Tenaxol Offers Line of PAG Type Quenchants
Tenaxol, Inc. pioneered the use of (PAG) type quenchants 40 years ago and held the original patent for this application. Today Tenino, Inc. is a leader in the marketing, sales and service of a line of PAG type quenchants which are manufactured by The Dow Chemical Co. under the UCON trade name. In addition to technical and laboratory services, Tenaxol also offers metallurgical assistance to its customers.
"Since the first patent for polyalkylene glycol (PAG) quenchants was issued to our company CEO, back in 1965, the reputation of Tenaxol and our UCON brand has achieved "legendary" status among heat treaters, worldwide. Regardless of the steel or aluminum alloy you are processing, to whatever surface integrity you seek, polymer quenchants from Tenaxol will yield superior results, better uniformity and reduced overall cost to your operation. No water, salt, oil or other solution can match the power of polymer quenching," said a company spokesman.
UCON Quenchants are a series of nonflammable, aqueous solutions of a liquid organic polymer and a corrosion inhibitor. The organic polymer is completely soluble in water and produces clear homogeneous solutions at room temperature. The quenchants are inversely soluble at elevated temperatures and are completely soluble in water at temperatures below the separation temperature.
This inverse solubility is the mechanism that allows the polymer to coat the material at the interface of the metal which affects the rate of heat extraction during the nucleate boiling phase of the quenching process. As the metal cools during the convection stage of the quenching process, the polymer comes off the metal surface and goes back into solution. The particular heat transfer properties obtained depend on the particular UCON Quenchant employed, quenchant concentration, agitation rates and bath temperature. By adjusting these parameters, a single UCON Quenchant may be used in a wide variety of heat treating processes and with a range of metal alloys. Proper selection of these variables permits quenching rate variations, ranging from those achieved with brine solutions to those achieved with medium-to slow-quenching oils.
¥ UCON Quenchants offer a high degree of versatility and improved performance to the complex quenching process.
¥ UCON Quenchants have also been approved by Factory Mutual Research Corporation as "less hazardous" quenchants. This provides an opportunity to reduce costs for protection equipment and/or fire insurance.
¥ UCON Quenchants resist bacterial growth, exhibit low Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOB), and are essentially nontoxic to bluegill sunfish.
¥ UCON Quenchants designated NN (non-nitrite) may be used safely in processes where there is danger of contamination with amines. The NN corrosion inhibitor system will not promote nitrosamine formation. Furthermore, since UCON Quenchants contain no amines, the heat treater may add the NN grades to nitrite-containing quenchants in the bath without risk of nitrosamine formation and without the need to dispose of the existing bath.
Optimum operating conditions may be attained through control of concentration, bath temperature, and agitation. By adjusting these parameters, a variety of quenching severities, ranging from water to slow oil, may be achieved in a single bath.
Scrap and off-spec processing costs are reduced by the control of softspotting, distortion, and cracking. Losses from drag-out can be controlled by washing quenched parts with water or quenchant solutions. Any residual quenchant will volatilize cleanly in tempering operations above 644¡ F (340¡C), leaving the part free of undesired residues, such as lacquers, varnishes, etc.
The major make-up requirement is water to replace that lost due to evaporation. Quench baths that have been badly contaminated from various sources (hydraulic oil leakage, salt, etc.) may be restored by such techniques as heat or membrane separation.
Equipment maintenance and plant cleanliness are easier to achieve with water-soluble quenchants. Cooling coils and quench tanks remain free of oil-derived sludges or deposits. The smoke, soot, and residues typical of oil quenching are completely eliminated.
With the proper selection of all the parameters involved in quenching, the desired metallurgical properties can be achieved without the drawbacks of cracking, distortion, or intergranular corrosion.
For aluminum, severe distortion and residual stresses are encountered when aluminum is quenched in water. However, when an aqueous solution of a UCON Quenchant, such as UCON A, is used as the quenching medium, a reduction in both residual stress and distortion are typically achieved.
For steel, similar reductions in residual stresses and cracking tendency are observed when UCON Quenchants are used. One method of quantifying cracking propensity on the basis of cooling curve behavior is to compare the relative cooling rates of a steel probe quenched in various media at 232¡C. UCON Quenchants can provide cooling rates ranging from those obtained with water to and including those achieved with oil.
For more information contact:
Larry Jarvis
R. Ross Blackwood
Tenaxol Inc.
5801 West National Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53214-3492
414-476-1400
Fax: 414-476-4297
TX, OK, LA
Jack Kirsch
Systems 1, Inc.
PO Box 55874
Houston, TX 77255
713-956-5800
Fax: 713-956-0602
AR, KS
Jack Sharkey
The John E. Metz Company
1431 Jamaica Court
St. Louis, MO 63122
314-966-8350
Fax: 314-966-4267
New Mexico
Chuck Alexander
Blair-Alexander Engineering Company, Inc.
1109 Harlan Street
Denver, CO 80214
800-438-2818
Fax: 303-237-6402
Southeast
AL, FL, GA, MS, N./S. Carolina
Dave Core
Filtration Solutions, Inc.
104 Edinburg Drive
Kannapolis, NC 28083
704-938-5330
Fax: 704-938-7638
TN, VA
Bob Grunkemeyer
Grunkemeyer & Associates
PO Box 44204
Cincinnati, OH 45244
Phone/Fax: 513-232-1692