High Pressure Gas Quenching Equipment Design and Distortion Control for High Production of Carburizing Steels

Over the years, carburized steels have used oil quenching for various applications and is widely accepted as the standard quench for these materials. Advances in material hardenability, along with gas quench equipment advances and fixture designs has allowed gas quenching to take a formidable portion of the high production carburized steel market. Gas quenching has found its way into high production of carburized steels, and hardening applications by offering many benefits to the parts and production facilities. These savings include the removal of the need for oil quenching in manufacturing areas. Without the need for oil quenching, this has allowed for the heat treat area to be moved in-line with production. The need for post washing is also eliminated along with the recycling of waste oils from the washer fluid as well as exhausting oil mist. This presentation will elaborate on the gas quench equipment design progress with a focus on the facets of distortion control. Data of distortion testing along with fixture material and design to aid in distortion control using gas quenching will be presented.