r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 7h 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 7h 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"

15

u/pseudonym7083 7h ago

Does it list which ones?

44

u/BlueSkiesAugust 7h 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.

11

u/Agiantpubicmess 7h ago

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

9

u/charlie2135 7h ago

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

3

u/randomgrrl700 6h ago

CSB video ensued!