- Joined
- Apr 27, 1999
- Messages
- 6,117
Forgive me Father, it has been 30 years since my last materials science course.
Another thing on my wish list is a way to find out what is in knife alloys. I collect old knives that sometimes have very good performance. I'm interested in what makes them good. Is there any standardized way to analyze alloy contents that is reasonably accessable and affordable (and not real destructive).
I would assume some type of spectroscopy might be used. Some metal filings might be torched and a modern marvel might pull something out of the optical spectrum (given the clue that the material is a steel alloy). Another possibility might be a spectrum that you would get from bombarding a sample with neutrons. Yet another could be a derivative of an electron microscope where you would check the spectra of the scattered electrons.
These all seem like possibilities, I just don't know what is commonly available these days and what equipment is set up to quantitatively measure steel alloy components.
What is out there that is not too expensive to use? Would you only find the equipment buried in some steel company QA department? Would I find this equipment in virtually any college that teaches materials science? If I found one at a college would it not be calibrated and or characterised for steel? Have these things gotten to the push-button stage or do they still require an expert to interpret?
Another thing on my wish list is a way to find out what is in knife alloys. I collect old knives that sometimes have very good performance. I'm interested in what makes them good. Is there any standardized way to analyze alloy contents that is reasonably accessable and affordable (and not real destructive).
I would assume some type of spectroscopy might be used. Some metal filings might be torched and a modern marvel might pull something out of the optical spectrum (given the clue that the material is a steel alloy). Another possibility might be a spectrum that you would get from bombarding a sample with neutrons. Yet another could be a derivative of an electron microscope where you would check the spectra of the scattered electrons.
These all seem like possibilities, I just don't know what is commonly available these days and what equipment is set up to quantitatively measure steel alloy components.
What is out there that is not too expensive to use? Would you only find the equipment buried in some steel company QA department? Would I find this equipment in virtually any college that teaches materials science? If I found one at a college would it not be calibrated and or characterised for steel? Have these things gotten to the push-button stage or do they still require an expert to interpret?