[s-cars] Making the Disc Brakes harder and stronger

[Dan Bozga]

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It's Romania, with an o not a u :)


Dan


mlp qwest <mlped at qwest.net> wrote:Its called cryogenic treatment Frederic. There is a lot of hype out there
about the process but, so far as I can tell, not a lot of truly
"independently" verified back up, or for that matter solid University etc.,
type research on the benefits of the process.

First, its supposed to be a lot more involved than just dumping a part, such
as a brake rotor, in a vat of liquid nitrogen and then fishing the piece
out. It's proponents tout the process as form of "reverse" heat treatment,
i.e. a cold tempering process. Parts (& an industry to supply the
equipment) have been built around "secret" formulas for first slowly
dropping the temperature to near absolute 0º, well not absolute 0º, but say
@ -300º F or so, and then slowly raising the temperature back up in stages
to ambient, & in some cases actually reheating the part to +300/+400º F
again. I've gotten the impression that the various competing "firms" that
have been out selling these "businesses" regard the exact thermal cycling
process as something of a trade secrets, but we can all rest assured that
the equipment is "computer controlled" and in the best of these shops,
precisely computer controlled at that :-).

The best basic "university" research I was ever able to find on the process
comes down to:

1. The Russians were supposed to have developed a secret process during the
cold war (there's probably a pun in there somewhere);

2. Some Rumanian University purports to have a done a series of papers, in
Rumania about the process.

3. A department in/of Louisiana Technical University (? a far cry from
Rutgers or ???) (try for example a google search on Dr. Randall F. Barron)

4. A tale told by one of the OneCryo or their ilk franchise purchasers, who
decided to get into the cryo treatment business, about the "... best race
car engine he ever owned..." came out of an old wreck that had sat out
behind a farmers barn in Minnesota. It seems that he was continually
blowing the engine in his ?? I'm guessing some kind of oval track race car.
Having exhausted his supply of regular blocks, and desperate for a new
motor, the affiant recalled that there was this old wreck that had been
sitting out behind his neighbors barn through 20+ Minnesota winters, where
temperatures frequently dip below -30º F. He pulled the motor out of the
old wreck, and found that suddenly he had an indestructible motor that, SOP
(seat of the pants) ran better than any other motor he had ever built! The
reason, slow (very slow, 20+ years slow) of natural Minnesota deep cryogenic
thermal cycling and treatment.

5. Finally some Japanese University publications, but in abstract form only
& well beyond my ability to decipher


http://www.coldfire.com/
http://www.memagazine.org/backissues/nov00/features/thebig/thebig.html
http://www.onecryo.com/onecryo/templates-history2.htm


Amazed by the amount of hype about the process, vs. a veritable dearth of
what I would consider well researched data etc., I got suckered into buying
the only book I could locate about the process, "Cryogenics" by William E.
Bryson published by Hanser Gardner Publications. If some one knows of a
better information source, it wouldn't be hard to be better than this POS,
let me know.

What a (tongue firmly in cheek) gem of a publication! 127 pages of text
organized into 10 Chapters, printed in big type, but "just in case" the
average reader were to find this difficult going 'cause of all of those
technical term, supplemented by @ 77 page "Glossary of Terms", a 1 & 1/2
page index and no, absolutely none, zero zilch nada bibliography, for such a
technical subject, of references. On the other hand, in addition to the
Minnesota race car driver, you have Mr. Bryson's opening technical salvo,
"Evolution of the Process: Approximately 150 years ago, Swiss watchmakers
buried certain watch arts in snow banks during the long winters to improve
wear and accuracy. Many older toolmakers, from the 1940's, remember storing
their too steels in deep freezers for months to gain a little more wear
resistance. They had no idea what was happening ....."

If you come up with any better information I'd be interested in hearing
about it. Now, for some really good stuff, I believe Hap is working on a
Hawaiian Volcano heat treatment process that will grow your brakes at least
5cm larger in diameter while still fitting within your existing wheels (I
know seems impossible, but it's one of the minor miracles of these enhanced
heat treatment process and guarantee the rotors will never wear out :-).

OTOH, there are a number of people who swear by, not at the process, so as
usual, YMMV on this

Mike "Chillin in Colorado, astounded the Cryo Craz hasn't swept France yet"
Pederson




~-----Original Message-----
~From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
~[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Frederic L'Huillier
~Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 4:58 AM
~To: s-car-list at audifans.com
~Subject: [s-cars] Making the Disc Brakes harder and stronger
~
~
~This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
~--
~[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
~Hi,
~
~Is it correct that putting the Disc Brakes into liquid nitrogen is
~making them a lot harder than stock ones ?
~If so, how long do you have to keep them in the liquid nitrogen to get
~the full benefit ?
~Can you do it with used brakes or only new ones ?
~
~Regards,
~Frederic.
~--
~
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~S-CAR-List mailing list
~S-CAR-List at audifans.com
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