Thermal Grease

[Bill Fuqua]

There is a difference between the common Beryllium Copper and BeO.
BeO has a very large percentage of Beryllium in it while Beryllium Copper
has only a
few percent. Grinding is a real no no.
Chunks are fairly harmless unless you get  a sliver under the skin and
still then not
terribly bad  as compared to inhaling BeO dust.  Switches spring contacts,
finger stock and such often
are made of Beryllium Copper alloy.

73
Bill wa4lav

At 01:34 PM 11/4/2004 -0500, J. Forster wrote:
>Scott Johnson wrote:
>
> > I have seen ZnO in silicone grease, Indium washers, BeO washers, plain
> > silicone grease, and ZnO in petroleum grease, but NEVER BeO grease. Some
> > space hardware does, however make use of beryllium metal (it is light and a
> > good thermal conductor) as a backplane material.  It was used in Motorola's
> > Iridium program.
> > Scott
>
>Beryllium metal particles are very toxic and very special machining techniques
>are needed for any dust producing operations, but a chunk of the metal is
>essentially harmless and does not require special handling. I've used it for
>optics (mirrors) and gyroscope components.
>
>-John
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>This list is a public service of the City of Tempe, Arizona
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>
>Subscription control - http://www.tempe.gov/lists/control.asp?list=BOATANCHORS
>To post - BOATANCHORS at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
>Archives - http://interactive.tempe.gov/archives/BOATANCHORS.html

-----------------------------------------------------------
This list is a public service of the City of Tempe, Arizona
-----------------------------------------------------------

Subscription control - http://www.tempe.gov/lists/control.asp?list=BOATANCHORS
To post - BOATANCHORS at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
Archives - http://interactive.tempe.gov/archives/BOATANCHORS.html