S. Koreans make a new steel - Tougher, Lighter, and Costs Less then Titanium. - Polidicks

[quote] [t]http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/13943_21435_ACT-660x468.jpg[/t] Light? Strong? Tough? Cheap? [URL="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v518/n7537/full/nature14144.html"]A new material developed in Korea promises all of the above,[/URL] and could throw open wide doors in many industries, including small arms development. The weight and efficacy of small arms is highly dependent on the materials used to make them. Lightweight materials like aluminum or polymer are used wherever possible, and only where they are absolutely needed, such as the pressure-bearing barrel and locking surfaces, are heavier materials like steel applied. A good material for small arms construction should be both light and strong, with a high specific strength, while also being ductile and tough. Beyond that, however, materials suitable for small arms production also need to be easy to work in multiple ways (suitable for stamping, machining, welding, forging, etc), and, perhaps above all, cheap. It’s these last two requirements that exclude, with few exceptions, titanium, which is extremely strong and tough, from being a good material for this purpose. However, this new development could overturn the existing paradigm of aluminum, traditional steel and polymer. The material is an alloy of steel and aluminum, a marriage that previously resulted in a brittle, useless alloy, due to coalesced bands of material that were very hard, but fragile, which acted as “fault lines” in the material, causing them to crack. [/quote] [url=http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/10/13/korean-scientists-develop-lightweight-steel-stronger-cheaper-than-titanium/]The Firearm Blog[/url] Holy shit, exoskeleton suits when?? :science101:

So essentially its combining steel-aluminum alloy with steel-nickel alloy? From what I gathered on the article one type (B2) is brittle but hard, but if you disperse it into steel with nickel you get nanometer sized particles of B2 which eliminates the brittleness while strengthening the steel and making it lighter.

Gagnamnium

[QUOTE=27X;48914206]Gagnamnium[/QUOTE] Starcraftinium

Daehanium would be an awesome name. Daehan is pretty much Korea in their own native language.

This is pretty sweet, hopefully it means cost reductions in certain items.

[QUOTE=27X;48914206]Gagnamnium[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=kenji;48914251]Starcraftinium[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Axsisel;48914294]Daehanium would be an awesome name. Daehan is pretty much Korea in their own native language.[/QUOTE] seeing as it's an alloy and not an elemental metal putting ium at the end just doesn't work

Small arms would be last on my list of priorities...

[QUOTE=butre;48914422]seeing as it's an alloy and not an elemental metal putting ium at the end just doesn't work[/QUOTE] Uh, have you never heard of the term duraluminium, for instance? That's one of the names for aluminium alloys. [editline]16th October 2015[/editline] I mean, as far as spergy names for materials go, it could be called literally everything, but there's literally examples of aluminium alloy names ending in with -ium already in practice. [editline]16th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=AntonioR;48914427]Small arms would be last on my list of priorities...[/QUOTE] First of them being [B][I]BIG ARMS[/I][/B] [editline]16th October 2015[/editline] Snippet of the most important part of the abstract of the research [quote]Recently, high-aluminium low-density steels have been actively studied as a means of increasing the specific strength of an alloy by reducing its density3, 4, 5. But with increasing aluminium content a problem is encountered: brittle intermetallic compounds can form in the resulting alloys, leading to poor ductility. Here we show that an FeAl-type brittle but hard intermetallic compound (B2) can be effectively used as a strengthening second phase in high-aluminium low-density steel, while alleviating its harmful effect on ductility by controlling its morphology and dispersion. T[B]he specific tensile strength and ductility of the developed steel improve on those of the lightest and strongest metallic materials known, titanium alloys.[/B] We found that alloying of nickel catalyses the precipitation of nanometre-sized B2 particles in the face-centred cubic matrix of high-aluminium low-density steel during heat treatment of cold-rolled sheet steel. Our results demonstrate how intermetallic compounds can be harnessed in the alloy design of lightweight steels for structural applications and others.[/quote] So, fucking fair enough, this gun blog might not even be sensationalist. They are literally saying they figured out how to make a new alloy that's stronger than titanium alloys while consisting of just iron, aluminium, and some nickel in catalytic role. Fucking neato.

[QUOTE=AntonioR;48914427]Small arms would be last on my list of priorities...[/QUOTE] Imagine the potential application for future spacecraft designs.

Imagine the application in shipping where our giant steel shipping containers and ships can be lighter, thus we can build larger. Imagine the application in building conventional structures. We can build even taller buildings, shit like that.

[QUOTE=draugur;48914612]Imagine the application in shipping where our giant steel shipping containers and ships can be lighter, thus we can build larger. Imagine the application in building conventional structures. We can build even taller buildings, shit like that.[/QUOTE] The applications are practically endless honestly. It's like a dream material if it really is good and not grossly expensive to make.

This might be the breakthrough in many industries. Since pretty much EVERYTHING industrial relies on steel, from the cars you drive to the skyscrapers, to household appliances and many other things. According to TFB, the alloy is being trialed at Posco, and it will take 2-3 years until commercial production. Have a look at the doc in the link if you have a university access. Otherwise you have to buy it.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;48914495]Uh, have you never heard of the term duraluminium, for instance? That's one of the names for aluminium alloys. [editline]16th October 2015[/editline] I mean, as far as spergy names for materials go, it could be called literally everything, but there's literally examples of aluminium alloy names ending in with -ium already in practice.[/QUOTE] thats because they all have aluminum in the name you dweeb

release some stuff like stress-strain curves with UTS/yield points/elastic limits and fatigue test results, things like that will be good information if this steel can be used to replace existing steels in many applications without impacting performance. This article only talks about it for firearms as far as I can tell, but it would be nice to see where else it can be used. edit: ok I see some stuff now on the journal itself

[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;48914726]release some stuff like stress-strain curves with UTS/yield points/elastic limits and fatigue test results, things like that will be good information if this steel can be used to replace existing steels in many applications without impacting performance. This article only talks about it for firearms as far as I can tell, but it would be nice to see where else it can be used.[/QUOTE] They're in the [url="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v518/n7537/full/nature14144.html"]journal article[/url].

[QUOTE=AntonioR;48914427]Small arms would be last on my list of priorities...[/QUOTE] Well this IS a firearm blog... Besides, I bet there are a lot of sports shooters out there who have just been waiting for a material like this.

[QUOTE=butre;48914422]seeing as it's an alloy and not an elemental metal putting ium at the end just doesn't work[/QUOTE] Just call it neosteel, give it a cyberpunk edge.

[QUOTE=ironman17;48915037]Just call it neosteel, give it a cyberpunk edge.[/QUOTE] I was thinking Durasteel, for that Sci-fi edge.

Materials science is some cool shit.

[QUOTE=draugur;48914612]Imagine the application in shipping where our giant steel shipping containers and ships can be lighter, thus we can build larger. Imagine the application in building conventional structures. We can build even taller buildings, shit like that.[/QUOTE] Corrosion resistance would be a big concern for that industry as well. I can't find anything about that in the article.

I'd be impressed if it wasn't an alloy.

[QUOTE=Passing;48915125]I'd be impressed if it wasn't an alloy.[/QUOTE] Like, an element?

[QUOTE=Passing;48915125]I'd be impressed if it wasn't an alloy.[/QUOTE] But... steel is an alloy. :huh:

[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;48914726]release some stuff like stress-strain curves with UTS/yield points/elastic limits and fatigue test results, things like that will be good information if this steel can be used to replace existing steels in many applications without impacting performance. This article only talks about it for firearms as far as I can tell, but it would be nice to see where else it can be used. edit: ok I see some stuff now on the journal itself[/QUOTE] Fairly certain any type of steel alloy capable of being used for the breech, barrel, bolt, receiver of a rifle is gonna be good to go for a myriad of uses. Pistons in car engines, for example. And blocks. And heads. We can go back to the stupidly long lived iron block iron head iron slug combination of yesteryear without giving up the weight and fuel savings of modern aluminum parts. Cars will shed hundreds of pounds overnight, aircraft will benefit from access to a much stronger material than aluminum to be built of, etc etc. If this stuff is for real it's pretty much a materials goldmine. [editline]16th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=OvB;48915077]Corrosion resistance would be a big concern for that industry as well. I can't find anything about that in the article.[/QUOTE] I'd assume corrosion protection would be done the same way it's done with current steels.

[QUOTE=Craigewan;48915042]I was thinking Durasteel, for that Sci-fi edge.[/QUOTE] If they call it Durasteel, I'll sue everyone for using my last name. :v:

[QUOTE=Passing;48915125]I'd be impressed if it wasn't an alloy.[/QUOTE] S. Korea is p smart but I don't think they can fabricate custom elements yet

[QUOTE=.Lain;48915479]S. Korea is p smart but I don't think they can fabricate custom elements yet[/QUOTE] You could, but they wouldn't be terribly useful as they tend to fly apart in seconds.

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;48915505]You could, but they wouldn't be terribly useful as they tend to fly apart in seconds.[/QUOTE] Pfft, shoddy foriegn made elements.

Ah fuck There goes the World Steel Industry