Very few have had to deal with such an unusual concept as the "tin plague". But everyone who is familiar with it is in a hurry to reassure others that it has nothing to do with epidemics and does not threaten a person. This interesting phenomenon applies only to tin, which decomposes at low temperatures and turns into a gray powder (photo below).
Excursion into the past
Mankind learned how to obtain tin, which is essentially a strategic resource, many years ago. Due to its high plasticity, which manifests itself even at room temperature, it was widely used in the manufacture of items such as buttons. In addition, tin is in demand in the manufacture of jewelry and household items.
In 1910, an expedition was equipped to explore the South Pole. She failed, and when she returned, she left food supplies in containers sealed with tin stoppers. Researchers sent after them found that the abandoned cans of fuel and food were opened and completely empty. And next to them, small particles of a substance of unknown origin were found (photo below).
At the end of the 19th century, a train loaded with a large amount of tin set off from the Netherlands to Russia. When he arrived at the destination, when inspecting the cargo, gray powder was found instead of metal ingots. Roughly the same incident happened with the expedition sent to Siberia, when after severe frosts all available tin dishes fell into disrepair. As recently as in the last century, in one of the army warehouses, all the tin buttons, also turned into a gray powder, disappeared from military uniforms. After a thorough investigation, they came to the conclusion that under certain conditions the metal is affected by a dangerous disease called "tin plague".
What is the tin plague
For a long time, scientists did not pay attention to this phenomenon. It was only after the tragic death of several expeditions that emergency surveys of the metal structure were carried out. After tin X-ray irradiation, it was possible to examine its crystal lattice in all details and find an explanation for the earlier cases. Scientists have found that this metal is only stable at room temperature.
Under these conditions, it is characterized by a plastic structure and is easy to process. But if the temperature drops below minus 13 degrees, its crystal lattice changes. In this case, the atoms are no longer so tightly bound to each other, and the substance passes into another modification, called gray tin. At temperatures of about 30 degrees below zero, the resulting substance takes on a powdery state.
How the tin plague was defeated
Scientists have been looking for an antidote to this disease for a long time, until British experts figured out adding stabilizing enzymes to tin and creating a new material.
The resulting alloy contains the following components:
- Tin (up to 95%).
- About 2 percent copper.
- 3% antimony.
Thanks to the discovery of a new composition called "Pewter", it was possible to defeat the dangerous disease of the valuable metal.