity to
minimize environmental impact, elimi-
nate oxidation and surface decarburiza-
tion, accurately control case depth and
core hardness, and produce consistent
microstructure, and thus, fatigue per-
formance from batch to batch.
LPC/HPGQ has the potential to mini-
mize distortion by controlling such pa-
rameters as gas flow velocity, operating
pressure, chamber geometry, and fixture
materials. A time-efficient, cost-effective
way to optimize those parameters is to
integrate various computational tools
such as computational fluid dynamics
(CFD), finite element analysis (FEA), and
microstructure modeling to perform nu-
merical tests for specific type of gears.
This article discusses the development of
an integrated computational materials
engineering (ICME) tool and its practical
application in product development.
Manufacturing challenges
Increasing demand for vehicle fuel effi-
*Member of ASM International
(a)
~930°C, low pressure <20 mbar
Austenite
C2H2 ® 2C + H2
Temperature
Carburizing Diffusion
N2 + acetylene
boost N2 flow
N2 flow
27°C
Heating
Fig. 1 — (a) LPC and HPGQ heat treating process and schematics of (b) straight quench and (c) step quench.
ciency has led to weight reduction of
transmission components, and trans-
mission gears of thinner cross section
are more sensitive to distortion during
manufacture[1-2]. Transmission gears
have very tight dimensional tolerances
to meet durability, as well as noise,
vibration, and harshness (NVH)
requirements. This creates processing
challenges from machining through
heat treating. Along with the effects of
residual stresses from machining, dis-
tortion is caused by nonuniform plas-
tic deformation due to thermal and
phase-transformation stresses during
heat treatment. Parts that do not meet
quality control specifications may re-
quire additional grinding and other
corrective measures to meet dimen-
sional tolerances, which significantly
increases costs.
Low pressure carburizing combined
with high pressure gas quenching pro-
duces less distortion compared with
other heat treating methods[3-4]. It con-
sists of vacuum carburization at an
austenitizing temperature of ~930°C fol-
lowed by high pressure nitrogen gas
quenching at 1–20 bar (Fig. 1a). Acety-
lene is supplied at low pressure in sev-
(b)
High pressure
1–20 bar
~870°C
Pearlite
Temperature
~400°C Bainite
Ms
Quenching
Time
ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • SEPTEMBER 2013
HTPRO
13
eral boost intervals, because its decom-
position is catalyzed by iron atoms at the
gear surface, providing high carbon po-
tentials for diffusion into the austenitic
structure[5]. After achieving the desired
0.3–1.0 mm carburized case depth, the
workload is transported into the
quenching chamber where controlled
cooling using high pressure, turbulent
nitrogen gas flow produces the desired
microstructure[6]. Surface and core hard-
ness, as well as properties such as fatigue
strength, wear resistance, and pitting
corrosion resistance are determined by
the microstructural constituents result-
ing from different cooling rates and car-
bon profile[6].
For example, a straight quench at con-
stant pressure and velocity leads to a
large temperature difference between
the gear surface and core, introducing
nonuniform thermal and martensite-
transformation stresses, which can
cause distortion as shown in Fig. 1b.
Stop quench, dynamic quenching, and
reversing quenching are recent develop-
ments[1-5] used to control cooling rate
(and thus phase transformation) in three
steps: (1) high quench severity prior to
martensite phase transformation to
(c)
Straight quench Step quench
P, v = constant P, v ¹ constant
Tcore Tcore
Temperature
Pearlite Pearlite
DT Bainite Tsurf. Bainite
Ms Ms
Tsurface DT » 0
Time Time
55
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Carburizing temperature vs. time
Carbon potential vs. time
Nucleation &
growth kinetics:
Carbon Carbon
V0 (phase, C,…)
diffusion content
a (phase, C,…)
analysis
HTPRO
b (phase, C,…)
C (x, y, z)
c (phase, C,…)
C(x, y, z, t)
CFD Phase transfor-
analysis T(x, y, z, t) mat ion analysis
14 Thermodynamics:
r(phase, C, T)
CP (phase, C, T) Ms (C,…)
l(phase, C, T) TTT (C,…)
nN2 (T)
Temperature
L (dT(x, y, z)/dt) distribution
Fig. 2 — ICME-GearHT is a suite of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME)
tools to predict quantitative processing-structure-property relationships for gear heat
treatment.
avoid pearlite formation, (2) tempera-
ture equalization in each part, and (3)
fast cooling to generate martensite for
surface and core hardening (Fig. 1c).
The prediction of heat transfer in com-
bination with the phase-transformation
process during HPGQ has become in-
creasingly important as more attention
is paid to optimizing the quenching
process to minimize distortion[8-10]. The
need for CAE tools that can predict the
conjugate heat transfer during high
pressure gas quenching and couple it
with phase transformation distortion
analysis led to the development of
ICME-GearHT.
Computational tool development
The ICME-GearHT tool enables accu-
rate simulation of the transmission gear
heat-treatment process, predicts phase
transformation kinetics and distortion,
and provides cost-effective, time-effi-
cient evaluation of new equipment de-
signs. These will ensure high quality
product launch and help achieve a “first-
time-through” manufacturing vision
(Fig. 2). This was accomplished by gain-
ing a clear understanding of the funda-
mentals of carburizing, conjugate heat
transfer, phase transformation, and mi-
cromechanics during the gear heat
treatment process; and integration with
the most advanced models in different
disciplines[8-10] and related leading in-
dustrial experimental validations.
ICME-GearHT analysis is broken down
into four parts: carburization, CFD,
phase transformation, and mechanical
analysis. Figure 2 shows the data require-
ments and how the analyses are coupled.
Each analysis starts from diffusion-based
carburization at high temperature using
56 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • SEPTEMBER 2013
Martensite
Mechanical properties:
distribution
sf (phase, T, e…)
E (phase, C,…)
CTE (phase, C,…)
etransformation (phase)
C(x, y, z, t),
T(x, y, z, t)
Mechanical
fi analysis
Hardness
Displacement ´100 distribution
carbon potentials and diffusivities meas-
ured from experiments. The Abaqus
(Dassault Systèmes) FEA model calcu-
lates the kinetic process of carbon diffus-
ing into austenitic interstitial sites, which
expands the lattice, and introduces a car-
bon gradient into the gear. The resulting
nodal carbon concentrations serve as
input to the subsequent high pressure-
gas quench analysis. Transient heat trans-
fer is calculated using the Fluent (Ansys
Inc.) CFD model, in which the latent heat
of phase transformation is implemented
as a subroutine. Carbon concentration
(from FEA) and temperature values
(from CFD) are fed into the DANTE (De-
formation Control Technology Inc.) mi-
crostructure model. Finally, the coupled
Abaqus CAE and DANTE database per-
forms structural analysis for mechanical
properties of each phase. As shown ex-
perimentally by previous authors[1-4], sur-
face carbon concentration has little effect
on gear distortion. Temperature and
phase evolution at different locations/ori-
entations control thermally and transfor-
mation-induced plasticity.
Model validation
The following example case illustrates
thermal model validation and compares
predicted and experimental results. Be-
cause different cooling rates result in
different volume fractions of martensite,
nonuniform cooling rate on a single gear
results in nonuniform distribution of
martensite in the gear (Fig. 2). Marten-
site transformation causes a 2–5% vol-
ume increase[11] depending on the
composition and releases about 3.1 ×108
J/m3 latent heat[12], which complicates
the temperature profile of each gear.
Therefore, it is important to include
transformation kinetics in modeling the
transient temperature history of gears
during quenching[12]. However, com-
mercial CFD codes are intrinsically un-
able to accurately predict the thermal
history of the gear quenching process
due to the lack of a phase-transforma-
tion model. We implemented a subrou-
tine in the commercial Fluent CFD code
to take the latent heat effect due to
phase transformation into account.
Model validation is accomplished using
experimentally measured temperature
data (Fig. 3 I-a) at 40 and 100% fan
speeds. Figure 3 I-b shows that higher
cooling velocity results in higher heat-
transfer coefficient. The predicted ther-
mal profile captures the effect of latent
heat release, agreeing well with experi-
ments for different gear orientations (Fig.
3 I-c). Temperature uniformity during
HPGQ is critical for improving process
performance to minimize distortion and
maximize gear service life. Therefore, the
ICME-GearHT model was used to eval-
uate properties of furnace-fixture mate-
rials, chamber configurations, and parts
loading in the furnace.
Experimental validations
New kinetic parameters were developed
for 5130 alloy steel, which is widely used
for transmission gears. Kinetic parame-
ters in the phase transformation models
were determined using an optimization
approach that matches model predictions
with experimental measurements. The
parameters were implemented into the
DANTE materials database, allowing ac-
curate prediction of phase transforma-
tion and seamless integration with the
micromechanical model for calculating
both thermal and transformation plastic-
ity during the gear quenching process.
Distortion analysis using ICME-GearHT
is validated by mapping the distortion at
various locations of the load and at three
different quenching conditions including
step quench, 40% fan speed, and 100%
fan speed. The experimental setup is
shown in Fig. 3 II-a. Experimentally
measured distortion at three different
conditions (Fig. 3 II-b) agrees well with
previous studies[7]. Step quenching pro-
duces less distortion and better product
quality. Distortion calculations deter-
mined using the ICME-GearHT ap-
proach are compared with experimental
results to provide efficient, effective solu-
tions for process design and optimiza-
tion. Figure 3 II-c shows predicted gear
sept HTPro_am&p master template 2010 QX6.qxt 8/22/2013 12:50 PM Page 57

(l-b) Fig. 3 —
(I-a) 1800 1000 (l-c) (I-a) experimental
100% fan speed setup for measuring

Temperature°C
800

HTC, W/m2 K
1400 40% fan speed the temperature field,
600 (I-b) heat transfer
1000 coefficients

HTPRO
400 calculated from
600 TC #08 experiments,
200 200 (I-c) predicted
TC #09
TC #07 temperature
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 compared with
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 15
Time, s experimental results,
500 (lI-b) 700 (II-a) experimental
After straight After 600 100% setup for distortion
(II-a) 400 quench at straight fan
quench 500 analysis,
Max 40% fan speed,
Circularity

speed at 100% (II-b) distribution of

300 fan speed 400 straight
quench measured distortion
Min 300 values, and (II-c)
200 predicted distortion
Before After stop 200 Circularity from major (Sim.)
Gear #07
heat quench for 100% straight
100 Exaggerated
Circularity from major (Expt.)
100 treatment distortion ´100 quench
0 (exaggerated/
6 7 8 9 10 magnified by 100´).
0 Gear Number
(lI-c)

circularity, replicating the influence of
gear location on distortion and matching
experimental measurements in locations
8 and 9. Results show the model can be
used to optimize production processes
and identify the best heat-treatment
recipe for minimized distortion.
Recent experimental studies by others[1-4]
have shown that use of carbon-fiber
composite (CFC) fixtures reduces dis-
tortion by 25%, and by 50% by combin-
ing CFC fixtures with a step quench.
Computations were performed using
both alloy and CFC fixtures to quantita-
tively evaluate the benefits of new fix-
ture materials. CFC fixtures significantly
improve temperature uniformity within
the load and within individual gears with
the same load volume as in a steel bas-
ket. An improvement of 20–25% in tem-
perature uniformity is possible using
CFC fixtures. Evaluation of modifica-
tions to the quenching system using
ICME-GearHT shows that a proposed
new cooling fan and stator design along
with velocity filtering improves temper-

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • SEPTEMBER 2013 57

sept HTPro_am&p master template 2010 QX6.qxt 8/22/2013 12:50 PM Page 58
ature uniformity prior to martensite
transformation by more than 20%.
Summary
The ICME-GearHT model incorporat-
HTPRO
ing latent heat release due to phase
transformation was validated using ex-
perimental data. The entire workload is
a complex thermal body subjected to
16 large temperature variations during
quenching. ICME-GearHT captures
those variations. It was used to investi-
gate and validate a new gas quenching
process, propose cost-effective, time-ef-
ficient recommendations for new trans-
mission-product development, and
accelerate new process development. It
was also used to evaluate the benefits of
using different heat treating furnace-fix-
ture materials and different quenching
furnace stator and fan designs to im-
prove temperature distribution unifor-
mity for reduced distortion.
Fundamental and experimental methods
developed using ICME-GearHT can be
extended to any high pressure gas
quenching process such as sun-gear and
pinion-gear heat treatments. It can be ex-
58 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • SEPTEMBER 2013
tended to any case-hardening process
such as induction hardening, oil quench-
ing, and molten salt quench[8-10]. HTPRO
Acknowledgement: The authors ac-
knowledge the support of Dr. Zhi-Chao
(Charlie) Li at Deformation Control Tech-
nology Inc. and Dr. Ibrahim Yavuz at
ANSYS Inc.
References
1. V. Heuer, et al., Low distortion heat treat-
ment of transmission components, Gear
Tech., Oct., 2011.
2. V. Heuer, et al., Distortion Control of
Transmission Components by Optimized
High Pressure Gas Quenching, J. Matls.
Engrg. & Perf., 22, p 1833–1838, 2013.
3. Q. Ming, et al., Uniform Quenching Tech-
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Gas after Low Pressure Carburizing, SAE
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For more information: Junsheng Wang is
research scientist, Ford Research and Ad-
vanced Engineering Lab, 2101 Village Rd.,
Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, MI 48124,
313/390-5503, jwang134@ford.com.