Intensive quenching technology for tool steels

An extensive experimental and computational study to demonstrate an intensive quenching process for tool steels was conducted. Experiments and calculations were performed for a variety of tool steel products including H-13 steel die-casting machine parts, H-13 steel standard thermal fatigue test block, 52100 steel dies, M2 and S5 steel punches. A proprietary software package for simulation of part quenching conditions was used. Experiments were conducted in both the experimental intensive quenching system and the full-scale production intensive quenching system. Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio conducted thermal fatigue testing of the H-13 test block in its foundry facility. The results of these experiments clearly demonstrated the benefits of the intensive quenching technique for tool steels: increased surface and core hardness, increased hardened layer, improved part microstructure, improved strength properties of the steel parts, and part service life.