Grenfell’s aluminium

SIR – There are some common misconceptions about aluminium in relation to the Grenfell Tower disaster (Letters, July 1).

Molten aluminium does not burn in air, since it is protected by its oxide in the liquid state just as it is in its solid state.

This is why aluminium is classified as a non-combustible material in fire-safety standards around the world.

The use of an inappropriate cladding system at Grenfell Tower (a sandwich of aluminium and flammable polymer) seems likely to have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire, but it is false to conclude this is due to burning of aluminium. Professor Joseph Robson

School of Materials University of Manchester

SIR – During the Falklands war, four warships were lost. Two of them were of all-steel construction and two used aluminium in their superstructures.

Post-war investigations concluded that the use of aluminium had no bearing whatsoever in the loss of any of these ships.

The architect Richard Rogers could not have learnt from the “effect of fires on the aluminium superstructures of HMS Sheffield” (Letters, July 3), as Sheffield was of all-steel construction. John Newbury

Warminster, Wiltshire