Paint, they always need paint. A lot of science went into that. www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_hgPinCZks
Comment on Tesla's Cybertruck may not be so stainless after all
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
Yeah. My understanding is that Deloreans were shockingly rust resistant but were also panels specifically so that they could be replaced.
I don’t know metallurgy/material science well enough to know if cybertrucks actually used good quality stainless steel or cut corners. And I can easily see a world where people assume the dirt is rust because of paranoia or just looking for internet drama/clout.
But… Rust or no rust, those cars are pretty fucked. Because they don’t even have a clearcoat. And considering we are in the season where roads are covered with salt and sand and cars are constantly bombarded with a highly abrasive slurry at speed, those panels are going to see a LOT of wear and damage.
gens@programming.dev 10 months ago
oatscoop@midwest.social 10 months ago
Even “good quality” stainless steel can easily rust, as anyone who’s owned quality kitchen knives will tell you. Some stainless alloys are more resistant than others – but exposed to the right conditions they all corrode.
Death_Equity@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Tesla uses SS301 stainless. DeLorean used SS304.
301 is cheaper, less resistant to corrosion, can resist more force applied to it before failure, formes better in stamping, doesn’t tolerate high-temperatures as well.
My guess is they used 301 due to cost and forming properties. Supposedly they use 301 on the Starships, so bulk pricing would help keep production costs low. Had they used 304 the raw material cost and cost of production at volume would be higher but they would be less likely to have these corrosion issues, assuming they aren’t welding the panels.
Wogi@lemmy.world 10 months ago
SS301 is a great material. It’s workable, ductile, and still plenty hard. It’s absolutely perfect for work holding in an industrial spot welding environment.
Why on earth they’d use that for body panels is fucking beyond me. Ok, it’s bullet proof, kinda, which is cool I guess? I’ve never been shot at in a car, I don’t know anyone who’s ever been shot at in car.
I know lots of people with cars that they don’t like to rust. Or scratch tho. Seems like the bigger problem in car design honestly
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Totally agree. Having said that, I regularly have to use sandpaper to remove rust from my SS301 knife.
If you want “real” stainless, you want 316, but it’s not very strong and would require significant modifications - making it thicker/heavier/more expensive/worse battery range/etc.
Plopp@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Maybe the cyber truck owners will convince themselves the rust is a beautiful patina (and your cat sucks because it doesn’t have one!)
Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I believe their intention was to make it more dent-proof which ended up making it bullet proof(ish) at the same. I think that’s a good feature. Modern cars are made out of cardboard
Rubanski@lemm.ee 10 months ago
That’s by design. It’s called crumple zone and it saves lives
Cqrd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Well, starships don’t usually need to worry about rain storms
Zron@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They do have a habit of blowing up tho.
Seems to be a theme with Elon’s contraptions.
Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Name a rocket company that haven’t had rockets blow up.
Some of the Falcon 9 stage one boosters have been re-used 16 times.
hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Tbf spacex has extremely good reliability with their falcons, and their spaceship tests are literally just that, see how it blows up to learn more.
There’s better things to criticize the company, such as their “what do you mean I can’t fuck my subordinates?” -CEO
FangedWyvern42@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Rockets blow up all the time. Sometimes they are literally designed to blow up.