INVAR
Invar is an Alloy made up of about 64% iron and 36% nickel, remarkable for its very low Coefficient of thermal expansion: its dimensions vary extremely little with Temperature. It was developed by the Swiss physicist Charles-Édouard Guillaume, whose work on iron-nickel alloys earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920. This dimensional stability makes Invar a valuable Material for precision timekeeping: used in balance wheels and especially in the rods of Pendulum clocks in precision timepieces, it largely eliminates the timekeeping variations caused by temperature changes, which affect Metals ordinary. A related Alloy, Elinvar — also due to Guillaume —, additionally features a modulus of Elasticity that is nearly constant and was used for hairsprings. These inventions marked decisive progress in the fight against the influence of Temperature on timekeepingTimepieces, long one of the main obstacles to precision.
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