The ultimate sword material - Is there anything better than carbon steel?
3,060A conversion with Max, PhD student in Material Sciences at MIT, and Matthew, bladesmith and metallurgist, on the topic of various materials and their suitability for making swords.
In particular we're talking about:
- Titanium
- Gold and silver
- Diamond
- Carbon-fiber
- Iron alloys
- Tungsten carbide
- Depleted uranium
- Combinations of one material as the blade core with another as the edge and how strong the connection would be
- Can a broken sword blade be welded back together?
With regards to the question of whether there is anything better than carbon steel, the answer is yes, but not if you want an affordable option. The best would be a titanium blade with tungsten carbide edge, as it would be similar in overall density to a steel blade while having the strength of titanium and sharpness as well as edge retention of tungsten.
Of course when you get into science-fiction and fantasy materials, the sky is the limit. But this covers the questions viewers have asked so far about materials that actually exist on earth.
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