Detroit Man Discovers Recipe For Stronger, Lighter Steel

[Wolfram23]

I've been working in a mettalurgy lab the last 2 years... I've seen things, man.

EDIT: Ok talked to a couple people and checked out their website. Basically it looks like they're only doing this on steel under 10mm thick... which is garbage and useless for so many applications. Essentially they're just doing a surface hardening, except it's so thin it works right through the entire thickness. We heat treat steel up to 3.5" thick (~100mm), so this process simply can not work.

So is this article just sensationalism then? If I understood what you said, then this process only works on a small amount of applications.

It seems that way, yeah. According to one of the reference links, they basically heat it up fast (because it's so thin) and then it does what steel does, and forms austentite. But then they can cool it so fast it mostly goes back to martensite (very normal) but also it says that it keeps some bainite and, interestingly, carbide. My company specifically works with tungsten carbide overlays for wear resistance so I've seen a lot on carbide, and it can do some of the things they're reporting - only it's usually difficult to do.

Anyway, it's probably just a tweaked chemistry and the fast heat treat process gives a somewhat unique result. I mean it's good for some applications (they mention forming some car parts out of thinner steel) but it's not going to change the world. I think clear aluminum is much cooler

 

[Alade]

Nice. I like reading things like this.

This is what they should make the RoboCop statue out of.

Wow, you just blew my mind!

 

[Snake Plissken]

Dude...this guy does science the Cave Johnson way. No piggy-backing for him, no sir! He does all his science from scratch!

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

college degrees are for chumps....

I'm waiting for john galt to make this guy and offer and he will disappear

 

[Lionsfan]

It seems that way, yeah. According to one of the reference links, they basically heat it up fast (because it's so thin) and then it does what steel does, and forms austentite. But then they can cool it so fast it mostly goes back to martensite (very normal) but also it says that it keeps some bainite and, interestingly, carbide. My company specifically works with tungsten carbide overlays for wear resistance so I've seen a lot on carbide, and it can do some of the things they're reporting - only it's usually difficult to do.

Anyway, it's probably just a tweaked chemistry and the fast heat treat process gives a somewhat unique result. I mean it's good for some applications (they mention forming some car parts out of thinner steel) but it's not going to change the world. I think clear aluminum is much cooler

Why must you ruin my local area pride with your clear logical facts!

 

[Adventurer2626]

Yay Michigan! Maybe we'll be useful again. Power to the man.

 

[punipunipyo]

"We are getting closer to gundamnium!!! and when we do..... GIANT ROBOTS!!!" Yeh! nice job Mr... Cola?

 

[Chevy235]

EDIT: Ok talked to a couple people and checked out their website. Basically it looks like they're only doing this on steel under 10mm thick... which is garbage and useless for so many applications. Essentially they're just doing a surface hardening, except it's so thin it works right through the entire thickness. We heat treat steel up to 3.5" thick (~100mm), so this process simply can not work.

Still pretty useful for automotive applications, specifically unibody production. 7% stronger would result in some nice weight savings for equivalent strength, and in turn improvements in MPG, performance, etc.

As for "teh eebil steel corporashunz" that's not generally how they work in real life. If he has patented it, then someone will license the technology.

 

[Stevepinto3]

I've been playing Dragon Age Origins again recently, so my first thought was "Make him a paragon!"

Also, WOOOOOOO DETROIT!

So....will this breakthrough lead to Detroit NOT becoming a modern day Ghost town?

Probably not. If he makes a ton of money off of it (assuming he has the patent) he'll probably just use it to move out of the city. They can reproduce the process anywhere, so why stick around Detroit?

 

[Alar]

Hopefully this guy can hang on to his patent for a while (assuming he has it patented) before selling it off to some nameless conglomerate that will make themselves moderately richer.

SCIENCE! This guy is majorly awesome.

 

[Koios]

Dude...this guy does science the Cave Johnson way. No piggy-backing for him, no sir! He does all his science from scratch!

First, I see your quote and laugh. Then I see your username. You sir, are incredibly awesome.

 

[risenbone]

Ok the article makes it sound like he starts with raw iron and coke and makes steel from scratch simply by doing the whole blast furnace thing but cooling it quickly. But from the diagram it appears they take a roll of ready made steel of about 10mm and do a really fast anealing job.

Did I get that about right Wolfram01?

 

[fulano]

That's the kind of stories we don't see/hear enough of!

What I hope this guy did with the professor is, after successfully doing his thing, go to him, smirk and tell him close to his ear, almost a whisper: pwned.

That brings me to this: elitist arseholes like this professor. He didn't doubt, he just plainly said: "Oh but that's impossible Sonny." and probably laughed in his face. Now, THAT is why so many, oh so many, things are so eff'ed up today. So many people with their minds closed or up their you-know-where.

I bow to Gary Cola. Congrats to you sir.

And still he needs the "elitist professor" to tell him just what the fuck he's got in his hands 'cause he just plain couldn't tell you even if his life depended on it. Whatever working discoveries come from Mr. Cola's discovery will be made through scientific understanding that goes beyond cranking your stuff on a badass workshop. For as badass as the Wright brothers were, it happened to be the "elitist arseholes" that came up with, let's say, craft like Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipOne. Also, the same kind of "pricks" are the ones that allow you to voice your disdain for them using this "prickly" tool called the Internet.

Just keep things in perspective and grow up a bit.

 

[Tartarga]

He should have kept it a secret, built his own tank, then surprise the hell out of the military when they show up only to find their bullets aren't strong enough to pierce the metal.

 

[Logic 0]

This just shows that traditions are for chumps since they leave you with inferior steel.

 

[Kesimir]

A new steel that's stronger than titanium?!?! That's like.... just about every other steel out there. The thing that many people tend to not realize is that titanium is not a supermetal that is stronger than steal and lighter than aluminum it's just a very convenient middle ground- stronger than aluminum but not quite as heavy as steel. It's more useful for it's thermal properties than it's mechanical ones- and that's the key to it's predominance in the aerospace industry where turbine burners and/or rocket nozzles tend to approach the melting point of iron based metals.

Not to rain on anybody's parade but we're not gonna make lighter rockets or mechanical exo-suits out of this metallurgical marvel the material itself is not the impressive thing here. We have much better materials already, especially in nickel based alloys. The impressive thing is the cost savings that could be had if this process can be used on large scale applications (read 10,000 lb ingots). A steel forging that takes a day or two to properly heat treat (I have never heard of a weeklong heat treat like the article suggests) could be completed in a fraction of the time. That is a HUGE cost advantage.

Still a very cool article... and I want to know where I can buy a sheet of the stuff- I'm very interested in it's cutlery applications.

 

[Dr_Horrible]

Would his wife be named Dagny Taggart by any chance?

The first thing I thought was Rearden Metal

 

[The Lunatic]

This man is going to become very rich.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that someone named Wolfram is dominating the discussion on high-strength steel production

He should have kept it a secret, built his own tank, then surprise the hell out of the military when they show up only to find their bullets aren't strong enough to pierce the metal.

It's only marginally stronger than steel and the process is only used on steel no thicker than a centimeter. I don't think bullets are going to have much trouble penetrating that.

Dude...this guy does science the Cave Johnson way. No piggy-backing for him, no sir! He does all his science from scratch!

I just read that in his voice, awesome!