Posted on 07/05/2002 6:20:45 PM PDT by ChadGore
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:07:56 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
NEW YORK (AP) It could be the new superhero of metals.
More than twice as strong as titanium and steel, it doesn't rust and it can be cast like plastic and honed to an edge as sharp as glass.
And like any superhero, it has a weakness: don't heat it too much, or it loses its strength.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I would not do that, no. Nor under the spreading chestnut tree. The 5 gallon furnace [the small one] is capable of raw heat enough to ignite a green tree 20 feet away, and that's if everything is under control.
Mike
The guys in Chimayo don't think about new alloys!
It would depend on the type of steel. Steel used in automobile fenders is malleable at highway temperatures. Steel used in automobile springs is not malleable, but is prone to shattering at highway temperatures. One is manufactured by cold stamping, the other is either cast or hot-rolled. Both are malleable at some temperature, depending on the impurities, carbon percentage for example.
I am kind of wondering how they will achieve an intermediate temperature for casting this low-temperature alloy. It's too much for the kitchen stove, but the furnace is too much. Maybe a wood-fired ceramics kiln.
Well... yes and no...
The are different types of steel, as supplied by the mill... but it is likely that the fender material would have originally been "harder" and "stronger" than that used for springs. The sheet metal used in automotive bodies is typically cold-rolled steel, which, although still malleable for stamping/forming purposes, is still harder and stronger than the hot-rolled equivalent. Part of the reason for this is that cold-rolled typically has a nicer, smoother surface finish suitable for painting and is theoreticly less prone to scratching. Cold rolled is manufactured from hot-rolled stock, essentially an added step in the process to obtain this enhanced property in additon to tighter tolerances on metal thickness.
OTOH, springs are likely made from some alloy of softer, hot-formed stock -- perhaps hot-rolled sheet or plate for leaf springs, some kind of heavy wire or rod for coil springs. As supplied from the mill, it would be softer and more malleable, making it easier to stamp/bend/form to the desired shape. The "springy-ness" would be imparted to these parts through heat treatment after they were made, which also affects related properties such as tensile strength, hardness, etc. etc.
Castings??? Nyahhh! (wish you hadn't mentioned that, you were pretty much in the ballpark otherwise. Not bad, anyway!)
Since the current application is for golf-club heads, I'm thinking it should be fairly able to resist shock and impact
LOL, I was just sitting here thinking the same thing. Light and strong (depending on the kind of strength they are talking about) is just what is needed in both. Hmm, injection molded claymores and battle axes... I get a warm feeling inside just thinking about the possibilities.
Ruck
Might be, especially the light gauge they use these days. However, steel fenders are malleable. We malleate them all the time up here. Even at 40 below. Springs don't deform appreciably, they might yield slowly over an extended period of time, or they break. Plastic bumpers are another story. They aren't malleable in the summer, they survive bumps pretty well. But in the winter they shatter like Corvettes.
Any idea what the alloy is? I looked at their website & couldn't find any specs.
Unless I see some specs on the alloy I am assuming this is B.S., I don't know of any metal alloy that will do this.
I know it has to be there, because I had to drill some out of a broken-off stud in an exhaust manifold with a carbide cutter today...
The link claims 250 ksi yield strength and 2% elastic limit. If that's on the level the stuff is way strong and tough as h#ll. It'd be a nightmare trying to machine it.
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