4. Conclusion

Induction heating followed by quenching on fatigue-stressed parts (steel or cast iron) is a surface-hardening process used by a few contract caterers and many integrators, given the advantages of this technology (in-line means, high level of automation, high degree of reliability...). This treatment improves the abrasive wear and fatigue life of materials by increasing surface hardness and creating a field of residual compressive stresses (macrostresses) on the surface of mechanical parts.

Based on identical heating of several grades of carbon-rich and alloyed structural steel, this article explains the genesis of compressive residual stresses after hardening, addressing the concept of mechanical hardenability and the thermokinetic effect.

Mechanical hardenability allows us to understand that the higher the cooling rate, the higher the residual...