Predicting cracking in cooled metal or alloy components

A system comprising:

• a computing device comprising:
• a predetermined cooling rate-dependent energy curve data module that relates a temperature of a metal or an alloy to an impact energy of the metal or the alloy cooled by a predetermined cooling operation;
• and
• a finite element analysis module configured to, for a finite element model representing a component comprising the metal or the alloy, wherein the finite element model comprises a plurality of respective elements, wherein each respective element of the plurality of respective elements represents a respective geometric region of a plurality of respective geometric regions of the component:
• determine, for each respective time of a plurality of times, a respective stress St and a respective temperature Tt at each respective element of the plurality of respective elements during a predetermined cooling operating;
• and
• determine a respective impact energy ET for each respective element at each respective time, based on the respective temperature Tt associated with the respective element at the respective time,
• determine, for each respective element at each respective time, a respective weakness index Wt=[A×ET/St]n, wherein A is a predetermined constant and n is a predetermined real number greater than or equal to 1,
• determine, for each respective element of the plurality of respective elements, a minimum weakness index Wm from the plurality of respective weakness indices associated with the respective element over the plurality of times, and
• identify the respective element as a cracking-prone element if Wm<Wthreshold, wherein Wthreshold is a predetermined weakness index threshold.

A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to:

• determine, based on a finite element model representing a component comprising a metal or an alloy, for each respective time of a plurality of times, a respective stress St and a respective temperature Tt at each respective element of a plurality of respective elements during a predetermined cooling operation, wherein the finite element model comprises the plurality of respective elements, and wherein each respective element of the plurality of respective elements representing a respective geometric region of a plurality of respective geometric regions of the component;
• determine a respective impact energy ET for each respective element at each respective time, based on the respective temperature associated with the respective element at the respective time and a predetermined cooling rate-dependent energy relationship that relates a temperature of the metal or the alloy to an impact energy of the metal or the alloy cooled by the predetermined cooling operation;
• determine, for each respective element at each respective time, a respective weakness index Wt=[A×ET/St]n, wherein A is a predetermined constant and n is a predetermined real number greater than or equal to 1;
• determine, for each respective element of the plurality of respective elements, a minimum weakness index Wm from the plurality of weakness indices associated with the respective element over the plurality of times;
• and
• identify the respective element as a cracking-prone element if Wm<Wthreshold, wherein Wthreshold is a predetermined weakness index threshold.

The computer readable storage medium of 16, wherein the finite element model comprises a first finite element model, wherein a second finite element model comprises the first finite element model and a representation of a protective shield having a predetermined shape configured to mitigate cracking at the predetermined geometric region by reducing a local cooling rate in the vicinity of the predetermined geometric region, and wherein computer readable storage medium further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

• determine, based on the second finite element model, for each respective time of the plurality of times, the respective stress St and a respective temperature Tt at each respective element of the plurality of respective elements during the predetermined cooling operation modeled using the second finite element model;
• determine the respective impact energy ET for each respective element at each respective time, based on the respective temperature Tt associated with the respective element at the respective time and the predetermined cooling rate-dependent energy relationship that relates a temperature of the metal or the alloy to the impact energy of the metal or the alloy cooled by the predetermined cooling operation;
• determine, for each respective element at each time t, a respective weakness index Wt=[A×ET/St]n, wherein A is a predetermined constant and n is a predetermined real number greater than or equal to 1;
• determine, for each respective element of the plurality of respective elements, a minimum weakness index Wm from the plurality of respective weakness indices associated with the respective element over the plurality of times;
• and
• identify the respective element as a cracking-prone element if Wm<Wthreshold, wherein Wthreshold is a predetermined weakness index threshold.