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I don’t have a good, accessible source for traditional tool applications, but knives are basically tools, and knifesteelnerds.con is a fantastic resource from a
by amluto 1y ago
I don’t have a good, accessible source for traditional tool applications, but knives are basically tools, and knifesteelnerds.con is a fantastic resource from an author who is a genuine expert:
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/knife-steels-rated-by-a-metallurgist-toughness-edge-retention-and-corrosion-resistance/ https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/knife-steels-rated-by...
Compare the toughness vs hardness charts for non-stainless and stainless. You’ll find some low alloy non-stainless steels with excellent toughness at a given hardness level, but those have poor wear resistance. Other than that, the charts are just not very different. Note that even some of the very most wear-resistant steels are stainless (but you’ll have to recognize the names or look them up to tell).
Of course, this says nothing about price, availability in large quantities, weldability, or ability to form them in the ways that people building large structures might want.
- cyberax 1y agoHardness is not really the weakest point of stainless steels, anybody who tried high-carbon knives and got disappointed with them can attest to it. Stainless steels have lower yield strength compared to carbon steels, meaning that the stainless steels bend under stress more easily. This is not an issue for knives, but it is a big issue for construction materials.
- amluto 1y agoSteel hardness and yield strength are very strongly correlated: https://wpfiles.mines.edu/wp-content/uploads/aspprc/ResearchMaterials/Publications/386-Pavlina.pdf https://wpfiles.mines.edu/wp-content/uploads/aspprc/Research... I’m fairly confident that what’s going on here is that no one builds buildings out of high-hardness stainless steel. On the other hand, you can buy excellent construction screws made from 400 series stainless steel if you’re willing to pay for them —- the main problem is that they’re even more expensive than hot-dip-galvanized or fancy coated non-stainless equivalents.
- cyberax 1y agoMy exposure to stainless vs. carbon steel was mostly in the context of nuclear industry, where stainless was used only where it absolutely had to be used. But yeah, I spent some time looking at spec sheets, and it looks like modern stainless steels are actually quite reasonable for construction. But just too expensive for regular construction, especially compared to regular zinc coating.