Armour College of Engineering Professor of Materials Engineering Sammy Tin and Ph.D. student Stoichko Antonov (Ph.D. MSE ‘17) performed metallurgical analysis on a piece of medieval armor that was created for the “Secrets of the Shining Knight” episode of “NOVA” in their lab at Illinois Tech. The team used optical and electron microscopy to assess the underlying structure of the metal used in the medieval armor and compared it to modern examples. The pair also evaluated some of the armor’s mechanical properties and provided the micrograph images that were used in the episode.
Image of one of the micrographs used in the show.