Nanoflex

Ive read about this new kind of steel invented by Sandvik. That company is actually based very close to where I live btw.

Anyway, the nanoflex stuff is supposed to be very tough but still very flexibe/elastic. Dont know abuot the availability though. And price...

Link: http://www.smt.sandvik.com/sandvik/0140/internet/APPLICATIONS/SE03488.NSF/GenerateFrameset1?readForm&url=http://www.smt.sandvik.com/sandvik/0140/internet/APPLICATIONS/SE03488.NSF/http://www.smt.sandvik.com/sandvik/0...488.NSF/Genera teFrameset1?readForm&url=http://www.smt.sandvik.com/sandvik/0140/internet/APPLIC ATIONS/SE03488.NSF/(DocumentsInternetWeb)/7ABD8BD304B260A9C1256C370024A48F

Aaahh!

A security leak!

:) :) :)

Dont go telling all our swedish secrets! ;)
We need all the advantage we can get to be able to beat the more experienced europeans :).

Well said, Markus! Just remember what happend with the hardox wearplate.

Ive certianly been impressed with Sandvik Hacksaw blades- of all the brands Ive tried theyve been the most satisfying to cut with. Interesting stuff.

Swedish quality...

I now have a sample piece of Nanoflex. Not the thickness or composite I was after (that comes later) but it will do for testing. This piece is a bonded laminate of 3 pieces of 1.4mm and has been plasma treated to offer the hardest surface possible.

Now how do I test it, any spinners or crushers want to try their luck at it? The piece is only 300 x 260mm though.

Paul

is that the Material from Sandvik in co-operation with Philips Paul?

never mind, i should look before i post. :)

Whats the weight of that piece, Paul?
Also, since we have no idea ourselves (us swedes that is :)) how good Nanoflex really is we very much would like to know what your tests shows...

Markus, the piece weighs some 3kg. With the additional surface treatment, this test piece is rather special but if it fails to live up to expectations, then the standard treatment will be inferior. I just need to consider the best test for it. I can try a couple of things and will be happy to let you know the results. Hopefully in a few weeks I will get some virgin material of 3.2mm thick, work with that (bend drill and weld it) before heat treating it for final hardness. This is one of its advantages, although in its virgin state is still relatively hard, it can be worked on. Then when you have finished your preperation, put it in an oven at a local fab shop, heat it up and you end up with a material far harder than Hardox 450 but it also remains tough. The sales info suggests that it offers a weight saving over Ti as well.

I have to say that you Swedish may have come up with a rather special material, time will tell.

Paul

As I said earlier, Swedish quality...

Tried one test on the Nanoflex yesterday. Approximately 8 tonnes of point force in the centre of the sheet with 2 edges supported. The sheet curved some 20mm in the middle with the force. After releasing the jack, the Nanoflex returned to its original flat shape.

Paul

Hehe, quite tough then!

What sort of area was the force applied over. Was it a point load in which case this was very impressive. Or spread over a larger area in which case its still fairly impressive that it returned to its original shape from such a large deformation.

Richard Wenman
Team Mayhem.

Richard, it was a point force of approx 25mm diameter. I will try it again with a sharp object but I need to find something hard enough first. Any ideas?

High speed steel cutting tip?

Grind up a suitable point on a Cobalt Tool Blank if you have one to hand.

Or use a centre punch.

a ball bearing should do better.

Well, I just tried a pointed bit from a pneumatic chisel which I have used for breaking up concrete. Not too sure of the final force but must have been close to the 8 tonnes again but I bottled out. The chisel bit became blunted, started to compress and deform over to one side. The Nanoflex however, was virtually untouched, it had a mark on it of an estimated few thou deep and no deformation.

Okay, what else shall I throw at it?

Paul

Nice material!! :)

Doesnt sound like you can try much more Paul.

a typhoon 2 :)

Paul, bring it along to an event and Ill drive a Storm II spike into it at full pelt ?

Ed
http://www.teamstorm.comhttp://www.teamstorm.com

Now that would have been cool! What about the Feather Weight Smash this Saturday?

Ill bring it along on Saturday regardless but I doubt the feather arena will be the place to do it. I would like to try it out in a real life situation so if someone wants to take it away and try it at say Enginuity, thats fine by me as long Sam & co are prepared to allow it to happen. Maybe one of those nasty crushers would like to try their luck at it?

Paul

No, I wouldnt reccomend that test in the feather arena.

I would suggest that the results of a slow pressed force shouldnt be read into too deeply as to the performance of the material. Theres a big difference between 8 tonnes being gradually applied with a press, and being applied in an instant - the energy that the material has to dissipate to prevent breakdown is significantly higher in an impact test.

Paul, if you bring it along to Enginuity we could stand it up against the arena wall and I could reverse Storm II into it (spikes first) at full speed. If we could also get a sheet of 3mm Grade 5 Ti and a sheet of 3mm Steel and 3mm Hardox and do the same tests with them, wed have a good basis for comparison ?

Or is that all too scientific ?

Ed
http://www.teamstorm.comhttp://www.teamstorm.com

Definatly not too scientific, but wasnt the piece 4 mm thick?

Im a bit more interested in spinner damage. Could one of them have a go please.

Ed, my tests was just to replicate those hydraulic crushers. This is why I want to conduct further tests on the material. I will not be at Enginuity but if you are okay to take the Nanoflex and try and break it, I would be most pleased!

A spinner test would be great but not practical with the test piece as there is no easy means of restraining it.

Yes the piece is a laminate of 3 pieces of 1.4mm, 4.2mm total.

Paul

Ahh fair enough then Paul :)

Well then it would seem obvious to test this against 4mm pieces of other material then.
I realise this isnt a spinner test, but its a fairly simple (and repeatable) test that can be done. If you want to test it with a spinner, you need to find a way to anchor the material down or you wont get a sensible result.

Only suggested this as propping a piece of material up against a wall and driving into it seemed fairly simple, and I can be certian that Storm II will hit it at the same angle, at the same speed each time.

Ed
http://www.teamstorm.comhttp://www.teamstorm.com

if it is of any help (never started a sentence with 4 two letter words before!)

I would be willing to attach each of said metal to my middleweight on different sides. If a spinner such as shredder wishes to then test each material in turn, they are welcome to. this is not a challenge to shredder, this is an offer of a machine (which can have ballast added to simulate 100kg if required) for specific tests once the main competion at enginuity is over. The 4 pieces of material would need to be delivered to me at least 8 days before the event to give me time to attach them, as I am a very busy bunny that week.

if Paul/Ed/Sam/Chris would like to discuss this option, the offer is there to catastrophically test these materials on a well built, solid chassis.

im up for that james, I for one want to see what this material is like!

Thank you all,

So how do we retain it for both tests? You cant drill it as its too hard, welding is out because of the laminations and adhesive.

Paul

pretty hard to use for a robot if u cant dril or weld it!

Im sure you can drill it. Suspect youd just have to take it very slowly with an appropriate bit, and use plenty of coolant as you go

Spark eroder?

Take it slow, flood it with coolant, and use a cobalt drill. If that doesnt do it (and Id be surprised) then water jet cutting is probably the way to go. I would guess its been heat treated, so laser-ing it, and I would guess spark eroding, wouldnt do it any favours.

Wed be more than happy to host that, quite possibly on the Friday night as we presently have that earmarked as a testing session anyway.

Drop us a line and keep us informed.

Sam
http://www.robotcrusade.comhttp://www.robotcrusade.com

Chris, Nanoflex when supplied in its virgin state has a hardness something like Hardox 400. You can drill, cut, weld, bend it etc. When you have finished, you then bake it at 450 Deg C to take the hardness over 600. The test piece was specifically a laminate for the purposes of testing it as a bullet proof shield. It has already been baked and on top of that plasma treated making it very hard (how hard?) and tough. Nanoflex is not a carbon based steel like Hardox but more like a 304 stainless steel.

I will make a mild steel picture frame to go around it that could then be bolted or welded in position.

Thank you Sam, that is appreciated.

BTW, Sandvik are keen to see how their material performs in these tests.

Paul