Possible Evidence for Explosives in the Steel from the World Trade Center

Findings from Vincent Sauvé, skeptica@pacbell.net

The FEMA report titled World Trade Center Building Performance Study, Appendix C (Available at http://www.fema.gov/library/wtcstudy.shtm) “Limited Metallurgical Examination”, shows evidence of explosives used, by way of photographs, microscopic, and chemical examination. They do not draw this conclusion though. Instead, the authors write (in these selected sentences): “Evidence of a severe high temperature corrosion attack on the steel, including oxidation and sulfidation with subsequent intergranular melting, was readily visible in the near-surface microstructure.”... “The thinning of the steel occurred by high temperature corrosion due to a combination of oxidation and sulfidation.”...“The unusual thinning of the member is most likely due to an attack of the steel by grain boundary penetration of sulfur forming sulfides that contain both iron and copper.”...“A liquid eutectic mixture containing primarily iron, oxygen, and sulfur formed during this hot corrosion attack on the steel.”... “The severe corrosion and subsequent erosion of Samples 1 and 2 are a very unusual event. No clear explanation for the source of the sulfur has been identified. The rate of corrosion is also unknown. It is possible that this is the result of long-term heating in the ground following the collapse of the buildings. It is also possible that the phenomenon started prior to collapse and accelerated the weakening of the steel structure. A detailed study into the mechanisms of this phenomenon is needed to determine what risk, if any, is presented to existing steel structures exposed to severe and long-burning fires.”

I would like to note that when faced with a mystery, the proper thing to do is to experiment. An experiment could be done to test if high explosives or a “long-burning fire” could reproduce the observed corrosive destruction of the steel. A real investigation, as opposed to a whitewash investigation, would do this. Actually, if you think about it, a long-burning fire might be able to soften the steel but it wouldn’t be able to inject the chemical ingredients of explosives into the steel, as the examination shows. (See Information Box below.)

Where were samples 1 and 2 found within the wreckage? This is important. This doesn't appear to be discussed in the report. Why not? If the samples were found near the top of the pile that would mean, most likely, that they came from the top portion of the building. This is important because there would be no “long-term heating in the ground following the collapse of the buildings” of the above-mentioned samples. If the location isn’t mentioned in the report (I scanned the sections that this information should be in to no avail) this can be taken as a good sign of a cover-up (ineptness is another possibility). Also, what was the condition of the rest of the beam that the sample was cut from? If the sample came from a beam that was deeply buried and underwent “long-term heating”, shouldn’t the damaged area that the sample came from be quite large, in as much, as it would necessarily be a large mass of material that would be able to retain high heat for a long time period? (This is basic physics any engineer worth his salt should understand.)

It is clear to me that this FEMA report isn't an impartial investigation that is after the truth. Also striking is how often it is mentioned throughout the report of the need for further investigations. The FEMA report is nothing but a preliminary report that no insurance company, victims family, or other interested party should be content with.

Information Box
(snip)
Sulfur
"The most popular vaporizing agent due to the fact it lowers ignition temperature for most pyrotechnic mixtures."
--From the web page: Pyrotechnic Chemicals at http://members.aol.com/PyRoKiNg29/pyrochem99.html

Sulfidation
"The reaction of a metal or alloy with a sulfur-containing species to produce a sulfur compound that forms on or beneath the surface on the metal or alloy." Definition provided by The Hendrix Group, Materials and Corrosion Engineers at http://www.hghouston.com/popup/sulfidation.html

So, some of the steel from the WTC shows signs of "attack" with severe corrosion, signs of exposure to high temperatures, oxidation and sulfidation. Hmmm, what could cause that? I wonder......