Creating the worlds strongest sword?

http://www.videosift.com/video/Japanese-Sword-Slicing-Through-A-Tomato-super-slow-motion

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Theoretics

According to history, the strongest non-folded blade was made of the Spanish Steel. However the Japanese Katana and other folded blades were, in theory, stronger. This is based on records, the Spanish Rapier and the Japanese Katana have never seen a historical confrontation against eachother. However strength is not all that's into a sword, neither is weight. It's mostly about purpose. The katana was used to cut through practically anything. in comparrison to the Highland Claymore which was used to bash and slice wildly instead of skilled and accurately. If you wanted to have an O Dachi, then tunsung would work, however if you wanted the speed, look towards a titanium alloy. light and strong. regardless, every sword ever forged recieved a destruction date once it was finished. sure you can store it and keep it forever, but if you use it, it will break. the only point of a stronger sword would be to try to give it a longer active life. look for the right combination to create the most flexible, lightest, strongest, and most dense alloy.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Are any of those posting a metalurgist or a person with pertinent knowledge of the properties of items made from various alloys using various manufacturing methods? ?

If not, perhaps a metalurgist should be consulted and given some specifcations and/or engaged in a dialogue to decide what is desired.

All else seems pointless.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Actually, I have been a bladesmith for decades.
Actually, I haven't bothered much here (other than initially) because there is so much misinformation being posted as 'knowledge' (because someone heard something once, or some fanciful story that sounded 'sweet'.. and thats the sum of their knowledge). With 'belief' thrown in, it would be just be egoic arguments.
I'll peek back, later, should you have a specific question that I might be able to offer the knowledge and wisdom born of actual experience, in reply.

Peace...

 

to make the worlds strongest sword you would only need to use titanium, and coat it in metabolic particals, due to titanium's great strength to weight ratio (light-weight) it would be perfect, but its micro-structure gets damaged, everytime you use it, so to solve that you coat the outerlayer in metabolic particles, which would also reduce the weight drastically meaning you could add more layers of titanium, also by using diffrent metabolic particles from spider silk and diffrent metals, you could make the tip of the blade sharp enough, and fine enough to actually cut the space between particles.

just think of it as coating a layer of boot polish on your boots, so the leather dosent get marked, or varnish on your table


the only problem is actually finding a way to do it, the theory's sound but actually figuring out the right metal's, finding the right bonds, figuring out how to coat the metal with metabolic P without the infinite things that could go wrong, might be a tad hard

and more importantly,

youd have to find a cool ass hilt

 

Nano Constructed Sword?

How about making a sword using Nano-Technology? Also possibly coating the blade in Diamond; maybe integrating it some how into the outer layer of the blade itself to make sure it doesn't slip off.

If I had my pick, taking into account that this isn't yet known possible (I doubt it is) but it still is theoretically possible, I would want a sword with plasma for a blade. Kind of like a light saber but plasma so you could control the length and the energy doesn’t just keep going. Or maybe a outer shell of plasma encasing the laser inside it. I know it takes a lot of room and energy to produce plasma but the same thing could be said to make the simplest of computers when they first were being developed.

Swords are obsolete; sad but true. But that’s not to say they aren't a piece of bad ass technology that very much so had an important part in the history of the world. Besides if it came down to it, I would rather have a sword to defend myself than empty hands. Who knows maybe one day when super solders are a reality and lighting fast reflexes combined with incredible hand eye coordination are made possible, the weapon of choice just might be a plasma/light saber that can deflect projectiles. But I doubt we would have many, let alone any soldiers on the battle field by that time; considering the amount of years it would more than likely take to develop such enhancements along with the money and time being put into the advancements of robotics.

 

a Golden sword?

 

Gold is fairly soft...though it would be worth a pretty penny if the composition was pure enough.

 

Is it possible to make an alloy out of Gold and Titanium, and then say carbon fiber and just strengthen it, and then sharpen it and then add diamonds or gems on the handle (decoration only), to make the ultimate blade?

 

Nameless: This thread is clear cut evidence that many who have no clue about a subject will post to a thread.

When a thread relates to a murkier field of human knowledge (economics, political science, psychology, et cetera), is is more difficult to recognize the clueless.

Perhaps there are other posters with some pertinent knowledge, but you might be the only one who knows enough to make intelligent posts here.

Since I have some knowledge of metal forging, casting, drawing, et cetera (but am not a metalurgist), I probably know know than most of the other posters here, but I do not know much about what makes a good sword. It is my guess that there is no such object as the best or strongest sword: There are only designs & alloys that result in the best for a particular purpose.

 

Well, can you answer my question?

 

Norsefire: The short answer to the following is "no. I am not a metalurgist"

The question referred to was:

A longer answer would be something like the following.

• The semantics of your question need a bit of clarification (see the phrase bolded by me), but it is my best guess that an alloy of gold and titanium does not seem to be a good idea for a functional sword, although it might have some aesthetic value when enhanced by a jeweled hilt.

I wonder if nameless is interested in commenting on my best guess.

 

I suppose it's possible although like Gold, Titanium pure is not as hard as one would think. In fact, despite the relative large amount of Titanium on Earth it is rare to find it pure. Titanium is usually made into a alloy before put to use on aircraft and what have you; unless it is in Fireworks which it can be found in one of its pure states (powder). When you hear of Titanium it has most likely been made into an Alloy already, but you would almost never hear it pronounced as such. Titanium does have a good strength to weight ratio though when compared to steel. That’s perfect for aircraft which can contain large frames of Titanium Alloy, but for a sword which is ideally somewhat thin, Titanium is not so good. This is because Strength to Size ratio is one of the important aspects in choosing a Material for a sword.

And as far as Carbon Fiber, I am not positive, but I would think it wouldn't be so good to add to a sword. I say this because of how it is a manufactured fiber that gets its popularly know durability from the numerous amount of thin layers of it’s self that have been laid and bonded atop each other in a pattern to obtain such durability. Carbon however can be found or made into a Diamond which is one of its natural forms. And needless to say it would be rather interesting to have a blade made from a Giant Diamond.

 

How about a Diamond sword?

I know that Carbon Fiber is light weight yet strong, so I figured it'd be a good sword material

 

I suppose a diamond sword could be made. But imagine how long it would take to form the diamond into a sword.

I can see how Carbon Fiber would cross your mind.

 

This subject has always fascinated me. I'm a knife collector, and recently I've dabbled in forging the blades. I have a few swords too, and what I've decided is that the density and mass of the material must be proportionate to the overall balance of the sword. Without this balance, the swords integrity and usefulness is compromised. It would be great to use titanium to forge a sword, but it would be too light to deliver an effective blow, or stop a powerful swing on the defence. Not to mention that titanium may be hard, but it is also very brittle, especially at low temperatures.

Tungsten is a good metal as well, but may be a little too heavy for a quick sword such as a katana or a Bushido. However, it would make a deadly claymore or gladius. I guess it all depends on the type of sword you want, then it would be good to choose the appropriate metals.

Maybe if you could layer a sword , like have a titanium core with electrolysis layers of steel and titanium. Ive learned that layering the metal just right would make a stronger blade, but this would be labor intensive. But worth it!

 

Ragnarok: What sort of equipment is available to you?

Could you describe dabbling? In this context, it does not seem like an appropriate term.

A tool & die maker is a highly skilled craftsman. Making forging dies is not a simple task. Forging equpment is not something one finds in an ordinary basement work shop. In particular, I would expect cold forging to be superior to hot forging for such an item as a knife blade. Cold forging requires far more formidable pressures than hot forging or hot impact extruding.

In addition, I would expect extra work to be required after forging to create a usable blade. A forging process would not produce the sharp edge required by a useful knife.

 

Dinosaur- you are correct about the high fertiliser to usefulness ration on here. Too many posters are blinded by the idea of what is hard or strong. What matters in swords is how sharp the blade is, and the weight and balance of the sword.

A simple illustration is that surgeons still sometime suse certain kinds of volcanic glass, because they fracture into such sharp items, almost, I understand, down to the atomic level. However they will break and chip very easily, i.e. are brittle. So if you had a brittle sword, like cheap wallhanging katanas, it would break when you hit someone elses sword with it. Real swords can take being battered about, but the katana is also a good illustration because you have the sharp, brittle cutting edge, and the more flexible back of it, which in fact they sometimes used to block with since it could take the blow without damage, but if they had used the blade edge they would have chipped it.

 

Well put...

 

2nd resurrection

Sorry to resurrect this thread again, but I came across it and couldn't resist. for readability, I'll split my post into topics. (I guess I've got a lot to say.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

)

Material Science
According to Sword Forum (among others), carbon steel has yet to be beat for sheer lethality, but corrodes too easily for modern battlefield conditions. You only see titanium blades in SCUBA dive knives, as it's one of the few materials that can stand up to sea water.) Ceramic holds an edge forever, but is too brittle. Tool steel is used in some practice swords because of its resilience but doesn't hold an edge. Other common alloys are too heavy, too soft, or too brittle.

To move on to more advanced materials, however, I wonder if a squeeze-cast ceramic-steel composite or a boron-nitride coat (both available technologies) might prove superior to steel alone.

Going really futuristic, I'm pretty sure a blade made of nanotube sheets could make a nigh-unbreakable blade so sharp and thin-cross-sectioned that it could cut through anything in spite of being ultra-light. Of course, you're not going to be seeing such a thing anytime soon. (Cursed entropy!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

)