PRODUCTION OF FINE NICKEL AND PHOSPHOR-BRONZE WIRE AT THE WALZWERK FUER BUNTMETALLE HETTSTEDT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00415R011000040012-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 13, 2001
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: April 14, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 20011P9106 : CIA-RDP83-00415R01100004
1N'iELLaFAX 21
FOAM NO.
FEB 1952 51-4AA
The Tewa.-Neustadt representatives complained that the wire from Hettstedt was
sometimes of two different diameters since both warp and woof w_re were knotted
together on the same spool. he $ettstedt men pointed out that this was unavoid.-
able so long as each spool had to have a prescribed amount of wire (90 or 150
grams). Since only the loose end of a spool of wire is examined, the knotting
together of wire of different ,diameters could occur without being noticed.
It was therefore agreed upon at the meeting that, in the future, al-11 spools
should be free from knots, even though some of the spools would thus be under
the prescribed weight..
INFORMATION REPORT REPORT NO.
COUNTRY
Germany (Russian Zone)
CD NO.
DATE DISTR.
1.1 April 1952
SUBJECT
Production of Fin.e Nickel and Phosphor-Bronze
.re at the Walzwerk fuer Bun,tmetalle Hettstedt
NO. OF PAGES
25X1 C
3. The main difficulty encountered at the beginning of the r i ckei 31i.rc screen
One of the topics under disczu~sion at e. meeting, which rc-cportedly took place
at Tewa-Neustadt at the under the chairmanship of Pryodko, was
the quality of the nicke wire screen produced. Representatives o~' both the
Walzwerk fuer Buntmetalle Hettstedt, producers of the nickel wise, and Tewa-
Neustadt, producers of the wire screen, argued over thf causes for low quality
screen. The latter ascribed flaws in the screen to flawfs in thi. wire, but the
Hettstedt representatives succeeded in proving that the wire prc:,du(.-ed, there
was of good quality and that poor quality screen was caused by inexpert handling
of the wire during the weaving process.
d,iw eter and determining the correct chemical composition for tJ~e b,3bt wire.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
SECRET/CONT_R0L - U. S. OFFICIALS O a`
$ECURITY INFORMATION
Program (presumably 1940) was the poor quality of the prt-lox?swri nic~krl wire
which, it is believed, came from the Soviet Union. This wire cpntained too
much sulphur. At. that time, the :Hettstedt plant did, or;.i_y the f3 rie ~Law: ng.
Later, the plant started. doing its own pouring, rolling and pre-dr?nr.ng in order
to produce wire of the desired quality.
During this second phase of the program, the main difficulties consisted. of
finding, by trial and error, the correct pouring, rolli rig and ar..neal n.g tempera-
tures, determining the number of drawings needed. to produce wire oi cf rtain
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5. The wire is drawn from electrode nickel. which comes from Russi?a, but is believed
to originate in the West. For a timer nickel of even poorer gual.-ity than, that
usual..l.y received. arrived at the :flettstedt plant. This .ni.ck:el nay have been of
Russian origin.
6. Until sometime in 1950, all raw nickel was poured into cylinders about 10 crm. in,
diameter and. between 40 and 45 cm, in length. This was carried out by using
the induction furnace in the laboratory of the Uettsted plant. 9 ti capacity
of this furnace was one cylinder. Later, when production increasE?'l, ore of the
furnaces in. the plant's foundry was used for the same purpose. Th i ;. furnace
has a six:-cy~inder capacity. The weight of each cylinder has beer reported
as 35 k$. Y Laboratory personnel are supposed. to be present when ric'kel is
poured,, but when the pouring is done at the foundry, the work is often done
by foundry personnel,. Nickel is rolled once a week., at which time three tons
are rolled in from one and. one-half to two hours. Pre-c:-.awing ,also->e; about four
hours. Fine drawing is carrifd. out in three consecutive eight-fhou- shifts
with the aid of from twelve: to eighteeL fine-drawing machines.
7. The rolling mill has been a part of the plant since its foundation it 1911 and
was constructed by the former Benrath machine factory which is now a part of
Demag. The rolling equipment has deteriorated with age and from the lack of
any important improvemr-nt. The four lathes used for turning the c,~u Lrtd9-rs
(Rohlinge) are also very old and. often fail. These lathes have a ester height
(Spitzenhoehe) of about 25 cm. The annealing furnaces iurchlaufgiu_hopfen),
built by Siemens-Pl.ania according to specifications set by Hettstedt plant
engineers, are electrically-operated and have an effecti-,rr, annealing Length for
a two-meter section of wire.
8. Before the nickel, is poured into a cylinder, it is aralyzec, for cr+rhorr content.
Should the carbon. content be excessive or insufficient., carbon is either removed
by burning or added to the nickel. Test samples of the molten rickel are removed
with a ladle shortly before pouring. These samples go to the l.aborat.ory, where
they are examined spectrographically, and. by other unspecified mear:s, mainly
for carbon, sulphur and lead content. Removal of excessive amounts of sulphur
and . lead is done by passing hydrogen over the molten nickel at temperatures
ranging. from 1.,000 to 1,0500 C.
9. The Hettstedt ,plant reportedly produces three tons of nickel wire Zen week,i.e.
six working days of three shifts each. The plant sometimes operates on Sundays
and holidays also. The plant also uses nickel as base material for an average
of two to three tons per month of other nrodumota he ~.. i;
inn wire. Some of
these are, nickel wire for the radio industry, nickel ear ctrode>>, nickel tubing
and bands, and nickel equipment for storage batteries. This type of production
has sometimes been. as high as fix or eight tons in one month, because of increased.
demands from radio and electrical equipment plants, such as AEG.
10. It was expected that the November 195:L output of nickel goods other than fine
wire would reach between six and eight tons. Three tons of tubing and bands,
as well as 600 to 800 kg. of nickel wi:.re, both part of the November 1951 output,
were to go to AEA Berlin. As far as can be ascertained,, no part of the nickel
products, other than fine wirer goes to the Russians, nor Ls it known whether
or not the raw nickel used, for these other products has the same origin as the
fine wire nickel.
11. Drawing dies are the most critical, i teas in fine nickel wire prod,t cti or . In
order to reduce wear, the Hetts;ted.t plant is now using the. wEt-drawin.process
in all stages of drawing, whereas this process was formerly used Only in the
initial stages, until a certain, unspecified, caliber had been reached. In other
production fields, the plant is, experiencing difficulty in procuz :rte; pure iron
for the manufacture of, magnetic, equipment.
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25X1A 1.2. the rolling of nickel could be
K e,rspree, The Henri.i;sdor?f and. K.irccchmoeser rolling mjlls coouly a. at th- a1 so rolrol 1
o' g
l
nickel if they refitted them- equipine.nt,, which is now used for ir.an rolling.
An unidentified plant in Aue could, also take over nickel dra.wn.g, o a much
smaller scale than the RCt.tstedt. plant, however.
13, The present Russian thLrect,or D' the riettstedt plant is Ifni)) KyaoJ. The
technical director , apparer:t .,y a st4:e1 and iron expert, is (fnu) };,yrillov.
14, As of September 1951, phosphor-bronze wire was being pry.:iuced F.t ts,,edt;
for the paper industry. in O?2tober.,, however, produ.ctlor of t.h3 s wi-r?e was
secretly transferred to the fine-drawing department. T.ir plar4 row manufactures
phosphor-bronze wire having a diameter of 0.01 mm., , 1L tc~ 16 per stretch-
abilit
and a t
il
~
y
o rzs
strerig rh of 38 to 55 kg. * * /?
15. The base material for phosphor-bronze wire is produced in the r?arr: co +r;
f1 r1 J _ .. 9-
ns
h
h
p
osp
o1 u;s and v to l per cent tin; the remai r rie r is coer .
25X1A ho
lant +.,...-.4--__ pp
n
p
wire:,unless there were some crypt1 c meaning to
the comparison. Another source states that the comparison might, have been made
to stress a close connection between the production of both kinds ,f wire, i.e.,
possibly a common purpose, which might necessitate the use of bath kinds in a
ratio of one to three. At any rate, both kinds of wire are subject to the same
rigid specifications, testing for thickness with the Zeiss optomet, r device,
and security regulations. The finished phosphor -bronze, wire is de i vered per-
sonally to the Russian acceptance engineer who also recel ves ths= f, n=? nickel
wire. It is also kn.owi that the phosphor-bronze wire is shipped to 1'ewa-
Neustad.t.
16. alumi:n.um wire is not and. never has r_er prrodu,.-ed at the
e stedt plant . U.here is some production of copper wire , but of r,oarst- caliber
only.
Comment; This seems a little high. Pure nickel has a specific gravity
a .9, and since the nickel used for the cylinder contains imptari t if s of
lighter weight, the weight of each cylinder should be 30 kg. at the most.
Comment The denomirjatol for, this term is not giver,. Obvi ou;1,,rr, it
25X1 A cannot apply to wire of 0-0'i-mm. diameter.
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