Talk:Henry J. Kaiser/Archives/2013
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Cause of fracture in welded hulls
One problem with welded hulls, unknown at that time, was the issue of 'brittle fracture.' This caused the loss of some liberty ships in cold seas as the welds failed and the hulls would crack - sometimes completely in two. Constance Tipper was one of the first people to discover why the liberty ships were breaking in two. Minor changes in design and more rigid welding control enforced in 1947 eliminated liberty ship losses until 1955.
This assertion contradicts the information provided in the Constance Tipper article, and the information in the sources for the Constance Tipper article, eg this one at the University of Cambridge Engineering Department website: http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/125/1925-1950/tipper4.html. According to the Constance Tipper article:
Tipper established that the fractures were not caused by welding, but rather by the steel itself. She demonstrated that there is a critical temperature below which the fracture mode in steel changes from ductile to brittle. Because ships in the North Atlantic were subjected to low temperatures, they were susceptible to brittle failure. These fatigue cracks were able to spread across the ship's welded joint plates, instead of stopping at plate edges of a riveted joint, as previously used.
New source
The German Historical Institute in Washington DC has published a short biographical article on Henry J. Kaiser that can be found here: http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=59 Immigrantentrep (talk) 15:48, 28 May 2013 (UTC)