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Quenching Distortion of Aluminium Castings – Improvement by Gas Cooling
Author(s) -
Rose A.,
Kessler O.,
Hoffmann F.,
Zoch H.W.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
materialwissenschaft und werkstofftechnik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1521-4052
pISSN - 0933-5137
DOI - 10.1002/mawe.200500957
Subject(s) - aluminium , quenching (fluorescence) , metallurgy , materials science , distortion (music) , mechanical engineering , water cooling , engineering , physics , fluorescence , amplifier , optoelectronics , cmos , quantum mechanics
For quenching of age hardenable aluminium alloys today predominantly aqueous quenching media are used, which can lead due to the Leidenfrost phenomenon to a non‐uniform cooling of the parts and thus to distortion. Particularly at thin‐walled or complex shaped parts local plastic deformations can occur by the uneven thermal stresses. In relation to the conventional quenching procedures in aqueous media, gas quenching exhibits a number of technological, ecological, and economical advantages. The quenching intensity can be adjusted by the variable parameters gas pressure and gas velocity as well as the kind of gas and thus can be adapted to the requirements of the part. The distortion behaviour of serial production aluminium parts was researched after high‐pressure gas quenching with nitrogen 10 bar and after water quenching. Aluminium castings and forgings are considered as interesting applications of gas quenching, because of their near‐net shape before age hardening. Cost savings would be possible, because of reduced distortion and therefore less reworking.