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By Garland Likins

High strain PDA testing has become common for verification of capacity of both driven and bored piles. It is equally applicable to Augered-Cast-in-Place (ACIP) Piles. It also evaluates other aspects of the installation such as integrity. The benefit of high strain dynamic test results for the relatively low cost of the tests compared to conventional static testing has resulted in widespread use. The method is described and specific procedures for testing ACIP piles are outlined. Example results demonstrate the application.

Jan 1, 2000

By A. J. Kraemer

The Bureau of Mines for a number of years has been carrying on an investigation of properties of crude oils from producing fields in the United States and has published a series of reports on different fields, including oil fields of Texas3. Production Data The Spindletop field was discovered in 1901 when the pay sand was found at deaths of about 800 feet. During the following twenty-five years a number of attempts were made to find a deep productive sand. All attempts sere failures until a roll drilled by the Yount Lee Oil Company found oil late in 1925. An intensive drilling campaign began at once, and the production of the Spindletop field increased to a daily average of 93,217 barrels in September, 1926; the present production is estimated at 66,000 barrels doily. Tile following table taken from the Oil and Gas Journal for February 10, 1927, shows the daily average and the total production by ninths for 1926.

Jan 1, 1927

By E. P. Klier, Jane Jellison

The course of the transformations on cooling in a series of Cu-A1 alloys has been followed by means of thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and optical metallogrAphy. Specimen size was found to have a pronounced effect on the time of completion of the pearlite transformation due to modification in the unmber of nuclei. The ordeving transformation zvas observed for all cooling rates for all alloys studied, and is considered insuppvessible. At intermediate cooling' rates, a transitional struchire for 011 alloy compositions and based ox the bainite reaction was observed. The alloys of aluminum and copper possess a eu-tectoidal region at from about 9.4 to 16 pct Al. Above the critical temperature, the disordered bcc phase, 0, is stable. At subcritical temperatures, the 0 phase decomposes under equilibrium conditions into the stable phases, a and y,. At the eutectoid composition, these phases develop a lamellar pearlite structure, in appearance much like that found in steels. During rapid quenching from supercritical temperatures, the diffusion processes required for the formation of the equilibrium phases are suppressed, and the 0 transforms to an acicular martensitic phase, designated B or y' depending on the aluminum content, or to a mixture of the two. Early investigators of this system concentrated on determining the equilibrium phase diagram, ''' the structure of the equilibrium phases,3 and later the isothermal decomposition of the 0 phase at subcritical temperatures, or the decomposition of the martensite on tempering. Other work which treated the nonequilibrium transformations concentrated largely on the martensite transformations and the structure of the b and y' phases.15"17 Since the pearlite and martensite transformations in this system resemble those in steels, the one being formed by nucleation and growth of adjacent lamellae of the equilibrium phases, and the other by a diffusionless, shear-type transformation, the present study has been undertaken to investigate the structures formed on continuous cooling, with the objective of constructing cooling transformation diagrams analogous to those derived for alloy steel systems. In particular it was desired to determine whether parallels between the A1-Cu and iron-iron carbide systems on continuous cooling extended to encompass the intermediate phase, namely the bainite structures, which form by a combined martensitic-diffusion mechanism,'' but which are supersaturated with respect to the equilibrium phase upon which their crystal structure is based. To this end the transformations in representative alloys of the Cu-A1 B eutectoid system have been followed, using the methods of thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and optical microscopy. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Materials. The materials tested were those used by Klier and Grmko 5 in their study of the isothermal decomposition of these alloys. The alloys were melted in graphite crucibles and chill-cast into 5 by 2 by 1/4 in. ingots. The ingots were then hot-rolled to sheets 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 in. thick. The compositions are given in Table I. Specimen Preparation. Specimens for thermal analysis were in the form of small squares approximately 1/4 in. on a side. For the 11.9 and 13.5 Al-Cu alloys, the sheet thickness was 1/16 in. and for the 10.5 A1-Cu alloy the 1/32-in. sheet was used. One lead of a chromel-alumel thermocouple was spot-welded to either face of the square with the specimen itself thus forming the hot junction of the thermocouple. Specimens for X-ray analysis were prepared as filings from martensitic sheet stock and were sealed in glass ampoules under 1/2 atm of argon. Metallographic examination of the powder specimens was carried out on a portion of the heat-treated filings mounted in lucite. All specimens were examined metallographic ally after etching

Jan 1, 1965

On the following pages are abstracts of papers published by the Institute during the year 1932 as Technical Publications, Preprints, in bound volumes and in Mining and Metallurgy. For abstracts of papers that appear in bound volumes in 1932 but that were published as Technical Publications in 1930 or 1931, see the Transactions for those years. Papers that appear in this volume are not abstracted here. Many of the Technical Publications have been reprinted in bound volumes. Information regarding this disposition, and number of pages in each paper, may be found in the list beginning on page 309. Volume numbers are given as listed on page 3 and in the paragraph at the beginning of the index, page 315. The abstracts are grouped as follows: Page Page Metal Mining.................... 265 ferrous Alloys)................. 279 Milling and Concentration......... 268 Coal Division.................... 287 Iron and Steel Division............ 270 Petroleum Division............... 292 Nonferrous Metallurgy (Reduction Nonmetallic Minerals............. 299 of Ores)....................... 277 Mining Geology.................. 301 Rare Minerals and Metals......... 279 Mining Administration (Accounting, Institute of Metals Division (Found- Taxation, Industrial Relations). . 304 ing and Metallography of Non- Geophysical Prospecting........... 304 Metal Mining The Mineral Industry. By Scott Turner. (Min. & Met., June, 265. 3500 words.) Abstract of an address delivered before the Royal Canadian Institute, Toronto, April 16, briefly outlining the importance of mining in the United States, in Canada, and in the world. Comparison is made of the mineral production for 1886, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1929, showing that in the 43 years from 1886 to 1929 that of the world increased nearly tenfold, of the United States over twelvefold and of Canada thirtyfold, but that Canada's output was equivalent to only 2 per cent of the world total and to 5 per cent of that of the United States in 1929. Statistical tables and graphs show value of production, percentage of world production contributed by Canada and the United States, etc. The mining situation in Canada is briefly reviewed: only those American engineers who have had occasion to examine the figures appreciate the rapidity of growth of Canadian mineral production. The treatment of minerals involves vast complex industries. When we are producing, say, 6 billion annually, the employment of 2 million workers provides indirect support to perhaps 10 million people. Exploiting mineral deposits is peculiar in certain ways, for the deposits are exhaustible, are of rare occurrence when measured in terms of outcrop area compared to total earth area, and may suddenly be handicapped or superseded by new discoveries; moreover, the economic position of the contained metals is 'affected by the use of scrap metal and the existence of invisible stocks. The largest and most valuable of the mineral deposits are not the metals, but rather the fuels. The record of the coal industry in recent years is one of brilliant technical achievement; its economic position is far from satisfactory. A so-called world fuel

Jan 1, 1932

By R. F. Hehemann, R. H. Goodenow

Thermal arrest, hot-stage microscopy, and transtnission electron microscopy techniques have been employed to study the transformations in low-carbon iron and Fe-9 pct Ni alloys. In continuous cooling experiments, each alloy transforms at an essentially constant temperature for cooling rates below the critical rate required for martensite formation. However, high-tenzperature transformation in pure iron takes place by a different mechanism than that in the 9 pct Ni alloys. Pure iron exhibits an equi-a a structure with a low and random dislocation density while the 9 pct Ni alloy exhibits a cell or lathlike substructure analogous to that of low-carbon martensite. This same substructure characterizes upper bainite in higher-carbon inaterials. UNTIL relatively recently, diffusionless transformations have been considered to take place by the same mechanism and have been termed mar-tensitic transformations.l-3 The most characteristic feature2 of this mode of transformation is the shape change produced by a shear deformation and growth of the product phase frequently occurs at an extremely high velocity approaching that of an elastic wave.4'5 A different mechanism of diffusionless transformation was recognized first in Cu-Ga and other copper-base alloys.6,7 From the absence of surface tilting in these alloys, it has been concluded that transformation is not accomplished by the cooperative shear displacements that occur in mar-tensitic reactions. Transformation presumably takes place by the rapid movement of an incoherent interface which is capable of propagating across parent grain boundaries. Although the transformation is diffusionless in the macroscopic sense, advancement of these interfaces is accomplished by an atom by atom rearrangement. Transformations of this type therefore require thermal activation and are generally operative only at high temperature. Although requiring short-range diffusion at the interface, propagation still occurs so rapidly that the reaction cannot be suppressed with normal cooling rates.7 The resulting microstructures exhibit large, irregular-shaped regions of the product phase, which are essentially free of crystallographic features. Consequently, these reactions have been termed massive transformations. Transformation by the massive mechanism has been reported to occur in ferrous systems involving pure iron and binary alloys of iron with nickel, chromium, and silicon by Gilbert and owen.' The Fe-Ni system is of special interest in that the massive transformation was observed in alloys with less than 15 pct Ni while alloys having more than about 28 pct Ni transformed by the conventional mar-tensitic mechanism. By employing cooling rates substantially higher than those used by Gilbert and Owen, Swanson and Parr have been able to suppress the massive transformation in alloys with 0 to 10 pct Ni9 and produce martensite as revealed by surface relief. The massive transformation in the alloys having less than 15 pct Ni was identified by the lack of surface relief and an irregular rather than clearly acicular microstructure.' Speich and Swann, using thin-foil electron microscopy, identified three distinctly different structures10 in quenched binary Fe-Ni alloys. From 0 to 4 pct Ni the structure consisted of blocky grains of a with a low and random dislocation density. Alloys with 4 to 25 pct Ni exhibited a cell structure with a high dislocation density; and at greater than 25 pct Ni the structure consisted of internally twinned plates. The structural change at approximately 4 pct Ni suggests that alloys with low nickel content transform by a different mechanism than those with intermediate nickel contents and the transition from the cellular to the internally twinned structures at approximately 25 pct Ni is analogous to the transition from needles to internally twinned plates that occurs over a narrow range of carbon contents in Fe-C martensites.11,12 Conventional bainitic and martensitic modes of austenite decomposition operate in ternary Fe-C-Ni alloys having less than 10 pct Ni. This investigation was conducted in order to explore the conditions under which the massive, bainitic, and martensitic transformations occur and the relationships between these modes of decomposition.

Jan 1, 1965

By T. D. Yensen

IN the investigation of the magnetic properties of iron-nickel alloys,1 it was found necessary in order to make the alloys forgeable, or malleable, to add small quantities of some other element. Iron-nickel alloys have been known for nearly a century, but have been made in commercial quantities only since 1885. Their remarkable mechanical properties were disclosed by Riley in 1889 and from that time on a large amount of research work has been done both to discover new properties and to correlate the results obtained.2 Lately the Bureau of Standards has collected the published data in a special circular3 giving in compact form an account of the properties of the iron-nickel alloys. It also contains a clear historical sketch of the development as well as a selected bibliography. The chief difficulty with the development of iron-nickel alloys was that the "pure" alloys do not forge readily. The addition of small amounts of manganese, however, made the alloys forgeable, and manganese has therefore come to be regarded as a necessary constituent of nickel steels. The present paper shows to what extent manganese is needed for various nickel contents and also what is the effect of other alloying elements on the forgeability. It also touches upon the cause of forgeability but refers to other sources for more exhaustive treatises, on the subject. The alloys were prepared by melting electrolytic iron and electrolytic nickel with of without other alloying elements in the desired proportions in a magnesia crucible in a vacuum furnace under a. pressure of 1 mm. mercury. The ingots weighing about 2 kg. were allowed to cool in vacuo. If pipes or blowholes were present, the ingots were cut in such

Jan 1, 1920

By K. Musgrave, E. Solis

"This paper tells the story of how the Dome Mine in South Porcupine increased its maintenance effectiveness and reduced its maintenance costs in two phases. In the first phase, a maintenance audit was conducted, and the results led to some changes that improved maintenance, especially in the underground equipment area. The audit methods, and the changes made will be reviewed. In the second phase, management made changes in the maintenance organization and methods, following a prolonged strike during which management operated the mine. These changes were in part the result of insights learned from their hands-on operating experience. IntroductionEarly in 1989 the Dome Mine of Placer Dome Inc. in South Porcupine, Ontario, decided to improve the effectiveness of the Plant Department. The Plant Department was centralized, except for a mill mechanical crew, and serviced all operations, a townsite of 120 houses, a curling rink, and an arena. The department also operated the powerhouse, the hoists, the mine dry and provided mechanical/ electrical engineer services.At that time the Dome Mine, located in the east end of the city of Timmins and Canada's first large gold mine originally discovered in 1909, was producing about 3500 tons of ore per day with about 742 employees. Over the 83 years of continuous operation of Dome over 50 million short tons of gold ore have been processed. The Plant Department consisted of 156 hourly and 24 staff employees. At present, the mine is producing 4000 tons of ore per day with a total of 341 employees on the payroll. The Plant Department consists of 80 hourly-rated and 18 staff employees."

Jan 1, 1993

By R. W. Raymond

This name is applied to the present mining law, as enacted in 1872 and since, to indicate its leading characteristic—in which it differs from all previous mining laws of this or any other country. The earlier act, passed in 1866, was practically the first attempt of Congress to deal with the question of mining titles upon the public domain. It was framed after nearly twenty years of acquiescence on the part of the Government in the self-constituted tribunals, officials, rules, and customs of the mining districts. In its recognition of these, and in several other particulars, the act of 1866 was open to serious criticisms. It is the purpose of this paper, not to trace the history of legislation on this subject, or show in detail what were the faults of the earlier law, but rather, by a discussion of certain aspects of the present law, to point out how great a revoluition it has effected in the rights of mining locators, and to indicate some of the difficulties attending its application. In the attempt to correct the vagueness of the act of 1866 an entirely new elernent was introduced into the law, bringing with it a new set of difficulties. Under the act of 1866 and the miners' customs which it followed, the lode was the thing claimed and subsequently acquired by patent. And the claim to a given number of feet on the longitudinal course of the lode was rooted in 'a discovery of any part of the lode in any part of the claim. ("Extensions" could in many districts—perhaps universally—be located and claimed on the strength of the discovery in the principal claim to which they referred; but this is a point not essential to the present discussion.) It was not necessary to find the outcrop or the upper edge of a lode in order to lay a valid location upon it. An explorer, sinking a shaft and intersecting a lode not already discovered and claimed by another, could claim by that discovery the number of feet along that lode which the local laws might permit (not exceeding the maximum set by the United States statute) whether his sur-

Jan 1, 1884

ATTENTION has recently been directed to the subject of dust production and methods of allaying same in the Broken Hill mines, so that the time would seem opportune for the local branch of the Institute to discuss certain features of an important phase of the health question in connection with underground work. Tests conducted in the Broken Hill South mine and at other mines at Broken Hill have shown that the ordinary operatioils of mining, such as boring, blasting, and shovelling, may be accompanied by the production of considerable dust unless water is judiciously used.In South Africa·dust particles under 5 microns size are regarded as dangerous, becailse they are so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, and wm esc'ape the protections set up by nature in the nose and throat, and thus may be inhaled in large quantity. A micron is 1 25000th part of an inch. This paper contains an account of the work done on the Broken Hill South mine chiefly, though some tests were done on other local mines.An acknowledgment is due to Mr. T. A. Reid, of the Broken Hill South mine, who conducted some of the tests herein mentioned, and under whose supervision most dust counts were made. Numerous dust samples have been taken by means of thekonimeter, an instrument designed by Dr. Kotze, the Government mining engineer of the Union of South Africa, and fully described...

Jan 1, 1921

By D. Harker, M. J. Murphy

The mechanism by which age-hardening takes .place is still not completely understood. The principal theories range from the extreme of "precipitaiion-hardening" to that of "order-hardening," with many intermediate gradations. In the hope of obtaining new data on which to base a choice among the many theories, the authors have made electron micrographs of formvar replicas taken from metallic specimens at various stages of age-hardening. The results so obtained on an alloy of 2 per cent beryllium in copper and one of 20 per cent molybdenum in iron will be described in the following pages, as well as the technique used in preparing the replicas. Preparation of Formvae. Replicas of Metallic Specimens This section is concerned with the techniques that have roved successful in preparing formvar replicas for studying the microstructure of metals with the electron microscope. Because of its simplicity and accuracy, the formvar replica1 method developed in the General Electric Research Laboratory has been used exclusively, since it is much simpler than the silica replica method of Heidenreich and Peck2 and produces as good results. The formvar method to be described requires a technique acquired only by practice, and no foolproof set of rules can be given. it is a rapid method and a replica can be obtained in less than five minutes under favorable conditions. This does not mean that perfect replicas can be produced every five minutes, but rather that one can well afford to take several strippings* in order to produce a replica of high quality. The metallographic technique required for replica work—very fine polishing and etching with very dilute solutions—is described here. It can be said, in general, that almost any surface that has been carefully prepared for a photomicrograph at 1000 or more diameters can be used to obtain a replica for the electron microscope. Preparation of Metallographic Specimens The preparation of the metallographic specimens is somewhat more exacting than that usually given to samples to be used for inspection under the light microscope. After much experimentation, it was concluded that the best method consists in polishing the metal through to the coarse cloth, then etching and repolishing on final cloth until the layer of distorted metal is removed. After this procedure has been completed, a dilute etch—to approximately the depth necessary for a micrograph at 1000 diameters—usually produces a sur-

Jan 1, 1945

By Homer Turner

THE nature and comparative features of anthracite and bituminous coals have been discussed by the writer in two previous papers.1 Although this paper is offered as a further contribution to the subject, it seems desirable at the outset to repeat some of the descriptive matter of the early works in order to show the actual connection between various constituents of both coals and the new photomicrographs and other physical and chemical properties.

Jan 1, 1929

By Henry M. Howe

This paper may be regarded as a report of progress of an investigation into the influence of prior exposure to different high temperatures, under different conditions, on the properties of steel after it has been cooled completely. The following are the chief divisions: II.—Experiments on toughening manganese-steel by sudden cooling. III.—A study of the critical points of common or carbon-steel, chiefly by examining the spontaneous retardations which occur in heating and cooling it, and by examining the ductility of pieces of steel which have been cooled suddenly from different temperatures by quenching them in water or brine. IV.—A brief note on Osmond's theory. V.—A study of the critical points by examining the ductility of pieces of steel which have been cooled slowly from different temperatures at, above, and below them. VI.—A description of the furnace used, with notes on thermoelectric pyrometry. It remains to throw further light on the questions studied by ascertaining the condition of the carbon and the hardness proper, and by studying the microstructure and the fracture of the many pieces treated. I hope to present later the results of experiments in some of these directions. With few exceptions, the experiments have been performed in my private laboratory. I tender sincere thanks to my assistant, Mr. William Haskins, S.B., on whom most of the labor has fallen, for his zealous and intelligent co-operation; to the Sterling Steel Co. for their extra hard steel, Series 17; and to Mr. Joseph Hartshorne and the Pottstown Iron Co. for their soft basic steel. Series 8, 9,10, and 18 were supplied by Messrs. Spaulding, Jennings & Co., of the West Bergen Steel Works; to them also my thanks are due. The temperature of the pieces treated has been very carefully

Jan 1, 1894

By Dale R. Ralston, Roy E. Williams, Gerry V. Winter, George L. Bloomsburg

INTRODUCTION This manuscript is based on site inspections of five existing mines and the detailed analysis of two of the five. The detailed analysis and mathematical models of the two mines are presented herein in order to demonstrate a method of predicting mine water inflow using existing mines as a data base. Water management procedures were studied at all mines. Our original criteria for mine selection were that the mines be less than five years old and have an inflow rate in excess of 2000 gpm (7.6 m3/min). Background hydrologic and hydrogeologic data were required so that two of the mines could be used for our computer modeling experiments. Our original criteria proved to be difficult to meet. We contacted numerous mines via various sources. Many mines were unable to meet the cri¬teria stated or were not interested in cooperating with us. Therefore, we allowed some flexibility in the application of these criteria to satisfy our orig¬inal requirements. Although the visitations at all the mines are not discussed herein the characteristics of the two mines simulated are presented. These simulated mines consist of a uranium mine in New Mexico and a lead mine in Missouri. The mines and owners will remain anonymous by request. URANIUM MINE-CASE HISTORY NUMBER 1 Mine Location The uranium mine that we simulated is located in northwestern New Mexico. The ground surface at the uranium mine is at an elevation of approx¬imately 7000 ft (2134 m) above mean sea level. The climate is arid to semi-arid with an average annual precipitation of approximately 10 in. (25.4 cm) (John and West, 1963). Geologic Setting It is essential that a conceptual model of the stratigraphy, hydrostratigraphy, and structural geology of a mine site be developed prior to simulation by a mathematical model. If such a conceptual model is not developed prior to simulation major errors are difficult to avoid. The uranium mine we have simulated is located in the San Juan Basin (Fig. 68), which is a structural basin located in northwestern New Mexico and adjacent parts of Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. The sedimentary rocks present in the deepest part of the basin are nearly 15,000 ft (4572 m) thick (John and West, 1963). The regional dip of the sedimen¬tary rocks in the Grants area is generally northward toward the San Juan Basin; the regional attitude is modified locally by normal faults and folds (Hilbert, 1963). The rocks of interest in this area are sedimentary in origin and range in age from Penn¬sylvanian to Cretaceous. They rest on the Precam¬brian core of the Zuni Uplift. Associated intrusive and extrusive rocks are of Tertiary and Quaternary ages (Hilbert, 1963). The deepest sedimentary unit of interest at this mine site is the Morrison Formation as described by Hilbert (1963). The Morrison Formation con¬sists of three members in the general area of the mine site; the deepest member is the Recapture. The Recapture Member consists of alternating beds of gray sandstone and grayish red siltstone or mud¬stone with strata up to several feet in thickness. Only a few small deposits of uranium are contained within the Recapture Member. The Westwater Canyon Member overlies the Recapture Member of the Morrison Formation. The Westwater Can¬yon Member is approximately 150 ft (46 m) thick and consists of light brown to gray, poorly sorted, arkosic sandstone, and some interbedded gray mud¬stone. The Poison Canyon Formation denoted in subsequent discussions, tables, and figures was de¬termined to be a part of the Westwater Canyon Member. The separate connotation is used for the description of mining operations and hydraulic properties but a separate physical description is not included. This member of the Morrison Formation contains many large deposits of uranium. This is (some pages in this article are damaged)

Jan 1, 1986

By R. J. Cowan

In the art of cementation a controversy has been going on for years as to whether solid or gaseous carbon is the active agent in carburizing steel. More recently opinion has crystallized into a compromise to the effect that carburizing is a gaseous cementation of steel in the presence of solid carbon. The importance of this theory has a particular bearing upon the work to be described. In the art of carburizing, use is commonly made of such words as '' Catalytic" "atomic," "nascent" and "activated," in an attempt to describe the process. These words are used indiscriminately. For instance, the gas is said to be "catalytic" and carbon to be "nascent," or vice versa. In using these expressions, investigators are confirming the acceptance in their minds of the active conditions of both gas and carbon in the cementation process. Reactions at Metal Surfaces For many years attention has been directed to the consideration of reactions that occur on metal surfaces. When heated under the influence of certain metals a complex gas will be broken down and one of the constituents thereof usually found to be very active chemically in combining with the metal. The process of nitriding is an example of this type of reaction. In this case ammonia (NH3) breaks down at the metal surface and the nitrogen which is thus liberated reacts with the surface to form a nitride whereas molecular nitrogen not so liberated is inert and will not react chemically with the metal. Whatever term or terms may be used to describe such reactions, the fact remains that they are highly important and valuable in their commercial applications. Since the metal surface plays so important a part in these reactions, it is evident that any accumulation of reaction products thereon interferes seriously with the progress of the reactions. For this reason it is desirable to remove all such products as rapidly as they are formed in order to bring active gas into contact with the surface and thus facilitate the desired reactions. This is accomplished best by conducting the operation in a continuous manner, thereby causing the reacting gases to pass over the

Jan 1, 1931

By E. W. Dewing

The nature of solid solutions of sodium in non-paphitic carbon at temperatures near 1000°C has been investigated by an electrolytic technique. The activity coefficient is found to vary strongly with the heat-treatment temperature of the carbon, and an analysis of the energy terms involved suggests that this is due to variations in the Fermi level. The diffusion coefficient for sodium is in the range implying that the sodium atoms (or ions) are not bound to specific sites on the carbon, in agreement with lack of evidence for specific compounds in the activity -composition curves. In the light of These results phenomena occurring in aluminum reduction cell linings are dis-cussed. It is concluded that sodium migrates by diffusion through the carbon lallice and not the pores, and that A14C9 is formed within the lining hy The excess of NaF invariably found in used linings is formed by this reaction and by air oxidation: There has recently been much interest in the swelling of carbon which occurs when it is made cathodic in an aluminum electrolysis cell, and there is general agreement that the phenomenon is due to the penetration of sodium atoms, derived from the reaction on the carbon lattice. (NaF and AlF3 are constituents of the fused-salt electrolyte.) The low-temperature lamellar compounds of potassium with graphite are well-known, and one compound between sodium and graphite has been reported.4 There is, however, virtually no information on the basic chemistry of the interaction of sodium with nongraphitic carbon at high temperatures, although Dell3 has made some fundamental studies of rates of penetration. At the time the present work was carried out these were not available. Rapoport and samoilenkol had measured rates of physical expansion in a dilatometer, using the fractional increase in length of a carbon specimen after electrolysis in a cryolite bath for 2 hr as an index of susceptibility to cathodic swelling. Work here with a similar apparatus showed that expansion (of a 1.5-in.-diam cylindrical specimen) ceased in less than 20 hr, and that the final expansion was much more reproducible than the value at some intermediate time. This suggested that an equilibrium was being set up, and that a thermodynamic approach was required. The results obtained are not as accurate as had been hoped, but they are the only ones of their type available and have enabled useful conclusions to be drawn. The experimental work was divided into two parts: an investigation of the activity-concentration diagram for sodium in carbon, and a rough determination of the diffusion rate. For the former, most of the experiments were made with petroleum coke even though this is not a form of carbon used in cell linings. It has the advantages, however, that it is a homogeneous material, that it is low in ash, and that its structure is reasonably well understood. Anthracites and coal cokes gave results of the same type as obtained with petroleum coke, but the reprodu-cibility from specimen to specimen was extremely poor. EXPERIMENTAL 1) The Activity-Composition Diagram for Sodium in Carbon. The petroleum coke was ground, pressed at 40,000 psi into plates 19 by 9 by 2 mm without added binder, and heat-treated. The sodium activities were established by an electrolytic technique. The carbon was made anodic in a cryolite bath with an aluminum cathode, and a controlled potential, E, applied so that the sodium activity at the anode was given by ln Na = 1n asa - EF/RT [21 where as, is the sodium activity generated by Reaction [I]. The relative activity is sufficient for many purposes and is simply given by The value of Na not at present known, but when the thermodynamics of the Na-A1 system have been worked out it can be derived from the equilibrium

Jan 1, 1963

By L. Seigle, R. Resnick

An inert-marker movement experiment indicates that the ratio of the intrinsic diffusion coefficients DC:DTa = 80:l in TaC at 2500°C. Measurements of the diffmion coefficient of carbon in nonstoichiometric TaC at temperatures from 1700° to 2700°C reveal that Dc increases with decreasing carbon content, but much less than expected from the probable change in vacancy concentration with carbon content. A diffusion process involving two simultaneously operating mechanisms is postulated, and shown to be theoretically feasible. The average value of the carbon diffusion coefficient is given by DC = 0.18 exp[(-85,000 ± 3000)/RT] sq cm per sec over the composition range 46 to 49.5 at. pct C. BECAUSE of their high melting points and hardness, the carbides of the IV, V, and VI group transition metals, along with those of uranium, have attracted considerable interest for applications at high temperatures. In these applications the reactivity of the materials is important, and, since rates of diffusion within the compounds influence reactivity, a knowledge of diffusion kinetics and mechanisms is desirable. While many investigations of the mechanical and electrical properties of these compounds have been made, only two fundamental investigations of diffusion in the carbides are known. Chubb, Getz, and Townleyl measured the diffusivity of carbon and uranium in UC, and Gel'd and Liubimov2 measured the diffusivity of carbon and niobium in NbC. This paper describes an investigation of the diffusion of carbon in tantalum monocarbide and, in particular, the influence of carbon deficiency on this process. Tantalum carbide melts at approximately 3800°C, which makes it one of the highest melting materials known. The compound exists over a rather wide range of carbon Content.3-7 At the peritectic temperature, 3240°C, the phase extends from about 36 to 50 at. pct C. Although the compound can exist with a substantial carbon deficiency, the high carbon phase boundary remains near the stoichiometric composition over the entire temperature range; i.e., no carbon excess is observed. The structure of TaC is the NaCl type wherein carbon atoms normally occupy the octahedral sites in a somewhat expanded fcc lattice of tantalum. Decrease of the lattice parameter with decreasing carbon suggests that the removal of carbon introduces octahedral vacancies into the lattice. I) EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS AND RESULTS Inert-Marker Experiments. In a compound such as TaC the interstitial element would be expected to diffuse more rapidly than the metal. This was confirmed by an inert-marker experiment, following Srnigelskas and irkeendall.8 Ideally, the markers should be placed at the interface between a slab of low-carbon TaC and graphite, and their movement during subsequent inter-diffusion measured. Unfortunately, no solid could be found which is unreactive in contact with carbon at the high temperatures employed in these experiments. In order to circumvent this problem, a specimen was designed in which the markers consisted of several small canals running just below the surface of a tantalum slab. This specimen was prepared by machining grooves on the surface of the tantalum slab and then diffusion-bonding a thin plate of tantalum to the slab over the grooves. The surface of the plate was then ground down until the distance between the canals and surface was as small as possible (about 0.01 cm). Thus, the canals would lie entirely within the TaC phase after a short period of diffusion. The diffusion anneal consisted of immersing the metal sample in high-purity graphite powder and heating for approximately 10 hr at 2500°C under vacuum. At this temperature, the vapor pressure is sufficiently high and the transfer of carbon from graphite sufficiently rapid to allow the surface of the diffusion sample to attain the stoichiometric carbon concentration very quickly. Conclusions regarding the relative diffusion rates of carbon and tantalum in the compound layers (TaC and Ta2C) can be drawn from the location of the canals after the diffusion anneals. If the growth of the layers is governed mainly by the diffusion of carbon, as expected, the canals should remain close to the sample surface. If the diffusion of tantalum contributes appreciably to formation of the compound layers, the distance from the markers (canals) to the surface should increase. Fig. 1 shows, diagrammatically, the appearance of the specimens after diffusion, and Table I presents the depth below the surface at which the

Jan 1, 1967

By Y. Wang, J. D. Miller, C. L. Lin, Virginia Tech

Conventional flotation machines are typically limited to a particle topsize of 150-200 microns due to inherent constraints created by the pulp and froth phases. To overcome these limitations, a novel fluidized-bed flotation system called the HydroFloatTM Separator has been developed specifically for the purpose of floating coarse particles containing only small amounts of exposed hydrophobic minerals. Over the last decade, this technology has been successfully applied to industrial minerals with several full-scale units installed to recover particles up to and exceeding 3,000 microns diameter. More recently, sulfidebased test work has shown that this novel device is also capable of recovering metalliferous values at a grind size that is much coarser than currently used in industrial concentrators. In the current study, high resolution X-ray microtomography (HRXMT) was used to experimentally compare the degree of exposed grain surface area necessary to recover coarse particles using the HydroFloatTM technology to that attainable using a traditional mechanical flotation cell. The data indicate that exposed grain surface area is a critical factor for coarse particle flotation. For the gold-bearing sulfide ore examined in this study, the HRXMT data suggest that near complete recoveries of coarse (850x500 µm) multiphase particles containing as little as 1% exposed grain surface area were realistically attainable using the HydroFloatTM technology. As such, this new technology may offer a unique opportunity for increasing concentrator capacity by increasing the primary grind size needed for rougher/scavenger separations.

Jan 1, 2016

By R. J. Wagner, F. F. Craig, H. G. Riley, J. D. Griffith

Peripheral water injection has been underway in the Sholem Alechem Fault Block "A" Unit, Stephens County, Okla., since 1955. In the engineering planning of the flood, it was recognized that maintenance of pressure in the large, dry gas caps was vitally necessary to prevent the loss of an estimated 27 million bbl of oil through saturation of the gas caps by the oil banks moving updip on the peripheral flood pattern. The development of an abundant, low-cost water supply and the rising cost of makeup-gas purchases indicated that gas-cap control by water injection was desirable from an economic standpoint, provided an eflective water barrier could be placed without premature water breakthrough into downdip oil producers. A laboratory model scaled to the existing reservoir conditions was comtructed to evaluate the feasibility of gas-cap water injection. Model studies indicated that (I) water injected at the edge of the gar-oil contact would form a continuous barrier between the oil and gas zones, and (2) water would advance uniformly downdip without segregation due to gravity effects provided a specified, minimum water-injection rate was maintained. The model test results also indicated that it was not necessary to fill the gas cap completely with water. Water injection at the edge of one of the gas caps was initiated in March, 1958, to field test gas-cap water injection. Water breakthrough occurred at a downstruc-ture producing well in April, 1959, after approximately 2.5 million bbl of water had been injected into the gas cap. This was the volume calculated to be required to form the barrier between the oil zone and gas cap. This performance indicates that prevention of oil encroachment into dry gas caps in a peripheral water flood by water injection at the gas-oil contact appears practical and that the model studies provided a valid prediction of field performance. INTRODUCTION The Sholem Alechem Fault Block "A" Sims Sand Unit was one of the fist major waterflood projects in Oklahoma to utilize a peripheral injection pattern. Design of control measures to minimize oil encroachment into the large crestal gas caps was one of the greatest single problems during engineering planning of this flood. Engineering studies indicated that saturation of the gas caps with oil displaced by the peripheral water flood could result in a loss of about 27 million bbl of oil, or over one-half the estimated waterflood recovery. This estimate was based on a residual oil saturation after water flooding of 35 per cent pore volume, compared to the negligible oil saturation initially in the gas caps. The Sholem Alechem Springer field, located in Stephens County, Okla., is an elongated anticline with structural dips varying from 400 to 1,000 ft/mile. The structure contains numerous faults, some of which are sealing. The portion of the field considered in this paper is Fault Block "A", which is the largest of the five major fault segments in the field. A map of the unit is shown on Fig. 1. The unit is bounded on the east and west by major sealing faults, on the north by a water-oil contact and to the south by a deterioration of sand development. Two domes, each having gas caps, exist in the unit and are separated by a north-south fault as shown in Fig. 1. The sands being flooded are the Sims sand members of the Springer series of early Pennsylvanian age. The Sims sands average over 100 ft in thickness in Fault Block "A" and have a porosity of approximately 19 per cent. Core permeabilities average 160 md, with interstitial water saturation of about 23 per cent pore volume. Three different zones can be correlated over most of the area. However, they are commingled in most of the producing wells. The two upper zones, designated as First and Second Sims, are the most important. Both the First and Second Sims have gas caps in the east dome, while only the First Sims has a gas cap in the west dome. These gas caps, whose limits are also shown on Fig. 1, initially occupied nearly 11 per cent of the total reservoir volume. The major concern of this paper is the control of the two gas caps in the First Sims sand. Fig. 2 is a cross section, to scale, across the east dome of this formation. Notable features are the relatively shallow dip, the deterioration of the First Sims sand on the south side of the gas cap and the water-oil contact on the northern edge. The formation dip at the gas-oil contact in this cross section is approximately 5".

By Lynne Bowen

"On the da y shift in Number One Mine at Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, on May 3, 1887, William Griffiths, a coal miner with many years experience, fired a shot to advance the face of the crosscut. A flame ran out for a distance of fifteen feet along the roof and then extended up the slope for ten to twelve feet, and although many would have called this a blowing out shot, Griffiths said it was just a feeder. ""A blower"", he said, ""would have caused an explosion."" 1There was no explosion. Griffiths reported gas and the area was cleared for three hours and then work resumed. When the shift changed at 3:00 p.m., the fireman reported all places clear of gas and the ventilation good.2The ventilation in Number One Mine was the best anyone had ever seen. The air in the mine was almost too cold. The current was so strong that it sometimes blew out the flame on the miners' fish oil lamps. It delivered five to six hundred cubic feet of air for every man and animal working in the mine. The law required only one hundred cubic feet 3The miners considered Number One to be relatively safe. The manager was proud of the mine and its up-to-date equipment"". Recently, there had been reports from France and America about the explosiveness of coal dust, but the manager did not think his mine was sufficiently dusty to be dangerous.5 The dust lay thick on the floor of the mine. Sometimes when a shot was fired the dust rose in great clouds. When a miner was shovelling it, the dust would billow up and be carried off by the current of air. The dust was also in the roof and in the stopings, put there intentionally to fill up the spaces and prevent the accumulation of methane gas."

Jan 1, 1992

By Ben D. Thompson

Cemented Paste Backfill has proven to be of critical importance to the operation of a number of Canadian mines, primarily due to the rapid backfilling rate this method permits. In order to improve the efficiency of this backfill system (i.e. optimize binder contents, fill fence design, and the employment of two stage filling strategies) there is a requirement to better understand its geomechanical behaviour. In response, in-situ experiments have been conducted in long-hole stopes to quantify the evolution of total earth pressures and pore pressures at a series of instrumented points within both the core of the backfill and close to fill fences. The deflection of fill fences as a result of paste loading has been measured and additional instrumentation has also been employed to measure cement hydration, negative pore pressures, and blasting induced vibrations within fresh and cured paste backfill. Installing geotechnical instrumentation within an open long-hole stope can be an extremely complex procedure and this paper details the methods that have been successfully employed. Preliminary results are presented, and the pressures induced by backfill with differing binder contents, at a number of different in-stope locations are considered.

May 1, 2009