ABSTRACT
Operating at low temperatures is essential to many processes in numerous †elds of science and engineering including refrigeration, space exploration, electronics, physics, chemistry, thermodynamics, and medicine [Barron, 1985; Gutierrez et al., 2000; Halperin, 1995; Kent, 1993; Pobell, 2007; Weisend, 1998]. There is a growing interest in technologies that are applicable at low temperatures for planetary exploration of bodies in the solar system that are extremely cold. These include potential NASA in situ exploration missions to Europa and Titan where ambient temperatures are around –200°C. Elsewhere, as a method of slowing or halting chemical and biological processes, cooling is widely used to preserve food and chemicals, as well as biological tissues and organs. Furthermore, cooling is used to increase electrical conductivity leading to superconductors that enable such applications as levitation, highly ef†cient electromagnets, and so on. The subject of low temperature materials and mechanisms is multidisciplinary including chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, and physics. This book covers some of the key aspects of the †eld including the chemistry and thermodynamics (Chapter 2), materials science (Chapter 3), the methods of characterizations (Chapter 4) as well as nondestructive testing and health monitoring (Chapter 5), the methods of cooling to cryogenic temperatures (Chapter 6), actuation materials and mechanisms (Chapters 7 and 8), instruments for planetary exploration (Chapter 9), methods of drilling in ice (Chapter 10), applications to medicine and biology (Chapter 11), low temperature electronics (Chapter 12), applications to †elds of physics (Chapter 13), as well as other applications and challenges to the †eld (Chapter 14). Given the health hazards that are associated with working at cryogenic temperatures, a chapter has been dedicated to this topic as well (Chapter 15).
