Quenching ................................................................................ . .

Cooling curve shape analysis

can help evaluate quenchants

by M.E. DAKINS, G.E. TOTTEN and R.W. HEINS

raditionally, procedures exists as long as there is a sufficient develop superior quench ants that

T for measur ing the relative

speeds of quenchants
used in heat treating have
been classified as either thermal
response or metallurgical response
supply of heat from the surface of
the metal. Stage B, the nucleate
boiling stage, is characterized by
violent boiling of the quench
medium following the collapse of
can achieve all of these cooling
characteristics.
Although there are numerous
methods for analyzing and inter­
preting cooling curves, 3 nearly all of
methods. 1 Of these two classes, the the vapor blanket. This region of the procedures involve determining
thermal response methods are gain­ the cooling curve represents the the maximum cooling rate, the time
ing increased acceptance due to fastest removal of heat from the test to or the temperature at the max­
their favorable cost, speed, and piece. Stage C, the liquid cooling imum cooling rate, and the cooling
reproducibility. The IFHT (Interna­ stage, begins when the temperature rate at some point within the mar­
tional Federation of Heat Treat­ of the test piece reaches the boiling tensitic region.4 K-E . Thelning has
ment) has adopted a standardized point of the quenching fluid. The recently shown, by analysis of data
procedure for cooling curve mea­ rate of heat removal from the metal collected in an IFHT-sanctioned
surement. 2 Although cooling in this stage is slower and is ac­ round-robin study, that using
complished by con­
Figure Quenchant t2 S A N vection and conduc­
4 Water 2.0 0.0 0.017 1.79 tion.
5 Conventional oil 8.8 17.9 0.027 1.31 It is believed that an
6 Polymer quench 8.9 21.3 0.076 1.15 optimal cooling curve
Media 1
shape, that is, a cool­
7 Polymer quench 14.9 17.0 0.200 1.15
Media 2 ing pattern giving
8 Polymer quench 27.0 11.8 0.046 1.19 superior metallurgical
Media 3 properties, would be
9 Polymer quench 39.3 9.9 0.033 0.71 achieved by minimiz­
Media 4 ing the A-stage time,
maximizing the B­ C stage
Table I: Critical cooling curve model parameters stage rate, and
minimizing the C­ Time
curves can now be obtained with stage rate. Since one of the objec­
reasonable reproducibility, there is tives of heat treating is to maximize
no consensus on the best method hardness, it is essential to minimize Fig. 1: Thethree stages of the cooling
of utilizing these curves for the the undesirable transformations curve.
quantification of quenchant per­ from austentite to pearlite or single parameters to relate cooling
formance. 3 bainite. Reduction of the A-stage curve behavior to physical proper­
Cooling curves, obtained by cool­ segment is desirable to minimize ties can be misleading.5 He subse­
ing hot metals in quenching media the time that the hot metal remains quently proposed that a better cor­
such as oil or aqueous polymer in the pearlite transformation relation would be obtained by
solutions, are temperature-versus­ region during the cooling process. relating some measure of overall
time relationships typically contain­ Maximum B-stage cooling rates curve shape to the physical prop­
ing three sections corresponding to serve the same purpose by cooling erty of interest and suggested a pro­
the three stages of heat transfer the metal through the austentitic to cedure involving the area under the
(Fig. 1). The A-stage, or vapor the martensitic transformation as cooling rate curve between two
blanket stage, is characterized by quickly as possible. Since the pro­ critical temperatures .6
the formation of a gaseous blanket pensity for cracking and distortion An alternative procedure for
around the test piece. This blanket increases proportionately with cool­ characterizing cooling curve shape
ing rate, it is desirable to minimize utilizes a mathematical equation to
M.E. Oakins and G.E. Totten are project scien­ the C-stage rate while the metal is describe the entire curve. Modeling
tists with Union Carbide Corp., Tarrytown. NY
10591 . R. W. Heins. deceased, was a consul­
in the martensitic region. A goal of the curve has many attractive fea­
tant for Tenaxol. Inc .. Milwaukee. WI 53214. both oil and synthetic polymer tures, such as : overall curve shape,
when this work was done. quenchant research has been to rather than a few selected charac-
38 HEAT TREATING/DECEMBER 1988
_._ - - - - - - ­
teristics, can be studied; the
temperature at any time or time at
any temperature are easily cal­
culated; the cooling rate curve is ob­
tained by taking the first derivative
of the equation; the model acts as
a curve-smoothing routine; and
curves are easily manipulated for
data storage, retrieval, and trans­
mittal. In addition, the curve para­
meters can be studied in relation to
quenchant properties .
The cooling curve equation is a
multiple parameter nonlinear func­
tion having the form:
Temperature = ~To, Ta, t" t2, S, A, N)
where
To = temperature at start of quench
T8 = temperature at end of quench
t, = time at end of induction period and beginning
of linear COOling
t2 = time at end of linear cooling
S = cooling rate during linear cooling
A = curve shape parameter
N = curve shape parameter
These seven parameters can be
simultaneously estimated for any
To .
1\ Slope=S
i 600
! 1
2 I
i!! I
400
! Ii I.\ Curva,ure con,rolled by A and N
I I
+--l---------~
-==------
T.
loo t
12 TIme
Fig. 2: Cooling curve shapes para­
meters
cooling curve using a compu­
terized, iterative non-linear least
squares algorithm. Many such al­
gorithms exist and are incorporated
into statistical software packages
and other programs . The essential
feature of these procedures is that
the estimated parameter values are
chosen so that the sum of the
squared deviations between the
measured data points and the
predicted values is minimized . Fig.
2 shows how these parameters are
used in describing a cooling curve.
A series of cooling curves with a
variety of shapes and cooling
characteristics was selected to test
and demonstrate the flexibility and
HEAT TREATING/DECEMBER 1988
versatility of the model. The six
curves are shown in Fig. 3, where
the Xs are the data points and the
solid lines are the fitted models.
One curve has the short A-stage
time and fast C-stage rate character­
istic of a water quench, while four
have short to moderate A-stage
times and slow C-stage rates, and
one has a prolonged A stage. These
last five curves correspond to oil
and aqueous polymer quenchants .
Note that, even though nu­
merous other shapes are possible,
the curves shown here were
selected to be illustrative of a broad
range of behaviors . An excellent fit
through all three stages of cooling
and a wide range of shapes is
achieved.
Table I contains the critical para­
meter values for the six test cooling
curves. Since 12 estimates the time
at which A-stage cooling ends and
S estimates the temperature drop
per second during this stage, these
800
700
500
400
300
200
'~~ I
- 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (seconds)
Fig. 3: Cooling curves from water, 011
and four oolymer quench media
two parameters together give a pic­
ture of what is occurring during the
life of the vapor blanket. The para-
meters A and N are less intuitive
but together control the model's
shape and curvature during the B­
and C-stages (Fig. 4). In general,
relatively low values for A and N
give a curve that has very slow cool­
ing throughout the B- and C-stages,
while high values for A and N result
in a curve having a fast cooling rate
during nucleate boiling and then
bending sharply to slow cooling
through the convection and con­
duction stage. Table II shows the
actual values used to generate the
curves in Fig. 4.
It has been demonstrated here
that it is possible to describe an en­
tire cooling curve with a single
multi-parameter function, and that
curves obtained from a broad range
of quenching media and having a
wide variety of shapes and charac­
teristics can be fit with excellent
results. Since the parameters of the
curve fitting function are directly
i
Level A N
Low 0.004 1.25
Mid 0.02 1.75
High 0.1 2.25
Table II: Values of Aand N used In sen­
sitivity analysis
related to the well-known A-, B-,
and C-stage regions of cooling,
these results should be useful in
relating curve shape to the physical
properties of quenched pieces.
Understanding this relationship is
currently the subject of research
around the world.
Although no one technique may
TemperalUre (oC)
900,
800
700
600
500
300
100
01 1
o w ~ 30 40 W ~ ro 80 90100
TIme (seconds)
Fig. 4: Sensitivity of curvature to
parameters A and N
ever satisfy all of the needs for
quenchant performance evaluation
I, and quantification, cooling curve
shape analysis does provide a
potentially powerful tool. lID
REFERENCES
1) Carey, P.E., Meral Progress; February, 1966, 90.
2) "Laboratory Test for Assessing the Cooling
Characteristics of Industrial Quenching Media", Wolfson
Heat Treatment Centre. Engineering Group (1982).
3) Totten, G.E .. Daklns, M.E., and Heins, AW. , " Cooling
Curve Analysis of Synthetic QuenchanlS-A Historical
Perspective" , submitted to Journal of Heat Treating .
4) Tensi, H.M. and Steffen, E., Steel Research; 56, 1985,
49.
5) Thelning, K-E., Proceedings of 5th IFHT Congress on
Heat Treatment of Materials held in Budapest on October
20-24, 1966; Vol. 3. 1737-1759.
6) Tonen, G.E., Dakins, M.E.. Ananthapedmanabhan, K.P.,
and Heins, AW .. " Coolin\! Aate Curve Area: A New
Measure of Quenchant Pertormance", HeBI TreBling;
December, 1987, 18.
7) Bales. C.E., Landlg, T., and Seilanakis, G., "Quench
Factor Analysis: A Powertul Tool Comes of Age" , Heal
TreBling; December, 1985, 13.
39