Detroit Paper - Condition of Thorium in Thoriated Tungsten Filament (with Discussion)

At the New York meeting of the Institute of Metals Division in February, 1927, Jeffries and Tarasov presented a paper on Tungsten and Thoria,' in which the experimental facts were interpreted in accordance with the prevailing point of view that the thorium is present as the oxide, thoria. In discussing that paper the writer of this article stated that his own investigations, which had been unavailable to Messrs. Jeffries and Tarasov, showed that the so-called "thoriated" tungsten filament failed to disclose any sign of the oxide when subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis, but did give plenty of evidence of the presence of metallic thorium and, in certain cases, of a material believed to be an alloy of tungsten in thorium. Since these results were completely at variance with the results reported in the paper under discussion and with other papcrs which had preceded it from time to time in the past, it was felt that further discussion should be withheld until the new evidence could be presented adequately. Arrangc-mcnts were therefore made to present that evidence at this meeting. Material Examined The material exalllined was high-ernission filament such as is used in radio tubes, supposed to contain about 0.75 per cent. thoria. The actual analysis was not stated. Scope of the Investigation The investigation was undertaken because of a feeling that the thorium present in filamentary material of this type exists as metallic thorium or as an alloy of thorium and tungsten and not as the oxide. Attention was therefore directed to determining: 1. The minimum amount of thoria detectible in a mechanical mixture of thoria powder and finely divided tungsten. 2. The amount of t.horia detectible in the filament. 3. The condition of any thorium present in other form than as thoria. 4. The amount of thorium dissolved in the tungsten.