WAR AS A PARENT OF DISCOVERY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2961, 31 March 1919, Page 3

WAR AS A PARENT OF DISCOVERY.

The demands for all manner of things occasioned by the war naturally led to a great deal of research, investigation. and experiment, with the result that many valuable discoveries were made, that will prove of great advantage in peaceful pursuits, as they were in the prosecution of the war. Amongst war-time research work the benefit of which will be permanent better control of the heat treatment of steel promises valuable results. It is now widely recognised that comparatively few degrees’ variation in the temperature makes all the difference in the properties of the finished material. The difficulties are particularly great where large masses of steel are concerned, because it is difficult to secure the same temperature at the surface and in the mass of the metal. Other difficulties are introduced by the different scaling tendencies and different emissivities of various steels. Recent improvements in furnace construction facilitate the attainment of uniform temperatures, and the means and methods of pyrometry have been developed to such an extent that the most delicate heat treatment can be given with almost mathematical certainty and on the basis of a commercial repetition process. It was suggested recently by Dr Caraponter, at Sheffield, that working temperatures would lie laid down in specifications for steel products in the near future. A start has already been made and the state of practice is such that this policy ia sure to be extended. - ..