Cold Treating: New Way To Make Steel Harder

Cold Treating: New Way To Make Steel Harder FARM SHOP Maintenance 21-2-33 Heat-treating is a common way to make wear surfaces last longer. But have you ever heard of "cold treating"? A California company says it can make steel parts last up to 5 times longer by subjecting them to temperatures of 300? below zero, using a computer-controlled liquid nitrogen freeze chamber. The process causes a chemical reaction on parts that have already been heat-treated conventionally. "We're successfully using it on gears, cams, bearings, pistons, drill bits and many other high wear parts. What's more, we're currently testing the process on combine sickle bars, tillage sweeps and other farm equipment parts," says Rob Brechman of Breco Cryogenic Services, Clovis, Calf. Among other things, the process causes fine carbide particles to fill in tiny voids in metal, resulting in longer wear life, he ex-plains. "You can substantially reduce machine downtime related to tool and wear part re-placement," he notes. Price begins at about $1.50 apiece for steel tooling and wear parts weighing 0 to 4 oz. and runs through $440 for treating complete 3 and 4-cyl. engines. Minimum order of $50. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Breco Cryogenic Services, 6387 East Silaxo, Clovis, Calif. 93611 (ph/fax 209 322-1710).

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