Ive read that the Northrop XP-56 "Black Bullet" was an all-magnesium aircraft! Doesn't seem very logical to have a fighter aircraft that when hit will instantly burn (It can burn spontaneously in air when heated...and even worse you can't stop the fire with water...it will explode)! Had Nortrop (or any other) devised a solution to this problem?
didn't the zero have a high magnesium content? I dount it was all magnesium but more likly a magnesium alloy. Magnesium would probably be too soft on it's to be anything useful. FNG
All sources talk about an all Mg aircraft...among sources i found: National Air and Space Museum: Although it ultimately failed, the XP-56 was built using a new material, magnesium, and a new construction process... http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/ai ... p_xp56.htm USAF Museum Archives: The "Black Bullet" , an all-magnesium aircraft, was first flown ... http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p56.htm Looks true to me :-? The Zero used Duralumin an alloy of aluminium (about 95%), copper (about 4%), and small amounts of magnesium(0.5%–1%) and manganese (less than 1%)...but i've also read about high magnesium contents in the zero's skin (even mentioned as one of the reasons why it easily burned!)! But no good sources about that skin part I thought Magnesium was about as strong as aluminum, 33 % lighter but more brittle
Magnesium in powdered form burns rather easily however the ignition temperature of solid magnesium is over 450 deg, C ( 850 deg F). Onlly molten magnesium presents an explosion hazard.
When you say 'solid magnesium'... We used to use ribbons of magnesium (about 1mm thick by 1 or 2 cm wide) in science classes, and these could be set on fire (with a very intense white light) by a match or burning paper. We used to make home-made fireworks with them in my friend's back garden - a couple of ribbons in a twist of paper, apply a match to the paper and back off to a suitable distance. oh, by the way - DON'T DO THIS! It is silly and you can harm your eyesight.
Ribbons or powder will work. It depends upon surface area to volume ratio. You can buy solid magnesium parts for various purpose made by a type of injection molding called Thixomolding (registered trademark).
Ah, so thicker magnesium is harder to burn? But (just being awkward ) how thick is an aircraft's skin? First we should discover exactly what the P-61 was made of...
ricky wrote: My remarks do not pertain to whether or not magnesium is an ideal material from which to build an aircraft but merely to the mistaken idea that solid magnesium is terribly easy to ignite and explodes and burns spontaneously when heated. btw..magnesium has been used extensively in aircraft in the past in fuselages, engine parts and wheels also jet and rocket engine parts. Magnesium alloys are the most popular combined with aluminum , zinc or manganese.
As far as I'm aware (Remembering back to science class), even when powdered or in a thin ribbon magnesium is stable until ingnited and can be easily immersed in water, there is a family of metals that react violently with water, unfortunately I can't remember what they are
What i was thinking off is that when it burns you can't extinguish it with water...than it will explode...science class has been to long ago...
yeap, i agree with you, . long, long time ago, that is why i ask that question is cos i saw a video of a fire in a factory that handles magnesium and that was the problem with the fire figthers,if they use water the magnesium will react exploisivly and if they do not the fire will expand to the rest of the building
Ok, I've been doing a little digging on the P-61... no, wait, the XP-56! Most sources either do not mention the material use, or state it was 'Magnesium'. The most informative was http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/ai ... p_xp56.htm , which says "Northrop chose Magnesium because at that time, national aluminum reserves were thought too small to meet current and future demands, particularly in light of President Franklin D.Roosevelt's call to build 50,000 airplanes a year. Aircraft companies experimented with wood, composite plastics, and stainless steel. Magnesium weighed about one third less than aluminum and promised stronger components and smoother finishes if problems with fabrication could be solved. Northrop hired a former associate, Vladimir Pavlecka, to join the company. Pavlecka developed the Heliarc welding system and tried to patent it, but General Electric had already patented the process in the 1920s. Northrop was granted a patent only on the heliarc welding torch." So it seems that it was 'pure' magnesium rather than an alloy. On Magnesium: http://www.jsw.co.jp/en/mg_f/mg_mg_f/mg_mg_chare.htm which makes one wonder why it was not used eariler. I do wonder what would happen to a magnesium aircraft hit by tracer or incendiary bullets though... And pity the pilot who has an engine fire!
I've read some thing about the Heinkel He-70K: The He 70 airframe was made out of so-called "electron metal", a very light, yet strong alloy of magnesium, which burns spontaneously in air when heated, and is only exhausted when covered in sand. A single hit from a light machine gun usually set the entire plane ablaze, killing the crew.... Source is Wikipedia so that doesn't really count does it http://www.mindwallet.com/wiki/Heinkel%20He%2070 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_70
