Patent ID: 8447574

Claim:
A method for estimating heat transfer during water quench of an aluminum part comprising: estimating the heat transfer of the aluminum part when a temperature of the part is greater than 500° C. using q =α(Δ T ) (1); estimating the heat transfer of the aluminum part when the temperature of the part is greater than T 2 and less than 500° C. using q=k 1 ΔT k 2 (4); estimating the heat transfer of the aluminum part when the temperature of the part is greater than T 1 and less than T 2 using a critical point function equation selected from: q = q max - q 0 ⁡ ( T metal - T max T 2 - T 1 ) 2 , ( 3 ) q n = a 0 + a 1 ⁢ Δ ⁢ ⁢ T + a 2 ⁢ Δ ⁢ ⁢ T 2 + a 3 ⁢ Δ ⁢ ⁢ T 3 + … + a n ⁢ Δ ⁢ ⁢ T n , ( 6 ) or q ⁡ ( T 1 ) = q ⁡ ( T 2 ) = φ ⁢ ⁢ q max ; ( 9 ) estimating the heat transfer of the aluminum part when the temperature of the part is less than T 1 using q=c 1 ΔT c 2 (5); where: ΔT is the temperature difference (° K) between the hot cast aluminum component and the water used to quench the part; T metal is the surface temperature of the part during quench; T 2 is the temperature at an intersection point of the two curves described by equation (3) and equation (4); T 1 is the temperature at the intersection point of the two curves described by equation (3) and equation (5); T max = T 1 + T 2 2 ; and c 1 , c 2 , q max , q 0 , k 1 , k 2 , and a 0 , a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , . . . , and a n , are constants that depend upon quench conditions.