Researchers from Hong Kong announced that they have developed a high performance steel. The new steel developed was called ‘super steel’. This steel is much stronger and durable than standard steel.
While developing strong materials such as steel, some weak points can also arise. These emerging weak spots are in fact considered an act of balancing between the different properties of the material.
Researchers from Hong Kong have developed a new steel that does not reveal the balancing action that we can call the weak point of steel. The type of steel called super steel shows high resistance to breakage.
What are the main features of steel?
Materials such as steel have three main properties, such as strength, durability and flexibility, which must be balanced. Strength and durability are similar at first glance but they have important differences. Strength shows how much load a material can carry before it is deformed. Durability shows how much energy is required to break a material. Flexibility, the last main feature of steel-like materials, is the measure of stretching a material in different ways.
For example, glass has relatively high strength and low strength. Therefore, it can support certain sizes of weight. However, not much energy is needed to break the glass.
Unfortunately, the three main characteristics of steel-like materials cannot be developed together due to the balancing action. The material tends to weaken another while developing one feature. For example, increasing strength often causes a material to be less stiff or less flexible.
Super steel shows top performance
Researchers from the University of Hong Kong and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have announced that they have managed to develop a type of steel that performs top performance in all three key features. The researchers named the new steel type the name super steel.
The researchers stated that the super-performance super steel is stronger and stronger than the maraging steel used in aerospace engineering. Scientists also explained that the maragign steel of super steel can be produced to 20 percent of the production cost.
It was developed using a method called super steel deformed and segmented method. Thanks to the design used, steel had superior durability properties. Although a single crack can be seen on the surface of the super steel, there are many cracks under the surface. Micro cracks under the surface of the steel absorb energy from external forces, preventing the main crack from growing rapidly.
Researchers involved in the development of super steel have announced that super steel can be used in high strength bridge cables, bulletproof vests and springs of cars, among other applications.
