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By C. H. Keplinger

WARTIME factors have strengthened the production engineering consciousness of the petroleum industry. The basic principles of sound oil-production technology have been accepted as the standard by the industry and the governmental co-ordinating agencies. Every effort is being made to furnish larger quantities of petroleum with a minimum expenditure of materials and under strict conservation practices. The sphere of influence of production engineering extends from fundamental reservoir control of withdrawal rates and reservoir pressures to bolstering production from stripper wells. Serious transportation difficulties in moving oil to the East Coast have stimulated secondary recovery operations in the Appalachian and East Central oil-producing states. Diminishing discovery of new oil reserves by exploration activities increases the importance of promoting efficient oil-producing methods and practices throughout all productive areas in the United Nations.

Jan 1, 1943

By W. G. Jewitt

YELLOWKNIFE, the most northerly Canadian gold mining district, is once more in the throes of a boom. Touched off by spectacular and well-publicized diamond-drilling results on the property of Giant Yellowknife Gold Mines, Ltd., mining companies and the general public are competing for mining claims and for the shares of companies owning mining claims in the area, with little regard for values. Such a stock-market boom has various unfortunate consequences but undoubtedly one beneficial result is that considerable amounts of money are made available for serious development. The Yellowknife mining area lies on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, at a latitude of approximately 62°30' north. The topography is a low-relief phase of that usual in the Canadian Laurentian shield. Roughly, one third of the surface is lake-covered, one third muskeg or overburden, and one third is bare

Jan 1, 1944

By C. A. Worner

THE meeting of the Petroleum Division at the Annual Meeting of the Institute maintained the high standard set in previous years, and attendance of member: of the Division was at a new high. The impact of the war was evident not only in the tone of many of die papers but also in the presence at the meeting of many of our members now serving in the armed forces of our-country. Ken interest was manifested in all papers presented and the discussions which followed developed many additional facts of interist and importance. The first activity of the Division was the joint meeting of the Papers and Programs and the Publications Committees on Monday afternoon; at which time definite plans were formulated for a simplification and co-ordination of the work of the committees.

Jan 1, 1944

By John V. Beall

HEAVY-DENSITY separation processes, a commercial application of the sink-float test used in mineralogical laboratories for the separation of mineral particles by their difference in specific gravity, are the biggest development in mineral dressing since flotation, which was at about the same stage of development thirty years ago. The scope of their application has broadened and, though still in the development stage, they are being accepted in a constantly increasing number of commercial installations. This progress in mineral beneficiation is especially satisfying when we realize that our high-grade ore deposits are fast disappearing and a big factor in determining whether a hole in the ground is being sat upon by a liar or an honest citizen is how economically the ore dressers can concentrate comparatively low-grade ores. As early as the middle of the nineteenth century attempts were made to use aqueous salt solutions in a heavy-liquid separation for cleaning coal. But the original and recovery costs of these liquids were high and further, the fact that they were corrosive, unstable, and toxic added to the difficulty in using them.

Jan 1, 1948

By Noel S. Christensen

COBALT is a silvery white metal with a slight bluish cast, strongly resembling nickel in its appearance and properties, notably its resistance to corrosion, although its alloys with other metals differ quite decidedly in their properties from those of nickel. The name cobalt was derived from the German "Kobold" meaning goblin and this came to be applied to the cobalt minerals which, although they resembled ores, did not readily yield metal when smelted by the primitive processes available in the Middle Ages. Cobalt minerals were used as pigments by potters and glass workers before the Christian era. Cobalt blue glass was found in the tombs of the Egyptians and in the ruins of Troy, and many colors used by the ancient Greeks and Romans contained cobalt. The ancients were entirely unaware that the colors they used were caused by cobalt and the metal itself was only isolated about the middle of the eighteenth century by Brandt although the preparation of cobalt compounds had been carried on in a small way ever since the opening of the silver-cobalt deposits at Schneeberg, Germany, in 1470. The metal is fairly hard, with a density when pure of 8.81 in the cast state and 8.92 after working. The commercial grade of cobalt has a density of about 8.75 in the cast state. The atomic weight is 58.97. The Brinell hardness of the pure metal is 124; that of the commercial grade varies from as low as 100 to as high as 138, depend¬ing upon the impurities present. Pure cobalt has a sharp melting point at 1478°C. The tensile strength of the pure metal in the cast condition is said to be higher than that of any other pure metal. Kalmus gives it as 34,400 lb. per sq. in. for cast unannealed metal; the effect of annealing at 850 to 900°C. is to raise the strength slightly. The yield point is close to the ultimate strength and the reduction in area and elongation are both low. Mechanical working raises the tensile strength of pure cobalt rapidly and in the form of wire it will be over 100,000 lb. per sq. in. The presence of small quantities of carbon in the commercial metal raises the tensile strength to as high as 61,000 lb. per sq. in., the reduction in area and elongation being raised at the same time to approximately 20 per cent.

Jan 1, 1933

By Lyon F. Terry

IN contemplating the prospects of natural gas being transported from the fields where it is produced to such distant points as Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, and New England, let us review the advance that natural gas has made and the projects currently scheduled for construction. This may give us a perspective of the point in the long-range development of the natural gas business in which we now find ourselves, and some basis for judging the further expansion of the industry. Authentic statistics of the total marketed production of natural gas in the United States have been compiled by the Bureau of Mines since the year 1906. The growth of the business is indicated by the following data on marketed production for each ten-year interval since 1906:

Jan 1, 1947

By H. J. Rose

Sixty-five million net tons of coal were carbonized in the by-product and beehive coke ovens1 of the United States during 1924. This tonnage represented 13.4 per cent. of the bituminous coal which was mined in that year. Table 1 shows production and disposition.2 Table 1.—Production and Disposition of Ocen Coke in 1924 By-product Beehive Total Coal charged into ovens, tons................ 49,061,339 15,914,310 64,975,649 Coke produced (exclusive of screenings and breeze), tons............................. 33,983,568 10,286,037 44,269,605 Average yield of coke, per cent ............. 69.3 6.46 68.9 Disposition of coke, per cent.: Blast furnace.......................... . . 82.6 Foundry............................... . 13.3 6.6 Domestic.............................. . 1.4 6.7 Water gas manufacture and all other uses.. 4.6 . 4.1 Cokes having somewhat different combinations of chemical and physical properties are desired for the various uses listed above, and these properties depend primarily upon the types of coal used. American coals have a wide range of purity and coking quality, and the chief subject of this paper will be the selection of coals for the manufacture of blast furnace, foundry, domestic, and water-gas coke, in by-product coke ovens. It will obviously be necessary to include a discussion of those physical and chemical characteristics that are generally considered essential or desirable for each type of coke. Suitable Coals The examination and development of new sources of coking coal are important because of the irregular and limited distribution of high-grade

Jan 1, 1927

By C. A. Heiland

NOT only has the demonstration of progress in all fields of science been characteristic of the Chicago "Century of Progress," but the manner in which the fundamentals of these sciences have been displayed captivated the visitor's eye and ear at the same time. The average individual is interested most in progress which concerns his every-day life. He is fairly well educated in medicine, biology and certain aspects of physics. But how raw materials and chiefly minerals occur, how they are located, taken out of the ground and refined, is something which appears to be more remote from the every-day line of interest, and about which, therefore, the public knows comparatively little. This is particularly true of the oil industry, although it ranks in size second only to agriculture in the United States. In appreciation of the tremendous educational value which a complete exhibit on all phases of the mineral industries would have, both mining and metallurgical as well as oil inter¬ests took steps early to make these exhibits at Chicago a reality. The board of directors of the A. I. M. E. authorized an advisory committee to the Museum of Science and Industry early in 1932. It is divided into four subcommittees - for geology and petroleum, for metal mining, for coal mining, and for metallurgy respectively. The entire committee held its first meeting in Chicago on April 11 and 12, 1932, to advise with the Museum's officials and experts about the most advantageous arrangement of the minerals industries' and geology exhibits.

Jan 1, 1933

By George A. Packard

THE experiments here described were made under my supervision while temporarily acting as head of the Department of Metallurgy at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla. The work was done by Messrs. W. E. Brown, W. C. Richards, and F. L. L. Wilson, and the description of the results forms a portion of a thesis presented for the degree of Bachelor of Science. These results are submitted because I have seen no description of the application of pot roasting to the treatment of a copper-concentrate. This work followed that already described in the discussion of the ' Lime-Roasting of a Galena-Concentrate,"' and was similarly occasioned by the lack of a furnace of the reverberatory type in which the copper-concentrates could be smelted. The material for the tests was a mixture of three lots available. The first consisted of 8-mm. jig-concentrates and the second of 0.5 mm. table-concentrates, from the San Juan district, Colo. Both contained pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena. The third was a lot of copper-ore, found in the laboratory, which had been crushed through 8-mm. screen, and had at some previous time, before the laboratory roasting-furnace was torn down, received a partial roasting. The analyses of these ores are given in Table I. In order to determine the applicability of pot-roasting as to each lot of ore, and the effect of varying proportions of lime, six preliminary tests were made in a " size N " Battersea crucible, 9 in. high by 6 in. in diameter at top, with a 5/8 in. hole bored through the bottom. The crucible was set in the upturned elbow of a 2-in. pipe, the joint being luted with clay; and air was obtained from a receiver supplied by a compressor. The

Jan 1, 1908

By C. R. Fettke

In 1914, the officials of the Brundred Oil Corpn., faced with the problem of introducing new methods to increase production in the old and nearly depleted pools of Venango County, became interested in the Smith-Dunn (Marietta) process which was at that time being tried out in southeastern Ohio and which was already yielding very encouraging results. A license to use the process in Pennsylvania was secured from the owners of the patents. These patents were later declared invalid. The method was first used in Pennsylvania on a property consisting of about 434 acres, of which 300 are productive, at Hamilton Corners, 15 miles northwest of Oil City, in Cherry Tree and Oakland Townships, Venango County. The producing horizon is the First Sand of the Venango Group. A small oil pool was opened up in this vicinity in 1904. By July, 1916, when the compressed air was first introduced to restore pressure, the production had dropped to a point where it was no longer possible to continue profitable operation. From that time until March, 1927, over 100,000 bbl. of oil have been recovered from the tract. The property is being operated at present by the Brundred Oil Corpn. and LUX. The 1926 production, amounting to 10,650 bbl., was only 400 bbl. short of the maximum reached during any year of the 10-year period that the process has been in operation. Inasmuch as the Hamilton Corners pool is the first one in Pennsylvania in which the Marietta process was tried out, and the one in which it has been longest in continuous operation, considerable interest attaches to the results obtained. Through the courtesy of H. D. Brown and W. J. Brundred, officials of the Brundred Oil Corpn., all their data on this operation were made available to the writer in connection with an investigation of rejuvenation methods in the State for the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Stratigraphic Position of the Producing Sand The producing sand at Hamilton Corners is encountered at depths of from 364 to 560 ft., depending on the location of the well and the topog-

Jan 1, 1928

By A. W. Schlechten, R. F. Doelling

Parkes' process crusts were vacuum distilled using a shortened Pidgeon retort. Zinc was effectively removed below 800°C and recovered as a zinc sheet easily stripped from the furnace liner. Lead dasdistillationazinc required about 950°C and the resulting lead condensate tillationtended to stick to the thin metal liner. Final purity of residue is limited only by nonvolatile metals such as copper. THE successful commercial application of vacuum distillation for the removal of zinc from lead, as described by W. T. Isbell,' raises the question of whether or not a similar method can be used for other metal separations. Preliminary laboratory experiments on the vacuum distillation of Parkes' crusts by one of the authors' gave such encouraging results that it was decided to make a series of tests with large scale equipment to determine the results that might be expected in plant operation. The pilot-plant test results are reported in this paper. The great advantages of vacuum dezincing are its simplicity, the relatively low temperature of operation, and the fact that the zinc is recovered in the metallic state ready for use again in the desilveriza-tion of lead bullion. These same advantages and others would be realized from the vacuum distillation of the zinc-lead-silver crusts made in the Parkes' process. Zinc readily will distill over at temperatures of 800" to 900 °C as contrasted with the 1200°C or more used in the Faber du Faur furnace. Furthermore, the recovery of zinc as metal is practically perfect since there is no loss by oxidation or fuming. If the vacuum distillation is continued and hastened by raising the temperature to around 1000°C, the lead will distill over at an appreciable rate and deposit in a warmer zone of the condenser. This lead will contain a small amount of silver, but it can be returned to the desilverizing kettles and there is not the chance of loss that there is in disposing of the rich litharge from cupelling. The lower temperatures required will mean a saving of fuel and less wear on the equipment. One further point is that the vacuum distillation could be run on a small scale practically continuously, so as to avoid the accumulation of large amounts of silver-rich material and the need of assembling a large crew for special cupellation runs. It should be pointed out here that the final purity of the silver residue will depend on the copper or iron content of the crusts, as these and other metals with low vapor pressure will not be eliminated. The idea of treating the silver-zinc-lead crusts from the desilverization of lead bullion by vacuum distillation is not a new one, but such experiments have not been reported, as far as can be determined. In 1912, T. Turner presented a paper3 before the Institute of Metals on the vacuum distillation of brass, and a member of the audience suggested that he try his method on Parkes' crusts. In 1935, W. J. Kroll, noted for his discovery of debismuthiz-ing lead by calcium additions, published a paper' on vacuum distillation of metals and pointed out possible applications in the lead industry. Principles of Separation The successful separation of two or more metals by distillation depends upon an appreciable difference in the effective vapor pressures of the metals in the alloy to be treated. The vapor pressures of the common metals have been determined with considerable accuracy; for example, at 800°C the vapor pressures of the individual metals which are of particular interest in this paper are about .as follows: Zn, 241 mm; Pb, 0.0553 mm; and Ag, 0.0000276 mm. Unfortunately,, data are not available on the activities of the components in the ternary system Zn-Pb-Ag, but it can be estimated that on the basis of the vapor pressures of the individual metals a good separation can be made by distillation. The preliminary laboratory tests previously mentioned' supported this assumption. The pilot-plant size vacuum distilling furnace is shown in Fig. 1. It consisted of an abbreviated Pidgeon retort, 5 ft long with an ID of 8 in., heated by six silicon carbide elements placed symmetrically

Jan 1, 1952

By Rztssell H. Bennett

A SURVEY of the Mesabi Range iron-ore industry demonstrates that a satisfactory degree of technical progress has been achieved in the last fifteen years. This advance has not been made over a uniform front, but, by salients and bays, according to the different initial positions, economic and technical, of the component producing companies. The producers endowed with rich ore have in general, because of natural advantages, progressed more slowly than their neighbors with leaner properties. The advance has been made step by step all along the line -blasting, loading, hauling and concentrating-and without the benefit of radical innovation. There have been, for instance, no such parallel discoveries in iron ore as leaching and flotation in copper. The much lower unit price of iron operates, of course, to bar the application of these and other practices developed for the higher-priced metals. There exists, however, a radically new concentration process whose technology is well worked out and which may become economically operative in the not too distant future; this, as so often happens in engineering advance, because of recent developments in an entirely unrelated field. First, however, let me devote a paragraph or two to the more important economies effected in mining.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

ON May 5, the Washington, D. C., Section, A.I.M.E., devoted its meeting to the many-sided and perplexing question of mineral stock-piling for peace. Opening the symposium, Harry J. Wolf, of the War Production Board, outlined the problem under six heads: (1) Technical. Mechanical, chemical, or metallurgical importance of specified materials, emergencies that might arise, relative scarcity, and critical value of stock piles during emergencies. (2) Economic. Cost to Government, influence of Government stocks on commercial relationships and markets, effect of availability of items as a con¬structive influence on industry, Administration policies now and during postwar period. (3) Legislative. Need for immediate legislative action, need for legislation on postwar conditions as well as on current requirements, a constructive basic policy to prevent political manipulation. (4) Military. Consideration of re¬quirements and supplies bearing on national safety and needed for manufacture of equipment, and adequate reserves of scarce materials for research or experimentation by military agencies. (5) International. Interests of the United Nations in contradistinction to those of the United States; effects of nonisolation policy on nature, location, and administration of stock piles. (6) Negative stock-piling. Question of United Nations' legislation to prevent stock-piling by Axis nations after the war and who shall purchase stock-pile materials and during what periods.

Jan 1, 1943

By Sherwin F. Kelly

GEOPHYSICS may be considered a vice (albeit, I submit, a comparatively harmless one) whose career is aptly described by Pope's lines: Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. Although there may be some that have not yet succeeded in emancipating themselves from the first stage of horrified contemplation, geophysicists may be duly thankful that there are mining men and geologists that have arrived at a state of apparently irretrievable damnation.

Jan 1, 1936

By William B. Plank

A NEW record-a quarter million students in the engineering schools of the United States and Canada-has resulted from the great demand for engineers following World War II. The figures released by the American Society for Engineering Education and which appeared in detail in the Journal of Engineering Education for January 1948, show that, on Nov. 1, 1947, 252,250 students were studying engineering in 149 engineering schools of both countries. There are 244,390 in the 143 schools canvassed in the United States, and 7860 in six schools in Canada. These figures include both undergraduate and graduate students and are therefore comparable with the figures in previous presentations on this subject. This unprecedented engineering student body

Jan 1, 1948

By Winthrop P. Haynes

The symposium on production for the year 1943 contains few papers on the foreign situation. It has always been the policy of officers in charge of the symposium to refrain from publishing information that might possibly injure national or private interests. At the close of the war we hope again to publish full and accurate records of production abroad. A noteworthy feature of the reports on Texas this year is the map on page 469, which shows the districts covered by the statistics. Excerpts from Circular to Authors In order to facilitate interpretation of the data in this chapter, we print the following excerpts from the Circular to Authors. The field is the unit in this tabulation. In cases of fields extending across State boundaries, such as Rodessa, it is suggested that each State author treat the section of the field in his State as a unit, and by a footnote indicate that the field extends into an adjacent State. Each place in the table may represent one of three possibilities; either the proper entry is determinable and can be supplied by the author, or an approximate figure can be supplied which is the author's best guess and should be entered followed by an x, or it does not apply to the particular field and the space is left blank. Contributions of great value may be made by the author in many cases where entries are not subject to precise determina-tion. In such cases the author should use his good judgment and make the best entry possible under the circumstances. The entry of a zero is a positive declaration, and it is an important declaration where it is in order. It is thought that the nearest whole numbers are suficiently accurate for our purposes except as to percentage of sulphur in oil. If an author desires to report any other figures to tenths, he may do so. The quantity of gas produced should include, where possible, gas sold or otherwise marketed, and gas blown into the air, burned as flares or otherwise wasted. Segregation of these figures would be interesting if the authors can make such segregation. In any event, the figures should represent as nearly as possible the total quantity of gas removed from the reservoir. Under the columns on ''Depth," the average depth to the top of the productive zones and to the bottom of the productive wells, when subtracted, should give the approximate thickness of the productive zone. For fields where this is not true because of unusually high dip or for some other reasons, it is suggested that the authors indicate in their text the approximate average thickness of the productive zone. The net thickness of the producing formation should be the thickness of the producing zone, less the estimated amount to cover the portions of the zone that do not yield oil, such as dense shales, etc. It is recognized that for some fields the authors can only make rough guesses; in such cases, they should enter their best estimate followed by an x. Average production per acre-foot need not be reported as it can be calculated by those interested from the figures given. In classifying wells as to producing methods, enter all wells that are not "flowing" in the column headed "Artificial Lift." If possible, add footnotes to indicate whether the lift is "pumping," "gas lift" or "air lift."

Jan 1, 1944

By Francois Clerf

IRON ORE fields are situated in both the East and West of France (see maps). The eastern deposit is by far the most important from a tonnage point of view, not only in France, but in all Europe. The ores of this region are known as minette, and are situated in the Lorraine ore fields and the Briey plateau. The iron ores of the West are those of Normandy, Anjou and Brittany. Before the war, a large number of important German companies had acquired considerable interests in these western fields and a heavy trade with Westphalia had begun. Recently, however, conditions have changed and some of the mines of Brittany and Anjou are now idle. From a geological point of view, in Anjou and Brittany, a series of synclines extends from the northwest to the southeast, containing a number of seams of varying thickness and generally intercalated in Silurian and sometimes in Devonian formations. The ore is generally a hematite or a magnetite. The composition varies from 48 to 52 per cent of iron and from 8 to 12 per cent of silica. Con¬servative estimates indicate a con¬siderable tonnage of workable ores (150,000,000 metric tons).

Jan 1, 1936

By B. DE MARE

THE No. 6 open-hearth furnace at the plant of the Worth Steel Co., Claymont, Del., is the first to be rebuilt according to the Kuehn system. This as well as the other five furnaces at Claymont, has a nominal capacity of 75 tons, but the actual charge is about 242,000 lb. No hot metal being available, the pig-iron is charged cold. Oil of low grade with an asphalt base is used as fuel. These two items have to be kept in mind when discussing the actual fuel consumption. Careful records have been kept covering a five weeks run and the following is a brief summary of them The time required to heat the furnace preparatory to charging from the time a wood fire was started until charging commenced was 36 hours. This, I understand, is much less than with furnaces of standard design. The draft of the furnace, as shown by a gage in the stack-flue, is 1.25 in. The maximum draft with new checkers on former runs was 1.50 in., this draft gradu¬ally decreasing as the checkers closed up. Both of the first helpers claim the present draft is all they need for the proper working of the furnace, and, as with the Kuehn regenerators the draft remains practically the same from beginning to end of a run, this is satisfactory.

Jan 1, 1929

By Winthrop P. Haynes

The symposium on production for the year 1943 contains few papers on the foreign situation. It has always been the policy of officers in charge of the symposium to refrain from publishing information that might possibly injure national or private interests. At the close of the war we hope again to publish full and accurate records of production abroad. A noteworthy feature of the reports on Texas this year is the map on page 469, which shows the districts covered by the statistics. Excerpts from Circular to Authors In order to facilitate interpretation of the data in this chapter, we print the following excerpts from the Circular to Authors. The field is the unit in this tabulation. In cases of fields extending across State boundaries, such as Rodessa, it is suggested that each State author treat the section of the field in his State as a unit, and by a footnote indicate that the field extends into an adjacent State. Each place in the table may represent one of three possibilities; either the proper entry is determinable and can be supplied by the author, or an approximate figure can be supplied which is the author's best guess and should be entered followed by an x, or it does not apply to the particular field and the space is left blank. Contributions of great value may be made by the author in many cases where entries are not subject to precise determina-tion. In such cases the author should use his good judgment and make the best entry possible under the circumstances. The entry of a zero is a positive declaration, and it is an important declaration where it is in order. It is thought that the nearest whole numbers are suficiently accurate for our purposes except as to percentage of sulphur in oil. If an author desires to report any other figures to tenths, he may do so. The quantity of gas produced should include, where possible, gas sold or otherwise marketed, and gas blown into the air, burned as flares or otherwise wasted. Segregation of these figures would be interesting if the authors can make such segregation. In any event, the figures should represent as nearly as possible the total quantity of gas removed from the reservoir. Under the columns on ''Depth," the average depth to the top of the productive zones and to the bottom of the productive wells, when subtracted, should give the approximate thickness of the productive zone. For fields where this is not true because of unusually high dip or for some other reasons, it is suggested that the authors indicate in their text the approximate average thickness of the productive zone. The net thickness of the producing formation should be the thickness of the producing zone, less the estimated amount to cover the portions of the zone that do not yield oil, such as dense shales, etc. It is recognized that for some fields the authors can only make rough guesses; in such cases, they should enter their best estimate followed by an x. Average production per acre-foot need not be reported as it can be calculated by those interested from the figures given. In classifying wells as to producing methods, enter all wells that are not "flowing" in the column headed "Artificial Lift." If possible, add footnotes to indicate whether the lift is "pumping," "gas lift" or "air lift."

Jan 1, 1944

By R. W. Hertzberg, F. D. Lemkey, J. A. Ford

The technique of unidirectional solidification has been applied to the A1-AI3Ni and A1-CuAl2 ezltectic alloy systems; the controlled microstructure of A1-A3Ni consists of parallel A13Ni whiskers emhedded in an aluminum matrix while the Al-CuAl2, system solidifies as parallel alternate lamellae of aluminm and CuAl2. Mechanical tests (tension and flexure) have shown that the particle-matrix interface bond formed during unidirectional solidification allowes for efficient load transfer from the matrix to the reinforcing phase. Strength and fracture characterstics of the alloys were studied as a function of phase orientation; the tensile strength of controlled Al-Al3Ni samples was 43,000 psi (three times greater than that of as-cast specime~s). The strength of the Al-CIA2, cutectic was studied as a function of lamellae-flexure stress-axis orientation using a microbend apparatus. A twofold increase in outer fiber stress was observed as the lamellae were rotated from a position of no reinforcing (perpendicular to the stress axis) to one of maximum reinforcing (parallel to the stress axis), The brittle reinforcing constituent in each alloy (A13Ni and CuAl2) was observed to he the nucleating phase for fracture. It is to be concluded from this investigation that unidirectionally solidified eutectic alloys have a potential use as reinforcing coniposite) materials. In a recent review article, Chadwick1 has described the work of many investigators in the area of controlled solidification of binary eutectic alloys. Thus far, more than twenty eutectic alloys have been unidirectionally solidified to produce structures consisting of two phases in the form of alternating lamellae or as whiskers embedded within a continuous matrix; in either case, the phases are aligned parallel to the growth direction. In particular, Kraft and Albright2 have shown that the Al-CuA1, eutectic alloy exhibits a lamellar microstruc- ture as a result of unidirectional solidification while Lemkey, Hertzberg, and Ford3 have studied the A13Ni whisker-aluminum matrix morphology in the A1-A13Ni system. Whether these alloys could exhibit reinforcing behavior would have to depend upon the strength and volume fraction of the reinforcing phase (AI3Ni and CuA12) and the nature of the bond between the reinforcing phase and the matrix. Hertzberg and Kraft4 have shown that the interface bond between chromium whiskers and a copper matrix in unidirectionally solidified Cu-Cr is particularly good while Lemkey and Kraft5 have reported chromium-whisker tensile strengths in excess of 1,000,000 psi. However, with the chromium volume fraction being less than 2 pct, no reinforcing behavior was displayed by the Cu-Cr alloy.6 In view of the encouraging results concerning the good interfacial bond and high strength of the reinforcing phase in the Cu-Cr system and preliminary mechanical test data reported by Lemkey et al.3 for the A1-A13Ni system, the A1-CuA1, and A1-A13Ni eutectic alloys containing 50 and 10 vol pct, respectively, of the reinforcing phase give promise of possessing mechanical reinforcing behavior. Based on this premise, the objective of the investigation was to study the strength and fracture behavior exhibited by these anisotropic microstructures. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Controlled Solidification Procedure. An extensive description of the technique of unidirectional solidification has been presented elsewhere.' However, the pertinent details for each eutectic system studied are discussed below. Al-A13Ni System. Several master heats of this alloy were prepared by vacuum-induction melting in an A12O3crucible and casting in SiO2 mold or by induction melting in alumina crucibles under argon. The initial heats were prepared from 99.99 pct A1 and 99.99+ pct Ni, while later heats used 99.999+ pct A1 and 99.99+ pct Ni. Specimens of these master heats were unidirectionally solidified using induction and resistance heating sources and argon atmospheres at growth rates from 1.1 to 28.7 cm per hr. The thermal gradients in the liquid were controlled in the range of 26" to 36°C per cm for these runs. Al-CuA12 System. The master heat and controlled

Jan 1, 1965