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No more worn out chains and chainrings? Engineers develop self lubing, super hardwearing metal alloy that's as hard as diamond

Everlasting drivetrain becomes a theoretical possibility (no, that's not it in the pic) – and if we ever get them they're not going to be cheap

Imagine a world where the bicycle chain almost never needs replacing or lubing, and bearings spin smoothly forever? Don't hold your breath, but engineers at the Sandia National Laboratories have developed an alloy of gold and platinum that is claimed to be the world’s most wear-resistant metal, 100 times more durable than high-strength steel with the added bonus of self-lubricating. 

Obviously, it takes many years before developments in the lab make it into the real world (we're still waiting for the graphene revolution), but practical applications as far as the humble bicycle is concerned could be those components that eventually wear out, such as ball bearings, chainrings and chains.

- Ceramic bearings: the pros and cons

That’s because when metals rub against other metals they eventually wear down. Making those components out of very hard metals to resist wear is commonly used. This new platinum-gold alloy is a coating that is said to produce the most wear-resistant metal in the world and could prolong the life of those components massively, as reported by https://phys.org

"Many traditional alloys were developed to increase the strength of a material by reducing grain size," said John Curry, a postdoctoral appointee at Sandia and first author on the paper. "Even still, in the presence of extreme stresses and temperatures, many alloys will coarsen or soften, especially under fatigue. We saw that with our platinum-gold alloy the mechanical and thermal stability is excellent, and we did not see much change to the microstructure over immensely long periods of cyclic stress during sliding."

An unlikely benefit of the new metal alloy is the creation of its own lubricant. “One day, while measuring wear on their platinum-gold, an unexpected black film started forming on top. They recognised it: diamond-like carbon, one of the world's best man-made coatings, slick as graphite and hard as diamond. Their creation was making its own lubricant, and a good one at that.”

Muc-off launches new Nanotube chain, promising 10 watt efficiency saving

It sounds too good to be true. A material that is hard as diamond and creates its own lube. Imagine chains, sprockets, chainrings and bearings made of the stuff? It could massively increase service and lubing intervals.

"We showed there's a fundamental change you can make to some alloys that will impart this tremendous increase in performance over a broad range of real, practical metals," said materials scientist Nic Argibay.

Head over to https://phys.org/news/2018-08-wear-resistant-metal-alloy-world.html if you want to read more about this discovery.

So could a drivetrain that never wears out or needs lubing one day be created? If it does ever reach a bicycle it doesn't take an expert to know it's going to be mega bucks. What do you think?

 

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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9 comments

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Stef Marazzi | 5 years ago
0 likes

I wish a lot more bike products, reviews of kit, and also comparisions between products did concentrate more on reliability.

For example, which cassettes, chainrings, chains, lasts better, Tiagra, 105 or Ultegra, vs SRAM Rival, Force, Red, Vs. Campag Athena, Potenza, etc. Is there an optimum groupset for reliability?

Which wheel rims and bearings last longest for year round commuting, Mavic Aksiums, Fulcrum racing 7s, etc. Which wheels will be bombproof for commuting and last three or four winters?

Which type of bike frame material suffers the least/most failures? Carbon, Alloy, steel, etc. Which one will not crack? Or cracks the least?

This is the kind of info I think would be really useful and help make informed decisions on buying products. Otherwise everything is down to each persons trial and errror.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Stef Marazzi | 5 years ago
1 like

cyclesteffer wrote:

I wish a lot more bike products, reviews of kit, and also comparisions between products did concentrate more on reliability.

For example, which cassettes, chainrings, chains, lasts better, Tiagra, 105 or Ultegra, vs SRAM Rival, Force, Red, Vs. Campag Athena, Potenza, etc. Is there an optimum groupset for reliability?

Which wheel rims and bearings last longest for year round commuting, Mavic Aksiums, Fulcrum racing 7s, etc. Which wheels will be bombproof for commuting and last three or four winters?

Which type of bike frame material suffers the least/most failures? Carbon, Alloy, steel, etc. Which one will not crack? Or cracks the least?

This is the kind of info I think would be really useful and help make informed decisions on buying products. Otherwise everything is down to each persons trial and errror.

Yeah, that'd be nice.

You'd need a lot of resources to do testing on all the different components or maybe a lot of testing machinery and I'm doubtful that road.cc has the necessary resources.

It's probably easier to set up some kind of reliability voting scheme whereby users could vote on different products for long-term issues like reliability etc.

Avatar
xerxes | 5 years ago
2 likes

If an everlasting drivetrain could be made, would any manufacturer actually produce it?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to xerxes | 5 years ago
4 likes

xerxes wrote:

If an everlasting drivetrain could be made, would any manufacturer actually produce it?

Yes, but only once.

Avatar
I am a human | 5 years ago
6 likes

An alloy of the most expensive metal and the second most expensive metal!  Affordable for all!  It's like in the Simpsons.  "Bring us the finest food you got, stuffed with the second finest."

Avatar
slappop replied to I am a human | 5 years ago
0 likes

I am a human wrote:

An alloy of the most expensive metal and the second most expensive metal!  Affordable for all!  It's like in the Simpsons.  "Bring us the finest food you got, stuffed with the second finest."

The article didn't mention Rhodium.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
3 likes

I still want rims and brake rotors coated with this - that would definitely increase speed.

Avatar
David Arthur @d... replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
5 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

I still want rims and brake rotors coated with this - that would definitely increase speed.

 

Or you could just remove your brakes if you want to increase speed, would be much cheaper and you could do it today

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to David Arthur @davearthur | 5 years ago
9 likes

David Arthur @davearthur wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

I still want rims and brake rotors coated with this - that would definitely increase speed.

 

Or you could just remove your brakes if you want to increase speed, would be much cheaper and you could do it today

If I removed my brakes, how would I get involved in heated discussions about rim vs disc brakes?

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