Cryogenic heat treatment — a review of the current state

Abstract

The deep cryogenic heat treatment is an old and effective heat treatment, performed on steels and cast irons to improve the wear resistance and hardness. This process includes cooling down to the liquid nitrogen temperature, holding the samples at that temperature and heating at the room temperature. The benefits of this process are significant on the ferrous materials, but recently some studies focused on other nonferrous materials. This study attempts to clarify the different behavior of some materials subjected to the deep cryogenic heat treatment, as well as explaining the common theories about the effect of the cryogenic heat treatment on these materials. Results showed that polymers exhibit different behavior regarding to their crystallinity, however the magnesium alloys, titanium alloys and tungsten carbide show a noticeable improvement after the deep cryogenic heat treatment due to their crystal structure.