Correspondence THE DISCOVERY OF THE ELEMENTS. VANADIUM DEARSIR: Your May issue contains part of an article devoted to the discovery of the elements, the last portion of which deals with the history of vanadium. While the author has described very interestingly the historical side of her theme, it is extremely unfortunate that she has not studied the literature on the uses of the element with as much diligence. The fact that the publication reaches and is undoubtedly thoroughly read by those who are responsible for imparting chemical knowledge to the younger generation, makes i t necessary that all of each art&le be reasonably correct rather than only a portion thereof. The last paragraph of the article in question is so obviously in error and so contradictory to recently published material from many sources that it must be commented upon. Readers unacquainted with metallurgical principles will gain from this paragraph the impression that a solid element is added to steel for the purpose of reacting with gas bubbles contained in the molten mass and thus causing their disappearance, rather than for the purpose of reacting with the gaseous elements, while dissolved or combined in the liquid steel, thus to prevent gas bubble formation. This is quite aside from the fact that vanadium is not used for deoxidation purposes. And failure to mention a major chemical use of the element, much in the fwefront in current literature, is equally serious. In the metallurgical industry, although there is some use of vanadium in combination with non-ferrous metals, and a moderate amount is used in chilled cast irons and those employed a t high temperatures, by far the greatest consumption is in the manufacture of steels. Its uses in steel are based upon two major properties; first, its effect in decreasing the grain size and controlling small grain size in steels, which property may he associated with the formation of highly dispersed vanadium compounds even in thoroughly deoxidized steels; and second, the stability of vanadium carbides at elevated temperatures. Thus vanadium is widely employed in constructional steels, both cast and wrought, due to the high elastic strength and high toughness resulting from both the fine-grain size and the highly dispersed stable carbides. Typical applications are: automotive and aircraft gears, springs, crankshafts, connecting rods, etc., forged and cast members of heavy locomotives and of mining machinery, and large reaction vessels (both forged and welded) for the general chemical and petroleum industries. Tool steels of all types employ vanadium, the amounts ranging up to ly0 in the simpler types, the element being used 1657
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for its beneficial influence upon both fabricating properties and service life. All modern high-speed steels likewise include vanadium as one of the most important constituents; the stability of the complex vanadium carbides offers important advantages in permitting continuous operation of the tools under conditions producing high temperature of the cutting edge. Mention was made above of an important chemical application. There has been extensive commercial use of vanadium catalysts in the preparation of contact sulfuric acid and in the manufacture of phthalic anhydride. This field is still growing and in addition many other catalytic reactions are being studied experimentally and commercially with vanadium compounds. The reproduction of this letter in your publication will be greatly appreciated. Yours very truly, JEROMESTRAUSS Chief Research Engineer VANADIUM CORFORATI~NOF AMERICA Bxroosvnm. PENNA.
* * * * * * To the Editor DEARSIR: Before replying to Mr. Strauss'sforegoing criticism of my brief paragraph about the uses of vanadium,' it seemq necessary to explain that in the articles on "The Discovery of the Elements" no attempt has been made to include detailed information about the properties and uses of any of the chemical elements. In the case of a few of the less common ones, however, the articles contain a brief statement regarding some modern application. In Part XI,2which was published before Mr. Strauss's letter was brought to my attention, the statement is made that vanadium and titanium are added to steel in the form of the iron alloys, and I ought to have made this point clear in Part VII in the section on vanadium. The ambiguity undoubtedly arose from the insertion of the preceding paragraph after the remainder of the manuscript had been prepared. Metallurgical literature contains many conflicting statements about the use of vanadium in steel. In his treatise3 on "The Metallography and Heat Treatment of Iron and Steel," Sauveur states,
' J.
EM. E~uc.,9, 882 (May, 1932). laid., 9, 1237 (July, 1932). a S a m m , "The MetaUography and Heat Treatment of Iron and Steel," 3rd edition, University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1926, p. 342. a
