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By Mark Osborne, Ray D. Peterson, C. Edward Eckert

"The theoretical melting energy requirement for a typical hypoeutectic aluminum-silicon alloy is approximately 520 BTU/lb. It has been demonstrated, however, that even a state of the art secondary processing-automated lost foam casting operation can exceed this value by at least an order of magnitude when the actual thermal energy input from melting to solidification is monitored. Metal transfer and holding operations constitutes over 65% of this expenditure. The authors present relative benchmark energy expenditure information by unit operation for an offsite melting/lost foam casting line with a daily throughput in excess of 100,000 lbs. Efficiency improvements through optimization of the current process, and anticipated energy values at the culmination of a U.S. Department of Energy sponsored project to develop, integrate and demonstrate an advanced melting, transportation, and dispensation system will be cited.IntroductionThe size of the U.S. aluminum remelt pool was approximated to be 14.21 billion kg (31.27 billion pounds) by a recent study?, with the engineered castings (foundry) sector accounting for 3.25 billion kg (7.16 billion pounds) or 23% of that total. This study considered overall process yield and all major contributors to scrap. The values cited, therefore, are more meaningful than simply tabulating annual pounds shipped by sector.The foundry sector consists of Sand Castings, PM Castings and Die Castings categories appearing in Figure 1. All other categories comprise the wrought alloy sector. Wrought alloy production enjoys an energetic benefit from both scale and a relatively continuous operation. Many foundry operations, however, operate in batch mode at less than design metal throughput with characteristically longer melt holding periods. Since any detention of molten metal beyond melting represents an overhead use of energy, melt holding (secondary) energy expenditures can appreciably inflate melting energy requirements in the foundry."

Jan 1, 2009

By C. A. Young

The remediation of cyanide (CN-) and nitrate (NO)-) anions in mine and agricultural waters by various photolytic methods has been reviewed and investigated. Photolytic methods such as direct photolysis, homogenous photolysis, and heterogeneous photocatalysis are briefly described and compared. Results and discussions show that each method has certain advantages and disadvantages. For each method, Eh-pH diagrams prove useful for determining reaction mechanisms. Preliminary results obtained for cyanide oxidation and nitrate reduction show that homogeneous photolysis can be superior due to faster kinetics than the other methods. The photolytic methods were individually, not simultaneously, tested and compared. Differences in concentrations of products were obtained and attributed to differences in photoconversion efficiencies and other inherent characteristics of .the photolytic methods. Various reaction mechanisms are proposed in accordance with the literature as well as measurements obtained from solution analysis using ion selective electrodes and ion chromatography .

Jan 1, 1995

By A. E. Isaacson

Bureau of Mines researchers developed and tested equipment to measure corrosion rates on a commercial-scale mill as an aid in predicting the effect of corrosion on minerals and how this effect relates to downstream processing. Bench-scale experiments were designed for duplicating ore grinding conditions closely enough that realistic rate determinations can be made in laboratory tests. Rates measured in a laboratory system compared favorably with those measured in the field. Cast steel was found to have corrosion rates in a copper mill and laboratory test cell of 22 and 21 mpy, respectively. Corrosion was found to account for less than 5% of the total grinding media wear in the operations studied.

Jan 1, 1987

By Shunhong Huang

Thirty-five soils were sampled from three sites at different distances from chromium slag heap of a Iron-alloy factory, namely, nine from site A located under the chromium slag and eighteen from Site B in the vicinity of the factory and eight from site C far from the factory. The contents of total Cr in these soils from site A, B and C were 1666.0±1310.9 mg? kg - 1,1136.2±1844.6 mg? kg - 1 ,300.4 ±165.1 mg? kg ? 1, respectively. The contents of water soluble Cr were 59.3±77.57 mg? kg ? 1,0.6 ±0.3 mg? kg - 1 ,0.5±0.3 mg? kg - 1 , respectively. In order to evaluate soil health, the activities of four soil enzymes (catalase, polyphenol oxidase, dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatases) were analyzed. The results have shown that dehydrogenase activity was greatly depressed by conditions in the heavy chromium-contaminated sites. Negative correlation was observed between dehydrogenase activity and the distance from the chromium slag heap, however, the activities of catalase, polyphenol oxidase, alkaline phosphatases in soils from the three sampling sites mentioned above did not differ significantly. The result imply that of dehydrogenase activity could be used as an indicator for the chromium pollution level in the area of Iron-Alloy factory and for the stability level of the soil ecosystem.

Jan 1, 2008

By Wade L. Karlsen

"Revision surgery to replace joints in the human body requires materials that are strong, long-lasting, and biocompatible. Metallic implants made of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys are already popular because of their proven corrosion and wear resistance properties, but there is an on-going effort to economically improve their performance. Alloying with inert nitrogen can enhance the mechanical properties of the alloy, enhance its corrosion resistance, and elevate the temperature at which the metallic implants can be thermally treated, without increasing the threat to the human body. The current work has produced a high-nitrogen Co-Cr-Mo alloy through HIP consolidation of metal powders that have undergone nitriding in a mechanically fluidized bed. The already fine microstructure of the powders combined with the increased nitrogen content resulted in significant property gains in the consolidated materials.IntroductionMetallic implants made of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys are already popular because of their proven corrosion and wear resistance properties, but there is an ongoing effort to improve their performance. Research on a Stellite 21 cobalt-chromiummolybdenum alloy has shown that nitrogen alloying can be desirable from several standpoints [l]. Firstly, it has indicated that nitrogen can enhance the mechanical properties of the alloy, which could allow more demanding implant designs. The same work also demonstrated that nitrogen can elevate the temperature at which the metallic implants can be thermally treated, which is desirable in situations in which surface textures are to be sintered to the implant to enhance its fixation properties. Finally, that research work discovered that, not only does nitrogen not harm the corrosion resistance of the cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys, but it may in fact enhance it. Combining this with the fact that small amounts of nitrogen are not considered a threat to the human body, makes nitrogen alloying an attractive alternative for enhancing the properties of Co-Cr-Mo."

Jan 1, 2000

By Wenjun Duan, Zongliang Zuo, Qingbo Yu, Qin Qin, Junxiang Liu

Moving bed has been widely used in the field of heat and mass transfer and reaction between solid particles and gas. In order to enhance the heat exchange coefficient, there will be tube banks inserted in the moving bed. In the process of drying ammoniates particles or heat recovery from high-temperature particles with moving bed, the particles flow behavior around the tube banks is significant. In this paper, the particles flow behavior around the tube banks is investigated, and all the results can provide guidance for the design and operation of a moving bed.

Jan 1, 2016

By H. Hahn, B. H. Kear, K. Kan, S. C. Danforth, G. Skandan, W. Chang

"A new chemical synthetic process for the production of non-agglomeratednano structured ceramic (n-ceramic) powders, starting from metalorganic precursors, is described. The process combines rapid thermal decomposition of a precursor/carrier gas stream in a hot tubular reactor with rapid condensation of the product particle species on a cold substrate. Critical to the success of this Chemical Vapor Condensation (CVC) process are (1) a low concentration of precursor compound in the carrier gas, (2) rapid expansion of the gas stream through an uniformly heated tubular reactor under a reduced inert gas pressure of 1-35 mbar, and (3) rapid quenching of the gas phase nucleated clusters or nanoparticles as they exit from the reactor tube. A wide variety of metal organic precursors is available commercially, all of which can be utilized in the CVC process to produce n-ceramic powders, including single phase, multiphase and multicomponent systems.The CVC process has been used to synthesize non-agglomerated n-SiCxNy and n-ZrOxCy powders, with controlled particle size in the range 2-20 nm. Heat treatment of the assynthesized n-powders in various high purity gas streams causes compositional and structural modifications, including particle purification and crystallization, as well as transformation to a whisker-like morphology. Thus, as-synthesized amorphous n-SiCxNy particles transform to (1) cubic n-SiC particles, when heated in flowing argon at temperatures> 1350 °C, (2) hexagonal n-Si3N4 whiskers, when heated in flowing NH3IH2 at 1400 °C, and (3) cubic nSiC whiskers, when heated in flowing H2 at 1400 °C.Non-agglomerated n-ceramic powders form uniformly dense powder compacts by cold pressing, which can be sintered to theoretical density at temperatures as low as 0.5 Tm' For example, full densification ofn-Zr02 powder compacts under free sintering conditions can be achieved at 1125 °C."

Jan 1, 1994

By J. L. Jambor

Sulfide-rich tailings accumulated in a 4l-hectare impoundment at the Waite Amulet minesite near Noranda, Quebec, have undergone partial oxidation and destruction of the principal sulfides (pyrite and pyrrhotite) in the vadose zone. Mineralogical studies and whole-rock chemical analyses of 18 samples from 3 boreholes along a cross-section of the tailings pile indicate that the principal chemical manifestations of the alteration are a pronounced depletion in sulfide-sulfur, and an enrichment in total Fe as Fe203' Other elements such as Al, Mn, Mg, Ca, Na, and K in the solids show erratic or inconsistent variations, but a trend to Si enrichment in the oxidation zone is clear. The trend is interpreted to be a relative enrichment whereby the proportion of the stable silicate minerals has increased as a consequence of the consumption of pyrite and pyrrhotite in the oxide zone.

Jan 1, 1989

By R. G. Reddy

The Margules .equation is used for interpreting excess Gibbs energy of several ternary systems. In the present study activity coefficient of 'a dilute solute, 2, in a binary solvent 1-3 was derived. The derived expression is used to interpret logarithmic activity coefficient of oxygen and sulfur in several metallic systems. Self interaction parameter of the solute is derived from the partial function of solute using constant compositional path. An expression for logarithmic activity coefficient and self - interaction parameter of solute is also derived using Maclaurin infinite series. The derived equation is based on Maclaurin infinite series used successfully to deduce thermodynamics of self interaction of oxygen as a interstitial atom in two metallic systems. The predicted thermodynamic parameters values using Maclaurin infinite series and Margules. equations, are in excellent agreement with the experimental data and also our predictions are far more accurate than the predictions made by other models.

Jan 1, 1996

By H. Shang

The materials science and metallurgical engineering communities have expended enonnous resources in developing high fidelity process models. Exploiting these Models for Predictive Optimization (MPO) and Control (MPC) is a new frontier in Materials Process Engineering that will lead to exceptional process perfonnance. This paper will begin with a short survey of the development of high quality process models available in the literature and a discussion of how these could be used to improve process operation. A summary of the current "state-of-the-art" in process automation technologies and the traditional framework in which these technologies are deployed will be presented. An illustration of the use of MPO in process design and operations will be presented for the continuous casting of steel. In addition, a simple run-out table simulation will be used to demonstrate the power of the MPC technique.

Jan 1, 2003

By Robert P. Stevens

It is important for a refractory supplier to make systematic petro-graphic examinations of products which have been in service in the furnaces and kilns of customers. The petrographic examination of refractory service samples involves the microscopic study of polished and/or thin sections, supplemented by electron probe microanalysis, as well as the bulk chemical and XRD analysis of zones in the samples. The evolution of the A. P. Green Refractories Company petrographic laboratory is described, and the application of petrographic methods is illustrated in the examination of service refractories from a Portland cement rotary kiln and an AOD stainless steel vessel. The objectives of such studies are to assist the customer in the solution of his refractory problems, and to accumulate data which are of use in the design of improved refractory products.

Jan 1, 1981

By Kumar M. Lyer

The channel reactor for ferrous and nonferrous processing has been modeled as a combination of ideal reactors. Cold model studies simulated the counter-current flow of slag and matte (or metal) with high-strength submerged gas injection. A composite model has been developed which describes the mass transfer between the two liquid phases, including the transfer of minor elements. The residence time for the matte droplets in the matte/slag emulsion is compared with the settling rates for the matte droplets in the slag to determine their relative importance in the mass transfer between matte and slag. The governing equations for mass transfer have been developed using correlations for the mass-transfer coefficients in the continuous and dispersed phases. An application of this scheme to a typical copper smelting system is presented.

Jan 1, 1993

By I. M. Ritchie

Cyanide owes its great success as a lixivant for gold to the great strength of the Au-CN bond. A replacement for cyanide must similarly be a strong complexant for gold (I) or gold (III). The various alternatives are briefly considered and it is concluded that only thiosulfate has a reasonable chance of replacing cyanide as a relatively non-toxic lixivant at the present time. However, there are considerable technical problems to be overcome before thiosulfate can be considered to be a realistic alternative to cyanide. Firstly, the leaching of gold using aerated ammoniacal thiosulfate with copper as a catalyst is a complex process which needs to be understood and controlled carefully in order to achieve maximum recoveries with minimum reagent losses. Secondly, there needs to be an option similar to the CIP process for recovering and concentrating the dissolved gold thiosulfate complex from pulps produced in the processing of low grade gold ores. The prospects for overcoming these technical' challenges are evaluated and discussed.

Jan 1, 1998

By Hidefusa Takahara, Koichi Miyake, Dierk Raabe

"Mechanical properties of copper wires were examined. The copper wires containing 5-10 mass % chromium and 1-3 mass % silver were produced through heavily cold deformation. It was expected that the copper wire was easily fractured during cold deformation because of the existence of brittle chromium phase in the alloy. In fact, the copper wire was fractured due to large work hardening, when the true strain [n] exceeded 5. However, the copper wire annealed at 1273K for 6 ks ·in the middle of deformation process could be smoothly drawn to 11=8. After precipitation treatment for silver phase at 473k for 1.8 ks, the wire was able to further drawn to n=8.4. The final deformed wire showed tensile strength higher than 1200MPa.IntroductionDownsizing of electronic devices has led to the demand of finer and higher strength materials for cables. Conventional copper alloys have about 800MPa in ultimate tensile strength. These strength are mainly obtained by precipitation hardening. Nowadays, a process for higher strength wire has been developed, where dual phase copper alloy is used. When it is drawn heavily, the' second phase is elongated along drawing direction and the wire gets high strength due to fiber reinforcement (1). That alloy is so called in-situ formed fiber reinforced ·alloy. Cu-Ag(2), Cu-Nb(3) and Cu-Cr(4) systems are well known as such alloys. It is also well known that chromium is brittle material except single crystal and high purity of chromium. However, Mihara et al. C5l have achieved 1 GPa in ultimate tensile strength in the Cu-Cr-Zr and Cu-Cr-Ti alloys by appropriate thermo-mechanical processing.In this study, the Cu-Cr-Ag systems were investigated: The alloys contained 10 or 5% chromium and 3 or 1 % silver. It was demonstrated that silver precipitated in copper matrix contributed on further hardening."

Jan 1, 2000

By S. Seetharaman

A mathematical model has been developed to evaluate the viscosities of melts at high temperatures. The viscous flow in liquid is described by the equation, {n = Aexp(AG*/RT)} based on the absolute reaction rate theory. The Gibbs energy of activation,{ AG* } is considered to be a function of the temperature as well as the composition of the melt. The model has been applied successfully to various metallic and slag systems from unary to quaternary. On the basis of this model, a relationship has been suggested to relate the Gibbs activation energy of viscosity to the Gibbs energy of mixing in binary metallic melts. The viscosities predicted from available thermodynamic data in the case of a number of binary metallic systems using this correlation show satisfactory agreement with the reported experimental values.

Jan 1, 1994

By Rainer Schmid-Fetzer

"Isothermal solidification can be used to form strong bonds at low temperature which remain solid at much higher temperatures. The exploitation of this principally known technique for new high temperature processing steps and applications in electronic assemblies is the aim of this study. Three basically different variants of this bonding process are given. A comprehensive metallurgical screening is performed and the feasibility of binary material systems is given on a quantitative scale. Very attractive systems are spotted that have never been studied before. Detailed examples for the realization of bonding with complex ternary and multilayer systems are given. A highly innovative example is the chip stack or wafer to wafer bonding of unmetallized Si or SiC at 250°C. The proposed bond remains stable above the melting point of Si and enables entirely new semiconductor manufacturing steps. An improved die bonding process was proposed and verified experimentally.1. IntroductionIsothermal solidification can be applied to form strong bonds at relatively low temperature which remain solid at higher temperatures. The general principle of this type of joining processes is illustrated in Fig. 1. An interlayer of a low melting component, Lo, is provided as a foil or a thin film coating between the high melting joint components, Hi. The assembly is heated under moderate pressure to the bonding temperature, T 8 , and a liquid filler forms, either because the melting point of Lo is exceeded or due to a eutectic reaction between Lo and Hi. This molten filler initiates a rapid interdiffusion or reaction diffusion between Lo and Hi and the subsequent approach to an equilibrium state results in isothermal solidification. The solid phases formed at T 8 in the joint region exhibit a remelt temperature above T8 •"

Jan 1, 1996

By Pertti Koukkari, Nagendra Tripathi, Karri Penttilä, Justin Salmine

ChemSheet is a thermodynamic multi‐phase multi‐component simulation software, which is used as an Add‐in in Microsoft Excel. In ChemSheet, the unique Constrained Gibbs free energy method can be used to include dynamic constraints and reaction rates of kinetically slow reactions, yet retaining full consistency of the multiphase thermodynamic model. With appropriate data, ChemSheet models can be used to simulate reactors and processes in all fields of thermochemistry. The presentation will cover off‐line modeling of Cu‐flash smelters and advanced thermochemical simulation coupled with on‐line process control of Cu‐Ni smelting. The presentation will describe an off‐line model of Cu‐smelter based on critically assessed properties of the Al-Ca-Cu-Fe-O-S-Si –system (slag, matte and liquid metal) by using the quasichemical model. A four‐stage reactor model (shaft, settler, uptake and bath) is used for optimizing process parameters and feed particle distribution. As a second example, an advanced thermochemical model of a Ni-Cu sulphide smelting plant will be given. The on‐line model covers the operation of treating Ni-Cu-S concentrate via roasters, electric furnace and converters, producing a high grade Bessemer matte product for further refining. The model integrates the thermochemistry of the roasters and electric furnace, and predicts important process parameters such as degree of sulphur elimination in the fluid‐bed roasters, matte grade, iron metallization, slag losses and the iron to silica ratio in the electric furnace slag. Both models can be used to assist process engineers and operators in calculating the addition rates of coke, flux and air for different feed scenarios.

Jan 1, 2014

By Yilin Fang, Alain Bonneville, Timothy. D. Scheibe, Zhijie Xu

"We present a hydro-mechanical model for geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. The model considers the poroelastic effects by taking into account the coupling between the geomechanical response and the fluid flow in greater detail. The simplified hydro-mechanical model includes the geomechanical part that relies on the linear elasticity, while the fluid flow is based on the Darcy's law. Two parts were coupled using the standard linear poroelasticity. Analytical solutions for pressure field were obtained for a typical geological sequestration scenario. The model predicts the temporal and spatial variation of pressure field and effects of permeability and elastic modulus of formation on the fluid pressure distribution.IntroductionIn order to achieve a substantial reduction of CO2 emissions and alleviate the atmospheric carbon problem, massive scale carbon sequestration is required involving millions of tons of carbon dioxide injection over several decades. The geomechanical response is important upon the injection of substantial supercritical carbon dioxide into deep geological formations. Supercritical CO2 is less dense than brine waters and the buoyancy driven flow of CO2 requires the aquifer to be capped by low permeability rock (""caprock"") to prevent the upward migration of C02 (as shown in Fig.1 ). Massive scale injection of C02 changes the overall stress state in the caprock and formation. This change leads to large deformation that can damage the caprock, create fractures, and open new flow paths for supercritical C02. Therefore, a coupled hydromechanical model becomes essential for the caprock integrity analysis."

Jan 1, 2012

By Gary R. Adams

Coating thickness control is typically difficult with touch-up solders for galvanized steel, and corrosion properties and abrasion resistance are sometimes poor. This paper reports on progress in ILZRO-sponsored research to develop an improved touch-up solder. Encouraging results were achieved in torch soldering trials with zinc-tin based alloys. Mouldability and coating thickness control were achieved over a practical working temperature range in which the solders consisted of a viscous mixture of solid primary zinc phase particles in a liquid zinc-tin eutectic matrix The mouldability was dependent on the microstructure of the starting material, and optimum structures could be obtained through control of casting solidification rates and/or by the addition of small amounts of copper. Hardness and preliminary corrosion test results showed potentially good mechanical and corrosion behaviour. The absence of toxic materials ensures environmental friendliness. Comprehensive performance testing is continuing on selected experimental zinc-tin-copper touch-up solders.

Jan 1, 1992

By Defeng Zhou, N. Trubaki, Jian Meng, Fanzhi Menga, Xiaojuan Liu, Yanjie Xia

"The microstructure and the electric conductivity of (Ce0.9Nd0.1)1 xMxO2 d (M=Mo, W) solid solutions were investigated. It has been found that their conductivity containing the grain (s gi ), the grain boundary (s gb) and the total conductivity (s t ) at 300°C- 700°C can be ranked as: (Ce 0. 9Nd 0. 1 ) 0.99 W 0.01 02- d (s gi = 0.065 S.cm·1, (s gb = 0.265 S.cm·1, s t = 0.039 S.cm-1) > (Ce0.9Nd0.1)0.99Mo0.01O2- d (s gi = 0.053 S.cm·1, s gb = 0.142 S.cm·1, s t = 0.029 S.cm-1) > Ce0.9Nd0.1 s 2- d (s gi 0.045 S.cm-1, s gb = 0.091 S.cm-1, s t = 0.018 S.cm-1) measured at 700°C. The highest conductivity is obtained in (Ceo.9Ndo.1)0.99W0.01O2 d. These results indicate that (Ceo.9Nd0.1)0.99W0.01O2- d is the most promising electrolyte materials of intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells among (Ce0.9Nd0.1)1-xMxO2- d. IntroductionRare-earth (e.g. La3+, Nd3+, Gd3+ and Sm3l doped ceria-based ceramic materials have been acknowledged to be attractive electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cells operating below 600°C due to their high ionic conductivity [1, 2]. In order to improve ionic conductivity of these electrolytes further, in recent reports [3-6], some aids such as Mo03 [3] etc. in a limited amount can be used which causes extremely high conductivity. For example, Zhou et al. found that with MoO3 doping, the grain boundary conductivity of Nd3+ doped CeO2- d increased notably especially at lower temperatures due to the effect of severely undersized do pants [3]. It is well known that the size of W6+ (rw6+ = 0.60 Å) is close to Mo6+ (rMo6+ = 0.62A) because of lanthanide shrinkage. Thus, rare-earth doped ceria e.g. Nd3+ doped CeO2g with WO3 in a limited amount will be probably good and even better electrolytes. However, much less information is available about these materials. Therefore, in our paper, (Ce0.9Nd0.1)0.99 1-xMxO2- d (M=Mo, W) solid solutions have been prepared and characterized. Much higher conductive electrolytes are found in the series of (Ce0.9Nd0.1)0.99 M0.01O02- d particularly (Ce0.9Nd0.1)0.99W0.01O2- d"

Jan 1, 2012