eli5 why do some metals can sustain cryogenic/low energy environment while some cannot?

Question

eli5 why do some metals can sustain cryogenic/low energy environment while some cannot?

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Answer 1

All metals *can* sustain a low temperature environment, if you design properly for it, some of them are just bad at it. Good cryogenic materials are not great heat conductors (so you don’t have to insulate as much), don’t get excessively brittle when cold (so they don’t get weak and crack/break), and have a low thermal expansion coefficient (don’t change size that much when they change temperature).