Work

Experimental Determination of the Heat Transfer Coefficient of Wire Samples in an Industrial Lead Bath

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Steel wire is an important product in modern industries and is widely used in different applications. Where higher strength or durability is required, a heat treatment known as patenting is applied. This heat treatment uses molten lead as a coolant to form a fine-lamellar pearlite microstructure. Since lead is toxic, there are constant efforts to make the process environment as safe as possible as well as to replace lead baths. The first step for a possible replacement is a good understanding of the current boundary conditions. Therefore, an experimental setup was designed to measure the cooling curve of wire samples with different wire diameters and steel grades directly at two industrial lead baths. Furthermore, an inverse calculation method was developed to calculate the heat transfer coefficients from the cooling curves. The experimental setup, the evaluation method, and the resulting heat transfer coefficients are presented. The results show that the heat transfer coefficients vary with the sample diameter and velocity but not the lead bath temperature or steel grade. In addition, a comparison with correlations from literature was conducted.

Source: Applied Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/app142311300

Authors: Jan Hof, Alexander Reinicke, Dominik Büschgens, Christian Wuppermann

Institution: RWTH Aachen University

Language: English

Topic: Heat Transfer and Optimization

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,728

Funder: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie