Development of Ethylene Glycol and Clay Based Quench Media for Quench Heat Treatment

Abstract The present work investigates the cooling behavior of aluminum probes in ethylene glycol and clay based quench media. The aim is to understand the effect of the quench media on the cooling rate and heat flux parameters. The quenching media used in this study involved distilled water, ethylene glycol (EG) at concentrations of 5vol%, 10vol%, and 15vol%, and bentonite clay with different particle sizes of 45μm, 63μm, 90μm, and 105μm and varying weight concentrations of 0.01wt%, 0.1wt%, and 1wt%. Temperature time data acquired by a thermocouple positioned at the geometric center of the probe was utilized in the Lumped Heat Capacitance Method (LHCM) to analyze the cooling behaviour and estimate heat flux parameters during the quenching process. The study found that the maximum heat flux transient and cooling rate, 1437 kW/m² and 578 °C/s, respectively, were achieved with the 5 vol% EG quench medium. The heat flux transients decreased with higher volume concentrations of EG quench media. The maximum heat flux and cooling rate for the 63μm particle size bentonite clay based quench medium in distilled water were 915 kW/m² and 368 °C/s, respectively. The heat transfer rate increased with higher weight concentrations of bentonite clay. These findings suggest that both the type and concentration of quenching media significantly influence the cooling characteristics, providing valuable insights into optimizing quenching processes for aluminum.