Beryllium is ∗very∗ nasty stuff and is toxic in microgram amounts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium_poisoningThe classic way to suffer effects is inhaling microscopic amounts of dust into the lungs (not dissimilar to the situation with asbestos).
Obviously, as with all toxicity situations, dose and length of exposure are everything.
This is not something anyone should be messing about with at home.
And yeah, beryllium does sometimes still get incorporated in things like golf clubs, loudspeaker tweeters, etc. I even once saw a hi-fi shop selling 'beyllium shielded SCART leads' for your VCR. Madness!
David
--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "chipaudette" <chipaudette@...> wrote:
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> I noticed that mention of beryllium, too...but I'm not as familiar with its health consequences. I assume that its toxicity is closely related to the form of the beryllium (the specific compound), I looked up "beryllium thermal paste" to see if I could get a clue.
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> Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_grease) talks about the beryllium being in the form of a ceramic (beryllium oxide). Presumably as a powered ceramic used as a filler in the paste.
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> Looking up beryllium oxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_grease), they talk about it being used in thermal grease. Under the "safety" section they talk about the problems with inhaling the powder. It does sound bad.
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> I guess that the question is, how much exposure to powder is likely when handling thermal grease? I'm thinking that the exposure to ∗powder∗ will be low. Conversely, though, how much exposure/risk are you willing to tolerate given the that the downside is pretty bad?
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> Thanks for the heads-up regarding the beryllium thermal grease. Does anyone else have experience with these kinds of thermal pastes?
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> Chip
>