>"Easton, manufacturer of aluminum bike frame tubes, began using the technology to make lighter, stronger tube sets than anyone else on the market.
Scandium works by convincing aluminum molecules to restructure themselves. When aluminum is smelted it hardens into microscopic grains that fit together to make a solid architecture.
Scandium makes those grains smaller, among other things, which allows them to fit closer together for a denser, stronger overall structure.
Scandium also interrupts melted aluminum crystalizing at a molecular level when the metal cools.
This means that the properties of the alloy are less likely to be affected by heat-treatment and welding, so a scandium-infused aluminum alloy is less likely to crack while cooling.
This is especially valuable in high-strength aluminum, like 7005 alloy. Traditionally, 7005 alloys make light, strong, forged or CNC machined bicycle components, but can't be welded because they weaken when they melt. By adding scandium to the tube or to the filler between welded tubes, melted 7005 aluminum becomes usable in welded components, like frames.
So, at a chemical level, aluminum alloys infused with scandium (less than 0.5% by volume) are stronger and more weldable than scandium-free alloys."
PDS: There probably is a whole series of things, as of yet unknown, that can be added to metals and other elements, while they are cooling (or perhaps heating), to imbue them with various interesting properties...
Opinion: Modern-day metallurgy and metallurgical sciences, though its knowledge is formidable in this area -- has probably just "scratched the surface" of all that is possible...
In other words, experimentation, much more future experimentation -- is required in this area...
> There probably is a whole series of things, as of yet unknown, that can be added to metals and other elements, while they are cooling (or perhaps heating), to imbue them with various interesting properties...
We know. The field of materials science is perfectly aware of these effects. We even have a quite good theoretical knowledge to explain almost everything, and some very good models built on that knowledge. I would even say that more research into new alloys is performed by modelling techniques than experimentation nowadays (for sure, this is the case now, with many labs and universities closed because of corona).
New alloys are constantly being studied. We perform experiments, we run simulations, we have AI frameworks running thousands of those simulations... However, you have to take into account that the metallurgical industry has a huge inertia. We can make pretty good steel and aluminum alloys at a very cheap cost. The market for new ideas is not easy. You can maybe make some profit from high-end sports or medical equipment, but it is very difficult to make a new alloy profitable at a large industrial level.
So much with metals is about how the material is processed (forged, extruded, heat treated, etc.).
With newer technologies like 3D-printing, because of the very high cooling/freezing rates int he processing, even more Scandium (>0.7%) can be added, and even more strength gained, while still being very ductile (it'll tend to dent rather than cracking when abused).
Maybe this will be the 'new Scandium' material to take on the carbon frames. Might need to get cheaper though...
https://www.apworks.de/scalmalloy
Second your opinion, if you look at the state of the art vs what was considered impossible only a decade ago there is a very large amount of knowledge waiting to be discovered here. I believe you could even generalize that to all of materials science.
This article is a bit off mark I think. The high end of the bike market is dominated by carbon fiber. The market for high end aluminum/ scandium is disappearing as the price of carbon fiber has come down over the years. It's very hard to find a high end bike which isn't carbon, heck even the mid-range is carbon mostly now.
There are a few brands which stick to aluminum, ti, and steel, mostly boutique brands.
One of my favorite bikes is a scandium single-speed, I still have the frame out in storage. It's a Kona Kula. Been thinking about rebuilding it lately.
Yes, carbon has taken over the highend market. And not only because it is cheaper, but it also can be more comfortable, while a scandium bike might be more harsh. You could argue that aluminium/scandium is not the right material for a road bike.
For road racing there is no point in scandium anymore, carbon frames are made lighter, stiffer and more comfortable. The Scott Scandium from 2000 was below 1kg, the Scott CR1 from 2006 was even lighter in carbon, and more comfortable.
For tourists using road bikes, most people who pay for a highend bicycle will also have that be seen, with carbon, just like the professionals. There is no demand anymore for highend aluminium/scandium frames.
Then the really light scandium frames were well know for cracking, like the Scott Scandium. They were made to be raced and used for a few seasons. I doubt many have survived. I would love to have a bicycle like that, I think the Scott Scandium is beautiful, but I also know I will probably not like it much for riding.
> This article is a bit off mark I think. The high end of the bike market is dominated by carbon fiber. The market for high end aluminum/ scandium is disappearing as the price of carbon fiber has come down over the years. It's very hard to find a high end bike which isn't carbon, heck even the mid-range is carbon mostly now.
Now, sure, the idea of "high end aluminum" doesn't make much sense in comparison to carbon. However, I think I still mostly buy this article.
Throughout the '00s carbon composites really remained prohibitively expensive, and even many mid-high range bikes would still be some kind of alloy with a carbon fork and at best carbon stays. It's only in the last decade or so that carbon has become cost competitive enough to reach well into the midrange frame market.
I think marketing was a huge part of this too. Once carbon was associated with "good" any aluminum alloy was immediately less desirable. There's just not much room in the middle there especially as CF was much more visually distinctive, and would be more likely to be recognized by another cyclist (i.e. as a status symbol).
There'll always be a spot in my heart for Kona bikes. They always had those really nice looking paint jobs, and quite a few of their bikes seemed goofy or weird at first, but then made a lot of sense.
Ex-Union countries ran out of jet fighters to smelt for bicycle frames?
As I understand, there nowhere is in the world where Scandium is mined commercially now, and the world is still living off scandium oxide stashed by somebody very lucky right around USSR collapse?
> Scandium makes those grains smaller, among other things, which allows them to fit closer together for a denser, stronger overall structure.
This is not how grain size strengthening works. With smaller grains, there are more grain boundaries. These boundaries present an obstacle to the movement of dislocations, increasing the resistance to deformation.
Density is not affected by grain size, larger grains do not have any gaps between them.
Ti and Scandium have different ride characteristics. Scandium (and aluminum) is stiffer. Ti, like steel has a little flex to it. While I honestly doubt anyone can really feel the difference, there are plenty of people who swear they can.
They've pretty much both gone out of style and largely not for the reasons this article suggest. Carbon fiber more or less took over the higher end of the bike industry. It is lighter and can be tuned for better ride characteristics than either Ti or Scandium (it can be stiffer than aluminum or or more flexible depending on layup).
Carbon is even pushing aluminum out of the mid-high end of the bike market in many places.
Back when scandium bikes were a thing they were cheaper then Ti bikes.
Also, from the article:
Any time you ride a high-quality aluminum racing frame made of welded 7005 series aluminum, you're probably riding on a little scandium. A lot of 6061 grade aluminums use scandium too. In fact, the bicycle industry is one of the biggest scandium markets, still.
I can almost assuredly tell you one thing -- the x% weight savings of whatever material that costs $1000+ more is not the limiting factor preventing your or my average out-of-shape body from achieving its fullest right now.
We could only wish that buying some special material would make us go appreciably faster.
Of course, but as anyone will notice if they go from a bicycle shaped object that weighs 30 pounds and has fat tires to a road bike (even an aluminum one), the difference is quite significant.
It's not only a matter of weight savings. I had an iron bike, an aluminium bike and now I am riding a carbon bike.
The differences in comfort and maneuverability are impressive: the iron bike was comfortable but not reactive at all, the aluminium bike was very rigid and uncomfortable, but light and very reactive, the actual one is comfortable and reactive. I can afford long trip (more than 100km) without any pain at the end.
Carbon dominates the higher end of bike frames so much that most people don't care about scandium-based frames. Is there scandium in my aluminum cranks, brakes, or stem?
Too bad it’s toxic, otherwise Beryllium bike frames would be amazing. Since it’s number four in the periodic table and therefore very light, it has been used to make the James Webb space telescope mirrors [1].
[+] [-] peter_d_sherman|5 years ago|reply
Scandium works by convincing aluminum molecules to restructure themselves. When aluminum is smelted it hardens into microscopic grains that fit together to make a solid architecture.
Scandium makes those grains smaller, among other things, which allows them to fit closer together for a denser, stronger overall structure.
Scandium also interrupts melted aluminum crystalizing at a molecular level when the metal cools.
This means that the properties of the alloy are less likely to be affected by heat-treatment and welding, so a scandium-infused aluminum alloy is less likely to crack while cooling.
This is especially valuable in high-strength aluminum, like 7005 alloy. Traditionally, 7005 alloys make light, strong, forged or CNC machined bicycle components, but can't be welded because they weaken when they melt. By adding scandium to the tube or to the filler between welded tubes, melted 7005 aluminum becomes usable in welded components, like frames.
So, at a chemical level, aluminum alloys infused with scandium (less than 0.5% by volume) are stronger and more weldable than scandium-free alloys."
PDS: There probably is a whole series of things, as of yet unknown, that can be added to metals and other elements, while they are cooling (or perhaps heating), to imbue them with various interesting properties...
Opinion: Modern-day metallurgy and metallurgical sciences, though its knowledge is formidable in this area -- has probably just "scratched the surface" of all that is possible...
In other words, experimentation, much more future experimentation -- is required in this area...
[+] [-] yiyus|5 years ago|reply
We know. The field of materials science is perfectly aware of these effects. We even have a quite good theoretical knowledge to explain almost everything, and some very good models built on that knowledge. I would even say that more research into new alloys is performed by modelling techniques than experimentation nowadays (for sure, this is the case now, with many labs and universities closed because of corona).
New alloys are constantly being studied. We perform experiments, we run simulations, we have AI frameworks running thousands of those simulations... However, you have to take into account that the metallurgical industry has a huge inertia. We can make pretty good steel and aluminum alloys at a very cheap cost. The market for new ideas is not easy. You can maybe make some profit from high-end sports or medical equipment, but it is very difficult to make a new alloy profitable at a large industrial level.
[+] [-] jj669|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mywacaday|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ogre_codes|5 years ago|reply
There are a few brands which stick to aluminum, ti, and steel, mostly boutique brands.
One of my favorite bikes is a scandium single-speed, I still have the frame out in storage. It's a Kona Kula. Been thinking about rebuilding it lately.
[+] [-] mpol|5 years ago|reply
For road racing there is no point in scandium anymore, carbon frames are made lighter, stiffer and more comfortable. The Scott Scandium from 2000 was below 1kg, the Scott CR1 from 2006 was even lighter in carbon, and more comfortable.
For tourists using road bikes, most people who pay for a highend bicycle will also have that be seen, with carbon, just like the professionals. There is no demand anymore for highend aluminium/scandium frames.
Then the really light scandium frames were well know for cracking, like the Scott Scandium. They were made to be raced and used for a few seasons. I doubt many have survived. I would love to have a bicycle like that, I think the Scott Scandium is beautiful, but I also know I will probably not like it much for riding.
[+] [-] JeremyNT|5 years ago|reply
Now, sure, the idea of "high end aluminum" doesn't make much sense in comparison to carbon. However, I think I still mostly buy this article.
Throughout the '00s carbon composites really remained prohibitively expensive, and even many mid-high range bikes would still be some kind of alloy with a carbon fork and at best carbon stays. It's only in the last decade or so that carbon has become cost competitive enough to reach well into the midrange frame market.
I think marketing was a huge part of this too. Once carbon was associated with "good" any aluminum alloy was immediately less desirable. There's just not much room in the middle there especially as CF was much more visually distinctive, and would be more likely to be recognized by another cyclist (i.e. as a status symbol).
[+] [-] Cockbrand|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] baybal2|5 years ago|reply
Ex-Union countries ran out of jet fighters to smelt for bicycle frames?
As I understand, there nowhere is in the world where Scandium is mined commercially now, and the world is still living off scandium oxide stashed by somebody very lucky right around USSR collapse?
[+] [-] canada_dry|5 years ago|reply
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar_Lake_Mine
[+] [-] tomglynch|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yiyus|5 years ago|reply
This is not how grain size strengthening works. With smaller grains, there are more grain boundaries. These boundaries present an obstacle to the movement of dislocations, increasing the resistance to deformation.
Density is not affected by grain size, larger grains do not have any gaps between them.
[+] [-] Trias11|5 years ago|reply
Can't beat it's quality to price ratio with super exotic scandium.
[+] [-] ogre_codes|5 years ago|reply
They've pretty much both gone out of style and largely not for the reasons this article suggest. Carbon fiber more or less took over the higher end of the bike industry. It is lighter and can be tuned for better ride characteristics than either Ti or Scandium (it can be stiffer than aluminum or or more flexible depending on layup).
Carbon is even pushing aluminum out of the mid-high end of the bike market in many places.
[+] [-] denimnerd42|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] YawningAngel|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nl|5 years ago|reply
Also, from the article:
Any time you ride a high-quality aluminum racing frame made of welded 7005 series aluminum, you're probably riding on a little scandium. A lot of 6061 grade aluminums use scandium too. In fact, the bicycle industry is one of the biggest scandium markets, still.
[+] [-] supernova87a|5 years ago|reply
We could only wish that buying some special material would make us go appreciably faster.
[+] [-] bennyelv|5 years ago|reply
Well that depends what engine you put on it sir...
[+] [-] mariusor|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lormayna|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dfgdghdf|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TwoBit|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] car|5 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/jwst_mirror....
[+] [-] vondur|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ogre_codes|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Keres|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
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