Summit Materials SM-100 Knife Steel
Composition Analysis Graph, Equivalents And Overview

SM-100(Summit Materials) - Variation of the Crucieble NiTiNol 60 alloy. Composition was tweaked to improve manufacturing process, but exact numbers have not been published yet. Promotional materials refer to NASA tests and mention twice the life expectancy compared to AISI 440C, although the tests were done for bearings, not knives. Not sure why, but even Summit Materials own web page cites two different working hardness ranges 56-62HRC on the materials page and 57-64HRC on the home page. 2 HRC especially when we'retalking about 62 vs. 64HRC can translate into huge difference in edge holding, edge thickness etc. I'm trying to get more precise data. NiTiNOL knives are speced at 65HRC. Another point to consider, alloy has very low Young's modulus value 47-90 vs 200 and above on more conventional steels. Can't tell without testing an actual knife, but low Young's modulus could affect edge stability and strength negatively. In other words edges might require extra thickness to sustain themselves, which would definitely be a negative. Other Titanium and Cobalt alloys such as Talonite and Stelitte 6B, Stelitte 6K have the same problem with thick edges. Keep in mind, this is purely a guess, based on a particular property.

Manufacturing Technology - CPM

Country - United States(US)