Ice hardened steel

I was checking tooliday.com and saw this.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/ProductCategory.aspx?CategoryName=SC:Ice+Hardened™+Hole+Saws+and+Kits

It's a hole saw kit that has been treated by freezing. What do you think about this process?

Cryogenics and ice have noting in common and all the marketing spin in the world will never make them collide. Cryogenic treatment of metals is a complex issue that has yet to be proven for tool but has been proven for musical instruments. It is a slow and costly process taking the product well down below -300f in a controlled nitrogen chamber. In instruments made of brass, silver, gold and Ti it relives the internal stress from the making of the instrument and also some what aligns the molecules. ( has not been prove it is an enhancement) Tone is improved by the process but it can not be determined if it is from the alignment or not. The process is very slow from 24-72 hours and must be watched and controlled very closely , another word it is very expensive.

Cyrogenic treatment of the barrels of firearms is said to prolong the life of the barrel tremendously.

"Ice Hardened" may be Milwaukee's name for cyrogenic treatment, after all how many people know about the cyrogenic process, and "Ice Hardened" is kind of a catchy name, if you are marketing to the DIY, so he can have bragging rights:

I know that many of the top race teams will cryo treat their blocks as well as some other engine parts

not sure what Ice hardened would mean other than when they heat treat the items, they throw a few ice cubes in the quench first.....???????

bob

If you were to quench tool steel in ice water you would crack the **** out of it. Tool steel takes a slower oil quench. Unless they are using ice water to quench inferior low carbon steel trying to get some kind of artifical hardness out of it.

Huh. I know that Henckels kitchen knives make a big deal about being ice hardened too. Yet they still don't hold a good edge because they use poor steel (420 I think).

Here's the marketing hype:

Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation introduces Ice Hardened™ hole saws, a new generation of hole saws that offer up to 50% longer life than the competition and are ideal for metal and wood cutting in a wide variety of HVAC, electrical, plumbing and maintenance/repair applications.
Milwaukee Ice Hardened™ products utilize a proprietary cryogenic hardening process that improves upon traditional heat treat processes. Unlike surface coatings that wear away, cryogenics harden to the core by minimizing soft metal (austenite) and creating more hard metal (martensite). The result is a product that is more consistently hard throughout, resulting in life up to 50% longer than the competition.

It's been done for years. The American Tool Company was cyrogenically treating the Timken Bearing Steel prismatic ways for their line of Pacemaker engine lathes as early as the late 40's.

Here's a copy of an article on the subject: