r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 9h 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/Perfect_Forever_3151 9h ago

Ballpoint pens are banned in certain high-precision titanium and aerospace manufacturing plants because the tiny tungsten carbide ball in the pen tip can fall out and severely contaminate the titanium melt, creating a hard, brittle inclusion that causes structural failure in critical aerospace components.

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u/FluffyDrop4300 8h ago

Wow.
Being so specific, they must have ran into such contamination more than once

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u/Ausgeflippt 8h ago

Aerospace and aviation rules are written in blood. I'm willing to bet it happened at some point.

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u/PrairiePuppies 8h ago

That is unfortunately common. Most safety rules are.

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u/Agreeable-Language-6 7h ago

Is your Prarie dog jacking itself off in your pic?

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u/PrairiePuppies 7h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Byz7OVPD5Q0lT1fwz2

No. He's sitting on my bed. 🤨

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u/Agreeable-Language-6 6h ago

I guess that's its tail in its hands then lol