Quenching
In materials science, quenching is the rapid cooling of a
workpiece in water, oil or air to obtain certain material
properties. A type of heat treating, quenching prevents
undesired low-temperature processes, such as phase
transformations, from occurring. It does this by reducing the
window of time during which these undesired reactions are both
thermodynamically favorable, and kinetically accessible; for
instance, quenching can reduce the crystal grain size of both
metallic and plastic materials, increasing their hardness.
In metallurgy, quenching is most commonly used to harden
steel by inducing a martensite transformation, where the steel Coke being pushed into a quenching car,
must be rapidly cooled through its eutectoid point, the Hanna furnaces of the Great Lakes Steel
temperature at which austenite becomes unstable. In steel Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, November
alloyed with metals such as nickel and manganese, the eutectoid 1942
temperature becomes much lower, but the kinetic barriers to
phase transformation remain the same. This allows quenching
to start at a lower temperature, making the process much easier. High speed steel also has added tungsten,
which serves to raise kinetic barriers, which among other effects gives material properties (hardness and
abrasion resistance) as though the workpiece had been cooled more rapidly than it really has. Even cooling
such alloys slowly in air has most of the desired effects of quenching; high-speed steel weakens much less
from heat cycling due to high-speed cutting.[1]
Extremely rapid cooling can prevent the formation of all crystal structure, resulting in amorphous metal or
"metallic glass".
Contents
Quench hardening
Purpose
Process
History
Mechanism of Heat Removal During Quenching
See also
References
External links
Quench hardening
Quench hardening is a mechanical process in which steel and cast iron alloys are strengthened and hardened.
These metals consist of ferrous metals and alloys. This is done by heating the material to a certain
temperature, depending on the material. This produces a harder material by either surface hardening or
through-hardening varying on the rate at which the material is cooled. The material is then often tempered to
reduce the brittleness that may increase from the quench hardening process. Items that may be quenched
include gears, shafts, and wear blocks.
Purpose
Before hardening, cast steels and iron are of a uniform and lamellar (or layered) pearlitic grain structure.
This is a mixture of ferrite and cementite formed when steel or cast iron are manufactured and cooled at a
slow rate. Pearlite is not an ideal material for many common applications of steel alloys as it is quite soft. By
heating pearlite past its eutectoid transition temperature of 727 °C and then rapidly cooling, some of the
material’s crystal structure can be transformed into a much harder structure known as martensite. Steels with
this martensitic structure are often used in applications when the workpiece must be highly resistant to
deformation, such as the cutting edge of blades. This is very efficient.
Process
The process of quenching is a progression, beginning with heating the sample. Most materials are heated to
between 815 and 900 °C (1,500 to 1,650 °F), with careful attention paid to keeping temperatures throughout
the workpiece uniform. Minimizing uneven heating and overheating is key to imparting desired material
properties.
The second step in the quenching process is soaking. Workpieces can be soaked in air (air furnace), a liquid
bath, or a vacuum. The recommended time allocation in salt or lead baths is up to 6 minutes. Soaking times
can range a little higher within a vacuum. As in the heating step, it is important that the temperature
throughout the sample remains as uniform as possible during soaking.
Once the workpiece has finished soaking, it moves on to the cooling step. During this step, the part is
submerged into some kind of quenching fluid; different quenching fluids can have a significant effect on the
final characteristics of a quenched part. Water is one of the most efficient quenching media where maximum
hardness is desired, but there is a small chance that it may cause distortion and tiny cracking. When hardness
can be sacrificed, mineral oils are often used. These oil-based fluids often oxidize and form a sludge during
quenching, which consequently lowers the efficiency of the process. The cooling rate of oil is much less
than water. Intermediate rates between water and oil can be obtained with a purpose formulated quenchant, a
substance with an inverse solubility which therefore deposits on the object to slow the rate of cooling.
Quenching can also be accomplished using inert gases, such as nitrogen and noble gasses. Nitrogen is
commonly used at greater than atmospheric pressure ranging up to 20 bar absolute. Helium is also used
because its thermal capacity is greater than nitrogen. Alternatively argon can be used; however, its density
requires significantly more energy to move, and its thermal capacity is less than the alternatives. To
minimize distortion in the workpiece, long cylindrical workpieces are quenched vertically; flat work pieces
are quenched on edge; and thick sections should enter the bath first. To prevent steam bubbles the bath is
agitated.
Often, after quenching, an iron or steel alloy will be excessively hard and brittle due to an overabundance of
martensite. In these cases, another heat treatment technique known as tempering is performed on the
quenched material in order to increase the toughness of iron-based alloys. Tempering is usually performed
after hardening, to reduce some of the excess hardness, and is done by heating the metal to some
temperature below the critical point for a certain period of time, then allowing it to cool in still air.
History
There is evidence of the use of quenching processes by blacksmiths stretching back into the middle of the
Iron Age, but little detailed information exists related to the development of these techniques and the
procedures employed by early smiths.[2] Although early ironworkers must have swiftly noticed that
processes of cooling could affect the strength and brittleness of iron, and it can be claimed that heat-
treatment of steel was known in the Old World from the late second millennium BC,[3] it is hard to identify
deliberate uses of quenching archaeologically. Moreover, it appears that, at least in Europe, 'quenching and
tempering separately do not seem to have become common until the 15th century'; it is therefore helpful to
distinguish between 'full quenching' of steel, where the quenching is so rapid that only martensite forms, and
'slack quenching', where the quenching is slower or interrupted, which also allows pearlite to form and
results in a less brittle product.[4]
The earliest examples of quenched steel may come from ancient Mesopotamia, with a relatively secure
example of a fourth-century BC quench-hardened chisel from Al Mina in Turkey.[5] Book 9, lines 389-94 of
Homer’s Odyssey is widely cited as an early, possibly the first, written reference to quenching:[2][6]
as when a man who works as a blacksmith plunges a screaming great axe blade or adze into
cold water, treating it for temper, since this is the way steel is made strong, even so Cyclops'
eye sizzled about the beam of the olive.
However, it is not beyond doubt that the passage describes deliberate quench-hardening, rather than simply
cooling.[7] Likewise, there is a prospect that the Mahabharata refers to the oil-quenching of iron
arrowheads, but the evidence is problematic.[8]
Pliny the Elder addressed the topic of quenchants, distinguishing the water of different rivers.[9] Chapters
18-21 of the twelfth-century De diversis artis by Theophilus Presbyter mentions quenching, recommending
amongst other things that 'tools are also given a harder tempering in the urine of a small, red-headed boy
than in ordinary water'.[2] One of the fuller early discussions of quenching is the first Western printed book
on metallurgy, Von Stahel und Eysen, published in 1532, which is characteristic of late-medieval technical
treatises.
Modern scientific study of quenching began to gain real momentum from the seventeenth century, with a
major step being the observation-led discussion by Giambattista della Porta in his 1558 Magia Naturalis.[10]
Mechanism of Heat Removal During Quenching
Heat is removed in three particular stages:
Stage A: Vapor-blanket Cooling
During this stage, due to the Leidenfrost effect the object is fully surrounded by vapor which insulates it
from the rest of the liquid.
Stage B: Vapor-transport Cooling
Once the temperature has dropped enough, the vapor layer will destabilize and the liquid will be able to
fully contact the object and heat will be removed much more quickly.
Stage C: Liquid Cooling
This stage occurs when the temperature of the object is below the boiling point of the liquid.
See also
Quench press
Tempering
Martempering
Austempering
References
1. Legerská, M.; Chovanec, J.; Chaus, Alexander S. (2006). "Development of High-Speed Steels
for Cast Metal-Cutting Tools" ([Link] Solid State Phenomena.
Retrieved 2019-04-05.
2. Mackenzie, D. S. (June 2008). "History of quenching". International Heat Treatment and
Surface Engineering. 2 (2): 68–73. doi:10.1179/174951508x358437 ([Link]
F174951508x358437). ISSN 1749-5148 ([Link]
3. Craddock, Paul T. (2012). "Metallurgy in the Old World". In Silberman, Neil Asher (ed.). The
Oxford companion to archaeology. Volume 1 of 3 (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press
(published 2012-10-12). pp. 377–380. ISBN 9780199739219. OCLC 819762187 ([Link]
[Link]/oclc/819762187).
4. Williams, Alan (2012-05-03). The sword and the crucible : a history of the metallurgy of
European swords up to the 16th century. History of Warfare. Volume 77. Leiden: Brill. p. 22.
ISBN 9789004229334. OCLC 794328540 ([Link]
5. Moorey, P. R. S. (Peter Roger Stuart) (1999). Ancient mesopotamian materials and industries :
the archaeological evidence ([Link] Winona
Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. pp. 283 ([Link]
158)–85. ISBN 978-1575060422. OCLC 42907384 ([Link]
6. Forbes, R. J. (Robert James) (1972-01-01). Studies in ancient technology. Metallurgy in
Antiquity, part 2. Copper and Bronze, Tin, Arsenic, Antimony and Iron. 9 (2d rev. ed.). Leiden:
E.J. Brill. p. 211. ISBN 978-9004034877. OCLC 1022929 ([Link]
29).
7. P. R. S. Moorey, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological
Evidence (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1999), p. 284.
8. R. K. Dube, 'Ferrous Arrowheads and Their Oil Quench Hardening: Some Early Indian
Evidence', JOM: The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 60.5 (May 2008),
25-31.
9. John D. Verhoeven, Steel Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist (Materials Park, Ohio: ASM
International, 2007), p. 117.
10. J. Vanpaemel. HISTORY OF THE HARDENING OF STEEL: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
Journal de Physique Colloques, 1982, 43 (C4), pp. C4-847-C4-854.
DOI:10.1051/jphyscol:19824139; [Link]
External links
Media related to Quenching at Wikimedia Commons
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