Studebaker Trivia from '42

[Mike Sal]

My company makes electronic devices for the auto industry & one of the materials used in some of the components is the element Indium. Research on the company that originally developed uses for this element (discovered in 1863) found a mention that it was used to plate Studebaker bumpers in 1942.
Mike Sal

[Cowtown Commander]

Guess those were the ones that glowed in the dark? Perhaps had to switch for the "black-0ut" models?

[RadioRoy]

Indium is also used in the semiconductor industry as a gasket material for high vacuum systems.

[JimK]

Indium sure sounds like a strange plating material in its pure form, although in '42 I'm sure chromium was hard to obtain even before the US entered the war. Indium's kinda rare and quite ductile - I've used it as a o-ring seal material for ultra-cold, high-vacuum equipment. The good news is that it is recyclable for that purpose.