Abstract: This study presents the results of an experimental investigation to determine the temperature and spatial heat flow during air-cooling of rectangular cross-sectional bars rolled from RST 37-2 steel. It was postulated that if these gradients could be determined for a simulated model, information could be obtained to validate the mathematical formulations of the problem by estimating the temperature profiles in the workpiece for subsequent control of shape distortions caused by the observed thermal effects. This study presents a novel approach for estimating the temperature distributions during air cooling of the workpiece from the rolling temperature of about 900�C to the ambient value and shows that for a workpiece of homogeneous metallurgical constitution air-cooling produces non-uniform temperature distributions that can be modelled mathematically to a good accuracy. The study provides a basis for controlling the rate of heat removal during interstand cooling of the rolled steel.