Alfred Wilm (25 June 1869 – 6 August 1937) was a German

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

who invented the alloy Al-3.5–5.5%Cu-Mg-Mn, now known as

Duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of ''Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its ...

which is used extensively in aircraft. Whilst working in military research NUTZ in

Neubabelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter (''Stadtteil'') of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The affluent neighbourhood named after a small hill on the Havel river is famous for Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Pala ...

in 1901, Wilm discovered

age hardening Precipitation hardening, also called age hardening or particle hardening, is a heat treatment technique used to increase the yield strength of malleable materials, including most structural alloys of aluminium, magnesium, nickel, titanium, and so ...

, in particular age hardening of aluminium alloys. This discovery was made after

hardness In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion. In general, different materials differ in their hardness; for example hard ...

measurements on Al- Cu

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductili ...

specimens were serendipitously found to increase in hardness at room temperature. This increase in hardness was identified after his measurements were interrupted by a weekend, and when they were resumed on the Monday the hardness had increased. By 1906, Wilm had developed an alloy – Al-3.5–5.5%Cu-Mg-Mn, Mg and Mn were < 1%, for which a patent was filed. Later this patent was purchased and the alloy marketed as

. Somewhat unusually, Wilm did not write his first article on age hardening until 1911. At the time Wilm was developing an aluminium alloy to replace brass in ammunition. The patent on Duralumin was ignored and breached by many firms, and he struggled without success to protect his rights under it. In 1919 Wilm retired from research and became a farmer. He died at his farm in Saalberg on 6 August 1937.Walther Pahl, ''Weltkampf um Rohstoffe''. Leipzig 1941, S. 126.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilm, Alfred German metallurgists 1869 births 1937 deaths