Why Use Liquid Nitrogen? What Is Liquid Nitrogen? What Does It Do? How Do You Know It Does That? Will LN2 Fix a Bad Heat Treatment?
People ask questions! And we're going to try and provide some answers today about one of the most misunderstood parts of heat treating knives- the cryogenic quench! WHAT IS LIQUID NITROGEN? The air we breathe is 78% gaseous nitrogen. It is all around us as you read this. So there's plenty of this element, but we need it to be liquid, and we need it in a container! This involves a process called "air liquification", which compresses and chills air or gaseous elements to the point where its constituent components separate and liquify. (carbon dioxide solidifies at -120F, nitrogen liquefies at -320F, oxygen at -297F, hydrogen at -423F). Knowing that, the liquifier can collect each liquified gas at a s