Application of a Computerized Information System for the Selection of Steels and Their Heat Treatment Technologies

A survey of the structure and application of the TRANSPROPP (Transformation-property predictor) computerized information system is presented. This system comprises five main parts: access to international data banks, a data base of domestic and foreign steel standards, a data base for methods of heat treatment, a data base of measured individual steel properties, and a software system for data deriving or processing. The paper mainly discusses the last two of the five partial systems.The data base of the measured individual properties is in computer files. The searchable fields are: size or type of workpiece, designation and composition of steels, heat number, tensile and yield strength, hardness, fracture toughness, hardenability curves, etc. The steel properties have been collected from the metalworking industry and refer to different engineering components.
The data deriving software system is a special set of computer programs which may be used interactively to predict steel properties and to design technologies of heat treatment in cases where no actual data and results of measurement are available.
The possibilities of application of the TRANSPROPP information system are demonstrated in examples.