NEW METALS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 27

NEW METALS

LABORATORY PROGRESS

THE UP-TO-DATE CAR

Many of the materials that go into motor-cars to-day are different from those of even twelve months ago, when the 1929 models were introduced. With the appearance of 1930 models there will be still other changes in construction. An illustration of thia is found in brightly-plated exterior parts. The motorist's first thought ia cromium plating. He is right in most instances, but hero and there car makers aro using stainless steel for parts previously treated with cromium. Tho manufacturer of two popular sixes, for example, is using a hood hingo of stainless steel Ite spite of the fact that chromium jlat-

ing was largely developed by tho corporation of which this company is a unit. •' In the products of other car manpfacturers stainless steel is being used to an even larger extent for exterior ■parts likely to feel the effects of weather, and despite the fact that this type of steel is four times as expensive as ordinary grades, the. makers of one fine car is using it for virtually all bright exterior parts. Another metal that is coming into wider use is rustless iron. Its first application to motor-cars was in the form of running board mouldings. In three of the largest motor-car laboratories experiments are being conducted with an entirely new type of steel for use in crankshafts. While dotails of the new metal are not yet available it is. known that it eliminates tho process of heat treatment A RECENT INTRODUCTION. Tho recent introduction of a series of new models of an expensive car marked the first use in the United States of nitrided steel in motor-car fabrication. This metal has been much -exploited in Europe, and its progress is being watched ' with special attention by American engineers and metallurgists. A great deal of case-hardened steel is employed in motor-cars, and many feel that something still_ harder, less corrosive, less easily distorted, and capable of withstanding heavier impact is to be desired. It is,-this fact that has foeussed so much attention on nitrided-steel, which is claimed to possess these desirable virtues. The nitriding process was developed m

Germany, and was introduced in America by a French steel maker, who holds the rights to the process outside Germany. While it has failed so far to find an application in America outside the steering gear of the car referred to, ,it has caught on more strongly in Europe, where it has been longer known. Ono of the most expensive European cars uses nitrided steel fgr cylinder -walls, crankshafts, timing gears, camshaft gears,,clutch disc,, valve tappets, water pump," and other engine parts. Other European cars are using it to a lesser degree. A "new ingredient that has recently gone into the making of motor vehicles is asphajtum. A coating of this substance is being applied to the inner side of the steel body panel to remove its tendency to rumble. Several of the more expensive cars are using it. METAL VERSUS RUBBER. Rubber having displaced metal in so many parts of the average automobile, it is worthy of note that an instance has recently developed in which metal has displaced rubber. That is in the clutch. In 1929 cars rubber inserts are found in virtually all clutches. Their purpose is to prevent the matching of engine and drive mechanism vibrations. Recently, after months of experiment, the maker of one of the most popular sixes decided that the same end could better be achieved by using a small coiled spring instead of a rubber insert; Others may follow thia examplo. ■ Virtually all laboratories have considered, and continue to considor, • the relative superiority of a carbon or alloy, steel for spring material. The final word on the subject has not been spoken. Some have chosen, a carbon steel, others an alloy. Carbon steels are less expensive, but more material is necessary, which/ some declare, makes them as costly in the end as one of the alloys. ■ . ■ •