Computer-aided cooling curve analysis using WinProbe

Abstract

The Cooling curve analysis is a powerful method for characterising the cooling power of quenching media. The cooling curve (temperature vs. time) is obtained experimentally using standard specimens, although non-standard specimens have also been used. The different stages of cooling in vaporisable media can be identified from visual inspection of a cooling curve; other quantities such as cooling rate, heat transfer boundary conditions and final mechanical properties may be calculated using algorithms of diverse complexity. In this paper, the application of a windows-based computer-aided analytical tool, WinProbe, in the context of the cooling curve analysis is presented. The software may be used, not only to analyse experimentally determined cooling curves, but can also be applied as a virtual quenching tool.