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By A. H. Geisler, F. Keller

Some of the important changes that take lace in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrys-tallization. Although improved metal-lographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based 011 the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mah13-l7 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chcmical or anodic treatment. .After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,l9 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,l7 nicke1,7 iron3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloyl1 by heating; films formed on iron8,9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-'" by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944

By F. Keller, A. H. Geisler

Some of the important changes that take lace in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrys-tallization. Although improved metal-lographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based 011 the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mah13-l7 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chcmical or anodic treatment. .After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,l9 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,l7 nicke1,7 iron3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloyl1 by heating; films formed on iron8,9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-'" by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944

By Walter Weeks

THE process of cooling air by allowing it to expand and do work in an engine is well known, but the theory of obtaining cold air by free expansion without the aid of an engine operating with cutoff has been little discussed. CASE I If compressed air is allowed to expand to the atmospheric pressure through an orifice in an air line that is supplied by a running compressor, no cooling results except the negligible one due to the Joule-Thompson effect, which will not be considered in this discussion. The effect of moisture will also be neglected.

Jan 1, 1937

By Robert Glass Cleland

UPON the death of its founder, Phelps, Dodge & Co. entered upon a new chapter in its long and varied history. Thereafter, for nearly a decade, William E. Dodge largely determined and executed the policies of the company. The old firm, dissolved automatically by Phelps's death, was succeeded by a new partnership consisting of Anson G. Phelps, Jr., William E. Dodge, Daniel James, James Stokes, William E. Dodge, Jr., and D. Willis James, one of the three sons of Daniel James. Each of the first three partners owned a twenty-five-per-cent interest in the company, Stokes had a fifteen-per-cent interest, and the two younger partners each held five per cent. The new company bought Anson Phelps's holdings in the old firm from Olivia Phelps, his widow and executrix, for approximately seven hundred thousand dollars; but the new partnership, designed by agreement to last the usual five-year period, was brought to an end shortly before that time by the death of the younger Anson Phelps from small- pox. Perhaps because of poor health, the son had never been as deeply concerned with business as his father, but found

Jan 1, 1952

By CHARLES HOPPER

In preparing the Steep Rock Lake iron ore body for mining, it was necessary to drain Steep Rock Lake. Using diamond drills, a cut 1800 ft long, 100 ft wide, and maximum depth of 95 ft amounting to 300,000 cu yd of material, was excavated in Greenstone to provide a drainage channel. This was done under the general contractor C. A. Pitts, of Toronto, who in turn employed a diamond drill contractor, Boyles Bros., to do the drilling. The method of excavation was selected be- cause a clean square cut and grade could be maintained in the bottom of the channel. Bootlegged holes would have left blocks of rock in the corners which would have created a situation which would have become progressively worse as the open cut advanced from one side of the ridge to the other.

Jan 1, 1949

Jan 1, 1947

By E. Gybbon Spilsbury

Everybody who has had his attention turned to the gold-deposits of the Southern States, is acquainted with the undisputed fact of the existence, at least in the Carolinas and Georgia, of enormous areas of gold-bearing rocks. Long before the discovery of the precious metal in California, gold-mining on a very extensive scale mas a well-estab-

Jan 1, 1887

By F. H. Buttner, E. R. Funk, H. Udin

A. P. Greenough (University College, swansea, Great Britain)—I have recently made some experiments on the deformation of silver wire at high temperature in an atmosphere of oxygen-free nitrogen. The observa-tions which 1 made confirm the main conclusion of this paper, that the most satisfactory mechanism so far suggested to explain the deformation which takes place

Jan 1, 1953

WHAT DOES "MAGNETIC" MEAN? The word magnetic has several meanings. When used, as it usually is, without qualification one is often unable to tell which meaning is intended. 1. A body is magnetic which has power to attract iron magnetically. Such is a lodestone or magnet, either permanent or not. This is an active sense or meaning in that the body itself does the attracting or is .magnetic. 2. A body is magnetic which may be made to attract iron magnetically, as the iron core of an electro-magnet when not magnetized by the current. This is a potentially active meaning, the body being capable of becoming a magnet. 3. A body is magnetic which has the property of being. attracted by a magnet magnetically. Such are iron, cobalt, nickel, magnetic oxide of iron, magnetic alloys, etc. This is a passive meaning, the attracting being done by the actively magnetic body. With these three meanings to choose from, one must usually make a guess based on previous knowledge as to which is the right one. Would it

Jan 5, 1914

By Maynard O. Serbousek, James R. McVey

IS there a quick way of assessing the conditions of a newly exposed roof in a coal mine? This has always been a nagging question. The problem is that unless effective controls are established as soon as possible, it becomes extremely difficult to extract coal safely and economically from conventional underground milling operations. Until recently, little has been done to provide a means of measuring the structural behavior of a coal mine roof while the face advances during actual production. (In fact, most measurements have always been made after the fact or during a roof pull-down where the roof is actually caused to fail with no support.)

Jan 9, 1976

By H. N. Wolcott

AMONG the many cases of replacement of one mineral by another, that of quartz or silicates by pyrite, or even other sulphides, is not uncommon, but the reverse of this process does not appear to have been recorded, even if it has been observed. It, therefore, seemed to the writer that the case described below was worthy of record. FIG. I.-GROUND MASS OF CHALCOPYRITE (C) CONTAINING ROUNDED GRAINS OF PYRITE (P) SHOWING DIFFERENT DEGREES OF REPLACEMENT BY QUARTZ (Q), AND ALSO QUARTZ VEINLETS CUTTING THROUGH THE PYRITE. (PHOTOGRAPHED BY REFLECTED LIGHT.) The specimens described in this paper were obtained by R. B. Morton of Idaho Springs, Colo., from the Old Town Mine, in Russell Gulch, and are in the collection of Cornell University, where the writer studied them. In the rough, the specimens appeared to consist largely of chalcopy- rite, with some grains of tetrahedrite. The polished surface of some of

Jan 6, 1917

Jan 1, 1949

By L. P. Teas

In spite of the influx of operators into the Gulf Coast anxious to retrieve their depleted production in other fields, and in spite of very active application of the most scientific geophysical methods to locate new producing areas, the results have been very discouraging and the year has failed to produce more than the average results for a Gulf Coast year. During the year seven new oil fields, some of which are still of very little importance, and one new gas area have been discovered. These fields are Tom Ball, Greta, Cleveland, Raisin and Garwood in Colorado County; Louise and Premont in Jim Wells County, and the new producing gas area near Ace in southern Polk County. During the year salt has been found for the first time at Carlos and Esperson. New producing areas have been developed on East Stratton Ridge, Hockley, Hull, Port Neches, near Pettus in Bee County, and on the O'Connor Ranch in Victoria County. The total production for the Gulf Coast for the year was 62,837,435 bbl., an increase of 18,589,000 bbl. over 1932. During the year, 1307 wells have been drilled of which 207 were wildcats, compared with 653 wells and 141 wildcats the previous year. The total daily production at the end of the year was 165,201 bbl. At present there are 3100 oil wells producing. The average production per well is 55.5 bbl. per day. The price of crude fluctuated considerably during the year, beginning at 80c per barrel and closing the year at $1.04 per barrel. Completion data for 1933 are as follows:

Jan 1, 1934

By William M. Kester

INTRODUCTION The Coal Research Bureau of the School of Mines at West Virginia University is presently conducting laboratory-scale tests to determine the technical feasibility of beneficiating pulverized coal and coal fines with high-intensity electromagnetic fields. Interest in magnetic processes for cleaning fine coals was stimulated by results obtained by Yurovsky, et a1 in 1958.1 This work, while not new in concept,2,3 indicated that pulverized coal which had been thermally treated in a rotary drum in the presence of superheated steam and air underwent thermo- chemical reactions. Films of the ferromagnetic minerals magnetite (Fe2O3), hematite (Fe3O4), and pyrrhotite (FeS[3]) were reported to be formed on the surfaces of the pyrite grains associated with fine coal during the foregoing treatment at temperatures ranging from 120 to 360°C. After thermal treatment the coal was magnetically separated in an experimental magnetic device having a field strength of 10,000 oersteds.

Jan 5, 1965

By Louis D. Huntoon

(New Haven Meeting, February, 1909.) THE Hammond Mining and Metallurgical Laboratory is the gift of Prof. John Hays Hammond to the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. Professor Hammond was graduated from this school in the class of 1876, and has always shown great interest in its welfare and progress. In 1903, he offered to build and equip for it a mining and metallurgical laboratory. This offer was gratefully accepted by the trustees; and in October of the same year the architect, W. Gedney Beatty, and the writer were employed to draw up plans for the building, which is the largest of its kind in this country. The Treasurer's report shows the total gift of Professor Hammond, including land, building, and equipment, to have been $128,741.53. This does not include $5,000 given by Professor Hammond to defray incidental expenses. The detailed cost of the machinery and installation, included in the above sum, is as follows: Machinery, $9,846.00 Pipe and fittings, 925.05 Hangers, shafting, pulleys, belts, etc., . 357.83 Steel-work, tanks, launders, etc., . 272.19 Screens for sizing ore, 411.37 Lumber, 1,896.36 General Supplies Hardware, . $135.96 Tools, 263.66 Paints, . 04.63 Electric and incidental, . 439.57 - 1,043.82 Machine-shop material, 259.44 Labor, 722.29 - 981.73

Mar 1, 1909

By P. W. Bridgman

IT is characteristic of most scientific investigators that they are not satisfied with the discovery of new facts, no matter how curious or unexpected, but that along with the factual discovery there is a constant effort to understand It appears that. one's interest in, and satisfaction with, the discovery of an array of news experimental facts is enormously increased if one has at the same time a theory or hypothesis guiding one's expectation of what sort of new experimental discovery may lie around the corner Conversely, as a theoretical physicist one's satisfaction with his theory is greatly enhanced if along with the development of the theory can go the discovery of new experimental facts, confirming or perhaps modifying the theory as it grows Of course, there have been long and stretches in the history of physics in which new data of unquestioned ultimate importance ham e piled up, without much inspiration or illumination in the way of understanding For 50 years spectroscopy had such an and history, but how irksome this was felt to be is plainly shown by the almost audible relief that greeted the first success by Bohr in injecting understanding into the situation, and by the fresh rush of experimenters into this field when the prospect of understanding had once been offered The investigations in the field of high pressure, which have occupied me for a long time,1 until the last few years have been in very much the Same sort of situation as spectroscopy before the advent of Bohr A great many kids, of data were collected for a great many solid and liquid substances, and there could be no question of the importance of these data, because the uniform change of dimensions produced by hydrostatic pressure is perhaps the simplest conceivable type of alteration to which a body can be subjected But except for a few isolated flashes, there was no theoretical illumination, so that it had to be to a large extent the enthusiasm of the collector that kept me going However, within the last few years the wave-mechanics theory of solids has progressed so rapidly that

Jan 1, 1938

Jan 1, 1902

The Lead-Line Update held in conjunction with the 1977 SME-AIME Fall Meeting in St. Louis provided sessions on mining, mineral processing, extractive metallurgy, and economies to brief the record on the industry's activities and developments since the 1970 World Symposium on Lead and Line convened, also in St. Louis. Changes in the industry since 1970 have not been profound, notes the program committee, consisting of D. O. Rausch, F. M. Stephens, and B.C. Mariacher, cochairmen; and H. L. Clifford, S. C. Fall), and M. Snedeker. However, various environmental and conservation factors have had a direct impact on process consideration and operating practice; the result has been new mines, improved technology, and changing market opportunities. The general consensus of the participants is that the future for the Lead-zinc industry looks promising as new applications are found and new products resulting from intensive research reach the marketplace. The highlights of the HS technical papers presented at the 1977 session follows.

Jan 11, 1977

Jan 1, 1935

By Bernard Kopelman

THE particle size of tungsten metal powder used to make tungsten wire for use in radio tubes and incandescent lamps must be closely controlled if the highly desirable feature of nonsagging is to be achieved. Our knowledge of factors affecting the particle size of tungsten powder has been limited by lack of any extensive literature on the subject. There are no publications in the English language discussing this problem in any but the most general terms. In this paper the published experimental information on this subject is reviewed. Based on the published data and some experimental data obtained by the author, a general theory of factors affecting the particle size of tungsten metal powder obtained by reduction of the oxides in hydrogen is offered. The various forms of the tungsten oxides and tungsten metal used in the experiments described were those prepared by com¬mercial processes, so that the experimental results obtained on a laboratory scale would be more directly applicable to actual commercial reduction conditions. The effects of time of reduction, temperature, and concentration of water vapor in the hydrogen were observed by counting microscopically the particle distribution obtained. Such a method is very time-consuming, but the data obtained by this method are more reliable and more fundamental than those obtained by any of the several instruments available for measurement of particle size. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Until the year 1912, tungsten powder was prepared commercially by reducing tungstic oxide in the presence of carbon or one of its compounds (such as glycerin or ethylene glycol), usually by firing the mixture in a closed fire-clay crucible. The resultant powder contained about 95 per cent tungsten.1 When reduction of tungsten oxides by H2 was introduced commercially, 2.1 several investigators became concerned with the equilibria between tungsten metal and its several oxides in an atmosphere of hydrogen and water vapor.4-13 While these many investigations were in fair agreement on the equilibria there arose considerable controversy as to the chemical composition of the oxide between W03 and W02, because of very poor agreement on the equilibrium constant of this intermediate oxide reduction reaction. The controversy on this intermediate oxide has been in progress for more than 10o years. Thus Malguti,14 in 1835, decided it was W02.56. In 1857, Riche" proposed the formula W308. Usler,16 in 1865, confirmed the existence of W308 and further proposed W4O11. In 1897, Desi17 agreed upon W308 but also found W5014.

Jan 1, 1946