Name: Rob
Status: educator
Grade: 9-12
Location: FL
Country: USA
Date: Summer 2012
Question:
Are there any metals or alloys currently in existence which can withstand exposure to extreme cold (such as liquid nitrogen) and will not shatter on impact (such as being dropped to the floor)? Any which could conceivably remain ductile and flex even at such temperatures?
Replies:
Styrofoam is a commonly used container for liquid nitrogen that can be
dropped without shattering. The outside of the polystyrene foam stays
room-temp (and therefore flexible), while the interior becomes
brittle... but because heat transfer in polystyrene foam is so poor, and the
polystyrene on the outside is very flexible, the overall container will not
break if dropped. There are a lot of metals that would not break if
dropped either.
Nickel (9%) steel is one material that is commonly used for cryogenic
applications owing to its good performance at low temperatures. I
suppose a number of polymer systems could be designed to have cryogenic
Tg (glass transition temperatures) as well, although these materials
would not be common because they would be too difficult to handle at
room temperature.
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