an interesting article on Cryogenic treatment of tool steel

scott.livesey

scott.livesey

Dealer - Purveyor
hi,
article i found today. i think anyone thinking of cryo treatment needs to read it carefully. a quick overview is this, putting a piece of hardened steel in a container and covering it with liquid nitrogen is not repeatable deep cryogenic treatment. an interesting piece with some good links.
http://www.industrialheating.com/articl ... t-question
scott
 
That is VERY interesting. Note they say "Deep Cryogenic Treatment" is where:

"the object being treated has its temperature slowly reduced into the cryogenic range. This reduction in temperature is on the order of four to 10 hours. The temperature is then held at a low cryogenic temperature for a period of time – about four to eight hours."

That doesn't sound like they way blades are typically cryogenic treated. Even with their idea of the complex "Deep Cryogenic Treatment" - for the steels they tested - it doesn't seem to be that important. I think the main thing to remember is this might be valid "FOR THE STEELS TESTED", but might not be valid for other steels. D2 steel seems to show an 800% increase in wear resistance by Cryogenic treatment - that sounds like a LOTS to me.

All in all - an interesting read. I like Sandvik's take on cold treatment - along the lines "it does give improved hardness and toughness by freezing, but you get a good blade without it."

Ken H>
 
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