CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING VOLUME 21
NEWS MAY 10, 1943
NUMBER 9
Walter J. Murphy, Editor
Chemical Industry in the War Effort By CHARLES A . T H O M A S , Monsanto Chemical Co., Dayton, Ohio ΤΠο SPEAK on the contributions of the
chemical industry to the war effort is indeed a formidable assignment. There exists no clear delineation between it and other industries—they are as inter twined as the warp and woof in a fabric. Slowly and unobtrusively during the past two decades, chemistry has become essen tial to all industries, so that today the component parts of each have lost some of their identity in the pattern of indus trial enterprise. For example, it is difficult to decide wherein lies the differ ence between certain aspects of the petro leum industry and those of the organic chemical industry, and if there should ap pear to be no clear line of demarcation between the subject matter of this paper and that presented by Mr. Murphree and Mr. Kettering, it is due to the strength and rigor of the chemical- meshes which support and reinforce all of our modern industrial and technical efforts.
This is the most technical of all wars in history. All branches of engineering and science are marching shoulder to shoulder with every man and woman in our armed forces. Chemistry is indefinably merged with each of them. From the tip of his plastic helmet to the sole of his syntheti cally tanned shoe, our soldier is dependent on chemistry. Since December 7, 1941, the chemist has played a vital role in this global war. When it can be told, the list of chemical achievements in World War I I will be one to which each of us will be able to point with pride. Right now, however, we are still crossing the stream. True, the other side of the shore is becoming in creasingly more perceptible, but until we are safely on the other side we refrain from lauding our progress. Very wisely, however, we do stop long enough to gage Above. Blocks of plastic are checked for _ light fastness under ultraviolet lamps.
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that progress, in order to draw there from any conclusions that may be helpful in assuring our safe landing on the shore of victory. As we look back, we see three demons that have attempted to impede our prog ress: The Demon of Inadequate Produc tion Facilities, The Demon of Insufficient Raw Materials, and The Demon of Manpower Shortage. Inadequate pro duction facilities we tackled by building on a gigantic scale. Insufficient raw materials we have brushed aside by the use of alternates. But decreasing supply of manpower could not be so easily dealt with. You can use wood or glass for many of the purposes to which metals were form erly applied. You can convert a peace time plant and equipment to the manu facture of wartime commodities. But it is not so easy to find substitutes for chem ists or to convert overnight inexperienced
and will continue to require, more chemi cals than this country of ours ever had to produce. At the same time we are faced with the fact that we have fewer chemists per capita than do some of the enemy countries—for example, based on a ratio of chemists to population, Germany has three times as many chemists as the United States. I believe tbat in this country there are approximately 5 chemists per 10,000 of population, while in Germany there are 15 chemists per 10,000. Never theless, the chemical industry has so far successfully handled the job of supplying chemicals, with comparatively few shortSome of the jobs which the chemical industry is handling are of phenomenal proportions. In this war we have been faced with the need of supplying, almost overnight, vast requirements for syn thetic chemicals of all kinds. For ex-
Above. Tfirough this mill may be going a new resin for divo bomber's window, but what is useful to a bombardier may find its place o n family planes after the war. Monsanto. conducts pilot plant research on all test tube discoveries. Right, A completely Airfoa in-equipped U. S. Navy personnel boat with a protective padding of Airfoa m in carwas cylinders around the gunwales t o protect seaplanes from damage while being servioed by the boats. The Airfoa m was produced originally for use in automooile cushions and like purposes.
labor to skilled labor. The Demon of Manpower Shortage promises to become even more troublesome in our continued progress. That "we have managed as well as we· have i s due t o the splendid co operation of the Selective Service ad ministrators, who are recognizing more and more the seriousness of our situation. It is also due to tfcie recruiting of personnel from closely allied fields, and to the use of women, wherever possible, in both the laboratory and thie plant. We must re member, liowcver, that when we recruit a person with limited knowledge of chem istry from, allied fields such as pharmacy, home economics, or pre-medicine, we are directly dLetractirtg from the war effort; for, in this war, everyone must work at his highest skill. A pharmacist is more valu able to the war effort as a pharmacist than as av pseudo-chemist. The employ ment of women, likewise, does not open to us an infallible xoad to success, although at the present time we do have more women in our plants and laboratories than we have ever h a d before. We cannot
undertake a wholesale replacement of our chemists and our engineers with women, simply because of the limited number of women with technical training. The future will see us dealing with the prob lem of manpower shortage along sub stantially the same lines which we have been following; however, there will be more concentrated endeavor, a weeding out of the less important projects from those which are essential, and an inter company relationship dedicated to an allout war effort. The entire war program has required,
ample, the annual capacity of the syn thetic rubber plants now under construc tion is 813,000 long tons. If we assume that this rubber is worth 25 cents a pound, then the annual dollar volume of this new enterprise will be approximately 447 million dollars. No single chemical com pany had net sales approaching this figure in the year 1939, the last year of peace time economy. Added to this, one must remember that there are many millions of dollars worth of chemicals which must be supplied and manufactured to support this rubber program. When the man on the
The AMERICAN OBBMICAL SOCIETY assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors t o its publications. Published by t l x e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Publication Office, 20th & Northampton Sts M Easton, Penna. Editorial Office, 1155 16th St., N . W., Washington, D. ft; Telephone, Republic 5301; Cable, Jiechem (Washington). Advertising Department, 332 West 42nd S t . , New York, Ν . Υ.; Telephone, Bryant 9-4430. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Easton, Penna., under the act of March 3, 1879, as 24 times a year on the 10th and 25th. Acceptance for mailixig at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized July 13, 1918. Annual subscription rate, $2.00. Foreign postage to countries not i n the Pan American Union, $0.60; Canadian postage, $0.20. Single copies, $0.15. Special rates to members. No claJLms can b e allowed for copies of journals lost in the mails unless such claims are received within 60 days of the d a t e of issue, and no claims will be allowed for issues l o s t as a result of insufficient notice of change of address. (Ten days' advance notice required.) "Missing from files'* cannot be accepted as the reason for honoring a claim. Charles L. Parsons, Business Manager, 1155 16th St., N . W., Washington, D . C , U . S. A.
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CHEMICAL
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street asks you chemists why he does not have tires for his car, are you sure he realizes tiie true magnitude of this under taking? T h e chiemical industry is meeting the challenge. It has attained imposing goals within a few months, and during a period of intense economic strain and raw ma terial shortages. The accomplishments to date simply confirm the fact that chem ists do rush in where angels fear to tread. The fact "that in this road rush there have been only minor casualties is a tribute to the extreme resistance of the peculiar strain of organisms which make up the American chemist. Big construction aoid shipbuilding pro grams havve been given much publicity. But there? has been little comment on the accomplishments of the small chemical manufacturer who often fills large orders for compounds whicL· are difficult to syn thesize, even though he has neither ade quate plant facilities nor the most effi cient equipment. I n numerous instances it has been necessary to improvise, in order to make quickly available, from domestic sources, some of the little known but important, chemicals formerly imported. When the Japs cut off our supply of qui nine from the Dutch Indies, it became necessary to produce synthetic antimalar ials, but some of the intermediates for these antimalarials had been coming from Germany- The production of thousands of pounds of such intermediates in sal vaged equipment assembled in sheds or bams instead of i n specially designed reaction vessels in modern plants is just one example of the magnificent fortitude and resourcefulness of the American chemist arid the chemical industry which he created. There are many other similar accom plishments which I could recall along these same lines. But perhaps the most im portant contribution of the chemical industry i s that it had large organizations of skilled men ready for the emergency. Their skill was accumulated from years of experience and has been placed at the disposal o f the nation in this time of crisis. Industry cannot claim sole credit for the training o>f the American chemist. Trib ute must also be paid to the American universities that, following World War I, began to offer basic chemical training comparable with that previously given chiefly onJy in certain European univer sities. In 1914, only 71 doctorates in chemistry were conferred by American universities; in 1942, the number was 726—a tenfold increase. ΛΥβ have been able to do> as much a s we have largely beTop. Run-out table o f huge sheet-rolling mill i n a new plant o f A l u m i n u m C o . of America. This mill rolls a n ingot into a single strip of sheet as long as two city blocks. Bottom. Ca Seining kilns at plant of same c o m p a n y . Kilns calcine aluminum hydroxide into alumina, a step in the preparation of aluminum ore for reduc tion into metal by electrolytic process.
cause the physical sciences have drawn liberally on our storehouse of fundamental knowledge. We might say that an ac cumulation of fundamental data is the savings bank upon which w e can draw o n a rainy day. Regrettable it is that, because of the shortage of trained man power, a great part of our fundamental research has been temporarily dropped during the present emergency, and that as a consequence we have dammed the fountainhead from which industrial ap plications spring. At this point, if I may digress for a moment, I would like to speak briefly about the splendid work which is going on under the auspices of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. This work is of an extremely confidential nature, and many chemists are engaged full time or part time in it. The ac complishments of this group will some day be told; but there is one accomplishment in connection with this work about which I can tell. The Office of Scientific Re search and Development has brought together the purely academic man and the industrial scientist—a no mean achieve ment. In the past, there has been too strong a line of division, if not a lack of understanding, between the pure scientist and the industrial scientist. This crisis has brought about a better understanding between these two groups, as they com plement each other in the common effort to fight our enemies. Let us see to it that this mutual understanding and ap preciation continue after ihe war. 646
Nitrogen There is no need to recite the impor tance of nitrogen compounds to the war effort. There are some among you who recall how frantically we sought a source of such compounds at the beginning of World War I. How different the picture is today! Upon the outbreak of the pres ent hostilities in Europe, the need for a much greater output of synthetic ammonia was foreseen early and steps were taken to increase this country's capacity at that time. The American chemical industry now has facilities to produce through the fixation of nitrogen from the air, by the most modern processes and at low cost, more than double the nation's normal consumption of nitrogen-bearing com pounds. Now we are completely inde pendent of all the world for a supply of nitrogen products in this most critical period o f our history. Further, cargo ships which would have been required to transport the natural product to this country are now released for other essen tial tasks. Metals
Above left. Safely, attractively dressed, woman operator watches sage at Monsanto plant. Above right. V i n y l acetate plastic substitute for natural rubber i n A r m y raincoats. Above center. Flam s pro ο fed protective outfit complete with helmet and gauntlets which cannot ignite at any temperature. The flameproofing chemical was developed by E. I. du Pont & Co., Inc.
CHEMICAL
In this enlarging industrial fabric where does the steel and alloy industry end and the chemical industry begin? It is well known that the great steel industry is now unashamedly leaning heavily on the chem ical industry. And no recitation of the accomplishments of the chemical indus try can be complete without mentioning the development of aluminum and mag nesium. By next year our production of AND
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aluminum will be seven times the amount that we produced prior to this war. Aluminum is being used in many places where steel was thought to be forever entrenched. In Pittsburgh there is what may be termed a prophetic bridge—the structural parts and flooring are fabricated with aluminum. On a volume basis, magnesium today at 22 cents per pound is cheaper than aluminum selling at 15 cents per pound, and almost one-half a ton of it goes into every American fighting plane. In the short space of four years since 1939, we will have increased our magnesium production nearly 100 times. This greatly increased capacity for producing light metals will profoundly affect our postwar conditions, and great developments in the field of new alloy steels, lighter and stronger, are easily foreshadowed. Munitions With respect to munitions, the industry has been fortunate in that plans and even actual construction were well in hand before Pearl Harbor. Back in 1939, members of the Army and Navy Munitions Board met with chemists and set up the Chemical Advisory Committee. In order to satisfy home and Lend-Lease requirements, every important item was considered. Needs were estimated, and, even before authorization by the Government, a number of leading companies constructed ordnance plants at their own expense. As a result of improved processes and more efficient methods developed, large savings in cost of ordnance production have already been realized by the Government. Much larger outputs of explosives per unit than ordinarily thought attainable have made possible the necessary volume of production with fewer units than originally anticipated. Improved processes for the manufacture of T N T are outstanding among such developments. Because of new techniques, each production unit is now turning out three times the quantity produced by similar units during World War I. The net result is an over-all savings of construction to the Government estimated, as being in excess of 300 million dollars, Further, and equally important, time manpower, and critical materials have been saved. Much of the progress in munitions supply can be attributed to the speedy diversion of raw materials from civilian use to military use. For example, formaldehyde, formerly used in enormous quantities for the manufacture of phenolic resins, has been diverted to a war use. Similarly, glycerol, also used in the coating industry for the production of alkyd resins, as well as in the tobacco industry as a humectant, is now being used to make explosives. This may be Neoprene is poured from polymerization kettles. This is one step involved in the processing of Du Pont synthetic rubber.
borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, but in this case Peter is the civilian who is the willing lender and Paul is the soldier who cannot be denied. Many stories can be told of how chemists in an amazingly short time began the manufacture of war chemicals which had never before been produced by them. In one instance, a chemical manufacturer was asked by the Government to make one of the raw materials for a stabilizer for a smokeless powder. Within only 30 days, the process had gone through the research laboratory and into the pilot plant where several tons of the desired material were produced by adaptation of existing equipment. So successful was the product that the manufacturer was then asked not only to make the raw material but also the finished stabilizer. Another intensive laboratory investigation resulted in improvements over those already known, and, in three months after the original request, a contract was accepted for the stabilizer itself. Since accepting this contract, the capacity of this plant has been increased to about six times its original size, with the expenditure of only $10,000.
This was accomplished by the use of existing and salvaged equipment with a consequent savings of appreciable quantities of critical materials. This smokeless powder stabilizer is being used by most of the United Nations, as shown by an excerpt from a letter sent to this manufacturer by the British Ministry of Supply Mission : The first shipment went "down under*' to Australia. Your material went, and continues to be sent to all areas of this global war. You have had a hand in the defense of Britain and Australia. You helped to beat Rommel out of Egypt and you are now having a hand driving the Axis out of the Mediterranean. You also helped in the heroic defense of Russia, and your materials are being used in fighting the Japanese in the Pacific and in clearing the South Atlantic waters of enemy submarines. This letter could likewise have been sent to many of you in this audience. Guarding the Soldier's Health The job of supplying chemicals for military use has many ramifications. It does not consist solely of ordnance work.
not a single arm or leg was lost because of infection—infection, that killer i n World War I. Abdominal infection from bullet wounds has almost been entirely prevented. And what a boon the sulfa drugs promise to be to all humanity! These drugs function by interfering with the life of a microorganism, and it is only logical that we should fashion our weapon in such a way as to strike at the most sensitive point of each microorganism. We have in the sulfa drugs a weapon which we are now learning to machine, as "we would a weapon of steel. B y slight changes in the chemical structure of the sulfa drugs we can, if you please, place our weapon on the chemical lathe and grind it and polish it to just the right degree of effectiveness. We now have a drug, sulfanilamide, which we have designed especially for streptococcus; another, sulfadiazine, which has proved very effective against pneumonia. Others— sulfathiazole, sulfaguanidine, and sulfapyridine—likewise have a specificity for certain types of bacteria. The field of chemotherapy, however, has only been touched, for there are literally thousands of pathogenic bacteria against which we need protection and for which we will need to machine hitherto unknown chemical weapons.
Clothins
Rohm & Haas methacrylate manufacturing unit
A soldier's equipment for the North African campaign includes water-purifying tablets, sulfanilamide for sprinkling on wounds, goggles with two kinds of removable lenses, a fumigating bag, and a uniform impregnated against poison-gas attacks. His food has been previously selected with the object of providing the maximum of nutrition without sacrificing palatability. Whether he is a soldier in the North African campaign, a marine bomber pilot in the Solomons, or a fledgling seaman at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, the well-being of the man is our prime responsibility. We must provide him with the very best in munitions and fighting equipment, transportation and housing, clothes and food. We must guard his health. And in each of these respects, the function of the chemist and the contributions of the chemical industry are ever apparent. Food is essential to the soldier's morale. The extremes in weather conditions to which our fighting men are subjected re648
quire unusual care in the selection arid packaging of their food. And you are well acquainted with the role of the chemical industry in the production of fortified and dehydrated foods. Packaging of food has been subjected to extensive research, because the Army's food must be packaged in materials which are resistant to moisture and toxic war gases, as well as to the hordes of insects which are encountered in the tropics. Our soldier's health is our prime concern, and we have been busy with the development and production, of drugs for combating bacterial infection. Much effort has been expended in. getting these drugs in quantities sufficient to meet the demand, particularly for antimalarials and the sulfa drugs. It has lately been said that the development of the sulfa drugs is one of the greatest advances in medical science of the past 5 0 years. What a boon they are to> the wounded soldiers and sailors! At Pearl Harbor, it has been officially reported that the wounds healed quickly and cleanly and CHEMICAL
The manufacture of textile materials for the soldier's uniforms is being pushed along at a phenomenal rate because of the new wool lubricants and the new scouring materials which have been developed. Hand in hand with these go the new wetting and detergent aides which the chemist has fashioned. Woolen goods are being dcgreased at the rate of a mile per hour. A new bleaching process which turns cloth white at the rate of 200 yards per minute without affecting the strength of the finished product is now in use. Uniforms are made water-repeUent and rendered gasproof. Rotting and mildewing of fibrous products call for another type of chemical preventive. Even the fabrics used in the manufacture of the lowly sandbag must be submitted t o waterproofing and rotproofing treatments in order to withstand sultry, moist climates. The importance of leather is emphasized in time of war. In planning the equipment for the North African campaign, seven pairs of shoes had to b e initially allotted for each soldier, and, since these were expected to last only a short time, replacements were being prepared even before our troops reached Africa. The use of leather in such enormous quantities has depleted our stock of natural tannins, very little of which comes from, domestic sources. Although there are o n hand a number of chemicals which have been found useful in the processing of leather, this industry is still looking to the chemist for the provision of a truly synthetic tanning compound. AND
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Plastics And what about the plastics industry? nurtured and cradled by t h e chemist, "this infant industry has already attained man's stature and invaded fields previously sacred to older materials of construction, like metal, wood, and stone. -A recitation of where plastics are being used b y our armed forces would b e exceedingly lengthy, and only a few examples can be given here. The vinyl acetal plastic was developed before the war as a n interleaf i n the manufacture of safety glass. The fact that it i s tough over wide temperature ranges, strong and stable toward both light and heat had made this resin especially satisfactory for glass interlayer. I n this form i t is a thermoplastic. However, -when slightly modified with a thermosetting resin, such a s a phenol-formaldehyde or urea-formaldehyde resin, the resulting product becomes thermosetting and yet remains very flexible. In the present emergency, this compound is being used t o replace natural rubber. Today our army raincoats are coated with these modified acetal résins which in many respects are superior to rubber, and there results a 2pound decrease i n the weight of the finished garment. Our fighting planes make use of plastics i n every form. Cockpit enclosures of methyl methacrylate, pilot seats of laminated phenolics, fluorescent navigation instrument panels, torpedo flare bases, ignition parts, and structural members, are just a small part of t h e list which could b e extended almost indefinitely. Just as in the case of airplanes, so with tanks, guns, trucks, munitions, and other instruments of war—plastics are playing a n exceedingly vital and important role. Closely allied to the use of plastics has
Above, Crystal-clear nose made of "Ludte". Nose was made by Plastics Department of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Below. Experimental fermentation vats in which corn is converted into butylène glycol at Northern Regional Research Laboratory of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
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been the application of resin-bonded plywood to many construction problems. Because of the advances in bonding adhesives, airplane designers are able t o use plywood in many applications where previously metals were required. It i s now possible to produce in a single molding operation complete wing assemblies and fuselages with laminated plywood, giving a large saving in man hours. The absence of rivets in the finished piece has resulted in improved design. These advances have been made largely through the development of the "flexible bag" method of fabrication, which has provided a new tool for the use of bonded plywood. With this molding technique have come developments of special adhesives with particular flow and curing characteristics. The use of this new tool has improved the construction not only of airplanes, but also of torpedo boats, landing barges, and assault boats. The versatility of plastics is not surprising, for by reshuffling the molecules we can alter the properties of plastics to fit definite requirements. Plastics are lighter than most metals and thereby help to alleviate the transportation problem. Furthermore, they contribute to the comfort of the fighting man by lifting weight from his head and shoulders. For 649
the quick death of a hero on the battle field, they do not want to return t o the slow agonizing torture of unemployment. This prospect is definitely not a morale builder, and we must not allow such misty specters to cloud the vision of our fighting men.
Scene showing the final milling operation on n e o p r e n e , du Pont's chloroprene rubber, th
