Show little known metal plays defense role I 1 NEW YORK VORK behind the official secrecy that enfolds unfolds details of the national defense program a metal called beryllium is dally daily playing a more and more imports important nt rolela role la a role so vital that army officials believe it may help break the bottleneck to in the machine tool industry caused by a shortage of skilled workers army ordnance men reveal that beryllium alloys have been bu successfully ce ess tested for use in mass production of parts for the new garand rifles cornelius vanderbilt whitney board chairman of pan american airways sponsored research in the metal at a cost of more than in the past seven years and helped make possible the timely graduation of the substance from a laboratory toy to an instrument of commerce and defense whitney saw huge potentialities in beryllium largely in aviation because of the metals resistance to fatigue and corrosion its extraordinary light weight and electrical conductivity the metal is only two thirds as heavy as aluminum until recently tie he said the great problem of beryllium wa was its high cost of production half a century or so ago the pure metal would have cost about a gram today it sells in quantities at about 15 a pound scientific achievement that is a scientific achievement which some day I 1 believe will make possible volume use in the hulls bulls of seaplanes sea planes and ships because it Is non corrosive 11 A pinch of beryllium added to copper capper aluminum magnesium and other metals increases the fluidity ot of the mixture when it Is melted so that the alloy fills every tiny crevice in a casting mold steel and other materials used tor for manufacture a sub of gun parts must be subjected ejected to long processes of forging machining and finishing with cutting tools before they finally arrive in a rifle this work needs skilled machine tool artisans As a result of these tests the war department asked immediately tor for sample castings beryllium alloys have the highest tensile strength known beryllium nickel 2 per cent biryl beryllium lium and 98 per cent nickel for or instance has a tensile strength of pounds to the square inch but structural steel only and stainless teel steel A beryllium copper spring can be flexed times before it will break compared with 3 2 or 3 million times tor for one which is s con constructed ted out ossteel of steel 1 ii t v f v S uy 1414 11 |