Behavior Of Molybdenum As Resistor In The Electric Furnace

DURING some experiments made by Henry J. Miller, partly in Germany and partly in the United States, in which it was found necessary to melt metals in quantities up to 60 kg. in a vacuum or under low pressures of hydrogen, molybdenum was tried as the resistor in the electric melting furnaces. Molybdenum ribbons 16 by 0.55 mm. and 18 by 0.45 mm. were used as resistors. The furnaces were of the type shown in Fig. 1. [ ] About the heating tube, Y, are wound parallel resistors of molybdenum ribbon from the water-cooled electrodes, E1, E2. The whole is within a copper container having outlets for the removal or introduction of gases and a window, W, for observation, the space about the heating tube and electrodes being filled with insulating material. The life of the molybdenum used as the resistor was found to depend very much on the manner of using it, its failure being due in some cases to thinning by evaporation or chemical reaction and in others to hardening, which prevented it from following the expansions and shrink¬ing of the heating tubing without cracking. As such failures are often rather expensive in commercial work, it was thought worth while to determine the causes. The factors influencing the behavior of molybdenum resistors used in this manner may be briefly stated as follows: