Ultra Fast Cooling and Its Effect on the Mechanical Properties of Steel

Abstract

The objective of this work is to study about the ultrafast cooling of a hot static 6 mm thick steel plate (AISI-1020) by air assisted spray cooling. The study covers the effect of air flow rate and the water impingement density on the cooling rate. The initial temperature of the plate, before the cooling starts, is kept at 900 °C. The spray was produced from a full cone high mass flux and low turn down ratio air atomizer at a fixed nozzle to plate distance. The cooling rate shows that low turn down ratio air atomized spray can generate ultra fast cooling (UFC) rate for a 6 mm thick steel plate. After cooling, the tensile strength and hardness of the cooled steel plate were examined. The surface heat flux and surface temperature calculations have been performed by using INTEMP software. The result of this study could be applied in designing of fast cooling system especially for the run-out table cooling.