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American Ceramic Society Bulletin, 40, 9, pp. 539-544, 1961-12-01
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no. 129
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Nnrorulu ResEnncFt
Couttctl-CANADA
D I V I S I O N O F B U I L D I N G R E S E A R C H
MATERIALS
RESEARCH
IN CANADA
BY
ROBERT
F. LEGGET
A N A L Y Z E D
R E P R I N T E D F R O M
THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY BULLETIN, VOL. 40, NO. 9,
SEPTEMBER 196r. P. 539 - 5,44
T E C H N I C A L P A P E R N O . I 2 9 O F T H ED I V I S I O N O F B U I L D I N G R E S E A R C H
OTTAWA
D E C E M B E R I 9 6 I
P R I C E I O C E N T g N R C 6 4 7 63 67J/5/
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lReprinted from The American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol 40, No. 9. Sl€ptember 15, 1961.1
Ghe tdward Orton, Jr, e%Cemorial
Leawe
Materials
Research
ln
Canada
ROBERT
F. TEGGET
Division of Building Reseordr Nqtionol Reseorch Council Ollowo, Ontcrlo Conodo
€o*^*o Onrow, Jn., is a name with which it is indeed an honour to be associated. I count it a privilege, therefore, to have been asked to speak to the American Ceramic Society, and in this way to be associ-ated with further public tribute to the man for whom this lecture is named. Even to read of the active life of Orton, of his man-v- achievements, of his part in the founding of this Society, of his special interest and work in military affairs, is to catch some of the infectious enthusiasm that must have been one of his endearing traits.
It is just 30 years since he died, but his influence is still active if only because some of his students are still at work. The only previous lecturer in this series from Canada was one of Dr. Orton's students. This was Professor W. G. Worcester of the University of Saskatchewan who delivered the Orton Lecture in 1940. his subject being "Orton the Ceramist " Although retired for several years, Professor Worcester is alive and active, still resident in Saskatoon. Another student of Dr. Orton's was the late Professor R. J. Montgomery who was responsible for many years for ceramic engineering work at the University of Toronto.
There are other links between the Society and this countr,v, notably through the many Canadian members who have been and still are on its rolls, the name "American" being inter-preted as usual, and so kindly, as North American rather than in any restricted national sense. As Canadians, we value this internationalism of scientific and engineering endeavour and particularly its very practical reflection in the holding of this great meeting in the city of Toronto. We value also the special honour done by the Society in Chicago in 1959 when Howells Frechette, for so long a devoted worker in the ce-ramic field with our Mines Branch, was made an Honorary Member of the Society. We know that Mr. Frechette had served the Society well, but we naturally think of his honorary membership as a tribute to his long 5'ears of service to the Canadian ceramic industry.
With its area of over 3,850,000 square miles, Canada is tJle third largest country of the world (considerably larger, it may be noted with respect, than the United States of America even including the 49th and 50th states). Seen on arnap, this vast domain quite naturally gives rise to many misconceptions, starting with the popular idea of many immense "undeveloped areas." Even passing acquaintance,with the distant places Vol. 40, No; I (1961)
of this land will soon show the necessary qualifications to this view. Alnost lOVo of the total area for example (301,000
seventh major river of the world, and second only to the Mississippi on this continent. Occupied and agricultural land accounts for only about 87o of the total area. Forest trands, productive and unproductive, account lot another 46/s of the total. Almost one-half of Canada, therefore, is either water or land that is nonproductive of renewable resources-bare rock, the tundra with its muskeg, or Arctic waste. It is in this half of the country, however, that many mineral dis-coveries have been made so that it is continually being ex-plored, now in some detail for the pioneer trails have all been blazed. The whole of Canada has now been photographed from the air so that all who wish may now know at least what the surface looks like when seen from the air.
Populolion Distribution
What of the people who populate this vast area? We are now about 17 million in number. This works out as a popu-lation of only five to the square mile, a number that illustrates vividly how "statistics" must be interpreted to be mea"ningful. In the whole of the Yukon Territory and the N<jrthwest Territories combined, representing almost 40/e of the total area of the country, there are only about 34,000 people, in-cluding Eskimo and Indians. The total population of 'our great Arctic archipelago, now known as the Queen Elizabeth Islands, can be measured in a few hundreds. Most of the 17 million Canadians are resident inthe 8/p of the land area that is settled or in use for agriculture, glviflg a population density of about 55 per squate mile. And as is so generally appreei-ated, the greater part of the population of Canada resides in a narrow belt of land, not much rnore than 200 miles in width'
Delivered Aprtl 24i 1961, before the 63rd Annull {eeting of The American-Ceramic Society, in Toronto; Ontario, Canada.
539
running the full length of the international border. It is, therefore, entirely understandable that, on the one hand, visitors to Canada from the south should imagine that Canada is "not much different" from their own country and, on the other, that the physical development of the settled part of Canada should bear strong superficial resemblance to our neighbour country.
The major difierences, however, are unseen; they derive from historical backgrounds. Canadians are often amused when they find that there are still a few Americans who im-agine that Canada is a "colony" of the United Kingdom. This view is just about 100 years out of date, for in 1g67 Canada will celebrate the centenary of the passing, by the British Parliament, of the British North America Act through which Canada became a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire (at that time), now the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Statute of Westminster (1931) set the seal of independence upon this country so that today when we speak of our Queen, we speak of the Queen of Canada, Her Majesty being now the one main official link between Canada, the United Kingdom, and the sister Dominions. As has been so often said, this country has therefore tlre dual advantage of inheriting (we fondly hope) the best of British and of American traditions, the picture of Canada as the keystone of the arch between Britain and the United States being not only a happy figure of speech but a not inaccurate description of the Canadian position in manl' thitrgs, not least in the approach to scientific research. For although tbis brief historical refer-ence may strike an odd note in a discourse such as this, it is strangely relevant.
Cqnodq's Industriql Growlh
Correspondingly, the economic development of Canada pro-vides necessary background for an appreciation of the way in which attention to the use of natural materials has steadily increased here through the years In its earliest years, Canada was indeed a colony, exploited for its fur and later for its fine timber, white pine from the Ottawa River valley having provided most of the masts for the last sailing ships of tlle British Navy. One could almost describe the earlier Canadians as "hewers of wood and drawers of water" for it was not until the turn into the twentieth century that in-dustry as it is known today began to occupy anv important place in the Canadian scene. In 1881, for example, there were only five pulp mills operating in Canada, representing a total capital of $92,000, with a total of 68emp1o1'ees; today the pulp and paper industrl' of Canada is this country's greatest single industry, supplying rather more than three out of every five sheets of newsprint used in the world, to mention but one of its products. Throughout all these early years, therefore, life in Canada was relatively simple. Building was largely with wood, but brick-making was fairly widespread, small kilns being used for supplying local needs in many of the older settlements. Thus did the ceramic industrv in Canada have its start.
Despite the long history of mining in Canada, going back to the first workings of Cape Breton coal around 1670, and the discovery of the Sudbury nickel deposit in 1888, annual min-eral production in Canada had only just passed the fifty million dollar mark in 1900 although today, the annual prod-ucts of Canada's mines are valued at $2390 million. Once the twentieth century got under way, however, mineral pro-duction started to increase at a more rapid rate so that it is not surprising to find that our Mines Branch, so well known to many members of this Society, started its distinguished serv-ice in 1907. Under the Mines and Geology Act of that year, the Mines Branch was established in the old Department of Mines to assist the fledgling Canadian mining industryr in solving problems connected with the development of Canadian rdnes and refining of ores, and also to assist with the use of what are so generallv known as the industriat minerals.
540
The Geological Survey of Canada, founded in 1845, and so one of the oldest geological surveys of the world, had naturally given some attention to deposits of clay in Canada so that it was not surprising to find that a member of its sta.ff, Joseph Keele, was transferred to the new Branch to investigate the clay resources of the country. Mr. Frechette took over this work in 1920 and was directly responsible, under successive directors, for what was for a long time the Division of Mineral Resources of the Mines Branch. Through his published papers, and those of his associates, the work of this division became widely and favourably known. By 1939 the Branch had developed well equipped laboratories and had a total stafi of almost 150 but, as with so many other Canadian organ-izations, the years of the Second World War caused the great-est expansion of this national service.
Time does not permit of any detailed reference to this re-cent growth; suffice to say that today the Mines Branch of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys of Canada occu-pies a fine $15 million laboratory establishment in Ottawa, and has a total stafi of about 650. In keeping with the times, and the forward looking guidance of successive directors (the present director is Dr. John Convey, to whom I am indebted for his interest in and assistance with this lecture), the work of the Branch was substantially reorganized in 1959. Five di-visions are now responsible for its work in the fields of mineral processing, extraction metallurgy, mineral sciences, fuels and mining practice, and physical metallurgy. You will note the omission of industrial minerals by name, but work in this im-portant field continues unabated, although now associated with somewhat similar types of work in the first of the divi-sions noted, that of Mineral Processing. It is in the processing of industrial minerals that the main research challenges are to be found today. Correspondingly, fundamental research work in this as in other fields is carried out in the Mineral Science Division. These quite logical developments are a re-flection of current thinking, in Canada as elsewhere, as to the more basic approaches that are noltr seen to be necessary in many fields of so-called "applied research."
Cercrmic Educcrfion Begun
This brief glance at the work of the Mines Branch started with reference to its formation in the early years of this cen-tury; we must now turn back the clock again by these 50 years in order to look at another development of those early days. For it was in the same year as that in which the Mines Branch started its work that the Canadian Association of Clay Manufacturers requested the newly formed Council of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto (until that year the old School of Practical Science) to institute a course of study in "clay working" at the University. Within two months a special committee of the faculty had recommended that such a course be established and this eventually led to the degree course in ceramic engineering at the University of Toronto. The start was a modest one, for it was not until 1912-13 that Joseph Keele of the Geological Survey, whose work at Ottawa we have already noted, was granted the privilege of conducting investigations of the clays of Eastern Canada in a part of the incredibly cramped Metallurgical Engineering space in what Torontonians know as the "Little Red School House," inci-dentally giving some instruction in ceramics to a number of students. In all probability this was the start of organized ceramic research work in Canada.
Despite this early start, some time elapsed before ceramic engineering occupied a recognized place in the curriculum of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the Uni-versity of Toronto, the first listing in the official calendar be-ing for the session 1926-27. In 1937, in keepbe-ing with the practice at the University of Toronto of permitting engineer-ing specialization from the first year of undergraduate study, a full four-year course in ceramic engineering was announced Cpneurc Bur.r-prrN
and this course continued to be given until 1953. Throughout all these years, the work was conducted within the Depart-rnent of Metallurgical Engineering and it is in this department that work continues today although not now listed separately. Professor R. J. Montgomery, who graduated from Ohio State University in 1911, was in charge of the Toronto ceramic work throughout. In Western Canada, Professor Worcester was first appointed to the staff of the University of Saskatchewan in 1921, the initial third-year course in ceramic engineering being given there in 1923-24 although the first graduates ob-tained their degrees only in 1930. Professor Worcester re-tired in 1947 and the course was discontinued in 1952. The fact that these two courses have been given up is no indication of any major reduction in the attention due ceramic engineer-ing but rather a reflection of the trend toward more basic approaches to some specialist scientific endeavours which has already been noted. Those interested in engineering educa-tion will also note that the change indicates the tenddncy in Canadian universities to divert from the ever-increasing specialization in engineering education that is found elsewhere, basic general training in major courses being here regarded as desirable for undergraduate education, specialization coming only with post-graduate study. It is in association with post-graduate training that ceramic research work will be found in Canadian universities today, and in this direction increased activity is also in prospect.
Eorly Moteriols Reseorch
Following this glance at university work in the ceramic fie1d, we must turn the hands of the clock back just once more for a final glance at the pre-1914 era in Canada. Agricultural research was naturally of long standing, even in 1914, and some work had been done in forestry research. It was in 1913 that a start was made at research into forest products, the first unit of the Forest Products Laboratories of,Canada being then established in cooperation with McGill University, but housed on the campus of the University of Montreal. In 1927 this unit-with the exception of its Pulp and Paper Section, which remained in Montreal-moved to Ottawa. A second laboratory was established in Vancouver in 1917 for the purpose of dealing with the specialized timber problems of that province. Both laboratories have recently been housed in fine new buildings. Wood is naturally somewhat far remcved from the interests of this Society, but this devel-opment is mentioned briefly in order to show how all impor-tant material research in Canada, prior to the outbreak of t}le First World War, was confined to the problems of the natural materials with which Canada has been so richly blessed. It took the demands of the industrialization necessitated by the First World War to make clear in Canada, as in so many other countries, that research was vital also to industr-y.
The industrial capacity and scientific achievements of the German nation, as revealed by their wartime effort between 1914 and 1918, gave a shock to the then allied nations. Action resulted in a number of ways. In Great Britain, the first consequence of an urgent inquiry into the whole field of research was the establishment of the now world-famed De-partment of Scientific and Industrial Research. The results of this inquiry were passed to other member nations of the Commonwealth. Canada took similar action and in 1917 established its Honorary and Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research, now well known by its shorter title-the National Research Council. The task of the Council was, and still is, to advise the Government of Canada on major matters of scientific and industrial research interest, and to assist industry with its research needs, supplementary to the branches of material research already established in 1917 in agriculture, forestry and forest products, and in mining. To begin with, the National Research Council was just a Council, as tt continues still to be today, but it was soon seen that laboratories were necessary, to supplement those of
univer-Vor-. 40, No. 9 (1961)
sities, there being then no industrial research laboratories worthy of mention. A fine laboratory building was opened in Ottawa in 1932, but the thirties made progress slow, with the result that even by 1939, the total stafi of the N.R.C. was still only about three hundred. By the end of the Second World War, this same stafi numbered over 3000 with almost 30 research establishments spread all across this land. Thus was the modern era of research in Canada inaugurated by the pressing needs of war.
Reseqrch Orgonizolions
The wartime work of the National Research Council makes a fascinating story, but it is already available through the printed word and so must be passed over. Sufrce to say that it included the start of atomic research in Canada, this work being taken over from the Council iu 1953 when Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. was formed as a separate Crown Cor-poration, with its main great plant at Chalk River on the Ottawa River. Defence research work had similarly been the responsibility of N.R.C. throughout the years of war, but it branched off in 1947 when the Defence Research Board was constituted as a separate establishment within the Depart-ment of National Defence. The remaining part of the Coun-cil was gradually reorganized after the war. It is now arranged in eight Divisions serving both pure and applied science as well as engineering, still complementary to the older Mines Branch and Forest Products Laboratories, the stafi today numbering about 2500. Headquarters of the Council are in Ottawa in the 1932 building, which is now supplemented by the Montreal Road Laboratories. These occupy an area of about 400 acres at the outskirts of the city, almost 40 buildings serving the rather specialized needs of engineering and other applied research, constituting a research establishment that is in some ways unique.
Canada is a federal state, its southem area divided into 10 provinces. The Federal Government is responsible directly for the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Under the terms of the British North America Act, the provinces are given responsibility for some phases of the public welfare, the Fed-eral Government having corresponding responsibilities in difierent fields and also the residual power. Among the pro-vincial responsibilities is the development and conservation of the natural resources within each province. Each province, therefore, has its own Department of Mines (or equivalent) and through this organization assists with mining exploration and development work, and with a certain amount of geologi-cal surveying; a similar situation exists with regard to for-estry. It will be seen that this entails some apparent duplica-tion in that the Federal Government also has Departments of Mines and of Forestry. Like many other political arratge-ments, however, this Canadian development, although seem-ingly so illogical, works extremely well. There is happy un-derstanding between federal and provincial governments as to the branches of work in which each can best operate, major mining and forestry research, for example, being left for the federal research organizations.
Provinces Hqve Own Progroms
Supplementary to this federal work, research activity has now been started in five provinces, with some of the othet provinces also supporting research through existing agencies. There are today, accordingly, provincial research councils in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan with their labora-tories in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Saskatoon respectively' In the East, the Nova Scotia Research Foundation sponsors much research in the universities of that province and is active in many development fields, even though it does not operate its own laboratories. All these local research efforts have come to full fruition in relatively recent years, but the pioneer efiort in Ontario was established as early as 1928. This is the Ontario Research Foundation, a rather special type of
search agency, established with the aid of public funds for assisting small industries in Ontario, but now almost self-supporting through the fees that it receives for its industrial research work. It has laboratories in this city of Toronto and, although rather cramped, they have been the scene of much notable work and many significant developments, now evident in industrial development in this area and in the records of scientific societies. Some of our largest public utilities, such as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario and Canadian National Railways, operate their own research laboratories, but necessarily in connection only with their own problems and the materials they use.
It will probably have been puzzling to many that so few references have been made to industry, and none to industrial research, so alien is it to the American mind to have such work carried out by government. The picture presented is in no way distorted since there has been so little industrial researcb of anv kind in Canada until relatively recent years, and al-most none in the materials field. There are many reasons for this situation. Canada's industrial development, for exam-ple and as has been indicated, came rather late. Because of the size of the country and the way in which it has developed, there are still only a few very large industrial enterprises, and significant industrial research costs money and needs large organizations to sustain it. Beyond all this, however, is the fact, regretted in a possiblv emotional way by most Canadians but necessarily accepted at present as one of the economic facts of Canadian living, that all too many of our larger com-panies are owned and controlled from outside our borders, being correspondingly forced to rely on the results of research carried out by parent company research laboratories in other lands. I,et it be admitted that all too much of what might have been Canadian industrial research has been, and still is caried out in the United States of America. American work we welcome. but the practice has had the efiect of depriving this country of industrial research facilities that might have been located in Canada. This situation is changing, but ex-tremely slowly. It cannot change too quickly for Canadian liking.
Difiers From United Stqtes Plon
The broad picture I am attempting to sketch of the back-ground to materials research in Canada would be incomplete without some reference to what may be termed the "climate of opinion" in which it is carried out. Here we enter into a field that cannot be defined as precisely as the factual records so far presented. More than this, the situation will be found somewhat different from that in the United States, since this is one area in which the subtle difierence between our two countries becomes evident. It must, therefore, be stressed that no comparisons are intended or implied by the comments which follow; they relate to Canada only, and are presented only in order that this review of material research in this colurtry may be teasonably complete.
The subject may perhaps best be introduced by stating that in some strange way, possibly because of the blending of British and American viewpoints to which reference has al-ready been made, Canadians have found ways in which gov-ernment and private industry can cooperate closely and with mutual respect. One result of this is that there is little if any resentment in Canada generally about governmental activi-ties in fields which, in other countries, might be regarded as the private preserves of industry. Consider; for example, Canada's two great railroads (one of them the largest in North America)-Canadian National Railways, entirely nationally owned, yet operated in a inanner comparable in method and efficiency with the second, the Canadian Pacific. Railway which is privately owned. All who traveled to Toronto by Trans-Canada Airlines (which we Canadians fondly regard as one of the best airlines of the world) utilized a transportation service owned in its entirety by the people of
M2
Canada. Our great synthetic rubber plant at Sarnia, that of the Polymer Corp., is now a world leader in its field; it, too. is owned by the people of Canada through their government. The devices used in all these cases are what are called Crown Corporations, each being operated exactly as if they were private corporations with their own boards of directors, but making their annual reports to the Parliament of Canada and passing their profits (or their losses) to the public purse.
Welcomed By Industry
Against such general acceptance of governmental activity, you will not then be surprised to find that research by govern-ment in Canada is not only not objected to by industry but is, on the contrary, generally welcomed. The work of the Mines Branch and of the Forest Products Laboratories is carried out to serve their respective industries; they each give advice to industry and receive advice and counsel from in-dustry through both formal and informal channels. In a way similar to the setup of corresponding American organizations they have permanent staffs, appointed by the Civil Service Commission of Canada, headed by permanently appointed directors who report, in turn, to their deputy ministers, the senior administrative heads of the departments of the govern-ment of Canada. Heading each departgovern-ment is the appointed minister, a member of the federal cabinet, who must be an elected member of the House of Commons; he is politically re-sponsible for his department to Parliament. 'Ihe research or-ganizations form regular units of the large operating depart-ments of which they are constituent parts; the government of the day is naturally responsible for the basic policies of the de-partments. Successive governments have provided the nec-essary support for a steady and considerable expansion of the programs ofeach of the research branches noted. I have per-sonally never heard any criticism voiced of their work, apart only from the fact that they were not doing enough.
Somewhat unusual is the way in which pulp and paper re-search is carried out in Canada to serve the country's greatest industry. Near Montreal is a splendid laboratory, the head-quarters of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Research Institute. The cost of the building and its equipment was provided by the Federal Government; the operating expenses are borne by the pulp and paper industry, with McGill University provid-ing some staff and other facilities on its campus, the enter-prise having always been a three-way partnership. Quite the most unusual arrangement of all, however, is that under which the National Research Council operates, an arrangement that is now unique even within the British Commonwealth. The Council, consisting generally of distinguished scientists, is headed by a president who is its chairman and the administra-tive head of the associated operating research organization. He reports to the chairman of the Committee on Scientific and Industrial Research of the Privy Council of Canada. This unusual body may be recognized as part of a tradition brought over from Great Britain, the Privy Council there. as now in CaRada, being an appointed group of the Queen's ad-visers. A number of distinguished Canadian citizens, includ-ing the full cabinet of the government in power, constitute the Friwy Council of Canada, six of the cabinet members con-Stituting the committee noted. The chairman is therefore a member of the government; he acts, however, not in his capacity as a minister of a department, but as a Priry Coun-cillor. The National Research Council, therefore, is not within the departmental framework of government; it receives its funds through Parliament, to which it is naturally responsi-ble and to wbich it reports annually. The Council appoints its own staff and naturally maintains the very highest standards for its admission requirements. Its programs of research are under the direct control of the Council through the president and his divisional directors. In keeping with the closg co-operation at the working level between the senior staffs of
governmental research agencies there is a top level coordinat-ing committee, headed by the president of the National Re-search Council, which brings together those responsible for the direction of all main branches of federal scientific research the total expenditure on which now amounts to about $100 million annually.
Stimulotes Induslriol Growth
When seen for the first time, this picture must somewhat naturally appear to be slightly confused. In many ways it is illogical, but it works and works smoothly, apparently with a reasonable degree of success. Three comments may be made upon it. The system is geared to the stimulation of industrial research, this being a corstant objective of all the agencies. Many industrial research efiorts, even though still modest in extent, have been started as a result of work initiated in government laboratories. It should be added that the only feature of this development which is not viewed with complete lavour is the loss of too many research personnel to industry, but such "poaching" is not yet too troublesome a problem! Similarly, it is a basic part of the entire program to assist as much as possible with research at the universities of Canada. All agencies contribute to this goal, but it is through the National Research Council that aid is chiefly given, the Council having as one of its functions that of acting in a simi-lar way to the National Science Foundation of the United States. This year, for example, the Council will be using about $9 million for fellowships, scholarships, and grants for research work and special equipment to all the universities of Canada; the sum thus used has been steadily increasing each year and can be seen to be already appreciable by Canadian standards.
The last comment will bring us a little closer to the actual prosecution of research work, to which all the foregoing has been really an introduction. The existence, through several decades, of publicly sponsored research agencies in Canada has served to show clearly the vital necessity of continuity in research, both basic and applied, with the result that the "research contract" is generally quite alien to the Canadian approach to research. There is an old tag to the efiect that "if you know where you are going it isn't research." Possi-bly this is too trite to be wholly true but the statement carries with it at least the germs of truth. Accordingly the concept of parcelling out research work into individual jobs that can be completed and reported upon in stated periods will not be found to be an essential part of the Canadian scientific scene. When absolutely necessary, this approach is naturally used, but it is here the exception rather than the rule. The general approach is rather for an industry to develop and maintain close contacts with the appropriate governmental research agency; for programs of research into problems that clearly have high priority to be wdrked out jointly, industry often providing some of the financing or necessary facilities; for university research sta"ffs to be interested in problems suitable for attack with university facilities, financial support coming from industry and government; and, when the time is appro-priate, for industry to embark upon its own research program with all the assistance that can be rendered to it by the corresponding public agency. I know of several such prospec-tive pioneer industrial ventures, in varying stages of develop-ment with which my own colleagues have been able to assist in some measure. It is a team approach necessitated, at least to some degree, by the fact that the size and challenge of this country have had the effect of spreading so much of our scientific efiort too thin. This we know and appreciate; we try to make the best of such resources as we do have by effec-tive cooperation at all levels.
Conqdiqn Cerqmic Produclion
The production of ceramic products in Canada is now a .$200 million a year industry and this makes it, by our stand-ards, a significant part of the general materials industry. Al-Vor. 40, No. 9 (1961)
most exactly one half of the total value of production is accounted for by glass and glass products Roughlv one sixth of the total is represented by abrasive products, mostlv alumina and silicon carbide. One third of the industry's pro' duction, therefore, is that more commonly thought of in the public mind when ceramic products are mentioned, namely the products that are manufactured from clays and shales. I shall confine my further remarks generally to this part of the industry since it is that part with which I am most fa-miliar. Over $40 million is the total value of products made from Canadian raw materials, but it is surprising to find that well over $20 million worth of clay products are manufactured each year in this country from imported clays. Ttris is one of the few cases in which Canadian geology, so generally envied by other countries of the world, works to the disadvantage of Canadian industry. Despite intensive search, some of the clays of the quality necessary for specialized products such as electrical insulating porcelain and some of the flner types of chinaware have to be brought across the border.
As with almost all other phases of the Canadian economy' the production of manufactured clay products in Canada has risen at a phenomenal rate since the closing years of the Second World War. The value of the total production of manufactured clay products, for example, rose from less than $20 million in 1946 to its present level of over $70 million. To some extent the rise is accounted for by the change in the real value of the dollar, but the increase is a striking one, making all due allowance for this special factor. Since the general character of production has not changed significantly, the proportion of products made from domestic and from imported clays and shales has remained sensibly constant. During the same period, the number of plants manufacturing products has also changed but little, there being today just over one hundred plants manufacturing clay products from domestic clays. Naturally, there have been changes in the plants, many of the more important ones having been completely rebuilt and re-equipped.
Some Dislurbing Questions
This all sounds most satisfactory, but behind these figures of greatly increased production lurk some disturbing ques-tions. This is shown, for example, by the fact that the per-centage of the total production of manufactured clay products iri Canada represented by building brick, as distinct from other products such as tiles and drain pipe, has incieased since 1938 from just over 5O/6 lo but a little lessthanTO/6- This is one indication of the inroads that other materials are mak-ing on the total construction materials market. This fact, a dominant one in the industry today, is more vividly demon-strated when the proportion of the total volume of all ma-terials used in Canadian construction represented by manu-factured clay products is considered. This has dropped from 4.287o ltt 1938 to l.9o7o in 1958, the last year for which official figures are available. Admittedly this is a serious trend, but it is not peculiar to the ceramic industry. Other long-estab-lished materials, such as wood and steel, do not occupy exactly the same proportional position in the general material market as they did 20 years ago. In view of the new materials that are now on the market, many of them developed as a direct result of the tremendous research efforts of the war years and the manufacture of some of them assisted by the construction of vast plants for their production initially for purposes of war, the situation today could not be otherwise.
What can be, and what is being done about it? There are some who think that the entire answer lies in that mystical word "research." I should naturally be one of the first, to agree that properly directed research can render real assistance to the industry. We noted, therefore, with a lively interest the start in the postwar years of the Structural Clay Products Research Foundation by the American industry. It has been a special pleasure for my immediate colleagues and myself to 543
keep in close touch with Mr. Taylor and members of his stafi, in this happy liaison the international boundary being also an invisible and insignificant line. But I venture to suggest that research is not the whole answer. In the preparation of their designs, engineers and architects are naturally going to select the most suitable material for the function they have to satisfy, and materials in which they can have the greatest confidence, as to uniformity of quality, stability in long-term performance, and general reliability. I am personally con-vinced that there will long be a very sure place in building design for manufactured clay products, in line with the re-quirements I have suggested. To satisfy them will mean in-creasingly careful attention to production; the development, maintenance, and full use of rigorous specifications for quality and for the associated test methods; the promotion of labour saving devic-es and procedures to obviate economic objections to the small size of manufactured clay products; the provision to architects and engineers of conveniently presented factual information and test results in place of some of rather nebu-lous advertising material; and technical servicing to see that clay products are used appropriatelv, in appropriate designs.
There is one thing more. In building design today, not only in North America, but throughout the entire Western world, there is a movement afoot that in my opinion is going to snowball in the relatively near future. I refer to the intro-duction of what I have ventured to call, in another place, common sense in design, by which possibly flippant phrase I imply the prooer coordination of dimensions in building design and so in building products. I realize that in even mention-ing modular coordination (to use the official but ugly name) I am perhaps being too venturesome since I know that there are respected members of the ceramic industry who get pro-foundly disturbed at mere mention of the name. But facts are facts. If manufactured clay products are to maintain their prcoer place in building, modular-size products must be produced and eventually replace the previous chaotic hetero-geneity of individual sizes. I can say this with some assur-ance in view of recent progress in this direction in Canada. Ever since it was formed in 1947, the organization with which I am privileged to be associated has realized that this is one way in which building research can assist in developing fur-ther economy in building design. fn recent years, our own modest efforts have been greatly reinforced by the architects of this province, and of this city in particular. Then a lead was given by the major manufacturer of clay products in our Atlantic provinces, with other major brick companies soon taking similar action. It is not possible to give an accurate estimate of the proportion of modular building brick now be-ing produced throughout Canada, but it is certain that the figure is high and still growing. There have been difficulties, admittedly, but these are being overcome and the way ahead is clear-standard brick sizes, corresponding with other standard building products.
Ceromic Reseorch
The search for suitable natural materials continues, the modern techniques of geological research now aiding the prospector and surveyor in the field and laboratorv. The Geo-logical Survey of Canada continues its work, but an increasing amount is now being done by the provincial governments themselves, the several provincial research councils being especially active in connection with industrial minerals, among which the clays and shales have special importance. Excellent reviews of the clay resources of the provinces are available; it is not without significance that two of the most comprehensive were written by Dean Orton's students, Professors Worcester and Montgomery. Fundamental stud-ies of such materials are being pursued in the same laborato ries, at some of the universities of Canada, and notably in the great laboratories of the Mines Branch in Ottawa. In addi-tion to this basic work, the Mines Branch also is engaged in
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many branches of applied research into the processing and uti-lization of domestic clays, shales, and other mineral products of use in the ceramic industry. Improvement in the quality of Canadian firebrick has been one of the Branch's long-term studies; so also has the development of improved refractory cements, plastics, and castables using our own raw materials. Studies designed to improve the properties of structural clav products have naturally had a dominant place, as has also a general development program in connection with refractory products. Work done on the processing of Canadian Kyanite, to mention but one specific project, has already been reported to this Society. New advances in ceramic technology are also included in the program; a small amount of work in this field is probably under wav in industrial laboratories but, as has al-ready been noted, we have to look elsewhere for significanr industrial research in this field.
Building for Canqdion Climqle
Finally, what of research into the use of ceramic building products? Despite the fact that the Division of Building Re-search of the National ReRe-search Council is a newcomer to the Canadian research team, having started our work in 1947, we have been most warmly welcomed. For our task is to serve. with a general research service, the Canadian construction in-dustrv. We are concerned with materials in combination, in service, and when exposed to all the vagaries of the Canadian environment. We are, therefore, concerned with brick and tile in use, laid up with mortar, in contact with other buildirg mat-erials, and exposed to all the extremes of which the Canadian climate is capable. So important is climate in all our building research work, and especially so in relation to the performance of brick masonry, that we have a full-time climatologist on our staff. We have aimed at developing factors that will combine all the main climatological features affecting per-formance. After one such trial development, we were able to show that the southeast exposure was the most serious for buildings in Quebec City, which we used as an example. When I related this to a wise old French Canadian friend, he expressed his interest but advised me to look at the southeast walls of some of the very old buildings in this venerable and charming city. The old builders, long before research had even been heard of, knew well what we had found and regu-larly sheathed the southeast walls of their masonry buildings with wooden cladding.
Such experiences keep us humble, but make us alert, as we experiment in the laboratory or study in the field through our stations in Halifax, Ottawa, Saskatoon, and Vancouver, the performance of this oldest but still most versatile of manufac-tured building materials.
When the St. Lawrence power project was recently com-pleted, my colleague, Mr. Ritchie, used the opportunity to study carefully brick buildings that were going to be demol-ished because of the necessary flooding. Many were more than one hundred years old. His studies naturally revealed varying performance, but in general the condition of these ancient buildings was very good, another observer stating that "weather seems to have had very little effect on them. . . these bricks show absolutely no indication of weathering but on the contrary are hardening with age." Not all the build-ings of today are being put up with the expectation that they will be torn down after but a few decades. We are quite con-fident, therefore, that with such experience to fall back on, with the application of modern techniques in manufacture and design, with a continuation and further development of sound research, with good workmanship and with a continuing appreciation of truly beautiful buildings, the products of the ceramic industry will have a continuing and vital part to play in the constn:ction of the future, in this country and in yours, thus continuing to justify the deep seated faith of him whose life's work we recall again today so appreciatively, Edward
