General, Research, Technology

Why does a razor blade get duller due to soft hair?

There's a lot going on in our lives every dayillogical and very strange situations. Take shaving and cutting your hair, for example. The hair on our head and the stubble on our face are much softer than the steel blades with which we cut and shave them. But, after several approaches, the blades quickly become dull and it becomes impossible to use them. Scientists have been aware of this problem for a long time and probably themselves have often encountered it in life. Based on this, they decided to find out what exactly causes the rapid wear of the blades and whether it is possible to somehow increase their shelf life. As part of the study, they used a robot that shaved hair from different angles. The whole process was filmed with an electron microscope camera and in itself turned out to be a very interesting sight. This rather simple-sounding experiment was enough to identify the causes of wear on blades from exposure to soft hair. Perhaps soon, razors and scissors will become more durable.

Scientists have figured out why blades have such a short shelf life

Wear of blades

The scientific work carried out was described inscientific publication ScienceAlert. Professor Cem Tasan from Massachusetts, USA, says he and his colleagues are very interested in how and why metals wear out. The story of the interaction of steel blades with soft human hair is full of mysteries. After all, it would seem that the metal should deform only when rubbed with solid materials. And human hair is made up of a soft protein called keratin and, in fact, shouldn't affect the structure of the blades as much. Perhaps, all men and women, without exception, are familiar with the situation when a completely new razor ceased to cope with its task after a couple of days of use. But razors are not cheap.

An animation of how the blade cuts the hair can be viewed here

Blade Test

In the first part of the scientific work, scientists usedan electron microscope to see the differences between new and used blades. It turned out that after the interaction of the blades with human hair, jagged edges and cracks form on their cutting edges. With each subsequent use of the razor, their number and depth increase. Based on this, it became clear that the blades become dull due to the resulting irregularities. But because of what exactly they arise, scientists have not yet been clear. Therefore, they started the second part of the study.

See also: Can a beard protect against a broken jaw?

To identify the cause of chipping andcracks in the blades, scientists needed a robot. He shaved his hair with a razor at various angles, and the whole process was filmed with an electron microscope. Experience showed that when the robot did not shave the hair at a right angle, the blades were severely damaged. And all because human hair is covered with many scales and with a non-perpendicular shave, the blades fell between them. In this case, the load on the cutting edge of the blade increased and cracks appeared on it.

The moment of crack formation is shown here

According to researchers, the main disadvantagemodern blades is that they are heterogeneous. If they were made, say, from a solid piece of steel and were perfectly smooth, they would last much longer. The research team hopes their discovery will help razor makers extend the shelf life of their products. But do companies need it? After all, the faster equipment breaks down, the more chances there are that people will come for a new purchase. There is a huge conspiracy theory on this subject that is sometimes readily believed. You've probably already read the news that with the release of a new model of a smartphone, the old ones started to work slower. It is believed that companies such as Apple are deliberately understating the power of devices at the hardware level so that people quickly rush to stores for a novelty.

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Unusual materials

In general, scientists still have to do a hugeamount of work. Indeed, in the world there are many materials with amazing properties that have no scientific explanation. For example, lightweight silk from a web is much stronger than steel and it is quite possible to make body armor comfortable to wear from it. And the glue that is produced in the organisms of some mollusks is suitable for use under water, which ordinary adhesives cannot boast of. It is not clear to anyone exactly what caused these amazing properties, but scientific work is already underway.