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"FEATHER METAL" stumps aerospace workers

May 18, 2009

My friend has a sample of crash debris sheet-metal approx. 4" x 2" X (aluminum foil thin) that is so stiff we can't bend it or scratch it. It has a color of grey stainless, but no ferric reaction to acids. It is smooth, brushed, not shiny. The very tip of the edges are bent slightly back in one direction all around and are jagged and are colored magenta/lavender from heat? The sample feels weightless. Our speculation is that it is a part of a satellite's Thermionic Generator ... But might be Titanium micro-meteorite shielding.

Our question is not what destroyed this device,or WHAT IT WAS, OUR Question is What COULD IT BE so we can make some more? Any guess? WHY WON'T THIS SHEET BEND WHEN IT'S SO THIN?
Best guess yet is an ALLOY of Titanium-nickel, beryllium-copper/zirconium...but, just a guess based on property characteristics so far noted.

So far we have no plans for a Gas -Chromatography Spectrometry test due to costs.
The sample was obtained from an army officer in New Mexico during the late 1940's.

(Please don't say "It's a space ship", because I don't believe in them.)

Marcus Pizzuti
aerospace illustrator - Westminster,California

Hi, Marcus. After 60 some years it's long past time to test what it is rather than to waste time on wild guesses. That can be fun for a while, but speculation should have ended in the 40's :-)

When you say it won't bend, what modulus of elasticity are you recording? When you say it's featherweight, what do you mean quantitatively? It's the easiest thing in the world to determine its density.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 19, 2009

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First of two simultaneous responses --

Sounds like a molybdenum heat shield for whatever purpose. It is a dark gray, normally thin, difficult to bend, formed at high temperatures and moderately light. It is used in furnaces at over 2000 degrees, particularly vacuum furnaces.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
May 21, 2009

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Second of two simultaneous responses -- May 21, 2009

Marcus

I spoke with some of the folks here, and they wondered what had happened to it.

Yes, it is light, almost weightless, but then most foil- like materials are. At least you did not get the chromatic sample- it is even lighter, and does not absorb or reflect most lightwaves in a traditional manner. You should see it :)

The sample is inert to organic and inorganic acids, and reacts only initially with molecular acid, and then reaches an equilibrium of ion exchange. The dual planarization structure actually becomes stronger as you try to bend or deflect it. Something about an electron deficient charge tranferring polarity as the material is subjected to force/stress.

Do not bother with the spectrometry test- surprisingly the results don't show anything except elemental traces, which are probably surface contaminants. It is like the sample is not there. I'm guessing you've done the arc test. Cool, huh?

Best SWAG is that it is synthetic in origin; nano-assembly composite matrix with capacitance features to provide the charge.

Good luck growing, uh, I mean making some more.

Willie Alexander
- Colorado Springs, Colorado

At present,I'm told there are no crystals in it's structure (amorphous) and does not react to acetylene torch, yet can be held in the hand as soon as the torch is removed. Smith said it was so hot at some point before exploding, it came into contact with silica (sand?) and fused it into glass that left traces on the opposite side the edges are bent toward -Microscopic observation-@ 2500x The edges are jagged,but NOT torn as we would expect from an aircraft skin. Either the Origin is much more recent than my friend affirmed, or it cannot be a Satellite part due to it's province and chronology. No water has been found in it's makeup, or oxygen, so somebody has a neat way of vac-form, or it's a Cold-cast metalli-polimergrex not marketed yet because of defense application somewhere. Would make great heat shielding to replace shuttle tiles on NASA's orbital.

Seems if the make-up was molybdenum,the whole field would have been very carcinogenic to clean-up crews. (Remember the Nuclear powered planes of the fifties that crashed?)

Electrical charge could have caused the color oxidation,but considering the heat enough to melt sand,and explosive appearance of the edges, heat may have been the main factor.

Marcus Pizzuti
- Westminster, California
May 24, 2009

Hi, Marcus. Countless high-schoolers use these pages as the start of their science projects. Please don't encourage their laziness by refusing to weigh this for 60+ years :-)

Any high school science student can give you the density in 5 minutes flat via Archimedes' Principle. But my bet is that it is landed in 1616 and is made of iridium copper.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 25, 2009

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I think it's a can that split open and was smashed flat, flip it over and see what brand of beer was in it.

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
May 27, 2009

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First of two simultaneous responses --

Nah Sheldon - I think it really is just a piece of aluminum foil - it is still just SCARED STIFF from the original crash! Eventually it will calm down and the mystery will disappear...

Jim Gorsich
Compton, California, USA
May 28, 2009

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Second of two simultaneous responses -- May 29, 2009

The subject sample in question is not in the author's control or possession to order tests that may or may not have been done already.
Most of those will be anecdotal second-hand or third,and cannot be confirmed by personal observation.(No I did not put the sample in a vice to see if it will bend, It's not mine.)
No, I have not got a specific density test result yet because no one can tell me anything more than what is public record already. If there is something industrially confidential about an alloy, I can accept that, but why isn't more seen in the private sector of industry?
Perhaps there is some defense application that has yet to be shared but will soon under the new openness of an Obama Administration, but I'm not going to ask any more questions, I may lose my job.

Marcus Pizzuti
- Westminster, California

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If Ted's right and it's iridium copper, quick test would be to see if it will pull rice (see thread on this subject a few years ago).

Bill Reynolds [deceased]
consultant metallurgist - Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
We sadly relate the news that Bill passed away on Jan. 29, 2010.
June 2, 2009