[Ogre] Re: Ogre-list Digest, Vol 15, Issue 19

[White Rat]

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 ogre-list-request at sjgames.com wrote:

> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:38:34 -0700
> From: "Chris French" <csadn at ix.netcom.com>
> This is a myth -- folding wouldn't do anything except create an
> indiscriminate mush of metal.
>
> The way it works is: A "V" shape of hard steel has a triangle (OK,
> more like a metal Toblerone) of soft steel laid into the crotch of the
> "V", while both  are semi-molten; the two are then tapped repeatedly
> with a hammer, and the impacts fuse the steels. The outer "hard"
> steel takes the edge and the impacts, while the inner "soft" steel
> provides the flexibility.

Exactly backwards. In most cases, a hard steel core takes the edge and is 
sandwiched between two layers of softer metal which absorb impact and 
flex. Also, layering and folding is the way which Damascus steel is 
correctly made (as opposed to Wootz steel which is effectively sintered 
iron and steel), and it does not make an 'indiscriminate mush' of metal. 
Artisans today go so far as to computer model how various methods of 
folding, cutting, and refolding layered metal will result in particular 
patterns visible on the etched blade. Most do it the old-fashioned way, by 
trial and error, some use layered play-doh to test their patterns.

I spent two years trying to learn to be a bladesmith, and found that while 
I could learn the rote and go through the motions, I did not have the art 
in me to make anything that was of saleable beauty as well as 
serviceability. I have worked with a variety of Damascus steels as well as 
mokume (folded and smithed copper and gold layered in a similar method).

Back on topic, the alteration of hard-and soft, resilient and brittle, 
works very well in modern armor. Arms-makers have always been in 
competition with armor-makers. When the weapon of choice flung a stone, 
lead or iron ball in low, slow arcs to smash into fortress walls, stone 
that crumbled and 'absorbed' the impact was more valued than stone which 
cracked and spalled and shattered. Ft. St. Augustine, in FL, USA is an 
excellent example of this philosophy, being built almost entirely out of 
rock aggregate made from coquina shells...Cannonballs just stick right 
into the stuff. Later projectiles took on a longer, leaner shape with 
higher sectional density and an ogive meant to reduce friction and permit 
deeper penetration, blasting through these soft stone forms...And through 
later soft metal armor. They will expend most of their energy if they 
strike something brittle and shatter it, so layering the soft and hard, 
the brittle and the elastic, gives good protection against both forms of 
impact.

The final word today is the APFSDSDU round designed by the Frenchman Col. 
Jean-Claude Suavestre. It is a fin-stabilized flechette of extremely 
high-density metal (depleted uranium) which is used because under extremes 
of heat and pressure it flakes like glass...The point of the spear 
'resharpens' itself as it punches through layered armor. It has secondary 
effects which are handy in killing armored vehicles, it is intensely 
pyrophoric.

Effects related to what little radioactivity it has remaining are greatly 
exaggerated. You get far more radiation exposure in a 747 on a short hop 
than you do in the vicinity of an APFSDSDU hit. DU is toxic, as are all 
heavy metals, but this has nothing to do with radioactivity. DU is also 
used in layered armor on current US main battle tanks...Crews can expect 
to spend several weeks to a few months per year sitting inside these 
tanks, in close contact with hundreds of pounds of the stuff, without a 
filmstrip badge showing any significant effect.

Artificial sapphire is being studied as an armor element, and we may infer 
that artificial diamond nanotubes would have similar properties. However, 
this 'superhard' substance will have a breaking point where it will 
shatter rather than deflect, and at this stage softer, more malleable 
materials will take up the load of the inbound projectile and attempt to 
absorb it with minimal deformation to the interior of the armored vehicle.

Hope this clears a few things up.