The quench is the heart of the heat treat system. The austenitizing and tempering are certainly important but the quench is very often looked at as a simplistic application of water to the pipe. This observation could not be farther from the truth. Most quench systems offer an either an on or off operation, the same for all pipe diameters and wall thickness. The quench is not optimized for the range of pipe. This often results in requiring higher carbon contents in the steel at increased cost.