Wetting kinetics, kinematics and heat transfer characteristics of pongamia pinnata vegetable oil for industrial heat treatment

The suitability of pongamia pinnata vegetable oil as cooling medium for quench heat treatment was investigated. Wetting kinetics, kinematics and heat transfer characteristics of pongamia oil during immersion quenching of hot Inconel probe were determined and compared with palm and mineral oils. A comparison of the relaxation of contact angle indicated early attainment of equilibrium contact angle for pongamia oil droplet on Inconel substrate. The equilibrium contact angle value of pongamia oil was in between mineral and palm oils. However, the spreading kinetics was faster with pongamia oil. Pongamia oil showed the formation of a stable vapour film on the probe surface during quenching. This phenomenon was not observed in palm oil and other vegetable oils reported in literature. Pongamia pinnata oil exhibits uniform nature of wetting front, intermediate rewetting temperature and less variations in rewetting temperatures during quenching. The hardening power of pongamia oil was higher than palm and mineral oils and the cooling of the probe was more uniform during quenching in pongamia oil. The heat transfer characteristics of pongamia oil were found to be superior to palm and mineral oils after film/transition boiling. Pongamia oil showed lower heat transfer but more uniform cooling during film boiling.