Abstract

This work aimed to model the temperature distribution, phase transformation and residual stress induced during the heat treatment of grinding balls of 3 and 5 in. diameter. The temperature model considered factors such as the heating of the water and the formation of a steam layer that surrounds the balls at the start of the quenching. The model of the residual stress field considered: the temperature distribution, the force equilibrium equations and the constitutive thermo-elastic relationships, including the expansion due to the austenite-martensite transformation. A good agreement between the experimental and theoretical values for the temperature distribution was obtained with the differences at the end of the quenching being no higher than 0.5%. The experimental behavior of the balls in a mill simulator, as well as the residual stress measured by X-ray diffraction, agreed satisfactorily with the theoretical predictions. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.