This collection of papers is from the 1993 TMS annual Meeting held in Denver, Colorado, February 21-25, 1993. It provides a review of the development of refractory metal alloys (those based on vanadium, columbian, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten and rhenium) from the 1950s to the present. The technology of many of the leading researchers in this area has been recorded and preserved as a reference for current and future researchers.

This publication documents Proceedings of the Symposium on Metal lurgy and Technology of Refractory Metal Alloys, held in Washington, D.C. at the Washington Hilton Hotel on April 25-26, 1968, under sponsorship of the Refractory Metals Committee, Institute of Metals Division, of the Metallurgical Society of AIME, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Symposium presented critical reviews of selected topics in refractory metal alloys, thereby contributing to an in-depth understanding of the state-of-the-art, and establishing a base line for further research, development, and application. This Symposium is fifth in a series of conferences on refractory metals, sponsored by the Metallurgical Society of AlME. Publications issuing from the conferences are valuable technical and historical source books, tracing the evolution of refractory metals from early laboratory alloying studies to their present status as useful engineering materials. Refractory metals are arbitrarily defined by melting point. A 0 melting temperature of over 3500 F was selected as the minimum for this Symposium, thus excluding chromium and vanadium, which logically could be treated with other refractory metals in Groups VA and VIA of the periodic table. The Refractory Metals Committee is planning reviews of chromium and vanadium in subsequent conferences.

This report summarizes the present knowledge concerning the relationship among fabrication history, metallurgical structure, and the mechanical properites of the refractory metals columbium, tantalum, bolybdenum, and tungsten, and their alloys. These are the refractory metals currently reveiveing the most attention for aerospace applications, and are therefore the materials considered in this survey. The report is organized into three main sections, titled ''Fabrication'', ''Microstructure and Alloying'', and ''Interstitial Impurities''. The data presented were selected as those which best illustrate the topics discussed. Descriptions of the metaljurgical principles involved are included. Suggestions for optimizing mechanical properties by controlling metallurgical structure are made where possible. (Author).