Titanium electroslag weld at Oregon Graduate Center

OGC accepted classified contracts that MIT couldn't, so after Tom's electroslag work was classified, OGC became the venue for continued development.

But Oregon Graduate Center, where they made the electroslag weld — they allowed classified contracts. The guys at Ohio State in their welding department weren't working on titanium, they were working on steel or aluminum, and that way they kind of got around the classification. But the thing that really worked, and what the Navy was working on, was semi-submerged arc with the little thin layer of flux, or electroslag with a little thin layer of flux. A whole chapter or two in this book is how to make flux and purify it.

Physical sample. Two-inch electroslag weld on titanium made under Navy contract at Oregon Graduate Center (because MIT does no classified work on campus). The sample has been wearing under its Crystal Clear coat for twenty-five years.

At that point the Navy classified everything and I couldn't work on it anymore. But this is an electroslag weld in titanium that was made at Oregon Graduate Center, because even though MIT doesn't do classified work on campus, Oregon Graduate Center took a contract from the Navy. This is two-inch thick plate with an electroslag weld. These are the reinforcements from the water-cooled copper dam on either side. I put Crystal Clear on it and it's been wearing away over the last twenty-five years. But this is an electroslag weld on two-inch thick titanium. And titanium doesn't have some of the problems that steel has with bad grain size and poor toughness.