Cryogenic Treatment for Lincolnshire Agricultural Machinery and Food Processing Blades
Lincolnshire runs on machinery that cuts, slices, digs and grinds, and all of it wears out. This post is for agricultural engineers, farm workshops and food processing plants across the county, from Spalding and Boston up to Lincoln and Grantham, who want to know whether deep cryogenic treatment can stretch the life of the parts they replace most often.
The parts that wear fastest in Lincolnshire
Harvester knife sections, flail blades, cultivator points, slurry pump wear plates, chopper blades, bale slicer knives and the cutting edges on root crop handling equipment. In food processing it is slicer blades, dicer grids, guillotines, band knives and the cutters in packaging lines. These are consumables. They are budgeted for, ordered in bulk and changed on a schedule.
Every one of them is a candidate for deep cryogenic treatment, because the thing they have in common is a hard steel edge or face working against something abrasive.
What treatment does to a wearing edge
The cycle takes the part slowly to around minus 195 degrees Celsius, holds it and brings it back, all under computer control. In steel, retained austenite converts to martensite and fine carbide particles form throughout the metal. Internal stress is relieved. The practical result is an edge that stays sharp longer and a face that wears more slowly.
Because the change goes all the way through the part rather than sitting on the surface like a coating, the benefit survives sharpening. A pallet manufacturer we work with took band saw blade life from four days to two weeks. Food and agricultural blades behave the same way.
Food processing: hygiene and metal to metal contact
Food plants have a particular problem. Blades are sharpened often to keep cuts clean, and they run against each other or against hardened anvils. Sharpening removes a coating in one pass. Cryogenic treatment cannot be sharpened off. Treated slicer and dicer blades hold a cleaner edge for longer between regrinds and the regrind interval stretches.
Nothing is added to the steel, so there is no coating to flake and no change to food contact compliance. The blade is the same blade, just better.
Batching from a farm or plant
The sensible pattern is to collect worn or new spares into a box and send them before our next run, which happens roughly every four weeks and takes three days. We price by weight with a lower rate for bigger batches, so a seasonal box of knife sections or a plant's quarterly blade order is good value. Lightly oil bare steel, pack so pieces cannot knock together and send to Yaxley by FedEx next day. From most of Lincolnshire you can also drive it down the A15 or A1 and drop it off.
Seasonal timing for farms
Agricultural wear is seasonal, so treatment should be too. The practical rhythm is to pull the knife sections, points and blades off equipment as it comes out of use, send the spares and the worn but regrindable items to us over the quiet months and have them back on the shelf before the kit goes out again. Harvest components in autumn, cultivation and drilling parts over winter, grass and forage kit in early spring.
Because we run roughly every four weeks there are three or four runs in each off season, so there is no need to send everything at once. Many farm workshops send one box per machine as it is serviced.
Start with a comparison
We would rather you proved it to yourself than took our word for it. Send one set of blades or points to treat and run them next to an untreated set from the same batch. Count the hours or tonnes until each needs changing. Most customers only need to do that once.
Frequently asked questions
Can you treat agricultural wear parts made from boron steel or hardened cast?
Yes. Hardened steels and cast wear parts respond well. Send a sample first if you want to measure the gain on a specific part.
No. Nothing is added to or removed from the blade. The steel is unchanged in composition and finish.
How often do Lincolnshire customers send parts?
Food plants usually send a quarterly batch. Farms tend to send a box before each season for the equipment coming into use.
Is it cheaper than buying new blades?
Treatment is a fraction of the cost of replacement and the treated blade lasts several times longer, so the saving compounds.
Cryogenix Ltd runs deep cryogenic treatment from Yaxley in Peterborough and takes parts from across the UK by post or in person. If you are changing blades or points more often than you would like, send us one set to compare. Call 01296 433457 or email info@cryogenix-uk.com and we will tell you what it would cost and when the next run is.
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