APRIL, 1952
CLBMENT DWAL The Sorbonne, Paris, France
RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
ALBERT PORTEVIN, whose
publications and accomplishments have made his name familiar to metallurgists and metal chemists in all parts of the civilized world, was born a t Paris on November 1, 1880. He graduated from the Ecole centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1902. He entered the metallurgical industry as head of the laboratory of La Bonneville and the De Dion-Bouton works. In 1912 he was brought back to his alma mater as chef de travauz, i. e., as supervisor of the laboratory work. He was advanced to assistant professor in 1925 and to full professor in 1939, a post he planned to relinquish in November 1951. From 1924 he was also professor (later director) a t the Ecole sup6rieure de Fonderie and likewise a t the Ecole sup6rieure de Soudure autoghe. He is or has been consulting engineer to the largest metallurgical corporations in France: Soci6t6 dJElectro-
chimie et des Aci6ries 6lectriques d' Ugine, Fonderies de St. Nazaires et Forges de Montoir, the Aci6ries d' OugrBe, the Soci6t6 de la Chal6assi&re,the Compagnie de St. Gobain, the Soci6t6 Rateau, the Usines Chenard et Walcker, the AciBries de Pompey, etc. He has been Secretary General, Vice-president, and President of the Revue de Metallurgie, President of the Soci6t6 de Min6ralogie (1949) and President of the Soci6t6 chimique de France (1950). He has been successively Chevalier, Oficier and Commandar of the Legion of Honor. He is a member of the Institut (Acad6mie des Sciences) in the section Sciences Appliqu6es B 1' Industrie. Albert Portevin was one of the pioneers in the discovery of stainless steel, since he was the first to show that the resistance to chemical attack is related to a sufficiently high concentration of chromium in solid
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solution. He showed on the other hand that these chrome steels can be successfully annealed, though hitherto thcy had been considered martensitic and hence brittle and useless.
Albert P0.tev.n
His abundant scientific output in the field of metals and alloys has dealt, especially with two main topics: (a) the phenomena and laws concerning thermal treat ments and the utilization of these procedures for the modification of the characteristics of metallic materials; (b) thc phenomena and factors in founding accompanying the fusion and solidification of metals and alloys, and affecting the structure, compactness, and various ropert ties of the cast pieces. Professor Portevin introduced thermal analysis into France. He studied first the singularities of the cooling curves in the case of Cd-Bi alloys. Together with Pierre Chevenard, he set up the principles of dilatometric analysis, and worked out a practical procedure which is directly applicable not merely to alloys but also to minerals and rocks. He made a detailed study of tempering and annealing by following the resistivity associated with a mechanical property. In micrography, he suggested the use of light directed quite obliquely to the polished surface being illuminated. He originated the idea of hypertrempe, he stated the relation between the shear and traction of special steels; he investigated shrinkage, the cementation of steels, the graphitization of cast irons, internal strains, fissui-ations, and corrosion. With Chaudron and Mor-
eau, he found a method of extracting the gases from a cold ingot; the sample is made the electrode of an evacuted discharge tube. He has also established the laws of castability, i. e., the aptitude of a f~lsrdrnetul to fill a mold, und defined a i80effirientof flow., t l ~ cu.eldnbility of a metal, and its for~mbiliwand mnchinahilit\.. IIc investirruted the ph&omena arising during autogenous welding and also the mechanism of segregations. He showed that light aluminum alloys can be hardened at any temperature and without a critical speed of tempering. A dilatometric, magnetometric, resistometric, micrographic, and sclerometric study of steels was required to distinguish between the tempering and reversion of martensite and austenite. He likewise was the first to define hardenability, and in the course of his study of tempering he worked out the kinetics and the details of the decomposition of austenite. Much of Professor Portevin's work has dealt with inclusions. He has attempted to discover to what extent the constituents formed in the steel by oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus may be classed as inclusions or as metallic constituents. He has issued an album of 230 micrographs which make it possible to identify rapidly the inclusions encountered in ordinary steels. He has shown that the electrical resistence of an extra pure iron or aluminum wire is increased by the insertion of hydrogen atoms. It was in this connection that he made a radioscopic study of degasified metals (Fe, Pd, Ta). There is no modification of the hardness, or the electrical resistance; the crystalline structure only is deformed or distorted. Besides his more than 400 papers, Portevin has published l'Introduction 9, 1'6tude des traitements thenniques des produits mBtallurgiques," which has been translated into English, Spanish, Rumanian, Russian, Polish, Czech. He and LBon Guillet in 1918 issued the well-known "PAcis de metallographie," which has gone through several editions and has been translated into English. Portevin was entrusted with the section on alloys in Volume XI1 of Pascal's "Trait6 de chimie minBrale." He organized the metallurgical exhibit in the Palais de la DBcouverte of the Paris World's Fair in 1937. This illustrious metallurgist-chemist has received many notable honors. These include the Carnegie medal of the Iron and Steel Institute, the Bessemer Medal, and those awarded by the SociBtB d1Encouragement, the SociBtB de 1' Industrie minerale, the Association de technique Fonderie. He is the only Frenchman on whom the Institute of Metals has conferred its platinum medal. Professor Portevin is extremely modest; he is very approachable, and his conversation is entertaining. Never too busy to help and encourage young people, he is beloved by his students. His teaching has borne good fruit, and among those whose doctorate work has been guided by him are such men as P. Bastien, L. Guillet, Jr., D. SBferian, L. Guitton, E. Herzog, and R. Castro, all of whom now hold high positions in the metallurgical industry of France.
