COMMENTS AND EVALUATIONS ON SEVEN USSR ARTICLES ON TECHNOLOGY, MATERIALS, AND ALUMINUM ALLOYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500450013-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: April 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELL'GENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
USSR
Comments and Evaluations on Seven USSR Articles
1 Introduction cx New Technology
2 Oxyg lastt - A New Step in Metallurgical Development
3 Sayingkaterial by De..easing Machining Allowances
11 Substitutes 4 on the~Development of the Prods . on of o.tstitsies for Nonfer rous Metals
5 Weak; trrrie for Material Economy
6 S'trel hening the Control of Utilization of Material Resources
7 Effect, f Composition and Structure on the Elevated-Temperature Strength of
Alumiaulm Alloys
1. Introduction of New Technology by N Lutay.l Za Ekonomiyu Materialov (1953) no. :4)
PP 1!
a. ? t e manufacture of machines, the coo" of the metal amounts to 50/60 of the
b'of the finished product so any possible economy in this field is important.
Close cooperation among technical personnel and workers at'Ithe plant where I,utay
works has ?~em itted a number of a onomieo, which have increased the coefficient
Of, tilization of hot-rolled steel to 0.800.83. Cheaper material has been
substituted for more expensive; simple forms for more complicated ones; and cast
material for rolled. A number of examples, mainly parts oflself-propelied
has'vsters~ are discussed in general terms. in most cases weight of the
fini bed part has beenldecreased as as cost. Special, measures have been
j taken to economize in the use of nonf roux products; for instance, brass sheet
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More extensive .or}; has been done on the use of oxygen in Europe, where a low-
shaft furnace with "oxygen or oxygen-enriched blast seems to have more commercial
possibilities.
0 R Rice: The Blast-Furnace Situation in the United States. JISI
170 (1952 pp
e. Although Bard-in feels the use of oxygen should be most advantageous in blast
furnaces where the greatest amount of oxygen is used, there is considerable
reason to d)ubt the validity of this conclusion. Precisely because large amounts
of oxygen are involved, cheap sources of mass producing this oxygen must be
provided. Also, acBardin indicates, it seems that a change - probably radical -
in blast-furnace design is necessary to take full auvantage of the oxygen. On
the other hand, relatively less oxygen is needed for steel making and, in
6eaeral., few if any modifications in furnace design are required to profit from
*.;c oxygen. Therefore, the use of oxygen in steel making has been more appealing
r: the USA where it is used to a significant extent today in basic-open-hearth
practice (mentioned vaguely by Bardin) and in electric-furnace sL't..:1 melting
(not r?entloned by Bardin). In Euroj? tslere has been some use of oxygen in
converter melting, where the results in general seem to be similar to thcse
obtained by Bardin.l
f. Of the other projects on "new and little developed" processes mentioned by
Bardin:
1) Direct reduction~of ore (presumably, iron ore) has fascinated metallurgists
for many years, but, except for very special cases, a process has not yct
been found that can compete economically with the blast furnace. Even the
widely publicized "Krupp Renn.feuer"process did not produce steel directly
but was applied almost entirely in the production of an intermediate product
that had to be subsequently melted.
2) Replacement of coke with olUetrio energy as o ohoapor reducing agent is, of
course, of majorlinterest only where electricity is plentiful while coking
coal. is not. There has been little done in this field in the USA, although
there has been a limited development in Scandinavia and Switzerland.
3) Continuous casting and rolling have been commercial for some time for
nonferrous products. This process has been applied successfully to steel
on a semicommercial basis only relatively recently in the USA.
There is no _ndication as to what actual development work - if any - had been
done in the USSR onlthese projects at the time this paper was written.
3. Saving Material b Decreasing Machining Allowances by V Kovan. Za Ekonomiyu
Matcrialov (1953) no.i , pp 17/23
a. Lcrge arnounts of material are wasted by use of generalized allowance tables
as these do not take into account many of the variables that should affect these
figures. Allowancesi may be excessive even when they are determined individually
for specific parts. Kovan, who has lone; worked on the theoretical basis for
machinx- allowances,land his colleagues recently issued a new system of allowances,
which is based on three main factors:
1) the effect of 1ze, form and position of the surface being machined, on the
defects formed in various processes;
2) the "law" of duplication of defects, whereby defects from one operation are
duplicated, but to a decreasing degree, in subsequent operations;
3) the need in each operation to eliminate defects from previous operations.
Various factors affecting ..iese ite.a9 as well as the interrelation of allowances
and tolerances are discussed in very general terms. A significant conclusion is
considered to be thi,fdct that the allowances for each operation depend mainly
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_uyout;; Lu cunaerve materials, At present developmenbis being concc:ntraeeu au
mechani2atlon of layo .tug whioh should give still further economies.
b. The weight saving mentioned in many of the examples is interesting. In the USA
many producers of farm equipment consider weight saving is not especially
important in this field since a certain minimum weight is needed fo: proper
operation.
c. Except in the case, of the layouts, there are insufficient details to permit
evaluation of previous practice. On the whole, the changes seem to have been
logical and. it '.ine with good engineering practice. One interesting facet is
the fact that these changes were made on old models in production as well as
on new de igns.
d. '_'he origins11 layout was,,extremely wasteful, unless some use was made of the
:rge piece:, of scrap generated. No mention is made of such a practice
though it is fairly common in the USA.
e. Th.r:; paper, as well as some others from about this period, indicate increasing
use of castings as a replacement for wrought products. It is'not clear, however,
as to whether inadegL,.,.te rolling mill capacity has been a factor, nor whether
this is a general trend' in industry. There i_s also the possibility that less
transportation might be involved with castings as they could be produced in small
fculidr'.en in or near to the lplant, while rolled products might have to be
shipped a considerable distance from the nearest rolling mill.
2. Oxygen Blast - A New Ste in Metallurgical Development by I P Bardin. ;zvestiya
Akademi t. Nauk SSSR 19 no. 10, pp 1363/136U
a. A rather rambling, flagwaving paper devoted mainly to the use of oxygen in the
blast furnace, a field of investigation that has been guided by Bardin for the
few year:.. Application of oxygen to steel melting is treated only briefly.
In place; considerable emphasis on the need for basic research and new
p.ccecsi.ng me, hods.
b. The art_3:.e is vague in many respects; perhaps more specific details are given
in reference 2. Among 'the major items not clarified here:
Is the work or, blast furnaces confined to furnace: with conventlonai design,
Io'i-:,haft. furnaces, or are both included?
2) Is t tu_ .m to use a '100%' oxygen blast, or merely enriched air?
??; wiat was the status of the use of oxygen in the blast furnace in 194'(?
F})par.er, l.y, the five-year plan then in force covered "preparations' for the
rse of oxygen in commercial blast furnaces to melt all kinds of pig iron,
sOt, ti+.t s could mean almost anything.
c. Bsirdin claim.; that no other country has carried out development work on the
use of oxygen in metallurgy on such a massive scale as has the USSR. `Phis str+tr -.
ment was probably correct in 1947, but may not be so today.
d. As far as the use of oxygen~in the blast furnace is concerned, relatively 11.ttLe
work has been done in the USA. Rice indicates that a limited series o1' teats
showed oxyg':n enrichment of the blac had about the same affect as increasing
the blast temperatu.?e. These luke-warm results would explain why more attention
has been paid to other, more promising changes in blast-furnace practice - such
as be.neficiation of raw materials, improved refractories and high top-pressure.
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the defec from the previous operation. A practical e?rasuuti.car of tt.e
;ystem at the Stalin Automotive Plant in Moscow shoved a decreut; of :u to 30'1
in th:e amount of material lost as chips. The new method can be u.md to cave
material, improve quality and evaluate old and new processing met:iod".
b. According to Kovan, the weight of finished mechine parts usually rwwunts to only
no/7 % of the rough weight. In only a few of the more advanced slants is the
recovery increased to 7580%. The rest of the raw material is lost in the form
of chips. Without further details on the types of parts involved, and just
what stage "rough" represents, it is impossible to evaluate these figures. It
is. evident, however, that the differences in recovery figures hmua3 various
nlan*a might be the result of the type of parts being made rather tires of tLe
degree of advancement of the technical management of the plant.
C' :iew sy. tem would ae tE tO bt d moss elaborate one, particulsriy ii it -yes
nto detailed account all the factors said to be involved. There i:: come
Ioeetion as to the economic justification for such a system, Fro-, this general
paper, it is not possible to judge the novelty of the new system.
d. Appur.ently Kovun's only aim is to decrease allowances. He does not mention
specifically such processes as investment casting, die casting and powder
meta':.Lurgy that may reduce machining allowances markedly or even eliminate
machining entirely. Kovan seems to pay no attentirn to the fact that machining
may be the cheapest method of bringing a part to fin,ahed size. For in:.tance,
it cntay be more economical to start with a less precise sand casting and machine
to finished size and form than to use a die casting that ir, closer +.o finished
size. Also he does not seem to take into account the numLer of pnrt~_ required.
Fora relatively small total production, It is seldom economical or feasible to
work to the smallest possible allowances. Ar, the estimated total production
increar.a?::, it. becomes more desirable to consider such factors.
4. Or: of the Production of Substitutes for Nonferrou_ Nelms by
I K-i:,. v. Ekor:omi;,li tteterialov 5 no. +, pp j I
a,. T?e L) / 1.955 five-year plan provides for the development of cos: prior.-resistant,
e;ynt:i: c; organic constructional materials as a substitute for n:)n.errous
nceta.L: arid aLloy steel:. The need for substitutes is particulari.y important
at ores-rtt. in *.ne ease of lead, which is widely used in many different industries
for coz: '.on-re~istunt purposes. Among the possible substitutes; are polyiso-
i;ut;yiene (Vistane;: in the USA?), asbestos-vinyl plastics, impregnated grarhite
and ?the former Ministry of Transport
Machinery. Programming, planning and control of supplies were inadequate. A
few examples are given where individual plants aqu-sndered "excess" material
that had been sent them,. In other easer,ieuppiies were so low that expensive
methods of shipment, such as by air, had to be used to avoid interruptions lin
_roduction. In the first halt year of 1952, the "overnormal" stocks of materials
the ministry as a whole increased by 'some "tens of millions of rubles". I It
expected that needed improvements in the work of this department will be
facilitated by its current reorganizations.
b. In some at least of the horrible examples' cited, it seems quite possible that
the plant manager may have used the more expensive, "excess" material only li
because the specified material was not available and he had to meet hit quota.
7. Effect of Composition and Structure on the Elevated-Temperature Strength of
Aluminum Alloys by A A Boci,var. Izvestiya demii Nauk SSSR (1947) no. 10,
E
pp l369/3381
a. The amount of experimentation that can belidone with conventional creep tests is
limited by the '.Length of time needed to conduct the tests. Short-time tensile
tests have not proved a satisfactory alternate as they may rank materials in
a different order from that based on long;-time creep tests. A new method is
therefore proposed. It is based on the change in hot hardness (measured after
removal of the load) with increasing indentation time. The material being)
tested is stabilized by holding at test temperature for about 100 hr before
testing.
1) Maaroharrness test:, were run on a series of cast aluminum alloys. Most of
the tests were made at 570, 660 and 750 F, with indentation times from 10 sec
to 60 mir_ A few tests were made at 390 F. ''ne results were in good agree-
men:. w_th the information obtained in long-time creep L..L. (creep data
not given).
2) Micro har:.n~- -,r tests were made on a series of cast alloys with 5/12 Cu (half
were as-cast; half were heat treated).iI Tests were made at 480 and 660 Fi,
but result.. are given only', for the latter temperature.
i) Factor.; aifect -g the elevated-temperature strength of aluminum alloys at
various te::per:.' :res are discussed, and a hypothesis proposed as to the type
of ;tructure ~.....-. should be most satisfactory in each case. In the search
for new aluminum ~:11oys suitable for use at temperatures over 480/5( F,i
work ~'n ring:.e-phase solid-solution alloys should be dropped. A more
promising line of investigation appears to be heterogeneous alloys with a
network or skeleton of a second phase.; Cast alloys should. give better
properties than wrought. It should, however, be borne in mind that eLevated-
temperature strength is not always tae only requirement.
b. On the basis of these results, it is believed that this new method is satisfactory
for aluminum alloys at temperatures over about 480/570 F and may find application
with steel. and ot.. _ alloys. It is not expected that this test will replace creep
tests, but, that it will serve as a screening test and for extensive experimental
work where numerous variables are involved. The new test will probably not be
satisfactory at lower temperatures where speed of recovery and work hardening
are involved.
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c. As fasi as is known, this partieuLar t' of hardness test has not been Exlpltled
to aluminum alloys. Bochvar diseussee .he probable reasons for the roor results
obtained by previous investigators 'vhousicd a single hot-hardness te:jt. Mirkin
and L vsbits, however, have successfully'applied a modification of Bochvar's
hot-h dne'ss test to iron-base, nickel-base, cobalt-base and chromium-base
alloy , Miller of The Babcock and Wilcox Co tried the Mirxin-Livs hits method
on v Moue high-temperature alloys acid obtained "a remarkable correlation" between
the r suits of this test and corresponding creep and stress-rupture tests. Miller
feels the! method may eventually lend1itsel.f to the screening of high-temperature
'I
alloy.
I,L'Mirkin and D E Livshits: Method or Determine Hardness at High
1 7
Temperatures. ZavodskayE .:.a ratoriya 1 19 9 pp lObO/
P I', ClMiller: discussion of FGarofalo, P R Malenock and G V Smith:
Hardness of Various Steels at'Elevated Temperatures. TASM 45 (1953)
p p 377/394; disc 394/396 j
d. Althojh Bochvar states that short-time tensile tests have proved -satic,factory,
he was apparently referring to tensile ',tests conducted at the same temperature
as th creep tests. Robinson, Tiet~and Dorn have recently indicated that they
feel 1hort-time tensile tests can be eaployed for preliminary evaluation ofi
the cx{eep'strength of aluminum alloysiprovided the tensile tests are mode at,
a higher temperature.
tests
A T'Robinson, T E Tietz and J E Dorn: The Functions of Alloying Ele Into
in Aeolstance gf Alpha Solid Solutiong of Aluminum,
(1952) pp 896/928
aauis of Bochvar's preliminary tests, the advantages of microharo.nese
u.er the simpler macrohardneaa!,teat'is are not evident. It is possible,
however, that microhardness tests mightlpzove more instructive in some cases.
Only relatively limited amount of information haz been published in the USA
or in Great Britain on the Crisp QARl'ie ibttes &t alt tftt II..alldy dastings,~
In gerioral, this work has bwwa 1lssl l!::aai traqrMtuars up to 4W F. The 1b2
type (ASTD! CN42A) has not shown exceptional properties in this temperature range,
li
although the corresponding AL 1 tented by Bochvar gave the beat strength at
temperature of all the alloys inalisded iu the first sari's of tests.
0 D Sherby, Ti J EThe Creo
at Temperatures up to 00?r CrHe urgia
McKeown and R D S Luebey: Creep Properties of Some
19-F
Materials 319-T71, 3194-
a d Cast Aluminum Alloys. Prof'
and
1) pp
rties
pp J0'+/ y l
Sand-Cast
The creep strengt._ .if aluminum and it' ,Uoys generally decreases fairly rapidly
at temperatures above 1100 ?; therefore,, ''it is not too Gear why apparently j
extensive testa were made in the USSR at higher temperatures. The decrease in
strength of aluminum at such temneratures'is one reason why so much emphasis
has :'e'en placed on titanium in the USA, as titanium is markedly superior to
alumnus at these temperatures, which..;asy be encountered', for example, in the
aerodynamic surfaces of supersonic aircraft. The fact that the present investi-
gation was limited to cast alloys, however, vov:d seem to exclude such types of
applications.
h. Parts ~f Bochvar's hypothesis appear questionable but insufficient evidence
is available to .valuate it either ran respect to aluminum oys or other
mnteri,1e-1s. L.E 84919 & AREA COOCa `"'''
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615.02 ri
662.3 N
615.916 N
615-915 N
615.925 N
103.642 N
103.686 N
615.14 N
615.511 N
615.3 N