Cryogenics and Its Applications

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While often used interchangeably, it is important to distinguish between the following terms.
Cryogenics: The branches of physics and engineering that study very low temperatures, how to
produce them, and how materials behave at those temperatures. Besides the familiar temperature
scales of Fahrenheit and Celsius, cryogenicists use the Kelvin and Ranine
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scales.
Cryobiology : The branch of biology that studies the effects of low temperatures on organisms
"most often for the purpose of achieving cryopreservation#.
Cryonics : The nascent medical technology of cryopreserving humans and animals with the
intention of future revival.
The word cryogenics literally means $the production of icy cold$% however the term is used today
as a synonym for the low&temperature state. 't is not well&defined at what point on the
temperature scale refrigeration ends and cryogenics begins. The worers at the (ational 'nstitute
of )tandards and Technology at Boulder, Colorado have chosen to consider the field of
cryogenics as that involving temperatures below *+,- .C "/0.+1 K#. This is a logical dividing
line, since the normal boiling points of the so&called permanent gases "such as helium, hydrogen,
neon, nitrogen, o2ygen, and normal air# lie below &+,- .C while the Freon refrigerants, hydrogen
sulfide, and other common refrigerants have boiling points above &+,- .C.
3i4uefied gases, such as li4uid nitrogen and li4uid helium, are used in many cryogenic
applications. 3i4uid nitrogen is the most commonly used element in cryogenics and is legally
purchasable around the world. 3i4uid helium is also commonly used and allows for the lowest
attainable temperatures to be reached.
These gases are held in either special containers nown as 5ewar flass
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, which are generally
about si2 feet tall "+., m# and three feet "/+.1 cm# in diameter, or giant tans in larger
commercial operations. 5ewar flass are named after their inventor, 6ames 5ewar, the man who
first li4uefied hydrogen.
The field of cryogenics advanced during World War '' when scientists found that metals fro7en
to low temperatures showed more resistance to wear. Based on this theory of cryogenic
hardening, the commercial cryogenic processing industry was founded in +/88 by 9d Busch.
With a bacground in the heat treating industry, Busch founded a company in 5etroit called
CryoTech in +/88. Though CryoTech later merged with 0-- Below to create the largest and
oldest commercial cryogenics company in the world. They originally e2perimented with the
possibility of increasing the life of metal tools to anywhere between !--:&;--: of the original
life e2pectancy using cryogenic tempering instead of heat treating. This tempering evolved in the
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This article is an edited version of that found at http<==en.wiipedia.org=wii=Cryogenic.
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> scale based on absolute 7ero "lie the Kelvin scale# but defines one Ranine degree as e4ual to one Fahrenheit
degree instead of one Celsius degree.
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>cts lie a thermos to insulate the super&cooled li4uid.
late +//-s into the treatment of other products such as musical instruments "improved sound
4uality#, baseball bats "greater sweet spot#, golf clubs "greater sweet spot#, racing engines
"greater performance under stress#, firearms "less warping after continuous shooting#, nives,
ra7or blades, brae rotors and even pantyhose.
The theory was based on how heat&treating metal wors. > heat treated metal is cooled from a
very high temperature down to room temperature causing certain strength increases in the
molecular structure to occur. They theori7ed that continuing the temperature descent would
allow for further strength increases. ?sing li4uid nitrogen, CryoTech formulated the first early
version of the cryogenic processor. ?nfortunately for the newly&born industry, the results were
unstable, as components sometimes e2perienced thermal shoc when they were cooled too fast.
)ome components in early tests even shattered because of the ultra&low temperatures. 'n the late
twentieth century, the field improved significantly with the rise of applied research, which used
new controls and technology to create more stable results.
Cryogens, lie li4uid nitrogen, are further used for specialty chilling and free7ing applications.
)ome chemical reactions, lie those used to produce the active ingredients for the popular statin
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drugs, must occur at low temperatures of appro2imately &+-- .C. )pecial cryogenic chemical
reactors are used to remove reaction heat and provide a low temperature environment. The
free7ing of foods and biotechnology products, lie vaccines, re4uires nitrogen in blast free7ing or
immersion free7ing systems.
>nother use of cryogenics is cryogenic fuels. Cryogenic fuels, mainly o2ygen and hydrogen,
have been used as rocet fuels. For e2ample, (>)>@s worhorse space shuttle uses cryogenic
o2ygen and hydrogen fuels as its primary means of getting into orbit, as did all of the rocets
built for the )oviet space program by )ergei Korolev. Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev is
currently researching a version of its popular design Tu&+1; with a cryogenic fuel system, nown
as the Tu&+11. The plane uses a fuel referred to as li4uefied natural gas or 3(A, and made its
first flight in +/,/.
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> medicine used to manage high cholesterol.