97: From The Mandalorian’s Beskar to Thor’s Hammer: MSE in Pop Culture (ft. Dr Suveen Mathaudhu)

In today’s episode, we welcome Dr Suveen Mathaudhu,  an expert metallurgist with nearly 20 years of metals processing experience. With him, we discuss: 

 

🔹️An important material in the show is beskar, which is described as a super-strong and lightweight metal for armor or weapons. Describe the other ties that beskar has to historic real-life materials (cultural, scientific, etc.)?  

🔹️Break down how these three aspects:(1) difficulty in processing such a strong material, (2) the idea that  a pure metal is stronger than an alloy, and (3) its resistance to lightsabers & blaster bolts, could be explained using materials science.

🔹What sort of impact The Armorer character will have in both media and STEM itself?

🔹Advice for students that want to improve their ability to use pop culture to disseminate / teach materials science to diverse crowds.

🔹And much more! 

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#materialsscience #beskar #thor #popculture #thorshammer