April, 1922
T H E JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D .EiVGINEERING CHEMISTRY
by the expression of thousands of chemists it is distinctly SUperior to these glasses, and has supplanted them on its own merits. The United States Bureau of Standards2 gives to Pyrex a higher rating than to any other known glass. Details of the tests by which this rating was determined need not be repeated here except to say that the linear expansion of Pyrex was found to be 0,00000334, of the best foreign glass 0 00000479; while the solubility of Pyrex in water was less than half that of the foreign product. To dismits in these few paragraphs the intensive development and research preceding the year 1915 gives an entirely inadequate picture. Aside from continued progress along the main research path--the lowering of expansion and improving of stability in the glass itself-there were other major problems arising from its radically different melting and working conditions. 1t was decidedly more refractory than ordinary glasses, requiri,ig an exceptionally high temperature for melting. The highest skill in the art of glass melting was required to perfect the commt rcial production of Pyrex on a large scale. This same refrartory quality meant that the glass “set” more rapidly than bofter glasses, and quicker methods of working and handling had to be devised. Mention should here be made of the discovery of a very important property of glass in its use as baking ware. I t bakes food more rapidly and thoroughly than ordinary utensils of metal. This was found to be due to the greater reflectivity of the metal for radiant energy. It has been determined that silver reflects about 90 per cent of radiant heat rays, while glass reflects only about 14 per cent. Ordinary utensil metals would be lower in reflectivity than silver, but still comparable to it and very much higher than glass. A series of experiments demonstrated the practical importance of this property of glass as a baking utensil and its superiority to any other oven utensil in commercial use. It should be borne in mind that research work for improving Pyrex and for widening its commercial uses is by no means finished; in fact, the present applications of Pyrex, diverse as the a Walker and Smither, “Comparative Tests of Chemical Glassware,” Bur. Standards, Tech. Paper 107 (April 6 , 1918).
337
appended list shows them to be, are believed to represent only a beg:nning of the possibilities in this remarkable glass; and Corning’s laboratory organization is making constant progress in perfecting new uses for it. Of particular interest to the chemical industry will be the logical step from the laboratory use of Pyrex to actual production uses in chemical manufacturing plants. It is confidently expected that Pyrex products will soon replace more expensive and less reliable material’s in chemical plants for conveying liquids a t high temperatures, for volatilization and for kindred uses. The scope of the present article will not permit of a detailed treatment of the many other eminently successful lines of research by the laboratory of Corning Glass Works. The development of Pyrex is only a typical example of the contributions of that organization to glass chemistry. Brief mention may be made, however, of the most important of those contributions which have placed America in a leading position in the manufacture of glass for various practical, industrial, and scientific uses. Potash glass was formerly considered essential for incandescent electric light bulbs. The war, by shutting off imports of German potash, made action imperative in the direction of a substitute glass. First, a successful non-potash lead glass was produced, and later a lime glass, which has largely replaced all other glasses in the making of incandescent bulbs in this country. Colored glasses of various special properties have been developed, embracing the high transmission railroad signal colors; a glass absolutely duplicating daylight; glasses absorbing certain definite portions of the spectrum, such as the ultraviolet or the infra-red rays; X-ray shield glasses; spectacle glasses for work in special conditions of heat and light. Each of these deserves a chapter in the story of chemical research in industry, but must here be dismissed with only this mention. PRESENT PRODUCTS OF PYREX Oven cooking utensils Oven door panels Percolator tops Coffee urn liners Gage glasses Cylinders Tubing
Flasks beakers test tubes Fabriched labdratory apparatus Battery jars Lantern globes Chimneys Condenser lenses Headlight glasses
’
Corrosion The National Research Council recently appointed a committee with its Division of Research Extension with the following membership: W. M. CORSE(Chairman), General Manager, Monel Metal Products Corporation, Bayonne, N . J. JOHNJOHNSTON, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. D. M . BUCK,American Tin Sheet and Tin Plate Co., Frick Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. COLING. FINK(Secvetavy), 101 Park Ave., New York, N . Y . WILDERD. BANCROAT, Cornel1 University, Ithaca, N. Y. Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C. G . K . BURGESS, WILLIAMH. BASSETT, American Brass Co., Waterbury, Conn. E. M. CHAMOT, Cornell University, Ithaca, Nr Y .
The purpose of this committee is to serve as a general clearinghouse and to devote its attention essentially to fundamental scientific study of corrosion. This committee desires to get in touch with all the work that is being done on corrosion whether through societies, associations, institutions, universities, or private or industrial laboratories. It is known that the following committees are a t work, or have been recently appointed to undertake work: American Society f o r Testing Materials-This Society has had a committee on corrosion of iron and steel for a number of years known as Committee A-5. Mr. J. H. Gibboney, chemist of the
Norfolk and Western Railroad, Roanoke, Va., was designated as acting chairman of the committee, following the death of Dr. S. S. Vorhees of the Bureau of Standards, and the secretary is Mr. J. A. Aupperle, chief chemist of the American Rolling Mill Co., Middletown, Ohio. The committee is representative of both nonproducers and producers of iron and steel with four subcommittees, one an advisory committee, another a committee on preserving metallic coatings of metals, another a committee on inspection, and the last a committee on total immersion tests. It has been decided to establish a further committee (Committee B-3) on corrosion of nonferrous metals and alloys, representing nonproducers and producers. The AmeriLan Committee on Electrolysis was organized in 1913 through the activity of some members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, representing, in addition to the Institute and the Bureau of Standards, the following organizations: American Electric Railway Association, American Gas Association, American Railway Engineering ASsociation, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., American Water Works Association, National Electric Light Association, National Gas Association of America. This committee is made up of twenty-seven engineers, three from each of the organizations named. This general committee appointed a special research subcommittee
338
T H E JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
of which Mr. H. S. Warren, 195 Broadway, New York City, is chairman, and Mr. H. C. Sutton, 1401 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa., is secretary. The Bureau of Standards undertook the investigation of certain phases of the electrolysis problem in 1910 and ha5 since then made important contributions t o the subject. At the beginning of the cooperative work between the Bureau and the Research Subcommittee a policy was agreed upon to the effect that the investigations are solely concerned with the accumulation of facts leading to the establishment of principles upon which conclusions and recommendations may ultimately be based. Mr. Burton McCollum, of the Bureau, has recently proposed a n extended series of tests of samples of many kinds of pipe buried in the soils of known special character in selected localities in many parts of our country. Enganeering Foundation is giving preliminary consideration to a study of that form of corrosion of iron which has been called “Graphitic Corrosion.” The American Electrochemical Society a t its recent meeting named Dr. Colin G. Fink as head of the committee on corrosion investigations. The Bureau of Mines at its Pittsburgh Station is investigating the corrosion of mine waters on metals. The Smerican Soczety of Czvil Engineers has recently appointed a research committee of which Prof. A. M. Talbot a t the University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., is chairman, and F. E. Schmitt, Associate Editor, Engineering News Record, 10th Ave. and 36th St., New York City, is secretary. The matter of corrosion has not yet been considered by the committee, but undoubtedly will be. Some associations, like the National Canners’ Association, and certain corporations like the New Jersey Zinc Company and National Tube Company, have been making studies in corrosion. The committee of the National Research Council will be very glad to be informed of any work on corrosion that is going on or that is in contemplation. Communications should be sent to Paul Moore, Secretary, Division of Research Extension, National Research Council, 1701 Massachusetts Ave., Washington, D. C.
Problems in Corrosion By Colin G. Fink SRCRETARY,CORROSION COMMITTEE, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
In spite of the general relaxation in chemical and metallurgical research throughout the country, a number of the corrosion problems are so very important and their solution involves such large savings in capital and labor, that a number of concerns and government laboratories felt the urgent need of furthering corrosion research. during the last year. The corrosion problems have been attacked from two more or less different angles. In the one case every effort is being made to arrest the corrosion of the materials now in use; in the second case, new materials are substituted and tried out. There are to-day a series of distinct corrosion problems, in each instance centered about some specific material or article of manufacture. There is, for example, the problem of the corrosion of food containers and the problem of the corrosion of buried conduits and cables. Besides these specific problems, there are the general investigations on the causes of corrosion under varying conditions and of various materials. We cite below a few of the corrosion problems covering specific materials or products; and, secondly, a few of the general topics, closely allied to the corrosion problem, which require further study and research.
C O R R O s I O N PROBLEMS
Vol. 14, No. 4
ARRANGED ACCORDING TO SPECIFIC MATBRIAL
Condenser tubes Alloys resistant t o high temperatures Underground cables Corrosion of zinc cathodes Buried iron pipes, posts, etc. Contact metals or alloys Fence wire Catalyzer metals or alloys Flues, stacks, stove pipes Cutlery steels Steel ships and ship fittings Acid tank linings Roofing materials Corrosion of nickel plated ware Mine pumps and other mine equip- Boiler tubes ment Fire boxes Atmospheric corrosion of brass Automobile radiators Atmospheric corrosion of bronzes Insoluble anode Corrosion of iron as affected by presence of small amounts of other elements
GGNERALPROBLEMS Velocity of corrosion as affected by: ( a ) Temperature fluctuations (b) Alternate dry and moist surface. ( c ) Presence of foreign materials. ( d ) Presence of oxide, carbonate or other compound of one or the other constituent of the alloy. (e) Crystal structure and intercrystalline cement.
Properties of the surface film: ( a ) Coefficient of expansion as compared with that of the underlying metal. ( b ) Chemical composition. ( c ) Porosity, (d) Flexibility or ductility. (e) Coefficient of adhesion. v) Speed of renewal or “healing.” (g) Relative hardness. ( h ) How affected during mechanical working.
Corrosion and bacteria. A more complete micrographic investigation of the changes taking place in the film and the metal underneath, during the process of corrosion, is very desirable. Furthermore, we shall be able to progress more rapidly the sooner we agree upon standard tests used to determine the relative corrodibility of two samples. At present it is almost impossible to compare the results of one author with those of another, even when both have used the same materials in their tests. Within the last year decided progress has been made in cutlery steels, in metals and alloys for mine equipment, in cable sheath, in insoluble anodes and in alloys resistant to high temperatures and the corrosive action of molten metals such as zinc, tin, etc. But the corrosion problem, as a whole, in spite of its long past history, is still in its “infancy” and it is only through cooperative effort and a free discussion of results (those suitable for advertising purposes as well as those usually suppressed) that consistent forward strides are possible.
Chemistry by Radio The interest taken by nearly a million people in wireless telephony and the programs prepared for broadcasting from various centers affords an opportunity which is being utilized by chemists. The Publicity Committee of the Detroit Section, under the leadership of H: C. Hamilton, is to have five minutes each week1on the program prepared by the Detroit News. The first of these was given on March 16, “Chemistry as We Meet It Every Day” being the subject. On the 18th from the Westinghouse Station in Pittsburgh the Pittsburgh Section, through the Chairman, J. 0. Handy, arranged for ten minutes which was devoted to a popular story on “Chemistry in Peace and War,” by H. E. Howe. In many other localities chemists can do service to the profession by telling over the wireless telephone the fundamental place which chemistry occupies in everyday life and in all the industries.
