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Stronger Than Steel? Flash Bainite

By on December 12, 2012 in Ideas

When Gary Cola approached the engineers at Ohio State University, they did not believe him. He has invented a steel 7% stronger than traditional steel, and it only takes 10 seconds to make. According to TG Daily, the process simply should not have worked. But it does.

The process takes just ten seconds, while existing methods involve keeping the steel at around 900 degrees Celcius for hours or even days.

And the resulting steel, now trademarked as Flash Bainite, has tested stronger and more shock-absorbing than the most common titanium alloys used by industry.

Babu’s tests confirmed that it was seven percent stronger than martensitic advanced high-strength steel. It can be drawn – thinned and lengthened – 30 percent more than martensitic steels without losing its strength.

This would allow carmakers to build frames that are up to 30 percent thinner and lighter without compromising safety, or reinforce an armored vehicle without weighing it down.

“Steel is what we would call a mature technology. We’d like to think we know most everything about it,” says Babu. “If someone invented a way to strengthen the strongest steels even a few percent, that would be a big deal. But seven percent? That’s huge.”

Photo by John Out and About

innovation

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  • http://n.a. Cindy Hawkins

    Wow, that’s some steel. Ever read ATLAS SHRUGGED? The book spends a lot of time discussing Hank Reardon’s newer, stronger, lighter steel, for the Dagny Taggart’s Transcontinental railroad. I can hear Ayn Rand, softly chuckling….

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