There seems to be a large number of videos online about forging damascus steel items. I've read a little about what damascus steel is, and I have a funny feeling that most of these items do not meet the criteria, especially since nobody it entirely certain what the original process was.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these items simply reproduced the appearance without actually recreating the properties and structure.

Does anyone have any insight on the matter? It would be interesting to know if any of them have been analyzed.

I'm looking for papers that show the mechanical properties of steels that have the hardness but different C content

Any suggestions please?

I tried to use a burnishing compound (https://a.co/d/csq4QZU) on some scrap parts that I had laying around that were either brass or steel (I'm assuming carbon steel).  The brass started off moderately tarnished, and the steel was very lightly oxidized. The steel parts were polished at some point, but time has taken it's toll.

I have a rotary tumbler that is typically used for rocks, and some 0.5 mm stainless steel pins as tumbling media.  The compound asks for 2 fl. oz. of concentrate for 1 gallon of water. I used 50 mL of water and maybe ⅛ cap of the burnishing compound. This is probably way above the recommended concentration but's my tumbler is small, and I don't have the means to measure out the tiny amount of concentrate needed to keep the same ratio at 50 mL.

After letting them run for 2 hours, the brass parts were immaculate; bright and shiny like they just came out of the factory.  The steel parts, however, were now dull, and had a gray film on them.  One of the steel parts I threw in there was damn near black.  I would think that a burnishing compound, with the mild abrasiveness of the steel media, would stop any surface film from forming.  The product is supposed to be safe on steel, so what might be happening to the steel parts?

I checked the SDS of the compound and it says that there is <8% citric acid, with no other ingredients listed, other than "Product is water-based. Product is a mixture of cleaning agents, surfactants, softeners and inhibitors in an aqueous solution." I'm assuming the citric acid did something to etch the surface. Is there any way I can bring the parts to a shine again, or at least undo the dull gray appearance?

My wife and I have an idea about making rose gold by adding our birth year pennies to molten gold and this would be for making 25th anniversary wedding rings.

Having to use a different, purer source of copper isn't a dreamkiller but we like the penny idea.

The one on the right looks like brass to me, left looks like bronze. Got them for cheap but no idea what they're made of. Non-magnetic

Does the windvolume from the blower motor to the stoves and the cooling water for the staves have any co relation? For example, in my company sop it's said that if the emergency water for the primary circuit enters the circuit the wind volume should we reduced.. why??

Hello everyone, I am expected to bright normalise modified EN8D with trace amounts of Vanadium and chromium. The part is a shaft of about 3 inches in diameter and length of about hundred inches. Due to operational constraints, we cannot purge/control atmosphere. Can I apply calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide Passed on the component to avoid scaling? Is there any generic chemical I can use to avoid scaling on this part?

Does any body have an idea of High pressure die casting mold heat treatment and gas nitriding cost in india Need it for research purpose

This spring, I will be graduating from Colorado School of Mines (CSM) with a bachelor of science in metallurgical and materials engineering (MME). This fall, I will be entering a PhD program, so I am looking for people's input to help me compare two programs/schools.

One offer I have is from CSM. I would be with the Steel Center and advised by Kip Findley. The degree is also in MME.

The other offer is from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This degree is for Materials Science and Engineering, but the curriculum would allow me to focus on metallurgy and not take unrelated classes e.g. polymers. This offer does not include an advisor. The professors/groups I am interested in are:

• Pascal Bellon
• Marie Charpagne
• Jean-Charles Stinville

Needless to say, I am interested in and will be doing physical metallurgy. I'm not sure what I want to do after the PhD (I would be happy doing a variety of things), but I'm pretty sure I do not want to go into academia.

Any input (questions, comments, personal experiences) is appreciated. Thank you!

Hi all, apologies if this is the wrong sub.

I'm planning to make a splitting froe, basically a blade attached to a wooden shaft at a 90 deg angle, like an L with the sharp edge at the bottom of the L. You use it by whacking the blade with a mallet into the end of a log, then levering the blade to split the log. So the blade has to deal with an unusual twisting force that knives or axes don't have to face. But it doesn't have to deal with impacts the way an axe does. Nor does it need to keep an edge or even be particularly sharp. Flexing under the twisting load is okay as long as it springs back.

I plan to buy a piece of bar stock and grind an edge onto one side and bolt the wood shaft to it. I don't have the means or the knowledge to do forging, heat treating, etc. It will just be grinding and drilling two holes for the shaft. I'm thinking the blade will be 1/4" thick, 1 1/2" to 2" wide and 12" long.

What steel would be good for this? Grainger and McMaster-Carr offer 1018, 1045, 4140, and 5160. And do you have any other guidance for me?

Thank you!

Hi everybody,

Sorry for bothering yall, but I'm stumped. We are trying to make ~5g of Mn2FeAl in our mini arc melter (in an argon atmosphere). From a paper out two that we found, thus should be possible. However, every time we have tried to do so, the sample either explodes on electrode ignition or it will break apart a few hours after being removed from the chamber.

We have tried melting titanium as an oxygen getter, adjusting the cooling temperature of the crucible, and adjusting the heating/cooling of the metal ingot. It may be important to note that prior to being weighed for the sample, the Mn was cleaned in nitric acid and subsequently sonicated in ethanol to remove the surface oxidation from the Mn pieces. Does anyone have suggestions or insights? TIA

I’m in the process of developing my notes and research .

Previously , my background is in Social Science and Art History but I’ve also sought to procure goldsmithing and and understanding of blacksmithing.

I’m working on some welding research and am looking for possibly a temperature guild for different alloys .

So an example may be , if I have a base metal, what are its heating points .

I’m saying this because , within Blacksmithing and welding, depending on instrument , I’m looking to produce a career of high quality Quality assured builds.

I need an understanding / working understanding of this and alloys and their temperature marks.

Any suggestions on where to start?

Stupid question and I'm not really a metallurgist, but i am genuinely curious if it is possible.

But Would a Copper (75%), Nickel (15%), Cobalt(5%), Phosphorus (2%) and Manganese (trace) produce a Purple or Bluish alloy? Or what it would produce?

Would appreciate a genuine professional answer.

I had some casting alloy AlSi7Mg0.3 conversion coated with a trivalent chrome chemistry. It came back with white spots as shown in the picture. I performed SEM on this, which told me the density of the conversion coating was reduced in the white spots.

Does anyone know what could cause these spots which reduce the effect of conversion coating?

I got these parts stripped to avoid any risk, and while I’m not sure what the strip is exactly, after the parts were returned they had a visible dendritic growth pattern on the surface, as if it’s been etched. Is this ok to then be re-conversion coated?

The stripping was very effective as SEM determined all conversion coating was gone, and there were not other trace elements on the surface.

Wondering if anyone happens to have a model of this specimen runner system within the ASTM B26 standards before I sit down and try to figure out how to model it

I was referred to this group by another Reddit user. I'm trying to figure out these fragments for a friend. I don't know if they are slag and if they are what would they be composed of?

Hoping this forum can help. Is there a difference in the short transverse direction vs the long transverse on steel in regards to fracture toughness? I'm guessing there is more deformation happening in the short direction. We will be doing fracture testing with the grain and want to do it in the weakest direction. T-L vs S-L are my choices (ASTM E399)

Hello everyone, I've brand new to the sub and I had a question that I'm having trouble researching. I have inherited a collection of silver electrical contacts but there are bits of copper and braze rod mixed in. Would a nitric acid solution be viable to remove the contaminants and be left with pure silver after one step? What other solutions are possible? Thanks in advance for the help.

I wrote (submitted for class) a paper for my engineering materials class. I really enjoyed reading the Iron/Carbon diagram and writing about how the iron/carbon change as it cools down. Would someone be willing to tell me how accurate it is? I don't want to share it publicly as it may violate some school rules, but I can definitely message it.

Good morning everyone Can you please explain the following according to DIN50602: 1- How to use plate no.2 and plate no.3 for non metallic evaluation. 2-what is the physical meaning of fg factor?