Most expensive steel

[Christopher Tidy]

Quick question of curiousity here. What's the most expensive kind of steel you guys have ever seen, per pound? What's the craziest, most expensive stuff out there? For tools, guns, armour... or even for backhoe teeth :-)?

Chris

[Ed Huntress]

The most expensive *commercially available* steel I've even seen is
Cricible's CPM Rex 121, although it must have come down recently,
because it's even being sold for making knife blades. It's an extreme
high-speed steel.

As for steel used in structural applications, the maraging grades are
'way up there.

--
Ed Huntress

[Christopher Tidy]

Am Montag, 16. Oktober 2017 23:46:54 UTC+2 schrieb Ed Huntress:

> The most expensive *commercially available* steel I've even seen is
> Cricible's CPM Rex 121, although it must have come down recently,
> because it's even being sold for making knife blades. It's an extreme
> high-speed steel.
>
> As for steel used in structural applications, the maraging grades are
> 'way up there.

So how much do those steels cost?

Chris

[Ed Huntress]

Just checking one place for the Rex 121 (Alpha Knife Supply), a 0.142"
thick slab, 23.0" long and 6.0" wide, is $394.00. That must be for
making some kind of nasty little sword, I guess.

When it first came out, most of it was sold for making gear hobs.
Those blanks were a lot more expensive then.

OnLine Metals will sell you 3 ft. long bar, 1.5" diameter, of maraging
steel for $920.51.

--
Ed Huntress

[Gunner Asch]

Interesting steel!

https://www.google.com/search?q=CPM+Rex+121&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Thanks!


---
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[whit3rd]

On Monday, October 16, 2017 at 2:29:00 PM UTC-7, Christopher Tidy wrote:
> Quick question of curiousity here. What's the most expensive kind of steel you guys have ever seen, per pound?

Well, doing science stuff sometimes requires isotopically pure iron. Not
exactly steel, but for pricey, consider a gram of Fe56 and then
"call for quote".

[Martin Eastburn]

If you buy metal from these and in little chunks you pay more
and a lot more.

I used to buy AR500 (expensive) by the 4x10' have it cut into 4
so I could carry it. 3/8" thick weighs like 1/2" A36. It is
extremely dense and full of exotic metal. It is a registered
product. (with the FBI).

I bought mine from a MILL company. They barge the large sheets
in and use 80' rail cars to tote them from the barge to their
facility.

Martin

[Ed Huntress]

On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 19:03:42 -0500, Martin Eastburn
<lion...@consolidated.net> wrote:

>If you buy metal from these and in little chunks you pay more
>and a lot more.
>
>I used to buy AR500 (expensive) by the 4x10' have it cut into 4
>so I could carry it. 3/8" thick weighs like 1/2" A36. It is
>extremely dense and full of exotic metal. It is a registered
>product. (with the FBI).
>
>I bought mine from a MILL company. They barge the large sheets
>in and use 80' rail cars to tote them from the barge to their
>facility.
>
>Martin

Well, Crucible CPM Rex 121 is hot-isostatically-pressed powdered
metal. You can put their biggest pieces -- a lot of them -- into the
back seat of a Fiat 500. <g>

As for maraging steel, most customers are governments. We embargoed
maraging steel to Iran, because one of its critical uses is in making
uranium centrifuges.

It's not something that you buy in large quantities unless you're
making ICBMs, air-superiority fighters, or equipment for making
nuclear warheads.

There's a growing use for it in 3D printing, but that's another story.

--
Ed Huntress

[Martin Eastburn]

Oh you mean it is a Craft Metal. Not a Production Metal.
No wonder.
Martin

[Ed Huntress]

On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 20:54:10 -0500, Martin Eastburn
<lion...@consolidated.net> wrote:

>Oh you mean it is a Craft Metal. Not a Production Metal.
>No wonder.
>Martin

I wouldn't call either of them "craft." They're just very expensive,
special-purpose steels. Rex 121 is a tool steel, sometimes called a
"bridge material," bridging the gap between ordinary HSS and tungsten
carbide; maraging has an extraordinary combination of properties
(extremely high strength, combined with ductility) that sometimes
justifies its very high cost.

--
Ed Huntress

[Ignoramus4513]

On 2017-10-18, Martin Eastburn <lion...@consolidated.net> wrote:
> If you buy metal from these and in little chunks you pay more
> and a lot more.
>
> I used to buy AR500 (expensive) by the 4x10' have it cut into 4
> so I could carry it. 3/8" thick weighs like 1/2" A36. It is
> extremely dense and full of exotic metal. It is a registered
> product. (with the FBI).
>
> I bought mine from a MILL company. They barge the large sheets
> in and use 80' rail cars to tote them from the barge to their
> facility.

Martin, composition wise, it is a steel with a little extra manganese
and bits of nickel and moly, I cannot see how it should be so dense.

[Gunner Asch]

On Wed, 18 Oct 2017 06:55:58 -0500, Ignoramus4513
<ignora...@NOSPAM.4513.invalid> wrote:

>On 2017-10-18, Martin Eastburn <lion...@consolidated.net> wrote:
>> If you buy metal from these and in little chunks you pay more
>> and a lot more.
>>
>> I used to buy AR500 (expensive) by the 4x10' have it cut into 4
>> so I could carry it. 3/8" thick weighs like 1/2" A36. It is
>> extremely dense and full of exotic metal. It is a registered
>> product. (with the FBI).
>>
>> I bought mine from a MILL company. They barge the large sheets
>> in and use 80' rail cars to tote them from the barge to their
>> facility.
>
>Martin, composition wise, it is a steel with a little extra manganese
>and bits of nickel and moly, I cannot see how it should be so dense.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwj_koD2vvrWAhWHr1QKHZzwCDIQFggpMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coyotesteel.com%2Fassets%2Fimg%2FPDFs%2Fweightspercubicfoot.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2rxcIe5ouHFVvEeVkL3q0U

Per cubic foot:

Steel, Cast/Rolled 490.00 lbs
Nickel 555.72
Manganese 463.10
Molybdenum 637.63

>
>> Martin
>>
>>
>> On 10/17/2017 11:52 AM, Ed Huntress wrote:
>>> On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:21:55 -0700 (PDT), Christopher Tidy
>>> <christop...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Am Montag, 16. Oktober 2017 23:46:54 UTC+2 schrieb Ed Huntress:
>>>>
>>>>> The most expensive *commercially available* steel I've even seen is
>>>>> Cricible's CPM Rex 121, although it must have come down recently,
>>>>> because it's even being sold for making knife blades. It's an extreme
>>>>> high-speed steel.
>>>>>
>>>>> As for steel used in structural applications, the maraging grades are
>>>>> 'way up there.
>>>>
>>>> So how much do those steels cost?
>>>>
>>>> Chris
>>>
>>> Just checking one place for the Rex 121 (Alpha Knife Supply), a 0.142"
>>> thick slab, 23.0" long and 6.0" wide, is $394.00. That must be for
>>> making some kind of nasty little sword, I guess.
>>>
>>> When it first came out, most of it was sold for making gear hobs.
>>> Those blanks were a lot more expensive then.
>>>
>>> OnLine Metals will sell you 3 ft. long bar, 1.5" diameter, of maraging
>>> steel for $920.51.
>>>

[Martin Eastburn]

On 10/18/2017 10:39 AM, Gunner Asch wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Oct 2017 06:55:58 -0500, Ignoramus4513
> <ignora...@NOSPAM.4513.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 2017-10-18, Martin Eastburn <lion...@consolidated.net> wrote:
>>> If you buy metal from these and in little chunks you pay more
>>> and a lot more.
>>>
>>> I used to buy AR500 (expensive) by the 4x10' have it cut into 4
>>> so I could carry it. 3/8" thick weighs like 1/2" A36. It is
>>> extremely dense and full of exotic metal. It is a registered
>>> product. (with the FBI).
>>>
>>> I bought mine from a MILL company. They barge the large sheets
>>> in and use 80' rail cars to tote them from the barge to their
>>> facility.
>>
>> Martin, composition wise, it is a steel with a little extra manganese
>> and bits of nickel and moly, I cannot see how it should be so dense.
>
> https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwj_koD2vvrWAhWHr1QKHZzwCDIQFggpMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coyotesteel.com%2Fassets%2Fimg%2FPDFs%2Fweightspercubicfoot.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2rxcIe5ouHFVvEeVkL3q0U
>
> Per cubic foot:
>
> Steel, Cast/Rolled 490.00 lbs
> Nickel 555.72
> Manganese 463.10
> Molybdenum 637.63
>
>
>
>
>>
>>> Martin

AR 500 is far more complex than that. It contains secret amounts of
many of the high end metals.
Your Mang and Moly are in rows 4 and 5 along with Cr and Vanadium and
Iron and Colbolt. Baby stuff for keeping out large bullets.

Try atomic numbers 104 - 108, 58-60 and all of yours.

Massive Atoms are Heavy. They also tend to stick together. e.g. U92 is
near by and it takes a Boom to make it split apart.
Hf (72) Hafnium is used as a source of electrons in Plasma torches.
You add electrons to it and it showers that amount back to the tip.

https://www.chapelsteel.com/ar500-ar500f.html
https://www.chapelsteel.com/weight-steel-plate.html
AR500 / AR500F
AR500 and AR500F are quenched & tempered through hardened wear resistant
grades of abrasion resistant steel plate used for severe impact and
abrasion. Chapel Steel's premium grade of these products are Chapalloy
500 and Chapalloy 500F. Chapel Steel recommends the “F” chemistry in
applications where there will be forming or higher impact.
Mechanical Properties:
Tensile: 247 ksi TYPICAL – NOT INTENDED FOR STRUCTURAL USE
Yield: 187 ksi TYPICAL – NOT INTENDED FOR STRUCTURAL USE
Elongation: 11.1% in 8”
Brinell: 450 min / 500 nominal

Chapel also makes this :
Chapalloy Armor Plate

A proprietary ballistic steel plate which is through hardened, quenched
and tempered and is guaranteed to meet various NIJ and UL
specifications. Acceptance criteria is based on the specification
desired and the thickness of the plate required to meet that standard.

The Houston facility is mostly ship and offshore with armor car and
fixing CAT machines.....
Chapel at :
LOCATIONS

Philadelphia, PA

Chicago, IL

Birmingham, AL

Houston, TX

Portland, OR

Hamilton, ON

Cleveland, OH
Martin

[Ed Huntress]

Martin, AR500 is about the same density as any other low-alloy zteel.
As Gunner said, the composition is very mild.

It gets its strength from having carbon-multipliers (chromium, moly
and manganese, mostly) that allow it to be quenched-and-tempered to a
higher hardness than the carbon (0.30) would normally suggest. n that
regard, but not in others, it's like 4130.

There's nothing magic or special about it. It's an abrasion-resistant,
hard low-allow steel with good impact resistance.

--
Ed Huntress

[Gunner Asch]

On Wed, 18 Oct 2017 16:30:06 -0500, Martin Eastburn
<lion...@consolidated.net> wrote:

>
>

Martin...what Thickness do I need for a front and back plate if I
assemble it using A500 plate?

5.56 FMJ-3006 172gr FMJs

I see a lot of hype on the various ads so I thought Id ask you.

What would be a proper backing/under wear for those plates? Some sort
of foam? Any idea how thick?

Can I get raw plate and then use bed liner to coat the plates for
antispalling?


Thanks!

Gunner

[Ignoramus4513]

On 2017-10-18, Gunner Asch <gunne...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Martin...what Thickness do I need for a front and back plate if I
> assemble it using A500 plate?
>
> 5.56 FMJ-3006 172gr FMJs
>
> I see a lot of hype on the various ads so I thought Id ask you.
>
> What would be a proper backing/under wear for those plates? Some sort
> of foam? Any idea how thick?
>
> Can I get raw plate and then use bed liner to coat the plates for
> antispalling?

I have a target made of 3/4" steel plate, with a piece of 3/4 plywood
clamped in front. I only use it for .22s though.

i

[Gunner Asch]

22 LR? 5/16" mild steel plate makes decent enough lifetime targets
for 22lr...from point blank range out to however far you care to shoot
at them.

The 3/4" ply wood will simply stop bullet splatter and do nothing
else. Well..it gives you something to staple targets to...shrug

[Ignoramus8907]

Right , that is why there is this plywood.

[Christopher Tidy]

Interesting thread. Thanks for the replies!

[Martin Eastburn]

I would go with 3/8" thick. Or margin with 1/2.
either will keep a 308 at 25 feet from more than a dimple.
Martin