A. S. T. M. SOLVING WAR PROBLEMS By D. H. KILLEFFER Contributing Editor
L. J. ivlarkwardt The Edgar rViarburg Lecturer
" W A R ' S demands for huge production in the face of shortages and restrictions have destroyed the inertia in our tbdnking, and that foreshadows new, vital progress both now and in tfcie peace t o come, ac cording t o Andrew H. I?helps, vice presi dent of the Wesfcinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., addressing a general session of the 46th annual meeting of t h e American Society for Testing Materials at t h e William Perm BEotel, Pittsburgh, June 28 t o July- 1. Present conditions fa,ced by industry challenge its abilities t o meet changes, Mr. Phelps said, and by forcing the utiliza tion of neglected materials and methods ensure a future built upon the best ^we have
Dean Harney New President of Λ, S. T. M . V O L U M E
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without restrictions imposed by outmoded habits of thought. Keying its activities definitely to war time engineering problems of production, the American Society for Testing Mate rials drew 1,400 members and guests (con siderably more than a quarter of its total membership) t o the 15 general sessions and meetings of 221 committees com prising the society's 46th annual meeting. Also participating in discussions were: American Welding Society, through a joint committee with A. S. T. M. on Filler Metals; American Industrial Radium and X-Ray Society; Steel Founders' Society of America; N. E. S. S.; and Ν. Ε. Μ. A. Discussions of standards and methods in the society's numerous committees were largely devoted t o modifications necessitated b y scarcities, ,by special requirements, and b y the accelerated pace of production for war. Procedures were established in 1942 to facilitate approval of emergency alternates (designated EA) and emergency standards (designated ES) temporarily modifying or replacing the society's regularly adopted standards. At present 689 standards and 418 tenta tive standards have been adopted. Ac tions under consideration at the meeting, if finally approved, will bring the total to 1,151. In addition to these, some 60odd emergency alternates and 25 emer gency standards in all fields of engineering materials are under consideration, The actions taken by the A. S. T. M., through its various committees and in cooperation with other organizations, provide the basic tests and specifications for all types of engineering materialsFinal approval of each action is obtained by letter ballot following detailed dis cussion and amendment in meetings of committees interested. The procedure adopted to safeguard results of these ac tions, vitally important in their effects, prevents reviewing here in any satisfac tory detail the separate steps taken in ad vance of A. S. T. NL.'s final action on eacb. JULY
2 5,
1943
Walter Bonsack Charles B. Dudley Medalist
Tbe 15 general sessions of the society heard committee reports arid papers pre senting new data on problems relating to a wide diversity of engineering materials. Outstanding were: Engineering aspects of soil; feedwater problems ; fatigue, ka-rdness testing, and corrosion testing of metals; electrodeposited coatings; magnetic analysis; car bon and alloy steels; nonferrous metals; petroleum and asphalt products; coal; plastics; cement, lhae:, and concrete. Retiring President Herbert J. Ball, professor of textile engineering, Lowell Textile Institute, discrussed the relations between t b e textile industry and A. S. T . M. in his presidential address. Although textile products are ordinarily considered
Jm R. Townsend A New Vice President of A . S. T. M . 1163
AMONG THOSE PRESENT WERE — Candid camera at work at Pittsburgh A.S. ¥ . M. Meeting
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G . J. Fink and W . Vernon Brumbaugh of the N a t i o n a l Lime -Association
William F. Fair, Jr., M e l l o n Institute
Below. J. D . Sullivan. Battelle Memorial Institute; J . D . Edwards, Aluminum Co. of America. Right. H . V . Churchill, Aluminum C o . o f America; E. S. Dixon, The Texas C o .
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Right. Wheeler P. Davey, The P e o n syl v a n i a State C o l l e g e , ?&.
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Below. Brocicîngham oF B a l d e n So.uthwaric Division, Baldwin Locomotive W o r k s , and A. R. Ellis, Pittsburgh Testing Laboratories, chairman oF Committee on Arrangements, A . S. T. M . Right. A m e r i c o Albala, Chemical Engineer, rVlinistry o\ Economics, Chilean Government, and Ψ- R. Selvig, U. S . Bureau of Mines.
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25,
1943
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T. J\. Boyd
W H . Finkeldey Photographs on this page—Members of the Executive Committee
in their relation t o clothing, Committee D-13 has 78 established standards on their industrial applications. T h e rapid development a n d broadening use of manmade fibers o f cellulose compounds, s y n thetic resins, and glass are opening new and important fields to» industrial textiles in addition t o those served b y traditional fibers, Professor Ball said. T h e seventeenth, awaxd o f the society's Charles B. I>udley Medal 'was made to Walter Bonsack, ehicf ^metallurgist of the National Smelting Co.* Cleveland, Ohio, for his paper on "The Effect of Minor Alloying Elements on Aluminum Casting Alloys", published in t h e A. S . T. M . Bulletin, August 1942. In i i i s paper, which is especially significant i n relation to the mounting use of aluminum alloys in "war production, 3Mr. Bonsack presented a critical discussion of trie role of such elements a s magnesium, manganese, nickel, tin, lead, bismuth, iron, a n d others in
E. O . Rfeodes 1166
various casting alloys of aluminum. In addition to original work, the paper contains some 2 4 0 references forming an. important bibliography of t h e subject. The Charles B . D u d l e y M e d a l is awarded by the society i n memory o f its first president t o the authors of outstanding technical papers constituting contributions of original research, on materials technology. Experience with wood and with newmethods of utilizing it in t h e present war emergency demonstrates it t o be one o f the m o s t versatile materials a t the command of the engineer, L . J. Markwardt, chief of the Division o f Timber Mechanics, U. S. Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis., t o l d members of the society in t h e 18th Edgar Marburg Lecture delivered June 30- Recent developments in utilizing wood a n d combining it with other materials, particularly synthetic resins, were outlined by Mr. Markwardt, who pointed out "that postwar development will demand ever wider u s e of wood as a structuralmatcriaT*. Foreshadowing new developments to come are: present huge arehes built of wood for aircraft hangars, auditoriums, and other large structures; all wood airplane construction; prefabricated iaouse sections; and m a n y otbers. These r e s t on improvements in glixes a n d gluing methods, particularly applications o f synthetic resins t o t h e assembly of large members from small pieces; better joints a n d fastenings, which overcome a traditional weakness of wooden structures; improvements i n plywood fabrication; advances in protect i o n of w o o d against fire, decay, and insect attack; and better standards of grading of structural lumber and timber. Finally, Mr. Markwardt called particular attention to the f a c t that wood i s produced b y modern foresting methods as a crop, ever reaiewed, a n d not a s minerals are from exhaustible deposits in t h e earth. C H E M I C A L
E. VT- McN/iullen
The Edgar R^Iarbiorg Lecture commemorates -fche first secretary ofJ A . S . T. 3M. a n d is given annually î > y an o u t s t a n d i n g scientist cttosen hy t b t e conamittee f o r eminence i n his feeld. N e w officers of A. S. T _ Μ, elected for t h e year 1Q4&-4A were announced as follows: president, Dean Harvey, Westinghouse E l e c t r i c a n d Manufacturing Co.; v i c e presidents, P . H. B a t e s , National Bureau o f Standards, J. JR.. To^wnsonoL, Bell Tele phone Laboratories, I n c . ; rmembers of Execirtive Committee, T . A. ïBoyd, General M o t o r s Coirp., W . K. Finkeldey, Singmaster & Br-eyer, E . W. McMullen, T h e Eagle-Etcher Xead Ο ο . , Ε . O . R h o d e s , T h e K o p p e r s Co., F.G-- Tatnall, BaldwinSouthwark Division, Baldwin ZLocomotive Works. Also added to the membership of t h e Executive Oommittee i s Eerb-ert J". Ball, CONTTINUED O N P A G E 1 1 9 0
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