Transcript:

What do guitar strings, golf balls and razor blades have in common? Well, some people say that they all perform better if you freeze them. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. Certain objects, especially if they're made of metal, seem to improve when they're exposed to extreme cold. The process, known as "cryogenics", requires a special type of freezer.

"We call the device a cryoprocessor."

Jeff Levine is president of Applied Cryogenics, a company that makes a supercooling machine that looks a little bit like a gigantic thermos bottle.

"It's basically a very well-insulated chamber, in which we can vary temperatures between the limits of plus 300 degrees and minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit."

The freezing technique is often used to treat metals that have to withstand constant abrasion, such as cutting tools and engine components.

"We would place the material inside the cryoprocessor, then ramp the temperature down slowly to approximately three hundred degrees below zero. We would then hold it at that temperature for an extended period, and then slowly return it to room temperature over a period of perhaps twenty hours."

They then quickly raise the temperature to 300 degrees above zero, and finally let it cool down again, slowly. Levine says that this cycle of freezing and warming can extend the life of farm implements.

"Farmers typically drag cultivator teeth through hundreds of acres of dirt. The hard particles of dirt and sand and rock tend to abrade away these cultivator teeth until finally they disappear. And it turns out that if we can reduce the rate at which these cultivator teeth disappear into the earth, we can save them a lot of money."

Not all scientists agree that freezing improves the performance of metal tools, and independent test results have so far been inconclusive. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.