titanium? or what? it needs to be strong enough to be a functional sword. got any ideas
2007-04-27 14:21:25 · 10 answers · asked by SwordDancer 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
i dont mean stainless, im talking somthing that is super light yet strong, cause i want to build a 67 in. masume style sword, but they weight a lot, i want to tone the wieght down
2007-04-27 14:37:17 · update #1
well, i will be making the sword myself....
2007-04-27 16:58:44 · update #2
titanium can be used to make a sword, but it will never hold an edge, as the hardest you can make titanium is around 45 Rc (rockwell c scale of hardness). the best material to make a sword out of is high carbon steel, preferably of the stainless (so it won't rust or corrode) variety, because in order to hold an edge well, the material needs to be at least 55 Rc (where diamond is 100 Rc). there have been some swords made of titanium, then coated with tungsten-carbide that were thought to hold a good edge, until looked at under a microscope. the problem with carbide is that it is extremely hard, dense and heavy, yet at the same time it is very brittle, causing it to chip and in most cases to shatter upon an impact. i hope this clears up some of your questions and dispels some of the things you may have heard about titanium. i myself am making a sword of titanium, though mostly just for show. please reveiw the website for further info
2007-05-01 13:43:25 · answer #1 · answered by Erick S 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Making a sword is as much art as it is science. The best swords were made by the Japanese 100's of years ago. They made thier own steel, dont know if it was high or low carbon steel. BUT...it was all about the process of annealing and quenching. Heating up the metal causes a realignment of lattices and hardening (like banging the hot metal with a hammer) squeezes those lattices together. The higher the internal stresses in the metal (tighter lattices), the stiffer and stronger the sword will be. However, it will become more brittle, which a brittle sword will shatter like glass if struck the right way ( like that guy on the info-mercial who slapped the katana on its side and it broke in half and stabbed him...). A good sword will have a balance between strength, hardness, and ductility, which is a tall order!
2007-05-02 09:21:33 · answer #2 · answered by Mike B 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you're going to go with a solid blade, Titanium will be the best bet, though the smith will hate me for saying that and hate making the sword because it's just a nasty metal to work.
If you're crazy/ambitious, you can use a high-strength aluminum core and then a harder metal skin, like titanium. This lets you tone the weight down further, but will take so work from your end as you have to make sure that the other guy's blade will not hurt the aluminum. A poly-resin based core might also work well in this method.
2007-04-27 16:41:34 · answer #3 · answered by joker 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Define 'functional' given you want a 67" blade, a 'functional' weapon would need to a least use spring steel. Even then, Japanese swords are'nt desgined for heavy blade on blade combat, as thier fight style is far more mobile then you see in the movies.
If you mean 'functional' as in 'looks like it can kick butt and not snap when I swing it' I've seen them made out of aluminum (of decent thinkness) Movie swords are often made of aluminum and carry 1/4 the weight of the real thing. If you choose this route, I'd defintly see if a local metal shop will machine the tang for you rather than forging it..it'll help it maintain a little better.
2007-05-04 03:39:46 · answer #4 · answered by ChargerIIC 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Steel is your best choice and your only true choice for a functional sword. It's not heavy anyways. Titanium will be too hard to work with. Stainless is crap and never meant for true functional swords only crappy stuff that is meant to hang on the wall. Alloys will cannot be tempered and hold an edge. You will probably risk your life with an alloy.
2007-05-01 02:22:42 · answer #5 · answered by mercierarmory 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't make a sword from Alloy.
Cause... alloy have a lot of constrain to get afunctional sword. It's easy to get crack, ductile. And you can do a little test by your self. If you have an alloy material like plate, just give a support on its corner and put something hard and have higher density (than alloy) on it (you can use small bolt). Let it like that for 3 month. You'll see that those bolt intrude into alloy (even only a little).
You should use Carbon Tempered Steel.
2007-04-27 17:04:27 · answer #6 · answered by wahyu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
gentle sabors. lots greater compact and you would be able to whip them out like *wah* and persons get a fright. while in case you observed a madman swinging a sword down the line it may basically be "Oh, there is kiwikid back..."
2016-10-13 23:09:30 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
most swords are 440 stainless steel
2007-04-27 14:29:47 · answer #8 · answered by james_stailey@sbcglobal.net 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I really can't answer cause I know nothing of this but just curious....what is the sword for?? Sounds cool :)
2007-04-27 14:53:02 · answer #9 · answered by ♥Sodas♥ 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I would go with one of titanium - low weight and high strength.
2007-04-27 15:43:18 · answer #10 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋