Non-sparking copper-beryllium tools for methane-atmosphere mining

Beryllium's principal non-aerospace structural application. Cu-2-3%Be precipitation-hardened to 180–200 ksi; high thermal conductivity prevents frictional sparking. Used as the closing reason to study beryllium beyond spacecraft. ## §8 — Calcium / radium

It has one application I keep thinking how to bring in. Non-sparking tools. You can take copper alloys and give them 180 or 200 ksi strength by precipitation heat treatment — copper-beryllium. You make a copper-two-or-three-percent-beryllium alloy, heat-treat it, and end up with a copper alloy as strong as some of your strongest steels. They use it in mines for non-sparking equipment. In a mine, you've seen steel shovels get a spark when you hit them. It's not a good thing in a mine full of methane — you could have a ka-boom.