While reading descriptions of mithril in The Lord of the Rings, it struck me that its properties might well correspond to a real material, possibly as an alloy with other metals. Is there such a real-world substance?
Answer
The problem with Mithril as chain mail is not ductility. Even if each link perfectly holds its shape, when a cave troll puts his bulk behind a spear, you have a spearhead-shaped piece of Mithril piercing your chest cavity nearly as deeply as the spearhead would have. Effectively, you have reduced the sharpness of the edge, but the pounds per square inch have not been reduced sufficiently to withstand the mass of a pissed-off cave troll and convert a potential puncture into a mere bruise. Frodo should at least have had broken ribs and crushed organs; squished like a bug. More likely, he'd have had a deep wound with Mithril chain mail stuffed into it.
The problem is the weave. Nothing is both flexible enough to behave as seen in the movie when held up and examined, yet stiff enough to distribute impact over a wide area, which is what armor does. Armor also diffuses kinetic energy through inertia, if it is heavy, but Mithril is light, so it offers none of that protection.
No, the whole point of Mithril is that it is magical. It has physical properties that are impossible in a non-magical world. Carbon fiber or titanium alloys may be light and strong, but weave them into chain mail and you'll still be plenty hurt if skewered with a high-mass spearhead. Nobody mentioned kevlar. In woven form, it's bullet-proof reputation is exaggerated. It doesn't tear, but it also doesn't protect all that well. Plate armor is better, but less flexible and more bulky.
Plate armor has the problem of penetration between the plates, but a hybrid of chain-mail or woven kevlar protecting the inter-plate areas could be effective, though not exactly as light or thin as Egyptian cotton.
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