Cryogenic enhancement

[Jason Porter]

Anybody know a good place in SoCal that's not too expensive?

[Jake Raby]

Most of them are on this coast... all the NASCAR bubbas love it.. The guys that do my stuff are right down the road from me.

[Alfred1]

Originally posted by Jake Raby

all the NASCAR bubbas love it..

LOL!

[mikey]

What does that process do to the part exactly anyhow??

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Good question--I have yet to see a really straight answer to it! Seems like you can ask four metallurgists about it and you'll get at least three different answers.

--DD

[no substitute]

Are we speaking of sub zero freezing of steel parts?

[chibone_914]

Originally posted by Dave at Pelican Parts
Good question--I have yet to see a really straight answer to it! Seems like you can ask four metallurgists about it and you'll get at least three different answers.

--DD

According to my old gunsmithing teacher (Yes, little Johnny plays with guns too) who used to be a metallurgist for the US Govt, "When you cryo-treat metal, the metal's structure originally looks like a cross-hatch pattern under an electron microscope, goes from a cross-hatch pattern to a straight, linear pattern once it has warmed back down to room temperature. Heat, like water and electricity takes the path of least resistance. Heat has an easier time dissapating from a "frozen" metal part versus a metal part that has not been cryo treated. Basically the "treated" parts will tend to not exhibit heat related wear or as much distortion. Lots of racing teams cryo everything from flywheels, brake rotors, crankshafts, rods, transmission gear sets, you get the idea.

Now my head hurts....

[no substitute]

Relative to knife blades, which are made of high carbon steel, sub zero freezing after heat treat enhances the performance of the steel. Heat treating converts austenitic crystalline structure to a martensitic (harder, tougher) crystalline structure. Sub zero freezing enhances this conversion process causing a more thorough conversion of the steel. I don't know the steel types used in various automotive applications, or whether or not they would exhibit enhanced performance from cryo treating, relative to racing applications. If major racing teams do this then one assumes it to be effective.

[BURN-BROS]

Taken from machinery's handbook - When steel is at the hardening temp it contains a solid solution of carbon and iron known as austenite.When the steel hardened by sudden cooling, most of the austenite, which is relatively soft, tough, and ductile even at room temp, is transformed into martensite, a hard and strong constituent.

The higher the quality of the metal the more austenite will be retained after the freezing process.So the lower the quality the better freezing works(cast iron)

[BURN-BROS]

no substitute beat me to it!!!!

[scotty914]

hay this means my whole car is treated... single digit temps last week

[pbanders]

If you really want to be NASCAR about it, you'll cryo it then Teflon coat it.

[Jake Raby]

All I know is that it works wonders for rigidity....... and long life. I have been doing it for 4 years now and all my engines get atleast the valtrain treated... One reason you never hear about them breaking!

[M. Hendrix]

Originally posted by pbanders
If you really want to be NASCAR about it, you'll cryo it then Teflon coat it.

I can't get it to stick.


M

[Zendalar]

Sooo, basically you go buy liquid nitrogen from local shop, stick the parts in for a while and then let it warm up?

(yes, you can buy nitrogen from a shop without any permits)

[Jake Raby]

it MUST be controlled cycle......if not the parts will be destroyed.

[914GT]

My understanding is that this is a controlled quenching process for steel when it's still pretty-much red hot, but rather than using water it's quickly cooled in liquid nitrogen. You can't just take a room temp part and cool it, it has be to brought down from a high temp. But I think Jake means you wouldn't throw a red hot rotor into a tank of nitrogen, they have special controlled tempering chambers for doing this. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Jake Raby]

The process must be controlled to the desired temperature, held there for a duration of time specified by the metal content of the part (we call it "profile", myself and the guys at Performance cryogenics have created 31 profiles for my engines)

Then the parts must be brought back to room temperature also in a controlled cycle, if not the parts are destroyed........

Parts can explode if the cycle is not done correctly.

[Jason Porter]

Originally posted by Otto
Stress Relief Engineering
1725 Monrovia Ave. Bldg. A-1

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

714 - 642 - 7820

Fax 714 - 642 - 0430

That number is disfunctional...Any other ideas? I don't want my parts bangin' around the country with UPS if it's not necessary...ya' know?!

[Jake Raby]

If they don't do this as a norm they may not have the correct profiles you need for a TIV engine...

Shipping is cheap, use Fed Ex- UPS sucks.