THE ILYICH ABRASIVE PLANT, LENINGRAD, USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000400610009-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 29, 2013
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: July 23, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL - I Vv".
CE:NTF?AL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT The Ilyich Abrasive Plant, Leningrad, USSR
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
THIS DOCVYENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATEN, WITHIN THE YF AN1 Nf. OF Ti TLE I3, SECTIONS 703
AND 794, OF THE U.S. CODE. AS A . . HDE D. ITS TRAV {YI SS ION OR SAVE.
LAT... OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT G. A N UNAV ,HOD AND PEAHEN IS
PRDHI.ITED Y LAW. THE REPRODUCTION OF THIS TOO IS PROM CIT(D.
DATE DISTR. S 3 Jul" 1954
NO. OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS. 1
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION50X1
1. The Ilyich .Plan va River in the
Vyborg District of Leningrad, up
until 1932 produced mainly natural abrasive materials. However, after 1.932
the production of. electrocorundiun and silicon carbide (carborundum) was in-
creased until today it makes up the main portion of production of the
plant. The reprocessing of natural abrasives has been limited in produc-
tion to materials for fine polishing and finishing operations (super-finish,
pt31l f?1ing y lapping ~ Uontng) 4
2. The following artificial abrasives are produced at the Ilyich Plant.,
a. Electrocorundum, normal (Al2 03 - 87 to 97%)
b. Electrocorundum, white (A12 03 - 98 to 99%)
Note: Black electrocorundum (A12.03 - 75 to 85%) as obtained by melting
bauxite of a low silicon content without dioxidation agents is not
produced for industrial use. White electrocorundum is produced in
an amount equal to about 20% of normal electrocorundum.
c. Black silicon carbide (Sic - 95 to 98%)
d. Green silicon carbide (SiC - 97 to 99%)
Note: Green silicon carbide is produced in an amount equal to about 15
to 20% of total production.
e. Rouge (iron oxide)
f. Crushed glass
.SEE LAST PAGE FOR SUBJECT & AREA CODES
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
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 tinui
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C O1Vr il)JIVTJJU
3. The following natural abrasives are used at the plant for production of
abrasives: corundum, errery,. granitepumice. These were used in making
the following:
a. Grinding discs of different sizes, grain, hardness, structure and
binding.
Note: About 80% of the discs produced are made by pressing on a ceramic
binding. Molten discs are no longer produced. The remaining 20%
are pressed on bakelite and vulcanite bindings. The discs pressed
on silicon and magnesian bindings are produced in very small
amounts, usually on special order.
b. Segments for combination discs used for flat polishing.
C. Grinding bricks for honing-process and super-finish.
d. Various hand files and plates.
e. Abrasives with a grain varying from #5 to #500.
f. Parer and linen abrasives (cemented) of emery and sandpaper.
g. Various abrasive powders and pastes.
4. The main produr-'a of the Ilyich Plant, however, is grinding discs and
bricks for machine finishing. Grinding discs are also produced at the
Chelyabinsk,.Zlatoustov and "Smychka " plants. Various abrasive discs and
paper, linen, pastes and powders from natural abrasives are produced by
some cooperative. organizations and artels as well as in the plants belong-
ing to the "Union- Graphite-Corundum Trust", such as the Techinsk and
K'yshtym plants
5. Because there are no diamond deposits in the USSR all diamond abrasives
and Enisseysk LI{rasnoyarsT
are imported: (Diamonds founi in the Ulal L91ala
districts are a mineralogical rarity.) Because of this fact, wherever
possible, diamonds are replaced by durable, hard metals. For example,
diamond tools for fi.ye grinding are replaced b T15k6C, T60k6, etc; diamond
drills by volomit,. : ?- 1940 W Lor b 4% C, 2g6 Fe - hardness, 9.8
by Moh's scale). aav caru!w lure corundum) the hardest material known
next to the diamond, did not have any practical significance, since its
production and use did not occur beyond the limits. of laboratory tests
and some factory experiments. Current literature, however, mentions that
after World War II the "bar" carbide began to be used in mass production.
Its application is still limited to finishing jobs and finishing instru-
ments of hard metal. It is difficult to learn whether "bar" cart ide is
being produced in one of the above mentioned plants or is being imported
from occupied Germany.
6. The machine building department of the Ilyich Plant has a small building
section and fairly good mechanical shops. The department produces simple
one and two Wed polishing headstocks for the hand finishing of tools,
universal machines for grinding various instruments and tools and special-
ized grinding machines for sharpening chucks, spiral drills, etc.
7. The plant occupies a fairly large area (one to 12 km square). Most of the
,buildings are of one story; a few are two stories. The buildings housing
the electro-furnaces and plant management have four stories. A large
area is given over to unloading and stocking of raw materials. The entire
plant area is cris,s-crossed with a transportation system which connects
with the Finnish railroad. system.
8. The equipment In the mechanical repair shop is very old and in poor
condition from neglect. The equipment in the mechanical shops of the
machine building department is fairly new and well chosen for the produc-
tion of grinding machines. The equipment in the shops for reprocessing
abrasives is the worst in the plant. It is varied, about one-half being
worn out and of old make. Despite this, I would like to point out that
the plant receives much attention and in the past, old, worn out equipment
was being replaced as quickly as possible. By now the equipment is
probably in excellent shape - at the expense of East German industry.
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t.-r I.
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-3-
9.. The plant has four, lc%-charge electrode furnaces for melting electrocorun-
dum and one (possibly two) electric furnaces with a heated core-for melting
silicon carbide. Twc, electric furnaces for corundum were installed around
1935. They have a moveable base which is placed on a pushcart. Meltings
are made "on block" with a closed charge hole. The size of the molt-
block is about two or 2- meters in diameter and about the same in height
Melting "on release." is not made at all. Two other electrical furnaces
for corundum were installed around 1931. They have stationary bottoms
and the size of the block is less than two meters (diameter). The electric
furnace used for silicon carbide was installed in 1930 1931. It is
built on a firebrick bases The.. bide walls can be dismantled after each
melting. The full capacity of this furnace is about 60 tons. The maximum
amount of carbide obtained'from one melting is: black, up to 10 tons;
green, up to five tons. The. black carborundum is the main production
since the melting process ?of -the :green carborundum is more expensive,
requires greater ele.ctric'power:consumption (for. ons ton of black carborun-
dum, up to nine thousand kyr/hr,:, for green, up to 12 thousand kw/hr) and
three to four tons ' of . cooking salt for each melting. The p-blem of
obtaining salt it ..le USSR is unsoluble. To accomplish thy. norm-a set for
production, it ..r; uore_advantageous to produce the black carborundum
since with the same charge, the output of black is almost twice that of
green carborundum. Therefore, the plant is. trying to limit the production
of green carborundunx, to the 2% which is formed ;at? the core on each black
melting.
10. ~ no data on current production. However, before World War-II the
carborundum output was 18 thousand tons (metric) in blocks (113 thousand
tons in grain). This was for both the Ilyich and the Chelyabinsk plants.
since these were. the only two .-plants .inproduction.
11. The Ilyich Plant uses +ainly the Tikhvinck bauxite, although the.quality
3s lower than t4, .Ural =~b'avif e', According to Soviet standards the
coefficient of bauxite (siliceous modulus - A12 03) must be between
seven and 10. The Tikhvinck bauxite coefficiieentt?does not exceed 7.8, but
because the Tikhvinck supply is nearby (and Soviet transportation diff i-
oulties are always present) it led?to the maximum use of Tikhvinsk bauxite.
Attached is a table of the basic componenta'of Tikhvinck and Ural bauxite.
(The bauxite-- - are placed according tc ':xiecres sing. siliceous modulus (A12 0-)
83 02
12. ouartz at., sand are delivered to the plant from the Leningrad area. A
better quality (than Leningrad) is also brought from.Karelia LKarelo-
Finnish Soviet tepubliJ.,'Natural corundum is obtained from Semiz-Bugu in
the Tin 'p.kh area. Corundum is' also found in Y'akutia /akuts J along the Chainyga
River 5i ? /Chainguja or Khaiyngyyaj but it is too far from Leningrad
to be transpurted efficiently. Emery is obtained, from the Priirtysh Mines
near Kyshtym in Chelyabinsk. This emery contains from 20 to 60% of
corundum. Granite (almandine) is obtained from Karelia (Finnish SSR) and
a very good grade comes from the Urals.-Pumice is brought from Armenia
and the North Caucas region.
13. As a rule the Ilyich Plant -nrocessed'all raw materials, but in?the late
thirties crushed corundum began to be produced at the Kyshtym plant of the
Union - Graphite - Corundum Trusts and crushed emery at the Techinsk plant
of the same trust.
11k. I do not know the source of power for the Ilyich Plant for sure but believe
it is'either the Dubrovinsk power plant on the Neva River or the Volhov
_ Jdectric plant. There are no other possibilities. The electric
furnace are placed usually during the night-time when the electric
power consumption of other enterprises is reduced.
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C014FIIMNTIAL
15. The plant worked on tiu:ee shifts. On the day shift there were about five
hundred workers, two hundred on the evening and one hundred to 15.0 on the
night - morning shift. (These figures are exact for'tke years 1936 - 1937.)
Women made up about 15% of all workers, doing mostly plant administration
work or cleaning. The administrative section was very large, as is common
in the Soviet. (A typical example is the case of the Finnish power plant
taken by the Soviets during the Finnish - Soviet War. The Fina.s operated
the plant with eight people. The Soviets replaced them with 42, 30 of
them being put in the administrative section.)
16.
17. Up until 1935 the production of the plant was of very low quality. The
crystallization f Lae abrasives.was not large enough, was of the wrong
isometric form ..d large amounts of imrurities were present. In crushing,
the grains caz:_;.e out in swordshape a: d thin, leaf-like forms. The ceramic
bases were verLr brittle and the discs were not. homogeneous. The stamping
of discs did not always correspond to their.real qualities. However;
with the help of the Leningrad Chemistry - Technology Institute and
Tsnilash (Central Scientific Research Laboratory of Abrasives and Polishing)
these difficulties were overcome, with the result that by 3.938 the quality
of production was rather good.. However, for the important, responsible
jobs, particularly in war (defense) plants, the imported discs were pre-
ferred. In general, the production-of the Ilyich Plant was for internal
use and only a small percentage pf 'selected an tested discs were exported,
mostly to Turkey and Iran.
ENCLOSURE (A):. Table of Tikhvinsk and Ural Bauxitesq
RY SUJ J 'CT & AR 4 CODES
(34.016
317N
2-12/734.616
317N
5-6/734.015
317N
741.415
317N
I-6/734.oI6
317N
4-5/734.016
317N
2-6/734.QI6
317N...
1-I2/134.OI1
3N
1-12/734`:0!4
339N
I-12/734.014
219N
I-12/731+.17
6N
1-12/734.613
11N
4-12/734.016
317N.
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TABLE OF TIKHVINSK AND.URAL BAUXITES
Origin
? Minsra1 gical
r~,A,~aut,~ri~ic
Composition of Basic
Compor.erits in Per Cent
A12
Temperature - oC.
A120-4 SiOi i'e201 FeO TiO2 CaO Si-02
softenin Meld
North Ural
NortL Ural
North Ural
North Ural
North Ural
North Ural
South Ural
North Ural
North Ural
North Ural
North Ural
South Ural
Tikhvinsk
Tikhvinsk
North Ural
Tikhvinsk
North Ural
Tikhvinsk
;forth Ural
Tikhvinsk
.North Ural
North Ural
Tikhvinsk
Diasporous.
Diasporous
Diasporous
Bementite
Diasporous.
Diasporous
Bementite
Diasporous
Diasporous
Diasporous
Diasporous
Bementite
Bementite
Besteatite
Diasporous
Hydrargillite-Kao-linite-Calcite
Diasporous
Bementite-Kaolinite
Diasporous
BeTentite-Kaolinit
Kaolinite-Diasporous
Diaspo-Bementite-Kaolinite
Bementite-Kaolinite
77.4
59.9
5501
57,6
0.88 -' 2.1
0.85 23.8
1.12 `28.8
2.64 22.0
63.7 3.6 11.3
52.6 3.26 X8.5
56.6 3.91 21.23
56.9 4.08 ' ~ 3.0
59.26 4.52 "19.01
61.94 5.88 10.41
55.5 6.12 21 r'
?55,2 6.86 16
51,25 6.6 26.4'
57.5 7.54 1&.4
54,12 7.74 20?1
'44..2 7.22 18.7,
50.2 9.16 23.5
46,.5 10.1 20.4'
46.96 12.1 22.4
46.1 13.1 25.5.:
43.8. 14.0 26.4'38.3 154 14.5'
5101 20.2 22.51,
-- 3.12 0,70 88.0
2.21 2.60 1.03 70,0
2.43 0.64 49.2
1.05 3.0 0.95 21.9
2.44 2.65 1.2 17.7
-- 2.37 0,76 16.1
1.72 3.75 1.10 14.2
-- 2.29 0.86 14,0
2.32 0..84 13,1
6.48 2.6Z 1.02 11.4
2,17 0,70 - 9.1
5.72 3.10 1.10 &.3
o.86 1.80 1.39 7.8
3.21 ;140 7.6
2.23 0.90 7.0
1.43 8.2 6.1
0.43 2.37 0.65 5.5
3,83 4.80 4,6
2.45 0.94 3.9
2.57 0.63 3.5
.. 2.17 0.90 3.1
16.4 2.25 1.28 2.5.
In 1934 the estimated deposit of Tikhvinsk -bauxites was 5,680,000 metxie tons.
In 1934 the estimated deposit of North Ural bauxites was 10,920,000 metric tons.
1860 1945
1705 1790
1650 1730
1690 1755
1730 1820
1600 1650-
1595 1735
1580 1630
1630 1700
1670 1730
1650 1730
1565 1640
1580 1675
1575 16&o
1595 1710
1500 1640
1580 1650
1525 1640
1560 1590
1545 1600
1460 1520
1440 14$0
1570 1635
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1.50 0.40 2.5