Anyone have experience with polymer quenchants?

[JNewman]

I need to replace my old quenching oil the stuff I have is about 14-15 years old and it is either degraded or not a fast enough oil for what I need it to do.

Polymer quenchants have the advantage of less or no smoke, reduced fire dangers and the quench speed is adjustable by varying the mix ratio.  The disadvantages I can think of are having to monitor the mix ratio regularly and the possibility of biological contamination.  Anyone know of other problems?

I will primarily be using the oil or polymer for  quenching 20-50 pcs at a time every few weeks and then for use making shop tools probably once or twice a week.  So it will be sitting around unused for days and sometimes weeks at a time. 

Does anyone have experience with how much time it is going to maintain the polymer and if I am likely to have problems?

 do NOT enter a million blank lines in your post

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning, John

I have Two barrels of 2 different quenching rate, Quenching Oils. I will have to dig out the MSDS for the differences. They are not Polymer.

Thanks, Neil

 

[Jim Kehler]

Hi John, it's been awhile but what I remember from using polymer quench was that it was messier than oil, I think most of the maintenance was from drag-out, and I didn't care for the smell.

[JNewman]

Thanks Jim and Neil (where did Neil's post go?)  I was leery of going with the polymer but thought I would see if anyone would say it was working well for them.  I spoke with a technical salesman at Houghen this afternoon and he referred me to a PHD specializing in HT they have on staff who recommended Houghto-Quench G.  It will be fast enough to get the hardness I need for my primary need fast enough for W1 or 2 in thin sections but shouldn't crack my 4340.   I will probably be getting a 50 gallon drum from them so I will have 20-25 gallons for sale in smaller quantities for anyone interested here  in Ontario. 

 

 

[EdCWC]

Do you still have any of the quench G polymer available?

[JNewman]

I do.  It is not polymer it is quenching oil

[EdCWC]

My big reason for looking for a polymer quench is the reduction of fire hazard, and smoke/fumes from the oil.

How is you oil in this regard? I will be hardening 4140 in it so from about 1575 F to 200 F in oil

Thanks

[JNewman]

It definitely smokes and will burn but proper quenching oils do have a higher flash point than regular oil.  I am quenching both 4140 and 4340 in it and it works well.  There is some smoke but not that much as long as you get the hot part in the oil completely and don't remove it too early.  Tempering is when I get the most smoke,  If we cleaned the oil off more than just draining before tempering we would get less smoke.

[EdCWC]

I have just ordered about 10 gallons of polymer. I will let you know how it works on 4140. Probably about end of Jan by the time I get set up and run it. We buy polymer coolant for our grinders, and perhaps had an in to buy a smaller amount.

I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Thanks