http://machinedesign.com/article/cry...eful-life-0730

A nice article by respected sources. I recall a few years back when people were cryo treating everything in sight, and of course the cryo treatment folks would happily suggest treating all manner of components. (if a guy cryo'd his beer coozie for kicks then the cryo shop will add that to the list of things that could/should be cryo treated, regardless of whether it made any difference in the end). I for one questioned the value of cryo treating everything without proof that it works in all of those situations. At the time there was very little information available from sources that weren't trying to sell you cryo services, which means there was very little information, period. As always industry plugs along, and this article shows that consensus is beginning to form. And that's good for us because we can make more educated decisions on where/how to spend our resources.

From this article, the benefits are these:
- better dimensional stability
- higher resistance to wear
- better heat transfer

The materials that respond well include:
- tool steel
- titanium
- hard chrome
- copper
- brass
- aluminum
- cast steel

So that suggests these possible rotary applications:
- brake rotors (heat transfer, wear resistance, dimensional stability
- apex seals (wear and heat transfer)
- engine housings (wear, heat transfer, dimensional stability)
- engine bearings (wear, heat transfer)

It also mentioned that cryo processing methods vary significantly, and if the wrong method is used you won't get the better results. So it obviously important to select a shop using equipment and methods that have been proven.

Dave

 

Nice. How about adding this link to the FAQ?

 

Hrm... so Cryo treatment works especially well with aluminum... weren't they making Aluminum CNC'd Rotors??? Anybody thinking what I'm thinking???

 

A non biased article would be nice.

Authored by:
Mike Pate
Down River Cryogenics LLC
Jefferson, Ark.

I've tried using cryo treated brake rotors and noticed no measurable difference. I'm not saying it's BS but like some other things that seem really cool (hehe) and sound too good to be true it must reek of something or you'd see major companies using this technology on a grand scale.

 

Point noted about the authorship. However nearly every article is authored by someone in that sub-industry. This article does contain some content, brief as it may be.

The trouble I believe is that this takes too long to work on a large production scale. Or the cryo industry hasn't managed to scale up and sell the benefits.

Dave

 

I would think if there was anything to it, that it would have taken off by now. Although, on second thought, "Global Warming" has taken off. Has my logic failed?

 

I also tried some cryo'd rotors on my Mercedes (Frozen Rotors), and also I had no measurable difference in wear rate.

:-) neil

 

parts I have cryo'ed on my FD:

S4 T2 differential
transmission synchros
power plant frame

I previously had oem sized brake rotors and my spec clutch disc/pp cryo-treated but they've since been sold.

Not really sure if it's made any difference, my drivetrain has given me zero trouble but then again I'm not big into drag racing