CORROSION RESEARCH ROUND‐UP

U.S.S.R. Anti‐friction alloys and corrosion protection. Prof. B. V. Losikov reviews recent work in this field in the Soviet Union, including some of his own and co‐workers, and begins with tabulated analyses of some anti‐friction metals and their corrosion losses, in which, as is generally known, the tin‐antimony and lead‐antimony babbit class show up much better than the copper‐lead or cadmium class. (Reference made to Tichvinsky, S.A.E.J., 1953, 51 (3).) Much of the corrosion is due to acid present in the lubricating oils. Engine oils used in Russia usually have an acid number of around 0.1 to 0.2 mg. KOH, but after working for a short time with temperatures up to 100°C this may rise to 0.5 or 0.6. The processes of corrosion, more especially with the copper‐base alloys, are discussed, and among the means recently adopted to inhibit or reduce corrosion is that which is very often tried in other countries in various forms, namely the incorporation in the lubricating oil of suitable anti‐corrosive agents. Much work has been done in the Soviet Union by Profs. N. I. Chernozhukov, S. E. Krein, B. V. Losikov and others. Various additives have been proposed and tested. They are mostly organic materials of varying structure.