Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman
The Antikythera mechanism is still recognisable after 2000 years in the sea.
More recently, copper sheathing for ships was proposed at late TL4 and implemented in early TL5, which I suspect was when thin copper sheet could be made cheaply enough. Copper does not corrode in sea water, although it very slowly dissolves: ship sheathing had to be replaced after a decade or so as it wore thin at places where water moved at high velocity over a hull. Copper will also slowly leach from some alloys, such as Muntz metal, a high-zinc brass that was cheaper than copper.
Tin bronzes should last long enough to be useful. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by weby
Different alloys make a lot of difference, so a bit depending on your technology, but most metals actually tend to survive a while in water.
I do not know about bronze, but the copper sheathing proved fairly long lasting in ships (though as the corrosion process was not understood, the iron bolts had significant corrosion issues on the early experiments). Copper has a self protecting feature from corrosion where a less reactive surface forms protecting from corrosion. Iron does not form such (at least to a significant degree).
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I knew that copper was used to protect the hulls of wooden sailing ships.
What I'm wondering is if the alloying of copper with tin and other metals that make into bronze from which effective weapons can be constructed means that corrosion is hastened so much that the extra strength is not worth it.
Is it better to sell the sahuagin pure Copper knives and spearheads or would Bronze ones last long enough for the superior quality of the materials to matter?