Simulation of welding and stress relief heat treatment of an aero engine component

• Published in: Finite elements in analysis and design Vol. 39; no. 9; pp. 865 - 881
• Main Authors: Berglund, D., Alberg, H., Runnemalm, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.06.2003; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aero engine; Applied sciences; CFD; Cold working, work hardening; annealing, post-deformation annealing, quenching, tempering recovery, and crystallization; Cold working, work hardening; annealing, quenching, tempering, recovery, and recrystallization; textures; Computational techniques; Computer Aided Design; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Datorstödd maskinkonstruktion; Exact sciences and technology; FEM; Finite-element and galerkin methods; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Heat conduction; Heat transfer; Joining, thermal cutting: metallurgical aspects; Materials science; Mathematical methods in physics; Metals. Metallurgy; Physics; Stress relief heat treatment; Treatment of materials and its effects on microstructure and properties; Welding; CFD; Stress relief heat treatment; Welding; Aero engine; FEM
• ISSN: 0168-874X; 1872-6925; 1872-6925
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-874X(02)00136-1

It is important to control key dimensions in aero engine components during manufacture. This is achieved by finding a stable process-parameter window for each manufacturing operation and to choose an order of manufacture which give an adequate result. Production planning has traditionally been carried out from experience and experiments. However, in order to reduce lead-time and cost, computer based numerical simulations using the finite element method is increasingly being used. Simulations can give valuable information about component dimensions, shape, and residual stresses after each manufacturing process. This paper presents a method and the results of a simulation where welding and stress relief heat treatment operations are combined. Computational fluid dynamics was also used to estimate the heat transfer coefficient of the component's surface during the heat treatment.