Simulation of Quenching and Tempering Process on SAE 1060 Steel Using Aqueous Polyalkylene Glycol (PAG) Polymer

Abstract Quenching fluids such as polymers are still under investigation and need to be characterized to improve the accuracy of the simulation results. This work aims to contribute to the optimization of the simulation process in the heat treatment industry. Cooling curve of a polyalkylene glycol (PAG) polymer solution at 10 % of concentration with moderate agitation and a fluid temperature of 32 Celsius were acquired and analyzed under the ASTM D 6482 method. The result of the cooling curve was used to calculate the heat transfer coefficient (HTC), and the HTC graph was used as one of the boundary conditions for the simulation of the quenching step. The commercial software SIMHEAT from Transvalor was used to predict hardness in as quenched and in as tempered conditions. A laboratory-scale specimen made of SAE 1060 steel was heat treated; the specimen was heated up at 860 Celsius, held for 0.5 h and then quenched in the PAG polymer solution at 10 % as mentioned above; the specimen was sectioned and tempered at two temperatures; 370 and 540 Celsius for 2 h. Finally, hardness was performed on the specimens and compared against the simulation results.