VICTOR J CREAZZI
Senior Member
That's not remotely the same thing. Communication is a protocol where we agree upon certain rules, and, in our tiny world, one of those rules is the shorthand that "damascus" steel means pattern-welded steel. It's completely established now, and we're not going back - "damascus" now means that, in accepted communications.
When it comes to measuring temperature, all three scales are absolutely valid. 0K = -273.15C = -459.6F. One degree C or K is the temperature change you get when applying one calorie to one gram of pure water. Using any of them is "OK" - it's just easier to use K when you are doing anything complicated to avoid using negative numbers.
I'm just saying that convention has weight. If the majority of metallurgy literature is in Celsius, or Fahrenheit, the majority of the people using the materials are going to keep using those systems. Maybe I'm reading the wrong material, but I'm pretty sure that I've never seen Kelvin used in the metallurgy books that I read.I think Victor might have been being a little flip there!
I suppose that with cryo becoming more common there is some sense to using it, but there is a strong momentum to convention. For a time I always referred to 'pattern welded steel' as such or PWS, but then realized that I was spending way too much time explaining why I was calling damascus PWS. If you're the only guy in the group who always talks in Kelvin, you're going to be 'that guy'.
You have given me reason to commit -273.15 to memory though, in case I run in to 'that guy'.
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