Annealing to Quench or not

[burt8810]

Hello,
After a number of years I could never seem to get a definitive answer to whether it is better to air cool or quickly water quench brass after heating to anneal it.

This gentleman, George Vander Voort, was kind enough to answer my question.

In short it does NOT matter.

Here is my email to him:
I am a reloader. Many websites discuss neck annealing. One site by a
fellow who did much FEA states When brass is heated, new crystals nucleate at
the dislocations and the new crystals are small. If the brass is
quenched at this point, the brass retains the small crystals and is
annealed with very few dislocations and is stress free. This is the
condition you want for your case necks. If the brass is slowly cooled,
the small crystals begin to coalesce and grow into larger crystals and
the properties suffer because the large crystal boundaries are not
strong. Also stress corrosion cracking can more easily occur at the
larger crystal boundaries." So is it better to water or air cool after
annealing? Thanks very much for your response.

This is his response:
With cartridge brass you can air cool or oil quench or water quench
after annealing. No real difference.

And here is his web site:
http://www.georgevandervoort.com/

I am going to take this a definitive answer given his bona fides (sp?).

ASM, which used to be American Society for Metals, is a few miles down the road from me in Newbury, OH.

[lefty o]

i agree, with brass it makes no difference.

[dragon813gt]

Anyone that told you have to quench was giving you the wrong information. And unfortunately w/ annealing there’s lots of wrong information out there. Quenching brass does not change the grain structure. It simply allows you to handle the cases more quickly. That’s the long and short of it.

[country gent]

I do quench but not for the annealing but to slow the heat transferring into the case head.

[elmacgyver0]

I do quench but not for the annealing but to slow the heat transferring into the case head.

This!

[EDG]

You quench the brass to prevent the heat from annealing the case head. If your annealing is so quick and uniform that the head never gets hot then quenching is just to permit handling without burning your fingers.

[dragon813gt]

If you’re worried about heat migration you’re applying to little heat for to long of a time. A high(relative) temp applied as quickly as possible will prevent this. The case head won’t heat up enough to anneal.

[maxiblu]

Sounds like it really don't make a difference as long as the case head doesn't get annealed.

[Steppenwolf]

I use the water quench. The casings are standing in water so that about 1/3 of the brass is exposed. I heat the exposed end with a torch and then knock them over into the water to quench.

[Stephen Cohen]

I must admit this not having to water drop is news to me, shows I am not too old to learn. I found the easiest way to anneal was to sit in my chair with a bucket of cold water with some citric acid added between my feet, I then roll the de primed shell between my fingers keeping the neck and shoulder area in the flam of my torch, when I feel it getting warm I drop it into the bucket. I find this method to give me clean shells ready for tumbling. Regards Stephen