If you have a fleet of vehicles, you know maintaining them is a huge business expense; but did you know that cryogenically treating your fleet’s brake rotors is one of the most effective ways to manage costs while increasing safety?  Let’s set aside fleet vehicles for a moment and consider the standard family sedan.  As of 2011 Census data, over 15 million Canadians commute to work and four out of five use a private vehicle to do so.  The average commute time one way was just over 20 minutes, but significantly longer (30 – 45 minutes) in parts of Ontario.  Let’s face it.  Canadians from coast to coast are on the road, in private vehicles, in tractor trailers, in fleet service and more. What is that doing to our brakes? It’s wear them out – fast.

Most brake rotors are made from grey cast iron.  Cast iron properties are determined by both chemistry and processing, which means the properties of grey cast iron can be changed after the item is forged.  That’s a good thing, because cast iron, while holding up well during compression, breaks down quickly under excessive tensile loading. When you consider the weight brakes carry in fleet service such as mail trucks, courier vehicles, and travel trailers, you realize just how much is riding on their optimal performance.

No matter what you drive or how carefully you maintain it, your brakes are going to wear out. Every time you apply the brakes, you wear them. If you are an aggressive driver or utilize a heavy or transport vehicle, your brakes will wear out faster.

What’s the solution? Cryogenics.

Cryogenically treated brakes are proven to be harder, more durable, last longer and be more resistant to warping. This is because cryogenically freezing brake rotors changes the crystalline structure.  Remember, cast iron is not “set in stone” so to speak. Thanks to its unique chemistry, its structure can be altered after it has been formed.  Here at Millennium Cryogenic Technologies, we take advantage of this chemistry loophole to provide stronger, cost effective, safer brakes.

Interested in cryogenically treated brake rotors, sales and service in Edmonton and area?  Whether you are shipping your rotors to us here in Nisku or in need of pre-treated rotors, we can help.  Contact us today to be safer on the road tomorrow.

Although cryogenics can be a difficult process to understand, it can be simplified by explaining how cryogenics for rifle barrels increases their efficiency, accuracy and life span. Just like with tools, at Millennium Cryogenic Technologies we can double the life expectancy of your rifle barrel, and as fellow Albertans, we know how important hunting season is.

With the short hunting season—if you’re one of the lucky ones who wins the hunting draw—you need a rifle that matches your stamina. The best way to do that is with cryogenics for rifle barrels.  Thankfully, we can do that for you.

How cryogenics for rifle barrels works

Simply put, a cryogenics rifle barrel treatment uses liquid nitrogen to lower the gun’s temperature to well below freezing. The rifle barrel is kept in this state for 24-hours to alleviate the lingering stresses and imperfections created when the rifle was being manufactured.

How cryogenics for rifle barrels increases life span and accuracy

After the cryogenics treatment the molecular structure of the rifle barrel changes, creating a major decrease in abrasive wear. Thus hardening and refining the rifle’s metal, making it more durable.  Each time you shoot your rifle, the barrel experiences fatigue and heat stress, causing your accuracy to decrease. Cryogenics for rifle barrels stops this from happening and you will instantly notice the following as well:

• Increased shooting velocity of around 50-60 feet per second
• Reduced wear, friction and heat for a more efficient barrel life
• Smoother function when shooting, and tighter grouping for increased accuracy
• Improved wear resistance for easier cleaning

It’s also important to note that cryogenics for rifle barrels only has to be done once to double the life span of your rifle.

At Millennium Cryogenics Technologies, we are dedicated to helping Albertans understand cryogenics and how it can be used in everyday life, and in industry. If you’re an avid hunter, or a beginner, try out cryogenics for your rifle barrel.  And if you’re curious about anything else to do with the cryogenics, check out our website, or contact us anytime.

In the last blog we separated some myths from facts about cryogenics.  Now that you know cryogenics can be applied to almost every industry, let’s take a closer look at cryogenics in Alberta.

There is no doubt about it. Alberta is run on industry.  While the technology sector is quickly turning into a powerful economic contender, when you hear Alberta, you think oil and gas.

Alberta’s oilsands accounted for over 22 per cent of the province’s gross domestic product in 2012 and as of last year, there were well over 100 active oilsands products in Alberta.  Alberta’s oil production is very strong in the world market as evidenced by the infogram below.

Infogram sourced from http://oilsands.alberta.ca/economicinves

When we have a resource that is so important to our wellbeing as a province and a country, it makes good sense to find ways to access this resource in the most efficient manner.  That is where cryogenics in Alberta comes into play.

There are many ways cryogenics in Alberta is used; and one of these ways is to increase the durability of oilsands tools.  Just think of all the equipment used in the oil sands: the heavy hauler trucks that transport the product, fleet vehicles going to and from sites, all those small parts and gears inside the machinery and even the hand-held tools needed on the job site.  When we take these metal components and treat them cryogenically, we dramatically increase their durability.

Wikipedia provides an excellent explanation:

[Treating metals cryogenically] can have a profound effect on the mechanical properties of certain steels, provided their composition and prior heat treatment are such that they retain some austenite at room temperature. It is designed to increase the amount of martensite in the steel’s crystal structure, increasing its strength. Presently this treatment is being practiced over tool steels, high-carbon, and high-chromium steels to obtain excellent wear resistance. Recent research shows that there is precipitation of fine carbides (eta carbides) in the matrix during this treatment which imparts very high wear resistance to the steels.

In short, cryogenics makes metal tools/components stronger and makes them last longer.

Cryogenics in Alberta improves the way we mine our valuable resources.  Any time equipment breaks down or needs to be repaired, there is a loss of time and dollars.  As disagreeable as the saying “time is money” can be, it is true.  The time spend repairing or replacing equipment cuts sharply into profits.

Additionally, major oil sands developers are always interesting in using eco-friendly processes.  They know mining has an unsavory reputation when it comes to land conservation and protection; therefore they work tirelessly from the outset of each project to make sure the land is protected, reclaimed and as little waste is produced as possible.  When these developers invest in cryogenics in Alberta, they reduce the amount of waste they produce because their tools and tool parts last longer and work better.

Cryogenics in Alberta makes our important work in the oilsands more efficient and less wasteful; and since the oilsands help to power our prospering province, any clean, environmentally friendly, cost-effective process that improves energy mining is a process worth investing in.

Millennium Cryogenics Technologies is pleased to provide cryogenics in Alberta to improve the wear resistance of metal tools.  Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.

Welcome to the Millennium Cryogenic Technologies blog, your information source for how and why cryogenics is applied in real world.  Cryogenics has been made popular through Hollywood movies such as Alien, Encino Man, Vanilla Sky and the recent Star Trek: Into Darkness. But despite tinsel town’s (very inaccurate) portrayal of cryogenics, this technology is used for very practical reasons.  In fact, cryogenic technology is available right here in the Edmonton region!

This is not how cryogenics works….

Facts & fiction

To start, let’s debunk a few myths.

Myth: Cryogenics is all about freezing and resuscitating bodies.  Myth busted – sort of.  Cryotherapy is a term that describes medical treatments involving low temperatures, but the practice of freezing a body solid thawing it out years later is not standard practice.  That doesn’t mean people don’t try.  Places like the Alcor Life Extension Foundation practice cryonics.  Cryonics, according to their website, is “the science of using ultra-cold temperature to preserve human life with the intent of restoring good health when technology becomes available to do so.” To date, however, cryonics has not moved past the freezing stage and current technology does not exist to bring a dead, cryonic-frozen body back to life.

Myth: Miraculous stories exists where people are accidentally frozen and return to life after they are thawed out. Myth busted!  There is no shortage of stories about people that tumble into icy water or are found outdoors in the snow only to return to a full and healthy life after they warm up, but don’t be fooled.  These are cases of suspended animation, or forced hibernation.  The body has not actually perished. Check out this Live Science article for a full explanation.

Myth: Cryogenics is only for human application. Definitely busted!  Cryogenics is a technology used across many industries, from the medical field to food service.  We should know – we provide cryogenic services for many of those industries.

So, what is Cryogenics?

Cryogenics is a broad term that describes applying below-freezing temperatures to alter the state of matter, be it food, a body, metal or more.  Although we are still years away from freezing a body solid and returning it to life, cryogenics is still an exciting, innovative, technologically-driven field.

Cryogenics in Edmonton

Cryogenic technology exists right here in Edmonton, Alberta.  We are located in Leduc and service clients across Alberta and North America.  Our services involve using cryogenics to enhance the service life of metal tools.  Millennium’s technology has been applied on oil sands tools, on fleet and race vehicles, on rifles, mining equipment, forestry cutting instruments and more.

You see, when you apply cryogenic technology to metals, you radically change their durability.  The process hardens and refines metals, making them far more efficient for field use.  Millennium is proud to say we can more than double the life expectancy of many metal-based tools.

Stay tuned to learn more

At Millennium Cryogenics Technologies, we are dedicated to helping you learn more about cryogenics and how it can be used in your industry.  Stay tuned to this blog to learn more and contact us anytime to discuss how our services can benefit you.