What Materials Can Replace Steel?

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The price of nickel and stainless steel rose together. Nickel afternoon hand in hand with stainless steel together turn red up. Due to the temporary easing of geopolitical risks, risk assets are now picking up, nonferrous metals, stock markets, and so on have risen, the overall mood has temporarily improved. Ore prices are strong, the overlay of the epidemic on spot logistics or the formation of a certain impact. Phase, nickel and stainless steel materials to maintain high wide concussion pattern.

Nickel prices based on low inventory, tight supply and demand will still show high wide fluctuations. In addition, the current LME has low liquidity, so its sensitivity to capital will remain relatively high. Shanghai nickel-wide fluctuations are expected to continue in the 200,000-250,000 yuan wide repeated fluctuation trend. While stainless steel is affected by the stronger nickel pig iron, the cost support continues, but note that under the current demand is not effectively released, the upward space may also be affected, the stage is expected to fluctuate between 20000 and 22,000 yuan. The price of nickel produced such fluctuations, indicating that the price of the titanium carbide powder may also be affected to a certain extent.

We use steel to build houses, parks, and playgrounds. If steel no longer exists, or if we have to build cities on Mars, what materials can replace steel?
 
Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP)
It was first heard in 1940. Fiberglass has no steel in it, but it is very hard: An 8mm thick glass plate cannot be penetrated by a speeding bullet.
To make fiberglass, glass is first melted and drawn into wires. Glass fiber is very elastic and can be spun into cloth. Fiberglass or glass-reinforced plastics are made by pressing layers of glass cloth together and adding heat treatment to a hot-melt plastic.



The mechanical strength of fiberglass is comparable to that of steel, but it weighs only a quarter of that of steel, so it's very light. Moreover, fiberglass does not rust, and does not conduct electricity.
Glass fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) is a new technological material, which is light, beautiful, and strong, and can be used to make car bodies, motorboat hulls, railway carriages, construction materials, etc. The body of a car made of fiberglass weighs just over 150 kilograms. Fiberglass powerboats don't rust and rot, and they can be made into one piece without splicing. If the body of the boat breaks somewhere, just put some adhesive resin around it and put pieces of glass cloth on it.
The use of FRP is more and more extensive. In the military, FRP is used to make light tanks and gunboats, and in sports, FRP is used to make pole vaulting poles and bows for archery. In life, FRP is also used to manufacture furniture and kitchen bath equipment, such as bathtubs, sinks, which are beautiful, light, strong, and durable. 
 
Ceramic
Iron and steel materials have many advantages, but it also has many defects, such as not corrosion resistance, not high-temperature resistance, not being hard enough, and heat insulation. Ceramics make up for these defects.
We all know that ceramics are fragile. After analyzing the composition of ordinary ceramics, scientists believe that one of its main materials, clay containing more impurities, is the source of ordinary ceramics' easy cracking. So, a silver-gray silicon nitride ceramic was made by mixing sand, starch, and zirconia in a nitrogen-filled furnace at 1,400 °C for seven hours.
 


This colorful high-tech ceramic, with almost the same specific weight as aluminum, can withstand high temperatures of more than 1500℃, and has very good toughness, and amazing hardness, only diamond can cut it. Since then, silicon carbide, zirconia, titanium carbide, toughened alumina, and other new ceramic materials have come out.
 
Different high-tech ceramics with different compositions have their own use.
Zirconia ceramics, for example, are particularly resistant to wear, corrosion, and high temperatures. Engine cylinders made of zirconia do not need a cooling system so that the heat generated by fuel combustion in the cylinder can be converted into the power required by the car to the maximum. In addition, the new cylinder is hard, not easy to wear, and the acid gas is formed by the decomposition of fuel oil corrosion. Therefore, this high-tech ceramic automobile engine has a long service life, high power, low manufacturing cost, and can save a lot of metal materials and 30% of the fuel consumption. 
More interesting is that the cutting tool is made of high-tech zirconium-containing ceramics, once the knife body is impacted by external forces and cracks, it will automatically expand, and the cracks will be closed. Zirconia ceramic scissors, the blade is not blunt, rust not crack, known as never scrap "long life scissors". 
 
The development of high and new technology can make ceramic become harder than iron and steel, and also can make it as ductile and plastic as copper, aluminum, and other non-ferrous metals. Titanium oxide ceramics, for example, are ground into extremely fine grains and, with a binder, melted into sheets at high temperatures. Simply heat the sheet to 1809°C and crush it. The result is a wavy ceramic plate. Another calcium fluoride ceramic, even when heated to 80℃, takes on the characteristics of extrusion deformation.
 
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Gas prices in European countries are expected to triple if Russian supplies are restricted, according to a press release from Rystad Energy, a Norwegian Energy consultancy.  

The price of natural gas in Europe was $1,200 per 1,000 cubic meters on Tuesday. The benchmark price is already 300 percent higher than a year ago. European gas prices are expected to continue to soar to $3,500 per 1,000 cubic meters if Russian supplies are restricted, according to Analysis by Monitor.

In 2021, Russia delivered 155 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, accounting for 31 percent of its gas supply, according to an analysis by Monitor Advisors. It would be difficult for Europe to replace Russian gas, which would also destabilize the global LNG market and have a profound impact on Europe's population and economy.

The analysis also said that if Russia stopped supplies now, Europe's current gas reserves would be exhausted by the end of the year, setting in for a cold winter.

In addition, affected by the geopolitical factors, the supply of the titanium carbide powder is erratic and thus its prices are expected to go higher in the future.

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