Beat the Heat with Cryogenic Machining

Beat the Heat with Cryogenic Machining
It’s a simple fact that heat is the enemy of metal machining. The friction involved in the process produces extreme temperatures that force you to reduce speeds, get in the way of quality and cause tools to break. Working with our partners at 5ME, we offer a better way to cool the cutting tool on our NHM Series, NHP Series and PUMA VT Series machines. 5ME® Cryogenic Machining is a breakthrough temperature reduction technology that uses a patented system to deliver liquid nitrogen directly to the cutting edge at -321° F. That’s frosty!

Some like it cold
What does Cryogenic Machining do for you in the shop? The extreme cold drops temperatures fast, which means you can crank up the RPMs for substantially faster processing times. Higher speeds allow you to cut more parts in the same amount of time with the same machine. There’s no trade off in quality for those reduced cycle times, either. Test results have shown that you get a smoother, more reliable finish and higher part quality with Cryogenic Machining.

Who wouldn’t like to reduce the downtime caused by changing out worn tools all the time? The same blast of frigid liquid nitrogen also leads to increased tool life since heat is a major factor in wear and breakage. Your tools last longer, and your cost per part drops.

When to go cryo
Cryogenic Machining is highly effective for machining difficult materials like stainless steel and other hard alloys such as titanium, nodular iron, compacted graphite iron, hardened steels, and carbon fiber composites.

The process doesn’t leave a residue. When liquid nitrogen touches the air, it evaporates, leaving only Nitrogen, an inert, non-greenhouse gas, which makes up 78% of the air we breathe. This makes it perfect for intricate or sterile workpieces such as aerospace parts or medical devices. Award yourself bonus points for helping the environment.

Is the freeze a fit for you?
Cryogenic Machining may not be right for every process or material, but it provides exciting advantages for some difficult-to-machine components. Ask yourself the following questions:
•Would you like to make more parts with your existing equipment?
•Do you need to increase the throughput of your next machine?
•Does your operation cut difficult-to-machine materials?
•Is replacing tools, coolants, and raw materials keeping your profit margins low?
•Have you maxed out your cutting speeds and feeds due to the heat-induced limits of the cutting tool?

If you answered yes, integrating Cryogenic Machining technology can elevate your operations to the next level of productivity and profitability. It saves you time, tools, materials, energy and processing. With minimal investment, you can increase your speed and consequently, the number of parts machined. That leads to a better bottom line. And that, my friend, is really cool.