DS> TG>Hmm, Aluminum flashes at high velocity, IE: friction (Thermite).
DS> 
DS> Thermite is Aluminum?  I don't think so.  The Aluminum may get hot and
DS> melt just from the conversion of energy, but I don't think that it would
DS> *FLASH* like an incenderary round.  An incenderary round has a magnesium
DS> alloy type of core and will flash/burn on impact, very much like that
DS> of a depleted uranium round (but without as much destructive force and
DS> no radiation).  What you maybe thinking of is a White Phosphours (WP)
DS> round.  That is a WP core with an aluminum jacket.  When the projectile
DS> impacts an object, the jacket either breaks up or peels open exposing
DS> the WP which will begin burning as soon as it's exposed to the air.
Don,
Back during the Falklands conflict between the Brits and the Argentines, 
one of the Brits newest destroyers got center punched by an exocet. The 
impact and explosion set the "latest, hi-tech, *aluminum*, superstructure 
on fire. The fire raged with such intensity that the ship was lost. Now 
thermite ain't made of aluminum, but aluminum and magnesium are very close 
to one another on the old periodic table and have similar properties. If 
you can get the Al burning, your going to have a dickens of a time putting 
it out. Needless to say, the Admiralty rethought their ideas on destroyer 
construction and went back to making their cans out of "tin".
jackson
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