Application of QFA coupled with CFD analysis to predict the hardness of T6 heat treated Al6061 cylinder

QFA (quench factor analysis) method is widely used to predict the mechanical properties such as hardness and strength according to temperature of quenched material that has to be determined by experimental heat treatment. But, QFA coupled with CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis of this study can predict the mechanical properties without the experiment of heat treatment except the experiment to determine the material constants of QFA. First of all, Jominy test and FPS (flexible polyhedron search) are performed to determine the material constants of QFA. The CFD analysis is applied to predict the cooling temperature of Al6061 cylinder cooled by water of 25 degrees C during quenching of solid solution heat treatment. Hardnesses of T6 heat treated Al6061 cylinder is predicted by the QFA coupled with CFD analysis without experiment of heat treatment and then the predicted hardnesses are compared with experimentally measured hardnesses according to positions of cylinder. The predicted hardnesses of cylinder are in good agreement with the measured ones within a maximum error of 8.45%.