for more detailed treatment of these particular aspects. Liaison was effected with European activity in refractory metal sheet through the NATO Advisory Group on Aeronautical Research and Development and with France, in particular, through establishment of a data exchange agreement and a cooperative research project under the mutual weapons development program.

Although the program included the four refractory metals molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, and tantalum, initial emphasis was placed on molybdenum and tungsten. Contracts were made in the normal manner by the several participating agencies, principally the Navy and the Air Force, using their regular budget funds on the various parts of the program after discussion and exchange of planning information and agreement on partition of the various tasks to be supported. The MAB meetings themselves afforded good opportunity for information exchange as did extensive mutual exchange of reports. In order to broaden information dissemination, the Defense Metals Information Center received copies of all reports and prepared semiannual summary reports for dissemination to a list of several thousand interested recipients in all portions of the refractory metals field. Reports prepared by the MAB groups were also widely distributed within their fields of interest.

The refractory metal sheet program was phased as follows, applicable to each of the four metals individually but to a degree simultaneously, but with different degrees of effort and priority, as appropriate:

Phase I (Development of techniques-Determination of metallurgical factors)

This work was conducted primarily by the material producers and mainly under Government sponsorship. It is the stage at which the technical information is developed concerning raw materials, effects of impurities on subsequent metal behavior, development of testing and processing techniques, study of brittle behavior, and in general correlating production techniques with product properties. The much greater range of possible temperatures at which refractory metals may be processed and their propensity toward high temperature oxidation were complicating factors. In this connection, the in-fab facility (the 85,000-cubic-foot, argonfilled room) was quite helpful and was applied to the problem.

Phase II (Evaluation, design data and material characteristics)

Development of this technical information, using the material generated in phase I to a major degree, is being con

ducted in in-house laboratories of the Services and on contract with private research organizations.

Phase III (development of fabricability information)

Work on the effect of the conditions imposed on the materials by the various fabrication operations is being performed primarily by manufacturers of components. Fabrication procedures are being optimized and this information, together with the large amount of fabrication data, will be widely disseminated.

In the refractory metal sheet program, research and development work was conducted on the effect of interstitial elements on material characteristics (such as the ductile-brittle bend transition temperature) and on the ability to control the presence of such trace elements by variations in raw material reduction and consolidation procedures. Methods of analysis also received development attention in view of the importance of establishing valid composition in the low interstitial concentration range. Methods of mechanical testing required development also, in order to insure accuracy and reproducibility in results.

In each of the stages of processing, metallurgical development work was conducted to provide the necessary guidance in selection of optimum techniques. Studies of the stability and diffusions of carbides, of the effect of breakdown temperature and procedure on the morphology and distribution of microconstituents, and of the rate of surface absorption and diffusion of atmospheric contaminants are typical of the work performed.

In addition to the studies connected with the materials themselves, and with their mechanical properties and fabrication characteristics, studies were conducted on coatings for protection of the metals against high-temperature oxidation and on joining by welding, brazing, and diffusion bonding, The specific alloys for inclusion in the refractory metal sheet program were selected after careful review of their mechanical and metallurgical characteristics and considerable metallurgical development work is being conducted on the alloys prior to the more directly connected processing studies.

At the present time, there is discussion in progress of a similar effort on refractory metal tubing. However, if this is done it will be arranged as a separate entity (although taking advantage of the experience with sheet), to permit bringing the sheet effort itself to a conclusion within the next year or year and a half.

The refractory metal sheet program is the second major integrated program in the materials field, in which a number

of smaller efforts of various Government agencies and industry have been combined to make a program of significance. This program, nearing completion, has been efficiently conducted and has been gratifyingly successful. The overall cost of the program will be about $8 million and its timespan about 3 to 4 years. The success of this second effort on integrated program lines has reinforced opinion on the desirability of approaches such as this at appropriate stages of materials development work. A third such major program, the metalworking processes and equipment program, has been started and is now getting underway. This type of program is significant in four important aspects: (a) it utilizes in a thoroughly coordinated and integrated manner the thinking, efforts, and funds of a number of sources; (b) in a technical sense, it is extremely comprehensive, covering the spectrum of problems from raw materials to final mill product (chemistry, physical metallurgy, processing, surface treatment, fabrication techniques, equipment, standardization of testing techniques, evaluation, etc.); (c) it promotes an intimate coupling of science, applied research, and engineering; and (d) the technical experience and momentum derived from a specific program tend to permit subsequent problems and activities in that particular area to be handled to a major degree quite routinely, mainly by industry with a minimum of Government sponsorship.

In spite of the success of the above approach in titanium and refractory metals it should be recognized that many factors must be considered in selecting subjects for handling in this manner and that not all subjects lend themselves to this procedure. Areas to be so handled must be selected with great care.

THE NATIONAL STANDARD REFERENCE DATA SYSTEM

There is a widespread opinion in the technical community of the United States that much should be done to improve current techniques of processing and evaluating technical information in order to increase efficiency and to speed progress in science and technology. The general problem of improving the transfer of scientific and technical information from the originator to the user has been studied by a number of groups, including the President's Science Advisory Committee, the Federal Council on Science and Technology, the Senate Committee on Government Operations, the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Ástronautics, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council), and committees of professional societies. Various new activities have been initiated as a result of the conclusions drawn in these studies

This discussion deals

and others are under consideration. with one of the new governmental programs which have been established-the National Standard Reference Data System. It is an effort to cope with one aspect of the broad science-information problem; namely, the production and dissemination of critically evaluated quantitative data on the physical and chemical properties of materials.

The value of tabulations of such data is far-reaching and well recognized. Data of known reliability are thereby made conveniently available for use by the scientist or engineer to design an experiment or a piece of hardware. The individual worker is relieved of the necessity of searching the literature and attempting to evaluate data in fields in which he is not expert. Areas in which additional work is needed become more clearly defined and relationships not previously apparent are recognized.

More than 30 years ago the National Academy of Sciences, recognizing the need for a comprehensive effort covering a wide field of physical science and technology, sponsored the production of the International Critical Tables, a tremendously valuable work which is still widely consulted. However, no mechanism was established for the continuation of this program. The normal processes of scientific supply and demand were allowed to operate. These processes, of course, led to the initiation of a large number of compilation and evaluation activities in various places throughout the world. An effort was made to stimulate additional activities through the establishment, in 1955, of the Office of Critical Tables in the National Research Council. However, in such activities, the OCT's role was advisory. It was given no money and the authority associated therewith to promote its goals.

During 1963 the Federal Council for Science and Technology reached the conclusion that the practices which had been customary in the past for compilation and evaluation of data on the physical and chemical properties of materials were no longer adequate for the needs of the technical community. This situation has been caused primarily by the extremely rapid growth of the technical literature during the past couple of decades. In order to insure that scientists and engineers might have optimum access to evaluated data it was decided by the members of the Federal Council for Science and Technology and of the Office of Science and Technology that a governmentwide, coordinated, comprehensive effort should be established in the whole broad field of physical science and technology. For this reason a Federal policy was promulgated, in June 1963, creating a National Standard Reference Data System and assigning to the National Bureau of Standards the responsibility for its administration. The general objectives of this system are to

coordinate and to integrate existing data compilation and evaluation activities into a systematic program, to supplement and to expand technical coverage when necessary, to establish and to maintain standards for the output of the various groups, and to provide a mechanism for the dissemination of the output as required.

The assignment that was given to the National Bureau of Standards by the Office of Science and Technology includes the following tasks: (1) operation of a national standard reference data center as the National Bureau of Standards; (2) coordination of standard reference data activities of the National Bureau of Standards, Department of Defense, Atomic Energy Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, and other governmental agencies, all of which may operate components of the National Standard Reference Data System if this is mutually decided to be appropriate; (3) establishment of standards of quality for various products of the National Standard Reference Data System; (4) establishment of standards of methodology, including machine processing; and (5) establishment of standards for such other functions as are required to insure the compatibility of all of the units of the National Standard Reference Data System.

In planning and implementing such a program, the staff of the Office of the National Standard Reference Data System at the National Bureau of Standards will be in continual consultation with individual specialists who use the data, with representatives of industrial and professional organizations (ie., the Manufacturing Chemists Association, the American Society for Testing and Materials, etc.), with committees of the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council), with program offices in other Government agencies, and with any other source that seem appropriate. An essential feature of the program is integration of existing Governmentsponsored activities, together with new programs, into a coherent whole. This requires the establishment of an effective coordination mechanism consisting partly of the formation of committees of appropriate representatives of the agencies concerned and partly of extensive liaison activity on the part of the members of the staff of the Office of the National Standard Reference Data System.

Opinions and recommendations regarding the operations of Government-supported data centers will be submitted in the form of reports to the sponsoring agency upon request. By mutual agreement with the sponsoring agency the administrative office of the National Standard Reference Data System may assume a portion of the responsibility for the financial support or for the technical monitoring of the operations of a particular data center. The Office of the National