So why is it that after only a few weeks of cutting back stubble, razor blades need to be replaced? According to new research published on Friday in the journal Science , the answer goes beyond predictable wear and tear.
Electron microscopy revealed that when hair pushes against weak points on the metal blade, the steel chips apart. And once it begins to chip, it falls apart more easily. But now that researchers know why razors fail so quickly, they can start to develop steel without the same weaknesses.
Every three days, Roscioli shaved his facial hair with a variety of disposable razors. He brought the razors to the lab for imaging to track how the blades changed with each shave. The imaging revealed something unexpected in every blade: C-shaped chips missing from the sharp edge.
To see what conditions were likely causing these chips to form, the team ran computational simulations in which they modeled a steel blade cutting through a single hair. The researchers have filed a provisional patent on a process to manipulate steel into a more homogenous form, in order to make longer-lasting, more chip-resistant blades.
Researchers at MIT have determined why shaving causes everyday razors made of Martensitic stainless steel to wear down so quickly. By observing and recording the cutting process, MIT researchers have found that human hairs chip razor blades during the shaving process, reports Leah Crane for New Scientist. Cem Tasan. Using a scanning electron microscope, MIT researchers observed how hair produces tiny chips in steel razor blades, reports Nell Greenfieldboyce for NPR.
Wired reporter Eric Niiler writes that a new study by MIT researchers sheds light on why razor blades get dull so quickly. You use the razor for a few weeks and then move on. Previous item Next item. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Search MIT. Search websites, locations, and people. Enter keywords to search for news articles: Submit. Browse By. Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors. Publication Date :. Press Inquiries. Press Contact : Abby Abazorius.
Email: abbya mit. Phone: Multiblade cartridges usually last only a week or two before they begin to grab at the skin, then get tossed in the garbage. But what if someone could invent a razor that stays sharp for six months, or even a year? By observing and recording the cutting process under a scanning electron microscope, the team noticed that the hairs created small chips in the blade surface.
You use the razor for a few weeks and then move on. Tasan says razor blades are made of martensitic steels, some of the toughest materials known to mankind. Martensitic steel named for a 19th-century German metallurgist is a super-hard alloy, honed through heat and tempering, that is used in commercial razors, surgical instruments, ball bearings, and bicycle disc brakes.
What Tasan and his colleagues found is that, despite this strength, the blades fatigued rather quickly after multiple shaves. Tasan and graduate student Gianluca Roscioli devised an experiment to examine the progress of wear and tear on a blade after each shave.
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