March 9, 2015
Core Chemistry
Current Event
Will Maze
Wings of Steel
The Economist, February 2015
Researchers at the Pohang University of Science and technology have discovered a new alloy that is as strong as steel but as light as titanium.
This is an important discovery especially for manufacturing things such as automobiles, trucks and especially airplanes, or anything that needs to be cheap, strong but light. By manipulating the structure of steel on a nanometer scale, the scientists led by Dr. Kim, can produce this strong and light steel at a very low cost compared to titanium, the strong and light material that is currently being used.
It is important for us in our everyday life as it will make cars less expensive to buy and to drive because less weight makes it more fuel efficient so therefore less gas to buy. It also means airfares will be less expensive. It is also environmentally friendly as less fuel will be burned.
While steel is strong and cheap, it is too heavy for practical use in cars or planes. In fact, to be more fuel efficient, the amount of steel in a car has dropped from 68% of all materials used in a car in 1995 to 60% today.
Automobiles now use more aluminum instead of steel because it is lighter and cheap, but not as strong. Alloy of aluminum, carbon and iron (components of steel) is too brittle. Adding manganese helps but does not make it strong enough for cars. Dr. Kim found that adding nickel solves the issue. Alloys are a mix of materials not compounds, but some metal alloys can for inter-metallic compounds called B2 class, which have an equal number of atoms of two different metals within them. The nickel combines with aluminum to form B2 crystals, which strengthens the steel.
One of the world’s largest steel producers, POSCO, is planning a trial production of Dr. Kim’s steel. If it goes well there will be new strong, light and cheap steel to use in cars, planes and maybe an Iron Man suit!
This article was well written and informative. The author explained why it is important to have cheap, light and strong materials especially for transportation. It was also educational regarding the chemical process of metal alloys and how Dr. Kim discovered the new compound. I felt the author could have explained more about how quickly Dr. Kim’s steel will be available to manufacturers or how we can follow the progress.
Will did a great job with his review. He picked a great article to review. The topic he picked (a discovery about a new amazing alloy) is very interesting and important for numerous reasons. So Will did a great job choosing his article and topic to review. Another thing Will did well was include good details that help us understand what the article is talking about and give us information that we didn't know before. A third thing Will did well was was capture all the points in the article. He included a lot about Dr. Kim's new alloy, but also included the effect that the new metal can have. One thing Will needs to work on is setting up his review. He begins very randomly so we don't really know what he's talking about at first. A second thing he needs to work on is including a bibliographical citation. One thing I learned from this article is that this new alloy could be a huge asset to many big industries in the world today.
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http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21642107-alloy-iron-and-aluminium-good-titanium-tenth
"Wings of Steel." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 07 Feb. 2015. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
In this review, Will describes a new alloy that is as strong as steel but is extremely light. He includes statistics about how the car industry has moved forward towards more fuel efficient materials. Will also describes the materials in the alloy, the process to make it, and a failed trial. He discusses ways to build on these findings in the future.
However, it would be helpful if Will included direct quotes from experts on the topic. I would also suggest for him elaborate on how using other materials is not as environment friendly.
In this review, I learned about the components of some metal alloys and mixtures. It was interesting to read about a new material that could bring our world forward economically.
Will did a very good job in his review. The article he pick was great. The topic of a new alloy is a great one to pick. Will included good details that helped us understand the article and give us information that we did not know of. Will did well capturing the main points the article had to offer us. He said lots about about the new alloy found my Dr. Kim, and also talked about what it has to offer. One thing is that Will has to work on his beginning and set up. He starts randomly so we are lacking some crucial background information. He also has to fix his citation. I knew nothing about this alloy so everything i learned here was new to me.
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