Etymology

The word cryogenics literally means "the production of icy cold"; however the term is
used today as a synonym for the low-temperature state. It is not well-defined at what
point on the temperature scale refrigeration ends and cryogenics begins. The workers at
the National Institute of Standards and Technology at oulder! "olorado have chosen to
consider the field of cryogenics as that involving temperatures below 180 C (!"1# $%"
This is a logical dividing line! since the normal boiling points of the so-called permanent
gases #such as helium& hydrogen& neon! nitrogen& o'ygen& and normal air$ lie below -%&' ("
while the )reon refrigerants! hydrogen sulfide! and other common refrigerants have
boiling points above -%&' (".*ecent research regarding superconductivity at low
temperatures has been called cryoelectronics! and the utili+ation of these sciences is
called cryotronics.

(ndustrial application )
,i-uefied gases! such as li-uid nitrogen and li-uid helium! are used in many cryogenic
applications. ,i-uid nitrogen is the most commonly used element in cryogenics and is
legally purchasable around the world. ,i-uid helium is also commonly used and allows
for the lowest attainable temperatures to be reached.
These gases are held in either special containers known as .ewar flasks! which are
generally about si/ feet tall #%.& m$ and three feet #0%.1 cm$ in diameter! or giant tanks
in larger commercial operations. .ewar flasks are named after their inventor! 2ames
.ewar! the man who first li-uefied hydrogen. 3useums typically display smaller vacuum
flasks fitted in a protective casing.
"ryogenic transfer pumps are the pumps used on ,N4 piers to transfer ,i-uefied
Natural 4as from ,N4 "arriers to ,N4 storage tanks.
Cryogenic processing )
The field of cryogenics advanced during 5orld 5ar II when scientists found that metals
fro+en to low temperatures showed more resistance to wear. ased on this theory of
cryogenic hardening! the commercial cryogenic processing industry was founded in
%066 by 7d usch. 5ith a background in the heat treating industry! usch founded a
company in .etroit called "ryoTech in %066. Though "ryoTech later merged with 8''
elow to create the largest and oldest commercial cryogenics company in the world!
they originally e/perimented with the possibility of increasing the life of metal tools to
anywhere between 9'':-;'': of the original life e/pectancy using cryogenic tempering
instead of heat treating. This evolved in the late %00's into the treatment of other parts
#that did more than <ust increase the life of a product$ such as musical instruments
#improved sound -uality$! baseball bats #greater sweet spot$! golf clubs #greater sweet
spot$! racing engines #greater performance under stress$! firearms #less warping after
continuous shooting$! knives! ra+or blades! brake rotors and even pantyhose. The theory
was based on how heat-treating metal works #the temperatures are lowered to room
temperature from a high degree causing certain strength increases in the molecular
structure to occur$ and supposed that continuing the descent would allow for further
strength increases. =sing li-uid nitrogen! "ryoTech formulated the first early version of
the cryogenic processor. =nfortunately for the newly-born industry! the results were
unstable! as components sometimes e/perienced thermal shock when they were cooled
too fast. Some components in early tests even shattered because of the ultra-low
temperatures. In the late twentieth century! the field improved significantly with the rise
of applied research! which coupled microprocessor based industrial controls to the
cryogenic processor in order to create more stable results.
"ryogens! like li-uid nitrogen! are further used for specialty chilling and free+ing
applications. Some chemical reactions! like those used to produce the active
ingredients for the popular statin drugs! must occur at low temperatures of
appro/imately -%'' (". Special cryogenic chemical reactors are used to remove reaction
heat and provide a low temperature environment. The free+ing of foods and
biotechnology products! like vaccines! re-uires nitrogen in blast free+ing or immersion
free+ing systems.
*uels )
>nother use of cryogenics is cryogenic fuels. "ryogenic fuels! mainly o/ygen and
hydrogen! have been used as rocket fuels. )or e/ample! N>S>?s workhorse space
shuttle uses cryogenic o/ygen and hydrogen fuels as its primary means of getting into
orbit! as did all of the rockets built for the Soviet space program by Sergei @orolev #this
was a bone of contention between him and rival engine designer Aalentin 4lushko! who
felt that cryogenic fuels were impractical for large-scale rockets such as the ill-fated N-%
rocket spacecraft$.
*ussian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev is currently researching a version of its popular
design Tu-%1; with a cryogenic fuel system! known as the Tu-%11. The plane uses a
fuel referred to as li-uefied natural gas or ,N4! and made its first flight in %0&0.

+etectors ) "ryogenic temperatures! usually well below BB @ #-%06 ("$ are re-uired to
operate cryogenic detectors.