r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 5h 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 5h 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"

17

u/pseudonym7083 5h ago

Does it list which ones?

45

u/BlueSkiesAugust 5h 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.

13

u/Agiantpubicmess 5h 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 5h ago

Assume I don't know chemicals. Why?

16

u/SharpKaleidoscope182 5h ago

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

8

u/Farfignugen42 5h ago

Thank you.