Epoxidized Soybean Oil: Evaluation of Oxidative Stabilization and Metal Quenching/Heat Transfer Performance

Abstract

Vegetable and animal oils as a class of fluids have been used for hundreds of years, if not longer, as quenchants for hardening steel. However, when petroleum oils became available in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the use of these fluids as quenchants, in addition to their use in other industrial oil applications, quickly diminished. This was primarily, but not exclusively, due to their generally very poor thermal-oxidative instability and the difficulty for formulating fluid analogs with varying viscosity properties. Interest in the use of renewable fluids, such as vegetable oils, has increased dramatically in recent years as alternatives to the use of relatively non-biodegradable and toxic petroleum oils. However, the relatively poor thermal-oxidative stability has continued to be a significant reason for their general non-acceptance in the marketplace. Soybean oil (SO) is one of the most highly produced vegetable oils in Brazil. Currently, there are commercially produced epoxidized versions of SO which are available. The objective of this paper is to discuss the potential use of epoxidized SO and its heat transfer properties as a viable alternative to petroleum oils for hardening steel.