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3rd March 2020, 07:37 AM | #1 | ||
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Chris,
I sent off an email to Larrin Thomas, as you suggested. What a nice guy! He sent me a prompt reply which is copied below. Quote:
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3rd March 2020, 06:03 PM | #2 |
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Very interesting. Thank you!
But actually this steel could have existed much earlier, maybe with small variations, only it was not analysed and documented. It was only with Industrial Revolution that steels have started to be studied systematically. Prior to that it was only empirical study by trial and error. After all, every 16th century rapier blade is a spring... but not even its maker knew its composition. |
3rd March 2020, 09:49 PM | #3 |
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Do you have an EN number for it?
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4th March 2020, 02:58 AM | #4 | |
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Quote:
This website lists a number of equivalent standards, among which is EN - 60Cr3 http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels...&dlm=AISI&ss=1 Ian: Thank you for publishing Larrin's reply, which is very informative. Cheers Chris |
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4th March 2020, 03:37 AM | #5 | |
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Quote:
Cheers Chris |
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4th March 2020, 04:50 AM | #6 | |
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Quote:
Yes, I suppose chance may have led to an earlier use of a similar alloy, but 5160 is not just carbon and chromium added to iron. The detailed composition is given above. It seems unlikely that earlier smiths would have stumbled upon this precise formula, but I suppose anything is possible. There are non-destructive methods that can now test for mineral content, so your idea could be readily tested using old, well-dated pieces. As for carbon steel alone being springy, that is absolutely true. The quality of a blade depends so much on its tempering, and properly quenched carbon steel can certainly exceed the quality of a poorly tempered 5260 blade. The addition of chromium adds durability toughness to the steel, making it less likely to fail under a load. Ian |
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4th March 2020, 05:34 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
The matter of toughness is more complicated and I refer you to the excellent articles on Larrin's website. This one is very recent: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2020/02/...-knife-steels/ Cheers Chris |
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4th March 2020, 08:58 AM | #8 | |
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Here are some interesting perspectives and a nice summary of the state of leaf springs in the early 1900s. It is apparent that the materials from which springs were being made was in a transition from plain carbon steel to alloys that had better properties suited to the greater performance demands of automobiles. At the time of publication (1912) the formulation of these new alloys was still being worked out. Although this book does not use the Society of Automobile Engineers' (SAE) terminology, it is clear that the usual steel used for leaf springs had been SAE 10XX stock, whereas some of the newer alloys included, among others, SAE 51XX materials. The advantages of these new alloys is clearly spelled out.
Quote:
From Landau D (ed.) Leaf Springs: Their characteristics and method of specification. Sheldon Axle Company: Wilkes-Barre, PA, 1912. Last edited by Ian; 4th March 2020 at 09:12 AM. |
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4th March 2020, 09:19 AM | #9 |
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Hi Ian,
Thanks for sharing that interesting information - All I can say is that we have come some way way from those days..... Cheers Chris |
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