Mat,
That is actually a very intelligent question.
First, I must explain why most parts fail in the first place. In most cases, it is due to metal fatigue. The cycles can be heat cycles or mechanical cycles, load cycles, etc. The definition is below:
“Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form at the surface. Eventually a crack will reach a critical size, and the structure will suddenly fracture.
ASM:
“FATIGUE FAILURES OCCUR due to the application of fluctuating stresses that are much lower than the stress required to cause failure during a single application of stress. It has been estimated that fatigue contributes to approximately 90% of all mechanical service failures. Fatigue is a problem that can affect any part or component that moves. Automobiles on roads, aircraft wings and fuselages, ships at sea, nuclear reactors, jet engines, and land-based turbines are all subject to fatigue failures.”
“The fatigue life is the number of cycles to failure at a specified stress level, while the fatigue strength (also referred to as the endurance limit) is the stress below which failure does not occur. As the applied stress level is decreased, the number of cycles to failure increases.”
Unfortunately, most manufactured products have small imperfections, stresses, etc. During repeated cycles, these stresses/imperfections grow larger and then eventually cause failure. With proper deep cryogenic processing, these stresses/imperfections will be removed and a stronger, more uniform, stress free structure remains. The part will now last much longer, because there are no small imperfections/stresses to increase in size with continued cycles and load demands. These changes/improvements are considered “permanent” but they can be undone when the metal approaches its liquefying temperatures. Not encountered in most normal applications.
Also, metals that are processed will dissipate heat approx. 35% better. By operating cooler, the cycle load has just been decreased as well. The more uniform part also demonstrates more uniformity, dramatically reducing hotter spots, cooler spots, etc.
"Structural” components aren’t the only components that suffer from fatigue. Electrical items also exhibit fatigue from duty cycles which cause the conductive material to increase resistance and become less conductive, thus generating more heat.
Otherwise your posts are useless nay saying.
