Metal Science and Heat Treatment

Vol. 52, Nos. 9 10, 2010

SIMULATION
UDC 539.37:621.771.07

SIMULATION OF STRUCTURAL STATE AND STRESSES IN FORMING

ROLLS SUBJECTED TO HARDENING WITH INDUCTION HEATING
A. M. Pokrovskii,1 V. G. Leshkovtsev,1 A. A. Polushin,2 and E. B. Bochektueva3
Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 9, pp. 40 43, September, 2010.
Results of computer simulation of variation of temperature and structural state and of formation of stresses in
surface hardening of forming rolls heated by induction are presented. Two variants of surface hardening of
rolls with heating by commercial-frequency currents (CFC) used at machine-building plants are considered,
i.e., hardening with five-pass heating by CFC and hardening with one-pass heating by CFC and preliminary
furnace heating to 500C. The second variant of heat treatment is shown to be more efficient.

Key words: induction hardening, forming roll, residual stresses, mathematical simulation.

the criterion of minimum residual stresses given that all the

requirements of the specification are observed.

INTRODUCTION
Today, forming rolls are produced from steels of martensitic class with elevated hardenability. The thickness of
hardened layer in such steels is 50 70 mm, which ensures
high operating resistance of the rolls to contact stresses.
Martensitic structure in the surface layer of large rolls is
obtained by using induction heating and intense water cooling of the surface. The process of hardening heating and
cooling gives rise to mechanical stresses. On one hand, these
stresses are connected with a high temperature gradient arising in the roll and on the other hand they are caused by the
change in the specific volume of the phases in the g a and
a g transformations that accompany the hardening. In
large parts like forming rolls these stresses may be quite considerable and sometimes stimulate fracture of the parts already in the production process. This poses a technical problem of raising the strength of hardened parts and lowering of
self-balanced stresses arising in the hardening process (temporary stresses) and after the hardening (residual stresses).
Tensile stresses are especially dangerous because they cause
the appearance and growth of cracks and fracture.
The aim of the present work consisted in choosing a rational mode of heat treatment for a forming roll in terms of
1
2
3

METHODS OF STUDY
The object of our study was a forming roll for cold rolling with a mass of 24.6 tons produced from steel 90Kh3MF
at the South-Ural Machine-Building Plant. The diameter and
the length of the functional part of the roll were 1350 and
1420 mm, respectively; the total length of the neck was
1520 mm, the maximum diameter of the conical part was
1000 mm and the diameter of the cylindrical part was
820 mm.
Preliminary heat treatment of such rolls includes double
normalizing with heating to 950C in the first operation and
to 850C in the second operation. Then the rolls are tempered
at 470C.
The final heat treatment consist of induction quenching
by commercial-frequency currents in a TPCh-1500 commercial vertical induction installation. We studied two variants
of hardening, i.e., hardening with five-pass heating by CFC
and hardening with one-pass heating by CFC and preliminary heating in the furnace to 500C.
In the first variant of heat treatment the roll was heated to
a surface temperature of 810C in the first four passes. In the
fifth hardening pass the surface of the roll under the inductor
was heated to 970C and then cooled by a sprayer. After the
passage of the functional part of the roll, the inductor was
stopped in the top position and water was fed to the surface

N. . Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, Russia (e-mail: ampokr@mail.ru, leshkovtsev@bk.ru).
South-Ural Machine-Building Plant (ORMETO-YuUMZ Company), Orsk, Russia.
East Siberian State Technological University, Ulan-Ude, Russia.

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0026-0673/10/0910-0442 2010 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.

Simulation of Structural State and Stresses in Forming Rolls

TABLE 1. Modes of Induction Hardening with 4 Preliminary CFC Heating Passes

Number
of pass

Speed of motion of the

inductor, mm/sec

Inductor
current, A

1
2
3
4
5

4.5
3.0
2.5
2.5
1.1

3500
3500
3500
3500
4200

of the barrel for 70 min. Then the roll was tempered in the
electric furnace for 60 h at 360C. The voltage in the inductor was 390 V in all the five passes. The current in the inductor and the speed of its motion are presented in Table 1.
In the second variant of heat treatment the roll was subjected to preliminary through heating in an electric furnace to
500C. Then we performed a single quenching pass of the inductor at a speed of 4.5 mm/sec, in which water was fed onto
the surface of the roll heated to 970C from a sprayer attached to the inductor. After heating the functional part of the
roll, the inductor was stopped in the top position and water
from the sprayer was fed to the surface of the roll for 70 min.
Then the roll was tempered in the inductor for 60 h at 360C.
The voltage and the current in the inductor were 380 V and
3500 A, respectively.
A rational mode of heat treatment for large parts like
forming rolls can be chosen only by mathematical simulation
of the thermal processes, of the processes of structure formation, and of the related processes of the appearance of
stresses. Simulation of these processes involves solution of
three problems, i.e., the problem of nonlinear nonstationary
heat conduction, simulation of structure formation, and computation of stresses. These problems are interrelated, because
the thermophysical coefficients and the mechanical characteristics depend not only on the temperature but also on the
structural state of the steel. In addition, the a g transformation is accompanied by absorption of heat and the g a
transformation is accompanied by emission of heat.
We resorted to step computation, which allowed us to
solve the problems of determination of the temperature,
structure, and stresses at each time step independently of
each other. At an arbitrary time step we first solved the problem of heat conduction with thermophysical characteristics
corresponding to the temperature and the structure of the preceding step. Then we modeled the structural changes with
the help of isothermal diagrams of the transformation of
supercooled austenite. In order to determine the structural
states appearing in continuous cooling we used the theory of
isokinetic reactions [1]. After this we computed the total coefficient of linear expansion, which allowed for the purely
temperature deformations and for the deformations related to
structural transformations. The temperature and the structural state obtained at a specific step was treated as initial

443

1
100

970

200

500
350

250

100

30

1
750

400
520
300

b
300

300
100
120
320

Fig. 1. Distribution of temperatures (in C) (a) and axial stresses (in

MPa) (b ) in a longitudinal section of a backup roll in the fifth pass:
1 ) roll; 2 ) inductor; 3 ) sprayer.

conditions for determining the stresses. The stresses were

computing by solving the elastic problem with allowance for
the rheological properties of the steel. All the three problems
were solved on the basis of the method of finite elements and
the appropriate software was created. The algorithm of the
simulation is described in detail in [2].
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The thermal computation has shown that the temperature
field arising due to induction hardening has a characteristic
form of a temperature torch (Fig. 1a ). Maximum temperature gradients arise in the surface zone between the inductor
and the sprayer and amount to 10 K/mm. Maximum surface
temperature of 970C is attained in the fifth pass. This temperature is detected in the zone lying right under the inductor.
The thickness of the layer heated above the austenization
temperature is about 60 mm. The thickness of the hardened
layer, where the content of martensitic components in the
structure exceeds 95%, is equal to 50 mm. The shaft of the
roll heats to only 30C even in the fifth pass.
Analysis of the stress state of the roll during surface
quenching has shown that the highest stress components are
normal axial stresses. We devoted special attention to tensile
stresses, because they cause opening and growth of cracks
and may result in failure of a roll in its production or operation.
In the case of five-pass hardening with CFC heating
(the first variant of heat treatment) maximum tensile axial
stresses attaining 625 MPa arise in the zone behind the

444

A. M. Pokrovskii et al.

830
0
400

100
50

50

550

400
200
100

60
20

30

20

30

30

20
20
10
30

Fig. 2. Distribution of residual axial stresses (in MPa) in longitudinal section of a backup roll after hardening with 5 passes of CFC
heating and tempering.

sprayer at a distance of about 40 mm from the surface

(Fig. 1b ). The temperature in this region is about 300C. At
this moment the maximum tensile stresses on the shaft are
equal to 410 MPa and the temperature of this zone is about
35C. Maximum compressive stresses arise on the surface of
the roll cooled to about 100C, which is located behind the
sprayer, and are equal to 750 MPa.
When the roll is cooled to room temperature, the residual
stresses are self-balanced in its volume (Fig. 2). The stress
distribution is symmetrical with respect to the mid cross section of the roll. A narrow zone of compressive stresses attaining 850 MPa forms on the functional surface of the roll.
Maximum tensile stresses (430 MPa) arise near the mid section at a distance of about 100 mm from the surface. Then
they damp rapidly to about 60 MPa and remain virtually invariable up to the shaft.
Computer simulation of the second variant of heat treatment has shown that maximum temporary tensile axial
stresses appear in the roll at the moment when the inductor
almost reaches the upper face of the barrel (Fig. 3a ). Maximum tensile stresses equal to 608 MPa form in the surface
layers of the barrel lying behind the inductor; the temperature in this zone is 350C.
The residual stresses arising in the roll after hardening
with one-pass CFC heating (Fig. 3b ) are distributed over its
longitudinal section more uniformly than in the case of fivepass hardening. For this reason the maximum tensile stresses
in this case are lower. They arise near the left and right end
faces in the zone of the edge effect and amount to 300 MPa.
In the neighborhood of the mid section of the roll the tensile
axial stresses do not exceed 240 MPa. Maximum compressive stresses appear on the functional surface of the barrel
and amount to 885 MPa. On the shaft the stresses are tensile
and decrease from 170 MPa in the middle of the roll to
90 MPa near the necks. The thickness of the hardened layer
is 50 mm, just like after the first variant of hardening.
Comparing the results presented on Figs. 2 and 3b we
can infer that the distribution of residual axial stresses in the
case of one-pass CFC heating followed by sprayer hardening
is preferable to hardening with four preliminary heating
passes. The compressive stresses in the first case are not
much higher than in the second case (885 MPa instead of
850 MPa), but they should not be dangerous because it is

860
300
300

295
10

10
235
150

90

100

200
100

90

Fig. 3. Distribution of temporary axial stresses (a) and residual axial stresses (b ) in a longitudinal section of a backup roll after hardening with one-pass CFC heating and preliminary heating (the values
are given at the curves in MPa): 1 ) roll; 2 ) inductor; 3 ) sprayer.

known [3] that such stresses raise the resistance of rolls to

contact fatigue.
In operation, cracks can grow only in the field of tensile
stresses [3]. The rate of growth of fatigue cracks is the higher
the greater the amplitude of the cyclically changing load. In
this connection special danger in operation of such rolls appears in the zones most distant from the neutral line, where
the cyclically changing bending rolling stresses have a nonzero amplitude in contrast to the shaft zone, where the amplitude is close to zero. In the case of hardening with CFC and
four preliminary heatings the maximum tensile stresses are
about 40% higher than in one-pass hardening (430 and
300 MPa, respectively). In addition, they are observed in a
region lying at a great distance from the shaft, where the operating stresses are the highest.
As for the maximum temporary stresses, they are virtually the same for both heat treatment variants and amount to
622 and 608 MPa, respectively. However, the second treatment variant (hardening with one-pass CFC heating and preliminary furnace heating) is preferable in the this case too.
The axial tensile stresses in the central shaft zone of the barrel subjected to the first variant of heat treatment amount to
460 MPa. Though these stresses are not the highest, it should
be taken into account that maximum stresses arise in the surface zone of the roll with martensitic structure. The rupture
strength of steel 90Kh3MF in this zone at a temperature of
350C is sr = 1800 MPa; in the shaft zone with pearlitic
structure sr = 900 MPa. The stress state in the roll is close to
a plane one, because the tangential and normal radial stresses

Simulation of Structural State and Stresses in Forming Rolls

are an order of magnitude lower than the axial and hoop

stresses that are close in the value and have the same sign.
Thus, the equivalent stresses computed within the theory of
highest tangential stresses are equal to the maximum axial
stresses. The safety factor nr = sr/smax for the shaft zone of
the roll is equal to 2; in the surface zone it is equal to about 3.
Consequently, the strength of the shaft zone is lower than the
strength of the surface zone. In addition, the quality of the
steel with respect to the microstructure is much worse in the
shaft zone than in the zones distant from the shaft, and the
probability of formation of microcracks here is considerably
higher. In a roll heat treated by the second variant such danger in this zone does not arise.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The method of mathematical simulation has been used
for analyzing the behavior of the thermal field, the structural
state, and the stresses in backup rolls 1350 mm in diameter
fabricated from steel 90Kh3MF and heat treated by two vari-

445

ants, i.e., five-pass CFC hardening and one-pass CFC hardening with preliminary furnace heating to 500C.
2. Application of one-pass CFC hardening with preliminary furnace heating to 500C to backup rolls should be preferred with respect to the criterion of minimum temporary
and residual stresses at the same thickness of hardened layer
equal to 50 mm.
The work has been performed within State Contract
No. 02.513.11.3487.
REFERENCES
1. J. Christian, The Theory of Transformations in Metals and Alloys.
Part 1. The Thermodynamics and The General Kinetic Theory
[Russian translation], Mir, Moscow (1978), 808 p.
2. R. K. Vafin, A. M. Pokrovskii, and V. G. Leshkovtsev, Strength
of Heat Treated Forming Rolls [in Russian], Izd. MGTU Im.
N. . Baumana, Moscow (2004), 264 p.
3. G. P. Cherepanov, The Mechanics of Brittle Fracture [in Russian], Nauka, Moscow (1974), 416 p.