On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 20:54:10 -0500, Martin Eastburn
wrote:

Oh you mean it is a Craft Metal. Not a Production Metal.
No wonder.
Martin

I wouldn't call either of them "craft." They're just very expensive,
special-purpose steels. Rex 121 is a tool steel, sometimes called a
"bridge material," bridging the gap between ordinary HSS and tungsten
carbide; maraging has an extraordinary combination of properties
(extremely high strength, combined with ductility) that sometimes
justifies its very high cost.

--
Ed Huntress



On 10/17/2017 8:03 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 19:03:42 -0500, Martin Eastburn
wrote:

If you buy metal from these and in little chunks you pay more
and a lot more.

I used to buy AR500 (expensive) by the 4x10' have it cut into 4
so I could carry it. 3/8" thick weighs like 1/2" A36. It is
extremely dense and full of exotic metal. It is a registered
product. (with the FBI).

I bought mine from a MILL company. They barge the large sheets
in and use 80' rail cars to tote them from the barge to their
facility.

Martin

Well, Crucible CPM Rex 121 is hot-isostatically-pressed powdered
metal. You can put their biggest pieces -- a lot of them -- into the
back seat of a Fiat 500. g

As for maraging steel, most customers are governments. We embargoed
maraging steel to Iran, because one of its critical uses is in making
uranium centrifuges.

It's not something that you buy in large quantities unless you're
making ICBMs, air-superiority fighters, or equipment for making
nuclear warheads.

There's a growing use for it in 3D printing, but that's another story.