Just how good are Zesuaium blades?

[Fred]

Zesuaium (probably pronounced Ze-su-aium): Zesuaium is a nonporous gray substance which does not conduct any form of electromagnetic radiation, including heat and electricity. It neither bends nor breaks, but will remain in a solid piece. The fabrication of Zesuaium takes place factory starships, where a certain substance is molded in the shape desired, and then is transmuted into the fixed Zesuaium form. The properties of Zesuaium are related to time energy.

Most likely the hardest material in the SARP. Typically serves as warship hull plating, framework and blast shutters. It's also used as base material for some bladed weapons, such as the Ketsurui Samurai katanas.

I also recall that ships can be fitted with transparent Zesuaium to make 'windows'. That said, it'd be possible to have translucent zesuaium blades as well, right?

Now, what I'm wondering is just what sort of nice, nifty thing can you do with a Zesuaium blade? Of course it not being breakable by anything shy of exposure to aether and anti-matter is nice... but just what else can it do? If I remember my Mohs scale of mineral hardness right, as diamonds are used to cut other diamonds, it could be possible for a zesuaium blade to even cut at actual zesuaium armor (with probably as much effectiveness as a knife hacking at ice: effective if it's a thin sheet... but probably a waste of time from anything thicker).

So, given this, what can Zesuaium blades really do? Cleave through mechas... like slicing through a Mindy power armor's zesuaium armguard? Sunder through a blast shutter? Chop through a electrical cable without fearing to be shocked? Stick the sword in molten lava and expect it not to melt?

Also, Zesuaium blades would typically be a dark grayish color, right?

 

[Zack]

I'd rather not see Zesuaium used in anything more than it is already used in. I thought we had established that it was only still around for continuality reasons anyways.

 

[Fred]

The question is not about the viability of Zesuaium, Uso. It's about how Zesuaium blades would behave in comparison to other blades and it is commonly used by the Ketsurui Samurai order for their weapons. It's not like it's a commonly available weapon, you know?

My question still stands, I beleive.

 

[Zack]

I believe you have already answered your own question.

Though the best thing one of these swords could do is just not exist. As far as swords go there are already swords produced in this setting which are much more powerful than anything made of this material and are far more believable from a tech perspective.

 

[Doshii Jun]

But since they do exist ... (repeat Fred's question here)

I've always assumed the blade's only as good as its holder. A samurai might be able to slash at a blast door, but she probably can't ruin it. Cut through a Mindy? Maybe, but doubtful. Stick in lava and not melt? Assuredly so.

But it's hard to say. Any other tech gurus wanna tackle this one?

 

[raz]

Judging from the description provided in the opening post, it would seem to me that all Zesuaium on Zesuaium action (striking a Zesuaium shield or bulkhead with a Zesuaium sword, for example) would produce is the deflection of whichever Zesuaium item has less mass. This assumption results from what I can conclude from, "It neither bends nor breaks, but will remain in a solid piece."

The substance seems pretty fantastical to me, so we can't really use the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness in conjunction with its proposed scientific properties (not to mention that it is apparently a synthetic material rather than a mineral).

However, all I know about the material is that little blurb quoted in the first post, so my assumptions may be way off base.

 

[Zack]

Zesuaium (probably pronounced Ze-su-aium): Zesuaium is a nonporous gray substance which does not conduct any form of electromagnetic radiation, including heat and electricity. It neither bends nor breaks, but will remain in a solid piece. The fabrication of Zesuaium takes place factory starships, where a certain substance is molded in the shape desired, and then is transmuted into the fixed Zesuaium form. The properties of Zesuaium are related to time energy.

Zesuaium can not cut Zesuaium.

The lava/electric cable thing could be done without fear of being burned/electricuted.

A zesuaium sword could not cut through a blast door or some other heavy material, at least not quickly or realalistically when held by a human. It would be able to physically push the material aside and cut/dent it but it is a blast door ment to hold massive amounts of pressure and ect.


Because the material is made out of 'time' we don't have anything we can realalistically compare it with.

 

[Doshii Jun]

The deflection/no-cut thing makes sense. I wonder if mass is really a factor.

 

[Zack]

Mass is not a factor. The material when it is one layer of atoms thick is just as strong as the material many layers thick. For Mindy shields the material contains a vacuum to make it lighter.

 

[Wes]

Zesuaium armor cannot be damaged by Zesuaium weaponry, only by weaponry that destroys targets on a subatomic level.

Zesuaium swords can, however, cut through almost all other materials very easily, even diamond. They never dull.

 

[OsakanOne]

Uhm... Just a thought.

Perhaps making blades from Zesuaium could be made infeisable by making it hard to precicely mold and manufacture (say, it can't actually be MADE thin enough to be a blade because it can't be sharpened by conventional means) and it could be a protected or very carefully watched material, like plutonium is today.

This could limit the feisability of using Zesuaium for other purposes.

 

[Fred]

Wow! Thread was revived!

Zesuaium can be made on creation to have an extremely thin edge... even on starships like the Yui. Swords prove no exception, so, they're really sharp.

 

[Cora]

Just to point something out.

Slab type blades, as in swords made from a single solid lump of material are inherently weaker in endurance then laminated blades.

 

[Fred]

Very true. However, I think the nature of zesuaium doesn't allow for any weaknesses in the object itself. *shrugs*

 

[Cora]

It doesn't really matter what material's used Fred. A Slab tang blade will fail if enough pressure's exerted on it. Nothing is Unbreakable, that's a standard law of endurance.

If it was a laminated, or folded sword, then it would probably be near enough to unbreakble.

 

[Wes]

Zesuaium blades, however, are unbreakable by nature. They aren't folded, though.

 

[Fred]

Katanas have sharp edges, but their structure makes them extremely prone to breakage when striking solid objects (flesh and wooden armor was fine). Though all swords are susceptible to it to some point, the katanawas blatantly so. Parrying in swordfights always was something of a last resort thing, but it was very bad to katana wielders.

However, zesuaium-made blades cheat this due to their entirely lack of flexibility: Zesuaium is not breakable and will not wear out with hard shocks or stress. If you want to break a zesuaium sword, the handle grip will probably be much more susceptible to wear than the blade itself, whom will require exposure to aether, anti-matter or molecular disruption to come to breakage. You could jam a zesuaium blade on a closing bank safe and the odds are the safe's door would break before the zesuaium blade.

 

[Vesper]

As said, the blade would not give any large advantage to cutting Zesauium, not when weilded by a organic in any case. All the blades composition does is mean that it won't break as you apply more force, it doesn't give it some magical property to cut through other materials like butter (though a molecularly sharp blade definitly helps), it just allows you to push harder before the blade breaks. A dimond wall would still be impenetrable to a wielder with a Zesuaium blade, as would a thick sheet of steel, simply because the weilder couldn't apply the force needed to cause failure in the attacked object.

[edit: Grrr... curse typos.]

 

[Fred]

Limited matter displacement due to holder's strength makes sense, especially considering material density. Arguably, this could mean that handing a Sylph power armored neko a zesuaium katana would push this limit further. Sure, you might not breach a Mindy's plating... but making tears (I'm hesitant in saying you could chop through in a single blow) in other power armor (like another Sylph, a Kylie or a Harpy) seems to make some sense to me.

 

[Cora]

Where are you getting matter displacement from a non-energy based melee weapon, Fred? Zesuaium isn't capable of that, atlest it isn't known capable of such a feat.

And I still want to know what Makes it unbreakable. Just ststing it is isn't providing evidence.