Air quenching process simulation of an A319 aluminum alloy for automotive applications

Abstract

Air quenching is a key step process for automotive heat treatable aluminum alloys which are highly demanded for current design of internal combustion engines because its light weight and strength. The purpose of this work is the development of a numerical simulation that addresses the useless precipitation during quenching process for different par position while the air flow remains constant in direction and magnitude. In order to simulate the precipitation during quenching a thermal analysis and a quench sensitivity experiments were performed to outline the continuous cooling precipitation diagram for A319 aluminum alloy. Numerical simulation was utilized to obtain the convective heat transfer coefficients from a k-ɛ turbulence model, the average convective heat transfer coefficient were used as an input for a time depending simulation where a precipitation function was included to plot the precipitation sequence during the air quenching. It was found that block position at the basket was a main factor in precipitation development and the opposite car position was the best position of all three if a faster quenching rate is necessary at the bulkheads.