| it more brittle is a contradiction, but I'm not the materials expert. The bonds between the elements of a given substance being taken down to lower energy levels increases density as well as hardness, but it also makes the bonds less flexible - you lose malleability and increase the chance of fracture. However, IIRC, the process of cryo-treating components homogenizes the bonding throughout the component to a specific lattice structure - analogous to making every link in a chain equally strong. This would reduce wear and increase strength of a part given that having mixes of lattice structures inherently creates weak spots at the interface between two different lattice structures. Homogenizing the lattice through cryo-treatment would strengthen the part with dimensional effects and strenghtening constrained to the amount of lattice variation in the original part. In a perfect world, the balls and races of bearings would be built one atom at a time - the "ultimate" fab-job. =)
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