Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: portal!cup.portal.com!mmm@apple.com
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Milsch Metal 40mm projectiles?
Message-ID: <10740@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 30 Oct 89 02:51:15 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Lines: 13
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: portal!cup.portal.com!mmm@apple.com
Cerium is used in an alloy with iron to make "Sparkmetall", a material
used for lighter flints.  Though not self-igniting, it might play a role
in an ignition mechanism for a projectile.

Sparkmetall was developed about 100 years ago by Austrian Baron Auer von
Welsbach, who developed a thriving business producing the first practical
cigarette lighter.  I believe he also developed the Welsbach mantle, a
thorium-based ceramic used for gas illumination.  The company he founded
was a major supplier of heavy elements for German research in atomic energy
during WW2.