EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCE AND INFORMATION

ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL PUBLISHED IN

THE JOURNAL POROSHKOVAYA METALLURGIYA

(SOVIET POWDER METALLURGY AND METAL CERAMICS)

S. Ya. Plotkin and G. L. Fridman UDC 621.762

One of the c r i t e r i a by which advances made in con tempora ry sc ience can be judged is the e v e r - i n - c reas ing volume of scientif ic informat ion. The f i r s t editions of Gmel in ' s Handbook of Inorganic Chemis t ry , published more than a hundred y e a r s ago, were based on a su rvey of some 20 chemical journals ; by 1922 the number of t i t les had inc reased to 2000, and at p r e sen t the Handbook ex t r ac t s data f rom 20,000 journals [11.

It has been establ ished that the total number of scientif ic journals (and hence published ar t ic les) doubles eve ry 10-15 yea r s , and today a l ready approaches 200,000 [2]. Rapid growth in the amount of sc i - entific informat ion is observed also in the field of powder meta l lurgy. At the p r e sen t t ime, this field is covered by six per iodica l publications (Table 1).

The appearance of these journa ls in the 1950's and 1960's was a d i r ec t r e su l t of a widening in the scope of invest igat ions and a growth in the volume of scientif ic informat ion. Ar t i c l e s dealing with a va r i e ty of powder meta l lu rgy topics a re , of course , published not only in these specia l i s t per iodica ls but also in va r ious nonperiodical volumes ( t ransact ions of confe rences , colloquia, and s emina r s , col lec t ions of a r t i c les dealing with a single subject) and publicat ions cover ing re la ted f ields ( fe r rous and nonfer rous meta l lurgy , mechanical engineering, meta l s sc ience , cas t ings product ion, otc.).

The journal Poroshkovaya Metal lurgiya appears more f requent ly (12 t imes a year) and contains more a r t i c l e s than any of the o ther specia l is t powder meta l lu rgy per iod ica l s . Ar t i c l e s f rom this journal , together with the world l i t e ra tu re on powder meta l lurgy, a re abs t rac ted by the Soviet abs t rac t s Journals Metal lurgiya and Mashinost roenie (appearing since 1956), A.S.M. Review of Metal L i t e ra tu re (USA, since 1944), and Metal Powder Repor t (Britain, since 1946). A breakdown according to type of publication [3], based on in- format ion furnished by these abs t r ac t s journa ls , of all ma te r i a l on powder meta l lu rgy published in 1965 is shown in Table 2. It will be seen that a r t i c l e s occupy f i r s t place in this table, followed by patents .

According to the data of Table 2 (which are typical also of the 1970's), Soviet publications on powder meta l lu rgy const i tute 25% of the total. Apar t f rom this, the abs t r ac t s journal Metal lurgiya provides the fullest coverage of the world l i t e ra tu re on powder meta l lu rgy - m o re than 60%, the cor responding f igure fo r both A.S.M. Review of Metal L i t e r a tu re and Metal Powder Repor t being about 30%.

TABLE 1

Title ] C~ t Language [ First pub- I s s u e s p e r l i s h e d in year

Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya Planseeberichte ffir PulvermetalIurgie Pokroky Praskove Meta lurgie Powder ~Metallurgy International Journal of Powder Metal-

lurgy Powder Metallurgy International

USSR R u.~ia n 1961 12 Austria German 1953 -', CzechosL Czech 1964 4 O ,B. Engltsh 1958 2 US A 1965 4

w ,Germ, 1969 4

Moscow. Trans la ted f rom Poroshkovaya Metal lurgiya, No. 1 (145), pp. 99-105, January , 1975. Original a r t ic le submitted May 20, 1974.

�9 1975 Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011. No part o f this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, mierofilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission o f the publisher. A copy o f this article is available from the publisher for $15.00.

79

T A B L E 2

Type of publication Number of publications

in USSR abroad total

Journal articles 190 391 581 Articles in symposia 57 83 140 Books 4 19 23 Patents 5 213 218 Standards I I 2

Tota 1 257 707 964

T A B L E 3

Journa 1 sectior~ Articles publts,hed in Total

1961 1962 I 1963 1963

General topics 2 -- 2 1 5 Scientific principles of powder

metallurgy 35 19 29 30 113 Technology and properties of pow-

ders and sinterea components 37 33 43 41 154 Industria I section 8 13 15 26 62 Imtruments and equipment 2 - - - - - - 2 Economics of powder metallurgy

production 1 -- - - 1 2 Labor protection and safety engineer-

ing in powder metallurgy 1 4 1 5 11 From abroad 3 3 4 3 13 Experience abroad -- - - 1 - - 1 Criticism and bibliography I 4 -- 4 9 New books -- 2 1 -- 3 Our calendar ' 2 - - - - 3 Chronicles 6 3 3 2 14 Proceedings of the All-Union Iater-

Imtitute Seminar on Methods of ~ eparaflon and Properties of Re-

actory Compounds, June 21~26,1961 - - 26 3 -- 29

Total 97 109 I02 113 421

By a n a l y z i n g the c h a n g e s in the n u m b e r and type of a r t i c l e s p u b l i s h e d in P o r o s h k o v a y a M e t a l l u r g i y a , i t i s p o s s i b l e to d i s c o v e r c e r t a i n t r e n d s in the evo lu t ion of p o w d e r m e t a l l u r g y i t s e l f .

P o r o s h k o v a y a M e t a l l u r g i y a , the on ly Sov ie t p e r i o d i c a l de vo t e d e x c l u s i v e l y to p o w d e r m e t a l l u r g y , i s an a u t h o r i t a t i v e p u b l i c a t i o n h e l d in the h igh r e g a r d by a l a r g e l e a d e r s h i p in the Sov ie t Union and a b r o a d . A t p r e s e n t i t i s s u b s c r i b e d to in 248 towns in the Sov ie t Union and 24 f o r e i g n c o u n t r i e s . In the p e r i o d 1965-1970, a r t i c l e s by 1972 a u t h o r s w e r e p u b l i s h e d in i t , of whom 762 w e r e m e m b e r s of the s t a f f of the I n s t i t u t e of M a t e r i a l s S c i e n c e , A c a d e m y of S c i e n c e s of the U k r a i n i a n SSR, and the o t h e r s w e r e e n g i n e e r s and s c i e n t i s t s f r o m v a r i o u s c o n c e r n s and o r g a n i z a t i o n s in the U k r a i n i a n , R u s s i a n Sov ie t F e d e r a l , B e l o -

r u s s i a n , and o t h e r r e p u b l i c s , and a l s o s c i e n t i s t s f r o m o t h e r c o u n t r i e s .

R e g u l a r p u b l i c a t i o n of P o r o s h k o v a y a M e t a l l u r g i y a b e g a n in 1961 in K i e v . In 1961-1963 , the j o u r n a l w a s the o f f i c i a l o r g a n of the I n s t i t u t e of P o w d e r M e t a l l u r g y and S p e c i a l A l l o y s , A c a d e m y of S c i e n c e s of the U k r a i n i a n SSR, and s i n c e 1964 i t h a s been the o r g a n of the I n s t i t u t e of M a t e r i a l s S c i e n c e , A c a d e m y of S c i e n c e s of the U k r a i n i a n SSR. The v o l u m e of e ach i s s u e of the j o u r n a l i s about 10 q u i r e s . In 1961-1964 , i t w a s p u b l i s h e d b i m o n t h l y , and s i n c e 1965 i t h a s a p p e a r e d e v e r y month .

A b r e a k d o w n , by s u b j e c t ( j ou rna l s ec t i on ) , of the a r t i c l e s p u b l i s h e d in P o r o s h k o v a y a M e t a l l u r g i y a d u r i n g the p e r i o d 1961-1964 i s shown in T a b l e 3. The to ta l n u m b e r of a r t i c l e s p u b l i s h e d in t hose y e a r s w a s 421, a v e r a g i n g 17-18 p e r i s s u e . A s i m i l a r b r e a k d o w n c o v e r i n g the p e r i o d 1965-1970, in wh ich the f r e q u e n c y of p u b l i c a t i o n and d i v i s i o n in to s e c t i o n s w e r e changed , i s shown in T a b l e 4. I t w i l l be s een tha t , in 1965-1970 , the n u m b e r of a r t i c l e s p u b l i s h e d in the j o u r n a l r e a c h e d a t o t a l of 1.373, w i th 19 a r t i c l e s p e r i s s u e , an a v e r a g e s i m i l a r to tha t fo r the p r e c e d i n g p e r i o d .

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TABLE 4

Genera l topics Theory , product ion technology, and p r o p e r -

t ies of powders (and f i be r s - s ince 1968) 20 16 17 22 35 32 142 Theory and technology of the component

fo rmat ion p r o c e s s 22 15 15 26 25 23 126 Theory and technology of s in ter ing, t h e r -

mal , and c h e m i c o t h e r m a l t r ea tmen t p r o - c e s s e s 17 21 21 19 19 29 126

Sintered m a t e r i a l s and components 33 17 22 17 21 20 130 Tes t methods and p r o p e r t i e s of m a t e r i a l s 80 75 81 110 104 90 540 Powder me ta l lu rgy industry, economics ,

and organiza t ions of product ion 10 14 11 11 15 11 72 Exchange of expe r i ence and in format ion 18 10 10 19 21 19 97 Labor p ro tec t ion and safe ty engineer ing

in powder me ta l l u rgy 3 1 3 2 - 1 10 F r o m ab road 2 3 3 5 2 3 18 C r i t i c i s m and b ib l iography 3 3 I - 2 1 10 Our ca lendar - 1 - - - 1 2 Chronic les 2 6 3 4 8: 9 32 Review a r t i c l e s in jubilee i s s ue s - - 16 - - - 16 Proceed ings of the All-Union Scientific

S e m i n a r on In t e rm e t a l l i c Compounds Method of The i r Manufacture , and The i r Phys ica l P r o p e r t i e s - 20 . . . . 20

P roceed ings of the Fifhh All-Union I n t e r - instiLute Seminar on the Phys ica l P r o p e r - t ies and E lec t ron ic St ruc ture of Lhe T r a n - si t ion Metals and The i r R e f r a c t o r y Com- pounds and Alloys

..... , , , , , ,

I A r t i c l e s publ ished in

I I I - - 2 5

- - 7 , 2 0 - - - 27

Total 211 210 224 235 252 241 1373

To fac i l i ta te an ana lys i s of the m a t e r i a l publ ished in 1961-1970, a unified table was compi led , in which the d is t r ibut ion of the a r t i c l e s among the sec t ions was r ev i sed . At the s ame t ime, some of the s e c - t ions used in the journal w e r e omit ted. Thus, the a r t i c l e s placed in the sec t ions "Exchange of expe r i ence and in format ion N and "Review a r t i c l e s in jubilee i s s u e s ~ were t r a n s f e r r e d to o ther sec t ions , s ince these t i t l es convey no in fo rmat ion concerning the actual subjec ts of the a r t i c l e s . The same t r e a t m e n t was ap- pl ied to the m a t e r i a l included in the incidental sec t ions ( "P roceed ings of the Al l -Union Scientific Seminar on In t e rme ta l l i c Compounds, Methods of The i r Manufac ture , and The i r Phys ica l P r o p e r t i e s ~ and " P r o - ceedings of the Fif th Al l -Union In ter ins t i tu te Seminar on the Phys ica l P r o p e r t i e s and E lec t ron ic S t ruc ture of the Trans i t ion Meta ls and The i r R e f r a c t o r y Compounds and A l l o y s ' ) .

In o r d e r to unify the s y s t e m of sec t ion t i t les and p r even t duplicat ion of t i t les , and also to fac i l i ta te s ta t i s t i ca l ana lys i s of a r t i c l e s , all the m a t e r i a l publ ished in 1961-1964 (Table 3) in the sec t ions "Scientif ic p r i n c i p l e s of powder m e t a l l u r g y ' and ' T e c h n o l o g y and p r o p e r t i e s of powders and s in te red c o m p o n e n t s ' was included, when compi l ing the unified table , under the new t i t l es "Theo ry , product ion technology, and p r o p e r - t ies of powders and f i b e r s , ' " T h e o r y and technology of the component fo rma t ion p r o c e s s , " " T h e o r y and technology of s in ter ing, t h e r m a l , and c h e m i c o t h e r m a l t r e a t m e n t p r o c e s s e s , " ' S in t e r ed m a t e r i a l s and components , " and " T e s t methods and p r o p e r t i e s of m a t e r i a l s . "

The overa l l breakdown by subjec t of the m a t e r i a l publ ished in the journal in 1961-1970, based on the s epa ra t e b reakdowns cover ing the pe r iods 1961-1964 and 1965-1970, i s shown in Table 5. As can be seen, the following key top ics have been rece iv ing p a r t i c u l a r at tent ion in sc ient i f ic inves t iga t ions , as judged by the contents of the journal :

81

%

52 5O

48

46

44

42 4

22 iI I I

2g I 1,5 l | ;6 I |

f2 ' .~ / I . / j,,3

6

4 2

o . . . . . . . bbT~ f~t 6z 65 84 55 88 #:, years

Fig. 1. Changes in numbers of articles in individual sections .

of journal Poroshkovaya Metal- lurgiya: 1) "Theory, production technology, and properties of powders and fibers;" 2) "Theory and technology of the component formation process," 3) "Theory and technology of sintering, ther- mal, and chemicothermal treat- ment processes;" 4) "Test methods and propet/zies of materials;" 5) "Powder metallurgy industry, eco- nomics, and organization of pro- duetion."

theory, production technology, and properties of powders and fibers;"

theory and technology of the component formation process; theory and technology of sintering, thermal, and chemi-

cothermal treatment processes~ sintered materials and components; test methods and properties of materials; powder metallurgy industry, economics, and organization

of production.

In 1961-1970, 1656 articles (92% of all the items) dealt with these topics, the remaining subjects - labor protection and safety engineering, information from abroad, cri t icism and bibliography, chronicles, etc. - being represented by 8% of all the articles. It is interesting to note that more than half of the items (836 to 1656) were articles published in the section "Test methods and propert ies of materials," dealing mainly with theoretical prob- lems and results of investigations.

Table 6 and Fig. 1 show relative data concerning the prin- cipal sections of the journal, which enable us to discover trends in the evolution of individual sectors of powder metallurgy in 1961-1970. The data indicate that during the period 1961-1970 the number of articles in the journal dealing with powder manu- facture steadily increased, reflecting a tendency toward growth in the extent of investigations into the theory, production tech- nology, and properties of powders.

During the same period, the number of articles in the section "Powder metallurgy industry, economics, and organiza- tion of production" appreciably dropped, from 17 to 8%. Clearly, this section of the journal needs to be expanded, and more articles should be published written by production specialists and workers from scientif ic-research institutes and laboratories.

The section "From abroad" contained only 32 articles, of which 5 were concerned with the solution of certain scientific

management and industrial problems in the powder metallurgy industry in individual countries, while the remaining articles dealt with scientific and technological aspects of powder metallurgy.

The section ~Criticism and bibliography n contained 22 i tems, including 13 reviews of books on pow- der metallurgy published in 1961-1970. In the period 1961-1964, the journal published useful lists of new books on powder metallurgy.

Thus, a statistical analysis of the contents of the journal Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya gives a rough picture of the state of investigations in the field of powder metallurgy, enabling the following general con- elusions to be drawn:

1. The powder metallurgy topic reeeiving the most attention is the theory of sintering. New sci- entific trends and concepts arise, such as those relating to the electronic structure of matter and quantum mechanical theory. The published material indicates that the formulation of each new scientific concept gives rise to a certain number of new scientific investigations aiming to develop it or explore it in depth.

2. The predominance of articles of theoretical character is indicative of a high standard of scientific investigations in the field of powder metallurgy. The practical approach adopted in many of the other arti- cles facilitates, rather than hinders, evolution of more comprehensive and rigorous scientific concepts and provides material for theoretical generalizations.

3. Articles being published in the journal reflect a growing interdependence of powder metallurgy and adjacent, allied areas of science (such as metal physics and physical chemistry), and provide evidence of increasing use of various mathematical techniques in research.

82

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4. The worldwide esteem which the journal enjoys manifests itself, among others, in that, together with a number of other leading Soviet scientific journals, it is translated into English. The cover-to-cover translation, which is published in the United States, f i rs t appeared in 1965. Thanks to this translation, readers abroad can be familiar with the current stato of powder metallurgy in the Soviet Union, and are promptly informed of advances being made in it. In the opinion of the eminent Americanscientist , Profesor H. H. Hausner, Wthe Soviet journal Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya is the most important source of information concerning powder met allurgy. ~ Professor F. Benesovsky (Austria) considers that the journal Poroshkovaya MetaUurgiya can rightly be regarded as one of the leading publications in the field of powder metallurgy.

II

2. 3.

LITERATURE CITED

S. S. Batsanov and E. D. Ruchkin, in: Problems of the History of Natural Science and Tachnology [in Russian], Vol. 22, No. 1 (1967), p. 22. G. Price, in: The Science of Science [Russian translation], IL, Moscow (1966). G. V. Gedrimovich, Nauchno-Tekhn. Inform., Ser. 1, No. 9, 16 (1969).

84