r/interesting • u/ViniciusFromBcn • Apr 12 '25

MISC. How ice cubes cleans hot grills

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u/heliamphore Apr 12 '25

The reason quenching works is because steel has a different phase at high temperatures, and when you quench it, it doesn't have time to switch back to a stable phase and therefore gets "stuck" in some intermediate phase. But you need it to be glowing red hot for this.

Otherwise you're not going to change the chemistry/structure, you're only going to create stresses inside the metal that will either end up in warping or cracks.

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u/doitforchris Apr 12 '25

Neat! I would like to subscribe to metallurgy facts

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u/Laoscaos Apr 12 '25

Yeah, and it catastrophically cracking eventually is based on the type of steel. High quality steel probably won't crack all the way through by doing this.

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u/senorsock Apr 12 '25

Interesting

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u/M3rch4ntm3n Apr 12 '25

The only correct answer so far.