J. A. Powell, M. A. Aronov, N. I. Kobasko, J. H. Vanas, IQ Technologies, Inc., Akron, OH; P. Ghorpade, G. Roy, Hightemp Furnaces Limited, Bangalore, India
From 2003 to 2006, IQ Technologies Inc, together with three commercial heat treating companies (Akron Steel Treating Co. of Akron, Ohio, Euclid Heat Treating Co. of Cleveland, Ohio and HighTemp Furnaces Limited of Bangalore, India), have successfully commercialized an intensive quenching (IQ) process on a variety of parts made from various steel alloys. The IQ method is a cost-effective method of hardening steel parts that provides superior physical properties (compared to traditional quenching methods), using only plain water, then air, for quenching. A number of production loads were quenched in full-scale production IQ systems installed at the above heat-treating companies. The steel products processed included automotive parts, construction equipment components, fasteners of different types, cold work and hot work punches and dies, etc., made from various steel alloys (alloys traditionally quenched in water, oil, or gas). A proprietary software package was used for optimizing the specific quenching recipes for parts being intensively quenched. The paper summarizes the test results for specific parts, and quantifies the demonstrated IQ process benefits (e.g., significant reduction of the carburization cycle, use of plain carbon steels instead of alloy steels, improved part fatigue life, higher compressive residual surface stresses, and so forth).
Summary: The intensive quenching (IQ) method is a cost-effective method of hardening steel parts that provides superior physical properties (compared to traditional quenching methods), using only plain water, then air, for quenching. The paper summarizes the results of quenching of a number of production loads in full-scale production IQ systems installed at three heat-treating companies and quantifies the demonstrated IQ process benefits for specific parts.
