Got a Real-World Weapon or Armor Question? Mk. VI

[Galloglaich]

Don't know how this slipped by...

Titanium is an amazingly poor material to make weapons or armor out of. Like aluminum, it is strong for it's weight. They don't build airframes out of titanium because it's strong, they do it because it is light and strong for it's weight. There's a reason cruisers are made from good old steel. Also like aluminum, almost any product produced and billed as titanium is in fact a complex titanium alloy. Not that ancient weapon and armorsmiths would want to work with it if they could.

When it comes to weapons and armor, even titanium alloys fall far short of steel. To achieve the same strength as a weapon or armor piece constructed of steel, a titanium alloy piece would need to be many times thicker, which would of course make the piece heavier, and counteract the titanium alloy's one advantage, it's weight (not to mention giving the piece unwieldy dimensions).

Not to belittle your titanium chain-shirt experience, but I highly doubt you guys are swinging steel weapons with the intent to kill eachother. Titanium alloy protective pieces are fine for industrial applications where accidental laceration protection is the intent, but it goes without saying that this is far different from mortal combat. Bottom line, when big dudes are swinging steel your direction, with the intent to kill, you want to be wearing steel too.

Agreed 10000% on all points. People today really don't grasp what an extraordinary material steel really is, probably because they almost never deal with anything other than fairly low quality chromium (stainless) or industrial steels like in rebar or car doors. Very few people (including most re-enactors) have ever seen or held anything like a real Medieval sword let alone armor.

I happen to know for a fact that the DoD did look into using tempered steel armor, specifically examining (and in the process, destroying) some pieces of Renaissance European armor, not for body armor for individual troops but for armored vehicles as an alternative to industrial rolled steel etc. Their conclusion was it was too expensive to produce that way, but the tempered steel was far superior to modern materials for the purpose of ballistic resistance.

G.