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Nanotech Makes Steel 10x Stronger

Posted by Soulskill on from the everyone-thank-wil-wheaton dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A new metal-making process currently in testing at oil fields uses nano-scale plating to make metals like steel as much as ten times stronger than they would be without it. "[The process] uses an advanced form of electroplating, a process already used to make the chrome plating you might see on the engine and exhaust pipes of a motorcycle. Electroplating involves immersing a metal part in a chemical bath containing various metal ions, and then applying an electrical current to cause those ions to form a metal coating. The company uses a bath that contains more than one kind of metal ion and controls how ions are deposited by varying the electrical current. By changing the current at precise moments, it can create a layered structure, with each layer being several nanometers thick and of different composition. The final coating can be up to a centimeter thick and can greatly change the properties of the original material."

3 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Ten times stronger? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been rummaging around their website, and can only find references to corrosion resistance. That a specially-plated metal is more corrosion resistant I can easily believe.

    But 10x stronger? That seems a bit... hard to believe.

    Does plating a piece of steel really multiply the yield strength by 10x? Any materials scientists want to comment on this?

    Also, how does a 1cm coating fare during changes in temperature? Will the coating peel off due to thermal expansion/contraction of the underlying metal?

    I couldn't find any supporting scientific studies.

    Is this for real?

    1. Re:Ten times stronger? by shione · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I was gonna post the same thing. The article is pretty devoid of details and mentions nothing about tensile and compressive strength.

      All it pretty much says is improved corrosion resistance and this short paragraph:

      "David Lashmore, a professor of materials science at the University of New Hampshire who has conducted work in the area, says nano-engineered layers can make a material stronger by stopping cracks from moving through it."

      So it sounds like it 'holds' the metal together from micro fractures but it says nothing about taking on the applied forces which would make it actually stronger.

  2. Re:Approaching the problem from the outside in. by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So instead of trying to make the drinking straw stronger, we are just wrapping it in cement?

    So kinda like spiral-welded pipes (except on the outside)?