What is a scandium alloy frame?

So-called “scandium” frames are aluminum alloy frames. The aluminum alloy used in their tubing has about 2% of scandium added to it to increase strength slightly. This allows a frame tube to be made slightly thinner, therefore weigh slightly less than a tube made from an aluminum alloy not containing scandium.

Is scandium alloy strong?

Scandium alloys are about 10% stronger than other aluminum alloys used for bike frames, which is a significant improvement. Scandium frames are often ultra-light high end frames, so the resulting frame may be less strong than typical aluminum frames.

Is scandium alloy stronger than steel?

That’s because steel is more durable than scandium. It’s a stronger frame, with thicker tubing, at the sacrifice of weight.

What does scandium have to do with bikes?

Scandium works by convincing aluminum molecules to restructure themselves. This is especially valuable in high-strength aluminum, like 7005 alloy. Traditionally, 7005 alloys make light, strong, forged or CNC machined bicycle components, but can’t be welded because they weaken when they melt.

Is scandium lighter than titanium?

Scandium can be stiffer and lighter than titanium, but not as strong or durable. This is assuming the tube design is about equal. A good designer and fabricator can make a frame (of any material) stronger or lighter or stiffer depending on the users needs.

What is the price of scandium?

Scandium is a soft, light metal that might have applications in the aerospace industry. With a cost of $270 per gram ($122,500 per pound), scandium is too expensive for widespread use.

How much does scandium cost?

Why is scandium so expensive?

Owing to its scarcity and limited production, scandium is one of the most expensive of all the natural elements. During the rare earth shortage of 2010, the price for scandium metal soared from a few thousand US dollars to over US$ 15,000 per kilogram.

Why is scandium added to aluminum?

Scandium strengthens aluminium in three different ways: grain refining, precipitation hardening, and inhibiting recrystallization, or grain growth. Due to its fine grain refinement, scandium alloys reduce hot cracking in welds, increase strength in the welds and deliver better fatigue behavior.

Is scandium stronger than titanium?

Scandium can be stiffer and lighter than titanium, but not as strong or durable.

What can you do with scandium?

Scandium is mainly used for research purposes. It has, however, great potential because it has almost as low a density as aluminium and a much higher melting point. An aluminium-scandium alloy has been used in Russian MIG fighter planes, high-end bicycle frames and baseball bats.

Where can you get scandium?

However, scandium is distributed sparsely and occurs in trace amounts in many minerals. Rare minerals from Scandinavia and Madagascar such as thortveitite, euxenite, and gadolinite are the only known concentrated sources of this element. Thortveitite can contain up to 45% of scandium in the form of scandium oxide.

What kind of steel is a scandium frame made of?

The word Steel is used to describe the Refined Iron/Carbon mix and is a word in its own right. Calling a frame Scandium implies it is made entirely of Scandium – the equivalent word to “steel” to describe the Aluminium/Scandium mix is Sc7000.

What’s the difference between a scandium and ALU frame?

A “scandium” frame is basically and Alu frame with some trace scandium. Alu frames themselves are not especially popular now, especially at the mid to high end where a “scandium frame” becomes marketable so it is inevitable that the amount of “scandium” frames you will see will be tiny.

How does scandium work to make aluminum stronger?

Scandium works by convincing aluminum molecules to restructure themselves. When aluminum is smelted it hardens into microscopic grains that fit together to make a solid architecture. Scandium makes those grains smaller, among other things, which allows them to fit closer together for a denser, stronger overall structure.

Is the salsa Juan Solo scandium still going strong?

My Salsa Juan Solo Scandium SS is still going strong, very light as an overall build and very quick to accelerate.