News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand. Parent comment

Re:The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden lad... by ghaff on Wednesday July 11, 2018 @03:47PM (#17509763)
The other property of aluminum that is relevant for some uses (but likely not ladders for most uses) is that, unlike steel, it doesn't have a well-defined fatigue limit. Therefore, it can eventually fail after a large number of even relatively small loads that don't visibly deform the material. That's one of the main service limits on airframes.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden lad... by lsiebert on Thursday July 12, 2018 @09:26PM (#17519901)
Definitely true. Steel will stretch or bend if overloaded but aluminum is brittle enough that it will break once but without any warning of fatigue that may have occurred.

Now, in this case I wouldn't want to use steel, because it rusts and is heavier and neither are good for fire fighting.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden lad... by NoGravitas on Thursday July 26, 2018 @12:39PM (#17618776)
There's a cyclist saying: steel bends, aluminium breaks, and carbon fibre shatters.
[ Parent | on HN ]