How iron feels the heat

phys.org

21 pointsseverine2 comments

This is very cool, but the article failed to bring the implications back to the macro level. My question is, what predictions does this new understanding allow that would be testable by a blacksmith. (If any) Note: this is entirely a personal criteria for interestingness and not a judgement on basic science, which is assuredly valuable.

It probably hasn't led to any predictions yet. This seems to be a theoretical model for empirical phenomena.

I took a course in material science once, and it's ridiculous how many variables are involved in developing new alloys. Not only does the precise ratio of several ingredients matter, you can get wildly different results by heating the metal to slightly different temperatures. Even the rate at which you cool the metal after heating matters. If we have a better understanding of the underlying processes, maybe we can better decide what experiments are worth trying.

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