I agree that thermite grenades don't detonate. I guess I should say ignite. I have seen a several videos of a thermite grenade destroying the contents of a safe and it is messy to say the least. I like your initial thoughts. If I could find a manufacture that does so it would make this a lot easier. Right now we have no experts on site to assist in the design of the destruction method. You would be surprised at how many of these safe providers do not provide a self-destruct for safes. Of course usually you want to keep the contents inside the safe out of harms way. Rachid Chaoua -----Original Message----- From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of William "Chops" Westfield Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 2:50 PM To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Subject: Re: [EE] - Safe Self-Destruct On Mar 17, 2008, at 9:30 AM, Chaoua, Rashid wrote: > I figure if you have reached the point where you must destroy the > contents of the safe you probably don't care much for the surrounding > area. However, the surrounding area is a mobile environment and if the > thermite grenade is detonated it will most likely destroy the vehicle > once it burns through the safe. Thermite grenades don't "detonate" (technically speaking.) However, my impression that the typical "thermite grenade" is aimed at destroying heavy equipment (truck engines/etc) by burning a hole through the metal parts, and is therefore poorly suited to destruction of more distributed but more sensitive material like paper and electronics. It really ought to be possible to "tune" a safe/thermite combination to heat the contents of the safe to temperatures sufficient to destroy everything inside without melting through the safe itself (though the outside will certainly get plenty hot.) My initial thought is simply to use a milder thermite or "gasless delay" type composition is lining for the entire safe - silicon/lead oxide for instance. I would be surprised if there isn't something available from suitable "security" providers (thought it may require some interesting licensing...) BillW -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist