We can pay tribute to the work of existing laboratories on alloys, both ferrous and nonferrous, and still say with emphasis that the problems are so fundamental that no one laboratory as now organized can profitably do all the necessary work. No doubt many of these laboratories can be fully utilized for phases of the problems in which they are expert, but there still remains so much to be done in the interest of so many manufacturers that it is believed a co-operative movement should be initiated. How can this be accomplished?

A few paragraphs above attention was called to the official encouragement given by the British government to the formation of such co-operative associations. In the United States the National Academy of Science was chartered in 1863, one of its functions being to investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art whenever called upon to do so by any government department, and from that time on the academy has discharged these duties with distinction. Very early in the great war the academy offered its services to coordinate the research facilities of the country, and upon being requested to do so by the President of the United States formed the National Research council in co-operation with the various national scientific and technical societies. The work done by this organization was of such merit that the President later requested the academy to perpetuate it. The chief objects of the council are to increase the amount of research being done in the country and to help train men capable of doing research, interpreting it and utilizing information so gained. It will be seen, therefore, that while enjoying the approval and support of the government, the National Research council is not a government body and differs in that respect from the English organization. The council proposes at this time to promote the organization of an association for the conduct of research upon alloys.

Plan Should Embrace Users of Alloys

In Great Britain research associations are formed primarily among manufacturers, but it has seemed to the National Research council that users of a material have much in common

and are less in competition than are manufacturers of such a material and it is believed, therefore, that under our conditions better headway can be made by forming an association composed primarily of users, but by no means excluding producers. It is believed also that work of this character should be done. by the industries themselves. Individuals alone could proceed but slowly to discover all that science has to teach on these special subjects, but individuals banded together in such an association can make great progress. And, it is not a matter wholly for the government although certain phases of the question clearly come within the field of the bureau of standards, bureau of mines and the geological survey. The alloys industry is widely scattered and the men interested very numerous so that a new method must be sought. The industries have the most to gain; the industries should control the work; the industries should pay for the work; and it seems obvious that the best and most efficient method is to undertake the project in co-operation.

The laboratory of the Alloys Research association will establish a regular information service by means of which the individual firms will be kept abreast of the technical developments at home and abroad. To provide such service for itself any firm would have to employ at least the entire time of one man to read and translate the technical literature from all parts of the world. The laboratory will be prepared to supply a translated copy of any foreign article of special interest and will answer technical questions in as great detail as the scope of its own and allied organizations will permit. The laboratory will publish much of interest to other branches of science, and will be the best possible point of contact between the interests which it represents and other industries interested in the utilization of materials under study in the form in which they are sold.

What kind of problems would be undertaken? These may be considered under two general divisions: those relating to pure research, and the practical application of information so gained which we designate as industrial research. In the past it has been difficult to have some manufacturers realize that pure research, so often classified by them as academic or something in which the college professor only was interested, is

in reality something absolutely essential to them in the conduct of their manufacturing business. Some of the observations recorded in this manner have become of unexpected value later on, and such an extremely utilitarian device as the wireless telephone, if traced back, will be found to express in practical form the results of some half dozen or more purely academic experiments and mathematical calculations.

Function of Independent Laboratory

Indeed, it is because a works laboratory is more often a trouble department to which the organization turns for control. and the solution of immediate manufacturing problems that the Research association must be formed, in order that we may obtain the facts upon which the laws governing the observed phenomena can be formulated for our guidance. When as a result of pure research we find out what takes place in an alloy when it undergoes changes to which it is subjected, then we shall be better able to find ways to so control these changes as to give us desired results to meet certain specifications. Our information on the properties of pure metals is really fragmentary, and in many cases the recorded data cannot be fully utilized because the complete history of the sample is not known. The phase rule diagram has been nearly completely worked out in the case of certain pairs of metals, but many important pairs have not been adequately studied. When we come to three component systems scarcely anything has been done, while the possible number of combinations that could be studied is very large indeed.

In determining quantitatively the relation between the physical properties, the chemical composition and the constitution of these various alloys, all the physical properties must be accurately measured, first in the case of the pure metals entering into these combinations, and then of the combinations themselves. Soon relationships will be established such that predictions can be made, and if we can be guided by the experience of those scientists who have used three component system diagrams to remove the mystery concerning the manufacture of optical glass and make it possible to produce glass of

distinct physical constants almost by mathematical computation, we ought to be able to choose constituents for some types of alloys to meet exacting requirements by similar methods. At present in many cases the properties of the constituent metals yield very little guidance in predicting the useful properties of an alloy and these may depend upon very close control of a number of dependent variables.

Perhaps it would be useful to recall some of the properties which should be determined in each instance in order that the magnitude of the work may be appreciated as well as the importance of the data which can be obtained in no other way. Density, hardness, fatigue, tensile strength, elongation, compressibility, elasticity, torsion, shear, bending and hydraulic determinations should be made. These are all mechanical tests and should be conducted at high temperatures ordinarily and also low temperatures. Then there is the melting point, the critical point, specific heat, heat of fusion, heat of vaporization, conductivity and expansion, and these must be determined over the same range of temperatures. Another group of tests has to do with electrical and magnetic properties and concerns capacity, resistance, susceptibility, permeability, radiation, absorption, emissivity, and thermo-electric properties. We must also consider solubility, susceptibility to attack by acids and alkalies, porosity of metals, effect of outside agencies such as pressure and magnetic field and the effect of impurities.

Special Problems Confront Research Workers

As to the practical side, it will perhaps be more striking to present our subject from specific rather than from general examples of application. If, as might conceivably be the case, it were possible to produce an alloy of aluminum that would have the necessary strength and at the same time a surface not so readily oxidized as is the case with present aluminum alloys, a great need would be met in the rubber tire industry where steel forms are now used in the manufacture of inner tubes. The aluminum is not only much lighter to handle but it gives a better surface and has other properties which make it desirable. Alloy steels have been a great factor in making inex

pensive automobile parts, for in comparison with high-carbon steels or similar alloy steels having the required characteristics the machineability of vanadium steel, for example, is such that a part costing, say, $6.50 when finished would, because of the difference in labor, cost more than $13 if the high-carbon steel was used. This last mentioned steel requires grinding, and, while the difference in the cost of raw materials is extremely small, the labor item becomes the governing factor. In steels the word "alloy" appears to have become a panacea, and yet our knowledge is very limited and the tendency is to use an alloy steel because it is an alloy and rot always because there is sufficient reliable data to justify its use.

One of the serious alloy problems is to find a method of increasing segregation in high-silicon irons so that they may become ideal from a machining standpoint without reducing their resistivity to the actions of acids and other reagents entering into the reactions of industrial chemistry.

Could Give Attention to Occluded Gases

There seems reason to believe that the occluded gases in metals may have a more serious effect than some of the impurities which we take great pains to eliminate. Only recently has accurate pyrometry been given proper attention, and the results obtained fully justify the continuation of that work in accordance with a well-thought-out and extensive program.

There is a multitude of problems yet unsolved in the art of die-casting, and many parts made by other processes might be better made by die-casting if we knew enough fundamental data concerning pure metals and their mixtures to enable us to compound the exact alloy for the particular purpose. Unsoundness, believed to be caused by entrapped air, is one of the great difficulties which might conceivably be overcome if our stock of knowledge were to be increased. Better compositions for crank shafts are needed as well as marked improvements in stream line steel or other tubing for aircraft production.

Recent experiments with one of the old and much discussed bronze formulae has shown that slight variations from the original empirical formula results, under proper conditions,