[Billyv]

Space shuttle disaster from their products? Other metalurgical issues with civil (auto failures) or DoD catastrophes?

[bitt]

Space shuttle disaster from their products? Other metalurgical issues with civil (auto failures) or DoD catastrophes?

~~~~~~~~~

OMG, the world trade center?

(”steel don’t melt!”)

[grey_whiskers]

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded due to the O-rings used to seal the fuel tanks, losing its elastic properties at the near-freezing temperatures of the launch, supposedly.

Which brings up the question of the vertical temperature profile of the atmosphere, and if the elasticity of the O-rings was still important by the time the shuttle reached a height where the ambient temperature was at or below freezing...