Evening star., 1948-12-24
Stars, Men and Atoms
Super-MetoI Is Essential,
For Jet Plane Enoines
Bureau of Standards Develops Coatins
Which Aids Alloy to Withstand Heat
By Thomas r. Henry

bureau OF StanQarQS develops AOof1n$
Which Aids Alloy to Withstand Heat
By Thomas r. Henry
Science needs q super something
that will Withstand enormously high tempera-
lures without melting and at the same time
retain all its strength.
Such Q metal is essential now for certain
parts of ran-Jet and turbo-jet airplane engines.
1t Is likely to be even more essential for the
future. One Of the major difficulties In the
utilization Of atomic power Is q container
which will withstand the temperatures which
will be generated.
Several rare metals are known with very high
melting points. With two rare and expensive
exceptions. all lose strength very markedly by
combination with oxygen when they are ex-
posed to great heat.
Coating Developed.
The United States Bureau of Standards Is
meeting the problem in q new way by coating
these metals with very fine Aims Of clay-like
materials which protect them from any ex-
posure to oxygen. Metals with very high melt.
ing points are titanium, thoriun, chromium,
boron, tantalum, tungsten and molybdenunn.
Thus far the Bureau scientists have confined
their work to molybdenum. of which there are
large deposits in the United States and which
has wide use as q steel alloy.
They have developed ceramic coating, 1t has
just been announced, which greatly retards the
combination with oxygen which is the major
hurdle to overcome. One Of these completely
protected a molybdenum sheet for 10 hours at
an ali temperature Of 1850 r. At temper.
ature Of $500 the weakening process is re-
tarded SO that the metal becomes available
for short-time uses. An immediate application
is the use of molybdenum tubes that are built
into the nozzle end of ram-jet engines used In
pilotless aircraft. These tubes, which are sub
jected to q gas temperature of about 5000 r,
are expendable and need not last more than
five minutes. Some samples prepared ut the
bureau lasted Is minutes.
The same procedure will be tested with the
other high temperature metals.
The "teevision college" Is on the horizon.
Students and professors may be miles apart.
This possibility is foreseen from q far-reach-
ing experiment just started by the Navy at
its special devices center at Port washington.
Long Island Under construction are q mod
ern television pickup laboratory and an
experimental television classroom with pro-
jector capable Of producing images 40 by ~
feet IN size.
erations for training purposes were held from .
the deck Of the u. s. S. Leyte, operating 80
miles from New York City. The receiving an
tenna on top Of the Empire State Building
picked up and relayed q sharp. clear image,
except for brief intervals when the ship was
changing course.
Mistakes I'm Its Favor.
Several outstanding advantages are expected.
The best obtainable instructor can be used
to teach as many classes as desired. No stu
dent 1t is claimed, will think that television
is canned" The instructor may cough. hesi-
tate, and make various errors that would be
cut from movie The very mistakes in tele-
vision are considered points in its favor. The
instructor will become human, instead OF an
all-knowing shadow.
The first effort is being made to adapt GER
tain standard Navy courses to presentation by
television Educational psychologists viii test
the effectiveness Of this medium against others
in the amount of information transferred and
the time required.
At the same time studies will be carried out
under q Navy grant at Fordham University
on various methods Of instruction suitable for
television which can be used with different
subjects.
simultaneously, the Navy plans to conduct
classes in naval science and send them by
television to q classroom In the college. BY
transmitting whole courses In this way 1t is
planned to test completely the idea Of remote
transmission. voice circuit from the remote
classroom back to the studio will permit
students to ask questions