New Metal/Alloy and other technology news for you all.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Would you say that because the main issue in regards to aerospace and military vehicle bodies/hulls is lightweight and how does strength get involved in this?

For example: Would aerospace and military manufacturing be interested in aircraft bodies made from laminated steel alloy instead of aluminum, titanium, and composites, or not likely?

Does higher strength always mean better heat resistance to friction or not?

And lastly: Do you think there would be some way, perhaps using some electromagnetic or electrostatic envelope around an aircraft, to cut friction to zero? Imagine a vehicle with zero atmospheric friction.

https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology ... =52321.php

Making metals easier to cut

Will that allow wider use of new metals for knives?

https://journals.aps.org/prapplied/abst ... .11.014021

Cell Sized Micro robots formed in mass:

https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology ... =52313.php

[demoncase]

Would you say that because the main issue in regards to aerospace and military vehicle bodies/hulls is lightweight and how does strength get involved in this?

For example: Would aerospace and military manufacturing be interested in aircraft bodies made from laminated steel alloy instead of aluminum, titanium, and composites, or not likely?

No. Flat no.

We've had steel longer than we've had aircraft.
If you want it to get off the ground as a passenger carrying aircraft you aren't going to be making it from steel.

Steel is too dense, even in thin sections, to make a viable fuselage.

A Boeing 747-400 weighs 408,000lbs before you put a drop of fuel in it.
Make the fuselage and wings out of steel and it now weighs 650,000lbs....where would you like me to fit the extra 2 engines needed to lift that?

To get an idea of why:
Google "Ducati 916 frame"- it's a steel space frame made of tubes.
Now Google "Yamaha YZF750 frame"- That's an aluminium box-section frame.
Both are dealing with about the same type of power and forces (Both bikes were in the same class in World Superbike when I was on two wheels)
Look how much metal there is in the aluminium frame.
If you made the Yamaha frame from steel it'd weigh 50% more for little usable strength advantage.
If you made the Ducati frame from aluminium it'd bend like taffy on a warm day the first corner you came to.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Do you think companies that make aerospace components and vehicles could easilly tune up some of their tooling and machines to make knives if they wanted to and had a market for it?

[kodai78]

Sure they could. Should they though? I think focus is a hallmark of successful companies. Why add knives to aerospace and lose focus?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Sure they could. Should they though? I think focus is a hallmark of successful companies. Why add knives to aerospace and lose focus?

Good point. They already have a market for their parts and components.

[demoncase]

Sure they could. Should they though? I think focus is a hallmark of successful companies. Why add knives to aerospace and lose focus?

And don't ask how much they will cost.

1 "aerospace" M4 steel bolt cost as much as 100 "industrial" M4 bolts..... it's the passed on cost of all the traceability documentation, testing and controls.
Materially, they are identical.

[kodai78]

I hadn’t thought of that but it’s the audit trail for stuff your going to fly that adds a lot of that cost. Every bolt, nut, screw and any other part gets tracked from production to installation in an airplane or orbital vehicle. I wouldn’t buy a $1,000.00 knife from an aerospace company, or an airplane from Spyderco.

[demoncase]

I hadn’t thought of that but it’s the audit trail for stuff your going to fly that adds a lot of that cost. Every bolt, nut, screw and any other part gets tracked from production to installation and then for the entire life of the product+ 10 years after retirement in an airplane or orbital vehicle. I wouldn’t buy a $1,000.00 knife from an aerospace company, or an airplane from Spyderco.

Added the final little bit- from spending 10 years as an AS9100 IRCA certified Aerospace Lead Auditor

Yeah- I was 'That Guy'- the one you didn't want to have turn up at your plant.

[kodai78]

That explains your forum name then?

[demoncase]

That explains your forum name then?

Oh dear no- in the previous century I needed a yahoo mail account name to get university assignments- one I could remember:
Tales From The Crypt- Demonknight was my favourite movie
Antisocial headcase was my lovely nickname due to the way I rode a motorbike.
Both demonknight and headcase were taken and I was NOT having none of that "Name1234" type e-mail nonsense.

Demoncase was born- and it's been my consistent online name ever since....apart from Xbox live which randomly assigned me the utterly awesome name of "LeakproofWizard" :D

[kodai78]

That’s a better story but in my version you were more of a badass! Do you as a former auditor think that the audit trail in aerospace is useful and necessary? I work in a heavily regulated industry with tons of red tape. Sometimes the regulations seem a little much.

[demoncase]

That’s a better story but in my version you were more of a badass! Do you as a former auditor think that the audit trail in aerospace is useful and necessary? I work in a heavily regulated industry with tons of red tape. Sometimes the regulations seem a little much.

100٪ yes they do. They drive a true safety culture.
More people die on the roads in 1 day, every day than have died in 100 years of civil aviation.

That is no accident