[TowerTalk] Stainless Steel Hardware

[Eric Scace K3NA]

   I am puzzled by the following assertion:

"...If you live on the seashore and have a moisture/salt/wind condition continually battering your antenna, you have to be a lot
more selective in your choice of anti-seize, because the moist salt air will, over time, wash the metal particle suspension
(oftentimes copper) out of the anti-seize compound and replace it with corrosive salts, leaving the fasteners even more vulnerable
to galling than if no anti-seize had been used in the first place. A non-metallic anti-seize compound (much harder to find at
retail) is recommended for such environments..."

   What is the mechanism by which salt air/water penetrates the suspension, and converts its contents to a corrosive salt?

   I've used ordinary anti-seize compound on racing sailboats and not seen this at all.

   Perhaps this is being confused with galvanic corrosion of aluminum, when stainless steel hardware is used in a salt water
environment without galvanic isolation?  This corrosion pits the aluminum and generates a white, powdery material (some form of
aluminum).  Such galvanic corrosion can be reduced by placing a plastic washer between the stainless steel hardware (bolt head,
ny-lock nut) and the aluminum surface.  One needs to use a form of plastic that will resist deformation when the bolt is tightened.

-- Eric K3NA