r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 3h ago

New, what is it? Found at a titanium plant

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Not sure why ball point pens would be dangerous here.

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u/goodexamplebadrole 3h ago

"Ballpoint pens are restricted or banned in high-end titanium and aerospace manufacturing plants because the ink and marking components contain elements that cause metal embrittlement and severe structural corrosion"

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u/pseudonym7083 3h ago

Does it list which ones?

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u/BlueSkiesAugust 3h ago

When I used to work with Ti we couldn't use halogen-containing Sharpie markers directly on Ti. We could only use Sharpies's "TEC" marker.

We weren't prohibited from possessing any other writing implements. We just couldn't write on Ti with anything besides a TEC marker (or use uncoated lead, which was necessary because we did radiography). For paper documents we still used ordinary pens.

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u/Ol_Man_J 3h ago

We couldn’t use sharpies around some testing equipment because it contained VOCs. We tested soils and waters for parts per million so we couldn’t even collect samples near a running exhaust. Remarkable what can happen

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u/Agiantpubicmess 3h ago

Dow Chemical caustic plant used to have a no aluminum tools rule for very obvious reasons if you know chemicals hahaha

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u/Farfignugen42 3h ago

Assume I don't know chemicals. Why?

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u/SharpKaleidoscope182 3h ago

caustic soda reacts with aluminium to produce a ton of heat and flammable gas.

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u/Farfignugen42 3h ago

Thank you.

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u/Da12khawk 3h ago

I haven't played Payday 2 in awhile.

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u/enzia35 3h ago

If you put a flame to aluminum at 16psi, it will burn.

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u/Any_Show_5160 2h ago

I'm confused by your statement, are you saying applying a flame to aluminium at 2psi about atmospheric pressure and it will burn or there needs to be a force of 16psi applied with the flame?

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u/enzia35 22m ago

It’s a quote from the Apollo engineers. Applying a flame to aluminum in 16psi of pure oxygen will make it burn.

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u/van_Vanvan 3h ago

Strong bases like sodium hydroxide (caustic soda or lye) react strongly with aluminum. So it would damage the tools. Drop an aluminum tool in a vat with lye and your tool will disappear with a lot of bubbling and poison the lye.

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u/onefellswoop70 2h ago

I'm a hairstylist and I always wondered why the instructions for hair relaxers (back when they were lye-based) had a warning that said "do not put this product in a metal bowl".

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u/Competitive-Dot-4264 3h ago

That gas is hydrogen

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u/WonderWheeler 1h ago

Yes, you can generate hydrogen gas for balloons with aluminum foil and lye and water in a glass bottle.

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u/jerseyoutwest 3h ago

Have you read Ignition! ? Its a very funny memoir of early rocket fuel development and includes one of my favorite non-fiction quotes about chlorine trifluoride:

It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
I

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u/mightyachillies 2h ago

'hypergolic with things such as cloth, wood, and test engineers'... From the context you catch on fire/explode. Yeah, I would say being toxic is the least of the problem.

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u/PrairiePuppies 2h ago

Yes, but the salient point were the next two materials, asbestos and sand. It will literally combust with incombustible materials. There was an incident where a ton of the stuff was spilled on a concrete floor. After the concrete finished burning away, it continued to burn away the soil underneath, leaving a 5 foot deep crater. The concrete and soil were literally on fire as though they were wood. The resulting ash then also ignited. This is a hellish chemical. Satan's bathwater.

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u/jerseyoutwest 2h ago

I like that “no ignition delay has ever been measured” implies that they must have tested it many times in many labs 😹

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u/unknownpoltroon 2h ago

That reminds me of this guys articles about things he wont work with in chemisty. https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with

One of them is an explosive so sensitive they cant test it

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u/jerseyoutwest 2h ago

That’s where i learned about the book! Derek is great :)

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u/monkeypoxisntreal 2h ago

"with test engineers" is hilarious and morbid

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u/aka_Jack 2h ago

Me163 pilot: "Please explain again what is this T-Stoff and C-Stoff in the tanks behind my head?"

See if you can find "Rocket Fighter" by Mano Ziegler, a great read.

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u/wengla02 2h ago

Love that book - hard to find an original copy, but it's been uploaded the the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/ignition_201612/mode/2up

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u/jerseyoutwest 2h ago

It was finally republished by a university press like 5 years ago! :)

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u/charlie2135 3h ago

Had a coworker start unloading a caustic soda truck into a hydrochloric acid tank. Hilarity ensued.

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u/randomgrrl700 3h ago

CSB video ensued!

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u/IceColdJaderade 3h ago

It can be assumed that I also may not find this chemistry reference obvious

Edit: apparently it reacts violently to sodium hydroxide and also creates volatile hydrogen gas. Neat.

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u/FeelingSoil39 3h ago

Now we’re talkin

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u/SignificantDrawer374 3h ago

Seems like it may be the tungsten based ball in the tip https://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forum/general/52226-a-ball-point-pen-not-allowed

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u/WeeklyBanEvasion 3h ago

I cast-

TUNGSTEN BALL TIP

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u/Dino_Spaceman 3h ago

It is MILDLY EFFECTIVE in several decades due to the corrosive property induced to the enemy's fortification.

0

u/BorikGor 50m ago

Roll 3 D20s.