MATERIAL ANALYSIS OF OUTER DOOR HANDLES OF THE HISTORICAL CAR TATRA 87

Abstract

This article is about the chemical composition and microstructure of the outer door handles of the TATRA 87. The TATRA 87 was produced between 1937 and 1950. It was a timeless car with an aerodynamic self-supporting body and an eight-cylinder engine mounted at the rear. The material analysis was carried out on four pieces of historical outer door handles of different ages and conditions. These were door handle lent by the ECORRA s. r. o. company. The chemical composition of all four door handles was detected with an X-ray spectrometer using the ED-XRF method, which could be performed without significant damage to these historical pieces. In addition, other methods were used for two samples of door handles, namely the glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDOES) and metallographic analysis, which were, however, associated with destructive preparation of samples. It was found that four of the door handles samples used for the same type of car had different finishes. Although more modern chrome plating has been used in the Tatra since the early 1930, surprisingly, nickel was used for surface treatment here. There could have been more reasons why this was the case. Most likely, the shutdown of a part of the operation, or the lack of supply in the time of The Second World War, could have caused this phenomenon. The results of the measurements will be used in the production of accurate copies of outer door handles, which are no longer available in the vintage cars market today.