: There is a minimum time gap between quenching and tempering of steel.It
: differs from steel to steel. For eg. if it is a plain carbon steel, this
: thing may not call for urgent attention but if is an alloy steel, then
: this thing becomes a cause of concern as it can cause microcracks to grow
: and form macrocracks if the time interval b/w quenching and tempering is
: high. Are you guys having any data which states that what should be the
: minimum time interval for different steels.Any help will be appreciated.

Normally a time gap of 8 hrs is accepted for alloy steels and about a day for neutral hardened steels. For case hardening including carbo nitriding a delay of 4 hrs max is allowed