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By Yongyong Gong, Qijie Zhai, Zhichen Zhang, Qixin Li, Zhishuai Xu

"Microstructure of semisolid slurry of Al-4.5wt.%Cu alloy was investigated with pulse magnetooscillation (PMO) treatment, the results showed that the PMO treatment can refine the crystal structures of Al-4.5wt.%Cu alloy significantly. The discharging frequency of PMO had a great effect on the solidified structure transformation of semisolid slurry of Al-4.5wt. %Cu alloy, and the primary a-Al particles become much finer and rounder with an increase of discharging frequency. However, over a certain discharging frequency, the grains of primary a-Al become coarse.IntroductionOver the last decade, a lot of attentions have been paid on metal rheoforming process [1-4], since it has higher mechanical properties of formed components, strength to weight ratio and age hardenablity. Nevertheless, semi-solid forming is always performed at high solid fractions (40%-60%), so it has the limitation of viscosity, a tends to be difficult to pour semisolid slurry into the hole of the shot sleeve. Therefore, a series of novel semi-solid slurry preparation methods and rheoforming techniques have been invented, such as, semisolid vibration treatment [5], rheocasting [6], pulsed magnetic field process [7], annulus electromagnetic stirring [8], via ultrasonic vibration process [9], equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) process [l0] and straininduced melt activation (SIMA) process [11].The electromagnetic field is characterized by its effective grain refinement, green, convenient manipulation and without contamination of melt. The mechanisms of dendrite was fragmentation by electromagnetic field have also been largely proposed [12-14]. The broken dendrite arms then undergo a coarsening process to provide the globular structures and obtain much finer and rounder a-Al particles. When compared with other external electromagnetic techniques, Pulse Magneto-Oscillation (PMO) has obtained more fuvors, owing to narrower pulse width and much lower energy consumption. Furthermore, the PMO treatment can reach finer grains with shorter time treatment [16, 17]. This work aims to study the effects of different discharging frequency ofPMO treatment on the microstructure transition of the semisolid slurry of Al-4.5 wt.%Cu alloy."

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 Ajay K. Singh

The surface quality demands for galvanized and galvannealed steel sheets by the automotive and appliance industries have been getting increasingly stringent over the past few years. Intensive efforts by Hot-Dip-Galvanizers to meet these demands have resulted in substantial improvement to the hot dip coating process. However, elimination of zinc bath contaminants which directly affect the coated strip surface quality continues to remain a tough challenge. As part of our effort to improve the zinc bath cleanliness, Inland Steel Company has developed a test method to quantitatively measure the contaminants in incoming zinc spelters and establish a specification for incoming zinc quality. The test is currently being used for auditing the incoming zinc quality. The zinc suppliers are also using this test for quality control purposes. The purpose of this paper is to describe the test method and how it has improved the galvanizing operation at Inland.

Jan 1, 1992

By Batric Pesic

Dissolution of gold with sodium bromate solutions of various compositions was studied by using a rotating disc technique. The role of bromide ion, acid and externally added bromine was examined. It was found that sodium bromate could not dissolve gold in the absence of either acid or bromide ion, or both. When acid was absent, no bromine necessary for gold dissolution could be produced. When bromide ion was absent, formation of soluble gold bromide species, AuBr,-, was not possible. Bromate concentration had a complex effect, and it was dependant on bromide ion concentration. For fixed initial bromide ion concentration, gold dissolution rate increased with sodium bramate concentration increase until certain level, beyond which further increase of bromate concentration decreased the gold dissolution rate. The negative effect of bromate was explained by the depletion of necessary bromide ion. Sulfuric acid concentration effect was a function of initially present bromine.

Jan 1, 1992

By Rolando Campos

Until 1970, the Caletones Smelter of CODELCO-CHILE, División El Teniente, operated under the conventional pyrometallurgical process used by most of copper smelters. The annual copper production varied around 165.000 tons. The failure in the commissioning of the "oxygen smelting" technology in Peirce- Smith converters (1970-1972), forced further introduction of transcendental changes in the Caletones smelter operating scheme. Implemented technological innovations were based on wide studies and research works performed by División El Teniente. This paper presents a summary of technological modifications introduced, their impact on production and energetic performances, and short and medium terms improvement plans.

Jan 1, 1993

By Uchil Jayagopal, M. Krishna, P .. V. Krilpakara, S. Manjunath

"There have been a pioneering efforts over the last forty years in the development of metal matrix composites (MMCs) as a new engineering materials, having improved properties, light weight characteristics and competitive costs compared to traditional materials. Following recent advancements in casting technology and the use of melt stirring device by foundries, discontinuously reinforced MMCs where prominent alloys are reinforced with particulates or short fibres and the being employed ·in the production of castings targeted for automotive and aerospace application.The ZA-27 alloy has a high strength compared to zinc or alluminium alloys with a lower melting temperature. The main objective of the present research is to study the effect of quartz particles on the mechanical behaviour of ZA-27 alloy composites. The results showed that the ultimate tensile strength, hardness, Young's modulus of the composite gradually increased with increase in the weight percentage of the quartz reinforcement. However overall ductility decreased with an increase in quartz reinforcementIntroductionMetal matrix composite (MMCs) offer outstanding benefits as they combine metallic properties with ceramic properties there by yielding improved physical and mechanical properties.1Among the various type of MMCs particulate reinforced composite are the most versatile and economical2. By suitable choice of metal matrix and particulate system a wide range of properties combination can be obtained such as strength, modulus, fiiction.al resistance, tribological performance and machinability. These composites are capable of replacing conventional alloys in a considerable range of applications. They also offer significant saving in energy and resources"

Jan 1, 2000

By Raymond E. Healy

Circuit samples from the HBMS concentrator were assayed for l5elements, and image analysis was done to determine the modal quantities, grain size distributions and liberations of the minerals. Material balancing was done on these data to determine distributions of the minerals in each concentrator stream. The ore was mined during the waning phase of mining and is diluted with backfilled copper smelter slag. The mill feed grades 1.0 wt% Cu and 1.8 wt% Zn. The slag silicate phases contain approximately 1.5 wt% Cu and 6.5 wt% Zn; therefore the Cu and Zn head grades due to chalcopyrite and sphalerite, are only 0.9 wt% Cu and 1.2 wt% Zn, respectively. The recovery of Cu in the Cu-concentrate (Cu-conc.) is only 77.5 %, whereas that of chalcopyrite is 89.2 %. Similarly, the recovery of Zn in the Zn-concentrate (Zn-conc.) is only 40.2 %, whereas that of sphalerite is 71.0 %. The slag accounts for approximately 60 % of the Cu, and 85 % of the Zn in the tailings. The main loss of chalcopyrite is as unliberated grains to the tailings, and the main loss of sphalerite is as free grains to the Cu-concentrate and as unliberated grains to the Cu-concentrate and tailings. Approximately 85 % of the chalcopyrite and sphalerite lost to the tailings. accounting for 8 % and 10 % of the respective minerals in the concentrator feed, occur as middling and sub-middling grains. Extremely fine regrinding would be required to liberate these minerals.

Jan 1, 1989

By Jian Ye

Recycling of aluminum scrap, such as Used Beverage Container (UBC) scrap is steadily increasing. In secondary remelting of such scrap, it is a common practice to use protective molten salt cover. An appropriate salt protects metal from oxidation, promotes coalescence of the suspended metal droplets, and separates clean metal from the oxide contamination. The molten salt also reacts with metal. This causes metal loss and change of resulting metal composition. In this paper, role of molten salt fluxes in melting of UBC scrap is discussed, and selection criteria for molten salt are provided.

Jan 1, 1995

By Masaru Imaizumi, Hiroyuki Nomura, Mitsuharu Takita

"Cast iron possesses many superior characteristics caused from precipitated graphite structure, for example, castability, wear resistance, solid lubrication, damping capacity. But the more graphite hyper-eutectic cast iron contains, the lower its mechanical strength becomes, because graphite gives a negative effect to strength of cast iron. In addition, primary graphite tends to segregate during solidification, so uniform materials are difficult to be produced.In this study, authors introduced semi-solid processing in developing new and high quality cast iron. A series of semi-solid processing experiments were carried out to clarify the effect of stirring condition; solidification temperature and etc. on microstructures and characteristics of cast iron. In particular much attention is paid to the appearance of ternary eutectic zone at the final stage of solidification. As the results advanced hyper-eutectic cast iron was obtained with high quality of both the mechanical strength and wear resistance. As for the mechanical strength, 300MPa and 0.60% are obtained as the tensile strength and the elongation values, respectively, under the controlled stirring condition. This indicates that semi-solid processed hyper-eutectic cast iron is used prospectively without spheroidization.IntroductionCast iron has various good properties such as wear resistance, solid lubrication, damping capacity and machinability. The characteristics of cast iron are mainly decided by graphite structure, namely graphite shape and its distribution in the matrix. Mechanical strength of cast iron is large in the case of small quantity of graphite particles which are precipitated uniformly, however, it becomes small in the case of large quantity of graphite precipitated flakily."

Jan 1, 2000

By Eren Hüseyin Obuz

In this study, the leaching kinetics of rare-earth elements were investigated using HCl and HNO3 solutions. A standard crushed complex ore was utilized as raw material. The complex ore (particle size of under 54 μm) contains REE (Ce, La, Nd, Pr, etc.). Different leaching durations were selected for the kinetic studies. The highest leaching efficiency was obtained in HCl solution, and the leaching mechanism was identified to diffusion through a product layer. The rate constants of Ce, La, Nd, and Pr were calculated as 1.08 × 10−2, 0.86 × 10−2, 1.87 × 10−2, and 1.34 × 10−2 h−1, respectively.

By M. Vondersaar, B. Bulnes

Quemetco, Inc.,. as a subsidiary of RSR Corporation, operates one of RSR's three secondary lead smelters in the City of Industry, California, next to a residential area within Los Angeles County. The Reverberatory furnace serves as the main reactor for melting lead grid and paste recovered by the battery crushing system. Feed material is introduced via screw conveyor after drying in an upstream rotary kiln. Slag produced by the Reverb flows directly to an electric arc furnace. Products from this one-pass furnace system consist of soft lead bullion from the reverb, hard lead bullion from the arc furnace, and a non-hazardous slag from the arc furnace. Furnace bullion is processed into finished product in a six-kettle refinery. An overview ·of plant operations is presented. Where applicable, references will be made to changes that have taken place during the last decade.

Jan 1, 2000

By Chuanfu Zhang

Based on Thermogravimetric and Differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), porous copper powder is prepared by thermal decomposition of complicated copper oxalate. The effects of various conditions on the morphology, crystalline grain size and specific surface area of copper powder were investigated, including temperature, duration, mixing ratio of nitrogen and hydrogen. Furthermore, composition and morphologies of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and BET adsorption isotherm. It is found that porous copper powder was produced under optimum conditions. The specific surface area is over 6.74 m2?g-1, and average pore size in particles is about 30.3 nm. After comparison of SEM images, the final product Cu well inherits the morphology of the precursor, thus a mechanism of in-situ decomposition is proposed.

Jan 1, 2009

By Ragnhild E. Aune, Shahid Akhtar, Reza Beheshti

"The potential use of Black Dross (BD) as a raw material for the production of refractories, fluxing agents and glasses is the main motivation of the present study. Heat treatment experiments were carried out in Ar, and under reduced pressure (20 Pa), to evaluate the salt removal efficiency. The chemical composition of the BD after heat treatment was investigated by SEM-EDS and XRD analyses. Based on the present results, it is established that the salt starts to evaporate at ˜1273 K in Ar, and under reduced pressure. The salt removal efficiency in a 20 g sample was found to increase in both cases as a function of time and temperature. Moreover, in Ar the chlorine concentration was lowered to 0.3 wt% after heat treatment at 1523 K for 10 hours. Under reduced pressure, however, 0.2 wt% residual chlorine was obtained after 8 hours at 1473 K.IntroductionIt is believed that aluminum recycling in the near future will become the main route of aluminum production [1]. Black dross (BD) that is produced during this process contains, among other things, high amount of salts like NaCl and KCl [2, 3]. Almost 800,000 tons of BD is annually land filled in United States and this number continues to grow with the increase in aluminum recycling [2]. The BD should be dumped in controlled land field and it is costly procedure [4, 5].The water-soluble compounds in BD react with water or environmental humidity and release chlorides into the water and/or generate toxic gases such as H2, CH4, NH3 and H2 S [6-8]. In the Europe, BD is considered as toxic waste and its disposal as landfill is forbidden [8, 9]. After salt removal, the BD is considered to be non-hazardous and can be buried under ground [10].On the other hand, BD do also contains many relatively valuable compounds that may be changed in to useful materials as a result of further treatment [11, 12]"

Jan 1, 2012

By Soumitro Nagpal

Bacterial oxidation of a pyrite-arsenopyrite-gold ore concentrate was carried out in .14-liter continuous-flow stirred-tank reactors (CSTR). Oxygen and carbondioxide consumption rates mineral dissolution rates, and bacterial concentrations were measured at various steady-state residence times and with 6, 11, and 16 wt.% solids in the feed slurry. A sharp optimum in biooxidation rate .was found at a residence time of approximately 40 hours for operation at each of the three pulp-densities. Biooxidation rates increased consistently. with increasing pulp density. Cell washout accompanied by negligible biooxidation rates was found to occur at a residence time of approximately 20 hours. Mineral' oxidation was found to be strongly dependent on bacterial activity. Arsenopyrite was found to be preferentially oxidized? at the higher Pulp densities.

Jan 1, 1991

By V. Ramachandran

The Amarillo Copper Refinery, the newest and most modern copper refinery in the world, has been in operation for the last eleven years and has a rated capacity of 460,000 st/yr. The tankhouse - a structure that covers 500,000 ft2 under one roof - extends one-half mile in length and is a model of materials-handling efficiency. The use of recently developed and patented* reagent control technology, termed "Reatrol Process", has increased current efficiencies to an average of 98% and has considerably improved the physical and chemical quality of the cathode deposit. The present paper describes the current operations at the Amarillo Copper Plant with special emphasis on tankhouse operation.

Jan 1, 1987

By N. Tsuneyama

Sumitomo Metal Mining Company has been operating Waelz Kiln at the Shisaka Works for 12 years to recover zinc and lead from electric arc furnace (EAF) dust. To increase the capacity and cut down the operating cost, some improvements have been carried out resulting in the capacity of 60,000 t/ y of EAF dust as compared with 32,000 t/ y in 1977. The current capacity is equivalent to 20% or EAF dust generated in Japan. The number of workers has been decreased by the introduction of an automatic control system, and the productivity per worker is now twice as much as 10 years ago. This paper will describe the progress of the operation at the Shisaka Works after the previous? paper reported in "Zinc' 8 5? and summarize the status or EAF dust recycle in Japan.

Jan 1, 1990

By Ronald L. Pariani

To date, significant advances have been made regarding the development and commercial implementation of full deposit stripping in the copper industry such as practiced at Copper Refineries, LTD in Townsville, Australia. The paper describes the history and current practice of Electrowinning (EW) plants which may be coupled with solvent extraction. The modular nature and degree of automation are described in relation to the various sizes of operations. Reference is made to the expansion capability of commercial equipment plus associated economics of the mechanical processes for producing full cathode deposits. It is recognized that the technology described may be adaptable to other nonferrous refining areas where feasible. The paper highlights the state of the art in mechanized stripping equipment as applied to current and planned SX-EW plants.

Jan 1, 1987

By Raj P. Singh

Applications of cementation in the recovery of metal ions from process solutions have been known for a long time. Cementation reactions involve electrochemical precipitation of a noble metal from solutions of its salts on a more electropositive metal which, in tum, progressively dissolves. For example, addition of zinc metal powder in a solution containing zinc and cobalt ions would allow for the precipitation (separation) of cobalt according to the following chemical reaction. This paper pertains to the recovery of cobalt from cobalt process solutions via a cementation reaction on aluminum shavings (metal scraps from cans etc). Specifically, we report on the characterization of cobalt process solutions, a by-product obtained from cobalt chemicals, and the kinetics of cobalt, nickel and manganese cementation from process solutions on aluminum shavings.

Jan 1, 2000

By Peter Brown

The present work involves the study of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) of silicon carbide from the methyltrichlorosilane (MTS) - hydrogen system. A computer program, SOLGASMIX has been employed to calculate the equilibrium compositions of the gaseous and condensed phases in the MTS - H2 system. The results indicate the range of parameters such as temperature, pressure and species concentrations, required to deposit the single phase Sic under thermodynamic equilibrium conditions. A mathematical model for describing the transport phenomena and the rate of deposition of Sic onto a thin rod in a vertically-oriented hot-walled CVD reactor has been developed. Exper iments were conducted using the same operating conditions as those used in the model in order to validate the mathematical predictions. The predicted rates of deposition were found to be in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. The model can be used to study the effects of various operating parameters on the rate of Sic deposition on a fiber.

Jan 1, 1992

By Ralph H. Nafziger

The feasibility of smelting a Ni-Co-Cr-bearing laterite ore from southern Oregon was evaluated by the Bureau of Mines. The objective was to prepare a master alloy for subsequent stainless steel production. A mixture of the ore with suitable reductants and fluxes was smelted in a 50-lb-capacity single-phase ac electric furnace under sub- merged arc conditions. The smelting tests produced a metal in which most of the nickel was concentrated. High-chromium recoveries required an excess of carbon. The resulting metal alloys contain sufficient nickel for some stainless steels. Ferrochromium additions would be required to attain suitable chromium levels. This research was conducted under the Oregon Metals Initiative in cooperation with Walter B. Freeman.

Jan 1, 1993