Polyoxazolines in aqueous quenchants

In the process of quenching which is useful in the heat treatment of metals wherein a metal is heated to an elevated temperature and said heated metal is then quenched in a bath comprising a liquid quenching medium to effect desirable metallurgical changes in the metal, the improvement which comprises using as said quenching medium an aqueous solution containing an effective cooling rate reducing amount of a nonionic, water-soluble or water-dispersible substituted oxazoline polymer having recurring units of the formula ##STR4## where R is a substituent selected from the group consisting of a phenyl group or an alkyl group containing from 1 to 7 carbon atoms which may be halogen substituted, and n is an integer such as to provide said polymer with a molecular weight of from about 5000 to about 1,000,000, the substituent R in at least about 50 percent of said units in said polymer being alkyl containing from 1 to 3 carbon atoms.

In a process of quenching which is useful in the heat treatment of metals wherein a metal is heated to an elevated temperature and said heated metal is then quenched in a bath comprising a liquid quenching medium to effect desirable metallurgical changes in the metal, the improvement which comprises using as said quenching medium an aqueous solution containing from about 0.5% to 5%, by weight, based on the total weight of the quenching medium, of a nonionic, water-soluble or water dispersible substituted oxazoline polymer having recurring units of the general formula ##STR5## where n is an integer such as to provide said polymer with a molecular weight of from about 50,000 to 500,000.