Cryogenics treatment for car parts

[TheNeedForZ]

Back when I was passionate about guns I visited some gun-talk forums on a daily basis. Once in a while, a thread about cryogenic treatment on parts(mainly rifle barrels) will pop up; It was usually some guy asking "Has anybody sent their barrel for cryo and got good results?". Then it would turn into a debate on whether the process is effective at all.

 

Although I've never sent any of my guns out for cryo treatment because of the hassle and rarity of service, but ever since I saw the process being introduced/explained on Discovery Channel 10 years ago, I was an instant believer.

 

Has anybody sent their auto parts out for cryogenic treatment?

[BillZ260]

I have a friend that was doing it several years ago, next time I see him I'll ask him if it was a fad or really helpful...

[Hugh]

I've heard of some pretty amazing results people have seen in racing. Many race teams are using cryo these days.

 

It's not voodoo science or something. It really does work.

 

 

A great story I heard was of a tractor pull team with a triple turbo huge displacement motor running 45psi of boost. They had to rebuild the motor and replace a lot of stuff every season before cryo. Once they cryoed every part of the engine, turbos and all... they didn't rebuild for three full seasons and were on their fourth when I heard the story.

 

The FWD SR20DE guys have seen great results from Cryo and Shot-peening their stock transmissions. They had a lot of trouble keeping them together, and this seemed to be the most effective trick the used.

 

I will be cryoing a LOT of parts of my engine and drivetrain. It's good stuff, relatively cheap and fast.... and there's no reason I can think of not to do it. (aside from everything having to be completely disassembled for the process.)

[SHO-Z]

NASCAR does there engine blocks and most other parts with cryogenics. When the metal is lowered to cryogenic temp the grain structure of the metal is tightened up, the spaces between the individulal metal grains. When the metal is brought back to normal temperature some of this tightening of the grain sturcture remains inplace increasing the strenght of the metal.

[Hugh]

Manufacturing companies also use it for tools. They found that cryo treated drill bits and cutting blades last like 14 times longer or something like that.

[CruxGNZ]

I wonder what benefit cryo'ing some stock 280Z stub axles would have? Would it be worth it, or just opt for Ross's (Modern-Motorsports.com) stub axles... which happen to be cryo'd as well I believe?

 

!M!

[HeatRaveR]

How much does this sort of service cost?

[speeder]

I have gotten only good data about cyo-treating and plan to do a pair of 280Z stubs for my drivetrain up grade.

[SuperDan]

How much does this sort of service cost?

http://www.nwcryo.com/pricelist_master.html

[innerware]

I'd imagine while it would make the metal stronger in some aspects it would also make it more brittle right? Wouldn't it be along the same lines as heat hardening it. If so then it would be substantialy harder unless it had an impact, and then it could shatter. I always thought that there couldn't be a gain in strenght without making it more brittle to impact. Well, I guess ceramic parts are stronger in some regards but also more brittle too. I know it works that way with mountain bike frames with ceramic in it. Lighter and stronger but with less impact strength. I'm probable just talkin out me *ss though.

[Hugh]

http://www.300below.com/

 

Read and learn. They are like the pioneers of the industry. There's a lot of good tech info on their site.

 

It doesn't make the metal more brittle. The metal's temperature is lowered very gradually over like 12 or 24 hours or something. (I forget how long) and then it is re heated in the same manner.

 

Its not like flashing a piece of molten metal into a water bucket... that makes it hard but brittle. This makes hit hard and less brittle.

[johnc]

There's probably a lost thread somewhere on this site where I posted a discussion I had with two metalurgists from the University of Michigan. At the time (2000?) there wasn't any big research study completed on the supposed benefits of cryo treatments so they were skeptical. They did mention that Bethlehem Steel had started a big study to determine the "how's and why's" but their bankruptcy ended that effort. It says something that a big steel company would make the effort.

 

Since then, maybe some definitive research has been completed. In my experience (brake rotors) cryo treatment has increased the service life of the part and the two researchers felt that cryo treatment might be especially effective in improving abrasion resistance.

[TheNeedForZ]

That's right, cryo doesn't make things brittle. Atoms in a normal solid object moves randomly due to heat. When a surface takes abrasion, the atoms take it individually. Sometimes the outside force overcomes the original atomic bonding and the atoms are removed from the surface, wearing the parts out. In cryo, the violently moving atoms slow down(freeze) to a point where they re-align and form a pack. When abrasion occurs, the atoms take the abraision as a group, dividing the outside force among them, thus making it stronger, abraision resistant.

 

Cryogenic treatment is not just for industrial purposes : cryo treated musical instruments like pipes or percussion units sound better too.

 

I have heard of 1 incident where cryo parts performed worse than the original : A guy sent his Steyr barrelled action to cryo and he said the accuracy is not as good as it used to be. I wonder if he tried a different load the accuracy will be back since the barrel harmonics has changed.

[zguitar71]

I tried guitar strings that were cryognicaly treated and the sound was not any better at all and they did not last any longer (like the label said they would). Strings are not the big producers of tone on a guitar anyway, the tone of a guitar come from the fingers of the player first and formost.