Experimentation with exotic materials

[ecksdee]

(Edited from original post significantly)


I am interested in working with really exotic materials to try to produce a pick that provides feedback that exceeds even the best spring steel homebrews. I need to know some more about metal properties to make this work.

But to pick out candidates, I need to know a bit about metal properties as they apply to lockpicking.

It seems to me that the three important properties are ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elastic modulus.

My understanding of these is that the two most important properties are a low elastic modulus and a high yield strength. Is this a correct interpretation?


It is worth noting that I am going to do a lot of experimentation with more forgiving materials first- I do not want to waste samples of some exotic alloy that will likely be extremely expensive.

Prominent candidates include:

Titanium 6-6-2
Phynox (superalloy)
Ti-3Al-8V-6C5-4Mo-4Zr (also a superalloy)


Any input would be appreciated!

[Scrince]

I will look into it, seems like an interesting project.

[ecksdee]

It appears that the GOSO pickset is made out of titanium carbide (TI8C12, so no other metals). Does anyone own the GOSOs, and what is your impression of them?

[nozza36]

My personal opinion of GOSO is that they are very weak (pin tumbler type picks) the Auto type picks , i cannot comment on as i don't know which type of locks to try
them on and can't afford to guess ! if anyone can give an honest report on each of the picks , i would be very interested !

[ecksdee]

Alright then- I'm not surprised that titanium alone isn't up to the job, which is why an alloy might be a cool thought...

[huxleypig]

I have the GOSO's and I think they're ok actually. I only ever broke 1 of them and the hook with the little indent cut out of it has had some major usage on vehicle wafers.

[ecksdee]

After looking into it, it seems that a really excellent titanium alloy will cost approximately 15-20 times what a high quality type 301 steel would cost. I think that the price still needs to go down before this becomes feasible, but I certainly do see a huge amount of potential in working with titanium alloys still.

[ecksdee]

Post bumped due to edits that significantly change the original.

[axegod5150]

i have a set of goso picks, i like them. the feedback they give is really crisp and responsive. they seem fairly strong to me, dispite how thin some of the picks are. i am not too rough on them but i have never broken one. they seem to be plated with another gold colored metal that is flaking off a few of my picks. other than a slight change of texture i have not noticed it advesley altering feedback.

[ecksdee]

Good to know! I might need to pick up the gosos and give them a spin!

But I think we have a winner material-wise...

Inconel X750, a superalloy of nickel, chromium, and titanium that is second only to BS5216 steel in strength (which is available only in wire form) and is cheap by superalloy standards, with strip rolls costing only about 75 dollars from the preliminary research I've done.


UPDATE: I have sent emails to a few distributors asking for a price for a very small order. We'll see what develops.

[Josh66]

I have a few picks that I made out of titanium (6AL-4V). Depending on the thickness, it works well. Too thin and it flexes really easy, but it always seems to spring back - it's just not as rigid as you would expect it to be.

We use it a lot at work, so I have a bunch of pick sized scraps laying around... If I couldn't find it in the scrap bin, it would be cost prohibitive to use. I think the stuff we were getting was usually $100-150 per square foot (depending on thickness).


We used to use a lot of Inconel too - but not so much these days... Never tried making a pick from it.