Phase-change heat transfer in laser transformation hardening Available to Purchase

A quasi-steady phase-change heat transfer solution is developed for modeling the laser transformation hardening process. The surface of a plane slab is heated by a linear moving heat front. The governing equation, boundary, and interface conditions are transformed to coordinates moving with the heat front and expressed in a dimensionless form. By means of a product solution, the governing equation is changed to a Klein-Gordon equation, which is, in turn, solved for temperature expressed in integral equations. Systematic procedures are developed to solve for the phase-change interface positions and, subsequently, the temperature distribution. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the heat transfer effects of various thermal properties. The numerical results show that the Peclet number has a dominant effect over the Stefan number in determining the depth of the phase-change penetration. Accounting for phase change depresses the temperature on the leading side while elevates the temperature on the trailing side of the heat front, in conformity with the source-and-sink principle developed for the solution of the moving heat front, phase-change problems.