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By Lincoln F. Elkins

The Spraberry Trend Field of West Texas was discovered in January, 1949. Drilling of 2.234 wells and production of some 45 million bbl of oil by January, 1953, indicated this to be an important field which will ultimately cover more than 400,000 acres. In addition to being the world's largest field in areal extent, the Spraberry has presented many problems in well completion and operation and has demonstrated unique reservoir performance characteristics. The pay section consists primarily of a few fine grained sandstone or siltstone members in a thousand-ft thick section of shale, limestone. and siltstone. Since porosity averages only 10 per cent and nearly all permeabilities are less than 1 md, conventional core analysis does not delineate the "pay" section. Mercury injection was used as a capillary pressure test adaptable to rapid routine use to select those intervals having low enough connate water saturation to contain commercially significant oil saturation. In the central area of the field this "pay" amounts to 16 ft of Upper Spraberry and 15 ft of Lower Spraberry sands. An interconnected system of vertical fractures, observed in cores, provides the flow channels for oil to drain into the wells hut most of the oil is stored in the matrix since the void volume of fractures is estimated to be less than 1 per cent of that in the sand. Initial potentials of wells range up to 1.000 B/D after fracture treatment which should be compared with estimated capacity of 5 to 10 B/D if oil had to flow into the wells through the sand itself. Without exception initial pressures of later drilled wells were significantly lower than initial pressures of earlier drilled nearby wells in a large area some 6 miles long. This means the earlier drilled wells had drained fluids from areas much greater than their 40-acre proration units. Since most of this performance occurred while the reservoir pressure was above the. saturation pressure it was analyzed by the compressible fluid flow theory. This analysis gave calculated initial presrilres which agreed within 30 psi of measured pressures of 60 per cent of wells in the area using 16-md permeabilitv corresponding to a fracture system substantially that indicated by cores and using combined compressibility of rock and its contained oil and water corresponding to the core analysis data. The most important feature of this analysis was the very close agreement between effective compressibility of the rock and its contained oil and water from the field performance and that from the core tests, because it meant there are no "islands" of low permeability reservoir rock left untapped in the inter-well area and thus no additional wells are necessary to insure that at least one well penetrates each "reservoir." Twenty-five of forty-four 40-acre spaced wells on three contiguous sections were wed in a four-month inteference test. Six shut-in well. were tested monthly for oil production. productivity index. gas-oil ratio and pressure buildup, and seven shut-in wells were tested for decline in reservoir pressure. Tests on 12 regularly producing wells gave comparative data for interpretation of shut-in test wells. Reduction in reservoir pressure, decline in productivity index. and increase in gas-oil ratio were found to be substantially the same in the shut-in test wells as those in the comparative regularly producing wells, meaning that the producing wells were depleting the

Jan 1, 1953

By JOSEPH MACDONALD

STRIPPED of its romantic possibilities, mining is a commercial business, carried on for the profit there is in it, and the business of the manager, in its ultimate analysis, is to make the profit as large as possible. The general manager of a mining company should keep himself personally familiar with all the details of its operations. If be fails to do so, chaos results, labor becomes inefficient, costs go up, and profits go down. Nowhere is this emphasized more than in Mexico. If the mining operations are extensive and complex, involving, besides the work of mining the ore, its transportation and treatment by various milling operations, and the marketing of the products, the business, to be carried on properly, must be divided into a number of main departments, which are subdivided into minor departments. Each main department should be under the immediate charge of a superintendent, or a foreman, and each minor department under a shift-boss. Organized in this way, and with all the principal centers of activity connected by telephone, the manager can keep in touch at all times with the details of every branch of the business, and be in a position to perform effectively the full duty of manager. The ?total cost of mining operations may be broadly divided under the heads of Labor, Supplies, and Marketing. Of these, it will be found, on averaging a number of cases, that the cost of labor will be about two-thirds of the total cost. The importance, therefore, of an efficient labor-department will be apparent. This department must be sub-divided and organized differently, according to the peculiar conditions at each mine, and no one system, however well suited for one particu-

Jan 1, 1909

By C. T. Liu, J. Gurland

The deformation behavior in tension of spheroidized carbon steels was studied at room temperature as a function of carbon content, 0.065 to 1.46 wt Pct, and carbide particle size, 0.88 to 2.77 p. It was found that the Hall-Petch strength-grain size relation is directly applicable to the yield and flow stresses of the two lower-carbon steels , 0.065 and 0.30 pct C. The strength data for the medium- and high-carbon steels, 0.55 to 1.46 pct C, also satisfied the Hall-Petch relation, provided that these data are based upon the particle spacing. Beyond 4 pct strain, the flow stress data of all the steels studied could be represented by the same Hall-Petch relation with dinerent spacings for grain boundary and particle strengthening. The behavior of the higher-carbon steels was consistent with the postulated formation of a dislocation cell network during processing and initial deformation (up to 4 pct strain). The cell size was assumed to be equal to the planar particle spacing. The true stress at the ultimate tensile strength was also found to be a function of the particle spacing. At a given temperature and strain rate, the yield and flow stresses of carbon steels depend on the type and dimensions of the microstructure. Starting with the work of Gensamer et al. in 1942,' experimental studies on pearlitic and spheroidized carbon steels revealed that the strength of steels is a function of two main parameters: the ferrite grain size2'3 and the carbide particle spacing;1'4'5 on this basis, two different strengthening mechanisms have been developed to apply to steels of low and high carbon contents, respectively. In polycrystalline iron and mild steels the grain boundaries are regarded as the major structural barriers to slip. The relation between strength and grain size is generally represented by the Hall-Petch equation which is based on a linear proportionality between strength and the inverse square root of the average grain size.2'3y677 However, Gensamer et al.' and Roberts et related the yield strength of medium -and high-carbon steels to the carbide particle spacing alone, and they found a linear relation between the logarithm of the mean free path in the ferrite and the yield strength in both spheroidized and pearlitic steels. By means of the electron microscope, Turkalo and LOW' extended the study to finer structures; they concluded that the logarithmic relation is not valid for the entire range of microstructures unless grain boundaries are also included in the measurement of the mean free path. For the specific case of spheroidized steels, Ansell and aenel' found that the yield strength data,4'5 when plotted as a function of mean free path, fit the Hall-Petch equation; however, T'ysong found that the same data fit the 0rowanl0 relation if a planar inter-particle spacing is used. Recently Kossowsky and ~rown" studied the strength of prestrained spheroidized steels, 0.48 and 0.95 pct C, and concluded that the strength due to the carbide dispersions varies linearly with the reciprocal of the square root of the mean free path between carbide particles and dislocation networks. Such networks were first observed by Turkalo." The conclusion common to all these studies is that the available slip distance in the ferrite is the most important variable in determining strendh. Previous work on carbon steels is restricted to limited composition and strain ranges. The mechanism which governs the flow properties is not clearly understood, and, in particular, little is known about the composition dependence of the transition between grain boundary strengthening and particle hardening. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the strengthening mechanism in spheroidized steels over a wide range of carbon content, 0.065 to 1.46 wt pct, and plastic strain, yielding to necking. The spheroidized structure was chosen because of its relative simplicity and the relative ease of control and measurement of the structural parameters. The experimental work is limited to tensile testing at room temperature at constant extension rate. The effects of the carbide particles on the fracture behavior of spheroidized steels are discussed elsewhere.13 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Eight different grades of vacuum-cast carbon steels were supplied in the form of forged and rolled plate by the Applied Research Laboratory of the U.S. Steel Corp. The compositions furnished with these steels are given in Table I; the carbon content ranges from 0.065 to 1.46 wt pct, or from 1.0 to 22.3 vol pct of carbide. The steel plates were cut transversely into rods a little larger than the test specimens, 1 in. gage length, i in. diam. The rods were austenitized in air (enriched with CO by a consumable carbon-rich muffle) at 50° C above theA, orA., temperature for 2 hr and then quenched in oil with vigorous stirring. The as-quenched rods were tempered in two stages in order to obtain the desired distributions and sizes of carbide particles. The rods were first tempered at 460° C for 10 hr and then at 700" C for periods ranging from 4 hr to 3 days, in vacuum. After final machining, all specimens were vacuum-annealed again at 650°C for 1 hr in order to relieve residual stresses. The tension tests were carried out in two steps. The initial part of the load-strain curve, up to about 2 pct strain, was determined on a Riehle testing machine with an extensometer of small strain range, 4 pct strain, in order to obtain the yield and initial flow piopertiesi As soon as the first part of the test was finished, the specimen was placed in an Instron testing machine equipped with a strain gage extensometer with a maximum strain range of 50 pct. The load-strain curve to fracture was

Jan 1, 1969

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 unex-pected, 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 new 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 arid stretches in the history of physics in which new data of unquestioned ultimate importance have piled up, without much inspiration or illumina-tion in the way of understanding. For 50 years spectroscopy had such an arid 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 kinds of data were collected for a great many solid and liquid sub-stances, 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 enthu-siasm 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

By Harry M. Mikami

Chromite is the only ore mineral of metallic chromium and chromium compounds and chemicals. Because of this fact, chromite and chrome ore are used synonymously in trade literature. In commercial market quotations, chrome ore is the term commonly used. Chromite per se, because of properties imparted by its chromium content, is used in refractories and in special purpose molding sands for metal casting. There are many other minerals containing some, generally minor, amounts of chromium, but none are commercial sources of the element (Thayer, 1956). Chromium and chromite have many diverse uses that, directly and indirectly, critically affect vast segments of our modern industrial system. Most important are probably the metallurgical applications wherein chromium is a component of heat-, abrasion-, corrosion-and oxidation-resistant and high-strength alloys of many types. Stainless steels are the largest volume category of chrome-bearing alloys. Chromium chemicals are used in leather tanning, in pigments, dyes and mordants, printing, chemical process industries, photography, pharmaceuticals, metal plating, pure chromium metal production, and for many other purposes. Chromite is a necessary constituent in basic refractories indispensable for the production of steel, copper, cement, and glass. Under present conditions, the US and North America, with the possible exception of Cuba, have no commercial ore reserves. There are chromite deposits, as will be described, but they would be used only under highly abnormal conditions if all outside sources were cut off for an extended period. All chromite used in the US is imported from the eastern hemisphere in which are contained the principal world reserves. The main suppliers in 1980 were the Republic of South Africa (43%), the USSR (21% ), the Philippines (12%), Albania (11 %), Turkey (8%), and others (5%). The strategic nature of chromite is obvious. End Uses-Grades and Specifications As noted before, the three principal uses for chromite are metallurgical, refractories, and chemical with a fourth minor use as foundry molding sand. For metallurgical applications chrome ore is first reduced in electric carbon arc furnaces to various types of ferrochromium alloys. There are high, medium, and low carbon ferrochromiums with carbon ranging from 0.01 up to 10%. Chromium itself ranges from 50 to 73 %. Ferrosilicon chromium and ferrochromium-silicon grades have chromium from 33 to 67% and silicon from 3 to about 48%. Since iron is reduced with chromium, the Cr:Fe ratio of the ore will determine the ultimate grade of the ferrochromium whereas carbon and silicon can be controlled during processing. MgO, A12O3, CaO, and excess SiO2, are removed in slag. A small amount of pure chromium metal is prepared by alumino-thermic and electrolytic processes from essentially iron-free chrome components that have been made via the chemical route. The higher grades of ferrochromium with chromium in the 66 to 73% range can only be made from ores with not only high chromium content, but low iron, i.e., high Cr:Fe ratio. These ores, conventionally termed metallurgical grade, have Cr2O3 contents of 45 to 56% with Cr: Fe ratios of 2.5 to 4.3. A standard composition is generally 48% Cr2O3 and 3:1 Cr:Fe ratio. Very high grade ores are often blended with lower grades even with the high iron chemical grade. For some ferrochromiums, additions of high alumina refractory grade are used as slag conditioners to facilitate smelting while still contributing chromium values. A lower grade ferrochromium, the high carbon charge chrome, has become the predominant grade in use today for making chromium-bearing steel alloys. This

Jan 1, 1983

By John J. Cioston

THE steadily rising flood of gold production from all parts of the world has created an avalanche of rumors regarding the stability of the present price of this metal. Markets have been unsettled from Johannesburg to London from New York and Toronto to Melbourne, despite repeated denials from, American and British authorities of any immediate intention to alter the price. Various economists and financial writers have blossomed forth with predictions that the price would be set at the old level of $20.67 per oz.; some have even been so brash as to state That a price of $15 would be necessary to bring production within control. These effusions, based entirely upon monetary theories and with no regard to production costs, serve to confuse rather than clarify the situation.

Jan 1, 1937

By Robert N. McIndoo

A good tire program must begin at the top; management must have an awareness of the tremendous potential for cost saving that tires represent. At Reserve Mining Co., tires account for 33% of the cost of maintaining its 44 tractor-trailer side-dump haulers and 22% of its 32 rear-dump trucks. In comparison, engine overhauls account for only 6% of the maintenance dollar. Doubling the present engine life would save only 3%. The open-pit mine, located near Babbitt, Minn., moves about 46 million t/y with its off highway fleet. Mine roadways total in excess of 160 km (100 miles) and about 1200 tires are in active use at any given time.

Jan 3, 1978

By H. L. Lovell, L. H. E. Weyher

Cyclones have been used successfully in the mineral industries to solve solid-liquid as well as solid-solid separation problems in the processing of fine particles. Substantial information is available about the operation of cyclones as thickeners, classifiers, and concentrators using a dense medium. However, very little is known about the operation of the cyclone as a fine coal concentrator not using dense medium. This application of the cyclone, namely to wash fine coal in water, requires that classification phenomena be minimized in order to arrive at an effective separation of the high density ash and sulfur-bearing mineral particles from the low density coal particles over a wide particle size range. The authors have investigated the role of feed pressure, orifice diameters, and vortex-finder length in the cyclone washing of fine coal (--1/4 in.) in water. The results of this investigation show that cyclone washing of fine coal in water is an effective unit operation particularly capable of reducing the inorganic pyritic sulfur content. The combination of hydrocyclones with complimentary equipment such as Sieve bends, shaking tables, and flotation units appears to be especially promising and may ultimately yield fine coal processing systems that could approximate the high recovery efficiencies of today's coarse coal cleaning circuits. In the future, fine coal beneficiation can be expected to receive even greater research emphasis as a result of increasing sulfur restrictions on all major coal markets. In a previous paper, work, conducted at the Pennsylvania State University, on the hydrocyclone washing of fine coal was discussed.' The initial evaluation based on that wo-rk demonstrated the feasibility of hydrocyclones as fine-coal cleaning devices, and in that previous paper selected test data were presented that showed in principle how product yield and assay respond to variations of the major cyclone operating variables. The present paper reports in greater detail on the findings and presents a comprehensive evaluation of the data as follows: (1) Hydrocyclone throughput rates were related to feed pressure and other variables by regression equations. These equations are compared with other capacity-vs.-pressure drop expressions taken from the literature on classification cyclones. (2) The flow ratio was found to be the most important variable for the separation of the solids. Control of this ratio through various cyclone operating parameters is discussed. (3) The data on the product yield as well as the ash and sulfur assays from the tests were evaluated by means of correlation and multiple regression analyses. Because size-classification phenomena cannot be suppressed completely in hydrocyclone washers, product yield and assay data are regressed against cyclone operating variables separately for different size classes. These equations then reveal how the interactions of the cyclone operating variables vary in terms of the separation for different size classes. (4) Density partitions from additional tests were analyzed by supplementing product-size analyses with sink-float analyses of the separated product size classes. The evaluation of these data show how classification phenomena affect separation by density. The results demonstrate in particular the feasibility of the hydrocyclone washer for removing pyritic sulfur from fine coal. In addition to these specific findings, the investigation points up the value, in general, of using hydrocyclone washers in combination with unit operations such as screening, table concentration, and flotation. In order to make optimum use of the hydrocyclone washers and work out the most effective combination of unit operations, it is important to have careful flowsheet analyses corresponding to the given feed and product requirements. Analyses of this kind are now possible by means of computer simulation of flowsheets and other operation research tools. INTRODUCTION Before proceeding with the detailed treatment and evaluation of our results, it will be useful to review the fundamental aspects of cyclone separators and also restate the experimental procedures and data handling employed in these studies. Review of Cyclone Fundamentals: AS shown in Fig. 1, the basic components of cyclones commonly used

Jan 1, 1970

By H. R. Hose

Total crude fluorspar reserves in western Europe, containing more than 35 pct CaF*, are estimated at 12 million metric tons, while reserves in the USSR and Soviet sphere may exceed 5 million metric tons. The bulk of these reserves are concentrated in the USSR, Spain, United Kingdom, Western Germany, and Italy. Since published estimates of the tonnages of individual mines and explored deposits are not available for most countries in Europe, the estimates given in Table I for individual countries are necessarily approximate, as they have been compiled from various sources and modified and combined according to the author's judgment. The majority of fluorspar deposits in Europe belong to the late Paleozoic metallogenetic epochs and have been found within or along the borders of the Hercynian massifs. Deposits in the Central and Esterel massifs of France, those of Western and Eastern Germany, Sardinia, the Catalonian coastal range and the Sierra de 10s Santos in Spain, and those of Devonshire and Cornwall belong to the Hercynian metallogenetic epochs. The deposits in southern Norway and Sweden belong to the middle Paleozoic or later, those of northern England to the late Paleozoic or later, those of northern Spain and Greece to the late Mesozoic, and those of northern and probably central Italy and Switzerland to the early Tertiary. Fluorspar occurs typically in veins, lenses, and stringers, but also in bedded replacement deposits and pockets, and may be colorless to white, yellow, green, pink, brown, blue, or purple to almost black. Except for the colorless variety, the only kind which can be used for the optical industry, the color of the fluorspar does not affect its ultimate use,

Jan 4, 1955

By R. F. Krueger, L. C. Vogel

A design is presented for an electrical analog computer which can solve non-steady state heat transfer problems in an extensive radial forrnation containing a moving cylindrical source. The computer is used to simulate a .simplified thermal oil recovery process in which heat transfer from a moving, constant temperature source takes place radially by conduction only. Temperature distribution curves are .shown for several different assumed modes of travel for the heat source. The data are used to estimate the residual fuel requirements necessary to maintain a self-propagating isotherma1 front for the particular system being studied. Although the computer is designed to represent an unique system. conversion factors can he adjusted to show the effects of changing the assumed values of system constants, such as thermal conductivity of the formation and temperature of the source isotherm. Examples are given to illustrate the relative influence the assumed values of these variab1es will have upon the quantity of fuel required to maintain the source. The maximum effect of heat transfer by the flowing air stream is estimated mathematically, and full requirements for this system are shown to he markedly reduced. Inasmuch as the examples discussrd refer to a simplified process, the results are not directly applicable to a practical field operation. It is believed, however, that the data il1ustr-ate some general trends which are important in thermal recovery processes. Data from laboratory and field experimentation can he used to modify the computer to take into account the influence of heat transfer by various mechanisms, for example, by injected air and by fluids ahead of the hot zone. With .such refinements it would be possible to estimate more accurately the limiting values for the rate of travel of the high temperature front and for the required air- injection rates. Use of this computer should aid in evaluating the economic feasibility of oil recovery by various thermal processes. It is hoped this paper will stimulate further work by others to help accomplish this objective. As the costs of exploration for and development of new oil fields rise. increasing the recovery of oil from established fields becomes more and more important. In fields containing low gravity crude oil, ultimate recoveries by primary means are sometimes less than 10 per cent and often total only 10 to 20 per cent of the oil in place. Conventional secondary recovery methods are not always effective in increasing this total. Methods which have been proposed for increasing the recovery of viscous oils include thermal processes for increasing the mobility of the oil. One method is to provide a moving heat source generated within the formation to heat the oil and a flowing gaseous medium (for example, air) to sweep the oil to the producing wells. The possibility of such a process has intrigued engineers for many years.'. '." but little or no information has been available in the literature relative to the technical or economic feasibility of this method. Recently, however, interest has been revived by publication of laboratory and field test results indicating the feasibility of maintaining

Jan 1, 1956

By W. T. Turrall, M. J. Cook

A discussion of modern developments in beneficiation of fine sizes of anthracite, this paper includes a description of the plant flowsheet, an analysis of operating results, and a summary of fundamentals of mineral separation relative to plant operation. DURING the past several years Lehigh Naviga-tion Coal Co. has installed equipment at Tamaqua and Lansford collieries for cleaning and sizing No. 4 buckwheat —3/32 + 3/64 in. and for recovering and cleaning flotation coal —20 + 200 mesh at Tamaqua colliery. Papers describing some of these installations have been presented to AIME. At Coaldale colliery, however, methods used to clean fine coal were inadequate and inefficient. Management decided upon a thorough investigation of all existing processes before building a plant to treat the combined three sizes mentioned. Investigation, carried out on company property and at other plants, entailed a study of hydrotators, hydroclassifiers, tables, spirals, flotation machines, methods of screening, and methods of dewatering. On the basis of this investigation a flowsheet was designed which necessarily excluded many processes in use, and the writers wish to emphasize that no criticism is implied by omission of processes or machines. A determining factor in selection of many machines was the policy of standardizing equipment wherever possible. Flowsheet and Operational Data The first principle to be considered in designing of any plant is efficiency of cleaning as related to laws of classification. Beneficiation of coal may be described as separation of two materials having different specific gravities. Although there is an inherent ash content even in the purest coal which slightly affects its specific gravity, it is recognized that many particles are true middlings. The percentage of these particles allowable in the final product depends upon the ultimate ash, or specifications of the consumer. Richards in his study of free settling and hindered settling classification' determined that particles of equal size and different specific gravities had unequal settling velocities. He also determined a definite size relationship for equal settling velocities with free settling and hindered settling conditions. Considering the design of machines used to clean No. 4 and No. 5 buckwheat, it may be assumed that both free settling and hindered settling conditions exist and that ratio of size for practical operations is between the established values. The essential factor is that the more efficiently and closely sized the feed is maintained, the more nearly perfect the resulting separation. Flowsheet design was governed primarily by factors related to the 1200 to 1500 tons per hr feed to the main plant. It should be stressed that because of the many sources of supply from mine and stripping, the physical characteristics of this feed varied considerably. The most significant influence was varying percentage of fines, necessitating that all machines be capable of operating under maximum peak load during periods of surge. Since cleaning practice is a wet process, about 9000 gal per min containing 14 to 15 pct solids, or 350 tons per hr, must be treated. This slurry contained all the fines, or —3/32 in., but also percentages of oversize, up to 1 % in., dependent on spills or breaks in screen jackets, a not uncommon occurrence in preparation plant practice. The flowsheet developed is shown in Fig. 1. Circled numbers represent points of sampling. Table I gives operational data including size, ash by size, composite ash, rate of flow in gallons per minute, percent solids dry weight, and average tons of solids per hour. It should be noted that these results are subject to human error in sampling practice. Detailed information reported is a representative evaluation of plant operation.

Jan 1, 1954

By Eric J. Jette

In thermodynamic studies of gas mixtures and liquid solutions, the respective problems have been greatly simplified by the use of two general limiting laws; Dalton's law of partial pressures and Raoult's law. It is generally recognized that these two laws have a common physical and chemical basis which may be stated as follows: The law may be expected to be strictly valid only for systems in which the different molecular species are so nearly the same in their physical and chemical properties that a molecule is unable to recognize whether its neighbor is one of its own kind or not. Positive and negative deviations from both laws are frequently encountered. The occurrence of negative deviations in both gases and liquids is ascribed to attractive forces which, in the more extreme cases, may be so large in magnitude and so highly specific in character as to lead to the formation of definite chemical compounds. Positive deviations in gases develop only at higher pressures where the intermolecular distances are so decreased that factors such as molecular size and shape, which ultimately become concerned with the repulsive forces, come into play. In liquid mixtures, positive deviations are generally considered as due to differences in the symmetrical (nonpolar) fields of force which surround the various molecular species and which are supposed to give rise to a tendency for each species to associate with its own kind and thus to "squeeze out" the other variety. Fundamentally this also involves the existence of repulsive forces between unlike molecules. If the fields of force are unsymmetrical (polar) a tendency towards compound formation results. Stated in more exact terms, strict adherence to the law means that the "activity" (or any adequate measure of this quantity) of a component in a mixture is a linear function of the molecular (or atomic) fraction of that component between the mol fraction limits 0 and 1. A positive deviation means that the activity is greater than corresponds to the law; a negative deviation that the activity is less. The deviations from Raoult's law have been fully discussed by many writers1

Jan 1, 1934

By William C. Brice

Minnesota is involved in planning controversies related to taconite and potential copper-nickel mining. Mine facility planning includes the Reserve dining on-land tailings disposal issue and the potential for a new copper-nickel mining district. Both provide a unique opportunity for innovative planning in the attempt to be responsive to public and private interests. Concerns that emanate as a result of mineral resource activities include environmental protection, land use competition, land exchanges, highway and utility extensions, and legal constraints on public or private lands. The purpose of this newly-developed planning approach is to anticipate such issues and provide a rational information base for dealing with them. The result will be a framework plan for guiding public planning, and an impact assessment for reviewing the implications of industrial project proposals. The approach uses a computer-stored resource inventory of natural and cultural information. Geographic data is mapped and entered into a computer storage and retrieval system. This enables systematic analysis of mineral resources along with environmental and land use considerations. Computer mapping describes the relationship of each activity and allows identification of potential conflicts; it also shows geographical extent in the form of statistical compilations. Resource data is being collected and compiled using a standard metric grid (Universal Transverse Mercator). Individual cells are 100 m. squares and represent areas of about 2.5 acres. The study area contains about 145,000 cells. Data inventories are being compiled in 25 natural and cultural resource categories. Geologic variables include Bedrock Geology, Taconite Reserves and Potential Resources, Depth to the Duluth Complex Contact and two soil inventories. Topographic and hydrologic variables include elevation, slope, slope orientation, surface hydrology, and watersheds. There are also 6 biological data variables and 7 land use inventories.

Jan 1, 1977

By C. H. Ma, J. S. Makris

This paper describes a modified X-ray diffraction microscope wzethod based on the general principles of Berg-Bawett's Method, Lang's Method, and Woosters1 Technique. This new method may be used for stationary or oscillatory photomacrographs, with both reflection and transmission techniques. In the stationary technique, a small point-source of a divergent X-ray beam of white radiation is used; in the oscillatory technique, a monochromatic divergent beam is employed. The chief advantages of the method described herein are that only approximate alignment of the Bragg angle -of-interest is needed during exposure, and that a large portion of a crystal-specimen surface can he irradiated. In recent years, the study of dislocations through X-ray diffraction microscope techniques has received considerable attention as concerns the per,fection of single crystals. Very promising results have appeared in the literature.'-' These techniques are very useful when the dislocation density of a crystal is near 105 per sq cm or lower. The principle of X-ray diffraction microscopy is based on the differential effect of X-ray primary extinction between the distorted parts and the perfect parts of a crystal. When an X-ray beam impinges on a set of planes of a crystal at the correct Bragg angle, diffraction of X-rays will occur with a 90-deg phase shift of the diffracted beam. This once-diffracted beam still forms the correct Bragg angle with the planes ahead of it, if the planes are not distorted. Thus, part of the strength of the once-diffracted beam is rediffracted and the beam continues to travel in the direction of the primary X-ray beam. This twice-diffracted beam not only takes away part of the strength of the once-diffracted beam, but also causes destructive interference with the primary beam because it now is exactly 180 deg out of phase with the primary beam. As the primary beam goes farther and farther into the crystal, its intensity is continuously weakened. Asa result, the ultimate X-ray diffraction power of a set of undistorted planes is largely extinguished. This phenomenon is called primary extinction.1,2'4 If the set of planes ahead of it is distorted, the once-diffracted beam will have less chance to be rediffracted, because it could not meet the exactly correct Bragg angle for rediffraction. If a part of the beam does rediffract, this twice-diffracted beam is not exactly 180 deg out of phase with the primary beam, and thus it causes less destructive interference. As a result, the registered X-ray diffraction power of the distorted part of a crystal appears stronger than that of the perfect part. Thus, point-by-point contrast of a diffraction image is theoretically possible from a crystal containing dislocations. Two most popular X-ray diffraction microscope techniques today are Berg-Barrett's Method and Lang's Method. Both of these techniques require a

Jan 1, 1964

By Geoffrey Purcell

Although the extractive metallurgist has not yet tackled the problem of getting blood out of a stone, he must, when faced with the mini- metal values of today's ores, believe that this ultimate miracle will soon be expected of him. Even assuming that some plausible professor at one of the few remaining minerals industry schools could persuade the National Science Foundation to sponsor such a sanguine research project, the funds might have to go begging for want of a graduate metallurgist. Falling enrollment in fields devoted to nonrenewable mineral resources, long a matter of grave concern to educators, is now recognized as a problem of great national consequence urgently needing a solution. While the law of supply and demand might eventually be expected to right the imbalance of engineers, time is not on our side and action to correct the shortage is required now.

Jan 1, 1970

By C. S. Matthews, M. J. F. Rosenbaum

The purpose of thir work wax to lcarn it~lzut infori~lation could he obtained from various typs of pilot water floods and to attempt to find the optunum pilot patter11, for a revervoir which had previously been depleted by a solution gas drive. The study was made in the laboratory with mathemetical methods a dynamic analog and a potentiotnetric analog. Results werp tested against the field llistorics of a nrrnlber of pilot water floods. At a reasonable valrre of currzulative injection, the total production rate for the one-injector five-spot should reach about 6.5 per cent of injection rate, and for a four-injector five-spot, about 9 per cent. Accurate estimates of ultimate recovery cannot be made on the basis of such snzall prorluction rates. However, with a pilot composed of nine ir1jector.s and 16 producers the production rate is approximately 50 pcr cent of injection rate at a reasonable value of camulative injection. Sonle inforn~ation for extended performance predictions might he obtained from such a large pilot. These conclusions were drawn on the basis of results obtained for unit mobility ratio, and a sturly using tlre potentiometric analog was made of the effect of other mobility ratios to determine the range of applicability of these predictions. For the four-injector, five-spot pilot with the ratio of production to injection rate (before water breakthrough) is about twice that for with it is about two-thirds; and with M0= 10, it is about one-third For high mobility ratios, it was found that the production rate increased considerably as water-cut increased. These result can be used to modify, qualitatively, the inter.pretntions based on curves for the unit rnobilit\. ratio CaSeS. It was found that the maximum ratio of production rate to injection rate obseriled in field pilot floods was of rhe scime order as that prerdicted by these methods. The time required to reach thisr maximum did not generally agree with the time predicted for a homogeti~orir reservoir. The differcrlce between predicted and observed time of response gives an indication of the permeability profile and of the condition of the producin,g wells. Pilot water floods of the pattern type are generally carried out in reservoirs which have been depleted by solution gas drive and are at low pressure. Under these conditions, oil and water can be considered incompressible. It is assumed that, as the water is injected, an oil bank forms ahead of it and that there is a distinct interface between the water zone (or bank) and the oil zone (or bank) and between the oil zone and the region ahead of the oil zone. It is further assumed that only gas is mobile in the unflooded (gas) region, only oil is mobile in the oil bank and only water is mobile in the water bank. The saturations and the mobilities associated with each zone are assumed uniform. We idealize our reservoir to be homogeneous, horizontal and of constant thickness. Effects of gravity within the producing layer are assumed negligible. If the actual time-dcpendent flow problem is approximated by a acries of steady-state problems. the potential and stream function in the oil bank and water hank satisfy Laplace&apos;s equation in two dimensions. We can therefore use a poteiitiometric analog of this system. Potentiometric models have yielded uscful results in this laboratory&apos; and clsewhere in the study of a variety of secondary recovery problems. For the case where M = I, we generally prefer to use theoretical mcthods as well as a simpler dynamic analog. Except where otherwise noted, the ratio, side of five-spot/wellbore radius. is taken to be 3,600. a figure which corrcsponds to a normal-size wellbore in a 10-acre well spacing. THEORETICAL EVALUATION OF VARIOUS PILOT PATTERNS, Mw0 = 1 <&apos;he theoretical models which we used to examine the performance of various pilots are shown in Fig. 1. Image theory was used to determine the ratio of production rate to injection rate as a function of the volumc of the flood. The ratio of production rate to injection rate was chosen because this is an easily measurable quantity which is characteristic of a pilot

By J. B. Neale

FRom the beginning of its activities, the members of the National Production Committee have felt that the following points were essential to the success of its work: The operators must feel that their operations were not 100 per cent. efficient; that they should be courteous and fair in their treatment of their employees; and that they should set an example of hard work and patriotic interest in increased production. Every move made must appeal to the sense of fairness of all parties concerned. The men must feel that in working more faithfully, and consequently producing more coal, they are rendering a distinct service to their Government in the time of its great need. As the workers feel that greater efficiency on their part results only in greater profits to the operators, the advantage to the operator should be lost sight of, as far as possible, and the advantage to the Government in fighting the war emphasized. Both operators and workers should know that the Government considered increased production an obligation, and opportunity for service, resting on both parties and not on the operators or the workers alone, and that both parties could very much better the efficiency of the pre-war period. Had the committee intimated that it thought the coal shortage was due entirely to the idleness and inefficiency of the workers, its campaign would have failed, for the men would have resented the charge because only too frequently their efforts to produce more coal were thwarted by bad management; besides, the operators would have lacked stimulus to better effort. On the other hand, had the impression been given that the committee thought that the coal shortage was due entirely to bad management, the operators would have resented the charge because only too frequently their efforts to produce more coal were thwarted by the idleness and inefficiency of the workers; and the workers, having been thus indirectly pronounced 100 per cent. efficient and patriotic, would have lacked stimulus to better effort.

Jan 1, 1920

By John Johnston

WHEN I was honored by being invited to give the Howe Memorial Lecture, I decided to read Howe&apos;s book, "The Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron," published in 1916-that is, about 25 years ago-in search of a text. I found the book written in fine, clear, attractive, yet precise style, as I expected, knowing that his father ¬Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, his mother-Julia Ward Howe, and all of his four brothers and sisters had lived in a New England literary atmosphere and had written books. This leads me to suggest that many authors of metallurgical papers and books could well study Howe&apos;s writings with a view to the improvement of their own. I failed to find a specific text, but did find a subject, for in reading his book I was struck by the few instances in which time is considered explicitly as a factor in the phenomena examined, and by the fact that many of the hottest arguments would have been settled had time been taken properly into account. Indeed, Howe hardly mentions time except in a rather incidental way, as in a few references to lag; for instance: The lowering of temperature at which the transformation occurs by rapid cooling . . . is a phenomenon of undercooling or lag. It is in part explained by the fact that the transformation itself is a time-consuming reaction which, setting in during a rapid fall of temperature. is naturally protracted till the temperature has sunk far below that at which it is due. He does discuss, quite fully, the iron-carbon equilibrium diagram, as known at that time, introducing it by stating: As he is a reasonable man who is not deterred from using a hand truck for moving his trunk by the consideration that he has thus to move a trunk plus a truck, so am I reasonable in putting into your hands this useful, indeed indispensable, tool for mastering the ABC of iron metallurgy. Somewhat later, in introducing a discussion of the phase rule, which "it would be hardly proper to pass . . . by without an attempt to outline its meaning," for "a clear exposition of its applicability or jurisdiction is needed to restrain the half-initiated from misusing it and the uninitiated from being misled by these misuses," he writes-and I quote his statement because we cannot properly discuss the influence of time on a process until we know the state of equilibrium which would ultimately be reached by the system under consideration It is a most remarkable and valuable generalization, its conceptions help greatly toward getting a broad outlook on metallography, but its misconception has brought out a flood of obscuring writings. It tells us about the constitution towards which alloys tend, that which they reach when equilibrium is complete, when all tendencies have corrected themselves and have been complied with completely. Its application, in absence of true equilibrium, is like determining density with a telescope or even with a tuning fork; it is like the mad tea party at which the butter put into the works "f the watch was the best butter. If the reader learns no more than to beware of attempts to decipher the conditions of inequilibrium by a law which touches only the conditions of exact

Jan 1, 1942

By Christopher W. Schram, Allan B. Tanner, Frank E. Senftle, George R. Boynton, Philip W. Philbin

A borehole sonde using a 252Cf neutron source and a Ge(Li) gamma-ray detector was field tested in a coal bed in Belmont County, Ohio, to ascertain whether such a device could be useful as a coal-exploration tool. As the sonde was lowered into the borehole, successive spectra were accumulated over short time intervals. The intensities of the capture gamma rays from hydrogen and of decay gamma rays from aluminum were determined simultaneously in each spectrum. A log of the intensities versus depth shows the depth and thickness of the coal bed. With the sonde stationary at points above, in, and below the coal bed, capture gamma rays were measured to show the variation in concentration of certain elements. From the spectrum recorded in the bed, a complete ultimate analysis, the percent ash content, and the heat content were determined without recourse to an external standard. Delayed gamma-ray analyses of the core were also made on the surface in the vicinity of the borehole in a fixed-geometry irradiation facility wing the detector in the borehole sonde. The concentrations of 10 elements were determined by this method on a coal split from the drill core. These experiments show that it is feasible to use a 252Cf- Ge(Li) borehole sonde as an aid in coal exploration.

Jan 1, 1979

By M. H. Caron

BASIC U. S. Patent 1,487,145 on ammonia leaching of nickel ores was issued to the author on March 18, 1924. Equivalent patents in other countries were obtained later. The Dutch Syndicate Brikcarbo became interested in the process in 1935; and a couple of years later the late Dr. H. Foster Bain sent samples of Surigao laterite iron ore to Delft and witnessed tests made there on this material for the Philippines Commonwealth. As a result, the author was asked in April 1940 by Dr. Bain to go to the Philippines to erect and take charge of a pilot plant for the process. The World War prevented carrying out this proposal. The Dorr Co. also became interested in the process at about the same period. The investigations by the Freeport Sulphur Co. on the process as applied to the Cuban nickeliferous laterites, which resulted in the Nicaro enterprise, and the results of this operation have been well described elsewhere.1,²,³,4,5 This Nicaro plant was, in operation for almost two years, and during this period produced about 10 pct of the world nickel production from laterites containing 1.35 pct nickel. This plant and its operation were war measures and, in view of this, activities were suspended in April 1947. The results obtained fully demonstrated the technical feasibility of the process and its economical aspects on a commercial scale. In this respect, it should be understood that it is probable that improvements may be made by further development, and that there are possibilities for advantageous application of the process to garnierite and similar ores with higher values in nickel than the laterite iron ores at Nicaro. While the articles cited above have given a certain amount of information, no general article containing all the important process data has been pub- lished. Since the process is of more than local interest, a fuller knowledge of the fundamental and practical factors of the method may be welcome to those interested in this new field of metals technology. The author, accordingly, takes pleasure in submitting this article to the AIME as it represents in a condensed form the results of many years of research. The brief outlines of the fundamental and other factors and the explanation of observed phenomena are presented with as little discussion of details as possible, consistent with clarity. It is a special satisfaction to the author to make some contribution of his own in return for the benefits of the many valuable publications issued by the Institute during his thirty years of membership. Ores Adapted for Ammonia Leaching: All nickel and cobalt ores which originate from weathering of peridotites or similar basic rocks having sufficient values are suitable for treatment by the ammonia leaching process after a preliminary reduction under proper conditions. The formation of these deposits was probably as follows: In the course of time the basic rocks were attacked by atmospheric agencies; MgO and SiO2 were gradually leached out, and secondary nickel minerals formed, such as garnierite, a hydrated silicate of nickel and magnesia. These secondary products are, however, not stable. They decompose in a further stage of weathering and ultimately only a relatively small residue of insoluble oxides remains, known as laterite iron ore with a small nickel content and very little cobalt. Under these mantles of laterite, richer nickel values may be found, usually indicated by the occurrence of garnierite. The more the ore is disintegrated by nature, the higher the iron content and the better the nickel extractions that may be expected therefrom. Table I shows extractions that may be expected from different types of ores, assuming treatment of -200 mesh products and that all precautions have been taken for obtaining maximum extractions. As for the distribution of the various nickel minerals and compounds that may be present, great variations may occur from locality to locality as well as vertically in a deposit. From such "run of

Jan 1, 1951