As far as the application is concerned, heat treatment oils or heat treatment fluids as they are often called, have a wide range of usage in various industrial practices, especially in hardening and tempering metals. Heat treatment oils can be broadly classified into several types especially due to their application and physical as well as chemical properties. The following are invasive groups of heat treatment oils:
Quenching Oils: They are commonly used for hardening purposes of steel and other metals. They can be divided into:
Mineral Oil: These are simple petroleum based quenching oils.
Synthetic Oil: These are based on synthetic materials that are improved for low cooling rates and also reduced flammability.
Water-based Oil: These are emulsified cooling oils that comprise both water and oil as coolant mediums.
Tempering Oils: These oils are lubricants that the operator applies after a work piece has been quenched. Quenching creates internal stress which these oils relieve. Typically they are less viscous to allow for better movement and heating is done uniformly on the metal.
Case Hardening Oils: They include many variations that are thick and fibrous materials used when steel is carburized or other processes wherein carbon is introduced into steel resulting in a hard surface and a strong core.
Annealing Oils: These oils are used in the course of annealing of mater device in order to avoid corrosion and also to enables a certain rate of cooling.
Burnishing Oils: They are similar to lapidary oils in that they serve for a finishing process, improving surface finish, and augmenting corrosion resistance.
Recycling Oils: This type of oil is in most cases used along with other type of oils and after its application, it can be restored to its original form so as to minimize wastage and cost.
Biodegradable Oils: This type oil is derived from natural resources and is eco‐friendly in design but efficient in cooling and lubrication.
When it comes to using heat treatment oils each variables should be taken into account such as cooling rate, thermal stability, viscosity, ines and cleanness properties. Each application will probably consider using particular heat treatment oils to effectively obtain the needed results.
