Effect of section size and agitation on heat transfer during quenching of AISI 1040 steel

In the present work an attempt has been made to determine the heat flux transients during quenching of Ø28 mm × 56 mm height and Ø44 mm × 88 mm height AISI 1040 steel specimens during lateral quenching in brine, water, palm oil and mineral oil. The heat flux transients were estimated by inverse modeling of heat conduction. The variation of heat flux transients with surface temperature for different quenching media is investigated. Higher peak heat flux transients are obtained for 28 mm diameter specimen than 44 mm diameter specimen during quenching in aqueous media. However quenching with oil media shows opposite results. Agitation of quenching medium increases the peak heat flux during the quenching of steel specimen in all the quenching media. Peak hardness is obtained at the surface and with smaller diameter specimens during agitation.