Influence of Interrupted Quenching Process on Residual Stress and Mechanical Properties of Martensitic Wear‐Resistant Steel

Residual stress is the critical cause of material distortion, but there is a lack of effective control means in practical applications. In this paper, the combination of finite element calculation and stress characterization by crack compliance method is used to study the influence law of different cooling histories on residual stress. It is found that the residual stress can be effectively controlled by interrupted quenching process, i.e., adjusting the cooling rate at the appropriate phase transformation point and suppressing the growth of eigenstrain in the pre‐phase transformation zone. In the above process, the phase transformation point at which the cooling rate adjustment is carried out is crucial for controlling residual stress. Based on this, this paper establishes a theoretical model of low‐stress quenching and verifies it on NM400 steel. The results show that after adjusting the cooling rate at the appropriate phase transformation point, the eigenstrain of NM400 steel can be reduced from 2.78 × 10 −3 to 1.51 × 10 −3 , the residual stress is reduced from 219.27 to 120.28 MPa, and the transverse warpage is reduced from 8.3 to 2.8 mm under the premise of keeping the microstructure and properties unchanged. The finding provides a new path to controlling residual stress.