The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-12-27
MODERN ALCHEMY
FORKS WONDERs
Research in Steel Revolutionized In.
dustry.

In the days of the medieval alehem
lists il was believed that it was possible
by means of some undiscovered labor
atory operation TO convert the basel
metals into gold With the develop
ment of modern chemistry this belief
was shown TO be baseless, at least in
the sense in which the older worker.
| held it,
At the same time there has beer
evolved as a result Of the work OF the
more recent chemists and metallurgists
a transmutation in the properties 81
that most widely used material, steel
which is Of far more real value TO the
world than any formula for making
gold could ever be.
The discovery that iron containing a
certain proportion Of carbon constitut-
| ed steel transformed society and Great
ed modern civilization; without steel
we should relapse into barbarism. To-
day il is known that in addition 10 car
bon there are other elements the addi-
ton Of which win impart to steel GER
tain properties increasing immensely It's
value as a material Of construction and
of operation
Among the substances which were
formerly sclassed as the rare" elements
there were several which were rare only
because there was not sufficient use for
them to provide an incentive to discover
natural sources of supply
Thus vanadium, known as an element
for 100 years, estimated as having a
value many times that Of gold and used
solely for a few artistic purposes in
coloring fabrics, has within few years
risen immensely in importance because
Of the knowledge which has been ac-
quired Of the valuable properties which
il imparts to steel, while at the same
time it has fallen in cost TO a point
about one half that of silver, because
the very demand has revealed hitherto
unknown deposits
The influence Of vanadium upon steel
may we'll be regarded as triumph of
modern metalmrgy, and vanadium steel
has become one of the most important
of the so.called alloy steels. The older
stees, now known broadly as carbon
stees' in distinction TO the various al
10y steels, had certainly fairly well as
certained properties together with de-
terminate limitations
They could be made ductile within
certain limits Of strength or strong
within certain approach to brittleness,
but when both strength and toughness
were demanded it was realized that
something else in addition to carbon
was essential. That something has
been shown TO be vanadium.
The influence Of the addition of small
proportions of vanadium to steel is two
fold; it acts as scavenger, removing
orids. nitrides, etc, in a form easily
carried away to the Stag, and it also
toughtens the steel directly, by its sol
id solution, under normal conditions, in
the carbonless portion, known as fer
rite. In addition it forms complex car
bides of such a nature as greatly TO
strengthen the steel statically.
The result is product so vastly SUI
perior to the ordinary carbon steel as
to render it practically new material
of construction, especially for situa-
lions in which shocks must be met and
resisted The combination of high
strength and great toughness makes it
the material above all others for auto
mobile parts, as well as for railway
axles and engine frames, for springs
for the important parts Of vessels and
for bridges and similar structures.
For the latest type Of engineering
work, such as airplanes, submarines,
torpedoes and similar work, the pos
session of a material of high resistance
to stresses of all kinds enables some Of
the most difficult elements of the work
to be solved.
While the application Of vanadium
to steel constitutes at present its most
important use, it has also a marked
influence upon cast iron and upon cop.
er.-New York Sun.