Hello,

I write this post in need of help from metallurgy experienced people.
According to the rules of BOTN (Battle of the Nations)

''The fighter’s head must be protected with a metal helmet, the safety features and specifications of which comply with the same parameters of a helmet made of steel ST3, 2mm thick.''

Can someone explain to me what does ST3 means? Is that mild steel, hardened, spring ? I honestly do not know how to easily search for such a type of steel in my quest to make a 15th century BOTN set.
Any help would be supremely appreciated.

Thank you,

Mihai

Hi there!

St3, St30, Stal3 (or Stal30) are different designations of one particular type of steel - 0.30% Carbon content and no additional elements, enhancing the performance.
The official GOST (GOsudarstveniy STandard - the Soviet/Russian State Standard) designation of the steel is Stal Marki 30 (Steel Mark 30)
It's not a spring-steel, the quality and berformance are better than mild steel (for example - I usually use it for shield bosses); cannot be heat-treated, but probably could be case-hardened.

If you know Russian - this http://metallicheckiy-portal.ru/marki_metallov/stk/30 could be good starting point. There you could find some European and non-European equivalents.

If it has no alloying elements apart from carbon, the closest American equivalent would be something like AISI 1030.

Hello, I have a question myself, if it's st3 does that mean that it can ONLY be made in 30% carbon or is it a minimum? Can it go higher?

Also the author might find the app "Heat Treaters Guide Companion" is a MOST excellent app that has pretty much every metal you can think of and very useful information on it! It's free and was made for metalsmiths to use as a quick reference guide. Super handy!