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US 8,186,561 B2Granted
Solid state processing of hand-held knife blades to improve blade performance
AssigneeMegastir Technologies LLC
InventorsCharles E. Allen, Richard A. Flak, Scott M. Packer, Russell J. Steel, Hobie Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for friction stir processing of a hand-held cutting edge, wherein friction stir processing techniques are used to modify the properties of the hand-held cutting edge to obtain superior edge retention and superior resistance to chipping of the hand-held cutting edge.
Claims18
A method for creating a metallic blade for a hand-held knife, said method comprising the steps of:
- 1) providing a high melting temperature metallic workpiece that is to be formed into a hand-held knife blade;
- 2) providing a friction stir processing tool that includes a higher melting temperature material than the base material on a portion thereof;
- and
- 3) friction stir processing at least a portion of the workpiece using the tool to thereby modify characteristics thereof, wherein the friction stir processing includes modifying a microstructure of the workpiece and friction stir mixing diamond particles into the workpiece to produce a friction stir processed region;
- and
- 4) forming the blade of the hand-held knife blade from the workpiece, such that a cutting edge of the blade is formed within the friction stir processed region of the workpiece such that the edge will resist fracturing on the edge after repeated impacts thereon while also retaining a shaving sharpness, and wherein the edge will retain these characteristics longer than an edge on a conventional blade unmodified by friction stir processing which exhibits an inverse relationship between impact resistance and toughness in comparison to wear resistance and hardness.
3 more elements
A method for creating a metallic blade for a hand-held knife, said method comprising the steps of:
- 1) providing a high melting temperature metallic workpiece that is to be formed into a hand-held knife blade;
- 2) providing a friction stir processing tool that includes a higher melting temperature material than the base material on a portion thereof, the friction stir processing tool having a shank, a shoulder and a pin;
- 3) friction stir processing using the tool to thereby modify characteristics thereof using a surface area of the pin to process at least a portion of the surface of the workpiece without plunging the pin into the workpiece;
- and
- 4) forming the blade of the hand-held knife blade from the workpiece, such that an edge of the blade is formed in the at least a portion of the workpiece that has been friction stir processed such that the edge will resist fracturing on the edge after repeated impacts thereon while also retaining a shaving sharpness, and wherein the ‘edge will retain these characteristics longer than an edge on a conventional blade that is not modified using friction stir processing.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.