Stainless steel strengthened: Twisting creates submicron 'anti-crash wall'(techxplore.com)
techxplore.com
Stainless steel strengthened: Twisting creates submicron 'anti-crash wall'
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-04-stainless-steel-technique-submicron-anti.html
48 comments
I wish someone like Columbus/Reynolds/Tange could catch on this. It'd be awesome a road bike made of fancy/extra durable stainless steel tubing, lugged, horizontal top tube and that classic geometry but with disc brakes and thru axles.
Why though? Cr-Mo steel tubing is already superior to 304 stainless in every relevant measure, except surface corrosion. In particular this article discusses fatigue behavior, and Cr-Mo has a (much) higher fatigue limit than 304.
The stainless steel construction helps with flux dispersal when you hit 88mph.
Reynolds 501 is CrMo. But 531, which was more coveted, swapped the chrome for manganese, making it lighter at the same mechanical numbers.
This is also true WRT knife steels. Old, simple carbon based steels are much stronger than most stainless steels. They tend to bend rather than chip or break (when abused). They do rust and do have less edge retention than some stainless steels (such as S90V), but otherwise they are generally stronger.
Totally. Just curious why the above wanted a stainless bike. If you want a steel road bike with disc brakes and thru-axles you can absolutely order one right now. I myself ride a Soma Wolverine with Tange Prestige Cr-Mo tubing, flat mount disc brakes, and thru-axles.
If you wanted a bike that didn't necessarily need painting, you can order a bike like that in titanium tubing instead.
If you wanted a bike that didn't necessarily need painting, you can order a bike like that in titanium tubing instead.
Thanks for that - Titanium bikes look amazing when bare metal.
That's just not true, though. Stainless (e.g. AEB-L) is up to four times tougher than simple low-alloy carbon steel (e.g. 1095). See https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/knife-steels-rated-by... for example.
High hardness simple carbon steels do have their place in knives, but what you're saying is factually incorrect.
High hardness simple carbon steels do have their place in knives, but what you're saying is factually incorrect.
"Stainless (e.g. AEB-L) is up to four times tougher than simple low-alloy carbon steel (e.g. 1095). See https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/knife-steels-rated-by... for example."
I'll guarantee my UHC 1080 cleaver will slam a good distance through your stainless steel knife edge-on. Your chosen steel has toughness but it lacks in actual strength.
I'll guarantee my UHC 1080 cleaver will slam a good distance through your stainless steel knife edge-on. Your chosen steel has toughness but it lacks in actual strength.
Toughness is not the same as strength.
Strength very rarely matters in knife blades, unless you use knives as pry bars (strength determines the force required to either break the blade or cause a permanent plastic deformation of the blade, i.e. to permanently bend the blade).
What matters is the compromise between hardness (good for edge retention) and toughness (required to avoid chipping).
Many alloyed steels (especially with chromium and vanadium) allow a better compromise than simple carbon steels, i.e. either a higher toughness at equal hardness or a higher hardness at equal toughness.
When you do not specify simultaneously hardness and toughness, simple carbon steels may seem good enough, because they can be made to be either very hard or very tough.
If you cut only very soft things, like fish meat without bones, a very hard carbon steel blade (like a traditional Japanese yanagiba) will not have any disadvantage versus an alloyed steel blade. When you want a more versatile knife, an alloyed steel blade will be superior.
What matters is the compromise between hardness (good for edge retention) and toughness (required to avoid chipping).
Many alloyed steels (especially with chromium and vanadium) allow a better compromise than simple carbon steels, i.e. either a higher toughness at equal hardness or a higher hardness at equal toughness.
When you do not specify simultaneously hardness and toughness, simple carbon steels may seem good enough, because they can be made to be either very hard or very tough.
If you cut only very soft things, like fish meat without bones, a very hard carbon steel blade (like a traditional Japanese yanagiba) will not have any disadvantage versus an alloyed steel blade. When you want a more versatile knife, an alloyed steel blade will be superior.
They caught on, but with more appropriate stainless alloys. Columbus has XCr, Reynolds has 931. Either can be brazed, or silver soldered into lugs, or TIG welded. Cinelli does mass production of the bike you're describing, minus the lugs.
304 can't be optimized to a point it'll compete with the vast range of other stainless steels that already exist. Something else will always be more corrosion resistant, or stronger, or tougher. 304 exists on price. It's quick, common, and cheap. This process makes 304 expensive, uncommon, and slower to produce. The proven concept is what's carrying value here.
304 can't be optimized to a point it'll compete with the vast range of other stainless steels that already exist. Something else will always be more corrosion resistant, or stronger, or tougher. 304 exists on price. It's quick, common, and cheap. This process makes 304 expensive, uncommon, and slower to produce. The proven concept is what's carrying value here.
> In testing the metal after treatment, the research team found it boosted its strength by a factor of 2.6 while also cutting strain due to ratcheting by two to four orders of magnitude compared to untreated stainless steel. Such improvements, the team claims, could allow products made using the metal to be up to 10,000 times more resistant to fatigue.
LOL; that second sentence mainly just explains that four orders of magnitude means 10,000.
LOL; that second sentence mainly just explains that four orders of magnitude means 10,000.
he who makes a <fool> of himself, gets rid of the pain of being <smarty pants>
-- Snowclone after Samuel JohnsonI sometimes watch machinists and blacksmiths on youtube.
One of the things I've become more aware of lately is the fact that hardened steel eats through cutting tools like candy, so the solution is to anneal the steel, do most of the shaping, harden it again (temper it for as much as 24 hours in a very smart oven that slowly slowly drops the temps), and then finish the piece with sanding and grinding tools instead of cutting tools.
I wonder if this treatment survives annealing and hardening cycles or if that just destroys the structure.
One of the things I've become more aware of lately is the fact that hardened steel eats through cutting tools like candy, so the solution is to anneal the steel, do most of the shaping, harden it again (temper it for as much as 24 hours in a very smart oven that slowly slowly drops the temps), and then finish the piece with sanding and grinding tools instead of cutting tools.
I wonder if this treatment survives annealing and hardening cycles or if that just destroys the structure.
You've got the heat cycles for annealing, hardening, and tempering confused. The slow cooling is for annealing, hardening requires a fast cool from rather hot and is a very different process from tempering, which is a short soak at a comparatively low but tightly controlled temperature.
Yarp.
Dan Gelbert with his micron accuracy milling machine and lathe. He has stuff on air bearings, positive pressure rooms with pH and humidity control measures.
https://youtu.be/HWPYoE1SNnA
https://youtu.be/HWPYoE1SNnA
> very smart oven
They just have PID temperature controllers with ramp/soak timers. They're really cheap these days.
They just have PID temperature controllers with ramp/soak timers. They're really cheap these days.
Paper in Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt6666
Pretty fascinating work. My layman understanding is they twist the steel in certain ways to create microscopic structures or patterns in the steel that then resist later deformation.
It sounds kind of like the ripstop lines sown into X-Pac materials - when a rip or flaw occurs, its (ideally) bounded by the structures sown into the material.
It sounds kind of like the ripstop lines sown into X-Pac materials - when a rip or flaw occurs, its (ideally) bounded by the structures sown into the material.
The regularity of this microstructure is incredible, even in comparison to additively manufactured steels.
https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2025/creating-an-anti-crash....
https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2025/creating-an-anti-crash....
Some medieval swords were made in a similar way (twisting and re-flattening the billet many times).
I think this is discussed in "the new science of strong materials" by J.E. Gordon, (1968) alongside why some aluminium alloys get stronger if you "age" them before use.
I was recently watching a Dan Gelbart video where he mentioned hydrogen-induced cracking of steel (HTHA) discovery during the development and scaling-up of the Haber-Bosch process.
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zelon88(5)
Interesting. Not a metallurgist but this takes advantage of stainless steels natural tendency to work harden. e.g. if you have ever broken a paperclip or other piece of steel by bending it back and forth until it fatigues, fractures, and beaks off. That happens in soft standard steels like A36 (edit forgot to finish this...) However, in stainless steel instead of a fracture forming at the bends crease, it hardens. As you try to bend it again, it bends in a new place as the original crease has hardened.
> Such improvements, the team claims, could allow products made using the metal to be up to 10,000 times more resistant to fatigue.
Very bold claim that if true is a game changer. My concern is how does this process scale to large complex structural pieces? Assuming since this internal structure will be ruined by annealing it must be performed after final shaping of the material. Welding should not be effected, especially low heat effect zone processes like laser and electron beam as you account for material alteration from welding during design.