Jack hammer bits are tougher...Ball bearings are stronger. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Wear resistance is a function of strength as I understand it.

We were not having success with that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> If you go to the link in one of my earlier posts that will take you to a materials engineering site with a big graph on the page - hover your mouse over metals and alloys - you will see that brass is on the tougher side of the graph (further to the right than stainless steels) and steels are on the higher side for greater strength (stronger than brass). <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Not true at all.

First You can say that the stronger the steel is the harder it is but you can't say the harder it is that stronger it is. At a point it becomes brittle and loses all strength.

Second - Ball bearing HAVE to be strong and MUST resist deformation - Warped bearings aren't a good thing. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes the latter is possible through HT and quenching but it is not the norm.
Under regular circumstances if each were HT'd to their best final outcome - S60V is the stronger steel.

I keep reading this but I'm not sure I follow it or agree with it completely...I would need to do some research. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I believe it is stating that S60V HT'd to a hardness of 56, while softer than the ATS-34 at hardness of 60, will still have better wear resistance. Which goes with what I was saying because I think WR is a function of strength. And since strength and hardness go hand in hand to a certain point - it is possible to make the ATS-34 stronger than S60V by HT. Whew! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

"S60V, even at 56 Rc, still has more
and harder carbides than ATS-34 at 60 Rc, and thus the S60V is more
wear resistant, while the ATS-34 would be stronger."

No. Its because steel is more brittle because it is harder and stronger...Brass is tough because is is softer and more malleable than steel but less strong. Strong steel would break before brass would but it would require much more force to bend it to its breaking point (hence - it is stronger).

If you took a 1" thick bar of each and stuck it in a vice and started dropping weight onto the end...Think about what would happen. The brass would give much easier but rather than break it would simply bend under the load. The 154CM would take more weight before it started to bend but rather than bend as far as the brass, it would simply snap in two (but it would require more weight to do so). this tells us that the brass is tougher - can be beaten and bent and who knows what but will resist breaking...The steel will take much more force to manipulate but instead of bending and deforming to take the hits - it will simply snap in two. This is because the steel is stronger (requires more force to bend or deform) and it is harder (more brittle).

Also- if steel got stronger as it got harder - the same rule should apply to other materials...and that would make titanium, diamond, ceramic and glass stronger than the steels we are talking about - which we know isn't the case. There is a reason steels are usually in the 58-60 hardness range - much above that and they become brittle and more prone to cracking and breaking(but harder).

I voted SR77 just because that's what I have the most expirence with. The one piece of SR101 I have used didn't give me any problems though.

Thats it. End of thread! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Bruce you are right. I am with you, sorry Knotslip... Argue with BOSS H0G! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Bruce summed this thread up after 13 pages <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> with this sentence....

SR77 is STRONGER than SR101.
SR101 is TOUGHER than SR77.

check the signature... i HAD to <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

the saga is never over!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

i'm plenty willing to subscribe to that.

so where's the breacher bar, dan? i'm thinking something chisel ground with a claw at one end and a loop or hook on the other.