HIGH TEMPERATURE PROPERTIES FOR SOME ALLOYS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THE NAVY

The creep of metals, particularly at the higher temperatures, is a matter of increasing concern to structural engineers, who are now commencing to realise that this widely-varying property of metals in common use today may be of critical importance to them. As data on creep has slowly been assembled over the last fifteen years. it has become increasingly apparent that the phenomenon accounts for many of the hitherto mysterious failures which have occurred in all kinds of structures. However, creep-testing apparatus, especially that suitable for measuring the property in metals at high temperatures, is expensive, delicate, and difficult to design. Also, creep tests to be of value must be run over long periods of time; the available apparatus is absorbed in the conduct of a limited number of tests, and, in consequence, the output of information is distressingly small. The data presented by Mr. Stewart in this article will, therefore, he of particular interest to students of the phenomenon who are busily filling the blank spaces in the field of existing knowledge, but it will also be interesting to many others who are not yet familiar with the strange vagaries to which many metals are subject by reason of it.