Abstract
LONDON. The Institute of Metals (Liége meeting), September 2.—L. Boscheron: An account of the non-ferrous metals industry in the Liége district. An historical account is given of the development of the zinc industry of the Liége district, with particular reference to the discovery of the distillation process by Dony and the subsequent improvement and application of this process. The absence of water-power and the high cost of electrical energy in Belgium renders the new electrothermic and electrolytic methods of manufacture of zinc inapplicable in Belgium. The discovery of a method of continuous production would be welcomed.—A. G. C. Gwyer and H. W. L. Phillips: The constitution and structure of the commercial aluminium-silicon alloys, with an appendix by D. Stockdale and I. Wilkinson upon the properties of the modified aluminium-silicon alloys. The investigation deals with the constitution, structure, and mechanical properties of modified aluminium-silicon alloys, and a theory based upon colloidal lines is put forward to explain the nature of the modified structures. The alloys possess good founding qualities; are appreciably lighter than pure aluminium, and in both chill- and sand-cast states possess a high resistance to shock, excellent ductility, and a high degree of incorrodibility.—J. D. Grogan: Some mechanical properties of silicon - aluminium alloys. The sodium and ‘salts’ methods of modifying these alloys are described. The ‘salts’ method is preferred. Ternary alloys containing also magnesium or zinc are not superior to the binary alloys.—Buntaro Otani: Silumin and its structure. The chief development of aluminium-silicon alloys during the last three years has been in the direction of a marked increase in mechanical properties, due to the modifying action caused by the addition of metallic sodium or alkali fluoride to the molten alloy. The present paper puts forward a theory to explain the process of modification.—H. J. Gough, S. J. Wright, and D. Hanson: Some further experiments on the behaviour of single crystals of aluminium under reversed tortional stresses. The resulting distortion under this complex type of straining action is observed using slip-band measurements, and is related to the atomic orientation of the crystals by means of X-ray analysis. The complicated system of slip-bands observed is in agreement with the simple law that slip is confined at any point of the surface of the crystal to one of the octahedral planes and in the direction of the most highly stressed (shear stress) principal lines of atoms. The progressive hardening during a long endurance test has been studied.—P. Chevenard: Thermal anomalies of certain solid solutions. Certain feebly magnetic solid solutions show transformations which are similar to those of ferromagnetic substances in that they occur without change of phase (that is, change of space lattice), they are spread out over a large range of temperature, they are subject to relatively slight hysteresis, and result in anomalies in the different physical properties, dilatation, specific heat, resistivity, thermo-electric power, etc. They differ from the magnetic transformations in that the temperature of their occurrence does not vary with change of composition. Evidence is given of the existence of these so-called ‘X’ transformations in copper-aluminium, nickel-chromium, and copper-nickel solid solutions, and a detailed study is made of their effect on the dilatation of the first two groups of alloys and on the resistivity of the last.—W. T. Cook and W. R. D. Jones: Preliminary experiments on the copper - magnesium alloys. The chief feature is the production of sound chill-cast bars free from smooth-sided internal gas cavities by means of a double-melting process similar to that recently recommended by Archbutt for the production of castings in aluminium free from pinholes. Details are given of the method adopted of a type of bottom-pouring crucible used to eliminate inclusions of flux and slag.—Kotaro Honda: A comparison of static and dynamic tensile and notched-bar tests. Machines for testing materials have recently considerably increased in number; for example, referring to the methods of testing, there are the following tests: tension, bending, torsion, toughness, fatigue, abrasion, hardness, and single and repeated impact tests, etc. Since for each of these tests we have several types of machines, it is of importance to study the merits and demerits of these machines and to make a selection of those which are best for the purpose.
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Societies and Academies. Nature 118, 466–467 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118466a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118466a0