Quenching: automatic control of the quenchant to ensure the process quality

摘要

The heat treatments used in manufacturing process of automotive parts are very important, and among the, particularly the quenching of steels. In this heat treatment the quenchant capacity of heat extraction is a very critical parameter, and once specified its cooling features must be preserved to ensure the maintenance of the mechanical properties of components, which will determine the project functionality and durability. The best way to control the quenchant during quenching is through the continued control of the quenchant cooling curve of the and its respective cooling rate. In this work a computer-controlled data acquisition system was utilized, which allowed in actual time, to get values of temperature and time during the cooling phenomena. These data are processed to give immediate values of the cooling rate. This system is applied to different quenchants such as: water, polymeric solutions and oils. Therefore, it gives the measurement repeatability and the different cooling features of each of these quenchants. These features may be exploited by the process engineers to ensure the process repeatability and quality.