Quenchants and Quenching Technology

Volume 4F is a practical guide to quenching, its implementation, and its effects on the microstructure and properties of cast irons and steels. It reviews the metallurgy of irons and steels and the changes that occur in response to controlled heating and cooling. It explains how cooling curve data is acquired and used in the development of quenching processes and the selection of quenchants. It describes the wetting and heat transfer characteristics of industrial quenchants, including polymer and salt solutions, nanofluids, and petroleum, vegetable, and animal oils, and presents examples of the microstructures and properties achieved in different quenching media. It discusses the design of quenching systems with emphasis on the method of agitation. It explains how to evaluate initial designs, assess manufacturing feasibility, and determine the root cause of quench-induced failures. It covers a wide range of quenching processes, including induction, spray, gas, pulsed, and intensive quenching, and addresses related issues such as residual stress, distortion, and cracking in different types of components. It also discusses the use of computational fluid dynamics and other modeling tools.