The heat treatment process is very complicated. Under the action of different external fields (heat, force, electricity, magnetism, light, etc.) and the environment, the material undergoes phase change, stress, strain, and chemical reaction. Understand the objective laws of these complex phenomena The deepening of heat treatment is the basis for improving the quality of heat treatment. The development of electronic computers has provided people with powerful scientific calculation and information processing capabilities, so that it is possible to integrate the knowledge of different disciplines and use the method of multi-field coupling to establish physics describing various complex phenomena and their interactions in the heat treatment of materials. Mathematical models and computer simulation methods constitute a virtual production platform for heat treatment. It will be possible to transform heat treatment technology from the traditional “technical” type of backward state to a highly knowledge-intensive technology based on scientific calculations. The computer simulation of the heat treatment process has developed rapidly in recent years and has shown great potential to improve the level of heat treatment [2, 4]. However, it should also be pointed out that the computer simulation technology for heat treatment is still immature, and a series of basic research remains to be carried out, such as the test calculation method of gas-solid surface heat transfer and liquid-solid surface heat transfer, and phase changes under non-isothermal and non-isokinetic conditions. The quantitative calculation of mechanics, the algorithm of multi-field coupling, the algorithm of complex nonlinear problems, the mass transfer of interface reaction, and so on are all difficult topics to be studied in depth. The verification of computer simulation results and the correction of mathematical models are fundamental tasks with a huge workload.
Due to the complexity of the heat treatment process, there are still many basic principles that need to be further studied, so that there are many problems in the heat treatment that it is impossible to establish a physical and mathematical model. It is necessary to use the “Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE)” method [3] to dig out hidden knowledge from a large number of production records, test data, cases and the experience of engineering and technical personnel to improve heat treatment technology and development New technology.
Computer simulation and KBE technology are the two pillars of the development of knowledge-intensive heat treatment technology and the basis for the development of digital heat treatment intelligent manufacturing technology.
Another issue worthy of attention is that the role of heat treatment digitalization and informatization should not be limited to the heat treatment production process. At present, heat treatment is the weakest link in manufacturing informatization, and it has become the bottleneck of information integration throughout the manufacturing life cycle. The research and development of heat treatment technology is out of touch with product design, and the formulation of heat treatment process and even heat treatment technical indicators are very blind, which is one of the reasons for the fatness of the product or poor reliability. The development of informatization and digital heat treatment smart technology may overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks. The product computer-aided design, material selection, heat treatment computer simulation and product reliability evaluation are combined to form a product innovation design platform (Figure 5), which achieves light weight, small size and highly reliable product design. It can be expected that the heat treatment mathematical model and computer simulation technology will play an increasingly important role in advanced manufacturing technology.
4 Conclusion
The role of heat treatment in modern industry can be described as four or two thousand catties-its own output value only accounts for a few percent of the manufacturing industry, and its level may cause the added value of the whole machine to vary several to several tens of times.
The backward state of my country’s heat treatment seriously affects the competitiveness of my country’s manufacturing industry. Heat treatment is the thinnest link in the development of my country’s manufacturing industry.
The informationization of heat treatment has transformed heat treatment from technological technology to high-tech technology, getting rid of the backward state of relying on experience and operating skills, and moving towards the direction of accurate prediction of production results and reliable quality control.
Heat treatment informatization overcomes the weak links of manufacturing informatization, and integrates heat treatment virtual production into the virtual manufacturing of products to realize the optimization of the product life cycle, which has a significant effect on the leap-forward development of the manufacturing industry.