Titanium

Not if the other guy has titanium bullets and gun to shoot them out of!

I've seen a web article on a titanium gun recently, but I think the bullets are still lead (and the barrel is still steel, but hey...).

I'm not so sure about that. The mass of the weapon increases the chance of the edge cutting through armor and clothing to actually damage the opponent. The only time when the Titanium would be a benefit (as I see it) would be if the sword were being wielded by someone too small (or too far out of training) for the job. Probably the only place where the mass does not contribute much is in a thrust.

Of course -- different styles of swords require different styles of attacks. It might work well for an edgeless (but pointed) weapon.

It would be too light for a broadsword type of weapon under normal circumstances.

It might be more useful as armor -- other than having less mass to resist the transmission of energy to form bruises.

Enjoy, DoN.

It would be a lousy weapon.

Too light, too soft and not able to be sharpened worth a damn. Better than "duraluminum" chuckle..but not much.

Ive had some experience with the SEAL titanium knives and while they are definately anti-magnetic (for mine clearing and so forth), and they can be heat treated to some rigidity..they dont sharpen well, or stay sharp.

Gunner

It's not unwise to remember that Mother Nature is essentially a murderous, sneakly, promiscuous bitch who has been trying to kill you since your conception.

Eventually she will succeed, perhaps with the help of your fellow man.

Life consists in putting off the inevitable as long as possible and taking what good and joy you can before her success.

Whether you attribute that situation to evolutionary forces, a fallen nature after Adam and Eve screwed the pooch, or whatever, it's no less true.

Be friendly, pleasant, unaggressive, and honest toward all and be prepared to ignore, avoid, or even kill anyone who is otherwise toward you. Being ready doesn't mean eager, just ready. What true friends are found in life will undestand and accept that fundamental rule of human interaction." John Husvar

I thought heat treating affected hardness, not rigidity (modulus of elasticity)????

There are only a few titanium alloys that can hold a knife edge. The most common is being used for comabt knives for the US Navy Seal teams.

The downside of titanium for swords is weight. Part of what makes a sword cut is the mass of the blade behind the edge.

It may be suitable for a fencing foil where speed and flexibilty are more important, or a rapier for similar reasons, but a steel broadsword made of simple 5160 spring steel would be a better weapon against armor.

Congrats Skuke, don't see many people who know about hardness not affecting ridgidity, including my college machine shop teacher. Dixon

Way too light.

Would not have enough mass to hit hard enough to do damage on armor.

The mass and balance point are very inportant for tourment or battle conditions. One that is too light requires you to swing harder to achieve a good blow and one that is not balanced right will wear your arm and shoulder down quickly trying to control it. A good swoard blow starts at the fighters feet and works it way to the wrist.

I know, I fight sword and shield weekly, even a pratice with rattan weapons requires weight and balance simular to real metal swords.

Hugh

I bet it would make a good foil (fencing blade), since they need to be light and slightly flexible, but I doublt it would make a good broadsword or

~WEC

Thanks. I, the machinist, have had to explain this to more than a few mechanical engineers at work :-(

I do have a question regarding all the comments about the Ti sword being too light to be effective. Where is my error in the following?

Let's say Barry Bonds picks up a 30 pound steel sword to swing at the ump who mis-called a strike. He swings it at 10m/sec. Using the formula: .5 x

I'm sure he swings much faster, but the numbers make for easy math. Anyhow, if instead he picked up a 20lb Ti sword (roughly 1/3 lighter weight than the steel one) and swung at *only* 2.25m/sec faster (12.25m/sec), he'd have about the same amount of kinetic energy releases. So, any amount he could swing faster than 12.25m/sec would yield more energy and greater damage. Right??? Is my error that it is impossible to increase the speed by >20%

I figure this is the reason why cheaters cork their bats rather than lead their bats. Of course, I'm not implying that Barry uses a corked (or steroid laden) bat. ...Or would ever attempt to hit the ump...

First, you're dead right, there are engineers I've known who aren't aware -- or more likely forgot -- that the stiffness of any piece of steel (of regular steel alloys that is, not including stainless) is essentially the same. Hardness and strength have no significant relationship to it.

As for your baseball problem, you may be dealing with momentum rather than energy. Maybe. That relationship always gives me trouble. People who deal with firearms ballistics, such as Gunner, have a better handle on it.

-- Ed Huntress

Another issue is Titanium flexes and moves. It is not a 'hard' metal. This is one of the reasons it is used in airplane wings - flex with strength.

Martin

The explosion would bulge the barrel if made from Titanium.

That was tried already. Someday a super metal will be found. Today we have good and great metals. [ Yes transparent Al is already here. It is a ceramic material. ] Martin

From Key of Metals web site : Having looked at some Ti specs - Ti isn't normally used pure. There are several mixtures that have all sorts of other metals. Cobalt is one. One allow TI-6%AL-4%V : (by weight) Al - 5.5 -6.75% Then Vanadium 3.5-4.5%, Fe

Martin

More data specs - Knowledge Article from

The most widely used titanium alloy is the Ti-6Al-4V alpha-beta alloy. This alloy is well understood and is also very tolerant on variations in fabrication operations, despite its relatively poor room-temperature shaping and forming characteristics compared to steel and aluminum. Alloy Ti-6Al-4V, which has limited section size hardenability, is most commonly used in the annealed condition.

Other titanium alloys are designed for particular applicati> On 4 Jan 2005 15:52:35 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: >

Y'mean

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Ok. One of my customers made the original prototype run of the ti SEAL knives. I got the opportunity to play with some of the blades that were out of dimension. Scrap in other words. I put them in vises, I smacked them over things and I tried to sharpen them. While a passible prybar after heat treatment (and not so go prior to whatever magic the heat did) and good for sticking people, they didnt sharpen easily, tending to roll the edges, and they didnt keep their sharpness after wacking some 2x4s lengthwise and hacking them up a bit.

Shrug. But they sure wouldnt trip a magnetic mine.

Gunner

It's not unwise to remember that Mother Nature is essentially a murderous, sneakly, promiscuous bitch who has been trying to kill you since your conception.

Eventually she will succeed, perhaps with the help of your fellow man.

Life consists in putting off the inevitable as long as possible and taking what good and joy you can before her success.

Whether you attribute that situation to evolutionary forces, a fallen nature after Adam and Eve screwed the pooch, or whatever, it's no less true.

Be friendly, pleasant, unaggressive, and honest toward all and be prepared to ignore, avoid, or even kill anyone who is otherwise toward you. Being ready doesn't mean eager, just ready. What true friends are found in life will undestand and accept that fundamental rule of human interaction." John Husvar

Not against a gun!