Aluminum plate quench of .125 steel

About this project

Simulate plate quench of1/8in 01 tool steel. Note that simulation shows only half of the quench (one plate and .063 steel stock) to better see center line temperature (e.g. when the knife edge would be after grinding bevel). This simulation assumes no bevels are ground in the blade before quenching. Conclusion: Simulation suggests that in ideal conditions 1/8in steel can be quenched from 800 C to 400 C in 4 seconds (at the edges, not in the center) using 1.5in aluminum quench plates. This is fast enough for full edge hardness of most oil hardening tool steels (O1, etc). Probably fast enough to avoid pearlite in the cutting edge in faster steels like 52100 and 8760. Definitely NOT fast enough for water hardening steels (W1, 1095 )