Title: Computer-aided cooling curve analysis using WinProbe

Authors: L. Meekisho, B. Hernandez-Morales, J.S. Tellez-Martinez, X. Chen

Addresses: College of Engineering and Computing Science, Portland State University, Portland, OR. ' Departamento de Ingenieria Metalurgica, Facultad de Quimica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico. ' Departamento de Ingenieria Metalurgica, Facultad de Quimica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico. ' Technical Service Division, Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, IL, USA

Abstract: The Cooling curve analysis is a powerful method for characterising the cooling power of quenching media. The cooling curve (temperature vs. time) is obtained experimentally using standard specimens, although non-standard specimens have also been used. The different stages of cooling in vaporisable media can be identified from visual inspection of a cooling curve; other quantities such as cooling rate, heat transfer boundary conditions and final mechanical properties may be calculated using algorithms of diverse complexity. In this paper, the application of a windows-based computer-aided analytical tool, WinProbe, in the context of the cooling curve analysis is presented. The software may be used, not only to analyse experimentally determined cooling curves, but can also be applied as a virtual quenching tool.

Keywords: cooling curve analysis; computer-aided analytical tool; quenching media; cooling rate; heat transfer; boundary conditions; mechanical properties; virtual quenching.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2005.007946

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2005 Vol.24 No.1/2/3/4, pp.155 - 169

Published online: 06 Oct 2005 *

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