Search Documents

By D. W. Carter, K. M. Fagin

Six new oil fields were discovered in the East and East Central Texas district during 1942. The Coke and Quitman fields, in Wood County, at this time appear to be the two most important oil discoveries for the year. The. four other oil fields discovered were Concord, in Anderson County; Kildare, in Cass County; Weiland (ClubLake), in Hunt County; and Larissa, in Cherokee County. The Rodessa lime in the Chapel Hill field, Smith County, provided the only new oil zone in older fields. The Hawkins field, Wood County, was the most active in drilling operations, 125 new wells being completed during the year. The Chapel Hill field tied the Coke field for second place with 30 completions each. The third most active field was Kildare, with 10 completions. Like the other oil-producing districts of the country, wartime restrictions reduced the number of oil and gas-well completions to 265 in 1942, compared with 964 completions in 1941. This represents a drop of 72 per cent and only a little more than one half enough to replace the 437 producing wells abandoned in the district during the year. Tn addition, the number of producing wells temporarily shut down nearly tripled, far two principal reasons: (I) the rule of the Petroleum Administration for War preventing operators from equipping more than, one well on each 10 surface acres with pumping or artificial-lift equipment, and (2) the Railroad Commission's issuance of various orders permitting the transfer of allowable for wells having high water-oil ratios and high gas-oil ratios to other wells capable of producing the same with less waste of reservoir energy. No changes were made in prices of crude oil in the district during 1942. Production and Probation The district produced 158,928,281 bbl. of oil and distillate during 1942, compared with 163,566,695 bbl. during 1941, which represents a decrease of 3 per cent. The East Texas field produced 120,680,595 bbl. of oil, compared with 130,377,793 during 1941; a reduction of 9,697,198 bbl., or 7.4 per cent. The production of this field represents 75.9 per cent of the district total, compared with the 79.7 per cent that it furnished in 1941. The district had an estimated basic daily oil allowable of 623,242 bbl. on Dec. 31, 1942. Approximately 31.8 per cent of the production in Texas during 1942 was supplied by this district, compared with 33 per cent during 1941- Changes in the annual production of newer and flush fields in this district are attributable either to a difference in the number of wells producing during the year or to changes in basic allowable and number of shutdown days due to shifting market dconditions brought on by the war. All regularly prorated fields in the district were shut down 123 days. Major exceptions were the East Texas field, closed128 days; Hawkiis, shut down 106 days; and Cayuga, Sulphur Bluff, Talco, and Rodessa, which

Jan 1, 1943

By Gregoire Gutzeit

THE development reported in this paper was begun by the author a number of years ago, while he was a lecturer on complex chemistry and metallurgy at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and in charge of that institution's research laboratory. Completion of the development and reduction to practice did not occur until last year at the Westport mill, laboratories and testing plant of the Dorr Company, where this method is now in general use for identifying and localizing the mineral constituents of both metallic and nonmetallic ores. It has proved to be a practical tool of the metallurgical staff at the Westport mill, devising unusual milling flowsheets for complex and refractory ore bodies. In a number of instances the findings have been successfully used as fundamental factors in the design and specification of complete metallurgical plants. Seven examples of the use of this method in solving practical milling problems are included in this paper. GENERAL OUTLINE The microscopic study of an ore, at first only of scientific interest, has proved extremely useful both in practical geology and in ore dressing. The binocular magnifying lenses for rough observation of the products of an ore-dressing plant have been in use for a long time; but only within the last few years has a systematic microscopical examination of ore samples become a normal tool of any research laboratory dealing with ore-dressing problems. Such an investigation avoids considerable loss of time as well as empirical trials and useless experimentation. It will generally indicate the correct grinding and often will suggest the proper method of treatment. The petrographic determination of transparent minerals in thin sections, or even in grains, has been perfected, and very accurate methods have been devised to meet any requirement, such as Feodorof's rotating stage on the petrographic microscope. Almost all transparent minerals can be positively identified by their optical properties; i.e., isotropism, anisotropism, color, pleochroism, refractory index, cleavage, crystal form, birefringence, and others. The identification of opaque minerals is a much more difficult problem and can be done only by using polished specimens. Unfortunately, most of the valuable metallic ores, and even some of the nonmetallic ones, are not transparent; therefore it has been necessary to develop a special technique for the determination of these minerals. Some optical properties-for instance, isotropism, anisotropism, color, cleavage, reflecting power-are often adequate in roughly classifying the mineral. Only "reflecting power" is a measurable value, provided special photometric equipment (ocular photometer or Orcel's photoelectric cell) is available. The other optical properties mentioned are more or less relative,

Jan 1, 1942

By Donald J. Drinkwater, M. C. Fuerstenau

Many important contributions to the more fundamental aspects of mineral processing have been made this past year. Mular1 researched the flotation characteristics of pure zinc oxide and also samples that had been doped with Al+++ and Cu++. Correlation of the response of pure zinc oxide to oleate flotation with a calculated zpc (from solution equilibrium) suggests that adsorption of oleate ion is coulombic in nature. Doping the sample with Al+++ (which will make the ZnO more n-type) had a marked effect on the maximum value of pH at which 50% recovery was obtained at constant collector addition. That is, when 0.5 mole percent Al+++ was added, the pH for 50% recovery was reduced by about four units. Treatment with Cu++ was found to have little effect on the flotation response of zinc oxide, even for additions of one mole percent. Since the zero points of charge of the Al+++ doped powders were not measured, it was not possible to correlate flotation data of these samples directly with charge phenomena.

Jan 2, 1966

By Ernest Kirkendall

The amount of research done in the last fen years on the subject of diffusion in solid metals is significant of the importance of this problem. To review the literature dealing with diffusion is unnecessary here. Deschl in 1912 reviewed the work that had been done on diffusion in solids and gave a bibliography of the literature published before that time. Mehl's paper in 19362 is an excellent review of diffusion in metals and contains a large bibliography. Of importance also for it? review and bibliography is an article by 14. I. Krynitsky.~ While considerable material lias appeared in the literature on diffusion in brass, the amount of information is not great compared to that pertaining to some of the other alloys. Most of the information published is of a qualitative nature; that which is quantitative varies considerably. Thus the quantitative determination of the rates of diffusion of copper and zinc in alpha brass by a new method appeared worth while. In the present investigation the rate of diffusion of zinc in approximately the same composition alpha brass has been determined :it three temperatures. Procedure The method used consisted of plating copper on a beta brass, heating it, to allow diffusion to take place, and measuring the concentration of copper by determining the lattice constant of the alloy. This method is unique in that it uses a beta brass of such a composition that at the tem perature at which diffusion takes place the beta brass is saturated wit11 copper. Thus, while the beta brass supplies thc zinc, no diffusion takes

Jan 1, 1939

By Ernest Kirkendall

The amount of research done in the last fen years on the subject of diffusion in solid metals is significant of the importance of this problem. To review the literature dealing with diffusion is unnecessary here. Deschl in 1912 reviewed the work that had been done on diffusion in solids and gave a bibliography of the literature published before that time. Mehl's paper in 19362 is an excellent review of diffusion in metals and contains a large bibliography. Of importance also for it? review and bibliography is an article by 14. I. Krynitsky.~ While considerable material lias appeared in the literature on diffusion in brass, the amount of information is not great compared to that pertaining to some of the other alloys. Most of the information published is of a qualitative nature; that which is quantitative varies considerably. Thus the quantitative determination of the rates of diffusion of copper and zinc in alpha brass by a new method appeared worth while. In the present investigation the rate of diffusion of zinc in approximately the same composition alpha brass has been determined :it three temperatures. Procedure The method used consisted of plating copper on a beta brass, heating it, to allow diffusion to take place, and measuring the concentration of copper by determining the lattice constant of the alloy. This method is unique in that it uses a beta brass of such a composition that at the tem perature at which diffusion takes place the beta brass is saturated wit11 copper. Thus, while the beta brass supplies thc zinc, no diffusion takes

Jan 1, 1939

By Thomas Fraser, David R. Mitchell

THE primary purpose of the loading plant is to transfer the finished product from the preparation machines to the railroad car, truck, or barge in which it is to go to market. Secondary purposes of the loading plant are: to prevent excessive degradation of sizes during loading, to reduce segregation as much as possible, and to prevent excessive quantities of very good or off-grade coal from entering any one car. Nonuniformity of consignments is one of the chief sources of complaints by consumers and coal merchants. A properly designed loading plant will do much to reduce complaints and insure uniformity, not only from shipment to shipment but also in each individual consignment along the length of the car and in cross section. DEGRADATION IN STORAGE, LOADING AND SHIPMENT The object in loading is not only to handle the coal without breakage and segregation, but also to produce a well-trimmed load that will ride to its destination without spillage o~ breakage en route. The small sizes present in a car-of prepared coal as received by the purchaser consist of: missed small sizes not screened out in the preparation plant, breakage during loading, and breakage caused by handling en route. For domestic sizes of anthracite shipped from the Pennsylvania anthracite field to Atlantic coast cities, the dealers' loss because of breakage in loading and shipment amounts to from 2 to 5 per cent and for anthracite shipped to Middle West cities, the loss is 8 to 9 per cent. This difference is in part because dealers in the Middle West rescreen their coal more thoroughly than is usual in the East. One dealer handling Illinois No. 6 coal shipped from southern Illinois mines to Chicago reports an average size loss of 10 per cent when lump coal is unloaded with a fork. This runs as low as 5 per cent for carefully loaded coal and as high as 15 per cent for carelessly loaded coal. An Ohio dealer estimates the degradation in loading and shipment of West Virginia coals consigned to Ohio cities as follows: Pocahontas lump

Jan 1, 1950

By C. J. Rodgers

The present day success of gravel packs to prevent or retard the migration of unconsolidated sands into the well bore is due to: (I) the use of a saline or non-aqueous, nonsolids drill fluid, (2) proper preparation of the well bore prior to gravel packing, and (3) pressure placement of the gravel. The experience gained from the "pressure pack" method of gravel packing indicates that sand-free fluid production can be maintained for a length of time sufficient to make the operation economically attractive. Data pertaining to the first 15 wells so completed by Gulf indicate that for each dollar spent to effect the completion, there will be a return of more than $2.92. The pressure pack technique of gravel packing is essentially the placing of gravel in and adjacent to the producing formations. This is done with fluid pressure and by the use of a drill fluid that will permit partial or complete loss of returns to the formation during placement. This technique was first intentionally used by Gulf in May, 1950, and since that time has been applied in more than 90 wells. Other advantages claimed for this type of completion are that the pressure placement of the gravel has a scouring effect on the casing perforations, that additional drainage channels to the well bore are created, and that the possibility of shifting of the formations adjacent to the casing is minimized and possibly prevented. During the past few years, the use of gravel to prevent or retard the migration of unconsolidated sands into the well bore has met with a favorable degree of success. Numerous methods and techniques of "gravel packing" have been used, each having its own relative merits, and with varying results. M. L. Cashion1 in 1939 ably reviewed the history of gravel packing to that time. As stated in his paper, ". .. the idea of gravel packing wells is not new." During the period 1939 to 1949, very little if any progress or change in technique in this type of completion was made. However, it was noted in some cases that during the placement of gravel, if there was a loss of drill fluid to the formation, there was a corresponding loss of gravel to the formation. Also, it was noted that in those gravel-packed completions (opposite casing perforations) that "sanded up," there was found to be an absence of gravel in the annular space between the liner and casing, although gravel had previously been placed in this space and no gravel had been removed from the well at the surface. These findings resulted in the placement of gravel with fluid pressure and by the use of a drill fluid that would permit partial or complete loss of returns to the formation during placement. Pressure placement of gravel became an accepted practice in late 1949 and early 1950. Another fact brought to light that has contributed to the current success of gravel pack completions is that drilling fluids containing solids will to some extent cause plugging of the screening medium or blocking of the producing section. The removal of these solids by chemical action, mechanical action, or a combination of the

Jan 1, 1955

By MARK H. LAMB

(Canal Zone Meeting, November, 1910.) THE recent growth of a sentiment among cyanide-plant designers against the use of gravity-stamps for the crushing preliminary to cyanidation may be said to date from the almost simultaneous perfection of the ribbed tube-mill liner and of the tall, air-agitation tank. The first step in the resulting change of practice was the universal adoption of the tube-mill for fine-grinding and the use of coarse screening oil the battery. This was the beginning of the surrender of supremacy by the gravity-stamp ; since merely the single fact that it was a more economical machine for crushing fine had retained it in favor as compared with ball-mills, rolls, or steam-stamps. The surrender, however, is not yet complete. It is the universal practice to use rolls where a relatively small tonnage is to be crushed coarse, as, for example, when coarse concentration is included in the plan of treatment. Power, attendance, repairs, and first-cost are smaller for the rolls, under such circumstances, than for stamps; and it is becoming daily more apparent that, with no concentration to provide for, the use of rolls and tube-mills, without the complication of trommels and elevators required by concentration, is rapidly gaining favor in the eyes of the leading designers. The next step was the use of the rapid-running Chilean mill between the gravity-stamps and the tube-mill, which again narrowed the field of operation of the gravity-stamp while radically widening its screen-aperture. Such a combination of stamps and Chilean mill offers advantages when fine concentration is necessary, since the reduction in the Chilean mill call be adjusted easily and governed by varying the screen-mesh. But even concentration is now looked at askance. One of the leaders of this metallurgy has abandoned the separation and

Jul 1, 1910

By W. H. Geis

The following pages summarize the causes that led to the suggestion of unit operation of the paloma field, the organization of com-mittees, preparation of the Paloma Operators Agreement and the reasons for rejection of the plan. Introduction Long ago an Austrian physicist observed that under certain conditions the condensation of a liquid from gaseous mixtures resulted from pressure reduction. Some 50 years later he would have known that his research was not in vain. He would have seen a group of serious operators and engineers seeking to apply that principle to a conservation . program for unitized production in the Paloma gas field—but he would also have been saddened to see that forces unsympathetic to the application of science in oil production, with little or no appreciation of modern methods and the advantages of cooperation, so far have prevented the adoption of that program. Soon after the Paloma field was discovered it was realized that all the hydrocarbons in the reservoir existed in the gaseous phase. This condition was confirmed over a large area. Therefore, if the field was to be properly exploited with the greatest ultimate recovery of condensate, the hydrocarbons in the reservoir must be produced in the single or gas phase. They must be cautiously extracted with the least possible reduction of the natural pressure. If this could be accomplished, or if artificial pressure control were utilized, the condensation and underground loss of the valuable distillate would be preventable—otherwise it would not be. Wholehearted cooperation of all oper-ators was required in order to accomplish the conservation purposes of the program. To this end the production engineers of the several companies concerned lent their time and talents. They fully investigated the physical relationships of the products within the complicated gaseous mixture, prepared extensive reports on the subject and drew up a reasonably efficient plan of operations, which now is commonly called the "Paloma Unit Plan" but actually was entitled "The Paloma Operators Agreement." All of the engineers were not in perfect agreement on all the features of the plan, or even on all the engineering principles. However, it is safe to say that on all the important or essential factors there was a unanimity of opinion, particularly as to the objectives. These were fairly simple and reduce to one controlling item, "pressure control" by cycling or recycling. Organization The principal operators initiated the program by calling a meeting of all the lessees in the area, at which an organization was perfected, known as the "Paloma Operators Committee." Various subcommittees were appointed to expedite the work, including an "Engineering Committee." These func-tioned in a businesslike manner, frequently reported to the superior committee and

Jan 1, 1942

By W. H. Geis

The following pages summarize the causes that led to the suggestion of unit operation of the paloma field, the organization of com-mittees, preparation of the Paloma Operators Agreement and the reasons for rejection of the plan. Introduction Long ago an Austrian physicist observed that under certain conditions the condensation of a liquid from gaseous mixtures resulted from pressure reduction. Some 50 years later he would have known that his research was not in vain. He would have seen a group of serious operators and engineers seeking to apply that principle to a conservation . program for unitized production in the Paloma gas field—but he would also have been saddened to see that forces unsympathetic to the application of science in oil production, with little or no appreciation of modern methods and the advantages of cooperation, so far have prevented the adoption of that program. Soon after the Paloma field was discovered it was realized that all the hydrocarbons in the reservoir existed in the gaseous phase. This condition was confirmed over a large area. Therefore, if the field was to be properly exploited with the greatest ultimate recovery of condensate, the hydrocarbons in the reservoir must be produced in the single or gas phase. They must be cautiously extracted with the least possible reduction of the natural pressure. If this could be accomplished, or if artificial pressure control were utilized, the condensation and underground loss of the valuable distillate would be preventable—otherwise it would not be. Wholehearted cooperation of all oper-ators was required in order to accomplish the conservation purposes of the program. To this end the production engineers of the several companies concerned lent their time and talents. They fully investigated the physical relationships of the products within the complicated gaseous mixture, prepared extensive reports on the subject and drew up a reasonably efficient plan of operations, which now is commonly called the "Paloma Unit Plan" but actually was entitled "The Paloma Operators Agreement." All of the engineers were not in perfect agreement on all the features of the plan, or even on all the engineering principles. However, it is safe to say that on all the important or essential factors there was a unanimity of opinion, particularly as to the objectives. These were fairly simple and reduce to one controlling item, "pressure control" by cycling or recycling. Organization The principal operators initiated the program by calling a meeting of all the lessees in the area, at which an organization was perfected, known as the "Paloma Operators Committee." Various subcommittees were appointed to expedite the work, including an "Engineering Committee." These func-tioned in a businesslike manner, frequently reported to the superior committee and

Jan 1, 1942

By Alex Hay

THE Sydney coal field, the largest and most valuable in Nova Scotia, is situated on the northeastern coast of the Island of Cape Breton, extending from Mira Bay on the south to Cape Dauphin on the north, a distance of 30 miles, and has a general dip northeast under the sea. (Fig. 1.) The field embraces the mining villages of Morien, Birchgrove and Reserve and the towns of Dominion, Glace Bay, Waterford and Sydney Mines. The city of Sydney is situated about midway between the northern and southern extremities of the field and on the western fringe of the productive coal measures. Sydney harbor crosses the coal field, cutting off direct rail connection between Sydney Mines and the greater part of the field to the southeast. (Fig. 2.) The coal measures are exposed in the cliffs on the coast line, which rise to an average height of 30 ft., and are almost continuous throughout the length of the field. The portion of the coal field under land forms a small segment of a circle, the greatest distance from the coast landwards is 9 miles, and it occupies an area of 200 sq. miles. The greatest distance developed seawards from the shore by mining operations is 2 ¼ miles. The strata maintain a regularity of dip at this distance, proving a submarine area of about 70 sq. miles. How much further the coal field extends seawards is unknown, but the indications are that it extends far beyond the present economical working limit and in all probability there is a vast submarine coal field. The productive coal measures are of Carboniferous age, these being underlaid by beds of sandstone, locally classed as millstone grit, which define the southern limit of the field,, while a spur of syenitic hills cuts off the coal-bearing strata on the north. Two main anticlinal folds having a general course easterly divide the field into three basins named from north to south: Sydney Mines-Lingan, Glace Bay and Morien.

Jan 1, 1929

By C. S. Matthews, M. Prats, R. I. Jewett, J. D. Baker

By mathematical analysis it was found that injectivity history of a uniform five-spot pattern can be calculated by rather simple formulas. These calculated injectivities were found to agree rather well with injec-tivities measured in a potentiometric analog. With this as a basis, a simple method was finally developed which allows prediction not only of rate of injection but also of rate and kind of production at the production well, for a uniform five-spot. Using this method formulas for the eflective injectivity and production behavior of a waterflooded reservoir having a wide range in permeability can be calculated by considering that the reservoir consists of several layers, each having a uniform but different permeability. Rather good agreement is shown by a comparison of the observed production history of a field in the Illinois basin and that calculated by the methods just described. INTRODUCTION The importance of being able to predict the injection rates for a water flood is well known, for upon injection rate depends the life of the flood, the size of pumping and treating facilities, and the rate of oil recovery. One method of determining rates of injection is through a pilot flood. However, it appears that even if a pilot flood is resorted to, a theoretical method for calculating injection rate will be valuable in extending field results to times after inter- ference and to locations of other five-spots. It is also important to be able to predict the production history of a flood. Such prediction must generally be done by theoretical means, since in general a small pilot flood will not furnish much quantitative information in this regard because of the distortion after oil-bank interference. Methods for predicting the behavior of five-spot water floods have been proposed by Yuster and Cal-houn' and by Hurst.? However, these methods do not consider the effect of the mobility of the different fluids in the reservoir. Other investigators3,4,5,6 have determined the effect of the water-to-oil mobility ratio on the production history by means of different experimental techniques. Most of the published work applies to homogeneous sand bodies, does not provide information for determining the injection requirements of a flood, and seldom considers the rate of build-up of the oil bank as it fills up the partially depleted reservoir.* The present work was undertaken because of the lack of predictive method which takes into account mobility ratio and the rate of buildup of oil bank resulting from the void space in a partially depleted reservoir. As water is injected into the reservoir, which contains oil, water, and gas in macroscopically homogeneous saturation, it forms several banks ahead of the injection well. In each bank or region there is assumed to be only one mobile phase—water in the water bank, oil in the oil bank and gas in the gas region. The saturation in each region and a plan view of the banks are shown in Figs. 1 and 4, respectively. FACTORS AFFECTING INJECTION AND PRODUCTION RATES Results in this report are determined as functions of the three parameters, F, M, and M, , and of a fourth parameter, r,/L** which relates the size of the well to the flood spacing. The parameter F is the displacement factor defined by Hurst in Ref. 2. It determines the rate of build-up of oil bank as it fills up the partially depleted reservoir. When gravity effects are neglected, the four parameters just given are sufficient to describe the waterflood behavior for horizontal and homogeneous reservoirs having incompressible liquids. Definition of InjectIvity The dinlensionless injectivity (or injection rate) used in this report is defined by

By J. Chipman, H. Towers, M. Paris

A simple radioactive tracer technique is used to measure the diffusion coefficient of calcium ion in molten slags. In a slag of 40 pct Ca0-40 pct Si0,-20 pct Al203, Dc " at 1450°C is 1.3x10-6 cm' sec-'. THE application of the principles of thermodynamics to steel and iron making problems has proved so fruitful that the kinetic approach has tended to be neglected. It seems probable that in some reactions the rate-determining step is the dif-fusivity of the reactants or of the products. But knowledge of the diffusion coefficients of the constituents of liquid slag and metal is singularly lacking. The present work was undertaken as a first step toward supplying such data for slags. Furthermore, any additional information on the physical properties of liquid slags might be expected to help in elucidating their structure. It is essentially a preliminary investigation, the course of which was determined more by the necessity of establishing a method than by the immediate intrinsic interest of the results. For example, the selection of calcium ion to be studied was dictated by the suitability of the isotope Ca45 in that it is a simple emitter with a long half-life. Of the other ions commonly encountered in slags, the isotopes of iron and manganese have relatively complex radiations as well as the normal disadvantage of requiring control of the oxygen potential of the atmosphere; Mg27 and Al29 have half-lives measured only in minutes; Si3' has a simple decay process but its half-life of 2.8 hr is too short for preliminary studies; the only useful oxygen isotope is the stable O18; and there remain only sulphur and phosphorus both of which have suitable isotopes but were rejected as being of less fundamental interest than calcium. Similarly a lime-alumina- silica slag was used in preference to calcium silicate primarily because of its low melting point and its capacity to form a glass on fairly rapid cooling. Literature Review Very few studies of diffusion in liquid silicate systems have been reported. In order to determine the origin of diopside inclusions in felspathic rocks, Bowen1 investigated the diffusion between diopside and various mixtures of albite and anorthite. Platinum crucibles were used with diopside, the heavier of the two liquids, forming the lower half of the cell and diffusion taking place against gravity. Change in concentration along the diffusion path was found by measuring the refractive index of the quenched glass. Nearly thirty years later McCallum and Barrett2 used essentially the same method to determine the diffusion coefficient of lime in lime-alumina-silica slags. In this case the interest was to find the rate-determining step in the process of slag attack on refractory materials. In an investigation of the kinetics of the sulphur reaction, Derge, Philbrook, and Goldman8 determined the diffusion coefficient of sulphur in a typical blast furnace slag by the simple procedure of melting a slag containing 2 pct S over an identical slag sulphur-free. They make no claim to a high degree of accuracy but suggest that D, is of the order of 10-6 cm2 sec-l. Other high temperature liquid diffusion studies have been concerned with metals. Holbrook, Furnas, and Joseph4 determined the diffusion coefficients of silicon, phosphorus, sulphur, manganese, and carbon in liquid iron by immersing a small carbon crucible containing pure iron-carbon alloy in a large vessel containing iron with a high concentration of the particular element. Their results were confirmed by Paschke and Hauttmann5 using a similar method. Diffusion coefficients in silicates in the glassy state have been studied by Johnson, Bristow, and Blau6 Both Na24 and Ca45 were used as tracers but only the

Jan 1, 1954

By Herbert Dlaska

The BBU - rotary hearth treats lead concentrates and battery scrap by the roast-reaction process. It corresponds in principle to the long-known Newnam hearth, however its hearth-basin is not straight but curved to a closed ring. In operation this annular hearth is filled with liquid lead and rotates around a central blast-box. The charge, heated to a glowing-red, floats on top of the lead bath, into which air is blown from the blast-box through a horizontal slot-type tuyere. Ore pellets and brown coal are continuously charged onto the reacting mass from two storage bins. Lead is set free by the roasting reactions and trickles through the charge into the lead bath from where it is tapped from time to time. The reacting mass is continuously stirred by a mechanical agitator and backed, by a mechanical shovel, against the water-jacketed wall of the blast-box. The gangue of the charge forms lumps of scorified character, the so-called hearth slag or grey slag, which are discharged from the hearth. The waste gases are collected in a hood and conducted to a baghouse from where the fumes and dust are automatically transported to the pelletizing installation and are recycled with new material. The daily output of lead bullion depends mainly on the lead content of the charge. With lead concentrates containing 74% lead, about 24 tons of lead bullion per day are produced on the hearth at a direct lead recovery of about 89 per cent. Approximately 10 per cent of the lead content of the new material passes into the hearth slag from where it can be recovered in a blast furnace or in a rotary furnace. For small lead smelters the BBU-process represents the most economical way of melting high-grade lead concentrates. The process requires a relatively small capital investment, consumes little fuel, utilizes cheap fuel and is very flexible. Further, of great importance, is the fact that battery scrap can be treated by the BBU-process with very good results.

Jan 1, 1970

By Alexander Squire

A BRIEF study of the effects of material and processing variations upon the tensile properties of steel formed from mixtures of iron and carbon was made in order to provide information regarding the .properties obtainable in iron-carbon compacts as influenced by forming pressure, sintering temperature, and graphite particle size. Sintered steels formed from mixtures of iron and graphite have been studied by Stern,1 who investigated the effect of various percentages of graphite on compacts formed from electrolytic iron that were repressed and heat-treated after sintering. A further study, by Stern and Greenberg,2 is concerned with the heat-treatment of steels formed by the carburization of iron compacts, and Margolies3 has reported work on the simultaneous sintering and carburization of iron-powder parts. Glauch4 investigated the effect of various types of graphite on the properties of iron-carbon powder alloys but did not determine the effect of different particle sizes of the same graphite alloyed with different types of powder. In the investigation reported in this paper, powders typical of those produced by electrolytic deposition and the decarburization of shotted steel scrap were used. The powders were mixed by tumbling in a jar mill with graphite powder ground to an average particle diameter of 2, 4, 6, and 16 microns (as determined by microscopic measurement). The properties of the iron and graphite powders are presented in tabular form as Table I. In order to obtain the maximum information from a minimum number of test specimens, the study was divided into two sections with one set of specimens treated identically in each section as a basis for comparison. In the first section, iron powder produced by the shotting and subsequent decarburization of scrap steel was mixed with 2-micron graphite powder, pressed at 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000 psi, and sintered in hydrogen at 1200°C for the periods of time ranging from 15 to 120 minutes. In the second section of the investigation, electrolytic iron powder was mixed with graphite of an average particle diameter of 2, 4, 6, and i6 microns, pressed at 100,000 psi, and sintered at temperatures ranging from 1000° to 1200°C. for periods of time of 30 to 180 minutes. By following this procedure an indication of the effect of the following variables upon the density and tensile properties of iron-carbon powder compacts was obtained: (I) forming pressure, (2) sintering time, (3) particle size of graphite powder, (4) sintering temperature, (4) type of iron powder.

Jan 1, 1947

By J. Chipman, N. J. Grant, J. H. Walsh, T. B. King

WITH the development of adequate sampling and analysis techniques, much information has been obtained concerning the behavior of hydrogen in the steel bath during the course of steelmak-ing operations. From studies of this type it has become clear that the slag has an important role to play in determining the hydrogen content found in commercial products. A knowledge of the behavior of hydrogen in slags is necessary to round out our knowledge of hydrogen in steelmaking practice; with this information we are better able to assess practical methods of control. In this paper a method developed for analyzing slags for hydrogen content, studies of the solubility of hydrogen in synthetic slags, and studies of the variation of hydrogen content in slag and steel in industrial heats will be described. Previous Work—While very little has been done in the past to determine the hydrogen content of metallurgical slags, measurements have been made on such slag-like materials as geologic magmas and glasses. Goranson as made extensive studies of the solubility of water in natural and synthetic granites. Many workers have investigated the solubility of gases in synthetic and commercial glasses, but the recent work of Russell" is the most extensive. Russell found that the solubility of water in glass was proportional to the square root of the water vapor pressure in water vapor-oxygen mixtures. It was found that the solubility could either increase or decrease with temperature depending on the glass composition. Wentrup, Fucke, and Rief,' and Piper, Hagedorn, and Backes' have extracted hydrogen by holding a slag at 1300" and 800°C respectively in vacuum. Wentrup et al. reported hydrogen and water vapor as evolved together while Piper et al. passed the evolved gases from the hot extraction treatment over hot ferromanganese to reduce the evolved water vapor to hydrogen and, therefore, reported the analyses in terms of total dissolved hydrogen. Yavoiskii has reported hydrogen and nitrogen analyses on steelmaking slags. Dobrokhotov, Povol-skii, and Khan have studied the hydrogen content of basic open hearth steel under slags of varying viscosity. These authors reported that the hydrogen content of the steel bath increased as the fluidity of the slag was increased by the addition of bauxite. They recommended that a viscous slag be used and the steel tapped without deoxidation in the furnace to ensure a low final hydrogen content. Analysis of Slags for Hydrogen Development of Apparatus—The vacuum fusion analysis equipment described by Shields, Chipman, and Grant" was modified for the analysis of slags." This method depends upon the reduction of water in the slag to hydrogen, which is readily determined by the method used for hydrogen in steel. Preliminary experiments were made with a eu-tectic ferrosilicon melt as the reducing agent. Other experiments included the use of graphite and molybdenum crucibles. The ferrosilicon alloy bath was found to produce a thick coating on the furnace tube which could adsorb hydrogen. Graphite produced CO by the reduction of FeO, MnO, and SiO2 in such quantities that analysis for hydrogen was virtually impossible. Molybdenum, while giving a low blank value, could reduce the slag sufficiently to produce a volatile oxide which again was found to adsorb hydrogen. The arrangement finally adopted is shown in Fig. 1. The molybdenum sheet served as the induction-heated susceptor, and was separated from the escaping gases by alumina guide tubes. An outer jacket of alumina protected the quartz furnace tube, and alumina and quartz stools completed the assembly. The falling sample is shown wrapped in aluminum foil, 0.002 in. thickness, which acted as the reducing agent' This foil was careful'~ washed in acetone and an d and then dried in hot air before wrapping the weighed slag sample for charging into the apparatus. Investigation of the hydrogen content of the aluminum foil itself showed that a small quantity of hydrogen was released in vacuum, but had no relation to the weight of the aluminum charged. This quantity of hydrogen was

Jan 1, 1957

By T. H. Alden

T. H. Alden (General Electric Research Laboratory)—This paper as well as earlier ones of Dr. Wood represent an important contribution to the experimental description of fatigue fracture. The mechanism of fracture proposed by the authors, however, is not established by this data nor supported by other data existing in the literature. Although taper section metallography provides a rather detailed picture of fatigue crack geometry, photographs so obtained must be interpreted with care. The narrow bands revealed by etching, frequently associated with surface notches, are labeled by the authors "fissures". Measurement shows, taking into account the 20 to 1 taper magnification, that the depth of these structures is at most 2 to 3 times the width. This distinction is important in the conception of a mechanism of crack formation. It is difficult, for example, to imagine a deep, narrow fissure arising from a "ratchet slip" model. A surface notch, on the other hand, may form easily by this mechanism. The notches observed in the present work are the subsurface evidence of the surface slip bands or striations in which fatigue cracks are known to originate.4-6 It is clear that an understanding of the structure of these slip bands is of key importance in understanding the mechanism of fracture. The evidence presented shows that these regions etch preferentially, possibly because they contain a high density of lattice defects, or as the authors state equivalently, because they are "abnormally distorted." However, it is not possible to conclude that the distortion consists of a high density of vacant lattice sites. The fact of a high total shear strain in itself does not assure a predominance of point defects as opposed to other defects, for example, dislocations. Other evidence in the literature which suggests unusual densities of point defects formed by fatigue7-' refers not to the striations or fissures, but to the material between fissures (the "matrix"). If a choice must be made, the preferential etching would seem to be evidence for a high dislocation density, since dislocations are known to encourage chemical attack in copper;g no such effect is known for the case of point defects. A third alternative is that the slip bands are actually cracked, but that near its tip the crack is too narrow to be detected by the authors' metal-lographic technique. In this case the rapid etching can be readily understood in terms of the increased chemical activity of surface atoms. Unless a vacancy mechanism is operative, the motion of dislocations to-and-fro on single slip planes will not lead to crack growth. Point defect or dislocation loop generation are the principal non-reversible effects predicted by this model. In any case, the nonuniform roughening of the surface in a slip band6 requires a flexibility of dislocation motion which is not a part of the to-and-fro fine slip idea. The same is probably true of crack growth by a shear mechanism. Either some dislocations must change their slip planes near the end of the band and return on different planes,'0 or dislocations of opposite sign annihilate." The mechanism by which these processes occur in copper at room temperature or below is that of cross slip. Thus cross slip appears to be essential to fatigue crack growth.6'10"12 The fact that a tensile stress opens the slip bands into broad cracks does not indicate the structure of the bands or the mechanism by which cracks form. The charactersitic concentration of slip into bands during fatigue shows a low resistance to shear strain in these regions. (This fact in itself may be inconsistent with a high concentration of vacancies.) The authors contend also that continuing shear produces an additional mechanical weakening so that the bands fracture easily (are pulled apart) under the influence of the superimposed tensile stress. It is equally possible that the only weakness is a weakness in shear, that the crack propagates by a shear mechanism, and that subsequently the tensile stress pulls the crack apart. Even the direct observation of bands opened by a tensile stress would not be conclusive since, as argued above, they may be fine cracks. The same argument applies to internal cracks, their existence in the presence of a tensile stress not indicating the mechanism of formation. Internal cracks originating in regions of heavy shear have also been seen following tensile deformation of OFHC copper,13 so that this mode of fracture is not unique to combined tensile and fatigue straining. The authors point out in their companion report14 that 90 pct of the cracks formed during pure tor-sional strain were within 8 deg of the normal to the specimen axis. If the tensile stress were an important factor in crack propagation, it is surprising that the cracks cluster about the plane in which the normal stress vanishes. Similarly, a study of zinc single crystals showed that for various orientations the life correlated well with the resolved shear stress on the basal plane,'= and was not dependent on the normal stress across this plane. W. A. Wood and H. M. Bendler (Authors' reply) -Dr. Alden's discussion emphasizes the essential point in the relation of slip band structure to

Jan 1, 1963

By F. W. Bloecher, A. M. Gaudin

THIS paper describes the results of a series of tests carried out to determine the partition of dodecylamine between distilled water and the surface of quartz at various concentrations of dodecylamine acetate in solution. An adsorption-column technique was utilized for this purpose. Ralston and Harwood, of Armour and Co., had synthesized marked dodecylamine acetate for us.' In their preparation which we employed, 0.0007 pct of the total carbon was the radioactive isotope, carbon fourteen. Unmarked dodecylamine acetate of high purity was also prepared by them for our use. The presence of carbon fourteen in the dodecylamine enabled us to analyze quantitatively for dodecylamine on the surface of quartz, using a radioactive-tracer technique. The method used was that known as internal gas counting of carbon dioxide, formed by oxidation of the amine. This method has already been described, "3 ' and the reader is referred to these papers for details of the analytical method and procedures. and surrounding liquor, a technique analogous to chromatographic columns was utilized. The experimental setup is shown in fig. 1. The dodecylamine-acetate solution was made up in a volumetric flask and poured into the glass funnel shown. It was allowed to drip slowly onto the quartz bed, the rate of flow from the funnel reser- voir being controlled by a hose clamp. The quartz column was contained in a small, fritted-glass filter (size 20 mm, C). The beaded top edge of the filter was cut off to enable the holder and contents to fit into the open end of the 30/45 joint on the combustion tube. This combustion tube is used in the analytical train described in a previous paper.' A piece of gum-rubber tubing joins the bottom of the fritted-glass filter to a filter flask, which in turn is connected to a vacuum line, or water aspirator. The rate of flow of amine solution through the bed was

Jan 1, 1951

By F. W. Bloecher, A. M. Gaudin

THIS paper describes the results of a series of tests carried out to determine the partition of dodecylamine between distilled water and the surface of quartz at various concentrations of dodecylamine acetate in solution. An adsorption-column technique was utilized for this purpose. Ralston and Harwood, of Armour and Co., had synthesized marked dodecylamine acetate for us.' In their preparation which we employed, 0.0007 pct of the total carbon was the radioactive isotope, carbon fourteen. Unmarked dodecylamine acetate of high purity was also prepared by them for our use. The presence of carbon fourteen in the dodecylamine enabled us to analyze quantitatively for dodecylamine on the surface of quartz, using a radioactive-tracer technique. The method used was that known as internal gas counting of carbon dioxide, formed by oxidation of the amine. This method has already been described, "3 ' and the reader is referred to these papers for details of the analytical method and procedures. and surrounding liquor, a technique analogous to chromatographic columns was utilized. The experimental setup is shown in fig. 1. The dodecylamine-acetate solution was made up in a volumetric flask and poured into the glass funnel shown. It was allowed to drip slowly onto the quartz bed, the rate of flow from the funnel reser- voir being controlled by a hose clamp. The quartz column was contained in a small, fritted-glass filter (size 20 mm, C). The beaded top edge of the filter was cut off to enable the holder and contents to fit into the open end of the 30/45 joint on the combustion tube. This combustion tube is used in the analytical train described in a previous paper.' A piece of gum-rubber tubing joins the bottom of the fritted-glass filter to a filter flask, which in turn is connected to a vacuum line, or water aspirator. The rate of flow of amine solution through the bed was

Jan 1, 1951

By Herbert Banks Johnson

During the past 10 or 12 years very little information has been made generally available concerning the commercial possibilities of separating materials by means of static electricity; and yet during that same period important improvements have been made in various branches of the science of electricity, which, when taken together, and applied to electrostatic separation, have resulted in important improvements in that art as well. For example, much improvement has been made in high-voltage electrical equipment such as full-wave vacuum-tube rectification and improved mechanical rectification. Great strides have likewise been made in the development of insulators for high-voltage work, not only in the materials used but also in the design of the insulators themselves. Again, in another field, the development of air-conditioning equipment has improved the technique of controlling the surface condition, through drying or humidifying, of the various materials that are passed through the electrostatic separator. In many authoritative publications and textbooks, the electrostatic separation process is declared to require a balance far too sensitive for general commercial application. For example, one publication1 in the past has referred to an unfavorable effect on the process caused by varying atmospheric conditions such as humidity. Some2 have even gone so far as to state that sunlight and shadows may seriously affect the separating efficiency of the process. Such statements may have been true in the early development of the art, when the source of static electricity was derived from a friction disk machine, such as the Wimshurst. The Blake Mosher equipment and the work of Huff in applying motor-generator sets, transformers and mechanical rectification overcame much of this kind of objection to the commercial application of the electrostatic separating process. Another objection made periodically is that it is generally considered necessary to feed the particles into the electrostatic field in a stream that

Jan 1, 1939