Keith Millis

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Keith D. Millis (1915-1992) was a metallurgical engineer and inventor of ductile iron.

Early in the Second World War, chromium was considered critical to the war effort and experimentation was conducted by Millis to find a substitute. He made his discovery while experimenting with molten iron and magnesium. The original intent was to find another element that would cause all the carbon in the cast iron alloy to be combined as carbide. Magnesium was a known carbide former. Instead, the graphite in the iron formed into spheroidal shapes, and the cast iron had high tensile strength plus it exhibited ductility. Thus was born ductile iron.

Keith Millis was a 1938 graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.