On Wednesday, November 14, 2001, at 05:43 PM, Eric Murray wrote: > OTOH, LME requires the metals to be liquid or close to it. Even tin > has a melting point around 500 degrees F, and it's a pretty > low melting point metal. > Engine mounting parts might get that hot, but not the exterior surface.
No, liquid metal embrittlement does not require that aluminum, for example, be nearly in a liquid state. The mercury amalgam that forms can even form at cryogenic temperatures, not to mention at normal ambient temperatures. > There's probably other methods of causing quick corrosion of > failure besides LME... what I googled about it makes me not worry > about it as something sprayed on the exterior of aircraft to > cause sabotage. > Google is great, but beware of getting your basic science just from some items you find. Fontana and Greene is a good text on corrosion, and there are even some pretty good online descriptions of LME in connection with mercury on aluminum. --Tim May