Runner materials

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wingnut 772:
I was wondering if anyone is using precipitated stainless steel for runners. I read about it from Daan Schute's article about it.
John

Ken Smith:
Don't know where you read that article, but please share it...

Runners are often made of hardenable stainless, 440C being most common in the US.  Specialty runners are also common in 316 and sometimes 304.  These softer materials work well in snow and slush.

Not to say these wouldn't be great, but it is hard to experiment with expensive components in the limited time we have to sail and when we have a good solution.

Criteria for the perfect material:  sharpenable, will easily polish, ductile (resists cracking), hard (resists wear, holds an edge), machineable, available, and steel alloy (not nickel or cobalt or titanium, DN rules), corrosion resistant, doesn't warp when heated, low friction on ice, cheap, available in many T-shapes, angles, plate and bar thicknesses to 0.27 inches

Common solutions:  Mild steel (cheapest), spring steel, tool steel (Sarns), austinitic stainless (316), martensitic stainless (440C) (Sherry product)


See
http://www.materialsengineer.com/E-Stainless-Steel.htm
or
http://www.alleghenytechnologies.com/ludlum/pages/products/xq/asp/G.11/qx/ProductLine.html
or
http://www.alleghenytechnologies.com/ludlum/pages/products/xq/asp/G.4/qx/ProductLine.html


for some background on stainless.

wingnut 772:
Ken I found a link to the link about the precipitated steel.
its on this website  in its links section on the right . It stats with eissensomething bla bla bla

http://home.maine.rr.com/iceboatmaine/index.html/Runner%20Talk.html

John

daan h633:
I have not seen any recent development in precipitation hardening stainless steels that would produce an alloy really suitable for iceboat runners.
The problem:
All alloys that can be hardened sufficiently (AISI 632 seems suitable) contain elements that are really bad for polishability. This is particularly true for aluminum and titanium.
So, we will have to wait for further developments in this industry.
For now 304, 316 and 440C are best.

Daan

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