Cryogenic hardening is a heat treatment in which the material is cooled to cryogenic
temperatures to the order of -185 C, usually using liquid nitrogen. It can have a profound effect on the mechanical properties of certain steels, provided their composition and prior heat treatment are such that they retain some austenite at room temperature. It is designed to increase the amount of martensite in the steels crystal structure, increasing its strength and hardness, sometimes at the cost of toughness. !resently this treatment is "eing practiced over tool steels, high-car"on, and high-chromium steels to o"tain e#cellent wear resistance. $ecent research %citation needed& shows that there is precipitation of fine car"ides 'eta car"ides( in the matri# during this treatment which imparts very high wear resistance to the steels. )he transformation from austenite to martensite is mostly accomplished through quenching, "ut in general it is driven farther and farther toward completion as temperature decreases. In higher- alloy steels such as austenitic stainless steel, the onset of transformation can require temperatures much lower than room temperature. *ore commonly, an incomplete transformation occurs in the initial quench, so that cryogenic treatments merely enhance the effects of prior quenching. It should "e noted that the transformation "etween these phases is instantaneous and not at all dependent upon diffusion, and also that this treatment causes more complete hardening rather than moderating e#treme hardness, "oth of which ma+e the term ,cryogenic tempering, technically incorrect. -ardening can also "e accomplished "y cold wor+ at cryogenic temperatures. )he defects introduced "y plastic deformation at these low temperatures are often quite different from the dislocations that usually form at room temperature, and produce materials changes that in some ways resem"le the effects of shoc+ hardening. .hile this process is more effective than traditional cold wor+, it serves mainly as a theoretical test "ed for more economical processes such as e#plosive forging. *any alloys that do not undergo martensitic transformation have "een su"/ected to the same treatments as steels--that is, cooled with no provisions for cold wor+. If any "enefit is seen from such a process, one plausi"le e#planation is that thermal e#pansion causes minor "ut permanent deformation of the material. $etrieved from ,http011en.wi+ipedia.org1wi+i1Cryogenic2hardening, 3rom .i+ipedia, the free encyclopedia '$edirected from Cryogenic tempering( 4ump to0 navigation, search