Konstantin Konstantinovich Khrenov (russian: Константин Константинович Хренов; 13 February 1894 – 12 October 1984) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

engineer and inventor who in 1932 introduced underwater welding and cutting of

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

s.Carl W. Hal
A biographical dictionary of people in engineering: from the earliest records until 2000
, Vol. 1, Purdue University Press, 2008 p. 120 For this method, extensively used by the Soviet Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Khrenov was awarded the

State Stalin Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

in 1946.

Biography

Khrenov was born in 1894 in

Borovsk Borovsk (russian: Бо́ровск) is a town and the administrative center of Borovsky District of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Protva River just south from the oblast's border with Moscow Oblast. Population: 12,000 (1969). History ...

, a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Kaluga Oblast Kaluga Oblast (russian: Калу́жская о́бласть, translit=Kaluzhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga. The 2021 Russian Census found a population of 1,069,904. G ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located just south from its border with the Moscow Oblast. In 1918, he graduated from the department of electrochemistry of Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University (ETU). After graduation, he continued his research at ETU and worked there as a lecturer between 1921 and 1925. He then moved to Moscow and between 1928 and 1947 was teaching at the Moscow Institute of Electromechanical Engineering (Railway Transport); in 1933 he became a professor there. In parallel, between 1931 and 1947 Khrenov was teaching at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University – one of the oldest and largest Russian technical universities. In the 1940s, Khrenov moved to Ukraine where he assumed professor positions at the following institutions: *1945–48 – Institute of Electric Welding *1948–1952 – Institute of Structural Mechanics *1952–1963 – Institute of Electrical Engineering *1947–1958 – Kiev Polytechnic Institute *1963–till retirement – Institute of Electric Welding.

Achievements

Khrenov dedicated his entire career to the development of welding techniques and equipment. He invented methods of electric welding and cutting metals under water, designed power sources for arc and spot welding, ceramic fluxes, electrode coatings, methods of cold pressure welding, diffusion welding,

plasma cutting Plasma cutting is a process that cuts through electrically conductive materials by means of an accelerated jet of hot plasma. Typical materials cut with a plasma torch include steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper, although other c ...

and many others. His breakthrough achievement was development of the electrodes for underwater welding in 1932. Their successful test at the Black Sea in the same year was the first practical realization of underwater welding. In this method, the gas bubbles formed as a result of welding reactions were generating a stable flow which shielded the arc from water. Underwater welding had quickly found practical application and already in 1936–1938 was used in the lifting of the ship ''Boris'' sunk in the Black Sea, as well as in the repair of bridges and other ships, especially during

.John Turkevic
Soviet men of science: academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
Van Nostrand, 1963, p. 160

Awards

For his pioneering work in underwater welding, Khrenov was awarded the

in 1946. He was elected a member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

and of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...

in 1945 and 1953, respectively. His lifetime achievements were later acknowledged by the

Council of Ministers (Soviet Union) The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ɛsɛsɛˈsɛr; sometimes abbreviated to ''Sovmin'' or referred to as the '' ...

Prize (1982), and

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1986, posthumously). His other decorations include

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (russian: Орден Октябрьской Революции, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferr ...

and several other lesser orders.Хренов Константин Константинович
,

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

(in Russian)

Books

* Хренов К. К., Ярхо В. И. Технология дуговой электросварки
Technology of electric arc welding
1080 pages). М.-Л.: 1940. * Хренов К. К. Подводная электрическая сварка и резка металлов. М.: 1946. * Хренов К. К., Назаров Т. С.
Автоматическая дуговая электросварка
Гос. научно-тех. изд-во машиностроит. лит-ры, 1949 (273 pages) * Хренов К. К. Электрическая сварочная дуга. Киев М.: 1949.
Хренов К. К. Сварка, резка и пайка металлов. Киев М.: 1952
* Хренов К. К., Кушнарев Д. М. Керамические флюсы для автоматической дуговой сварки. Киев: 1954. * Хренов К. К
Сварка, резка и пайка металлов
Машгиз, 1959 (415 pages) * Хренов К. К
Сварка, резка и пайка металлов
4 изд., М., Машиностроение 1973 (407 pages).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khrenov, Konstantin Konstantinovich Soviet engineers Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences 1984 deaths 1894 births Russian marine engineers Soviet inventors

Biography

Achievements

Awards

Books

See also

References