[TheForge] Olympic steel

[April & Bill Clemens]

Here's a New York Times article on the same subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/magazine/o5play_013_.html

". . .
Konieczny's Work, Under the Microscope

Composition of steels in the lab:
Austenitic steel, a hard alloy with precise levels of iron, manganese,
chromium and other metals.

Composition of steels on the ice:
Martensite, a harder phase of the same alloy that is almost impossible
to cut or grind. Austenitic steel's molecular structure can change to
that of the harder martensite when the runners are polished or strike
the hard surface of the track.

. . . "

Sounds like a reporter listened to a simplified technical explanation of
hardening steel alloys and got is wrong.  

Austenite and Martensite are descriptive terms for the crystalline
structure of steel alloys and not a specific alloy

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Walter Mullett
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 10:00 AM
To: 'Sponsored by ABANA'
Subject: [TheForge] Olympic steel

I was just watching NBC's Matt Lauer do an interview with someone on
technical improvements and their impact on the Olympics.  One of the
things
he showed was a luge runner.  He said it was made of a secret alloy
called
austenite and that it instantly got harder when it toughed the ice and
that
by the time the luge got to the bottom of the hill, it was a different
material.
 
Obviously an over-simplification.  As I understand it, true austenite is
only stable at very high temperatures and that nickel and manganese have
to
be added to make it stable at normal temperatures.  Is this material
different and stable at low temperatures.  What would be the advantage
of
that?
 
Walt
_______________________________________________
Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
theforge mail list group photo site is
http://www.photoaccess.com
Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
password:  anvil
___________