Case hardening of a bearing raceway

This is an example of the hardening of a raceway for a bearing, using the coupled solving capabilities of MagNet and ThermNet.

The coupled solve between the two products arises when the electromagnetic problem has an effect on the thermal problem, and in turn the thermal problem has an effect on the electromagnetic problem.

The eddy currents, created by the solid coil upon the raceway, cause the raceway's temperature to rise, in effect changing its thermal and magnetic properties and, consequently, increasing the depth of penetration of the magnetic field.

With ThermNet, the user can find exactly what coil shape and amperage will be necessary to obtain the desired results. In addition, the user can experiment with how the temperature distribution within the raceway changes as the core shape is modified.

Results

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On the right is a series of snapshots of the shaded and contour plots of the magnetic flux density field. Notice that when the temperature increases, so does the penetration of the field. In the final snapshot, it is possible to see how the magnetic properties of the material drastically change once the temperature passes the Curie point.

As well, included here is a full animation of the same fields as in the snapshots. For each time instant solved in ThermNet, the animation displays a cycle of the magnetic flux density field.

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Within Infolytica's software applications, the user can define materials that are temperature dependent. Whether the material property is linear, nonlinear, isotropic, or anisotropic, data values can be entered for any temperature.