Informative Air Pollution Problems in Fly Ash Sintering Plant

A long-term field and laboratory program designed to determine and understand the effects of air pollutants on the performance of electric contact materials has reached the one-year mark. An extensive variety of metals has been exposed at six field environments, for periods up to one year (August 1963 to August 1964). These environments were selected to provide a wide range of air pollutants in typical data processing or process control situations. The program undertakes to determine material degradation as a function of time and environment. The important air pollutants at the field sites are measured regularly, and materials are returned periodically to the laboratory for evaluation using techniques developed specifically for this program. The results of the program to date are presented, and preliminary correlations are drawn.