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Is anyone aware of other, non-automotive applications being discussed? I might have missed it in the article but it seemed like they only alluded to any. Constr

by emilong 10y ago

Is anyone aware of other, non-automotive applications being discussed? I might have missed it in the article but it seemed like they only alluded to any. Construction? Maybe even aerospace?

hanniabu 10y ago
Both are justifiable. Almost any manufacturing that uses press forming and relies on strength/weight.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dsfyu404ed 10y ago
Aerospace would be a big one. The few steel parts in aircraft are usually highly critical like landing gear attachment stuff and similar. Part of the reason they're steel is because they're spec'd to outlive the rest of the airframe by a huge margin and doing that with aluminum is impossible/impractical depending on the part and the safety margin.
- noir_lord 10y ago
  Also failure mode, Aluminium tends to degrade gradually over time, it's cumulative and then fail where steel holds it's strength over it's life (as long as it's not exposed to loads over it's limits) which for a high impact/load environment like landing gear makes sense I guess. I'm a keen cyclist and some of the new steel frames are incredibly, they approach the same weight as aluminium frames with higher strength, better rigidity and they have (looked after) a basically indefinite lifespan. I think my next bike will probably be steel.
  - Grishnakh 10y ago
    That's funny. My bike is steel; I got it in college 20 years ago, so it's not new at all. At the time, it was pretty advanced I guess: it's a butted (triple? not sure) chrome-moly steel road bike by Trek. It's a little over 25 pounds I think, so it's really not that much heavier than comparable aluminum bikes. The frame's still in fantastic shape even though it's been ridden all over and not taken care of particularly well, been rained on a lot, etc. Not long after I got it, it seemed that steel frames became totally passé; everything went to aluminum, titanium, and then carbon fibre. These days, road bikes all seem to be either aluminum or CF. And now history repeats itself... Personally, though, I'm looking forward to ditching it and getting a recumbent trike. I'm getting sick of having a sore neck and shoulders and hands and having my arms go numb on long rides.
    - noir_lord 10y ago
      If the hand numbness is really bad consider switching to a carbon fork if you haven't already, on my old aluminium bike the numbness was pretty bad since I switched to a carbon bike it's largely gone.
      - Grishnakh 10y ago
        How is having a stiffer front fork going to help? (My front fork is steel; my bike is not stiff.)
        noir_lord 10y ago
        It's not so much the stiffness that matters but that carbon damps the 'buzz' from the road, Steel is better than Aluminium but Carbon is better than both in my experience. That said if you are having real numbness problems switching up to a 25mm tyre (most road bikes will take them) and running at 80psi vs 23mm at 110psi will make the most difference. It also depends on the surface you ride on, UK roads are not known for been particularly smooth (particularly rural two lanes) so the differences are more marked.
        Grishnakh 10y ago
        Thanks for the advice; I do believe I have a 25mm tire in front (I'll have to check, but it's not super-thin). But a CF front fork sounds like way more money than I want to spend on fixing up a 20+ year old bike; if I'm going to spend any money, I might as well get a new bike, which is why I'm seriously looking at getting a Catrike: I can get away from the uncomfortable road bike posture altogether that way, get better aerodynamics, avoid crotch pains, etc.
        noir_lord 10y ago
        Recumbents have a lot to recommend them but I don't like the lack of visibility in traffic, UK drivers aren't that considerate of cyclists generally so I at least like to be visible, that said they do really really move compared to a road bike since the aerodynamic shape helps hugely.

by emilong 10y ago

Is anyone aware of other, non-automotive applications being discussed? I might have missed it in the article but it seemed like they only alluded to any. Construction? Maybe even aerospace?

hanniabu 10y ago

Both are justifiable. Almost any manufacturing that uses press forming and relies on strength/weight.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

dsfyu404ed 10y ago

Aerospace would be a big one. The few steel parts in aircraft are usually highly critical like landing gear attachment stuff and similar. Part of the reason they're steel is because they're spec'd to outlive the rest of the airframe by a huge margin and doing that with aluminum is impossible/impractical depending on the part and the safety margin.

noir_lord 10y ago
Also failure mode, Aluminium tends to degrade gradually over time, it's cumulative and then fail where steel holds it's strength over it's life (as long as it's not exposed to loads over it's limits) which for a high impact/load environment like landing gear makes sense I guess. I'm a keen cyclist and some of the new steel frames are incredibly, they approach the same weight as aluminium frames with higher strength, better rigidity and they have (looked after) a basically indefinite lifespan. I think my next bike will probably be steel.
- Grishnakh 10y ago
  That's funny. My bike is steel; I got it in college 20 years ago, so it's not new at all. At the time, it was pretty advanced I guess: it's a butted (triple? not sure) chrome-moly steel road bike by Trek. It's a little over 25 pounds I think, so it's really not that much heavier than comparable aluminum bikes. The frame's still in fantastic shape even though it's been ridden all over and not taken care of particularly well, been rained on a lot, etc. Not long after I got it, it seemed that steel frames became totally passé; everything went to aluminum, titanium, and then carbon fibre. These days, road bikes all seem to be either aluminum or CF. And now history repeats itself... Personally, though, I'm looking forward to ditching it and getting a recumbent trike. I'm getting sick of having a sore neck and shoulders and hands and having my arms go numb on long rides.
  - noir_lord 10y ago
    If the hand numbness is really bad consider switching to a carbon fork if you haven't already, on my old aluminium bike the numbness was pretty bad since I switched to a carbon bike it's largely gone.
    - Grishnakh 10y ago
      How is having a stiffer front fork going to help? (My front fork is steel; my bike is not stiff.)
      - noir_lord 10y ago
        It's not so much the stiffness that matters but that carbon damps the 'buzz' from the road, Steel is better than Aluminium but Carbon is better than both in my experience. That said if you are having real numbness problems switching up to a 25mm tyre (most road bikes will take them) and running at 80psi vs 23mm at 110psi will make the most difference. It also depends on the surface you ride on, UK roads are not known for been particularly smooth (particularly rural two lanes) so the differences are more marked.
        Grishnakh 10y ago
        Thanks for the advice; I do believe I have a 25mm tire in front (I'll have to check, but it's not super-thin). But a CF front fork sounds like way more money than I want to spend on fixing up a 20+ year old bike; if I'm going to spend any money, I might as well get a new bike, which is why I'm seriously looking at getting a Catrike: I can get away from the uncomfortable road bike posture altogether that way, get better aerodynamics, avoid crotch pains, etc.
        noir_lord 10y ago
        Recumbents have a lot to recommend them but I don't like the lack of visibility in traffic, UK drivers aren't that considerate of cyclists generally so I at least like to be visible, that said they do really really move compared to a road bike since the aerodynamic shape helps hugely.