[time-nuts] beryllium oxide

Mike S mikes at flatsurface.com
Fri Jan 16 18:28:40 UTC 2009


At 12:45 PM 1/16/2009, Lux, James P wrote...
>More realistically, the dangeris dust when something is physically 
>overstressed (dropped, mounting overtightened, thermal shock). That, 
>and if it gets ground up in trash disposal... Say someone throws it in 
>the shredder.

So, if some electronics have an IC with a BeO package, and it sits 
undisturbed, what's the problem? It seems to me that most, if not all, 
such uses would be additionally contained by heatsinks and compound, 
since it's the thermal conductivity properties which caused it to be 
used in the first place.

Hard to say how much dust might be produced by dropping or 
overtightening. In my experience, ceramics tend to break pretty 
cleanly. Maybe BeO is different.

Granted, the manufacturer can be expected to be biased, but Brush 
Ceramics claims "Beryllium oxide (BeO), in solid form and as contained 
in finished products, presents no special health risks." They also 
claim "Under federal regulations and most state regulations, BeO 
ceramic or products containing BeO
ceramics that are no longer recyclable and declared solid wastes are 
not classified as hazardous waste due the content of BeO ceramic." 




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