Metallurgical Chemistry in My Life
Noboru Masuko
pp. 2489-2495
Abstract
Metallurgical chemistry's principle is that “the chemical process is governed by chemical potential.” Successful chemical process technology follows a route that does not go against the governance of chemical potential. In order to realize the technological objective, raw materials and a reactor are necessary, and after the principle is established, the method is supported by the reactor and advances in the materials that comprise such apparatus. Therefore, the technology is a fusion of material, apparatus, experience, and science, all of which are parts of the foundation of a technological method. The author's involvement is described as an academician from the postwar recovery to the technological rearmament period. In the postwar recovery period, a systematic point-of-view was introduced to a technological principle using phase diagrams that clarified chemical potential, which was a new concept in the field of thermodynamics. In the technological rearmament period, technological evaluation was conducted from a philosophical standpoint.