UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #527
HEINE, RICHARD

HEINE, Richard (1918- )
Graduate Student; Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
At UW: 1947-1984

Interviewed: 1998	
Series: College of Engineering
Interviewer: Paul Morledge
Length: 2 hours, 8 minutes

Early education; Wayne State University; Master’s program at UW; Foundry practices; Research interests; Collaborative research projects; Importance of  casting industry; Biblical references to molding and casting; Synthetic molding sands; Engineering students; Development of materials science area at UW; Retirement.

First Interview Session (May 15, 1998): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:28	RH’s mother died when he was 9.  During his early education, he discovered an interest in geology.

00:01:44	RH received an academic scholarship to Wayne State University, and he chose to major in chemical engineering because it appeared to have the broadest curriculum.

00:02:50	While a student at WSU, RH taught high school courses to older students, which influenced his choice to be a career educator.  He also had an assistantship in WSU’s Fuels Laboratory.
After graduating in 1940, RH worked for a steel company as a “melter” and metallurgical assistant.

00:04:37	RH became an instructor of metallurgy at Detroit’s General Motors Institute, where he taught chemistry and metal casting technologies.

00:06:34	RH enlisted in the US Navy in 1943.  He became an engineering instructor for the US Naval Ordinance.

00:08:09	In 1947, RH decided to pursue a master’s degree in the metallurgical engineering department at UW.  Professor Phillip Rosenthal became RH’s mentor.

00:10:30	The American Foundrymen’s Society and the Foundry Educational Foundation both acquainted RH with foundry operators throughout the US.  Most foundry practice involves malleable iron, so RH decided to start researching iron metallurgical practices.  The preponderant molding materials for iron casting is green molding sand, and, therefore, RH also chose to investigate the properties of molding sand and its synthetic substitutes.

00:13:32	RH gives biblical references to the importance of castings and molding sands even in the days of pre-Christendom.

00:17:30	RH says he was one of the research pioneers in the use of synthetic molding sands and its accompanying “risering” processes.

00:18:56	RH has researched thermal analyses of casting practices and has studied casting solidification and its relation to existing impurities. 

00:22:00	Most recently, RH has done research work in the area of computer-aided casting designs.

00:24:50	RH explains the history and importance of metal recycling in the castings industry.

00:27:59	RH describes his research into the mitigation and identification of groundwater pollution in landfills that results from casting foundry wastes.

00:31:13	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:32:42	UW College of Engineering professors Ham, Boyle and Heine collaborated in order to find a method of measuring and identifying foundry-produced groundwater wastes in landfills.  The method has since been adopted by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

00:34:20	RH mentioned some foundry waste studies that he, Ham, and Boyle conducted using UW’s Biotron, a research facility that allows for specific climatic simulations of weathering on waste containers.

00:37:50	RH explains that ductile irons have replaced the malleable irons formerly used in the US castings industry, a trend that was largely due to the research he and Professor Loper have conducted over the years.

00:40:05	Professors Loper and Heine published a definitive paper that advanced the industry’s notion that ductile iron castings are process-dependent, not chemically-dependent.

00:44:24	RH reiterates that his research into synthetic molding sands has had practical influences on foundry production, and he insists that industrial nations’ economies are almost completely dependent upon the castings industry. 

00:48:44	RH describes the difference between static castings and continuous castings.  He also emphasizes that the quality of the metal product is dependent upon the purity of the iron ores used.

00:52:58	RH explains the importance of casting in relation to the transportation industry.

00:55:20	RH also emphasizes how important castings are to the military.

00:56:57	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview session.

Second Interview Session (May 22, 1998): Tapes 2-3

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:04	RH explains that when he entered metallurgical process research in the 1940s, sand-molding technology had been unchanged since biblical times.  RH also mentions the importance of craftsmanship, materials and teaching in the Old Testament.

00:01:31	RH cites the story of King Solomon’s hiring of Hiram to build temples of worship in order to illustrate the use of castings in the Old Testament. 

00:15:30	RH mentions the various organizations and agencies that have supported his research, including the American Foundrymen Society, the Federal Bureau of Mines, the US Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.

00:19:01	RH has most recently researched the recycling of synthetic molding sands.

00:22:52	RH mentions Professor Loper’s involvement with writing the industry-wide text, Principles of Metal Casting, by Rosenthal, Heine and Loper.

00:24:22	RH mentions that he is one of only two individuals to have won more than two Technical Paper of the Year Awards given out by the castings industry.

00:25:58	RH mentions how WWII served as the impetus for the transition of using natural molding sands to using synthetic sands.  He also emphasizes that it is impossible to win a modern war without a strong castings industry.

00:29:57	At UW, RH taught all courses related to the solidification of metals and casting processes. He and Rosenthal created most of these industry-related courses in the UW Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

00:31:05	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2 

00:31:50	RH says the UW College of Engineering student body has become much more diverse in the last few decades.

00:32:52	RH also says that recent engineering students do not have nearly as strong an engineering background as when he first began teaching in the College of Engineering.  He claims that many war veterans and students who grew up on farms were more numerous in the past, and that those students already had significant knowledge of engineering principles.

00:38:15	RH says many of his former students have been successful in managerial positions within engineering firms and industries and have continued to succeed in non-academic circles.

00:39:56	RH mentions being awarded distinguished Alumnus status at Wayne State University.  He also mentions receiving the Ragnar Ohnstad Award for his community work with local churches.

00:41:40	RH discusses his work with the Foundry Educational Foundation and the ways in which the organization has been instrumental to the welfare of foundry industry education in US engineering schools.

00:45:35	When RH first arrived at UW in 1947, the engineering department was known as the Department of Mining and Metallurgy.

00:47:19	Under RH’s chairmanship, the department started to develop more courses in the area of materials science, which designated the use of complex, multi-component manufacturing systems in materials production.

00:52:21	RH laments the decline of both faculty and student interest in metallurgical practices.

00:55:14	RH explains that most of his private industry consulting has involved the targeting of problem areas in the complete casting process.

00:58:29	RH retired in 1984 at the age of 66 in order to pursue his own technical research interests.  He has since kept busy with a molding sand recycling project, which aims to disassemble synthetic molding sands into base constituents and then piece the sand back together through chemical treatments. 

01:02:43	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 3/Side 1

01:02:48	RH forecasts that the castings industry will become more efficient through impending radical changes in process.

01:04:15	RH has enjoyed his engineering career immensely and has particularly appreciated seeing the intellectual growth of students. 

01:05:16	RH says the first casting in the New World was a pot made in Saugus, Massachusetts in 1642.  He insists that the politics surrounding the foundry industry were integral in shaping the destiny of the United States.

01:11:09	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview session.

END