freezing

Molten metals cooled at rates as high as a million degrees per second tend to solidify into a relatively homogeneous microstructure, since there is insufficient time for crystalline grains to nucleate and grow. Such homogeneous materials tend to be stronger than the typical “grainy” metals. Rapid cooling…

rock caused by rapid freezing of water in saturated ground. Such seismic events are sometimes mistaken for true earthquakes because they produce seismic vibrations, loud booms, jolts, and shaking at the ground surface. Cryoseisms may also occur in polar and mountainous regions where glaciers lurch forward

…in soil, another method involves freezing a ring of soil around the shaft. In this method, a ring of closely spaced freezing holes is drilled outside the shaft. A refrigerated brine is circulated in double-wall pipes in the holes to freeze the soil before starting the shaft excavation. It is…