Original articleogenics

A REVIEW OF CRYOGENICS
NACHIKET KUMTHEKAR . UMESH CHAVHAN .RAJEEV RAJEPANDHARE
ABSTRACT: Cryogenics is the study and behaviour of materials at very low
temperatures.It is assumed that the cryogenic temperature start at or below
-150 degree celsius. But logically it is a temperature below -180 degree
celsius where gases such as helium,hydrogen,oxygen and nitrogen
condense.there are various branches of cryogenics such as
cryobiology,cryosurgery,cryoelectronics,cryonics,etc. liquified gases such as
liquid nitrogen and liquid helium are used in many cryogenic applications.
these liquids are stored in dewar flasks. all cryogens have two properties in
common: 1) they are extremely cold 2)small amounts of liquids can expand
into a very large volumes of gas. there are mainly three types of cryogenic
liquids which are :1)inert gas 2)flammable gas 3)oxygen. these cryogens are
used to decrease the temperature suddenly to a very low value. liquid like
helium can become a superfluid(zero viscosity) at temperature below 2.19 K.
there are various applications of cryogenics in space,gas
industry,superconductivity, etc. it is used for rocket propulsion,coolling of IR
sensors,etc. in space technology. cryogenics has it's many applications in cell
preservation,food preservation,cryosurgery. it can be used as an extension or
may be a replacement to heat treatment and in some other mechanical
operations. it is also used in MRI,NMR and maglev locomotion. highly cooled
metals can be made to achieve state of superconductivity using
cryogenics.applications can change the future of humanity.
KEYWORDS: Cryogenics, cryogenic agents, cryogenic
treatment,applications,hazards and safety measures

1)INTRODUCTION
The word ' cryogenics ' originates from the greek word 'krys' which
means cold and 'genics' means to generate. it has come to mean the
generation of temperatures well below normal human experience.
more specifically, a low temperature environment is termed a
cryogenic environment when the temperature range is below the point
at which permanent gases begin to liquify. among others they include
oxygen,nitrogen,hydrogen,helium. it is not well defined at what point
on the temperature scale , refrigeration ends and cryogenics begins.
but according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology has
chosen to consider the field of cryogenics as that involving
temperatures below -180 degree celsius. this is a logical dividing line

since the normal boiling points of the permanent gases lie below -180
degree celsius while the freon refrigerants,hydrogen sulphide and
other common refrigerants have boiling points above -180 degree
celsius. A person who studies the elements that have been subjected
to extremely cold temperatures is called a cryogenicist. they use the
kelvin or rankine scale.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CRYOGENICS:
Starting back about 150 years ago Swiss watchmakers gave birth to
cryogenics. they uesd to bury their watch parts in the snow for a winter
because they noticed that it would make them more durable and
therefore keep better time. after that in 1930's, the tool and die
makers noticed, that freezing tool steel would help it to hold an edge
better than that of un-frozen tool steel. by the 1940's it was common
to see shop yards with castings sitting out, over the season so that the
hot and cold weather would be benificial for relieving the stresses in
the material. from this came the term"seasoned" and this is a practice
and term used today. cryogenic and refrigeration technology share a
common history. first practical vapour compression refrigerator was
invented by JAMES HARRISON in 1855. in 1872,sir JAMES DEWAR
invented the vaccum flask, which is till date used for the cryogen
storage purpose. the air first liquified in 1883 by polish scientist named
olszewski.ten years later olszewski and a british scientist sir james
dewar liquified hydrogen. in 1902, georges claude improved the
efficiency of air liquefication by including reciprocating expansion
engine. the dutch physicist kamerlingh onnes finally liquified helium in
1908. thus, by the beginning of the twentieth century the door had
been opened to a strange new world of experimentation.
Cold treatments were reported to have beneficial effects on tool
performance as back as 1937. both in the united states and europe,
several reports have appeared of substantial benefits which can be
realized by treating steel tools at a low temperature,around 77K.
especially within the united states, claims for improvements have been
expanded which included copper,carbides,nylon and some high
temperature alloys. it has been found that a cryogenic treatment of
high speed steel(HSS) allowed the use of higher cutting speed in
certain cases. Gordon and cohen found that only by including a cold
treatment in the processing cycle of tool steel, a certain favourable
combination of properties could be achieved.transformation of retained

austenite at low temperatures in tool steels is expected to be

dependent only on temperature and not on time.but Barron found that
holding for longer time produced greater improvement in wear
resistance. on the basis of a survey of 47 companies, Smol'nikov and
Kossovich observed that tool life was increased only about 10-40% by
cryogenic treatment. those improvements occured only when the tools
were improperly heat treated initially.Tungsten carbide cutting tools are
now in common use in industry. the differences in tool performance
between cryogenically treated and untreated tungsten carbide tool
inserts during the high speed milling of medium carbon steel were
analysed. it has been found that cryogenically treated tools exhibit
better tool wear resistance than untreated ones. it is also evident that
the application of coolant during cutting helps to reduce tool wear
experienced by the cryogenically treated tools even further. moderate
to large improvements in tool steel performance because of cold
treatments were also reported.cryogenic technology has experienced
fast development within the last few years.
2)CRYOGENIC LIQUIDS
Cryogenic liquids are liquified gases that are kept in their liquid state at
very low temperatures.all cryogenic liquids are extremely
cold.cryogenic liquids have boiling points below -150 degree
celsius(carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, which have slightly higher
boiling points are sometimes included in this category).all cryogenic
liquids are gases at normal temperatures and pressures. these gases
must be cooled below room temperature before an increase in pressure
can liquefy them.different cryogens become liquids under different
conditions of temperature and pressure,but all have two properties in
common: 1)they are extremely cold 2)small amounts of liquid can
expand into very large volumes of gas.the vapours and gases released
from cryogenic liquids also remain very cold. they often condense the
moisture in air, creating a highly visible fog.in poorly insulated
containers,some cryogenic liquids actually condense the surrounding
air, forming a liquid air mixture.cryogenic liquids are classified as
"compressed gases" according to WHMIS 1998 CRITERIA.
Each cryogenic liquid has it's own specific properties but most
cryogenic liquids can be placed into one of the three groups:
1)INERT GASES : Inert gases do not react chemically to any great

extent .they do not burn or support combustion. examples of this group

are nitrogen,neon, argon and krypton.
2)FLAMMABLE GASES: Some cryogenic liquids produce a gas that can
burn in air. the most common examples are hydrogen,methane and
liquified natural gas.
3)OXYGEN: Many materials considered as non-combustible can burn in
the presence of liquid oxygen. organic materials can react explosively
with liquid oxygen. the hazards and handling precautions of liquid
oxygen must therefore be considered seperately from other cryogenic
liquids.
CRYOGENIC AGENT: LIQUID NITROGEN
In 1772, in the attempts to isolate oxygen and carbon dioxide from the
air, Daniel rutherford discovered nitrogen.a common method for the
production of liquid nitrogen is the liquification of air. liquification is the
phase change of a substance from the gas phase to the liquid phase. in
liquid nitrogen generators, air is compressed, expanded and cooled via
the Joule-Thompson effect.since nitrogen boils at a different
temperature than oxygen, the nitrogen can be distilled out of the liquid
air, re-compressed and then re-liquified.once liquid nitrogen is removed
from the distillation chamber it is stored either in pressurized tank or in
a well insulated Dewar flask. it is then made available for commercial
distribution.
Among different means of cooling, liquid nitrogen is relatively
cheap.there are some evidences to indicate that some of the desirable
changes happen very near to this temperature, as these changes do
not happen at higher temperatures. there is also some evidence which
indicate that some of the changes happen to the component on the
way down to low temperature and some on the way back to room
temperature,i.e. within certain range of the temperature.