Abstract

High-volume industrial continuous hot-rolled steel heat treatment processes involve sophisticated multi-phase modeling. The performance of a given process can be optimized by coupling phase transformation kinetics with the cooling conditions of the process. This study develops a multiphysics model to simulate an intensive quenching process for steel, which is inherently transient and highly dependent on numerous parameters. The simulated object was a Jominy end-quenched specimen geometry using two commercial steels, AISI 4130 and AISI 4140, with the goal of transferring a verified methodology to the heat treatment process for industrial heavy-section products (bars, slabs). The simulation employs thermal, mechanical, and metallurgical models to estimate hardness, stress–strain response, and phase transformation, including martensite, bainite, pearlite, and retained austenite. The Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov (JMAK) model is used for diffusional transformations, while the Koistinen–Marburger model is used for diffusionless transformations. Thermophysical properties were defined using JMATPro® software. Validation against experimental thermal profiles, Rockwell hardness, and Materials Image Processing and Automated Reconstruction (MIPAR™) quantified martensite fractions showed strong agreement: hardness predictions achieved root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 2.57‐3.49 HRC, and martensite phase fractions correlated closely with microstructural measurements. The model successfully predicted the extended hardenability of AISI 4140 versus AISI 4130, with residual stress distributions following expected compression-tension-compression patterns.

Department(s)

Materials Science and Engineering

Second Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Third Department

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Publication Status

Open Access

Comments

Missouri University of Science and Technology, Grant None

Keywords and Phrases

Jominy end-quench; MIPAR; multiphysics modeling; phase transformation kinetics; residual stress

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1544-1024; 1059-9495

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2026 Springer; ASM International, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2026

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