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INDUSTRY
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Gharles Ε. Waring, vice president of Grace Research and Development, explains to J. Peter Grace the properties of high-purity silicon ( enclosed in a polyethylene bag ) such as the new Grace-Pechiney joint firm will make. Looking on is Marlin G. Geiger, executive vice president in charge of chemicals of W . R. Grace
Semiconductors in Hot Race W . R. Grace and Pechiney are forming company to produce high-purity silicon for electronics JTVNOTHER FIRM ENTERS the electronics
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raw materials business. W. R. Grace and France's chemical giant, Pechiney, last week revealed they would form an as-yet unnamed company to produce high-purity silicon (C&EN, July 15, page 7 ) . The company, to b e run by Grace's Davison Chemical division, will go on stream in less than a year. Its annual capacity of 20,000 pounds will be used largely as a semiconductor i n transistors and rectifiers. Plant location will probably be in Puerto Rico, unless atmospheric tests now under way prove unfavorable. In that event, location would be at one of several mainland sites Grace is con sidering. Puerto Rico would provide advantages; officials point out that rela tive remoteness is not of economic importance with output in pounds rather than tons. Grace already has Puerto Rican facilities, and is currently considering a paper mill there. This is Grace's initial joint venture with a foreign chemical company in the United States. However, it has a few similar agreements outside of this coun try, particularly in South America. Why Pechiney? Grace officials an
swer that in several ways. First, they know the company; the two began dealings five years ago when Grace commenced negotiations to produce urea via the Pechiney Process at Mem phis, Tenn. Pechiney supplies highpurity aluminum to Davison Chemical for reforming catalysts, and has since 1954. Since 1951, prior to joining the Grace organization, Davison had been working jointly in France with Pechiney on various petroleum cracking catalysts. Davison, of course, is the division in the picture because of its background in high-purity metals. But most important, Grace officials think a lot of Pechiney's silicon prod uct. Pechiney is now expanding and plans to market silicon here through the new company within 30 days (it is now sold through an affiliate, Inter national Selling Corp.). High-purity silicon is subject to a 12.5% tariff—one strong reason Pechiney wants to pro duce it in the U. S. Officials are not overly concerned about increasing competition in this facet of the electronics supply industry. In addition to Du Pont's Brevard, N. C.
INDUSTRY facilities, Sylvania, Eagle-Picher, and Texas Instruments are in production; and Mallinckrodt has high purity sili con in its development program but has no production plans at present. Charles E. Waring, vice president of Grace Research & Development, ex pects market demand to be for quality rather than price. Depending on quality level (based on resistivity) high-purity silicon prices generally be gin around $320 per pound, ranging up to $900 per pound for research grade material. Right now, Grace has no specific plans to expand into other parts of the electronics industry. M. G. Geiger, W. R. Grace executive vice president in charge of the chemical group, notes that the agreement covers all materials in the field Pechiney may develop, in cluding other semiconductors. While there is now no basis for the νίβΛν, this operation may lead to other joint ven tures. I t could provide a process know-how and patent exchange agree ment in the future. Pechiney now manufactures vinylidene chloride mon omer in France, which might prove an impetus for Grace's Cryovac divi sion. As Waring points out, "We expect to be doing business with each other over the years. With common interest both here and in Europe, the future could bring much cooperation."
• Sylvania-Corning
Nuclear
has
broken ground at Hicksville, Ν. Υ., for a new plant to make nuclear fuel ele ments for atomic reactors.
Superiority of G R O C O 2 RED OIL r e v e a l e d in unretouched photograph of low temperature test. Samples o f G R O C O 2 (left) a n d competitive r e d oil (right) w e r e refrigerated at 3 6 ° F . for 24 hours side by side. N o solids s e p a r a t e d o u t of G R O C O 2 RED OIL —it remained so transparent t h a t technician's fingers a n d steel t r a y a r e clearly visible t h r o u g h vial. On right, solid acids s e p a r a t e d in l a r g e a m o u n t .
Titre Is Lowest In GROCO 2 Red Oil GROCO 2 R E D OIL's exceptionally low content of saturated fatty a c i d s - t i t r e 3 ° C . —is advantage e n o u g h in itself to make it top choice for m a n y processors. More than one producer of a liquid shampoo, for e x a m p l e , prefers G R O C O 2 because it gives a formulation that stays liquid at l o w temperatures.
K q u a l l y o u t s t a n d i n g is its o x i d a t i o n s t a b i l i t y . I n t h e M a c k e y T e s t , • Texas Eastern Transmission's direc GROCO 2 remained under 105°C. for 5 hours. There are no oxidation d i s tors have voted to offer stockholders of | coloration problems when you formulate w i t h G R O C O 2. And there is an La Gloria Oil & Gas one share of Texas absolute minimum of unusable coinponents, making G R O C O 2 the b e s t Eastern common stock for each of the money v a l u e of any red oil in its class. one million shares of La Gloria capital stock outstanding. The offer is con You consistently enjoy an e d g e in storage, handling, processing and c o n tingent upon acceptance by holders of sumer acceptance w h e n you "Always specify A. Gross"—whether your e n d 81% of the shares of La Gloria. Direc products are soap, cosmetics, plastics, paints, polishes or emulsifiers. tors of La Gloria have voted unani mously t o approve the offer. L a Gloria has about 150 stockholders with officers and key personnel holding over 50% 2 9 5 Madison A v e . , Ν . Υ. 1 7 , Ν . Υ . · Factory: N e w a r k , N. J . of the stock.
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• Chemicol & Industrial has received a contract from Mississippi Chemicol for design and construction of a 150ton-per-day nitric acid plant at existing facilities at Yazoo City, Miss. This will be the fifth nitric acid unit of the high pressure design which has been in stalled b y Mississippi Chemical.
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• Carwin Co., North Haven, Conn., has formed Carwin Polymer Products, a wholly owned subsidiary, to develop, make, and market industrial materials
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1957
C&EN
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...by the use of advanced design principles which insure maximum performance permitted by the state of the art, and developments which provide sensitivity, stabil ity and reproducibility which cannot be obtained with other makes of standard instruments.
For example, sapphire and car· boloy is used at points of crit ical wear; kinematic principles are employed wherever positions or motions must be precise and reproducible; and circuits are designed so even large changes in characteristics of vacuum tubes and other components will not affect performance.
...through a wider choice of op erating ranges, response speeds, sizes and types of samples, sen sitivity, and a variety of acces sories and custom adaptations for special problems. Cary in struments are used for exacting analytical work of all types — from plant process control to complex research problems.
INSTRUMENTS FOR ANALYTICAL RESEARCH AND PROCESS STREAM CONTROL RECORDING SPECTROPHOTOMETERS-For rapid recording of spectra with good resolving power and high photometric accuracy. Provide the ruggedness and reliability needed for routine labora tory use, plus the flexibility to handle a variety of problems in the research laboratory. RAMAN SPECTROPHOTOMETER-Uses a unique optical system which gives high light-gathering p o w e r , h i g h zero stability and f r e e d o m from effects of scattered light. Provides the advantages of raman spectroscopy with small samples, high speed and good accuracy. ELECTROMETERS —Vibrating reed instruments for measuring very small currents, charges and volt ages. High sensitivity and accuracy, good stability and reliability. Available for many applications — p H and carbon 14 determinations, mass spec trometry, etc. INFRARED ANALYZERS— For continuous analysis of flowing samples. Utilize selective detection and double beam optical system. Virtually free from zero drift. High inherent discrimination against interfering sample components. Unusual adapta bility to difficult analytical problems requiring high sensitivity and accuracy in complex mixtures. ULTRAVIOLET ANALYZERS-Provide a simple, reli able m e a n s of c o n t i n u o u s l y a n a l y z i n g flowing samples for components which absorb U V or vis ible radiation, or which can be converted to a suitable absorbing substance. For complete descriptions, including sample curves, of all of Cary instruments, write- for Bulletin CN-7G
24
C&EN
JULY
2 2,
APPLIED PHYSICS CORPORATION 362 West C o l o r a d o Street Pasadena 1, C a l i f o r n i a 1957
h e a t - and developed
• M e r c k has b o u g h t 10 n e w stainles;* steel tank cars l i n e d w i t h L i t h c o t e for s h i p p i n g b u l k o r g a n i c c h e m i c a l s . It is using the n e w cars to s h i p formalde hyde, sorbitol, a n d o t h e r liquids. r S t a n d a r d Oil (Ind.) p l a n s a 3 0 % in crease in c a p a c i t y a t W o o d River, 111. C r u d e oil p r o c e s s i n g c a p a c i t y w i l l be u p p e d this m u c h b y c o n s t r u c t i o n of t w o n e w units, a 6 7 , 5 0 0 - b a r r e l - p e r - d a y crude distillation unit, a n d a 3 0 , 0 0 0 barrel-per-day fluid catalytic cracking unit. W h e n c o m p l e t e d early in 1 9 5 9 . these units will r e p l a c e p r e s e n t distilla tion a n d c r a c k i n g e q u i p m e n t . • E v a n s Research & D e v e l o p m e n t is offering a s e r v i c e i n v o l v i n g a p a n e l of h o m e m a k e r - c o n s u m e r s t o s u r v e y con s u m e r products. • B e c k m a η I n s t r u m e n t s has f o r m e d a n e w s y s t e m s d i v i s i o n to c o n s o l i d a t e sys t e m s d e v e l o p m e n t g r o u p s formerly a part o f its B e r k e l e y a n d Scientific In struments divisions. • A i r R e d u c t i o n has broken g r o u n d for t w o c h e m i c a l p l a n t s a t Calvert City. Ky. O n e will m a k e 3 m i l l i o n p o u n d s of m e t h y l b u t y n o l a n d m e t h y l p e n t y n o l a y e a r , a n d the other c a n m a k e 2 mil lion p o u n d s of v i n y l s t é a r a t e ( C & E N . April 15, p a g e 1 2 ) . B o t h p l a n t s will be c o m p l e t e d early n e x t y e a r a n d will be t h e first in t h e U . S. to m a k e these p r o d u c t s o n a c o m m e r c i a l scale, the c o m p a n y says. • I n s t a n t D r y i n g C o r p . is m a k i n g its facilities near P o u g h k e e p s i e a v a i l a b l e on a rental basis ( t o n n a g e or p o u n d a g e ) to p r o c e s s o r s of p l a s t i c s , c h e m i cals, d e t e r g e n t s , f o o d p r o d u c t s , w a s t e s , etc. ψ A e r o j e t - G e n e r a l N u c l e o n i c s h a s in s t a l l e d o n e of i t s "mass p r o d u c e d " port a b l e n u c l e a r reactors at the U . S. N a v a l P o s t g r a d u a t e S c h o o l at M o n t e r e y , Calif. • Fischer & P o r t e r h a s a c q u i r e d all sales and m a n u f a c t u r i n g rights t o equipment developed b y Olin Mathies o n for g e n e r a t i o n of c h l o r i n e d i o x i d e from s o d i u m chlorite. • H e y w a r d - R o b i n s o n , now i n its n e w offices in t h e E n g i n e e r i n g B u i l d i n g in N e w York, has e n l a r g e d its a c t i v i t i e s t o i n c l u d e c o n s b ction a s w e l l as plant and process design. • A t o m i c s International is n o w oc c u p y i n g a n e w b u i l d i n g in V a n N u y s , Calif. It will s h a r e t h e facilities w i t h R o c k e t d y n e , a l s o a d i v i s i o n of N o r t h American Aviation.
