Foreword

ASM International is proud to offer Quenchants and Quenching Technology as the latest volume in the ASM Handbook series on heat treating:

• Steel Heat Treating Fundamentals and Processes, Volume 4A, 2013

• Steel Heat Treating Technologies, Volume 4B, 2014

• Induction Heating and Heat Treatment, Volume 4C, 2014

• Heat Treating of Irons and Steels, Volume 4D, 2014

• Heat Treating of Nonferrous Alloys, Volume 4E, 2016

This voluminous, expanded coverage on heat treating—from the single volume, Heat Treating (ASM Handbook, Volume 4, 1991)—is a fitting reflection from the 1913 origins of ASM International as the Steel Treaters Club, formed by Detroit blacksmith William Park Woodside. Volume 4F, Quenchants and Quenching Technology—written by the world’s leading innovators, researchers, and practitioners in the heat treating field—is a practical guide to quenching, its implementation, and its effects on the microstructure and properties of cast irons and steels. The Volume is an enormous effort by subject matter experts, members, and staff to provide a useful and reliable reference tool. As in all ASM Handbook volumes, the emphasis is on providing practical information that will help engineers and technical personnel perform their jobs.

ASM International is ever grateful and appreciative for the tireless work and dedication of volunteer editors, authors, and reviewers who devoted their time and expertise to develop a publication of the highest editorial caliber.

Volume editors George E. Totten, Rosa L. Simencio Otero, Xinmin Luo, and Lauralice C.F. Canale made this comprehensive work possible through their generous commitments of time and technical expertise. To these contributors, we offer our special thanks.