A circulation apparatus recovers cooling fluid after the cooling fluid is used for quenching and supplies the cooling fluid to a defoaming bath. A laminar flow weir of a defoaming apparatus partitions the defoaming bath into laminar and shallow flow baths. The laminar flow weir is lower than a side wall of the laminar flow bath. Cooling fluid from the circulation apparatus is supplied to the laminar flow bath and the cooling fluid is poured into the shallow bath from the laminar flow bath along the laminar flow weir. A filter covers an opening in a bottom portion of the shallow bath. The liquid level height in the shallow bath is less than the height of the laminar flow weir. A supply bath accumulates cooling fluid that passes through the filter, and supplies the cooling fluid to a cooling apparatus that sprays the cooling fluid onto a metallic material.

A circulation apparatus recovers cooling fluid after the cooling fluid is used for quenching and supplies the cooling fluid to a defoaming bath. A laminar flow weir of a defoaming apparatus partitions the defoaming bath into laminar and shallow flow baths. The laminar flow weir is lower than a side wall of the laminar flow bath. Cooling fluid from the circulation apparatus is supplied to the laminar flow bath and the cooling fluid is poured into the shallow bath from the laminar flow bath along the laminar flow weir. A filter covers an opening in a bottom portion of the shallow bath. The liquid level height in the shallow bath is less than the height of the laminar flow weir. A supply bath accumulates cooling fluid that passes through the filter, and supplies the cooling fluid to a cooling apparatus that sprays the cooling fluid onto a metallic material.

There is provided a quench tank which is disposed in a circulation path of a liquid metal loop and separates and cools liquid metal steam or a mixed gas in liquid metal introduced into a tank body. The tank body includes a separating area which forms a substantially horizontal flow of the liquid metal, and a separating plate is disposed inside the tank body so as to be inclined with respect to the vertical direction.

There is provided a quench tank which is disposed in a circulation path of a liquid metal loop and separates and cools liquid metal steam or a mixed gas in liquid metal introduced into a tank body. The tank body includes a separating area which forms a substantially horizontal flow of the liquid metal, and a separating plate is disposed inside the tank body so as to be inclined with respect to the vertical direction.

A cooling device configured to cool an article to be treated by immersing the article to be treated in coolant includes a cooling chamber configured to accommodate the article to be treated and store the coolant therein, a supply nozzle configured to supply the coolant into the cooling chamber from below the article to be treated, a recovery pipeline configured to collect the coolant stored in the cooling chamber from above the article to be treated, and a pump configured to pump the coolant collected by the recovery pipeline to the supply nozzle.

Provided is a method for executing a quenching method in which an object to be treated that is a quenching target is cooled with a quenching coolant that is a coolant for quenching, in which the object to be treated is moved inside the quenching coolant accumulated in a cooling tank, by a moving device for moving the object to be treated, and at least from when the object to be treated comes into contact with the quenching coolant until a surface of the object to be treated undergoes martensitic transformation, a state in which a relative speed of the object to be treated and the quenching coolant is slower than a moving speed of the object to be treated is maintained.

Provided is a method for executing a quenching method in which an object to be treated that is a quenching target is cooled with a quenching coolant that is a coolant for quenching, in which the object to be treated is moved inside the quenching coolant accumulated in a cooling tank, by a moving device for moving the object to be treated, and at least from when the object to be treated comes into contact with the quenching coolant until a surface of the object to be treated undergoes martensitic transformation, a state in which a relative speed of the object to be treated and the quenching coolant is slower than a moving speed of the object to be treated is maintained.

A cooling device for a cooling operation of a flat metallic product is provided, the cooling device being located in an essentially vertical path including: a tank filled with a coolant bath defining a coolant surface, the tank including at least two openings, one on the upper surface and one on the bottom surface wherein the flat metallic product can pass through, the opening on the bottom surface being equipped with a sealing mean, two series of projecting devices, oriented essentially horizontally, on two opposite tank sides, the projecting devices being immersed in the coolant bath, each series of projecting devices having an uppermost projecting device being defined as the closest projecting device to the coolant surface, at least the uppermost projecting device on both sides being downwardly inclined of an angle of 20 to 40 compared to the horizontal.