What are the technical difficulties in using high-frequency induction heating power supply for quenching of ball-head thrust rods?

The ball thrust rod is an important component on the engine and must withstand huge friction during operation. For this reason, we usually use high-frequency induction heating power to quench the ball thrust rod. However, the shape of the ball-head thrust rod is complex, and there are many quenching areas, including spherical surfaces, fillets, cylindrical surfaces, etc. Therefore, its induction quenching technology is quite complicated, and its induction quenching technology also has certain difficulties. Today, let’s take a look at what are the difficulties in the quenching technology of ball head thrust rods?

Technical difficulties of induction hardening of ball head thrust rods:

① For ball head thrust rod parts, the biggest technical difficulty to be solved by the induction quenching process is to obtain a uniform induction heating layer and heating temperature under complex cross-sectional changes. That is, the heating problem is the main technical difficulty, and the following factors need to be considered.

a. Avoid overheating due to the sharp corner effect (edge effect) at the step where the sphere and the plane intersect.

b. One side of the R-angle transition zone is a cylindrical surface and the other side is a step. To achieve uniform heating of the R-angle and both sides, the sensor structure must be considered.

c. There is a big difference in geometric size between the cylindrical surface of the part with a diameter of 8mm and the spherical surface of the S diameter of 60mm. When heating with a high-frequency induction heating power supply, attention should be paid to the uniformity of the heating temperature.

②Another technical difficulty is the problem of quenching and cooling. In the technical requirements, the surface hardness of the parts after quenching must reach 58-63HRC. In addition to the heating parameters (mainly temperature) required for such high hardness, the quenching and cooling process is also very important, and a sufficient cooling rate is required. The parts need to be quenched and cooled evenly after heating, otherwise excessive surface tensile stress will be formed due to different cooling rates in different parts, resulting in cracking or reduced fatigue strength of the parts. This is especially important for complex parts such as ball-head thrust rods.

This article only briefly introduces the difficulties of induction quenching technology for ball-end thrust rods. In fact, it still has many problems such as the continuity of the hardened layer. After continuous research, Zhengzhou Gou's has developed better induction quenching technology for ball-end thrust rods. Customers are also quite satisfied with the results. If you want to know more, please contact us.