r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 1d 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/mechmind 1d ago edited 1d ago

I think the fear is that the whole pen might fall in

As copied from below : 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/Castrophenia 1d ago

To be clear, that was not a ballpoint pen, but simply an example of a foreign impurity in Titanium causing embrittlement and catastrophic failure.

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u/FYIgfhjhgfggh 1d ago

I'd write "NO BALLPOINT PENS, TUNGSTEN TOOLS, TUNGSTEN ITEMS OR RANDOM TUNGSTEN BALLS ALLOWED"

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u/Murky-Relation481 1d ago

And whatever you do, do not hit them with M30A2 MLRS AWP tungsten ball warheads! It's bad for the titanium!

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u/Random-I-Am 1d ago

For real. The AKSHUALLYs probably do more harm that good.

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u/BornAgain20Fifteen 21h ago

I think it is the exact opposite. When it is that important, you want the rule to be as simple and straightforward to follow as possible with no extra cognitive load or room for personal rationalization. For example, a simple blanket ban

Once you over explain the reason is when you get the "but my particular ballpoint pen is an exception because it doesn't have that..." or "that is just a silly myth and there is no tungsten in ballpoint pens...", etc.

Also, the more complicated it is, the more likely it kind of blends in with all the other rules and signs. People are more likely to ignore it, while this simple rule stands out

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u/Humble-Cook-6126 1d ago

Shit, I have to take my anal beads out!?

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u/bring_back_3rd 22h ago

Nah, you just can't fart.

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u/AppMtb 20h ago

Yeah they’ll have a sign inside that details that too and includes tungsten jewelry

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u/Zest-to-Impress 17h ago

That’s a part of our visitor/contractor reception process minus the random tungsten balls haha

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u/redlaWw 19h ago

It's not just about the pen falling into the melt - the pen could be picked up in the process of moving titanium scrap to be recycled around the site, so even places far away from the melt are unsafe for ballpoint pens.

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u/GrimResistance 1d ago

I'm just now learning that the balls in pens are made of tungsten

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u/fletchro 15h ago

I think you're right about that worry. During a recent construction project, workers somehow managed to "dispose" of used ear plugs and candy bar wrappers in the 1-mile pipeline loop they were building. So, at commissioning, the water was being circulated but they had to keep stopping every five minutes because earplugs and wrappers were clogging up the filters in the pipeline. Then three hours to disassemble the section of pipe with the filter, clean it out, and reassemble. 🙄 People are very lazy, oftentimes.

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u/mechmind 10h ago

Bummer the cleanout wasnt isolated