Metallic Glass Blade?

bpeezer

bpeezer

Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
2,078
A friend of mine just shared this article with me, I was wondering if anyone knew enough about this class of metals to say if they could ever be used as knife blades. http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/01/16/caltech-researchers-develop-strongest-known-metal-alloy/

The new alloy has "a combination of strength and toughness at a level not previously seen in any other material." It doesn't say enough about the molecular structure for me to tell if this could take a very fine edge, but it sounds very cool to say the least. So far it is "prohibitively expensive" so I doubt we'll see it any time soon, I'm just curious if it would ever be possible :)

Thoughts?
 
9blades said:
It's called adamantium. ;)
Click to expand...

Bingo! I think this is cool, it could lead to breakthroughs in many areas of medicine, technology, and provide an indestructible frame lock material rendering Titanium as desirable as pot metal for an integral lock.
 
The "liquid state" is referring to the molecular structure. Normally in steel you have a grid type pattern with carbon trapped in the middle. That creates stress points that are weak in between each row. In a liquid state the molecules are pressed randomly against each other with no voids to make weak points. I'd love to try it!
 
An amorphous substance should be able to take an extremely fine edge. If they can get materials that are less expensive, with similar characteristics then it could become the material of choice for knives. However, palladium is more than $700/oz. So the material for a single medium/ small blade would exceed that. Plus the cost of making the alloy. Then the cost of manufacture. Plus the cost of doing business. If it is workable (if the characteristics are superior to the materials we have now), you might see blades in the $10k range in the next few years.
 
Scurvy092 said:
The article doesn't say anything able wear resistance though.
Click to expand...

With the high toughness, it might be better suited for chopping or prying over slicing. Unfortunately, that would require a very large amount of the material :rolleyes: I guess I'll keep dreaming!
 
Amorphous metal has been used to make knives before. The results were mediocre. It's very cool class of material but not the best choice for a blade, at least at this point in time.
 
Met glass, or metal ghlass like substance, has ben around for over 20 years. By taking molten steel and cooling it at incredible rates, you get a substance that resembles both metal and glass. Very hard (like 70) and very flexible, both kinda difficult to handle and fabricate.

Maybe in a San Mai configuration, if you can fab it without it reverting. In engineering tech talk, witchy.

Larry
Tinkerer
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top