Word: carbonizing
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Microscopic carbon fibers pose a threat
...super lightweight, super strong materials are here. Made of plastics reinforced by extremely thin strands of carbon, they are already being used in everything from aircraft parts to golf clubs and tennis racquets. Industry planners also have their eyes on hundreds of other products that could benefit from the versatile materials. But now warning flags have been raised about a troublesome effect of the fibers in the superplastics. Federal officials are so concerned that they have quietly ordered a high-level inter-agency study to decide how to reduce the potential hazard...
...weigh far less than metals of comparable strength, a ready market was available when they first appeared in the 1960s. The aircraft industry began using new composites for helicopter blades, turbojet fans and many other components-first plastics containing boron fibers. Then manufacturers began turning to fibers made of carbon or graphite (another form of carbon), which were less expensive and more versatile than the boron variety...
Almost immediately the first sign of trouble appeared. When the fine, nearly microscopic carbon fibers escape into the air-either during their manufacture or when the composite material is purposely or accidentally incinerated-they can settle on electrical equipment with disastrous results: carbon fibers are good conductors of electricity and thus can cause short circuits, arcing and sometimes fire. According to a recent NASA study, there have been more than a dozen such incidents since 1970 in industrial plants producing or using the fibers. As use of the composites increases, careless disposal and burning of wastes could release enough fibers...
Through the greenhouse effect nitrous oxide, acting in the same fashion as carbon dioxide, traps heat within the earth's atmosphere. A rise in the nitrous oxide level could inevitably make the earth warmer, McElroy said...