Non-ferrous Metals Research Association

Table 4.12 Soil-corrosion tests on copper by National Bureau of Standards and British Non-ferrous Metals Research Association...

The British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association carried out two series of tests, the results of which have been given by Gilbert and Gilbert and Porter these are summarised in Table 4.12. In the first series tough pitch copper tubes were exposed at seven sites for periods of up to 10 years. The two most corrosive soils were a wet acid peat (pH 4-2) and a moist acid clay (pH 4-6). In these two soils there was no evidence that the rate of corrosion was decreasing with duration of exposure. In the second series phosphorus-deoxidised copper tube and sheet was exposed at five sites for five years. Severe corrosion occurred only in cinders (pH 7 1). In these tests sulphides were found in the corrosion products on some specimens and the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria at some sites was proved. It is not clear, however, to what extent the activity of these bacteria is a factor accelerating corrosion of copper. 

May" remained associated with the research when it was transferred to the auspices of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in 1930. A history of condenser tubes up to 1950 has been published ". ... 

Formerly of The British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association and International Nickel Limited... 

The impetus for further developments was the recognition of the economic significance of corrosion phenomenon during the 19th century that led the British Association for the Advancement of Science to sponsor corrosion testing projects such as the corrosion of cast and wrought iron in river and seawater atmospheres in 1837. Early academic interest in corrosion phenomenon (up to the First World War) was followed by industrial interest due to the occurrence of equipment failures. An example of this is the corrosion-related failure of condenser tubes as reported by the Institute of Metals and the British Non-ferrous Metals Research Association in 1911. This initiative led to the development of new corrosion-resistant alloys, and the corrosion related failure of condenser tubes in the Second World War was an insignificant problem. 

By 1953 a number of automated x-ray spectrometers were in use, of which the Philips Autrometer was typical. This 25-channel sequential machine was programmed by a combination of switches, servo-motors, and mechanical stops that required many hours of careful mechanical adjustment to set up. By the early 1960s multichannel spectrometers were also beginning to appear. With the need for greater accuracy, in x-ray fluorescence (XRF) especially, came the need for matrix correction. Early work at, for example, the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, employed a table of correction factors that could be applied with a slide rule. From this grew the Lucas-Tooth/Price intensity correction models [3]— linear equations requiring only simple computers. Soon after came the concentration correction models of Lachance and Traill [4], and Rasberry and Heinrich [5]. These concentration correction models needed matrix inversion, thus more computation. Next came Criss s fundamental parameter approach [6], which derived from earlier work by Sherman [7]. 

Thus, in the 1960s and early 1970s, the most important role of fluorescence in the metals industry was in the analysis of brasses, bronzes, etc. As was discussed in Section 10.7.1, the development of most of the modem matrix correction procedures came from the early work of Lucas-Tooth and Price [15] at the British Non-Ferrous metals Research Association, followed by the work of Bareham and Fox [16]. The extension, in the early 1960s, of the wavelength range to include A1(Z = 13) and Mg(Z = 12), further enhanced the position of x-ray fluorescence in the nonferrous industry [e.g., 17,18]. As we approach the turn of the century, it is estimated that about 30% of the world s 20,000 or so x-ray spectrometers find their major use in the analysis of ferrous and nonferrous metals. 

See also British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. 

British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. (1943). Improved method and means for preventing or hindering corrosion of zinc, zinc alloy or zinc coated parts in water systems. British Patent 554,046. 

Tr. in 1901 by A. H. Searle, whose MS. (deposited with the Swedenborg Society in London) was reproduced in mimeograph in three parts (without plates) Swedenborg s Treatise on Copper, 3 pts. P, London, 1938, British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, Misc. Publ. 333. 

British Non Ferrous Metal Research Association Lahoratories, U.K. t LaQue Centre for Corrosion Technology, North Carolina. fOne specimen out of 20 pitted to a depth of650 ixm. No other specimen greater than 200 pm. 

Several studies have been undertaken in order to determine the threshold concentration in water above which there is a risk of aluminium corrosion. Studies carried out by BNFRMA (British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association Laboratory) during the 1950s [18] with London water have shown that the concentration threshold above which copper has an effect is on the order of 0.2-0.5 ppm (mg P ). 

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