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DIY Cryo

Having a background in prototype engineering I remembered some of the discussions on heat treatment of metals we had for tooling. I searched in the Machinery handbook and the web, I found this bit on cryogenic treatment

"in Cryogenic treatment the material is subject to deep freeze temperatures of as low as -185°C (-301°F), but usually -75°C (-103°F) is sufficient. The Austenite is unstable at this temperature, and the whole structures becomes Martensite. This is the reason to use Cryogenic treatment."

-103F is usually sufficient! Whoa dry ice is -109F. Dry ice is cheap and can be combined with alcohol to make a -109F bath if you want. I have heard of some people getting bad results with the "deep freeze cryo" treatments. I am not surprised as that is reserved for solid metal parts like brake rotors and plastics usually fracture when subjected to the deep cryo when they are in contact with other materials or in an assembly (different coefficient of thermal expansion). I bet they use some warmer temps for components like AC plugs and cables.

Going by the book I should be able to make a DIY cryo treatment with dry ice for under $10.

I am going to try some Rat Shack cables so I can A/B them.

Procedure -
1 wrap them in a towel and place them in my Sub Zero freezer overnight
2 place them at the bottom on a styrofoam ice chest and cover w dry ice place in another
cooler 5lbs of ice should last over 24 hrs
3 after 6 hours pour in anhydrous alcohol
4 cover and let cook for a day or untill it has warmed up.

Any one have any input?



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Topic - DIY Cryo - DHT 4 ME 08:49:37 01/06/07 (4)


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