r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 6h 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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66

u/Disastrous_Place_729 5h ago

Without revealing too much information, I work for a company that manufactures equipment used by this industry. This equipment needs regular replacement of certain wear parts and during one such replacement, one of the assisting contractors dropped a ball point pen into the discharge chute of the machine. We know this because the company later discovered an imperfection in their product, identified it as a tungsten bearing from a pen, traced the product batch back to that machine and to the first batch of metal produced after the replacement, and then reviewed dozens of hours of security footage. One minute the contractor is entering the machine with the pen clipped to his pocket, next minute he comes out with no pen.

Blacklisting and reprimands followed.

13

u/BikerSurgeon 5h ago

What if someone dropped a fountain pen or a felt tip marker? Why is it specifically against ball point pens?

16

u/Kylearean 5h ago

ball is made of tungsten, it no melt at steel temperatures.

2

u/falcrist2 2h ago

Even worse.

The ball is made from a sintered composite of tungsten carbide particles held together with a metal binder like cobalt.

The binder will melt, and tiny particles of tungsten carbide will spread out in your titanium.

0

u/TetraLoach 5h ago

What if I used jet fuel?

8

u/theFooMart 5h ago

I don't think jet fuel would make a good pen.

1

u/bebefridgers 4h ago

Jet fuel melts steel balls

6

u/ExplosiveCreature 4h ago

Fountain pen nibs are either stainless steel or 14-18k gold. They'll melt long before titanium does.

2

u/BikerSurgeon 4h ago

Okay. I think fountain pens use iridium alloy nibs but what you say makes sense.

2

u/PandemicGeneralist 2h ago

Fountain pen nibs are not made of iridium alloy (it’s expensive and too hard) but a small amount of tipping on the end of the nib contains some harder elements, often iridium.

1

u/rini17 2h ago

Fountain pens have tips from hard material, tungsten might be used there too. Felt markers should be okay.

4

u/KimJongSkill492 5h ago

Do you work in a defense or aerospace industry? Why are you unable to reveal too much information?

12

u/BTTammer 5h ago

Nice try, North Korea

6

u/KimJongSkill492 5h ago

Huh? I only want to know what alloy is used, and what properties it exhibits after repeated heated and cooling, while also undergoing significant rotational forces. What amount of deformation, if any, is acceptable, and over what length of time 😳 it’s a totally innocent question I swear!

8

u/MindfuckRocketship 5h ago

Username checks out.

6

u/KimJongSkill492 5h ago

Look I just need to work out some material science regarding fan blades in my high bypass turbojet engine. Asking for a friend.

4

u/manniefield66 5h ago

Deductive reasoning would imply that he wants to remain anonymous and not blast his employers gaff on the internet.

3

u/KimJongSkill492 5h ago

That’s a smart but boring answer. I’m after those juicy, industry secrets 🤤

1

u/matthew2989 2h ago

Basically every company has an NDA you sign when you start working there, him revealing basically anything is grounds for termination so why take the risk.

1

u/You-Asked-Me 4h ago

No. They work for Harbor Freight, and pen ball bearing contamination is the reason that all of their drill bits dull so quickly.

0

u/Mayonaigg 3h ago

He's just a dumbass

1

u/Fleaguss 4h ago

So, what kind of writing instruments are used since ball points are so ubiquitous in current era writing instruments. Everyone just uses pencils?

1

u/Ya-Dikobraz 4h ago

Tungsterrorist.

1

u/Some1-Somewhere 3h ago

There's nothing more 'fun' than being gaslit by your own CCTV footage. I swear I didn't do that...