Replacing the Military’s Most Toxic Technology

The military aerospace industry runs on beryllium.

The rare metallic chemical element with a rough, light grey texture plays a critical role in infrared and guidance systems on strategic missiles, aircraft components, spacecraft, and surveillance satellites. But it comes at a hefty price: manufacturing beryllium is fantastically expensive, causes fatal lung disease in workers who handle it, and harms the health of the environment.

The military is currently willing to make this dangerous trade-off, but it may not have to for much longer.

The Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) recently announced it's close to qualifying the first alternate material that could replace beryllium in military applications.

"The new, very lightweight material shows promise for several aircraft, missile, and space applications," the Department of Defense (DoD) wrote on it​s blog Armed with Science.

The announcement comes amid increasing regulations on beryllium, which the federal government has deemed a "toxic and hazardous substance." Furthermore, the US has not had a steady domestic source of beryllium for most of the past 15 years. The scarcity is part of the reason for the material's high cost: the DoD says that some finished components that use the element can cost over $500,000 per pound.

Beryllium's appeal lies in its power as an alloy. When bound with other metals like copper or aluminum, it gives them rigidity, thermal stability and conductivity.

It's also low-density—perfect for use in aerospace technologies.

"It's lighter than aluminum and six times stronger than steel," says an article in Journal of Environmental Science and Health. "Unfortunately, beryllium is one of the most toxic elements in the periodic table."

Doctors have even come up with a name of a disease that comes from inhaling beryllium powder—berylliosis—which is a serious lung disease and can even lead to lung cancer. Fluorescent light makers, who once used beryllium-phosphorus in their household lamps, stopped using the material around 1950 due to factory worker deaths and concern for customers who might break the lamps and inhale the toxic powder.

Over the years, copper-beryllium replacement materials have been adopted into different military and commercial roles, but were never true substitutes, and were only suitable for discrete applications.

Although the AFRL didn't name the alternative material in question, research labs within the DoD have been looking into possible replacements for a while, calling attention in the past to a material called "nanostructured copper alloy," developed by Toronto-based Integran Technologies.

The alloy won "project of the year" in 2013 from the DoD's environmental research program, and met or improved on the performance of copper-beryllium without any of the harmful side effects.

"The development of these nanostructured copper alloys, which match the essential beryllium properties of being both lightweight and high-strength, without the toxicity, could result in substantial cost savings for DoD," wr​ote the program's judges.

Integran achieved this by developing the technology to produce incredibly fine-grained nano copper, which has particles smaller than that of smoke. These nano-sized particles have abilities their larger counterparts do not, including improved rigidity, corrosion resistance and tensile strength, according to Integran's re​port.

Those ultra-fine grains of copper are then turned into a fine metal coating through a process called electrodeposition, which uses an electric current to adhere a thin layer or metal to various materials and components.

After it receives a new technology request from a client, the DoD uses a nine-part Technology Readiness Level scale to track the technology's development. The levels rate every new project on a scale from basic research all the way to successful operation in the field. It can take years for a material to achieve a ranking that qualifies it for production or test use.

But contracting out to small business can cut down on bureaucracy, saving the military research labs the headache of going through the entire development process themselves, says Steve Buller, a former AFRL materials scientist.

"The government—we just can't do it all," said Buller. "We work on tons of projects, so sometimes we have to go out and get help."

The DoD's search for a beryllium replacement goes back to at least the early 2000s. It's not surprising that it has taken so long to find a substitute, Buller said.

The long wait is nearly over, but until then, the military will have to stick by its toxic element.

Steven Tomaszewski contributed to this report.​

This story is part of The Building Blocks of Everything, a series of science and technology stories on the theme of materials. Check out more here.