Industrial Research 



331 



problems of instrumentation and method and of 

 "following up special tests under oi)erating conditions" 

 by means of what cannot but be regarded as industrial 

 research. One iiulustrial executive said, and many 

 perhaps might have said: "1 pei-sonally think the work 

 our materials-testing group does is so high grade that 

 it should bo classified as research. The department 

 concerned, however, questioned whether it shoidd be 

 so classified." 



A second reason for mentioning materials testing in 

 any survey of industrial research is tliat what starts as 

 a routine testing laboratory so often develops later into 

 a research department in the strictest and most useful 

 sense. That tliis has been the normal thing in industry 

 has been stated as follows by Dr. C. E. K. Mees: "The 

 function of the research department has broadened 

 very much in the last 25 years. Originally laboratories 

 were introduced into industry to deal with the works 

 processes, the control of raw materials, and the testing 

 of the finished product. Then the laboratories began 

 to develop new processes which could be applied in 

 manufacturing. Then they began to produce entirely 

 new products, untU finally the research division of 

 industry has taken for its province the whole technical 

 future of the business and even of the industry as a 

 whole." 



Study of Raw Materials 



One of the first of the additional functions whicli a 

 routine materials-testing laboratory commonly assmnes 

 is that of studying the physical properties of the various 

 raw materials available, both to insure wise choice 

 among them and to determine their limitations for 

 design. Often tliis leads to the use of materials new 

 to the particidar industrial organization concerned. 

 Sometimes it leads to the development of wholly new 

 materials or to wholly new uses of materials that 

 have been developed for some quite different purpose. 



This study of raw materials is one of the commonest 

 research functions in industry. Perhaps half of those 

 who have supplied material for this report have ex- 

 pUcitly mentioned research on materials. 



Thus a manufacturer of compressors writes: "In our 

 standard designs we use valves of the poppet type of 

 forged steel, or ring-plate valves of stainless or Swedish 

 steel, or diaphragm valves of the flexing type using 

 Swedish steel. Each of these materials must be evalu- 

 ated, as well as its design limitations for application, in 

 order to produce a satisfactory valve; and further, the 

 metals and shapes of the seats on wlaich the valves work, 

 and the restraining medium to control their flexing or 

 lift, must also be researched for design and application 

 limitations." 



Many other users of iron and steel report researches 

 on those materials, such as "extensive research into the 



development of stabilizcnl and oilier stainless steels, as 

 well as assisting in dcvclopnicut of satisfactory high 

 chrome irons for use in corrosive conditions at high 

 tempeniturcs"; "research in high-tenaperature ma- 

 terial" for steam- aiul mercury-turbine and exhaust- 

 driven supercharger blades; investigations on the "creep 

 and relaxation of turbine materials at elevated tem- 

 peratures and the fatigue strength and internal damp- 

 ing of blade and rotor materials at room and high tem- 

 peratures"; "analysis and survey of pipe characteristics 

 for drilling wells of various types"; and many studies 

 on such matters as "corrosion problems," which appear 

 over and over again throughout industry, "methods 

 of heat treating," "stresses in materials of engine con- 

 struction," "radiography and creep testing," "best 

 materials from the standpoint of machinabdity or 

 plant production," "materials best suited (to our 

 product) from the standpoint of life, economy, and per- 

 formance," "the use of carbon-molybdenum steel plate 

 for high-temperature pressure vessels," "the develop- 

 ment and use of 70,000 p. s. i. tensile-strength carbon- 

 steel plate for steam dnuns and pressure vessels," 

 "permissible stress under conditions of plastic flow," 

 and many other kindred subjects. 



All tliis is, of course, research that is primarily metal- 

 lurgical in nature; but in surprisingly many cases it is 

 reported as done either by mechanical engineers and 

 metallurgists working in collaboration or by mechanical 

 engineers as such. Many industrial firms also report a 

 growing research interest in plastics, a field where 

 mechanical engineers are likewise apparently working 

 in close collaboration with chemists. 



Other studies of raw materials that have been re- 

 ported deal with "the proper types of materials, such as 



FicuKt: !il<. M|ueeze" Test Machine for Subjecting Passenger 

 Cars to Compression Load of 900,000 pounds, Tennsvlvania 

 Railroad Kesearch Laboratories, Altoona, Pennsylvania 



