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Originally Posted by Andrew Garrett
DU is pyrophoric. That means that when it is powdered or cut into thin sheets it will spontaniously ignite at temperatures far below room temperate. This is exactly why they use it for ammunition. It is an INCINDIARY round as much as an armor piercing round. The DU is twice as dense as lead and is cast as a spike with point geometry that allows it to fragment into a powder from the tip, back. It remains sharp while doing this, Thus, it continues to penetrate the armor of the target while the 'powdered' fragments ingite and burn at the same time. The tank rounds (as an example) get so hot doing this that they explode inside the target, consuming the crew in fire.
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yeah making it into a blade would be a bad idea..even if there wasnt the risk of radiation poisoning. look up "spall" with uranium to read more about what happens with a round. being a pyrophoric is the reason why uranium sparks so much. i read in a book on developing nuclear technology that some of the original nuclear techs used to use small pieces of uranium for their lighter flints before they realized this may be a bad idea. lol