Jump to content

Theresa V. Brassard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theresa V. Brassard
A white woman with short dark hair, wearing cat-eye glasses and a white blouse with a wide pointed collar
Theresa V. Brassard, from a 1976 publication of the United States Army
Born
Theresa Vandecar

January 3, 1929
Cohoes, New York
DiedMay 17, 2016
OccupationMetallographer

Theresa Mary Vandecar Brassard (January 3, 1929 – May 17, 2016) was an American metallographer.

Early life

[edit]

Theresa Vandecar was from Cohoes, New York, the daughter of Orville Vandecar and Bertha M. Peat Vandecar. She graduated from Cohoes High School in 1947.[1][2]

Career

[edit]

Brassard worked as a metallographic technician at Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, and at General Electric in Schenectady, New York.[2] In 1967, she joined the staff of the Army's Physical and Mechanical Metallurgy Laboratory, Maggs Research Laboratory at Watervliet Arsenal in New York.[3] At Watervliet, she was director of the metallography laboratory,[4] and used metallographic analysis to study "white layer", an erosion phenomenon that affected gunmetal.[5]

Brassard's photomicrographs were exhibited nationally[6] and won awards from the American Ceramic Society and the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM).[7][8] In 1975 she received the Metallurgical Engineering Assistant's Award from the Eastern New York chapter of the American Society of Metals. She was nominated for the Federal Woman's Award in 1975.[5][4] From 1979 to 1981 she was membership secretary of the ASTM's Metallography committee.[9] She published her research in academic journals including Composites[10] and Metals Engineering Quarterly.[11]

In 1983, Brassard moved to California, where she was a metallographer at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. She retired in 1988, and returned to New York state.[9]

Selected publications and reports

[edit]
  • "Sample Preparation and Evaluation of Steel Specimens for Inclusion Retention and Subsequent Automated Assessment" (1983)[12]
  • "How Microstructure Influences Mechanical Properties of Forgings" (1973, with Charles J. Nolan and Richard DeFries)[13]
  • "Some Observations on the Relationship between Microstructure and Mechanical Properties in Large Cylindrical Gun Tube Forgings" (1970, with Richard S. DeFries and Charles J. Nolan)[14]
  • "Crack-tip Deformation in Mild Steel: Measured by Optical Interference" (1970, with John H. Underwood)
  • "Metallographic Technique for the Development of Microstructural Constituents in Gun Steel" (1970, with Charles J. Nolan)
  • "Preparing Nickel/Boron and Other Composites for Optical-Metallographic Examinations" (1969)[10]
  • "Preparing Various Graphites for Metallographic Examination" (1962, with Andrew S. Holik)

Personal life

[edit]

Vandecar married World War II veteran Raymond Earl Brassard. They had three children.[15][2] Her husband died in 1998, and she died in 2016, aged 87 years. Her gravesite is in Saratoga National Cemetery, with her husband's.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Three Students Names to be Delegates at Institute in Albany". The Times Record. 1946-11-19. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c Stanley, Marie (1972-12-06). "Waterford Grandmother Wants to go to Moon". The Times Record. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Watervliet Adds Distinguished Metallographer" Army Research and Development 8(October 1967): 30.
  4. ^ a b "Waterford Woman Runner-Up". The Times Record. 1975-01-10. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "Awards Evidence Metallographer's Achievements". Army Research and Development News Magazine: 27. July 1976.
  6. ^ "Arsenal Researchers Win Honors at Exhibit". The Troy Record. 1972-11-25. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "ASTM Picks Watervliet Photos for Honors in National Exhibit". Army Research and Development News Magazine: 47. September 1971.
  8. ^ "Microphoto Exhibits Win Awards". The Times Record. 1969-10-17. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b Voort, George F. Vander; Warmuth, Francis J.; Purdy, Samuel M.; Szirmae, Albert (1993). Metallography--past, Present, and Future: 75th Anniversary Volume. ASTM International. pp. 18, 46. ISBN 978-0-8031-1484-5.
  10. ^ a b Brassard, Theresa V. (December 1969). "Preparing nickel/boron and other composites for optical-metallographic examinations". Composites. 1 (2): 185. doi:10.1016/0010-4361(69)90076-7.
  11. ^ "Three Arsenal Men Coauthor Article". The Times Record. 1973-06-18. p. 27. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Brassard, Theresa V. (1983-10-01). DTIC ADA136147: Sample Preparation and Evaluation of Steel Specimens for Inclusion Retention and Subsequent Automated Assessment. Defense Technical Information Center.
  13. ^ Nolan, Charles J.; Brassard, Theresa V.; DeFries, Richard F. (May 1973). ""How Microstructure Influences Mechanical Properties of Forgings"". Metals Engineering Quarterly 1973-05: Vol 13 Iss 2. Internet Archive. ASM International. p. 31.
  14. ^ DeFries, Richard S.; Nolan, Charles J.; Brassard, Theresa V. (1970-03-01). "Some Observations on the Relationship between Microstructure and Mechanical Properties in Large Cylindrical Gun Tube Forgings". Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ "Veterans Re-Enlist at Guard Drill". The Times Record. 1954-03-12. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.