CryoPlus, Inc. marks 28 years of service to the stamping, tool and die, welding, punching, shooting and racing industries, among others.
Cryogenic treatment can improve performance and increase the life of metalcutting tools, blades, punches, dies, slitters, shears and knives with processing at -300 °F. It creates a denser molecular structure and closes the grain structure, resulting in a larger contact surface area that reduces friction, heat and wear. Cryogenic treatment changes the entire structure, not just the surface. Subsequent refinishing or regrinding operations do not affect the permanent improvements of the processing.
When the cryo treated tool does wear, the degree of wear reportedly is less severe, slower and more uniform. Therefore, less material must be removed to resharpen it. Customers have reported a material removal rate of less than half the normal material removed in resharpening. Cryo treating reduces the cost of the product by providing longer tool life, less scrap, fewer rejections and above all, less costly downtime.
CryoPlus Inc. uses a dry process that is computer controlled. Cryogenic treating is an extension of the heat treating process where the parts are slowly cooled to -300 °F with liquid nitrogen and allowed to cold soak. The dry cryogenic process does not expose the material to cryogenic liquids, eliminating the risk of thermal shock. The metal parts are then brought up slowly to about 300 °F to temper the metal. This is a precise electronically controlled time schedule, providing plenty of time for the material to adjust to the progressively cooler temperatures and back to room temperature.
CryoPlus Inc. has been cryogenically treating broaches and drills for an Ohio company with exceptional results. Their manufacturing engineer stated that his two broaches have broached over 500 rotors and are still cutting clean. Untreated broaches needed to be resharpened after 200 rotors. Operators were plunge drilling with TiN coated 12" and 18" long drills and continually breaking them. Drill life has more than doubled since treatment.
CryoPlus, a Simonds chipper knife distributor, stocks four sizes of cryogenically treated chipper knives: 60" Fulghum, 66", 58" and 48" Precision. These knives are setting new benchmarks for productivity, toughness, durability and strength in the chipping industry.
Cryoprocessing affects nonferrous metals also. Copper resistance welding electrodes last two to four times longer after cryogenic processing. Wire guides and contacts also last longer.
The typical mode of failure for welding electrodes is thermal cyclic fatigue. The part is heated and cooled many times, which causes cracks to form. The cracks then propagate and the surface starts to collapse. This changes the surface area, which throws off the welding parameters, and the part starts to fail rapidly. Cryogenic processing delays the initial cracking and reduces the resistivity of the part. The increased life reduces welding costs and increases profits. It also improves the quality of the weld.
Deep cryogenic tempering of gun barrels has become accepted as an effective method for providing dimensional stabilization, improving accuracy by grain restructuring and eliminating copper collecting inclusions, less copper fouling and longer barrel life. The process anneals the metal and conditions the springs in the trigger. The release and set points will not change and wearing on the sear surfaces will be minimized in a cryo treated trigger assembly.
Many successful auto racers are turning to cryogenic engine treatments for longer lasting, better performing parts. Top engine builders use is to gain improved horsepower and reliability. It is not very expensive, considering the money that is at stake. It is an investment returned many times over in saved labor and new parts costs.
CryoPlus, Inc. has been certified as a Woman's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
Authored by CryoPlus, Inc.
For more information contact:
Kathi Bond, President
CryoPlus, Inc.
2429 N Millborne Road
Wooster, OH 44691
330-683-3375
kathicryo@aol.com
www.cryoplus.com