Institute of Metals Division - Preliminary Examination of the Quenching of Titanium Alloys

From the limited experimental data in the literature, preliminary values were derived for the thermal diffusivity of titanium alloys and for the quenching severity of various mediums used in heat treating them. The thermal diffusivity, under quenching conditions, was found to be approximately 0.006 sq in. per sec. The quenching severity H for brine is approximately 8, for water 4, for oil 0.9, for air 0.08, and for argon 0.02 in. -' The quenching severity of the Jominy-Boegehold end quench water jet against titanium alloys appeared effectively infinite. Using these results, graphs were prepared showing ideal round sizes and Jominy positions having cooled conditions equivalent to those at the center and surface of titanium alloy rounds, plates, and sheets quenched in various media. THE importance of proper quenching of steel parts has long been recognized, and much quantitative work has been done on the subject. Recently, it has become evident that for titanium alloys, too, the rate of cooling from high temperature is important in obtaining high strength and hardness. Maximum hardness and strength may not be attained in the as-quenched condition but rather after a subsequent tempering or aging treatment. Nevertheless, if cooling from temperatures near the ß transus is too slow, for the hardenability of the alloy used, a soft a-ß structure will be produced which will not harden on subsequent aging.'-" The quenching of parts of practical interest can usually be approximated by simple shapes, such as cylinders (rounds) and plates (or sheets) of various thickness and combinations of these. A standard that has been used extensively for comparison purposes is the center of an ideal round: a cylinder quenched in a medium that instantly cools its surface to room temperature." For steel, considerable practical use has been made of the Jominy-Boegehold end quench hardenability specimen,".' and its value for titanium alloys is becoming evident. It therefore appeared worthwhile to attempt comparison of cooling conditions in titanium alloy rounds and plates of various sizes quenched in various media with cooling conditions in ideal round and Jominy quenches. These comparisons are based upon measurements reported in the literature. Quenching Severity of Jominy Water Jet and of Brine As one starting point, there were available the data of Phillips and Tobin8 for positions on a Jominy specimen having the same hardness as the centers of round bars of various size quenched in 5 pct NaOH brine, shown in Table I. The Jominy speci- men is a round bar, normally 1 in. diam and 4 in. long, quenched by a water jet at one end and air cooled on the other surfaces.' After quenching, hardness is measured vs distance from the quenched end on longitudinal flats ground 0.015 to 0.10 in. deep. The data of Table I were based on a subsized specimen of 3/4 in. diam. Since the positions tested are close to the jet quenched end, cooling there may be taken as due solely to the jet, and air cooling can be neglected. These positions are then equivalent to various locations near one surface of an 8 in. plate jet quenched on both sides. Assuming that the thermal diffusivity is constant and that Newton's law of cooling holds, temperature vs time curves at corresponding positions in Jominy specimen and round bar then may be calculated for various assumed quenching severities of the water jet and of the brine. Cooling curves are generally taken to be metallurgically equivalent when they show the same time to reach a temperature halfway between the initial (heat treating) temperature and the final (quenching medium) temperature.5 On this basis, using Russell's tables,9 upplemented by heat flow tables derived in similar fashion by the author for positions near the surface of severely quenched plates, it was found that the experimentally observed equivalence, Table I, was best matched if the quenching severity H of the Jominy water jet was taken as infinite (H = co). This means that the jet quenched surface should be considered as instantly cooled to the temperature of the water