ElMondoHummus
0.25 short of being half-witted
RJ Lee supporting molten metal? How many freakin' times does it have to be pointed out that the RJ Lee reports were issued before they had the benefit of the NIST report and during the period of time when steel melting was indeed considered a serious hypothesis? How many times do conspiracy peddlers need to be told that? In regards to whether steel melted or not, RJ Lee is superceded by the NIST report. The RJ Lee group merely presumed that molten metal was one of the reasons that microspheres were in their samples. They did not determine it. Do any truthers realize that the RJ Lee Reports (plural, BTW; there was more than one) were environmental impact studies that surveyed post collapse dust samples? That they were NOT definitive statements on how components of the dust were created! They were surveys of the components of the air in Manhattan after the collapses.
On top of that, why were the citations of the WPI researchers, as well as Banovich and Foecke ignored by the thermite fantasy pushers? From Biederman, Sullivan, Vander Voort, and Sisson, on a piece from building 7:
[quote=''Microstructural Analysis Of The Steels From Buildings 7, & 1 or 2 From The World Trade Center'', Microscopy and Microanalysis (2003), 9(Suppl 2):550-551CD Cambridge University Press]The as-fabricated microstructure consisted of a hot worked banded structure of ferrite and pearlite. In severely “eroded” regions where the thickness had been reduced to less than a 1/16 of and inch significant decarburation was observed. In addition, some pearlite bands presented regions that had re-austentized as well as regions where the pearlite had started to spheroidize. These observations indicate that steel had experienced temperature between 550 and 850°C.[/quote]
(Bolded for emphasis)
Banovich and Foecke, on column K-16 from one of the main towers:
[quote=''Assessment of Structural Steel from the World Trade Center Towers, Part IV: Experimental Techniques to Assess Possible Exposure to High-Temperature Excursions'', Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, Volume 6, Number 5 / October, 2006]
... One example showing a high-temperature excursion was analyzed. Single exterior column K- 16 displayed a large amount of material degradation as a consequence of erosion/corrosion processes...
...However, because its size and yield strength established that it came from no higher than the 53rd floor, as well as the corrosion pattern on the column, the degradation must have occurred after the collapse
[/quote]
On top of that, why were the citations of the WPI researchers, as well as Banovich and Foecke ignored by the thermite fantasy pushers? From Biederman, Sullivan, Vander Voort, and Sisson, on a piece from building 7:
[quote=''Microstructural Analysis Of The Steels From Buildings 7, & 1 or 2 From The World Trade Center'', Microscopy and Microanalysis (2003), 9(Suppl 2):550-551CD Cambridge University Press]The as-fabricated microstructure consisted of a hot worked banded structure of ferrite and pearlite. In severely “eroded” regions where the thickness had been reduced to less than a 1/16 of and inch significant decarburation was observed. In addition, some pearlite bands presented regions that had re-austentized as well as regions where the pearlite had started to spheroidize. These observations indicate that steel had experienced temperature between 550 and 850°C.[/quote]
(Bolded for emphasis)
Banovich and Foecke, on column K-16 from one of the main towers:
[quote=''Assessment of Structural Steel from the World Trade Center Towers, Part IV: Experimental Techniques to Assess Possible Exposure to High-Temperature Excursions'', Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, Volume 6, Number 5 / October, 2006]
... One example showing a high-temperature excursion was analyzed. Single exterior column K- 16 displayed a large amount of material degradation as a consequence of erosion/corrosion processes...
...However, because its size and yield strength established that it came from no higher than the 53rd floor, as well as the corrosion pattern on the column, the degradation must have occurred after the collapse
[/quote]
Thermite doesn't burn below 850oC - hell, it doesn't burn below 2000oC! That right there is a negation of the claim that the sulfidation corrosion was proof of thermite! And the only column piece recovered that showed signs of sulfidation corrsion was 1. an external column, 2. Not in the collapse initiation zone, and 3. Corroded while it was laying on it's side. Even if K-16 were a core rather than a perimeter column, it's impossible to claim that the eutectic erosion was proof of thermite demolitions, since the corrosion quite obviously took place after the collapse.
This has pretty much gone far enough. The preponderance of the evidence eliminates thermite from consideration. The collapse of the Twin Towers was absolutely not initiated by thermite, and recovered pieces from the collapse initiation zones prove this. The collapse would proceed all the way to completion once it started; Bazant and his group demonstrated this. Jones's "paper" on "energetic material" is negated via the very "evidence" contained within; that we discussed ad nauseum in this thread. WPI's microscopy demonstrates that the temperature range was below that achieved by a thermite reaction, and Banovich and Foecke, while disagreeing with WPI's top end, confirm the presence and makeup of the various iron phases WPI studied. And people like Pasquale Buzzelli, who was on the 22nd floor when the North Tower collapsed, contradict any notion of thermite or explosives given his proximity to core columns (NCSTAR 1-7 clearly diagrams the towers stairwells in relation to the core and perimeter of the buildings); he was not burnt to death by the thermite. Neither were any other survivors from WTC 1's stairwell B.
There is no longer a valid thermite hypothesis. It has been conclusively disproven. The only way to resurrect it is to ignore the evidence that exists. And when that happens, the advocate is no longer talking history or science, he is talking fantasy.
There is no longer a valid thermite hypothesis. It has been conclusively disproven. The only way to resurrect it is to ignore the evidence that exists. And when that happens, the advocate is no longer talking history or science, he is talking fantasy.