By Pete Paulin

Although its
effects on metal
composition
are subtle,
deep cryogenic
tempering can
yield dramatic
improvements
in tool
performance.

mills, and taps also have shown signifi

cant improvement.
Another advantage of deep cryogenic
tempering revealed through research is
its ability to change the entire structure
of the tool material, not just its surface.
As a result, the treatment is not negated
by subsequent finishing operations or
regrinds.

Cool and Controlled

For all its advantages, however, deep
cryogenic tempering is no panacea. In
some cases it has produced sterling re
sults: One manufacturer of titaniumalloy parts reports that, after treating the

M-42 twist drills it uses, the company

needed 63% fewer of the tools to do the
same work. In another instance, a 400%
improvement in tool durability was
achieved using cryogenically treated C2 carbide inserts to mill 4340 stainless
steel. However, other metals, such as T2 tungsten HSS, have been left with little
or no change after treatment. Even where
deep ciy ogenic treatment has been shown
to be effective, results have not been
consistent.
But as researchers and commercial
applicators have learned more about the
deep-cryogenic process, they have dis
covered ways to produce more repeat-

T E S T RESULTS: Percent of Increase in

Wear Resistance After Cryogenic Tempering
n the search for cutting tool
engineering that can increase
productivity, prolong cutting
life, and decrease costs, gains of 15% to
20% are considered significant. One re
cently developed tool treatment is show
ing far greater promise, in some cases
improving tool life by 200% to 400%.
The method, called deep cryogenic
tempering, subjects tools placed in a
specially constructed tank to tempera
tures below -300 F for a number of
hours using liquid nitrogen as the refrig
erant. The process supplements stan
dard heat/quench tempering, complet
ing metallurgical changes that heat treat
ing begins.
Since 1965, when commercial deep
cryogenic treatments first became avail
able in the United States, a handful of
studies and reports have been released
noting the improved performance of
treated lathe tools and of tool steels used
in the steel industry. According to the
literature, some machine elements, such
as progressive dies used in metalwork
ing, have lasted six times longer after
deep cryogenic treatment. Drills, end-

C UTTIN G TO O L ENGINEERING

AISI#

Description

At -110 F

At -310 F

D-2
S-7
52100
0-1
A-10
M-1
H-13
M-2
T-1
CPM-10V
P-20
440

High carbon/chromium die steel

Silicon tool steel
Standard steel
Oil hardening cold work die steel
Graphite tool steel
Molybdenum high-speed steel
Chromium/moly hot die steel
Tungsten/moly high-speed steel
Tungsten high-speed tool steel
Alloy steel
Mold steel
Martensitic stainless

316%
241%
195%
221%
230%
145%
164%
117%
141%
94%
123%
128%

817%
503%
420%
418%
264%
225%
209%
203%
176%
131%
130%
121%

M aterials th at did not show significant improvement

430
303
8620
C-1020
AQS
T-2

Ferritic stainless
Austenitic stainless
Nickel-chromium-moly alloy steel
Carbon steel
Graphitic cast iron
Tungsten high-speed steel

116%
105%
112%
97%
96%
72%

119%
110%
104%
98%
97%
92%

R.F. Barron study results, Louisiana Polytechnic Institute

The effects o f shallow and deep cryogenic treatments on various steels are shown.
Percentage increases above 120% are considered statistically significant.
AU G U ST 1 9 9 2 /6 1

able and predictable effects. The trick is

In the precise management of the cooling sequence. The older tanks did not
adequately control temperatures as they
were brought to deep-cryogenic levels.
Todays state-of-the-art deep-cryogenic
systems use a computer linked to the
tank that duplicates the optimal cooling
curve. It carefully regulates the tem
perature change and brings a measure of
consistency to the process.
Under a computers control, tempera
tures inside a cryogenic tank are brought

Estimates on the mark. Predictable

tool life. Increased productivity. The
Machining Data Handbook helps you:
Select the right speeds and feeds
Simplify tool material and geometry
selection
Pick the appropriate cutting fluids
Know when to use nontraditional
machining operations
Understand NC machining and CAM
technologies
T 7 T 7 VO

X JC/O

down according to a prescribed time

table. The process unit manufactured by
300 Below Inc., Decatur, IL, cools the
material slowly to -317 F, holds the
temperature at that point for 10 to 40
hours, then raises it to +300 F before
slowly returning it to room temperature.
It is a dry process that, unlike other deep
cryogenic processes, does not bathe the
materials in liquid nitrogen, a practice
that the designers of 300 Belows unit
believe is more likely to cause damage
from thermal shock.

Machining Data Handbook, 3rd. Ed.

83,000 data recommendations in all
1,500 materials: hardness ranges,
metallurgical conditions, heat
treatments
89 different machining operations
2,304 pages in two hardbound volumes
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6 2 /A U G U S T 1992

Phone i

M A IL T O D A Y T O : In s titu te o f A d v a n c e d M a n u fa c tu rin g S c ie n c e s ,
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T h e In s titu te is an E d is o n T e c h n o lo g y C e n te r

L.

Chilly Changes
Slowly cooling a tool steel to deep
cryogenic temperatures and soaking it at
this low temperature for several hours
changes the materials microstructure.
Almost all of the austenite (a soft form
of iron) retained in the steel after heat
treating is transformed into a harder
form, martensite, by deep cryogenic tem
pering.
A second result of a deep cryogenic
soak is the formation of fine carbide
particles, called binders, to complement
the larger carbide particles present be
fore cryogenic treatment. (Depending
on the alloying elements in the steel,
these particles might be chromium car
bide, tungsten carbide, etc.)
One recent study by Randall Barron,
Department of Mechanical Engineer
ing, Louisiana Polytechnic Institute,
Ruston, LA, looked at how the changes
brought about by cryogenic treatment
affected steels ability to resist abrasive
wear. This type of wear occurs when a
body penetrates and gouges a materials
surface. The gouging body may be a
surface asperity on a mating part, a freeabrasive grit particle from an external
source, or an internally generated wear
particle.
The Barron study found that the mar
tensite and fine carbide formed by deep
cryogenic treatment work together to
reduce abrasive wear. The fine carbide
particles support the martensite matrix,
making it less likely that lumps will be
dug out of the cutting tool material dur
ing a cutting operation and cause abra
sion. When a hard asperity or foreign
particle is pressed onto the tools sur
face, the carbides further resist wear by
preventing the particle from plowing
into the surface.
Some of these benefits may be
achieved through standard tempering,
which also transforms austenite into
martensite. But standard tempering may
not bring about a complete transforma
tion in some tool steels. For example,
8.5% of an O- l steel remains austenite
after it is oil-quenched to 68 F. If M-l is
quenched from 2228 F to 212 F, then
tempered at 1049 F, the retained auste
nite is 11%.
Additional improvements in tool per
formance can be achieved if this re
tained austenite can be transformed to
martensite. As Barrons study has con
firmed, adding a cryogenic step to the
treatment process does just that.
In the chart accompanying this article,
data drawn from another study of treated
metals by Barron indicates which
samples exhibited improved abrasive
CUTTING TOOL ENGINEERING

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wear after cryogenic treatment. In addi

tion to results obtained from samples
treated at liquid-nitrogen temperature
(-310 F), the chart also lists results o f
treatment at dry-ice temperature (-110
F).

Predicting Effectiveness
Knowing how deep cryogenic tem
pering works, we can predict which
materials will benefit most from treat
ment. Generally, if an alloy contains
austenite, and this austenite responds in
some degree to heat treatment, further
improvements will be seen after deep
cryogenic tempering. For instance, ferritic and austenitic (430 and 303) stain
less steels generally cannot be hardened
by heat treatment. Martensitic (440)
stainless steels, on the other hand, can be
hardened by heat treatment. Therefore,
the effect of deep cryogenic treatment
should be more pronounced for440 stainless steel than for the other stainless
steels.
C-1020 carbon steel and QS Meehanite
iron also show no significant improve
ments in performance after cryogenic
treatment. Because these materials con
tain no austenite, sub-zero temperatures
can cause no further m etallurgical
changes in them.

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cryogenics
Critics
In addition to examining cryogenic
treatments effects on austenite trans
formation, Barron also looked at other,
less obvious metallurgical changes. His
data helps answer those critics of cryo
genic tempering who doubt the effec
tiveness of a process that imparts so few
visible changes to the metal. These crit-

ics say heat treating already changes

85% of the retained austenite to marten
site, leaving only 8% to 15% to be trans
formed by deep cryogenic tempering.
Using the process to produce such small
results is inefficient, according to the
skeptics.
These observations are accurate as far
as they go. But they fail to take into
account the fact that metals subjected to
deep cold develop a more uniform, re
fined microstructure with greater den
sity. The particles that are formed through

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6 6 / A U G U ST 1992

the precipitation of additional microfinecarbide fillers take up the remaining

space in the micro voids, resulting in a
tool steel with a much denser, coherent
structure that improves wear resistance.
Metallurgists have known that cryo
genic tempering has this effect, but they
may not have realized the extent to which
the microstructure changes. Research
ers in a study conducted at the Jassy
Polytechnical Institute in Rumania used
a scanning electron microscope equipped
with an automatic particle counter to
identify and quantify these smaller par
ticles. Through this examination they
found that cryogenic tempering creates
a significant change in density through
out the tool.
Some people acknowledge the ben
efits of cold tempering, but they ques
tion the need to use temperatures below
-110 F. A review of the data from the
Barron study, however, shows that some
tools, at least, perform significantly bet
ter after processing at -310 F than they
performed after -110 F tempering.
Among cutting tool steels, for instance,
the wear resistance of M -l HSS was
almost one-and-a-half times the wear
resistance of the untreated material after
a -110 F soak. After a -310 F soak, the
steel exhibited two-and-a-quarter times
the wear resistance of the untreated
material. T-l, the traditional tungsten
HSS, went from a little under one-anda-half times the wear resistance after a
-110 F soak to one-and-three-quarters
the wear resistance after a -310 F treat
ment.
It may be concluded from these tests
that treatment at -110 F does improve
wear resistance, but deep cryogenic treat
ment at -310 F improves wear resis
tance much more. To allow time for the
very fine carbide particles to form and
the retained austenite to be transformed
into martensite, a long soak at deep
cryogenic temperatures is necessary.

Summary
Deep cryogenic treatment has been
shown to result in significant increases
in the wear resistance of steels such as
D-2, M-2, O -l, and 52100. The basic
mechanisms at work during the cryo
genic process help control wear by pro
ducing a tough surface, which helps to
prevent particles from tearing out of the
material and resist penetration of the
surface by other particles.
A

About the Author

Pete Paulin is president o f 300 Below
Inc., Decatur, 1L.
C UTTIN G TO OL ENGINEERING