A material-property-value estimating method of estimating a material-property-value of a target steel-strip product manufactured via at least one of a reheating process, a rolling process, and a cooling process, which are performed while a target material is being conveyed along a conveyance route, the material-property-value estimating method includes an estimating step of estimating a material-property-value of each of meshes dividing the target steel-strip product based on a measured value that has been measured once or more by a measuring device installed on the conveyance route, the measured value including at least a temperature of the target material; and a chemical composition per component of the target steel-strip product.

Provided are a method and apparatus for uniformly controlling the strip temperature of the rapid cooling section of a continuous annealing line. A plurality of sets of cooling nozzle blocks for controlling the strip temperature is installed at the front and back sides of the strip, and is divided into lengthwise flow control nozzle blocks and widthwise flow control nozzle blocks. Strip center temperature meters and widthwise direction temperature meters are installed at the intake and discharge sides of the rapid cooling section. Temperatures obtained using the strip center temperature meters and the width direction temperature meters are used to respectively control the spraying of mist for the lengthwise flow control nozzle blocks and the widthwise flow control nozzle blocks in order to uniformly control the strip temperature and minimize changes in the flatness of the strip. The widthwise temperature meters at the intake and discharge ends of the rapid cooling section of the continuous annealing line are used to detect the temperature. Feedback/feedforward control technique can be used to uniformly control the widthwise temperature of the strip through flow rate control over mist sprayed in the widthwise direction of the rapid cooling section.

An example system may include a computing device including a finite element analysis module solving for a finite element model representing a component including a metal or an alloy and including a plurality of respective elements. The finite element analysis module may solve a respective stress S.sub.t and a respective temperature T.sub.t at each respective element during the predetermined cooling operating. The finite element analysis module may determine a respective impact energy E.sub.T based on the temperature T.sub.t and cooling rate, using a predetermined cooling rate-dependent energy relationship that relates a temperature of the metal or the alloy to an impact energy, determine a respective weakness index W.sub.t=[A×E.sub.T/S.sub.t].sup.n (A being a predetermined constant, n being a predetermined real number greater than or equal to 1), and identify a respective element having a minimum weakness index less than a predetermined weakness index threshold as a cracking-prone element.

A process for producing a spring or torsion bar from a steel wire by hot forming may involve providing a steel wire; thermomechanically forming the steel wire; cooling the steel wire thermomechanically; cutting the steel wire to length to give rods; heating the rods; hot forming the rods; and tempering the rods to give a spring or torsion bar, comprising quenching the rods to give a spring or torsion bar to a first cooling temperature, reheating the spring or torsion bar to a first annealing temperature, and cooling the spring or rod to a second cooling temperature. Further, in some examples, the cooling of the steel wire may be cooled to a temperature below a minimum recrystallization temperature such that at least a partly ferritic-pearlitic structure is established in the steel wire.”

A controller alters a cycle time of a die arrangement, configured to hot stamp metal into components and having an active cooling system, based on an amount of heat transferred from the components to the active cooling system such that a grain structure of the components transitions from an austenitic state to a martensitic state.

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a system including: an enclosure having an interior sized to enclose and the workpiece and form a vacuum and pressurized atmosphere within the interior. A plurality of thermal applicators may be in thermal communication with first and second portions of the interior. First and second thermal applicators may independently heat and cool the first and second portions of the interior. The first thermal applicator may apply a first thermal treatment to a first portion of the workpiece in the first portion of the interior. A second thermal applicator may apply a second thermal treatment to a second portion of the workpiece in the second portion of the interior independently of the first thermal treatment.

High productivity plant for the continuous quenching of steel bars which comprises a loading station suitable to dispose a plurality of bars separated and distanced from each other. Such plant also comprises a first treatment line, a quenching machine, a transfer station disposed downstream of the quenching machine, and a second treatment line.

An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. The two-dimensional energy patterning system may be used to control the rate of cooling experienced by each successive additive layer. Accordingly, the system may be used to heat treat the various additive layers.

A rail comprises a predetermined chemical composition. In a hardness distribution in a region from a rail head surface to a depth of 16.0 mm, a part having higher hardness than V1 that is minimum hardness in a first internal region is present in a second internal region, and hardness of the rail head surface is HBW 400 to 520 and average hardness in the region from the rail head surface to the depth of 16.0 mm is HBW 350 or more.

The present cooling device includes: when cooling regions obtained by dividing an entire cooling region into a plurality of portions in a steel sheet conveyance direction and three or more portions in a width direction are set as divided cooling surfaces, a cooling water nozzle 23 and a switching device that switches between collision and non-collision of cooling water jetted from the cooling water nozzle 23 with the divided cooling surface, the cooling water nozzle 23 and the switching device provided for each of the divided cooling surfaces; and a control device that controls operation of the switching device based on a width-direction temperature distribution. The cooling water nozzle 23 has a jet axis P inclined with respect to a vertical line to the entire cooling region when viewed in the steel sheet conveyance direction, and the cooling water goes to the side opposite to the cooling water nozzle 23 in the width direction after colliding with the divided cooling surface.