In article >,
Doug Freyburger > wrote:

> Omelet wrote:
> > Dave Smith > wrote:
> >> George wrote:
> >
> >> > In the case of S/S it is the nickle which makes it non-magnetic. S/S
> >> > that contains both chromium and nickle is called "austenitic" or
> >> > commonly known as 300 series. 300 series alloys that have low amounts of
> >> > nickle can become magnetized.
> >
> >> Curiously, nickel is magnetic. However, when it is added to steel the
> >> crystals are formed in a way that makes the product non-magnetic.
> >
> > So magnetism is a property of metallic structure and not elemental
> > content?
>
> Magnetic retention is a function of the element combine with the crystal
> structure. Because magnets have poles even on the scale of atoms it's
> possible to form crystals where the poles line up to make the object
> more magnetic and it's possible to form crystals where the poles go
> opposite to make an object that is nearly non-magnetic.
>
> Crystal structure is microscopic, metallic structure is macroscopic.
> Metals are made of lots of crystals put together. If a crystal can
> shift its pole to line up with other poles then the ramdom crystals in
> the metal is magnetic. If a crystal can't shift its pol to line up then
> the fact that there are a lot of randomly oriented crystals keep the
> metal non-magnetic.

So it's a matter of molecular alignment?
>
> If you've ever worked with sugar to manipulate its many types of
> crystals to make hard candy versus fudge you know how complex and
> technical it can be. Metalurgy with iron/steel has the exact same set
> of issues.

Which keeps it on topic. <g>
>
> For that matter chocolate is temperer to make it stronger using
> temperature sequences in a way that very much reminds me of tempering
> steel by using temperature sequences. Both sugar and steel are made of
> a single material (iron or glucose/fructose) that can have many
> different crystal structures and so both can be manipulated with skill.
>
> A highly skilled candy maker and a highly skilled steel smith could
> learn each other's dictionary of technical terms and crcoss train in
> each other's skill with less effort than you might expect.

<lol> How fun!
>
> When I watch Challenge on FoodTV I often watch the candy specialists
> temper chocolate and/or sugar and wonder what sort of mixtures they
> could use to make their sculptures stronger and less brittle. With
> steel it's done by making the metal soft on the inside and hard on the
> outside with a quick quench to drop the temperature and freeze the
> crystal structure. Making candy sculptures is very similar in principle
> to making buildings or bridges.

Thanks. :-)
--
Peace! Om

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