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I'm wondering if ceramite/ adamantium/ plasteel armour that is worn by space marines would rust.
This would include for their vehicles too.

What do you think regarding this, and why?

I want to know what sort of weathering to do on my models that would remain somewhat canon.

Well, presumably Ceramite is some form of ceramic armor. So no. We don't know what admantium is either but if it's not some Iron alloy then it won't rust either. These compounds may oxidize/corrode in their own way but probably not in the same Iron does.

Rust only forms on iron. Some other metals also oxidize, but it all depends on what exactly the materials are. Some metals, like aluminium, do oxidize but the oxidized layer doesn't flake off the way rust does so unless physical damage scrapes the layer off it's shielded from further oxidation.

given the age of Space Marine armor I can't imagine it'd rust

A lot of people do depict rust, or at least paint chipping+mud+dust.

...though, I'm pretty sure Nurgle can make metal rot (=rust) :-P

I think it would rust, because the weathering looks better that way.

Considering it's made of ceramite and adamantanium, with only the under layers being made of plasteel, no, it wouldn't rust.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Crimson wrote:
I think it would rust, because the weathering [/b]looks better that way.[/b]

This is not how you ever think about anything. "I think X looks better, so it's obviously true" is not how facts work, be it reality or fictional. I could think Unicorns exist, but that wouldn't make them any more real.

 Wyzilla wrote:

This is not how you ever think about anything. "I think X looks better, so it's obviously true" is not how facts work, be it reality or fictional.

It is totally how fiction in a visual medium works. Do you really think look of the things in 40K is based on what would really work as opposed to what looks cool? The answer should be obvious. And you can come up with a justification afterwards, if you absolutely have to: maybe the outer layer of the power armour is made of plasteel, which can rust.

Or a chapter belief that the minor rust, ie a small surface marking that does not effect the armour is a way of showing how venrablec and old the suit is.

So old even there metals has aged

Yeah, like everyone else is saying: Space marine armor is admantium with ceramite plates. Admantium is a fake/made-up metal, so we can't be sure. However we can guess ceramite is some sort of ceramic material they use in the armor, so it wouldn't rust.

Even if it was possible to rust the armour it's rather well maintained, just like all the equipment used by a SM chapter.

Franko wrote:
Even if it was possible to rust the armour it's rather well maintained, just like all the equipment used by a SM chapter.

Just a quick shout out from the Power Armoured Plague Marines

I think the paint SM use to coat their armor probably has a solid anti weathering agent in it. Typically they look pretty shinny. Depicting rust in areas where paint has been scrapped off would have a nice effect i think.

 Crimson wrote:

It is totally how fiction in a visual medium works. Do you really think look of the things in 40K is based on what would really work as opposed to what looks cool?

9 foot marines

Plasteel is plastic with the strength of steel... not steel with the strength of plastic. Plastic doesn't rust.

Adamantium is space-metal, so might rust... but I don't think it does. Does Wolverine need Rustoleum for his claws? Didn't think so. Could it oxidize? Possibly, probably, even, but that doesn't necessarily mean it causes structural decay to it.

However, in certain circumstances, there could be ferrous metals mixed into the adamantium (poor-quality source, poor quality-controls at the smelter, etc), which could and would cause rust. A crusading Chapter may not have top-of-the-line resources available for repair functions, and must make-do with whatever materials are on hand.

 Psienesis wrote:
Plasteel is plastic with the strength of steel... not steel with the strength of plastic. Plastic doesn't rust.

Adamantium is space-metal, so might rust... but I don't think it does. Does Wolverine need Rustoleum for his claws? Didn't think so. Could it oxidize? Possibly, probably, even, but that doesn't necessarily mean it causes structural decay to it.

However, in certain circumstances, there could be ferrous metals mixed into the adamantium (poor-quality source, poor quality-controls at the smelter, etc), which could and would cause rust. A crusading Chapter may not have top-of-the-line resources available for repair functions, and must make-do with whatever materials are on hand.

Marvel adamantium is different from GW adamantium. I have seen depictions in a few BL novels demonstrating how poorly Chaos Marines take care of their equipment that mentions rust/corrosion, so it wouldn't surprise me at all to know that there are some ferrous metals used in the construction of certain vehicles and/or equipment.

It's conceivable that a Rhino could form rust given that they can be made from a variety of materials. It'd be rare but it could happen.

 Orblivion wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Plasteel is plastic with the strength of steel... not steel with the strength of plastic. Plastic doesn't rust.

Adamantium is space-metal, so might rust... but I don't think it does. Does Wolverine need Rustoleum for his claws? Didn't think so. Could it oxidize? Possibly, probably, even, but that doesn't necessarily mean it causes structural decay to it.

However, in certain circumstances, there could be ferrous metals mixed into the adamantium (poor-quality source, poor quality-controls at the smelter, etc), which could and would cause rust. A crusading Chapter may not have top-of-the-line resources available for repair functions, and must make-do with whatever materials are on hand.

Marvel adamantium is different from GW adamantium. I have seen depictions in a few BL novels demonstrating how poorly Chaos Marines take care of their equipment that mentions rust/corrosion, so it wouldn't surprise me at all to know that there are some ferrous metals used in the construction of certain vehicles and/or equipment.

Yes, but that's the Warp, which gives not a single feth about your laws of physical science. Chaos can make plastic rust. Or gain sentience and opposable thumbs. Chaos gives not a feth.

 Psienesis wrote:
Plasteel is plastic with the strength of steel... not steel with the strength of plastic.

Are you sure? Term Plasteel is originally from Dune, and there it is specifically a type of super steel.

Adamantium is space-metal, so might rust... but I don't think it does.

It really cannot be an element, so it must be an alloy, and thus might it (and probably would) contain iron, an thus could rust.

It could be an element. This is 40K we're talking about. RL Physics don't really apply.

It be made of Tin, Polonium, Lead or some other mixture of elements. It could even be a nonmetallic compound. We don't know.

Maybe its the enamel(paint) used that rusts over time coz its juts paint no one gives a gakk?

In Architect of Fate, there was a time warp/ travel thing where one marine in a boarding party onto a space hulk was trapped in a loop outside from normal time or something stupid like that. What made him realize something was up was that his armor was rusting and apparently that only happens if a Space Marine doesn't take care of his armor for several decades.

 Psienesis wrote:
Plasteel is plastic with the strength of steel... not steel with the strength of plastic. Plastic doesn't rust.

Adamantium is space-metal, so might rust... but I don't think it does. Does Wolverine need Rustoleum for his claws? Didn't think so. Could it oxidize? Possibly, probably, even, but that doesn't necessarily mean it causes structural decay to it.

However, in certain circumstances, there could be ferrous metals mixed into the adamantium (poor-quality source, poor quality-controls at the smelter, etc), which could and would cause rust. A crusading Chapter may not have top-of-the-line resources available for repair functions, and must make-do with whatever materials are on hand.

Considering that adamantanium has an atomic number of over a hundred, probably around the 120's, yet doesn't decay almost instantly like its fellows, and doesn't seem to have an absurd density far greater than lead where anyone with adamantanium struggles to move, it's explicitly a magic metal.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Crimson wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Plasteel is plastic with the strength of steel... not steel with the strength of plastic.

Are you sure? Term Plasteel is originally from Dune, and there it is specifically a type of super steel.

Adamantium is space-metal, so might rust... but I don't think it does.

It really cannot be an element, so it must be an alloy, and thus might it (and probably would) contain iron, an thus could rust.

Adamantanium is a naturally occurring ore. IE an element, like Iron.

 Wyzilla wrote:

Adamantanium is a naturally occurring ore. IE an element, like Iron.

Source?

 Crimson wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

Adamantanium is a naturally occurring ore. IE an element, like Iron.

Source?

Soul Hunter, the opening chapter. Nostramo was made of an Adamatanium ore crust which was mined by the original inhabitants, and then later the Adeptus Mechanicus when it was blown to smithers by the Night Haunter.

 Wyzilla wrote:

Soul Hunter, the opening chapter. Nostramo was made of an Adamatanium ore crust which was mined by the original inhabitants, and then later the Adeptus Mechanicus when it was blown to smithers by the Night Haunter.

That it is an ore doesn't mean it cannot be an alloy. There are naturally occurring alloys, such as electrum.

Steel is not the same as steel. Meaning that different alloys have different properties. There are alloys that are extremely resistant to "hostile" elements (stainless steel), and alloys that are extremely vulnerable. RL armor steel gets rusty pretty fast if the protective coating is chipped away. Same with plastic... there is not THE plastic. There are tons of different "plastics" with different properties each.

The same can apply to 40k materials. Plasteel isn't plastic with the strength of steel. Otherwise imperial vehicles wouldnt weight just as much as RL heavy tanks (Chimera ~40t, Leman Russ ~60t). Also, plasteel used for armour doesnt have to be the same as plasteel used for construction for example.
Regarding adamantium i think to remember that it wasnt used in power armour, only terminator armour (dont have a source for it however atm). Plasteel is also used in power armour afaik, it's metal parts are certainly not made of pure adamantium.

We don't know what ceramite is exactly, but i think it's safe to assume that it has comparable properties to ceramics.
Ceramics are very hard but also very brittle and not flexible. And that is not a good property to make an entire suite of armor with it. Medieval armors and weapons where not hardened to maximum hardness, because they would break like glass after an impact. They where tempered(reduction in hardness for more flexibility). The ceramite could be in little hexagons/plates/discs which are embedded in a metallic body (plasteel), to prevent them from easily splintering/breaking apart. It also increases the strength of a brittle material if its encased. If you think of armored glass, a part of its durability is because of its frame that holds it together and prevents broken parts from moving apart. So in theory it would make sense to encase small ceramite disks with metal (e.g. Plasteel). This allows the armor to be more flexible (relative to glass/ceramics), and not become useless after just a few impacts. This technique is used in some modern composite armors...

Also "Rust" is not always rust. Just because there is rust on something doesnt mean it's strength is reduced in a measurable way. Certain metals automatically produce an oxidation layer that will actually protect the rest of the metal from the environment. That's why aluminium doesnt "rust" that easy for example.

Also, if power armour has no metal, how comes we have 2 entire legions that are basically metal warriors... Or are you suggesting that they paint their armor silver because... because?

The surface of the material may not be subject to normal oxidization, however the materials used in the exoskeleton support structure may be less invulnerable and so some oxidization may form on that, peeking out at the joints and the like.

Also who is the say what bizarre alien environments may affect the surface, not to mention the various acidic bloods of tyranids and who knows what body fluids from a daemon may do to the material.

H. Beem Piper postulated some exotic environments in his future histories. If you can lay hands on his "Uller Uprising" he describes a world where various fluorine compounds are the replacement for water and pure uranium can be extracted from the rivers and lakes because it is bonded to the naturally existing hexa-fluorine compounds.

The atmosphere is so corrosive that nothing man made lasts too long. Only the hyper dense materials used in spaceship hulls can resist the corrosive effects, and even that slowly erodes.

So a Space Marines unit that went to such a world to secure it from an enemy would likely have pockmarks and oxidization from the fluorine compounds, but it wouldn't be normal orange rust. It could be just about anything you can imagine since the composition of the armor is unknown to our science.

Power armor is made out of ceramite, which is a ceramic material (ceramic and adamantite, iirc).

Given that we don't really know how the AdMech rates atoms, or the periodic table, since there's a whole lot of stuff that we know know that they don't know then and won't ever know again, or perhaps things that they have learned between now and then that completely revolutionizes our understanding of physics and material science, we have no way of knowing what adamantium is. Or ceramite.