Cryogenics

For cryopreservation of humans, see Cryonics. For the 1 Denitions and distinctions
band, see Cryogenic (band).
Low temperature physics redirects here. For the jour- Cryogenics The branches of physics and engineering
nal, see Low Temperature Physics (journal).
that involve the study of very low temperatures, how
In physics, cryogenics is the study of the production and
to produce them, and how materials behave at those
temperatures.
Cryobiology The branch of biology involving the
study of the eects of low temperatures on
organisms (most often for the purpose of achieving
cryopreservation).
Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources The
conservation of genetic material with the intention
of conserving a breed.
Cryosurgery The branch of surgery applying very low
temperatures (down to 196 C) to destroy malignant tissue, e.g. cancer cells.
Cryoelectronics The eld of research
superconductivity at low temperatures.

regarding

Cryotronics The practical application of cryoelectronics.

Liquid nitrogen

Cryonics Cryopreserving humans and animals with the

intention of future revival. Cryogenics is sometimes erroneously used to mean Cryonics in
popular culture and the press.[2]

behaviour of materials at very low temperatures.

It is not well-dened at what point on the temperature scale refrigeration ends and cryogenics begins, but
scientists[1] assume it starts at or below 150 C (123 K;
238 F). The U.S. National Institute of Standards and 2 Etymology
Technology has chosen to consider the eld of cryogenics
as that involving temperatures below 180 C or 292.00 The word cryogenics stems from Greek k (cryo)
F or 93.15 K. This is a logical dividing line, since the cold + genic having to do with production.
normal boiling points of the so-called permanent gases
(such as helium, hydrogen, neon, nitrogen, oxygen, and
normal air) lie below 180 C while the Freon refrig3 Cryogenic Fluids
erants, hydrogen sulde, and other common refrigerants
have boiling points above 180 C. (above 150 C, 238
Cryogenic uids with their boiling point in kelvin (LiqF or 123 K).
uid Helium3- 3.19k),(Liquid Helium4- 4.214k),(Liquid
A person who studies elements that have been subjected Hydrogen- 20.27k),(Liquid Neon-27.09k),(Liquid
to extremely cold temperatures is called a cryogenicist.
Nitrogen- 77.36k),(Liquid Air- 78.8k),(Liquid FluorineCryogenicists use the Kelvin or Rankine temperature 85.24k),(Liquid Argon- 87.24k),(Liquid Oxygenscales.
90.18),(Liquid Methane- 111.7k) [3]
1

4 INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

4 Industrial applications
Further information:
technology

Timeline of low-temperature

Liqueed gases, such as liquid nitrogen and liquid helium,

are used in many cryogenic applications. Liquid nitrogen
is the most commonly used element in cryogenics and is
legally purchasable around the world. Liquid helium is
also commonly used and allows for the lowest attainable
temperatures to be reached.
These liquids may be stored in Dewar asks, which are
double-walled containers with a high vacuum between the
walls to reduce heat transfer into the liquid. Typical laboratory Dewar asks are spherical, made of glass and protected in a metal outer container. Dewar asks for extremely cold liquids such as liquid helium have another
double-walled container lled with liquid nitrogen. Dewar asks are named after their inventor, James Dewar,
the man who rst liqueed hydrogen. Thermos bottles
are smaller vacuum asks tted in a protective casing.
Cryogenic barcode labels are used to mark dewar asks
containing these liquids, and will not frost over down to
195 degrees Celsius.[4]
Cryogenic transfer pumps are the pumps used on LNG
piers to transfer liqueed natural gas from LNG carriers
to LNG storage tanks, as are cryogenic valves.

4.1 Cryogenic processing

The eld of cryogenics advanced during World War II
when scientists found that metals frozen to low temperatures showed more resistance to wear. Based on this
theory of cryogenic hardening, the commercial cryogenic
processing industry was founded in 1966 by Ed Busch.
With a background in the heat treating industry, Busch
founded a company in Detroit called CryoTech in 1966
which merged with 300 Below in 1999 to become the
worlds largest and oldest commercial cryogenic processing company. Busch originally experimented with the
possibility of increasing the life of metal tools to anywhere between 200%400% of the original life expectancy using cryogenic tempering instead of heat treating. This evolved in the late 1990s into the treatment of
other parts.

Cryogenic valve

Cryogens, such as liquid nitrogen, are further used for

specialty chilling and freezing applications. Some chemical reactions, like those used to produce the active ingredients for the popular statin drugs, must occur at low
temperatures of approximately 100 C (148 F). Special cryogenic chemical reactors are used to remove reaction heat and provide a low temperature environment.
The freezing of foods and biotechnology products, like
vaccines, requires nitrogen in blast freezing or immersion freezing systems. Certain soft or elastic materials

3
become hard and brittle at very low temperatures, which Some applications of cryogenics:
makes cryogenic milling (cryomilling) an option for some
materials that cannot easily be milled at higher tempera Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR)
tures.
NMR is one of the most common methods to determine the physical and chemical properties of atoms
Cryogenic processing is not a substitute for heat treatby detecting the radio frequency absorbed and subment, but rather an extension of the heating - quenching
sequent relaxation of nuclei in a magnetic eld. This
- tempering cycle. Normally, when an item is quenched,
is one of the most commonly used characterization
the nal temperature is ambient. The only reason for this
techniques and has applications in numerous elds.
is that most heat treaters do not have cooling equipment.
Primarily, the strong magnetic elds are generated
There is nothing metallurgically signicant about ambiby supercooling electromagnets, although there are
ent temperature. The cryogenic process continues this
spectrometers that do not require cryogens. In traaction from ambient temperature down to 320 F (140
ditional superconducting solenoids, liquid helium is
R; 78 K; 196 C). In most instances the cryogenic cycle
used to cool the inner coils because it has a boilis followed by a heat tempering procedure. As all alloys
ing point of around 4 K at ambient pressure. Cheap
do not have the same chemical constituents, the tempermetallic superconductors can be used for the coil
ing procedure varies according to the materials chemiwiring. So-called high-temperature superconductcal composition, thermal history and/or a tools particular
ing compounds can be made to super conduct with
service application.
the use of liquid nitrogen which boils at around 77
The entire process takes 34 days.
K.

4.2

Fuels

Another use of cryogenics is cryogenic fuels for rockets

with liquid hydrogen as the most widely used example.
Liquid oxygen (LOX) is even more widely used but as
an oxidizer, not a fuel. NASA's workhorse space shuttle
used cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen propellant as its primary
means of getting into orbit. LOX is also widely used with
RP-1 kerosene, a non-cryogenic hydrocarbon, such as in
the rockets built for the Soviet space program by Sergei
Korolev.
Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev developed a version of its popular design Tu-154 with a cryogenic fuel
system, known as the Tu-155. The plane uses a fuel referred to as liqueed natural gas or LNG, and made its
rst ight in 1989.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

MRI is a complex application of NMR where the geometry of the resonances is deconvoluted and used
to image objects by detecting the relaxation of protons that have been perturbed by a radio-frequency
pulse in the strong magnetic eld. This is mostly
commonly used in health applications.
Electric power transmission in big cities
It is dicult to transmit power by overhead cables
in big cities, so underground cables are used. But
underground cables get heated and the resistance of
the wire increases leading to waste of power. Superconductors could be used to increase power throughput, although they would require cryogenic liquids
such as nitrogen or helium to cool special alloycontaining cables to increase power transmission.
Several feasibility studies have been performed and
the eld is the subject of an agreement within the
International Energy Agency.

Other applications

Cryogenic gases delivery truck at a supermarket, Ypsilanti,

Michigan

Astronomical instruments on the Very Large Telescope are

equipped with continuous ow cooling systems.[5]

Frozen food
Cryogenic gases are used in transportation of large
masses of frozen food. When very large quantities of food must be transported to regions like war
zones, earthquake hit regions, etc., they must be
stored for a long time, so cryogenic food freezing

10 FURTHER READING
is used. Cryogenic food freezing is also helpful for
large scale food processing industries.
Forward looking infrared (FLIR)
Many infra-red cameras require their detectors to be
cryogenically cooled.
Blood banking
Certain rare blood groups are stored at low temperatures, such as 165 C.

Coldest temperature recorded on Earth

Timeline of low-temperature technology

9 References
[1] Bilstein, Roger E. (1996). Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles (NASA
SP-4206) (The NASA History Series). NASA History Ofce. pp. 8991. ISBN 0-7881-8186-6.

Manufacturing process
Cryogenic cooling is used to cool the tool tip at the
time of machining. It increases the tool life. Oxygen
is used to perform several important functions in the
steel manufacturing process.

[3] CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS BY RANDALL BARRON

McGraw-Hill Book Company

Research
Experimental research on certain physics phenomena, such as spintronics and magnetotransport properties, requires cryogenic temperatures for the effects to be observed.

Production

Cryogenic cooling of devices and material is usually

achieved via the use of liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, or
a mechanical cryocooler (which uses high pressure helium lines). Giord McMahon Cryocoolers, pulse tube
cryocoolers and Stirling cryocoolers are in wide use with
selection based on required base temperature and cooling
capacity. The most recent development in cryogenics is
the use of magnets as regenerators as well as refrigerators. These devices work on the principle known as the
magnetocaloric eect.

Absolute zero

Special eects
Cryogenics technology using liquid nitrogen and
CO2 has been built into nightclub eect systems to
create a chilling eect and white fog that can be illuminated with colored lights.

Recycling of Materials
By freezing the automobile or truck tire in Liquid nitrogen, the rubber is made brittle & can be crushed
into small particles. These particles can be used
again for other items.

8 See also

Detectors

For Cryogenic temperature measurement down to 30K,

PT-100 sensor (resistance temperature detectors
(RTDs)) is used, and for lower than 30K it is required
to use Silicon Diode for accuracy. There are also other
cryogenic detectors which are used to detect Cryogenic
particles.

[2] Cryonics is NOT the Same as Cryogenics. Retrieved 5

March 2013.

[4] Thermal, Timmy. Cryogenic Labels. MidcomData.

Retrieved 11 August 2014.
[5] ESO Signs Technology Transfer Licence Agreement for
Cooling System. Retrieved 11 June 2015.

10 Further reading
Haselden, G. G. (1971) Cryogenic fundamentals
Academic Press, New York, ISBN 0-12-330550-0
"Cryogenics for English Majors, National High
Magnetic Field Laboratory

11
11.1

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