Detroit DIYer cooks up stronger, lighter steel... shames scientists?

Read this article on Engadget from back in 2011 first.

The non-(civil-)engineers, of course, are in high praise for the "little guy" one-upping the "big guys" (i.e. the scientists). Because, sure, stronger and lighter steel is good. And faster production time.

But hey, a DIYer discovering something is also almost effectively a scientist. An accidental one, maybe. But yeah, journalism is about sensationalization, so, framing it like he's "one of us" and not one of those stupid people who studied for years to get a PhD and did whatever else in his career who can't even discover this thing -- that's good for a journalistic publication. Touches people's emotions, certainly.



Now, is this new discovery really good for the rest of us? Sure, we desire stronger and lighter steel, and one that's probably faster to produce. But as civil/structural engineers, there is one very important property of steel that we almost cannot live without: ductility.

I can't find any further information but that's the first thing I would look for. How ductile is this new type of steel? Because if it is not that ductile enough, it will only find itself in very limited applications.

The next question is price. This stronger and lighter steel would then be almost equivalent to CFRPs (carbon fiber reinforced polymers), which are much more expensive than ordinary steel. The question is, will the rise of one result in the downfall of the other? (Will this new stronger/lighter steel replace the need for CFRPs, or the other way around? Will CFRP prices go down?) Let the industry wars begin.