Beryllium

badastro · Jul 17, 2007

I've heard that some of the springy pins in computer connectors are made of a beryllium copper alloy.

This has led me to think twice about processing everything gold plated in a computer since beryllium is toxic and cancer causing. :?

Is there any way to deal with beryllium other than avoid it? Are there ways of detecting it so it can be avoided?

goldsilverpro · Jul 17, 2007

The following is what I got off the net. I'm not a doctor and you can take what I say with a grain of salt.

If I remember right, beryllium copper is a pale pink color. A much paler color than pure copper. It is amphoteric and is therefore soluble in both acids and alkalies, weak or strong. It's not soluble in water.

All of it's compounds are extremely toxic, when breathing the vapors or when ingested. The metallic dust is moderately toxic, when breathed. The ingestion of bulk beryllium doesn't seem to be very toxic.

Breathing it in is a great danger as it causes berylliosis, a form of pneumonia.

The highest beryllium content I could find in beryllium copper is 2.7%.

From all this, I wouldn't burn it, grind it, or melt it. I may not dissolve it. In solid form, it doesn't seem to be hazardous but, who am I to know?

Do your own research and make your own decisions.

The difference, as I understand, between something that is very toxic and something that is, say, moderately toxic, is the amount of the material you can take into your body before it kills you. The toxicity is usually given as LD50. This is the amount of a substance that a group of average weight people can each ingest to produce a death rate of 50% in the group. Everything has an LD50. Even water. I think I read once that the LD50 for water was 35 pounds. Marijuana was also listed and I seem to remember it's LD50 was around 40-45 pounds. I know it was higher than water.

lazersteve · Jul 17, 2007

Astro,

Based upon GSPs intial findings I'm not 100% convinced that pc manufacturers would realistically use Beryllium in pc board sockets. Safety regulations and flame tests may have prohibited it's use in any appreciable quantities. Do you have any document references on the subject?

I've always read that the pins inside of card slot headers where brass or steel plated with tin or nickel. Typically just the minute surface that contacts the pc card is acutally gold plated and only microns thick there. I have seen a very rare few slot header pins that were plate on more than just the wiper contact surface.

Keep us posted on your findings.

Stve

goldsilverpro · Jul 17, 2007

I do remember seeing a lot of beryllium copper used in certain electronic components. As badastro said, it was most always used as a spring. The ones I've seen were flat springs used on such things as rotary switches and, maybe, slip ring assemblies. It was fairly common. The color of it is distinctive and easy to spot, if you've seen it once. I believe they have a substitute for it today.

aflacglobal · Jul 17, 2007

I read once that the LD50 for water was 35 pounds. Marijuana was also listed and I seem to remember it's LD50 was around 40-45 pounds.

So using the Cotton mouth theory of relativity we can conclude that if a person where to smoke 45 lbs of weed. That person would need to consume 35 pounds of water or 35 / 8.3 lbs per gal = 4.2 gals to offset the cotton mouth theory. Leading to high saturation and approaching Critical mass of the subject.

Now my question is, at what point would you reach Super Nova Critical Mass. :?:

So this explains what happened to the hamster when the wheel came off. Add the theory of E=MC2 and the fact that the wheel functioned as gravity concentrator like that of a g force accelerator or atom smasher and the close relationship to the water bottle and the whole picture starts to become clear. The dam hamster stole my weed. :shock: :shock: :shock:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

For the story on the hamster >>>>>> http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=3995#3995

Well. lol

badastro · Jul 17, 2007

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=433&highlight=beryllium

The post by aflacglobal has a list of materials in computers, along with its location.

A search for copper beryllium edge connector on google yields plenty of examples of copper beryllium alloy in edge connectors, though it seems that it is just one several different alloys manufacturers use.

There is no doubt that they exist.

Would it be a good idea to avoid all springy contacts?

goldsilverpro · Jul 17, 2007

I was waiting for your reply to this, Ralph. In reality, they probably force fed rats with all this stuff.

aflacglobal · Jul 17, 2007

You been digging. :lol:

I had forgot this one. Don't know where i got it. I surf so many pages i just copy and paste the important stuff. But if i keep it it came from at the least a good source.

Ralph

lazersteve · Jul 17, 2007

Ralph,

It comes from the eWaste project website.

Steve

aflacglobal · Jul 17, 2007

The toxic dumping issue we discussed.

:wink:

lazersteve · Jul 17, 2007

Here's the wiki for the alloy:

BerylliumCopper

Looks like the dust is where we might encounter problems (dremeling or sawing off connectors). The dust is definitely not good for you.

Looks to be in pretty low alloy percentages also. Actually mentions replacement alloys.

Here's a pdf of a random adapter minipci module that uses beryllium in the contacts (page 2 under Composition and Plating):

MiniPci

This definitely confirms the use of beryllium in the connectors.

Steve

Harold_V · Jul 18, 2007

I'm somewhat familiar with beryllium copper, having machined it on many occasions. I have some in my stores of metals that I use in my shop, and can attest it's very difficult to discern from pure copper. The low beryllium content changes the color of copper very little, too little for the eye to say with certainty that the metal is not pure copper. One thing that will betray its presence is the fact that it heat treats, unlike pure copper. If you find copper colored objects that display spring characteristics, pretty good chance they're beryllium copper. As GSP suggested, it is commonly used in flat spring applications.

Should you encounter anything that's suspect, avoid any dust, and if you're a smoker, do not smoke unless you wash your hands after handling the material. The hazards of the material are well documented. A search of Brush Wellman (makers) should provide a lot of information.

One of my customers from my machine shop years used a great deal of the material in their products (guidance systems for military aircraft) and had a policy of allowing their manufacturing personnel to handle it for maximum accumulation of 90 days, then they were never again allowed to work with the stuff. It's not to be taken lightly, although likely one hell of a lot safer than strontium 90.

Harold

goldsilverpro · Jul 20, 2007

Harold, are you sure that beryllium copper isn't paler in color than copper? You're probably right. I'm probably confusing it with phosphor bronze.

Harold_V · Jul 20, 2007

Fact is, both of them can be confusing, depending on how they are heat treated. The heat treat process can be carried out in a controlled atmosphere, so there is little or no oxidation. I've seen the color you suggest, and I agree. It stands out-----but it's not always that color. I should have thought past the end of my nose when I spoke.

After posting (originally), I started thinking about how I was allowing my experiences with the material in the machine shop to spill over, comparing them to the high tech electronics industry, and that may not be a fair comparison. I'd also suggest that modern heat treat technology is likely yielding a far different product than I am used to seeing.

In this case, I think I need to back off and suggest that you will be confused as to whether an object is beryllium copper or silicon (or phosphorous) bronze, but you are probably right in that it won't look the same as pure copper, and I believe that was the point.

For those that don't know, the hardening process is nothing more than heating and holding at a given temperature. No quenching involved for hardening, but it is essential for returning the material to what is called solution annealed. Hardening is through grain growth, or precipitation hardening, as it's known. Some stainless materials heat treat the same way.

Harold

Edit: added phosphorous bronze

hilld2000 · Jul 26, 2007

Well, for my part, I am taking no chances.

I wasnot aware of the risk at all and was going to process ALL the springy conectors... I have now decided to avoid these instead...!
Many thanks for the warning.

I am assuming that this may also apply to the external connectors for network plugs etc?

lazersteve · Jul 26, 2007

HillD2K,

I would not jump to conclusions about any component connector until you do a little searching first.

Here are some examples of a few RJ45 jack that are NOT beryllium copper alloy:

Phosphor Bronze

Phosphor Bronze 2

Just do your homework before processing connectors.

Steve

Irons · Sep 27, 2007

I worked at a plant that made submarine communications cable and Beryllium Copper was used extensively in the fittings because of its high tensile strength and resistance to corrosion from sea water.
I questioned the employees not getting briefings as to the toxic nature of the material becaused I had noticed workers cleaning old fittings with abrasives and not wearing any respirators.

I had an encounter when I got a small sliver in my hand, and although I removed it immediately, an ulcer formed that took months to heal and I can still see a mark where it had gone in, so you can imagine what kind of reaction your lungs might have.

Workers in the Nuclear industry are now showing signs of beryiliosis decades after even indirect exposure.

I'ts bad stuff as a dust.

To make a long story short, someone called the EPA and after their inspection, they fined the company 1.2 Million dollars for violations.

Thomas M Joseph · Dec 6, 2023

Besides being a Class I carcinogen, beryllium and it's compounds also cause berylliosis. In certain genetically mediated individuals, as much as 1 exposure is enough to cause the disease. Ultimately, death is caused by pulmonary fibrosis, a suffocating and irreversible outcome. Even office workers who were in separate buildings from processing areas have developed the disease. The dust is insideous, wives of workers developed the disease by doing their husband's laundry. It is definately " bad stuff".

Thomas M Joseph · Dec 7, 2023

The old standard for worker exposure from the 1940s-2010s was called the "Taxi cab" standard, because it was decided in the back of a taxi. It was 2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. This was considered an acceptable health risk due to national security reasons. This approximates a marble sized piece of beryllium being distributed evenly in a football stadium sized volume of air. The new standard, pushed by Dr. Lee Newman, noted pulmonologist, is 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. circa 2017.

Lou · Dec 7, 2023

Thomas M Joseph said:
The old standard for worker exposure from the 1940s-2010s was called the "Taxi cab" standard, because it was decided in the back of a taxi. It was 2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. This was considered an acceptable health risk due to national security reasons. This approximates a marble sized piece of beryllium being distributed evenly in a football stadium sized volume of air. The new standard, pushed by Dr. Lee Newman, noted pulmonologist, is 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. circa 2017.

and the current recommendation for soluble platinum salts is 0.002 mg/m3 ( or 2 ug/m3 ) for the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL, Time Weighted Average over an 8 hour shift) which is the Short Term Exposure Limit (STEL) for Be dusts.

Last year or the year before (it all blends together) I participated in the IPMI/IPA ERAC meetup. The general consensus among industry experts and study is the that if you'll be sensitized, you will certainly be sensitized. Considering that Pt is 11.6 times denser than your beryllium marble example and assuming it correct, some simple maths would indicate it's probably a pea-sized amount of Pt equivalent in that football stadium.

Beryllium

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