Is it possible to make a knife entirely of vanadium?

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JTR357

JTR357

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It seems high vanadium percentages in knife steel are highly sought after.

Is it possible/feasible to make a pure 100% Vanadium knife?

What would be the pros & cons?



I'm bored :yawn::):foot::o
 
Vanadium is desirable for it's properties as a steel (and titanium) alloy, not by itself as an individual element.

By itself, it's about as useful as a blade made 100% out of nickel, chromium, or magnesium.
 
Vanadium is desirable in steel cutlery alloys for two reasons:
1) In small amounts (fractions of a percent) it serves to produce a finer grained steel. Finer grained steels have improved properties compared to coarser grained steels.
2) In larger amounts (greater than 1%), it combines with the carbon in the alloy to produce Vanadium Carbide particles. These are extremely hard. They are harder than aluminum oxide. The particles of Vanadium Carbide improve abrasion resistance.

Tony A is right about the rest. There is nothing I have seen in any literature to recommend pure Vanadium as a knife blade material.

so, Pros: unknown. (and none expected)
Cons: fiendishly expensive as it does not exist in commercial quantities.
 
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