Prediction of Heat Treatment Distortion of Cast Steel C-rings

Navy C-Ring test parts were made of AISI 1022, 4320, 8625, and CF8M steels and heat treated in a designed experiment to evaluate the commercial heat treatment distortion simulation software DANTE. The parts were machined and then measured with a CMM for original dimensions. The parts were then heated and subsequently quenched in two different immersion orientations in agitated water. Temperature measurements were taken from the austenitic stainless steel parts to obtain heat transfer coefficients for the simulations. The part dimensions were re-measured and compared to pre-heat treatment values. The CF8M experiments show that the gap in the C-Ring closes due to thermal stresses. The cast carbon and low-alloy steel C-Rings resist the closure somewhat, though general trends toward closure are still apparent. This is in contrast to results shown in previous literature. The dimensional measurements for the different immersion directions and different alloys are compared and discussed. While the DANTE simulations are able to capture the general distortion trends seen in the experiments, they are not in complete agreement with the experimental results obtained here. Recommendations are made for future work.