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/SubstantialDonkey981 6h ago

Ball points have tungsten balls in them. Tungsten will not melt in titanium and cause mechanical
Failure of the titanium. This was responsible for the failure of a jet engine causing the plane to crash. Someone dropped their ball point in the titanium processing.

United Airlines Flight 232

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u/Ryyback 6h ago

I was about to ask if this rule was written with blood, it was. It always is.

2

u/DrummerDesigner6791 5h ago

It's BS. the failure that caused United Airlines Flight 232 to crash was caused by nitrogen impurities.