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PLANS are underway for the annual meeting of AIME, to be held in New York, February 17 to 21. The technical program includes meetings of all divisions of all three branches, Mining, Metals, and Petroleum. The bulk of the technical sessions will be held at the Statler Hotel, and the annual banquet will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria, Wednesday evening, February 20. The technical program of the Mining Branch activities is included in this issue. While it is not complete in every detail, it shows general interest groupings as well as subjects to be discussed. The program for each division is shown separately to facilitate following the activities of these special interest groups. Then, after a full scale and possibly somewhat strenuous technical meeting, a post-meeting feature will appeal to many of the members. A restful cruise to Bermuda and Nassau is offered at special rates to AIME members and friends. The schedule is a 3:00 pm departure from New York on the Queen of Bermuda on Saturday, February 23; arrival at Bermuda at 7:00 am Monday, February 25; arrival at Nassau at noon, Wednesday, February 27; and the trip ending again in New York at 9:00 am, Saturday, March 1. Rates begin at $202.10 per person, with higher rates depending upon accomodations desired. The base rate includes outside room with private bath and all meals, as well as Federal, Bermuda and Nassau taxes. Reservations for the trip should be made immediately through Leon V. Arnold, 36 Washington Square West, New York 11, who is in charge of arrangements.

Jan 1, 1952

By Edmund J. Pryor

DURING the war years restrictions on travel, pressure of work, and the irregular arrival of technical literature from abroad combined to severely isolate Great Britain in a period of intense war expansion of the art and practice of mineral dressing. Many British technicians were fully occupied with the day-to-day problems of improvising substitutes as regular sources of supply failed. and with mastering the strange demands and working conditions of wartime. After a long day spent between ones laboratory and production work, the rest of the waking hours were often filled with fire watching or home guard patrol activities, substituting for a night-shift manager, or "resting" in a dugout while the bombs came down. There was no time for serious study of such technical literature as survived the Atlantic crossing.

Jan 1, 1947

By Robert D. Longyear

IN MOST diamond core drilling the primary objective is the recovery of samples to be used for chemical analysis, physical tests, or visual inspection. Unless these samples are reliable and the information systematically recorded, the time and money spent in securing them are largely wasted. A properly taken diamond-drill sample is similar to a properly moiled channel sample but more accurate. No channel sample can be moiled in as even a groove as the smooth cylinder of material normally removed in diamond drilling. More important still, sampling by the diamond drill practically eliminates that personal equation which Jora1emon4 reference numbers apply to publications listed in the bibliography at the end of this article) has aptly termed "the almost magnetic attraction of the most conscientious hand toward rich pieces of ore."

Jan 1, 1937

By Thomas V. Falkie

These are exciting times for the coal mining community. Although the industry is in the middle of a healthy boom, there are strong forces tending to counteract or at least temper the rate of growth. There are many pushing and pulling factors of interest to mining people, and a few salient ones will be mentioned here. Primarily because of a tremendous demand for energy, a demand that can't be met by other fuels, the coal industry is in boomsville. Another contributing factor to this situation is the increased overseas demand for metallurgical coal. These demands are being counteracted by a lack of people, the lead-time required to develop new capacity and wildcat strikes, among other things.

Jan 1, 1971

By AIME AIME

OPPORTUNITY may not be knocking but it, at least, is waiting for you, your family and your friends in that amazing republic south of the Rio Grande. For the first time we are able to publish the official itinerary for the forth-coming Mexico City meeting of 1936. As shown on Page 351, the deluxe special train leaves St. Louis on Thursday. Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m., returning to St. Louis on Nov. 18 at 8:15 a. m. The schedule provides seven days and six nights in Mexico City with numerous excursions to nearby towns and resorts. The oldest surviving city in' North America is Mexico City, dating back at least to the twelfth century. It was the Aztec capital when Cortez arrived in 1519. The famous cathedral still standing was built on a foundation of sculptured Indian images and the remains of a great Aztec temple. Today it is a city of romance.

Jan 1, 1936

The Industrial Minerals div. has been forging ahead in formulating a program for the February Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Several papers have been listed and more are being worked into the program. For the cement, lime and gypsum part of the sessions, papers on Gypsum in the Aircraft Industry, Geology of San Marcos Island Gypsum Deposit, and Status of New Dry Rotary Blast Hole Drills, are expected. The Chemical Raw Materials sessions will feature a symposium on potash, with 13 papers as the anticipated number to be presented. Airborne and Ground Magnetometer Work has been suggested. Eight papers have been set for Mining Geology, Four papers, Mining Phosphate Rock, Idaho Phosphorous, and Geology of Carlsbad Potash and Geology of Pearlite will be on the program. Sessions on Dimension stone and slate have been tentatively worked out with papers on Geologic Factors Affecting the Dimension Stone Industry of California, A Quarter Century of Granite Quarrying in Massachusetts, Rock Bursting and Other Geologic Problems in the Granite Quarries of Barre, Vt., Quarry Practices in the Indiana Building Stone Industry, Stratigraphy and Composition of the Salem Limestone, and Dimension Stone in the U. S. in 1952. The Rare Minerals Committee is aiming for six papers with two papers now definitely on the program.

Jan 1, 1952

By Edwin Ludlow

To THE members of the American Institute of Mining and? Metallurgical Engineers who were fortunate enough to be able to attend the Fiftieth Anniversary at Wilkes-Barre, it was brought home that commercial anthracite requires not only expensive mining but that the milling or preparation of it is also a costly operation, requiring very large capital expenditures and high maintenance and labor costs. The great trouble that coal men meet in discussions of coal problems today is the difficulty the average coal user, especially in the East, finds in distinguishing between anthracite and bituminous coals. They are two entirely separate problems and yet the people who are burning coal complain bitterly of the high cost of anthracite and quote the figures furnished in regard to the prices of bituminous coal and feel that the anthracite operators are making an excessive profit, without realizing the enormous difference in the cost of production in the two fields. The great difference that can be marked is that in this year of industrial depression the prices of anthracite have been not only maintained but have increased during the summer, while the price of bituminous coal has been continually dropping since the first of the year, and yet the same law of supply and demand governs both anthracite and bituminous. In order to understand the situation the two problems must be considered from their separate points of view.

Jan 1, 1921

By R. H. Frazier, J. M. Hodge, F. W. Boulger

This paper reports the results of studies of the impact properties of quenched and tempered alloy-steel plates as a function of sulfur content. It was found that the impact energy levels decreased continuously as the sulfur content increased and that there was a straight-line relationship between impact energy and sulfur content when plotted on logarithmic coordinates. Cross rolling raised the level of these Lines for transverse tests and lowered the level for logitudinal tests proportionately to the amount of cross rolling. ALTHOUGH it has been generally recognized that, for applications in which notch toughness is critical, the sulfur content of the steels used should be held to a low value, quantitative information on the effect of sulfur on notch toughness has not been available. For such applications, it is a common practice to specify minimum impact values, and in order that these may be met consistently it is important that the steel producer know quantitatively the effect of sulfur on notch toughness so that realistic sulfur content limits can be applied to the steels they produce. In many instances, particularly in flat-rolled products, impact properties are specified in the direction transverse to the principal rolling direction, so that the factors affecting the anisotropy or directionality of impact properties are also of concern to the steel producer. For some applications, furthermore, it is a common practice to increase the sulfur content of steels in order to improve their machinability, and, in such instances, the effect of this practice on notch toughness may often be of concern. This paper reports on an investigation, carried out at Battelle Memorial Institute, designed to furnish this quantitative information on the effect of sulfur on notch toughness and also to furnish further information on the factors affecting the anisotropy of impact properties in wrought heat-treated alloy steels. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The experimental steels were of intended base analysis: 0.30 pct C, 0.80 pct Mn, 0.25 pct Si, 2.5 pct Ni, 0.80 pct Cr, and 0.45 pct Mo. Steels were made with sulfur contents varying from 0.005 to 0.179 pct. The steels were prepared from 600-lb induction-furnace melts. Steels containing 0.020 pct or more sulfur (at meltdown) were melted from a charge of ingot iron (except for one heat): lower-sulfur steels were made from electrolytic iron. The charge consisted of ingot or electrolytic iron, ferrosilicon to give 0.10 pct Si, and ferromanganese to give 0.05 pct Mn. At meltdown, electrolytic nickel, ferromolybdenum, iron phosphide, and pyrite were added followed in sequence by ferrochromium, sili-comanganese, ferrosilicon, and ferromanganese. The slag was then removed and graphite added to give the desired carbon content. Bath temperature was adjusted to 2850°F and, when no other additions were to follow, 2 lb per ton of aluminum was added, immediately before tapping. Compositions of the experimental steels appear in Table I. Analyses are from single determinations, except sulfur which was analyzed in duplicate. A test sample (3 in. in diam by 6 in. long) and a 575-1b ingot were poured from each heat. The test sample was poured in a sand mold; the cooling rates of the test sample and the large ingot were approximately the same. Chemical analysis chips and metal lographic specimens were taken from the test samples. The ingot was 8 in. sq at the base and 9 in. sq at the top. A 5 X 5 X 6-in. sand mold hot top was completely filled in teeming the ingot. After solidification, the mold was stripped from the ingot which cooled to room temperature. Ingots were reheated to 2250"F and rolled to 1.9-in. slabs on a commercial mill. The slabs were box-cooled to room temperature. Sections of the 1.9-in. slabs were heated to 2250°F and rolled on a Battelle laboratory mill according to one of three schedules: 1) rolled straightaway to 0.5-in. plate; 2) rolled straightaway to 1.3-in. thickness, then cross rolled to 0.5-in. plate (29 pct cross rolling); or 3) cross rolled from 1.9-in. to 0.5-in.-thick plate (46 pct cross rolling). The 0.5-in.-straight- or cross-rolled plates were normalized at 1700°F for 1 hr and then water quenched from 1600°F. Plates were then tempered 2 hr at 1240°, 1170°, 1080°, or 860°F to obtain Rockwell C hardness of 25, 30, 35, and 40, respectively. Tempering was followed by quenching to room temperature to avoid temper embrittlement. Slack-quenched plates were isothermally transformed for 26 min at 800°F, quenched, and tempered 2 hr at 1170°F. Pearlitic microstructures were obtained by holding 168 hr at 1200° F, followed by quenching. Charpy V-notch specimens were taken both transverse and longitudinal to the main rolling direction, notched perpendicular to the plate surface, and tested. Slabs and plates which were to be homogenized

Jan 1, 1960

By A. B. Kinzel

IT has often been stated that the steel industry did no research or development work in the decades preceding 1920. If restricted to organized research on the quality and field of application of structural and engineering steels, this statement may be true. But the industry did conduct a vast amount of process research during this period, although some of the projects were not carried out as separate organized research programs. Securing a low cost of tonnage production was the sole problem receiving serious attention from the industry prior to 1920, and today this is still the major problem. Those in the industry deserve much commendation for the important increase in production capacity per dollar invested and for the markedly lowered cost of production. In recent years, a distinct change may be noted in the attitude of the steel industry toward research involving its product. With the advent of high-speed machinery both in the manufacturing and transportation industries, steel as a quality engineering material has come to the fore. In the past, high-quality carbon steels and alloy steels have been introduced over a period of years, largely at the insistence of the consumer and partly prompted by research carried out by those interested in the use of the alloys. The commercial introduction of these materials made slow progress.

Jan 1, 1935

By COREY C. BRAYTON

OUR first air travel began at Barranquilla on a trip to the platinum dredging-operations at Andagoya. The fare is based on a minimum weight of passenger, and I will have to admit that the minimum is too low. To make this trip by boat would have necessitated going back to the Canal, thence down to Buena Ventura, and up the San Juan river, which would have taken, counting delays, two or three weeks. The time by Scadta airplane was six hours. We stopped at Cartagena for a day to look over that historic city. The route from there lay along the north coast to the mouth of the Atrato river, then up this river, over the jungle, and over a divide some 300'ft. in elevation and down the San Juan river a few miles to Andagoya at the junction of the Condoto. The General

Jan 1, 1930

By L. S. Darken

IN the study of reactions occurring in liquid iron, alone or in contact with a liquid oxide or slag phase, it has been found that the experimental data over a limited range of concentration can in some cases be repre-sented satisfactorily by the simple equilibrium expression K - (p1)p1 (p2)p2 . (R1)r1(R2)r2 . where (P) denotes the concentration of a product and (R) the concentra-tion of a reactant in the reaction r1R1 + r2R2 + . . . Some of the reactions for which it holds are listed in Table 1. For others, however, the simple equation apparently does not hold. This has been attributed to an improper method of expressing concentration (for instance, weight per cent instead of mol fraction); or it has been supposed that the solutions are not ideal in the sense that the activity of a com-ponent is not proportional to its true mol fraction, But it may be that the problem has been oversimplified by neglecting some molecular species actually present; that is, by considering only the ostensible simple com-ponents and thus leaving out of account possible compound formation. It is the purpose of the present paper to point out how, in a group of related cases, a reasonable consistent assumption relative to the presence of a compound makes it possible to express the experimental data satis-factorily by the simple equilibrium expression when this compound is taken into account, and to bring into harmony data referring to different reactions in liquid iron. There are several a priori reasons for believing that solutions in liquid iron should not deviate far from ideality, provided that the concentration of solute is not too great and is expressed in proper terms. The factors that commonly lead to nonideality in systems at ordinary temperature as ionization or the occurrence of polar and nonpolar molecules-are presumably less effective in metal and in slag systems at high temperature. Again, the type of equation commonly used to express the value of

Jan 1, 1940

By Randall L. Neal

This paper discusses the impact of taxes at the state and federal level on typical on-shore oil and gas exploration economics in the USA. Taxes considered are the windfall profits excise tax, state production (or severance) taxes, state income tax, and federal income tax. Also considered will be market prices for oil and gas in the USA. The effect of government take as a percent of revenue, on rate of return, discounted Payout, and discounted cumulative cash flow is shown on the attached tables. The conclusion drawn is that tax laws, while rarely the most important factor to be considered when drilling a well, can have significant impact on the profitability of oil and gas ventures, and should be considered when determining where to drill. Hypothetical exploration wells were analyzed for the impact of tax laws on project profitability. The results of this study show that when factors other than taxes are postulated to be the same (such as producing rate, capital, operating costs, and prices), cash flow can vary by as much as 68% due to the differences in the tax laws. Other significant findings for the cases studied include: (a) that discounted payout varied by as much as 1.8 years, (b) that rate of return differed by up to 67% and (c) the total tax rate as a percentage of revenue had a maximum variance of 33%.

Jan 1, 1982

Edward Dyer Peters, the only child of Henry Hunter Peters and Susan Barker Thaxter, was born in Dorchester, Mass., June 1, 1849. From his father he was a descendant of the Peters family of Ipswich and Andover, Mass., whose earliest ancestor settled in Essex County in 1659; while upon his mother's side he descended from several old Hingham families, as well as from the Quineys and from Governor Bradford. Between the ages of fourteen and sixteen he was a student at the Episcopal School for boys in Cheshire, Conn. Near the school was an old tin mine, and he used to spend his Saturday afternoons exploring it. When Edward was sixteen, his father sold his property in South-borough, and for the next three years lived in Europe. Sept. 26, 1865, Edward entered the Royal School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony. In the summer of 1867 he joined his family on Lake Geneva, and spent a part of the season in that vicinity, going to Chamounix and taking other trips. Extract from a letter to his father: Elbingerode, Harz, Aug. 30, 1868: I left Freiberg with my friend Lilienthal, on Wednesday the 19th of August, reached Leipzig in the evening and spent the night in that city: the next morning we took the cars and in the afternoon reached Eisleben, in Prussia, which was to be our first stopping-place; there are immense copper-mines and smelting-works at this place, and the method of working the mines is very peculiar ... The next morning we got up at five and spent the whole day in the smelting-works where I obtained a number of drawings of the furnaces they use here and a good many valuable data. Saturday morning we got up at four o'clock, and descended a mine about three miles from the town; the Director of this mine was one of the most intelligent and agreeable men that I ever met; he accompanied us in the mine and explained everything that was new to us. The system of mining at Eisleben is peculiar to this town, and is not used at any other place in the world; the copper ore comes in narrow, flat veins eighteen inches high, at the utmost, consequently the men work lying flat on their left side and using the pick with both hands: the ore is carried out of the side passages into the main ones, in very low waggons about twelve inches high, and four by two feet; the boys who pull these waggons have a board buckled to their left thigh and their left arm; they pass their bare foot through a strap in the waggon and wriggle along on their side dragging the waggon after them, with their foot, almost as fast as a man can walk above ground. In the afternoon we walked over to Hittstadt, about twelve miles, and remained there Sunday and Monday. Monday night, at ten o'clock we went out to one of the smelting-works, to see the refining of the copper; this is only done at night, so we worked there from ten in the evening till eleven the next morning, and came home all blackened up and with blistered hands, for our skin was not quite so tough as that of the workmen: at noon the same day we took the stage to Ascherls-leben, and then the train to Stassfurt, where there are immense salt-mines, as well as factories for the manufacture of bromium, which latter process is, however, kept a profound secret, so we had very little hope of seeing anything but the salt mines; we were talking with our landlord about our disappointment, that evening, when he told us that the director of the Bromium works was sitting in the next room with no company but his glass of beer, so we went over to him, introduced ourselves as Americans, and actually succeeded in persuading him that it could do his business no earthly hurt if he showed us his works; at last he consented, after making us give our word of honor

Jan 1, 1919

The Nominating Committee for Institute Officers in 1953, John R. Suman, chairman, completed its work at the Annual Meeting in February, and has made its report to the Board of Directors. The President-Elect in 1953 serves as President in 1954. The ticket follows: For President-Elect and Director, Leo F. Reinartz; for Vice-President and Director, A. B. Kinzel and Lloyd E. Elkins; for Director, Hjalmar W. Johnson, Philip Kraft, Gail Moulton, Edwin L. Oliver, Philip Wilson, and Elmer Isern. Mr. Reinartz is a vice-president of the Armco Steel Corp., Middletown, Ohio. As required by the bylaws, brief biographical sketches of the nominees will be published in the July issues of the journals.

Jan 1, 1952

THE annual meeting of the Arizona Section was held at the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson on Dec. 10, 1951. Registration and ticket sales for the social functions started at 8:00 am and lasted throughout most of the day. There were 489 registrations, consisting of 216 members, 64 students, and 209 guests. Chairman Harrison Schmitt opened the Mining Geology Div. meeting and a short business session was held at which Dr. Charles Anderson of Prescott, Ariz. was elected chairman and Seton Williams of Tucson was elected secretary for 1952. Dr. B. S. Butler was program chairman with R. B. Mulchay as co-chairman at the technical program. Eldred Wilson spoke on Oxidation and Water Levels at Some Arizona Mines. George Kiersch spoke about Economic and Engineering Significance of Ground Water Localization in Limestones - Big Bend Country, Texas. Harrison Schmitt gave The Definition and Use of Terms in Mining Geology. These talks were followed by discussions. E. N. Pennebaker, A. D. Wandke, and H. Schmitt gave informal talks on foreign trips made during 1951, the meeting was then adjourned.

Jan 1, 1952

Discovery of a deposit of magnetite ore estimated at 3 million tons and of quality sufficient to warrant mining has been located near Reading, Pa. by the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Last January; the company spent nearly $400,000 for about 1750 acres of farm land which had been valued at only about $50 per acre. It is expected that a pilot shaft 18 in. in diam will be sunk some time this spring. The ore body, delimited by diamond-drilling by Sprague Henwood, is said to measure roughly 2000 sq ft and 1000 ft thick, beginning 1500 ft below the earth's surface. In a continuing search for strategic minerals, the Atomic Energy Commission expects to put eight to ten diamond drilling rigs into the area 11 miles southwest of Blanding, San Juan Co., Utah early this year. The Commission's primary objective is the Salt Wash member of the Morrison formation. Holes 140 ft deep are expected to be drilled, with solid bit drilling through overburden, mudstone, shale and sandstone overlying the area.

Jan 1, 1951

By W. B. Clark

IN OPERATING the Alpha mine of the Consolidated Coppermines Corp., Kimberly, Nev., it was necessary to pump out approximately 1200 gallons of waiter per minute to prevent the mine being flooded. There were three levels in the mine at which water accumulated and from which it was pumped, the 1200, 1400 and the 1800- ft. levels. At each, the pumping equipment was installed in duplicate so that if for any reason one unit was out of commission the other would be available to prevent flooding. The two centrifugal pumps at the 1200-ft. level were 600 hp. each; at the 1400-ft. level, 100 hp. each; and at the 1800-ft. level, 300 hp. each.

Jan 1, 1933

By Neville J. Price

In order that the reader may not be misled, I feel it necessary to comment upon the title of this paper. "Laws of Rock Behavior," one may take as being part of the all-embracing "Law of Nature" and this, according to the Oxford Dictionary, relates to the principles of conduct recognized as being pleasing to God. I feel it would be presumptuous to erect a code of rock behavior on this basis, so turn to a secondary definition, namely that a "Law" is that which is intrinsically reasonable. It is extremely unlikely that any group of geologists, or workers in rock mechanics would be in complete agreement about what could be taken to be "intrinsically reasonable." Therefore, this paper does not present any deified utterances, but rather deals with a few aspects of rock behavior which I consider to be intrinsically reasonable and with which I hope the reader will concur. The mode of behavior of rocks in the Earth's crust covers the range from wholly brittle to completely ductile ; with a deformation time scale which may be measured in milliseconds, for some events such as meteoritic impact, or in millions of years for the tectonic deformation involved in mountain building. A complete survey is, of course, outside the scope of an introductory paper, so I must be both brief and selective in my treatment. Any attempt to establish the mode of rock behavior in the Earth's crust should take into account data and relationships established in laboratory experiments and correlate these with field evidence. Consequently, the first section of this paper presents a brief discussion of the experimental aspects of rock mechanics which are pertinent to the subsequent discussion.

Jan 1, 1970

By AIME AIME

As already announced in the January Bulletin, this publication will be issued during the coming year monthly instead of bi-monthly as heretofore. Among other reasons for this change, it is desired to effect thereby the earlier transmission to members of important papers, lists of candidates for membership, and other items of timely information. Spokane Meeting and Excursions. Further details of the 97th meeting of the Institute have been sent to members in the Circular of May 8, 1909. The list of those intending to go on the excursion is filling up, and since preference in position of state-room or berth is given in the order of application, members and guests who expect to accompany the party and have not yet communicated with Mr.. Theodore Dwight, 29 West 39th St., New York, N. Y., are earnestly requested to do so without delay. For convenience of the members a summary of the additional information is here presented. A special train of Pullman cars will leave Chicago about September 15. This train will be side-tracked at all places visited, and the sleepers will be available for lodging and the dining-car for meals during the entire trip, except during the Yellowstone Park tour. The general cost of the trip per member will be $300, which includes transportation, berth, and meals for the entire trip from Chicago back to Chicago, almost 6,000 miles, and the tour through. Yellowstone Park, occupying in all about 30 days. Special, accommodations on the train will be furnished at the following rates

Jun 1, 1909

By George Krauss, M. Cohen

The reverse martensitic transfomzation (i.e., the conversion of martensite to austenite on heating) was investigated in Fe-Ni alloys containing 30.5 to 33.5 wt pct Ni. The reversed austenite was found to be sufficiently distorted to exhibit marked differences in mechanical properties and to undergo recovery and re crystallization on further heating. In particular, the yield strength of the reversed austenite was as much as 2.5 times higher than that of the virgin austenite: with five cycles of the direct and reverse martensitic transformation, the yield strength was 2.6 times higher. There was an accompanying decrease in strain-hardening capacity and in stable ductility or uniform elongation. The recrystallization was observed to follow sigmoidal kinetics, but was characterized by an abnormal1y large temperature dependence which was evidently due to carbon segregation at the migrating grain boundaries. Upon recrystallization, the strength Properties reverted to those of the virgin austenite, but the ductility did not fully recover until the annealing temperature was further raised to dissipate the carbon segregation at the grain boundaries. The transformation of reversed austenite to produce second-generation martensite resulted in an unusually imperfect structure, thereby leaditg to additional strengthening. Horlleuer, the martensitic phase was much less responsive in this respect than was the austenite. MOST martensitic transformations are capable of undergoing a reverse transformation back to the austenitic phase on heating.&apos; This reaction, like the direct transformation to martensite on cooling, is usually athermal. In analogy with the Ms andMf temperatures for the martensitic transformation (where M, > Mf), the reverse transformation is characterized by the As andAf temperatures (where As<Af). It is well-known that the finish (Af) of the martensite-to-austenite reaction on heating may occur at a temperature where austenite is not stable relative to other phases in the equilibrium diagram.&apos; Reverse martensitic transformations have been found to influence the properties of the parent austenitic phase in a number of ferrous alloys. The austenite thus produced after one or more reversals is significantly altered in strength, microstruc-ture, diffusivity, and annealing characteristics compared to well-annealed, virgin austenite. The first detailed observations of such phenomena were made by Wasserman3 on an Fe-30 wt pct alloy. He found that the reversed austenite (i.e., austenite formed by the reverse martensitic transformation) was much stronger than the original austenite, and the second-generation martensite (i.e., martensite produced from the reversed austenite) was somewhat stronger than the first-generation martensite. On heating the reversed austenite, recrystallization occurred in a manner similar to that of a cold-worked metal; the Laue spots sharpened and the strength decreased.4 In recent years, Russian workers have shown considerable interest in these reverse martensitic transformations. Most of such investigations5-10 have been concerned with the stabilization of reversed austenite relative to subsequent martensitic transformation, and because of its unusual nature, this phenomenon will be discussed in detail elsewhere." On the other hand, the annealing behavior of reversed austenite and the attendant variation in properties have received little attention beyond the experiments of Wasserman.3,4 Gridnev eta1.,8 in one of the few such studies. followed the hardness change of reversed austenite as a function of time at three annealing temperatures. The marked strengthening of austenite achieved by the reverse martensitic transformation has been referred to as "transformation strengthening" by Wasserman3,4 and as "phase hardening" by Malyshev et a1.7,9,10 to differentiate it from hardening produced by cold working. Both groups of investigators noted that further strengthening of the austenite could be attained by repeated or cyclic transformations, but the first cycle resulted in the most pronounced effect. Evidence of the altered microstructure of reversed austenite has been reported by Maximova and Nikonorova6 and by Edmonson and KO.12 The former found that reversed austenite was much more sensitive to etching than the original austenite, and the latter authors observed a (&apos;ghost" structure resembling martensite in certain areas of the reversed austenite. Enhancement of the self-diffusion rate in reversed

Jan 1, 1962