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By G. F. Comstock

The subject of transverse fissures in steel rails has been discussed very thoroughly in recent years from various points of view and the final opinions expressed may be roughly classified into two groups: That these fissures are the result merely of fatigue of the steel and are independent of the quality of the metal. That the quality of the metal and the mill practice must have something to do with them. The first point of view was most ably and logically presented by J. E. Howard,' and in the discussion of this paper, as well as in several other preceding publications, Dr. P. H. Dudley, Consulting Engineer of the New York Central Lines, has strongly defended the other opinion.2 The steel makers of the country have naturally rallied under Mr. Howard's banner, hoping to place the entire blame for these failures upon the railroads with their high wheel-loads, hard steel, heavy traffic, and sometimes inferior road-bed; while the railroad men, on the other hand, have been busy accumulating statistics and records in the effort to find an actual reason in the rails themselves that would account for the seemingly haphazard occurrence of transverse fissures under varying conditions and at widely separated points. The view that these fissures were due merely to normal fatigue under alternating stresses seemed most reasonable to the writer until quite recently, because from work done in this laboratory, as well as the work of other investigators, of the problem, no structural differences, in the vast majority of cases, were found between metal at the nuclei of transverse fissures and metal at similar positions in the same rails or in other rails that had not developed fissures. Within the last year or two, however, since the method of etching polished sections for the microscope with a oupric chloride solution has been tried systematically on lengthwise sections, passing through the nuclei of transverse fissures, evidence

Jan 1, 1920

By Bruno Nordberg

HOISTING is one of the earliest endeavors of man with machinery, for hoisting was probably used by the early Egyptians. Treadmills were used for general hoisting until early in the nineteenth century and it was a short step only to attach a Watt steam engine to the rope drum of a hoist. One of the earliest steam hoists was built for a coal mine at Frisne, near Valenciennes, France. It was a remarkable piece of engineering created by James Watt in 1811, using a wooden drum on a vertical shaft. This followed the crude hoist by Holtzhausen in 1803, which used a drum of wood on a horizontal shaft.1 In this country there were examples of crude mine hoists, which have been developed into the efficient machines in use today. African and Australian mines show examples of both extremes, and have an array of fine hoisting equipment exemplified in those built by British manufacturers. The influence of both English and American engineering in hoisting is interestingly evident in Canada. The information available to the writer does not reveal this to be true of South Africa, although American-built hoists have been furnished. Mining camps develop their own style of equipment, adapted to local conditions. For instance, the Butte mining district adheres to the straight drum with friction clutches, because of the great number of levels from which hoisting is done or to which men and material are lowered and the necessity for hoisting or lowering unbalanced. The north Michi-gan copper country uses both straight and cylindroconical drums and hoists continually in balance, so that the drums are not clutched to the main driving shaft. The Joplin mining district, Missouri, has its own peculiar small hoists. Other individual mines or localities in which a number of mines have been developed show individualisticc types of hoists, depending upon their particular problems. In each instance, however, the particular problem must be carefully analyzed, as conditions are seldom so near the same that a number of identical hoists can be used to advantage.

Jan 1, 1940

By Benjamin F. Tillson

THE past seven years, and 1937 in particular, have witnessed the return of New Jersey iron mining to a place of importance. Following the World War period, little mining was done for several reasons. The properties were operated by small merchant furnaces whose demand was not sufficiently large to warrant large-scale methods with their attendant low operating costs. Under those conditions, the ore produced could not compete with that from the Great Lakes. However, when on Nov. 1, 1.929, the Alan Wood Steel Co., of Conshohocken, Pa., leased the Scrub Oak and Washington properties at Mine Hill and Oxford respectively, they made radical changes in the mining and milling processes which greatly reduced the cost of production and pointed the way to a renewed interest in mining in New Jersey. The following factors have been advanced as influencing the reopening of New Jersey mines:

Jan 1, 1938

By F. Keller, A. H. Geisler

Some of the important changes that take place in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrystallization. Although improved metallographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based on the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mahl3-17 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chemical or anodic treatment. After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,19 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,17 nickel,7 iron 3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloy" by heating; films formed on iron 8.9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-16 by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944

By T. Egleston

The Boston and Colorado Smelting Works are situated in the town of Black Hawk, Gilpin County, Colorado, on the Clear Creek Narrow Gauge Railway, 55 miles from Denver, in the Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of 7800 feet. It was one of the first works erected for the metallurgical treatment of gold ores, and the only one established in Colorado on a large scale which has been uniformly successful. Both gold and silver ores are treated, and gold, silver, and copper produced. The lead is not separated from the ores nor paid for, if it exists, and is entirely lost in the residues. The works were planned and built by Professor Hill, formerly Professor of Chemistry in Brown University, Providence, R. I., and is still managed by him, assisted by Mr. Richard Pearce, formerly professor in the School of Mines at Truro, England. They are very advantageously situated with regard to the ore-producing regions, having Boulder County on the north, which produces, besides ordinary gold ores, a series of tellurium minerals, such as altaite, sylvanite, and hessite, which are very rich in gold and silver. They are associated with copper and iron pyrites, blende, galena, and the carbonate and oxides of iron. Gilpin County itself produces for the most part the pyrites of iron and copper rich in gold, with a small quantity of galena and blende, which is rich in silver. In

By T. PH. D. Egleston

THE Boston and Colorado Smelting Works are situated in the town of Black Hawk, Gilpin County, Colorado, on the Clear Creek Narrow Gauge Railway, 55 miles from Denver, in the Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of 7800 feet. It was one of the first works erected for the metallurgical treatment of gold ores, and the only one established in Colorado on a large scale which has been uniformly successful. Both gold and silver ores are treated, and gold, silver, and copper produced. The lead is not separated from the ores nor paid for, if it exists, and is entirely lost in the residues. The works were planned and built by Professor Hill, formerly Professor of Chemistry in Brown University, Providence, R. I., and is still managed by him, assisted by Mr. Richard Pearce, formerly professor in the School of Mines at Truro, England. They are very advantageously situated with regard to the ore-producing regions, having Boulder County on the north, which produces, besides ordinary gold ores, a series of tellurium minerals, such as altaite, sylvanite, and hessite, which are very rich in gold and silver. They are associated with copper and iron pyrites, blende, galena, and the carbonate and oxides of iron. Gilpin County itself produces for the most part the pyrites of iron and copper rich in gold, with a small quantity of galena and blende, which is rich in silver. In * By consent of the council of the Institute, this paper was first published in London Engineering, from which the engravings are here reproduced.

Jan 1, 1876

By H. C. Johnson, J. K. Elliott

One of the primary requirements for successful operation of an enriched gas-drive project is to control the composition of injection gas. This can become a serious and difficult problem, particularly in cases where the enrichment material is being furnished from a number of field -produced gas streams. It is possible to effect control of the injection gas composition through frequent or continuous sampling; however, this can be extremely costly and, in many cases, impractical due to laboratory requirements of time. Another alternative would be to provide a calculation technique which would be flexible and sufficiently accurate to predict composition of the liquid and gas streams of interest at any point in the system. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a technique that was used successfully on an operating enriched gas-drive project for developing information which could be used for controlling composition of the injected gas. FIELD OPERATIONS The particular field (hereafter called Example field) in the example operation being discussed is composed of four oil reservoirs (A. B, C and E) and one gas condensate reservoir (D). Casinghead gas from the oil reservoirs and gas from the gas condensate reservoir are gathered through a field gathering system as shown in Fig. I for injection into Reservoir C. The gas mixture which is recovered from the five reservoirs for injection purposes is composed of gases liberated in 19 individual separators, each operating at a separate temperature and pressure. PROPOSED CALCULATION TECHNIQUE It is well known that vapor-liquid equilibrium calculations in general use throughout the petroleum industry can be used to predict reliably the phase behavior of hydrocarbon mixtures, particularly at pressures less than 1,000 psig. It is then a simple matter to account for the material on a ComPonent basis by m''ing flash and material balance calculations at each separation point in a hydrocarbon system. Accordingly, it was proposed to use vapor-liquid equilibrium and material balance cal- culations with a medium-sized electronic digital computer as a basis for developing a control procedure for use in controlling injection gas composition in the enriched gas-drive project. Although the approach is a simple one, the numerous vapor-liquid equilibrium calculations involved make the problem laborious; in this particular case, it would have been impractical to make sutficiently complete analysis without the aid of digital computing equipment. SAMPLING AND VERIFICATION OF CALCULATION PROCEDURE To obtain representative gas and liquid stream samples and to provide a quantitative measure of overall system Performance for comDarative purpLses, a thorough test of the field and plant system was conducted in the summer of 1957. Oil production at each battery was sta-

By S. W. Nabbs, W. D. Bachman, A. W. Last

A study has been made of wet, autogenous grinding of disseminated copper ores, including testing of a large number of samples from. Kennecott Copper Corp.'s Chino mine. The grindability of the various samples was found to vary over an extremely wide range, even among samples taken from diflerent locations within the same ore body. These variations in grindability can be qualitatively correlated with the composition of the rock and the fracturing and alteration that had occurred. Because of the large-scale nonhomogeneity of disseminated copper ore bodies, extensive and careful testing of autogenous grinding is needed. An accurate correlation of the grinding data from various samples with the geology of the ore body and with mining plans will indicate if variations in grinding mill throughput can be avoided in practice by mixing or blending of mill feed and if, therefore, autogenous grinding can be applied successfully. In the past 15 years, comminution by primary autogenous grinding has been investigated and applied economically in the minerals industry, particularly in iron-ore processing. Successful application of primary grinding is described by A. A. Dor,l.' P. B. Dettmer,334 R. R. Turner, and W. F. McDermott." other authors describing the advantages of primary grinding include H. Hardinge,' R. T. Hukki,' D. S. Coyle" and F. C. Bond,"," to mention only a few. For the past several years, Kennecott Copper Corp.'s Metal Mining Div. Research Center has been investigating primary grinding of disseminated copper ores. Both fully autogenous and semi-autogenous grinding has been explored. Ores from three of Kennecott's western operating properties and from several development properties have been tested. Host rocks include diabase, schist, silicated and argillaceous limestones, shale, granite porphyry, quartzite, and granodiorite. The object of this paper is to supplement the general knowledge in the field of primary grinding by presenting information gained from the studies with the various disseminated copper ores. Data are presented which show that carefully considered test programs are required to determine the practicality of applying autogenous grinding to a specific mining-beneficiation operation. Particularly this is so if more than one rock type occurs within an ore body or if there are wide variations in the degree of rock alteration within a deposit. Extensive sampling and subsequent testing of the ores within a mine are required if serious pitfalls are to be avoided and good engineering data acquired. We hope that this presentation will stimulate studies to increase the understanding of the fracturing process applicable to large pieces of rock, a factor which is important in autogenous grinding. Test Facilities and Procedures Both pilot-scale and full-scale test facilities were used to investigate primary grinding characteristics of the disseminated copper ores. A 6-ft Hardinge Cascade mill, a 24-ft Hardinge Cascade mill, and a 5-ft Aerofall mill were used in the studies. The Cascade mills were operated wet, while the Aerofall mill was operated both wet and dry. The Cascade mills were operated both for fully autogenous and for semi-autogenous grinding; the Aerofall mill was operated only semi-autogenously. Fully autogenous grinding, as the term is used in this presentation, is defined as the direct grinding of coarsely crushed rock by the action of the rock mass. Semi-autogenous grinding is defined as the grinding of coarsely crushed rock with the rock mass supplemented by a steel ball charge. Most of the test work was done using the 6-ft Cascade mill, operated under fully autogenous grinding conditions. Only limited testing was conducted with the 5-ft Aerofall mill and only one ore was tested using the 24-ft Cascade mill. This presentation is concerned, therefore, primarily with fully autogenous, pilot-scale grinding in the Cascade mill. Fig. 1 presents a diagram of the test facilities used with the 6-ft Cascade mill. Principal test equipment consists of a 6-ft Cascade mill, an 18-in. spiral classifier, an elevator, a 2 x 9-ft belt feeder, a conventional integrating kilowatt-hour meter, and a recording wattmeter. In testing, feed charges, adjusted as to weight, were deposited as evenly as possible on the belt feeder every 15 min. The weight of each charge was adjusted to maintain a mill charge of 27 to 30% of mill volume. The classifier was adjusted to obtain the desired size-consist of the final product, generally at 20% + 100 mesh. After equilibrium was established in the circuit, the feed, mill discharge, classifier sand, and classifier overflow were sampled and their size distributions determined. During the sampling periods, the power drawn by the mill was measured to determine the energy consumed in the reduction of the size consist of the ore solids. Fully Autogenous Pilot Grinding Tests on Various Kennecott Ores Typical test results obtained in the 6-ft Cascade mill with samples from Kennecott's Ray Mines Div., Chino Mines Div., Utah Copper Div., and a development property designated as Mine A are presented in Table 1. As shown, the ores that were ground most easily in the pilot-scale mill were composite mine samples obtained

Jan 1, 1971

By Walter F. Bradley

CLOSE to 300 members and guests were registered at the Regional Meeting of the Institute in San Francisco. Oct. 3-6, and many other mining men were present at some of the sessions, but failed to register. Headquarters were at the Palace Hotel. Technical papers for the Metals Session were sponsored by the San Francisco Section, whereas the program for the Industrial Minerals Session was arranged by the Southern California Section. Walter W. Bradley, Chairman of the San Francisco Section, opened the General and Metals Session, introducing President Buehler, who gave a hearty welcome to those present. Clyde M. Eye, of the. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co., presented the first paper, entitled "The Economic and Strategic Value of Philippine Metals to the United States." In closing, he urged. that this country retain and control the Philippines because their large

Jan 1, 1935

While coal was mined in New Mexico in 1860, production was on a small scale during the period considered here, and Table 77 contains all the data found. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

By G. G. Brown

Enthalpy-entropy diagrams are presented for natural gases of 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0 gravity over the pressure range of 5 to 10,000 Ib. per sq. in. and temperature range of 32º to 700°F. The charts indicate directly the work requirement and temperature rise for adiabatic compression or temperature change for free emansion of natural eases. Computation and Uses of Charts The Mollier diagram (Fig. 4), in which the enthalpy (heat content) is plotted against the entropy with lines of constant temperature, pressure,, and in some cases volume, has been found most convenient when dealing with the compression, expansion, and flow of fluids. In dealing with the flow of fluids, the sum of the increase in the enthalpy, AH, plus the increase in kinetic energy, AM —, plus the increase in potential energy, ?MZ, representing the total increase in energy of the fluid in flow, is equal to the sum of the heat q, and work added, —w, to the fluid while flowing between the entrance and exit of the flow system. AH + AM— + ?MZ = q-w [1] In cases where there is no significant change in potential energy or in kinetic energy (velocity), it follows that the increase in enthalpy is equal to the total energy supplied to the fluid. Under such conditions' the changes in the property of the fluid as it flows through a throttling valve, choke, or any other similar arrangement, may be read directly from the enthalpy-entropy diagram by following a horizolltal line between the known pressures' When compressing Or expanding a gas by means of a Or or engine in which no heat is added to or subtracted from the gas, but only work done, the changes in the properties of the gas may be determined along a vertical line of constant entropy between the entering and exit pressures. The power required for the compression of the gas may be readily determined by converting the increase in enthalpy into the desired units. The enthalpy-entropy diagram for natural gases is to the gas engineer what the steam diagram is to the steam-power engineer. For this reason it would be extremely convenient if a reasonably satisfactory enthalpy-entropy diagram could be prepared as a function of the gravity of the gas. A careful study of the known properties of natural gas indicate that this is possible. The effect of temperature upon the enthalpy at constant pressure is expressed as the "heat capacity" or "specific heat" of the gas. The best available data for natural and petroleum refinery gases indicates the relationship shown in Fig. I. From this it is clear that the specific heat of natural gases is a function only of the gas gravity and the temperature at atmospheric pressure. The effect of pressure on the enthalpy of natural gases is dependent upon the pressure-volume-temperature relationships,

Jan 1, 1945

By R. F. Yap, N. Arbiter, C. C. Harris

A fully-instrumented driving mechanism has been constructed to study the power, aerating and solid suspension characteristics of several laboratory flotation machines. Machines operating over normal flotation speed ranges give substantially constant power numbers in liquid systems indicating that they operate close to fully baffled turbulent flow conditions. Owing to lack of geometrical scaling, power numbers for different sizes of cells of the same make are different. Even larger differences occur between cells of different manufacturers. For a given impeller, varying the tank size did not significantly affect the power consumption. Tank geometry and baffling has a slight effect on power consumption with shrouded impellers. For a given impeller speed, suspension height decreases while power increases with increasing mass of solids in suspension. While power consumption is hardly affected by particle size and clearance between the impeller and tank bottom, the suspension height significantly increases as clearance increases and as particle size decreases. Aeration was found to affect not only power but also the suspension characteristics of the machine. For closely sized particles, drastic sedimentation occurred when a critical value of the air flow number was exceeded. The critical air flow number decreased with increasing particle size. This effect was less marked with a wide particle size range. The self-aerating capacity of flotation machines increases with cell size at a given speed for the same impeller-shroud system, but decreases in the presence of frother and solids. Equations have been established for correlating all of the studied variables. Data taken from the literature were also correlated with these equations. The modern mechanical flotation machine has, over a period of 60 years, displaced other designs to become the dominant type. Once the correct chemical environmental conditions have been established, the major requirement, selective mineral-air adherence, is essentially a function of two operating variables — impeller speed and air rate. The special nature of this dependence is such that in the same apparatus, but under different operating conditions, adherence can be either prevented or destroyed. Another aspect of this observation is that flotation machines though differing in detail to a considerable extent can produce similar metallurgical results. It must be concluded that having determined the correct reagent levels, establishing the correct operating conditions are at least as important as machine design. Since about 1960, after 30 years of fairly stable circumstances, manufacturers have been developing new types of machines whose major feature is emphasis on pulp flow characteristics by virtue of new im-peller-stator designs. As far as can be ascertained, these new designs necessitate radical departures from accepted impeller speed-air rate values. Performance data are still awaited. Flotation machine development has been empirical, as is selection of operating conditions. The purpose of the work at Columbia University has been to elucidate the fundamentals of the subject so that the purely mechanical aspects of the flotation process can be understood in hydrodynamic terms.1-6 Hopefully, this might lead to intelligent selection of a particular machine and its operating conditions for a specific ore based on a minimum of testing, or even to new types of flotation machines. The present investigation is the most comprehensive to date.7,8 Earlier work, which was largely exploratory, has been repeated and extended and employes the most accurate measuring techniques available. Additionally, sufficient hydrodynamic data were obtained under flotation conditions to delineate the relevant operating ranges. Attention has been given to scaling in that several geometrically scaled tanks and impellers have been constructed and tested; it has been pointed out elsewhere that undistorted geometrical scaling rarely pertains in flotation machine design.5 This paper is divided into sections dealing with relevant combinations of the three phases: liquid, air and solid. Summaries of the literature have been given in previous publications2-4 and will not be repeated here. Recently, several reviews of mixing have appeared, which can be usefully referenced.9-11 It is of interest to note that flotation is not included

Jan 1, 1970

By John W. Weeton, Donald W. Petrasek

Relatively few metal-metal systems exist that would permit the creation of fiber-metal composites consisting of mutually insoluble constituents. It is anticipated that most high strength-to-weight ratio and high -temperature fiber composites ultimately to be produced will utilize high-strength fibers embedded in a highly alloyed matrix. An investigation was conducted to determine the effect of alloying on the tensile Properties and micro-structure of tungsten-fibey-reinforced composites. Composites were made of tungsten fibers infiltrated with copper binary alloys that contain elements of varying solubility in tungsten. Room-temperature tensile tests were made on the composites, and a metallographic study of the microstructure of the fiber-metal-matrix interfaces was conducted. It was shown that, as the depth of penetration of some alloying elements into the fiber increased, a decrease in both tensile strength and ductility of the composite results. A notch effect, due to the formation of a brittle alloy zone with the tungsten fiber, was observed and gave rise to greater reductions in tensile properties and ductility behavior than would be Predicted by a law-of-mixture relation alone. In recent years, investigators have considered combining fibrous materials with relatively weak binder materials. The interest in fiber-reinforced composites results from the fact that fibers or wires may be exceedingly strong and exhibit mechanical properties superior to those of the bulk materials from which they are derived. For example, tungsten wires drawn to less than 1 mil in diameter may have strengths of over 600,000 psi,' while steel wires ranging from 10 to 3 mils in diameter may have strengths of the order of 300,000 to over 600,000 psi.2 Both metallic and ceramic whiskers are known to have very high strengths. For example, iron whiskers have been shown to have strengths of 1.9 million psi3 and sapphire whiskers have been reported to have strengths of the order of 1.7 million psi.4 If all or part of the strengths of such fibers could be retained, subsequent to the incorporation of the fibers in an engineering material, a superior material could result. In previous work done at the Lewis Research Center, McDanels, Jech, and weeton5 demonstrated the feasibility of fabricating metal-fiber—metal-matrix composites that utilized the full strengths of the fiber and matrix materials. Tungsten fibers were combined with a copper matrix by a liquid-infiltration method such that the tungsten fibers were uniaxially oriented parallel to the tensile axis of the composite. A linear relation was established that related the tensile strength of the composite with the volume percent of the fibers. Mutually insoluble constituents were selected for the study so that the strength of the composite could be quantitatively related to the strength of the individual constituents. The fact that there are only a few metals that are mutually insoluble with tungsten, e.g., copper, silver, gold, and zinc, and that these either have low melting points, high vapor pressures, or poor oxidation resistance, makes it necessary to utilize other metals that are soluble in tungsten, where high-temperature applications are ultimately contemplated. It was anticipated that, for most practical fiber-reinforced composite materials, it would be necessary to use a fiber and metallic matrix that would have varying degrees of solubility for each other. A logical extension of the earlier work was thus felt to be a study that would determine the effects of elements that had mutual solubility with the tungsten. Numerous investigators have found that tungsten fibers may be damaged by thermal treatments or contamination of the surface of the fiber by alloying elements.6-10 On the other hand, surface treatments may improve the strength of such fibers."-" Relatively little work with composites containing tungsten fibers have been reported. The work of parikh14 has shown that kinked, short-length tungsten, steel, and molybdenum fibers could str'engthen such matrices as silver, gold, and copper. Some of the combinations of fibers and matrices studied by

Jan 1, 1964

By B. Foley

IN THE first report1 disks of steel of known composition and history were exposed, under carefully prescribed conditions, to impacts of explosion products resulting from the explosion of 50-gm. charges of explosives having well-determined rates of detonation, or to impacts of a weight of known mass, falling through measured distances. There were available at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station five explosives, having rates of detonation of 5716, 4470, 3190, 2296, and 1523 meters per second. It being desired to continue this exposure downward, and no explosives with a lesser rate of detonation being at hand, resort was had to the impact of a falling weight, the differences in the velocity of impact being attained by varying the height from which the weight was allowed to fall. It was expected by this means to demonstrate experimentally that the development of Neumann bands was determined by the suddenness of the deformation of the metal in which they were produced. But while progressive deformations were obtained with the explosive arges, the falling-weight method failed because the tup was ogressively deformed, also the disks were so flattened as to be unfit for metallographic examination. A return, therefore, has been made to the use of explosives as the source of energy, an air-gap being interposed between the charge of explosive and the disk, as the effect diminishes as the function of the distance between the charge and the object on which the products of its explosion, or the shock wave from its detonation, impinge. The details of the arrangement of the tests by the air-gap method were the same as those described by Foley and Howell,2 except that after the system had been set up and the desired apparent specific gravity for the explosive

Jan 2, 1926

Jan 1, 1967

By J. H. Bechtold

Tensile properties of annealed molybdenum were investigated from 1000" to—200°C. In the vicinity of room temperature a well-defined transition in tensile properties occurs. Reduction in area decreases from over 80 pct to 0 pct and, simultaneously, the yield strength increases about 60,000 psi. MOLYBDENUM, tungsten, iron, and many other metals and alloys with the body-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed crystal structures change from ductile to brittle behavior over some relatively narrow temperature range. The temperature at which this transition in ductility occurs depends on chemical composition, microstructure, and method of testing. When fine grained, completely recrystallized molybdenum of commercial purity is tested in uniaxial tension at a slow strain rate, the transition occurs at slightly below room temperature.' Iron2 and tungsten3 tested under similar conditions become brittle at temperatures close to the boiling point of nitrogen, — 195°C and at about 200°C, respectively. A sharp change in ductility is uncommon in metals with the face-centered cubic crystal structure, however, a relatively sharp transi- tion in notched bar impact properties has been observed below room temperature in a face-centered cubic copper-antimony alloy.4 A transition from ductile to brittle behavior is usually explained by the concepts originally developed by Ludwik,5 and discussed and elaborated on by others including Orowan,6 Hollomon and Jaffe,7 and Gensamer8 In brief, there are two aspects to strength, first the resistance to flow and second the resistance to fracture. Both are functions of temperature, strain, strain rate, stress system, composition, and microstructure. With decreased test temperature the flow stress required to initiate plastic deformation increases more rapidly than the fracture strength and brittle fracture occurs at that temperature where the yield strength equals or exceeds a brittle fracture strength. This investigation was conducted to determine the effects of temperature, strain, and rate of straining on the flow and fracture strengths of molybdenum above, through, and below the ductile-to-brittle transition. Other variables were held constant during testing. This information is believed to show

Jan 1, 1954

By G. F. LOUCHLIN

A FEATURE of the International Geological Congress to be held at Pretoria, South Africa, in the summer of 1929,. will be a symposium on the gold resources of the world. In this connection the U. S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Mines have been asked to prepare a report, showing production in the United States, describing the geology of its principal gold- producing districts, and estimating reserves (a) assuming a continuation of presen6economic conditions, and (b) assuming lower costs. This report will not be completed before April 1, but data thus far assembled are here presented with the hope of profiting by discussion and by information from those well informed on any of the important gold-producing districts. Gold production in the United States rose to a maximum exceeding $100,000,000 in 1915 and then rapidly declined to about $52,000,000 in 1920. Since then it has fluctuated, but on the whole slightly declined. Reviews of the eight leading states afford the following tentative conclusions :

Jan 1, 1929

By AIME AIME

CORROSION of tanks, pipes and other equipment in the oil fields is becoming worse as the production of high- sulfur crudes in the Texas panhandle and west Texas areas increases. It has been estimated that .in certain fields of that State one tank out of every five has to be replaced every year because of the high sulfur content of the crude. One suggested method for combating tank corrosion is the use of .materials which have a high resistance to the corrosive action of hydrogen sulfide and high-sulfur crudes; aluminum is one of these materials. As a result, the United

Jan 1, 1929

By N. V. Melnikov, L. N. Marchenko

The latest theoretical and experimental study of physical processes initiated by explosions in solid media have made it possible to obtain a deeper insight into the mechanism of the energy transfer to ambient rock from char es of explosives interspersed with various air gaps. As shown in (17, high explosive action causes excessive fragmentation of medium in the vicinity of the charge, while expansion of the process into the massif is negligible. A theoretical outline of a more rational application of explosion energy was given with a view of obtaining more uniform fragmentation of rock convenient for loading and transportation. The proposed idea proven by experimental study consisted of the possibility of explosion control based on redistribution of explosion energy. Practical realization of the above idea was proposed (1) involving charges with air gaps for rock fragmentation. Since the Rolla Symposium on Mining Research (USA, 1961) (2), borehole charges with air gaps have become common practice. This method of rock blasting is applied in open cast and underground mines working the hardest and viscous, hard, medium hard and soft rocks (ore, quartzites, granites, 1 imes tones, sandstones, coals, etc.) as well as at enterprises for extraction of building materials and raw chemical minerals of any strength. Application of charges with air gaps results in an increase of the degree and uniformity of fragmentation (up to 94 percent of the blasted rock mass consists of fragments not exceeding 400 mm), the average fragment size decreases by 1.5-2 times and the amount of lumps is reduced by 2-10 times (in some cases there are no lumps at all ). Besides, the amount of operation for filling boreholes with tamping material is reduced, the specific consumption of explosives

Jan 1, 1971

By Joseph Newton

MUCH the same story can be told about the copper industry for the year 1944 as for the three preceding years. Operators report few or no technical changes at their plants and the main endeavor has been to maintain high production with existing equipment. No large new installations have been made to increase plant capacities and apparently over-all copper production has passed its maximum. The present decline in copper production results partly from the severe labor shortage. As is true of most industries; the outstanding fact about the copper industry during the past few years has been its tremendous and sustained production which has been maintained in spite of serious shortages in material. labor, and technical personnel. The figures in Table I give a concrete example of how production has been increased at one large smelter in the United States-the Garfield plant of the American Smelting and Refining Co. at Garfield. Utah. These figures, reported by W. G. Rouillard. superintendent. give the production of the Garfield plant for the five years 1940-44 inclusive. The total blister production

Jan 1, 1945