Originally Posted by
yotty
I think it unlikely that a gradual leak in the 02 system could cause the problem. The equipment cooling/aircond would disperse that limited amount of 02 very quickly. Though you couldn't argue that a major leak might not cause a reaction "if all the holes in the cheese lined up"!
You might be right. You only need a 10% increase in the concentration of oxygen (from the usual 21% to 23%) to achieve an oxygen-enriched atmosphere. Get to 23% and the chemistry of fire changes and it changes dramatically - ordinarily non-flammable materials become flammable, ignition temperatures come down, flammability ranges widen, rate of combustion goes up, flame temperatures go up.
And it takes far less oxygen (by weight or number of molecules) to raise the concentration of an 8,000,foot atmosphere to 23% than would be required to achieve the same result at sea level.
However, as interesting as that might be it is all largely irrelevant if WD-40 or a similar compound isn't present. Which brings me back to my original question:
Are commercial aerosol lubricants like WD-40 used for applications such as lubricating cabin and cockpit seat tracks?