Longer-Lasting Blades of the Future

An interesting article about a new study demonstrating that heterogeneity of the microscopic structure of a razor blade contributes to its wear through cutting hairs, with a suggestion that if a more homogeneous metal can be developed, a blade will last longer. 
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-dulls-shar...azors.html

That’s interesting John!  Thanks!

Vr

Matt

Fascinating stuff - thanks for sharing John!

Great find. Thanks for sharing.

eric.

Unfortunately, an MIT education ain't what it used to be. They are basically talking about a cast iron skillet in a coated non-stick pan World. They are not taking into account the edges on modern blades are sputtered/hardened with a host of proprietary methods of which they cannot duplicate for their pseudo-testing. As well, it's been known for over fifty years that blades chipped. Modern DE coated blades are not "sharp", but rather smooth due to sputter hardened edges and blade coating. 


Here's a modern updated patent by Gillette that explains it better:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A razor blade typically is formed of suitable substrate material such as metal or ceramic. An edge is formed in the razor blade with a wedge-shape configuration having an ultimate edge or tip that has a radius of less than about 1000 angstroms, the wedge shaped surfaces having an included angle of less than 30°. As the shaving action is severe and blade edge damage frequently results, in order to enhance shavability, the use of one or more layers of supplemental coating material has been proposed for shave facilitation, and/or to increase the hardness, strength and/or corrosion resistance of the shaving edge. A number of such coating materials has been proposed, such as polymeric materials, metals and alloys, as well as other materials including diamond and diamond-like carbon material. Diamond and diamond-like carbon materials may be characterized as having substantial sp3 carbon bonding; a mass density greater than 2.5 grams/cm3; and a Raman peak at about 133 cm−1 (diamond) or about 1550 cm−1 (diamond-like carbon). Each such layer or layers of supplemental material desirably provides characteristics such as improved shavability, improved hardness, edge strength and/or corrosion resistance while not adversely affecting the geometry and cutting effectiveness of the shaving edge. However, such proposals have not been satisfactory due to the tendency of the diamond or diamond-like coated edge to have poor adhesion to and to peel off from the wedge-shaped edge of the substrate...


http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7966909.html