Yield strength prediction in 3D during local heat treatment of structural A356 alloy components in combination with thermal-stress analysis

Abstract

The numerical investigation of common heat treated A356 as-cast parts was successfully exhibited by several authors for T4, T6 and T7 tempers. However, for non-uniform or local heat treatments (e.g. welding) the common procedure of estimating the material properties cannot be used. Therefore, a new methodology was developed in order to overcome the weak point in the kinetic calculation and to enable the prediction of the material properties in 3D. The single steps of the methods are described while mentioning interesting aspects briefly. Subsequently, a local heat treated structural A356 component case is presented while taking care about remelting and yielding. At the end possible areas of applications are given in which the new method can be applied.