Stronger, easier to manufacture steel creation

[bennmann]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/11/detr ... scientist/

this well-equipped DIYer boosted the temperature -- quickly baking, then cooling sheets of steel that are 7-percent stronger than other forms and tougher than some titanium alloys. Flash Bainite is also more ductile than other steels, allowing it to crumple more before breaking -- perfect for absorbing impacts. Obviously this means stronger and lighter cars, laptops, and armored vehicles but, since the process takes all of about 10 seconds, it's also more energy efficient and cheaper than traditional steel making.

That's pretty awesome.

[Giorgio]

I saw it on NBF. Pretty cool indeed and with a potentially huge market.

[Joseph Chikva]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/11/detr ... scientist/

this well-equipped DIYer boosted the temperature -- quickly baking, then cooling sheets of steel that are 7-percent stronger than other forms and tougher than some titanium alloys. Flash Bainite is also more ductile than other steels, allowing it to crumple more before breaking -- perfect for absorbing impacts. Obviously this means stronger and lighter cars, laptops, and armored vehicles but, since the process takes all of about 10 seconds, it's also more energy efficient and cheaper than traditional steel making.

That's pretty awesome.

And how would you say this compares to a polywell in "expert's" terms?

Inexpensive readily available steel has at the same time higher than conventional ballistic steel ballistic performance (against 0.30 AP - what a powerful cartridge! ) and welding ability and strengthens and ... sweeps a court yard

[Skipjack]

Saw it on NBF as well. This is really cool! Could put steel from Detroit back on the map!
Just dont sell it to the Chinese!

[D Tibbets]

I reserve judgement. There is not much information. I Googled over a dozen sites and they were all essentially parroting the first link above. There is not even a Wikipedia entry yet (I didn't see one). Steel metallurgy is a fascinating and complicated field. What are the comparisons? Untempered steel , conventionally tempered steel, , etc. If there is a modest improvement in some characteristics, it may be relevant. If it only compares to other tempering, heat treatment methods, etc. in results but is much cheaper, that may be the significant comparison.

Dan Tibbets

[Giorgio]

Dan,

you might find this interesting:
http://chapters.sme.org/069/technov07.pdf

[Joseph Chikva]

Dan,

you might find this interesting:
http://chapters.sme.org/069/technov07.pdf

Georgio,
Showing APC Stryker they would say that Stryker armored with that steel?
As I know Stryker withstands 14.5mm AP cartridge and 0.3 AP would be laughable for that. And there as I know under the outer metal plate are some ceramics together with some plastics.

And laughable is declaration that some certain heat treatment process can convert any grade steel (chemical composition) to the steel with special properties. Often those target properties contradict each other.

[scalziand]

And laughable is declaration that some certain heat treatment process can convert any grade steel (chemical composition) to the steel with special properties. Often those target properties contradict each other.

No it is not.

What is the difference between current low grades and high grades of steel? Some of it is the alloying elements. Most of it is the heat treatment though. Often products such as gears are machined in low grade steel and then heat treated so they achieve their final hardness.

Current high strength steels are produced by heating for a prolonged period to convert the steel to austenite. Since the heating is for a long time, the conversion to austenite is nearly complete. The austenite rich steel is then quenched which converts the austenite to martensite, the desired state. Martensite is very strong, but brittle, and this brittleness is a drawback of current high strength steels.

The 'flash bainite' process only heats the steel for a brief time(>10 seconds) so the conversion to austenite is incomplete. The flash cooling converts the austenite to martensite, as in normal heat treatment. However, the portion that didn't get converted to austenite during the heating appears to be *somehow* converted to bainite plates during the quenching, which enhances the ductility of the steel.

Cola has a white paper on his website written with Professors Lolla and Narayanan from Ohio State University which explains the process.
http://www.bainitesteel.com/FlashProcess.pdf
http://www.bainitesteel.com/FlashProcess_charts.pdf

As a civil engineer in training, I'm rather excited with the prospect of using 150-200ksi steel instead of 50ksi steel, which is what is the current default low cost steel. Even a doubling of strength to 100ksi would be huge.

[Joseph Chikva]

And laughable is declaration that some certain heat treatment process can convert any grade steel (chemical composition) to the steel with special properties. Often those target properties contradict each other.

No it is not.

What is the difference between current low grades and high grades of steel? Some of it is the alloying elements. Most of it is the heat treatment though. Often products such as gears are machined in low grade steel and then heat treated so they achieve their final hardness.

Current high strength steels are produced by heating for a prolonged period to convert the steel to austenite. Since the heating is for a long time, the conversion to austenite is nearly complete. The austenite rich steel is then quenched which converts the austenite to martensite, the desired state. Martensite is very strong, but brittle, and this brittleness is a drawback of current high strength steels.

The 'flash bainite' process only heats the steel for a brief time(>10 seconds) so the conversion to austenite is incomplete. The flash cooling converts the austenite to martensite, as in normal heat treatment. However, the portion that didn't get converted to austenite during the heating appears to be *somehow* converted to bainite plates during the quenching, which enhances the ductility of the steel.

Cola has a white paper on his website written with Professors Lolla and Narayanan from Ohio State University which explains the process.
http://www.bainitesteel.com/FlashProcess.pdf
http://www.bainitesteel.com/FlashProcess_charts.pdf

As a civil engineer in training, I'm rather excited with the prospect of using 150-200ksi steel instead of 50ksi steel, which is what is the current default low cost steel. Even a doubling of strength to 100ksi would be huge.

You are civil engineer and I am mechanical engineer.
You are right that there are low alloy steel, high alloy steels, etc.
Also are in existence austenite stainless steels in which austenite is from -150C and till max working temperature (up to 600C) etc.
Ballistic grade steel.
When steel compares with 5xxx aluminum alloy, why not with 2xxxx, or 6xxx or 9xxx?
Is mentioned process so universal as promoted by that article?
The question is very rhetorical. As I know that answer is: "No"

[Giorgio]

Georgio,
Showing APC Stryker they would say that Stryker armored with that steel?
As I know Stryker withstands 14.5mm AP cartridge and 0.3 AP would be laughable for that. And there as I know under the outer metal plate are some ceramics together with some plastics.

Give a look here:
http://www.bainitesteel.com/FlashArmorStructure.ppt

And laughable is declaration that some certain heat treatment process can convert any grade steel (chemical composition) to the steel with special properties. Often those target properties contradict each other.

While generally true, what I find interesting here is that they have fully disclosed the process and the related data.
Any University laboratory can test this with no big deal and confirm or deny their results.

[Giorgio]

When steel compares with 5xxx aluminum alloy, why not with 2xxxx, or 6xxx or 9xxx?

In the PPT file I linked in my previous post they are showing some comparison charts with 5xxx, 6xxx, Titanium and so on.

[Joseph Chikva]

Georgio,
Showing APC Stryker they would say that Stryker armored with that steel?
As I know Stryker withstands 14.5mm AP cartridge and 0.3 AP would be laughable for that. And there as I know under the outer metal plate are some ceramics together with some plastics.

Give a look here:
http://www.bainitesteel.com/FlashArmorStructure.ppt

I am familiar with armoring. When I read that 1/4" plate was penetrated with no back spalling I do not continue to read.
As in each modern armor vehicle inside antispall liner is placed made of Kevlar or Dyneema cloth.

I am not declaring that beinit not useful in engineering. But I am against of such promoting: very low grade steel for high grade applications. You can improve properties with the help of better heat treatment but you can not change very high alloy steel with for example high sulfur content good machinable. Even low alloy can not be used in many applications. Regardless to heat treatment method.

[Giorgio]

I am familiar with armoring. When I read that 1/4" plate was penetrated with no back spalling I do not continue to read.
As in each modern armor vehicle inside antispall liner is placed made of Kevlar or Dyneema cloth.

I am not familiar with armoring, but I am familiar with metallurgy and what they offer has a huge potential market, especially where more expensive alloys are now used.
Anyhow, they are not holding any information, all the process is described in details. As I said this is something that any metallurgical lab can easily test and verify if true or not.

[bennmann]

Anyhow, they are not holding any information, all the process is described in details. As I said this is something that any metallurgical lab can easily test and verify if true or not.

What Giorgio said

[Joseph Chikva]

Anyhow, they are not holding any information, all the process is described in details. As I said this is something that any metallurgical lab can easily test and verify if true or not.

What Giorgio said

Very well. Let's agree that there is not a uniform medicine for all kind of illnesses. As promoting.