Quenching distortion in AISI E52100 steel

Heat treatment of different steel products have existed for thousands of years. It has always been an important tool to get the microstructure and resulting properties such as hardness and case hardness and it is even more important today than ever before. This project concentrated on the quenching process and means to decrease the distortion caused by this process. The effect of different oils, temperatures, agitation and if gas quenching could give better results were investigated. The results showed that Miller´s 75 quench oil was better than Park´s 420 at slow agitation and that the viscosity of the oils influenced how much changes in agitation speed and oil temperature affected the distortion. It also shows that gas quenching is an alternative to oil quenching if the microstructure can be improved. Otherwise using Miller´s 75 with low agitation in the Surface combustion furnace will give best results