RESEARCH with increase in product formation. Companies involved a d d that some thought has been given to full scale commercial manufacture but caution there is simply too much research work to b e done before anyone goes off the deep end. • Gibberellinlike Too. Gibberellins have created a furor in agriculture, b u t the same might be predicted for a class of materials n o w being studied by C. A. West and B. O. Phinney of UCLA.
They say extracts of higher plant seed, such as corn, beans, and peas, will give a growth response to dwarf strains of corn—one which is indistinguishable from gibberellin response. Work is in progress on the chemical isolation of these substances in a pure form and identification of their chemical nature.
Research Center # 7 for UCC Chemical and solid state physics to b e emphasized a t National Carbon Divi sion's new laboratory THIS WEEK Union Carbide and Carbon
opened its seventh major research cen ter—a multimillion dollar laboratory in Parma, in suburban Cleveland. There 350 employees ( 1 5 0 technically trained) of its National Carbon Divi sion are working on basic research projects in chemical a n d solid state physics. The Parma lab is probably
one of the handful of industrial groups in the U. S. working in this field. To improve existing materials and to create new materials for the metal, electronic, power, chemical, and elec trochemical industries are che specific purposes of the n e w laboratory. The new research effort is a logical exten sion of National Carbon's earlier efforts. For example, it has long supplied ma terials such as carbon a n d graphite brushes for electrical motors. Through years of research it has accumulated an enormous amount of information on carbon and graphite which will be of increasing value in solid state research. This work has included extensive effort at high temperatures and pressures, which will stand it in g o o d stead in developing other materials for high temperature application. An unusual apparatus for the high temperature work is the lab's arc radia tion furnace. Only five feet long and two feet high, it contains an intense car bon arc operating at about 6000° F., between two focussing parabolic mirrors. Another important direction its solid state research will take is n e w nuclear plant materials. Current research is leading to development of high density graphite and graphite with improved oxidation resistance at high tempera tures. Future studies will also b e con cerned with effects of nuclear radia tion on the material. National Carbon hopes the result wall be more efficient moderators for atomic reactors.
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Tailor-made catalysts to speed up specific chemical and physical reactions in in dustrial processes are a possibility of research in solid state physics. Here at National Carbon's n e w Parma, Ohio, laboratory, a model of the tip of an ex tremely sharp tungsten needle is used to study surface phenomena
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GOODYEAR ATOMIC CORPORATION POSITIONS NOW OPEN IN PLANT ENGINEERING PRODUCTION-DEVELOPMENT FOR ENGINEERS CHEMISTS TECHNICAL WRITERS METALLURGISTS STATISTICIANS PHYSICISTS POSITIONS OPEN ON SEVERAL LEVELS OF RESPONSIBILITY FORWARD COMPREHENSIVE RESUME TO: EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT D GOODYEAR ATOMIC CORPORATION BOX 628 PORTSMOUTH, OHIO
Included in t h e chemical physics re search is work o n a fuel cell which m i g h t use 3 special electrode in a. gas atmosphere a n d produce high-current electricity directly (C&EN, July 2 , page 3 2 5 0 ) . Such batteries would b e used as reserve or standby p o w e r supplies. T h e n e w l a b contains about 175,000 square feet of floor space with 158 laboratory modules. Heading u p t h e n e w lab is Robert G. Breckenridge, formerly chief of the solid state physics section a t t h e Bureau of Standards. A n unusual feature of the new build i n g is an auditorium designed to double as a laboratory a n d projection room for research on light sources for the motion picture industry.
All-Aluminum Engines All aluminum-engines for automo biles a r e a step nearer reality, says Alcoa, b e c a u s e of a m e t h o d of spray i n g a t h i n coat of steel on aluminum. T h e conventional aluminum piston does n o t function well bearing directly on a n a l u m i n u m cylinder wall; it requires cylinder walls having a ferrous alloy surface. Using t w o materials necessi t a t e s special slotted pistons or pistons fitted w i t h expansion control devices. W i t h t h e n e w piston this will n o t b e t r u e , since aluminum a n d steel-coated a l u m i n u m will h a v e t h e same expan sion ratio. Alcoa engineers tested fully loaded a l u m i n u m internal combustion engines for hundreds of hours a n d found t h e serviceability of both aluminum pistons a n d the steel-sprayed aluminum cylin
der surfaces superior to similar com ponents of a conventional engine. Alcoa says the all-aluminum engines would bring economies of r e d u c e d weight, longer serviceability, a n d lower manufacturing a n d maintenance costs. T h e major problem in making alu minum cylinders with a ferrous alloy bearing surface has been bonding t h e sprayed metal to aluminum. Alcoa does it with Metallizing Engineering Co,'s Sprabond process, which provides a thin layer of pure molybdenum as the bonding material.
• A n e w virus vaccine h a s p r o v e d 5 0 to 7 0 % effective in field trials against respiratory illnesses characterized b y fever. Field trials were carried o u t by Public Health Service a n d t h e Navy on 4000 recruits at t h e N a v a l Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill. I n A u g . 18 JAMA, Joseph A. Bell a n d associates say t h a t t h e vaccine induced formation of protective antibodies in t h e blood for adenoviruses Types 3 , 4 , a n d 7 (formerly designated A P C v i r u s e s ) . • Armour Research Foundation begins construction in November of a $575,000 addition t o its metals research building. The volume of ARF's metals research is n o w at an all t i m e high, a n d double t h e amount of space pres ently available is n e e d e d . This is t h e second step in ARF's $5 million expan sion program. T h e first part—a $ 1 . 3 million physics and electrical engineer ing building—was completed earlier in t h e year.
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17. 1956
More Research Room for Monsanto
Monsanto's plastic division plans to double its research facilities at Texas City, Tex., b y a d d i n g a two-story wing to a building completed in 1954. Construction of the 19,500-square-foot addition is set for t h e fall of 1957. Eighteen labs are included. Plastic building material will b e used in m u c h of t h e construction.
