via boingboing.net
A little nickel does it.
A LOT of tosh is talked about “nanotechnology”, much of it designed to separate unwary investors from their hard-earned cash. This does not mean, though, that controlling the structure of things at the level of nanometres (billionths of a metre) is unimportant. In materials science it is vital, as a paper just published in Nature, by Hansoo Kim and his colleagues at the Pohang University of Science and Technology, in South Korea, demonstrates. By manipulating the structure of steel on a nanometre scale, Dr Kim has produced a material which has the strength and the lightness of titanium alloys but will, when produced at scale, cost a tenth as much.
Steel is useful because it is strong and cheap. But it is also heavy. It has, therefore, always been useless for applications such as aircraft. In a world that demands the ever-more efficient use of fuel in motor cars and lorries, it is now falling out of favour there, too. According to Dr Kim, the share by weight of steel in an average light vehicle fell from 68.1% in 1995 to 60.1% in 2011.
The obvious way out of this is to alloy steel with a lighter metal. And the obvious one to choose is aluminium, which is, like iron (steel’s principal component), cheap and abundant. An alloy of iron, aluminium and carbon (steel’s other essential ingredient) is too brittle to be useful. Adding manganese helps a bit, but not enough for aluminium-steel to be used in vehicles.
Dr Kim and his colleagues have, however, found that a fifth ingredient, nickel, overcomes this problem.
Read more: An alloy of iron and aluminium is as good as titanium, at a tenth of the cost
The Latest on: Iron aluminum alloy
via Google News
The Latest on: Iron aluminum alloy
- DAILY: China iron ore prices stable, buying still thinon July 6, 2021 at 4:51 am
Chinese prices of imported iron ore for both port inventories and seaborne cargoes remained largely stable on July 6 but buying by steel mills was still dull. The Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines ...
- The North American PM industry in 2021on July 6, 2021 at 3:48 am
The North American oil rig count, an important barometer for the drilling industry, dropped more than 50% in 2020, compared with 2019. When drilling rigs are active, supplying many industries that ...
- Global Iron and Steel Casting Market Estimated to Reach US$ 202.83 Bn by 2026on June 28, 2021 at 4:42 pm
The global iron and steel casting market was valued at US$ 130 Bn in 2017 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of more than 4% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report published by Transparency ...
- Global Shape Memory Alloys Market (2021 to 2026) - Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecastson June 28, 2021 at 12:28 pm
Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global shape memory alloys market exhibited strong ...
- LIVE FUTURES REPORT 28/06: LME base metals prices hold on to Friday levels; aluminium stocks continue to fallon June 28, 2021 at 2:35 am
London Metal Exchange base metals prices were in a consolidation tone on the morning of Monday June 28, after a pick-up during the latter part of last week. Nickel’s price was down a slight 0.7% to ...
- Worldwide Shape Memory Alloys Industry to 2026 - Featuring The Furukawa Electric, TiNi Aerospace & Ultimate Niti Among Otherson June 28, 2021 at 1:03 am
The "Shape Memory Alloys Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global shape memory ...
- Alloy Steel International Reports Director Appointmenton June 25, 2021 at 2:28 pm
Alloy Steel International, Inc. ("Alloy Steel" or "Company") the manufacturer of Arcoplate and provider of anti-wear and hang-up solutions to the mining and bulk materials industries, based in Perth, ...
- Observation on the Transformation of the largest Electrolytic Aluminum production Base in the Worldon June 24, 2021 at 7:57 pm
Take electrolytic aluminum as an example, if 10, 000 tons of electrolytic aluminum is produced, its industrial chain can achieve an output value of 327 million yuan and shut down 1.5 million tons, ...
- Silicon Metal Market to Clock CAGR of 4.98% from 2019 to 2027on June 24, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Silicon Metal Market Estimated to reach US$ 10.19 Bn by 2027. The global silicon metal market was valued at US$ 6.53 Bn in 2018 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of over 4.98% from 2019 to 2027 ...
- Industrial Metals, Precious Metals, and Alloys Market Share Growth, Size Value, Trends, Rigonal outlook by 2028on June 24, 2021 at 12:01 pm
Global Industrial Metals, Precious Metals and Alloys market is segregated on the basis of industrial metal type as ...
via Bing News
