Sorry, but I've got to jump in here... Speaking as a former US Navy nuclear submarine officer.
I can't address how the Soviets made the titanium hulls of the Alfa class fast attack submarines, but the HY-80 or HY-100 steel hulls of American submarines were NOT made by guys in argon filled rooms. Ever been to a shipyard? These things are welded outdoors, both during new construction and for repairs - for example, when you have to cut out a patch from the hull to remove a big piece of equipment. Proper temperature control of the weld area is vital, and difficult, because the steel hulls are several inches thick. I doubt that this has much at all to do with lightweight classic bike construction practices and materials.
Fred Beavers Boulder
On Wednesday, March 21, 2001 9:54 AM, Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Ti at ANY diameter will be stronger
>> than steel. The fact that they make submarine hulls
>> out of the stuff is a dead give away.
>
>Hey, I'm no expert but...
>While the whole strength to weight vs. strength to
>volume issue is relevant here, I'll skip past it since
>since Mark B. seems to have it covered. All that
>aside, I think that it is the magnetic properties of
>titanium that make it suitable for submarine hulls.
>It has to be quite a bit harder to detect the magnetic
>anomaly of several hundered tons of titanium compared
>to a similar mass of steel. Titanium's corrosion
>resistance probably further supports its suitably to
>the application.
>
>As a side note, I heard from a reliable source (okay,
>it was the guys on Car Talk, but they're reliable,
>right?) inert gas welding of sub hulls is carried out
>in a somewhat different fashion than it is for bike
>frames. The weld area on a bike frame is purged of
>oxygen by flowing argon from the welding tool. Sub
>hulls are welded in giant rooms full of argon by guys
>breathing from an outside air source. Hard to
>believe???
>
>Tom "believes everything he hears on NPR" Dalton
>
>--- Bikerdaver@aol.com wrote:
>> In a message dated 3/19/01 7:39:19 PM PST,
>> sachs@erols.com writes:
>>
>> > Just a note of caution re this particular
>> excursion with "unobtanium:"
>> > At an equivalent diameter, Ti will not be as
>> resistant to bending as steel
>> > (as I recall it).
>> >
>> They don't call it Titanium for nothing. Ti at ANY
>> diameter will be stronger
>> than steel. The fact that they make submarine hulls
>> out of the stuff is a
>> dead give away. Or better yet, the wing skeleton of
>> a 747 is made from Ti
>> tubing. You can pick up a 50 ft section with a 8
>> inch diameter and wall
>> thickness 1.5mm, drop it from over your head: It
>> won't even ding. Try do that
>> with any steel alloy of the same configurations any
>> day of the week. Cheers,
>> Dave Anderson
>>
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