metallurgy paper

A

Alex C.

Joined
Apr 27, 2005
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Hey ya'll, i have a paper i'm needing to do some research for, and I thought i'd throw a line out into this large pile of knowledge here. the intended topic of the paper is "the properties and composition of common knife steels." i like to have probably 6-7 different varieties... if any of ya'll know of any links, books, etc... or wouldn't mind sharin some knowledge, i'd appreciate it greatly. Thanks much.

Alex
 
That topic could go so far so fast it would make your head spin :D
There are lots of composition tables available on the net. I think most steel suppliers at least make charts available for their steel.
There is also some very in depth discussion to look through here if you do a search. I would guess that any info from here would need to be backed up with something from a more official source if this is a serious paper though. Don't know how they want you to handle citations.

From your title, this will be a very difficult topic to discuss. There is a general consensus on the properties a steel must have to be good for a knife. High strength, high wear resistance etc. The trouble is there are steels with compositions that are just about polar opposites, and they still exhibit the right properties. 1050 can make a decent blade and isn't supposed to really have anything but iron and a little carbon in it. S90V also makes a good blade and its got enough carbon in it to be considered cast iron, and lots of other elements to go with it. They don't make the exact same kind of blade, but both will give you the basic qualities necessary for a knife.
When you consider the amount we can manipulate the material anymore through heat treating to obtain different crystal structures or carbide matrices, particle metallurgy and all of those great topics, its very difficult to just pin down performance to composition.
 
I would go to Crucible Steels web site.They have excellent data and comparison charts on many steels.Go to the knife steel pages.Admiral steel has info,too,as do most steel supplier web sites.
For a suggested list of steels try these.They all have different things that make them suitable for certain knife blades:
5160, 1095, 1075, O-1,L-6 (15N20),D-2 440C, ATS-34(154CM), BG-42, S30V
For a couple of good books:
"Step-by-Step knifemaking",by David Boye has a section in the back that gives components,merits and detractions, and reasons for the alloying of dozens of blade steels.
"Metallurgy,Theory and Practice" is a good technical reference.
Hope this helps.
Stacy
 
Goddard has pretty good review of the same in 2 of his books: $50 shop and another one.

There's also a very formal study I got recently off the Web:

Metallurgy of Steel for Bladesmiths &
who Heat Treat and Forge Steel
John D. Verhoeven
Emeritus Professor
Iowa State University


One subject that is not yet well understood and quantified is
effect of cry (LN) and cold (dry ice, freezer) treatment on steels.

This is one is tougher than writing for 1000th time about effects of
adding Mo in steels, but if you tackle it, it'd be great !
 
rashid11 said:
Goddard has pretty good review of the same in 2 of his books: $50 shop and another one.

There's also a very formal study I got recently off the Web:

Metallurgy of Steel for Bladesmiths &
who Heat Treat and Forge Steel
John D. Verhoeven
Emeritus Professor
Iowa State University


One subject that is not yet well understood and quantified is
effect of cry (LN) and cold (dry ice, freezer) treatment on steels.

This is one is tougher than writing for 1000th time about effects of
adding Mo in steels, but if you tackle it, it'd be great !
Click to expand...
Verhoeven's website: http://mse.iastate.edu/index.php?id=52 The book on metallurgy: http://mse.iastate.edu/files/verhoeven/7-5.pdf

By far the best book available on metallurgy for knife makers, especially since it's free. There are also some other interesting publications on his website, on wootz and sharpening especially.
 
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