Duane Dwyer is well known for his association with a Strider Knives. His other project is Summit Materials and he has been working on the HIPTiNite material since 2006. Over the years, he’s given me updates on its progress and now, his patents have been granted, it’s being purchased for use in bearings and the first knives are being manufactured. The specialized commercial interest is really picking up. Imagine a knee prosthesis that never wears out from friction in addition to myriad aerospace and gas/oil industry applications. Amazingly, some of the biggest interest is in the F1 circuit.
All of the materials that are PM grades (particle metallurgy) go through a process involving atomization individually and then as a combined material. They are all combined in a process called Hot Isostatic Press (HIP).
You’ll notice that Summit Materials’ new HIPTiNite material combines this HIP process as well as the atomic symbol for Titanium and Nickel because it’s a binary alloy of nickel and titanium. It’s extremely light and abrasion resistant. That’s right, it’s abrasion resistant. You just don’t normally test metal for abrasion resistance, especially a metal used in knives. In fact, after testing HIPTiNite, NASA had to extend the scale to accommodate the material’s performance. This measurement is called the Model Factor.
It’s the world’s first through-hardenable material to achieve 60HRC+ in a non-ferrous matrix. I asked what it takes to sharpen this material and Duane said, “patience…” He feels that ceramic is the best bet.
Additionally, it has corrosion resistance unmatched by any other hardenable material in history. This includes sea water as well as acids and other corrosives.
Look for a more comprehensive report on this amazing new material next week.
Tags: Blade Show 2014, Summit Materials
Wow, I have the feeling this is something we should keep or eyes on! I wonder if the small arms industry already is looking for uses of this material.
According to the website, “We’re working with the military and several firearm manufacturers investigating SM-100 for barrel and wear components. All we can show here is a barrel preform for a large military firearm.”
http://www.summitmaterials.com/sm-100/other-projects/
Very interesting stuff!
Someone will release a hiptinite bolt carrier group for ARs in 3…2…1…
It’s a little expensive for that
If it’s abrasion resistant, do you need special tools to sharpen it?
Infused diamond grinding stones, perhaps. Just like tungsten carbide inserts for cutting tools do.
I mentioned it in the article.
So can u send it back to them to sharpen?
That’d be a great idea to offer that.
Or just get a Spyderco Sharpmaker or an EdgePro setup with the ceramic rods as Duane suggested.
as a machinist i find this very interesting
This sounds like nitinol. It’s a nifty material, but it’s not new. Wikipedia has good info on it. Nitinol is more commonly used for its shape memory property, meaning you can bend or crumple it, then heat it, and it will un-bend itself back into its original shape. There are videos of this on Youtube.
The HIP process sounds like sintering, and using it makes sense given nitinol’s properties.