Press and/or mandrel quenching is a specialized heat treatment process applied to mechanical components such as gears, crown gears, and satellite gears, where it is crucial to control and limit deformations within very tight tolerances. In this process, the part is placed inside a specially designed mold during the quenching phase, which restricts deformations of specific dimensions.
The equipment used for deformation control must be specifically designed according to the geometry of the component and the required tolerances.
Press and/or mandrel quenching is often preceded by a carburizing phase, where the surface of the component is enriched with carbon, followed by slow cooling in air. The subsequent austenitization and press/mandrel quenching process provides the hardness and treatment depth typical of standard carburizing while controlling deformations.
