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Looking Back: The Adhesion of Electrodeposits — Complete Serial Report of AES Research Project #3
Prof. A.L. Ferguson, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
What follows here are the first two Serial Reports that comprise
the work done on AES Research Project #3, "The Adhesion of
Electrodeposits," directed by Dr. Alfred Lynn Ferguson of the chem-
istry department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. This work
was published in eight installments from September 1945 to June
1946 in the AES Monthly Review, aƞer World War II transformed
our industry from art to science and engineering. During this time,
adhesion work was moving from various types of mechanical
mayhem toward the goal of non-destructive testing. These reports
were combined into the booklets Serial Reports 1 & 2.
Inspection of many of the papers printed in the journals of
the AES (and AESF and NASF) in the last half of the 20th century
shows that much of that research and engineering work remains
relevant. Arguably, many of those folks "got it right the first time."
With that in mind, knowledge of the historical perspectives on
plate adhesion benefits those who brought the industry tech-
nology to what it is today, and can benefit those developing the
technology to come.
This project on the adhesion of electrodeposits was a compre-
hensive survey of all the literature on the subject. More than that,
it also involved interviews and commentary from key persons in
the industry, as well as scientific reports.
This package begins with an introduction, briefly covering the
pre-war history of AES research, and the whys and wherefores
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of this report. The full text of this section can be accessed and
printed at short.PFonline.com/NASF17Sep1 .
The complete report is organized into four sections:
1. The bibliography. The first part involves a literature study,
which normally is reported at the end of a paper. In a departure
from that, Dr. Ferguson published the bibliography first, as it was
the first product of the project, and all references in this list are
cited throughout the rest of the report(s). The full text of Part 1
can be accessed and printed at short.PFonline.com/NASF17Sep2 .
2. General considerations. Dr. Ferguson discusses the science
of adhesion as it was understood circa 1945. Concepts are thor-
oughly discussed in a general sense. The full text of Part 2 can be
accessed and printed at short.PFonline.com/NASF17Sep3 .
3. Published adhesion measurement methods. A survey of
all the work and concepts from the published papers is quoted
and analyzed, providing a state of the art aƞer the war and how
they all got there. The full text of Part 3 can be accessed and
printed at short.PFonline.com/NASF17Sep4 .
4. Interview commentary on adhesion measurement
methods. Correspondence directed to many of those authors, as
well as those in the industry working with adhesion problems, is
the basis for the material in this last section. This includes private
communications from about 75 practical platers and administra-
tors. The full text of Part 4 can be accessed and printed at
short.PFonline.com/NASF17Sep5 .
NASF TECHNICAL PAPERS EDITED BY DR. JAMES LINDSAY, NASF TECHNICAL EDITOR
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