red hot steel heat conduction ?

Question

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but if it's not please point me to the correct group.

Back in the fifties I recall heating the end of a 20 inch long piece of 1 inch cold rolled steel bar stock in a blacksmith forge to red hot. On several occasions, instead of hammering the piece on an anvil I would plunge it into the water because someone asked me to do something else. On these occasions I noticed that the part that I was holding would seem to get much hotter faster when plunged versus when hammering on the piece. For some reason the heat traveled to the part I was holding faster when plunged versus being forged. Is there a scientific reason for what happened or has my memory deceived me? tnx

David Deuchar · Accepted Answer

Steam, & condensation

Henry Kolesnik · Answer

I forgot to mention that the hot iron was quenched at better than a 45 deg anlge to prevent scalding from steam and water splatter.  Where does the condensation enter into the picture?tnxHank

jim · Answer

Do you think if you put your hand close to the heated end when quenching you would not get scalded by steam? That scalding would be due to condensation of steam. Steam expands and contacts the rod at points between your hand and the red hot end. Steam transfers heat in this manner much faster than it can travel up the rod by conduction.

-jim

Henry Kolesnik · Answer

It was the palm that got hot from the steel not the back of my hand.Hank

David Deuchar · Answer

"Steam...............contacts the rod at points

jim · Answer

Yes, but your missing the point. You seem to comprehend how your hand might get hot if it were neaerer to where the steam is being generated, but you can't comprehend why parts of the rod that are nearer to the steam might aquire heat.

-jim

Henry Kolesnik · Answer

I may not have stated the situation clearly enough but I from what I've been able to glean from several groups is that my mind must have been playing tricks on me and still is 50  years later.  I thought that there might be some phenomena that I wasn't aware of like atomic structure changing from FCC to BCC or something else when the hot iron hit the cold water.  So I'll let it rest and go to something more realistic.tnx

alvinj · Answer

50 years ago? :)No need to worry about internet-juice being used up for nothing.This beats the cross-posted political crap, ok? :)Good point!  Was there a major portion of the austenitized steel not being submerged?Having read this on a couple NG's, I wonder if it was mostly time and hand-pressure differences- causing more heat conduction that you were noticing?Alvin in AZ

Henry Kolesnik · Answer

AlvinI don't know and I've given up.  It must have been an old mans imagination.

red hot steel heat conduction ?

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