Thermal Treatment under Vacuum for Obtaining a Quenchant from Rapeseed Oil

The aim of this study was to improve the quality of a vegetable oil, having in view its use as a quenchant for metallic parts in aircrafts. A process of pyrolysis under vacuum was applied to obtain a bio-oil with reduced viscosity and good quenching properties. Preliminarily, the rapeseed oil was fast pyrolyzed at temperature in the range of 300–375 °C and absolute pressure of 1 μbar. Some results such as viscosity and yields of bio-oil were obtained with a narrowing of the temperature range between 300–320 °C, for further processing. Quenching tests with bio-oils on stainless steel 25CD4 showed cooling curves closer to those of the standard mineral oil (Castrol IloquenchTM 1), by comparing them with unprocessed vegetable oil. The hardness of the steel after treatment rose from 29–30 HRC to 43–45 HRC, in accordance with requirements (35–45 HRC). Therefore, the conclusion is that bio-oils obtained by pyrolysis under vacuum are good quenchant proceeds from this study.