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By C. E. Nelson

THE purpose of this discussion is to outline briefly the practices commonly followed in this country for the melting and refining of magnesium and its alloys. The processes used for the various forms of primary magnesium, as far as there are differences in the physical shape or behavior, will be discussed. The refining of general fine scrap or secondary magnesium was presented in an earlier paper.1 Inasmuch as the use of fluxes is an essential part of all the melting and refining processes, the principal aim of this paper will be to deal with these in sufficient detail to point out their unique characteristics, in order to make their use more effective. TYPES OF MELTING PRACTICE All melting and refining processes for magnesium and its alloys require the use of fluxes. These fluxes have a magnesium chloride base and other halide salts or oxides are added to give a density or behavior exactly suited to the particular melting practice. The successful handling of magnesium depends upon the proper use of the correct fluxes. There are four general methods of melting, summarized in the following paragraphs and treated in more detail in the section on Melting and Refining. Open-pot Method The open-pot method makes use of No. 230 flux.* The flux provides protection during melting and a molten pool of flux into which the solid magnesium melts. It is stirred through the molten metal bath and agglomerates oxide or similar foreign bodies; then on quiet standing separates away, leaving the refined metal ball floating in an encircling layer of molten flux. It forms only a thin fluid film over the surface of the molten metal, which may be parted for hand-ladling processes and tends to cover the metal again after the ladle is removed. A very light dusting of the pot surface with fresh flux immediately after the ladle is removed is usually desirable. The open-pot method is used generally in the following processes: (I) alloying and secondary smelting in the production of ingot, (2) in sand foundries for premelting and to a smaller extent for the production of small castings requiring hand ladling, (3) in permanent-mold founding for premelting and also direct ladling to castings, (4) for continuous methods of preparing metal in the production of billets or ingots from which wrought products are fabricated, (5) in general scrap recovery. Crucible Process The crucible process makes use of No. 310 flux, which has the property of being thinly fluid at the start, to provide protec-

Jan 1, 1944

By William Hume-Rothery

MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I need not say how much I appreciate the honor of being asked to lecture to you, and how much I would thank you for your kind invitation. It is encouraging to feel that the abnormal restrictions of the war have been relaxed sufficiently to allow a free exchange of scientists between our two countries, and I hope that some of you will be persuaded to go to England, and to visit us at Oxford, so that I may repay a little of the kindness I have received from you. As this is one of the first lectures since the end of the war, I have thought it well to describe some of the advances in the theory of alloys which were made in the years between the two World Wars. From the point of view of theoretical science, these years have been of outstanding interest in the history of metallurgy. They have been years in which the development of new and more accurate experimental methods has led to the revelation of many new facts. At the same time, the theoretical developments have enabled some of these facts to be viewed as parts of a general scheme, and we may say that some of the foundations of metallurgical science have been laid. This work was naturally stopped by the Second World War, and it can therefore be reviewed as one definite stage in the development of our Science. To illustrate the new advances, I shall deal mainly with the alloys of copper and silver, since these have revealed many of the general principles. SOLID SOLUTION At the beginning of our period, the first steps in X-ray crystal analysis had been taken, and copper had been found to crystallize in the face-centered cubic structure (Fig I). The determination of this structure naturally was of immense importance in the understanding of our subject, because it meant that we were at last in a position to appreciate the underlying structure out of which the crystal of copper was built. The earlier science of metallography had shown that in many alloys of copper the addition of a second metal in not too large proportions resulted in the formation of a homogeneous alloy which was regarded as a solid solution of the one metal in copper. Fig 2, for example, shows the so-called equilibrium diagram of the copper-zinc alloys, and here you will see that there is a solid solution of zinc in copper extending to something of the order 35 to 40 at. pct zinc.

Jan 1, 1947

By D. K. Crampton, H. l. Burghoff, J. T. Stacy

THE effect of cold-working upon electrical conductivity of copper and of copper alloys appears not to be generally known in detail Although several papers on the subject have been presented, showing variable effects according to alloy composition, it is often assumed that the 2 to 3 per cent lowering of the conductivity of ordinary tough-pitch copper by severe cold-working is typical for copper alloys Because of this situation it was decided to carry out the present work upon several types of copper, copper-zinc alloys over the commercial range of brasses, other binary alloys, and numerous age-hardening alloys in the quenched, and quenched and aged conditions The large number of alloys investigated made it impossible to study every one in the detail it may have merited Inasmuch as several interesting points that could not be satisfactorily explained came to light, further work is contemplated by the authors It is usually considered that the normal effect of cold-work on ductile metals and unordered alloys is to decrease conductivity slightly In alloys that are in the ordered state, as annealed or otherwise heat-treated, cold-working tends to disorder the structure, resulting in very marked lowering of conductivity The random state of atomic arrangement produces lower conductivity than the ordered state for the same composition 1 PREVIOUS WORK previous work in the authors' laboratory has shown the electrical conductivity of several copper alloys to be decreased by greater amounts than might have been expected, in view of the general knowledge on the subject, when cold-worked Guillet and Ballay2 investigated the influence of cold-work upon the resistivity of several metals and alloys, including copper and some copper alloys The increase of resistivity due to severe working was less than 4 per cent for all pure metals tested, while the increases for the alloys were generally higher In the copper-zinc alloys, they found that the increase of resistance due to drawing increased with zinc content, and reported a 21 7 per cent increase of resistance for an alloy containing 67 9 per cent Cu as severely worked Masima and Sachs3 studied the change in electrical resistance of three brass crystals when stretched in the tensile test, obtaining increases in resistance of the order of 3 per cent for 30 to 40 per cent reduction of area of the specimens The resistance decreased again when the cold-worked crystals were subsequently annealed Bardenheuer and Schmidt4 found that the conductivity of copper was decreased by 3 to 4 per cent when reduced 50 per cent by working The conductivity of 72-28

Jan 1, 1941

By Benjamin Lustman, Robert F. Mehl

THE study of the high-temperature oxidation of pure metals, intensively pursued experimentally since the pioneer work of Pilling and Bedworth1 and supplemented by the recent theoretical work of Wagner2 is now well advanced. The important field of low-temperature oxidation-i.e., oxidation extending only through the temper color range of thicknesses with the formation of thin oxide layers in the range from o to 1000-2000 Angstroms-has not, however, reached so satisfactory a state, owing largely to the experimental difficulties that attend the formation and study of thin films; most of the work has been performed on abraded specimens whose surface irregularities approximated the thickness of the films formed. It has been pointed out that the rates of oxidation of different crystal faces are different and that the difference may be related to the orientation relationships that obtain between the metal crystal and the superimposed oxide crystal; it has also been suggested that this orientation dependence should manifest itself in rates of oxidation and perhaps also of corrosion in aggregates bearing preferred orientations. 3,4 An attempt to measure the rates of oxidation of different crystal faces of alpha iron demonstrated this difference in rate,4 but the dependence of rate on orientation was not simple; the method of measuring thickness, consisting of a color comparison with barium stearate multi-films of known thickness, was not wholly satisfactory. For these reasons it was felt that a study of the rate of oxidation of single crystals prepared with surfaces as smooth as possible, using a sensitive method giving true film thickness, should be profitable. Copper was chosen because of the ease of reduction of the primary oxide film and because the orientation relationships between metal and oxide and the composition of the oxide films formed at low temperatures are known; for thin films formed at low temperatures, Cu2O alone occurs.22-24 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Various methods of surface preparation were attempted in order to obtain a surface that would oxidize uniformly and reproducibly. Electrolytic polishing by the method of Jacquet5 and electrolytic and mechanical polishing followed by annealing in vacuum and in purified hydrogen at various temperatures were tested. The procedure finally adopted consisted in a fine metallographic polish followed by an anneal in purified hydrogen at temperatures of 900º to 1000°C. for 12 hr. or more. The surface so produced was very bright and smooth, with no trace of specular etching (though some grain-boundary etching was observed); indeed, fine scratches produced by the final polish were entirely removed by the high-temperature anneal.

Jan 1, 1941

By Elliot Rexford

The quality of aggregate materials is of major importance in governing durability and permanence of concrete structures. The problem of selecting suitable aggregate materials is two-fold. Geological factors include the type and character of the aggregate source, presence of known or suspected reactive constituents, and presence of thermally incompatible materials. Laboratory investigations include petrographic studies, soundness and reactivity tests, and tests of thermal properties. The importance of each factor in the selection of satisfactory aggregate material is considered in detail.

Jan 3, 1950

By J. G. Tilton

While most of the Pittsburgh coal horizon is dependably regular, there are areas where it is dis-turbed by sandstone cutouts which can seriously hamper mining operations. Because these channel sandstones often cut out the coal abruptly, they are difficult to detect by core drilling; and mine operators, for want of a better way to discover them, have largely trusted to luck to avoid them. This paper, based on a study the author is presently conducting, is an attempt to point out some sources of information and signposts which might aid the operator in determining the presence of a cutout before he begins to mine. The presence of sandstone cutouts in the Pittsburgh coal has been known for many years. Some of these irregularities were observed at outcrops and others were discovered by drilling, but the majority were and are found during mining operations. These sandstone cutouts are commonly called "faults" and have been a bane to mining companies wherever they have been encountered. Profiles of some typical deposits appear in Fig. 1. The cutouts disrupt the normal system of mining, replace valuable coal reserves, create ventilation problems by emitting large quantities of gas and sometimes oil, limit the number of entries that can be economically driven, affect the quality of the coal, disrupt the normal structure of the coal, and create roof control problems. It might be expected that such severe disturbances in the structural regularity of the coal would instigate determined and extensive searches for possible cutouts prior to mining operations, but this apparently has not been so except in isolated cases. Two reasons may be cited to explain this lack of exploratory work. The first and probably the strongest reason is the over-all regularity of the Pittsburgh coal. No coal seam in the country exhibits the horizontal continuity and relative regularity of the Pittsburgh coal. It lies in an almost unbroken sheet across southwestern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia, and has been recognized as far east as the Potomac Basin of western Maryland. Over 5729 square miles are underlain by this coal, of which 2077 square miles are in Pennsylvania, 2214 square miles in West Virginia, 1410 square miles in Ohio, and 28 square miles in Maryland. The area covered by this study is outlined by the map in Fig. 2. Over most of this territory the coal has the following characteristic structure as illustrated in Fig. 3: roof coal, draw slate, breast coal, parting, bearing in coal, parting, brick coal, parting, and bottom coal. With such regularity of thickness and structure, mines were opened and laid out with confidence that the coal would be present. Extensive drill testing was considered unwarranted and it was also quite expensive because the coal dipped to the west away from the Monongahela River. Consequently, drill holes were widely spaced and rarely encountered ad-

Jan 1, 1968

By O. A. Cheadle, F. E. Lane

ThE computer program for arbitrary crystal systems reported by Camp and Clum' has been modified to make it more convenient for hexagonal crystals. The program' uses the Miller indexes (hkl) which can be confusing for hexagonal crystals while the modified program uses the Miller-Bravais indexes with four axes; e.g., the angles between the (110) planes, Fig. 1, are 0 and 90 deg but in the (hkil) system the angles between the (1150) planes are 0 and 60 deg. If a Laue photograph is taken of a crystal oriented with the prismatic planes nearly parallel to the film then the spots on the stereo graphic projection will be from high-index planes. The probable positions of the low-index planes, e.g., (0001) plane, can only be obtained from the intersection of zones and this is not accurate to 1 or 2 deg. The number of planes considered by the program (card 1)' has to be limited to the ones of low index or the program time is excessive but a solution will not be obtained if one of the spots has an index that is not being considered. To overcome this problem the program1 was modified so that if no fit was obtained at *1 deg (card 3) of the tabulated angles then ±2 or ±3 deg was tried. If still no solution was obtained either due to one of the angles not being measured correctly to ±3 deg or because one of the spots was from a high-index plane, then the last spot was discounted and a fit tried for the remaining spots at i1 deg, and so forth. The minimum number of spots that the program will try to fit is five. If the limit on any individual index is 4 (card 1) and (h + k + l + 1) is six then twenty-three planes are considered and there are over 1000 interplanar angles. Many pairs of planes have very similar interplanar angles and with the errors previously mentioned the program will often produce several alternative solutions to a group of spots particularly at ±2 or ±3 deg. However without the program the alternative solutions would probably not have been found. If a large number of spots are used the number of possible fits is reduced. In the example shown in Fig. 2, if only spots which are on the film are used (case 1) the program gives six possible solutions, Table I. However if points 7 and 8 are also used (case 2) the program gives only one fit which also agrees with a standard projection of the crystal. In addition to time-saving the program ensures that a correct solution is obtained since it is unlikely that all the alternatives would have been gound manually; the first would probably be assumed to be the correct solution. The program has been used for zirconium crystals but is equally suitable for other hexagonal materials.

Jan 1, 1969

By Stewart. J. W.

THE aim of this paper is to point out the various ways in which design is taught in standard four-year mining engineering curricula in American colleges and universities; to discuss the reasons apparently justifying the great diversity of procedure that exists along this line; and to indicate possible solutions to the difficulties now attending the teaching of design. A study was made of typical four-year mining engineering curricula in 15 colleges and universities of the United States (Table I). Great diversity in content of the various design courses, if taught as described, became apparent immediately. It appeared that it might be both interesting and instructive if the cause for this colorful variety could be found. Was the cause local mining conditions, departmental individuality, or actual necessity? Study of the school catalogues revealed that the various design courses could be classified into two fairly distinct types; namely, (I) those dealing with mine equipment or structures, and (2) those dealing with underground layout of mine workings. It seemed reasonable to label the first type of course "mining design" and the second type "mine design." Some such distinction must have been in the minds of mining educators, for we find both names (i.e., mine design and mining design) used to designate the design courses included in the various mining curricula. Unhappily, the name and the apparent content of such courses do not, in all instances, conform to the classification made here, although in most instances such conformation does obtain (Table I). It is possible that in the exceptional case the method of teaching a design course, and consequently the content of it, may have been changed at some time without change in the name of the course. Apparently only. 3 of the 15 schools made an effort to cover both types of design in their curricula (Table I). Two other schools did not list or describe any course of study that could with certainty be taken as a design course. Of the remaining 10 schools, q gave a mining-design type of course and one gave a strictly mine-design type. Obviously, the preponderance of design courses afforded are of the mining-design type. Why? To answer this question, it is necessary to make a study of the prerequisites for the two types of design courses taught. In all schools the design courses were taught in the senior year; in eight, design was taught throughout both semesters; in two, it was taught during the first semester only; and in three it was taught during the second semester only. Consequently, excepting the last three cases noted, it is obvious that all prerequisites for a design course should be completed by the end of the junior year. PREREQUISITES What are the probable prerequisites for the different kinds of design courses as they appear to be taught? Let us take first the case of the mine-design type of course, having to do with layout of underground workings. Here it would seem that logical

Jan 1, 1941

By Cuppam Dasarathy

THE object of this note is to report briefly certain results of investigations on the Fe-In phase diagram. BISRA-high purity H-iron and 99.9 pct pure indium were used to prepare the alloys. The experimental techniques consisted of thermal analysis, optical metallography, and X-ray diffraction. A phase diagram based on the present results as well as those reported earlier by the author' is shown in Fig. 1. It is seen that the liquidus points fall on a smooth line which meets the monotectic isotherm at 1470°C. The liquidus extends up to 3.4 at. pct In. The phase boundary separating the two liquidus L1 and L2 is shown dotted. The experimental solidus meets the monotectic isotherm at -0.9 at. pct In. The 6/6 + L2 boundary drops steeply to the 6 + La/y + L2 boundary at -1350°C. In this region, it is impossible to detect satisfactory thermal arrests because of the steep phase boundary. The present diagram shows that indium lowers the temperature of the d/y transforma-tion and raises the temperature of the y/a transfor-mation. The y +d region is found to be very narrow. Indium gives rise to a restricted y field when alloyed with iron. The width of this field is between 0.4 and 0.5 at. pct In. Details of the alloys containing 40 and 50 at. pct In have already been reported by the author' and the transformation temperatures of these alloys are included in Fig. 1. It appeared from optical metallography and X-ray diffraction that the room temperature solubility of indium in a iron is less than 0.28 at. pct since alloys of 0.28 at. pct In and above, slow cooled to room temperature, contained dark etching second phase particles situated both in the matrix and grain boundaries of the a-grains, see Figs. 2 and 3. These particles were identified to be unalloyed indium by X-ray diffraction. The lattice parameter of the a phase reached a maximum of 2.8672A at the indium level of -0.28 at. pct. The present diagram, Fig. 1, is in substantial agreement with that of Stadelmaier and Fiedler' except for certain differences in detail. For example, they found the monotectic composition and temperature to be 7.0 at. pct In and 1443oC, respectively, while the present work indicates them to be 3.4 at. pct In and 1470°C. The 6 + L2/y + L2 transformation is indicated in the present work to occur at -1350°C, whereas Stadelmaier and Fiedler find this to occur at -1320°C. They also claim that the width of the y field is 0.2 at. pct In while the present work shows the width to be between 0.4 and 0.5 at. pct In. 1) Indium, when alloyed with iron, gives rise to a restricted y field, the width being >0.5 at. pct In.

Jan 1, 1970

By J. W. Stewart

THE aim of this paper is to point out the various ways in which design is taught in standard four-year mining engineering curricula in American colleges and universities; to discuss the reasons apparently justifying the great diversity of procedure that exists along this line; and to indicate possible solutions to the difficulties now attending the teaching of design. A study was made of typical four-year mining engineering curricula in 15 colleges and universities of the United States (Table I). Great diversity in content of the various design courses, if taught as described, became apparent immediately. It appeared that it might be both interesting and instructive if the cause for this colorful variety could be found. Was the cause local mining conditions, departmental individuality, or actual necessity? Study of the school catalogues revealed that the various design courses could be classified into two fairly distinct types; namely, (I) those dealing with mine equipment or structures, and (2) those dealing with underground layout of mine workings. It seemed reasonable to label the first type of course "mining design" and the second type "mine design." Some such distinction must have been in the minds of mining educators, for we find both names (i.e., mine design and mining design) used to designate the design courses included in the various mining curricula. Unhappily, the name and the apparent content of such courses do not, in all instances, conform to the classification made here, although in most instances such conformation does obtain (Table I). It is possible that in the exceptional case the method of teaching a design course, and consequently the content of it, may have been changed at some time without change in the name of the course. Apparently only 3 of the 15 schools made an effort to cover both types of design in their curricula (Table I). Two other schools did not list or describe any course of study that could with certainty be taken as a design course. Of the remain¬ing to schools, 9 gave a mining-design type of course and one gave a strictly mine-design type. Obviously, the preponderance of design courses afforded are of the mining-design type. Why? To answer this question, it is necessary to make a study of the prerequisites for the two types of design courses taught. In all schools the design courses were taught in the senior year; in eight, design was taught throughout both semesters; in two, it was taught during the first semester only; and in three it was taught during the second semester only. Consequently, excepting the last three cases noted, it is obvious that all prerequisites for a design course should be completed by the end of the junior year. PREREQUISITES What are the probable prerequisites for the different kinds of design courses as they appear to be taught? Let us take first the case of the mine-design type of course, having to do with layout of underground workings. Here it would seem that logical

Jan 1, 1941

By W. C. Ellis, E. S. Greiner

WHEN metallic materials are deformed plastically, the process may be considered as one in which hardening and recovery occur simultaneously. The net hardening is that produced by deformation in the absence of recovery lessened by recovery during and immediately following deformation. Strain hardening takes place through movements of large groups of atoms acting to a degree as an entity. A complex microstress system is developed. Recovery is a diffusive-type process involving single atoms or, at most, only a few atoms in concerted action. This is accompanied by elastic strain relaxation. Recovery is strongly temperature-dependent. The driving energy for the process resides in thermal fluctuations of the atoms augmented by the energy of the stress field producing the deformation, and by that produced by the deformation. At very low temperatures recovery is essentially absent, or very small. At high temperatures in the hot working range, recovery is so rapid that deformation results in no appreciable net hardening. The interplay of strain-hardening and recovery results in differing end structures depending on the temperature and the strain rate of the process. For example, there is a prominent difference in the spacing of the slip markings and in the detail of X-ray diffraction patterns. High temperatures and slow strain rates favor a wide spacing of slip markings and sharp reflections.',' This suggests that change in rate of the recovery concurrent with deformation modifies to a degree the manner of the deformation. Different slip systems may operate. For very slow rates, the mechanism may, as has been suggested, differ from that of "classical slip." In the experimental work that follows the findings will be interpreted from the point of view developed in this section. Recovery and Electrical Conductivity Electrical conductivity is a sensitive indicator of the state of strain in a material3' * and was used in this investigation. The materials studied in wire form were: OFHC copper, a high purity (99.99 pct) and 2s grade aluminum, and grade A nickel. Wire annealed and initially 0.050 in. in diam was drawn through diamond dies in a simple holder maintained at 25", —75°, or — 195°C. Precautions were taken that for each material all conditions of drawing were the same except the temperature. Electrical resistivity was measured for each condition at 20°C. This was done as soon as practical after drawing to minimize possible room temperature recovery. The data for the four materials are plotted in Fig. 1 in terms of the change in resistivity for drawing at the several temperatures. The effect of temperature of drawing on the increase in resistivity is most pronounced for copper. Drawing at 25°C to 80 pct reduction in area increases the resistivity approximately 2 pct; drawing at —195°C to the same reduction increases the resistivity about 6 pct. The increase in resistivity" & in this metal is due to extra scattering of conduction electrons originating in the lack of orderly arrangement of the atoms induced by the deformation process. It has been suggested

Jan 1, 1953

By J. H. Kittel

THE properties of the metal molybdenum have been the subject of recent investigations1,2 = which have included studies of the changes that occur in the metal when it is annealed after having been cold worked. Most of the data which have been reported have pertained to only one aspect of annealing, that is, the conditions under which recrys-tallization has been observecl. The process of recovery which may precede recrystallization docs not appear to have been investigated, and it is the purpose of this note to report observations on the recovery process in cold-worked molybdenum as determined by changes ill the thermoelectric power which occur as the metal is annealed. The measurements were made on commercially pure molybdenum wires which, after annealing at 1035°C in dried hydrogen for 1 hr, were swaged to give a series of reductions up to a maximum of 84.5 pct. The variously cold-worked wires were then annea1c.d in dried hydrogen for periods of 16 hr at progrc:ssively highel. temperatures from 200" to 1000 c with a final annealing treatment of 70 hr at. 1100°C. After each annealing treatment the ther.ma1 emf's were determined against a length of original unwo~,ked material that had received the initial hydrogen anrit,aling treatment. The difference in temperature between the hot and cold junctions was maintained at about 75'C. and. the thermal emf's were measured with a potentiometer that could be read. to 0.01 microvolt. Fig. 1 shows the thermoelectric power. (dE/dT) in microvolts per C between annclalcd and cold-worked molybdenum as a function of the degree of cold work. The effect of annealing is shown in Fig. 2. The general shape of the curves in both figures is similar to results which have been obtained for copper." It was observed that after annealing at temperatures as low as 200°C recovery was well under way. The rapid changes irt thermoelectric power observed near 900 C are probably associated with recrystallization, since such a relation has been observed with copper. Beyond 900°C the thermal emf's changed in polarity. indicating that from this point or1 the specimens were more highly annealed than the standard. Annealing treatments could not be given at temperatures higher than 1100°C due to limitations of the furnace, and it is evident that, since equilibrium values of thermoelectric powers were far from having been attained, temperatures considerably higher are required to fully anneal molybdenum. References Robert M. Parke: Molybdenum, A New High-Temperature Material. Metal Progress (1951) 60, pp. 81-96. * R. A. Long, K. C. Dike, and H. R. Bear: Some Properties of High-Purity Sintered Wrought Molybdenum Metal at Temperatures up to 2400 °F. NACA TN 2319 (March 1951): G. W. Brindley: A Thern-io-Electric Study of the Cold-Rolling and Heat-Treatment of Copper, Report of a Conference on the Strength of Solids. Physical Society, London (1948) pp. 95-106.

Jan 1, 1953

The Palabora ore consists of two types, a carbonatite containing a low titanium magnetite, and a foskorite containing high titanium magnetite. The latter type also contains substantial quantities of phosphate. These two ore types are separately crushed and are kept separate through copper flotation and magnetic separation, for recovery of magnetite, with the low Ti magnetite being shipped as iron ore. High phosphate tailings are pumped to Foskor, a government-owned phosphate plant nearby. The Palabora plant was originally designed in 1966 for 33, 000 tpd using two 54 in. by 74 in. Allis -Chalmers gyratories; two 7 ft (2. 13 m) standards; four 7 ft shortheads; and six grinding lines, each using one 1,200 hp rod mill and two 1,200 hp ball mills. A fifth short- head and one more grinding line were added later; and with flowsheet improvements, the capacity of the plant was increased to 59, 500 stpd. A further plant expansion involving a third 54 in. primary and two 32 ft by 15 ft (9.75 by 4.6 m) 9,000 hp autogenous mills and another flotation section will bring its capacity to 87,500 stpd in 1977. These two fully autogenous mills are constructed entirely out of doors near the primary crusher, and the ground ore will be pumped a mile to the concentrator by a five-stage pumping system. The Palabora ore is mined with 6, 10, and 12 7d (4.6, 7.6, and 9. 2 cu m) shovels and hauled to the crushers in 110 and 165 st trucks. Sixty-five ton trucks were originally used, but the crusher dump pockets were designed for larger units. Dump pockets, crushers, feeders, and take- away belts are offset in order to keep the two ore types separate. Centerlines of the crushers are only 43 ft (13. 1 m) apart; but, because of their being offset, maintenance room is ample. Initially, more carbonatite ore than foskorite was mined; but as the pit has deepened, this ratio has been reversed. The Palabora ore breaks in the pit with a large amount of oversize boulders; and, with the use of larger trucks, a splitter has been installed on one side of each dump pocket to protect the crusher spider. Smaller trucks dump on the opposite side. To accomodate the splitter, the pocket edge has been raised one meter and moved back one meter. Dust is collected through a special vent shaft between the crushers and the mantle relining area; but even so, two high-pressure water spray headers with nozzles are installed under the edge of the pocket at each dumping position. While only one truck dumps at a time, sprays from all four headers are used to suppress dust. Any leakage of water through the seal around the upper bowl of the crusher is caught by a circular trough under the seal and directed to a sump pump. At this point, there

Jan 1, 1978

By H. Landsberg

THE curriculum presented here is an outgrowth of discussions by the Committee on Geophysics Courses of the A.I.M.E. in previous years. It had to be a compromise between the desires voiced by employers of geophysicists, professional geophysicists and the possibilities at an average college. There one has to face the questions of the available teaching staff, the inertia of administrators and teachers set in their ways, and the red tape involved in modernizing antiquated curricula. It is, of course, not ideal to have colleges and universities lag 10 years behind the times. Rather, instead of being prodded by industry, -they should be ahead of industrial needs. There should also be a certain amount of leeway for the student in any college curriculum. All these points had to be considered in drawing up a curriculum, which, instead of being narrowly termed "geology" or "geophysics" was rather called "earth science." It gives the student a chance to specialize in one of the various branches represented by teachers on the faculty of The Pennsylvania State College, giving as options Geology (with subdivisions of Mineralogy and Paleontology), Geophysics, Geography, and Meteorology. Table IA. represents the option of geophysics in the curriculum that envisages that a student may want to make his career in any of the fields encompassed by the American Geophysical Union or in geoexploration. This is, of course, only the start of an education that in most cases will have to be followed by graduate work for complete professional training. The outlined curriculum is definitely of an engineering type and is identical for all of the four options mentioned for the first two years. Specialization will start in the junior year but even thereafter the branches are kept as closely allied as feasible in order to permit a student to change from one to the other (e.g., because of a different aspect in the employment situation) with a minimum of additional work. Table IB shows the geophysics option according to subject matter, indicating the considerable amount of work in the fundamentals of mathematics, physics and chemistry with a liberal number of geology courses, and some engineering. The courses in the field of geophysics are limited-just two lecture courses as a general introduction and one field course, to permit the student a visualization of the correlation between mathematically analyzed physical data and the geological realities. Thesis work is considered essential to teach the student, while he is still in college, some things S. F. Kelly has mentioned as desirable: (I) following of instructions for somewhat independent work; (2) organizing of material, and (3) producing a readable report. This, together with the personal contact with the advising faculty member, will help in forming a student's personality. The seminar course attempts to get the student into the habit of reading current literature, so that he can keep abreast of the times.

Jan 1, 1941

By John Chipman

Published data on the equilibria of carbon in binary Fe-C austenite with H2-CH4 and CO2-CO gas mixtures are used to obtain the constants of an equation repre -senting the activity coefficient of carbon throughout the stable austenite range of temperatutre mid compositiotl. Calculated values for the solubility of graphite are found to be in agreement with the best-published direct observations. Its heat of solution is 10,680 calper g-atom. The free energy of formation of cementite is culculated from the equilibrium compositions of austenite and of gas. Its entropy and heat of formation are also obtained. BASIC knowledge of the high-temperature properties and treatment of steels is contained in the Fe-C diagram and its extensions for the effects of alloying elements. The application of thermodynamics to the Fe-C system, with addition of alloying elements, can serve to simplify and systematize this knowledge. The points of beginning are the binary fee solution, austenite, concerning which our information is reasonably complete, and the binary carbide, cementite. Further studies must include the other phases of the binary system, a and liquid, and for these an accurate knowledge of the ? phase boundaries is essential. These studies should provide a firm base for systematic study of the effects of alloying elements on all phases of the system, their transformations, and precipitation phenomena. With the aid of the simplifying thermodynamic concepts of activity coefficients and interaction parameters it is to be hoped that the results of these studies will be amenable to computer solution thus making the information on multicomponent systems more readily available than would be possible in multidimensional diagrams. Studies of the thermodynamic properties of austenite have utilized equilibrium measurements on the reactions:

Jan 1, 1968

By C. D. Woodward

ThE subject of elcctric signals for the despatching of mining cagey through shafts has received cousiderable attention recently from various mining companies. The Anaconda Copper Mining Co. has found it necessary to develop a system that is rcliable, safe and simple in operation, and easy to repair. The movement of all mine cages or skips is under the direction of a station tender, who rides on the cages when men or supplies are being lowered or raised; when ore is hoisted, he is stationed at a skip pocket for loading and despatching the skips. For the station tender's use, two signal systems are installed in cach hoisting compartment, and he is the only employee authorized to use them. One system is known as the "AC " or station bells, as it is operated from the 110-volt, 60-cycle, power service; the other system, called the "DC" or shaft bells, takes its energy from closed-circuit primary batteries. As a supplemcnt to the two main signals, a buzzer system is installed The general arrangement is similar to the main signal, except that there is a mine buzzer at each station. When a signal switch connected into the buzzer system is pulled down, all buzzers arc operated, thus notifying the station tender that he is wanted at seine particular level. Placed on the station posts, and within easy reach of the men on the cages are the signal pull switches for the main signals. The station, or "AC," pull switches are furnished with a short rope as shown in Fig. I, while the shaft, or "DC," pull switches are equipped with ropes that extend down the shaft past the next station. To avoid all confusion in the use of the three signal systems, a standard arrangement has been adopted in all mines for the location of the pull switches. Fig 2 illustrates the position of the pull switch at the various mine stations for the main signal systems, but it does not show the buzzer pull switch; this is fixed to the roof timbers about 25 ft. back from the shaft. If the skip pockets are a considerable distance below the station, a pull switch for each main shaft compartment is connected to the "AC" system and placed at this point. However, if the distance is short, a light cord is attached to the station pull switches and dropped down to the skip pocket.

Jan 1, 1923

By A. J. Lyon

The stability and permanence of any structural material used in aircraft are of paramount importance. The spontaneous hardening, or age-hardening, which takes place in some of the aluminum alloys under ordinary conditions of temperature and atmosphere, is accompanied by an increase in tensile strength and proportional limit and a decrease in elongation or ductility. Within the last few years the introduction of a number of strong and ductile casting alloys led to a study by the Materiel Division, Air Corps, of the permanence of the physical properties in several of these alloys. It has been found that even though some alloys have good properties directly after casting or heat treatment, they are not satisfactory for stressed parts that require a combination of strength and ductility. It has also led to the conclusion that all alloys that can be hardened by artificial aging—heating in a temperature range below 170" C. (340" F.)—will harden spontaneously if allowed to stand for a sufficient length of time. It follows that, in aircraft work where the factors of safety are limited on account of the necessity of keeping the weight of the structures as low as possible consistent with their safe operation, the properties of the alloys in the stable or final condition should be used as a basis for design rather than the properties obtained on the material directly after casting. The work of Wilm in Germany, Hanson and Gayler at the National Physical Laboratory in England, and Merica, Jeffries, and others in the United States, has shown that the spontaneous hardening is characteristic to a greater or less extent in all aluminum-base alloys in which the solubility in the solid state of the alloying constituents decreases with the temperature. It has been shown that, by heating to a temperature as near as possible to the melting point of the material and soaking at that temperature for a sufficient length of time and then quenching or cooling rapidly, a maximum amount of the soluble constituents can be retained in solution and the condition of maximum hardening effect upon aging can be obtained. Also, in ordinary sand and chill castings, without heat treatment, a sufficient amount of the alloying constituents is held in solution to cause important changes in the final physical properties.

Jan 1, 1929

By C. D. Woodward

ThE subject of elcctric signals for the despatching of mining cagey through shafts has received cousiderable attention recently from various mining companies. The Anaconda Copper Mining Co. has found it necessary to develop a system that is rcliable, safe and simple in operation, and easy to repair. The movement of all mine cages or skips is under the direction of a station tender, who rides on the cages when men or supplies are being lowered or raised; when ore is hoisted, he is stationed at a skip pocket for loading and despatching the skips. For the station tender's use, two signal systems are installed in cach hoisting compartment, and he is the only employee authorized to use them. One system is known as the "AC " or station bells, as it is operated from the 110-volt, 60-cycle, power service; the other system, called the "DC" or shaft bells, takes its energy from closed-circuit primary batteries. As a supplemcnt to the two main signals, a buzzer system is installed The general arrangement is similar to the main signal, except that there is a mine buzzer at each station. When a signal switch connected into the buzzer system is pulled down, all buzzers arc operated, thus notifying the station tender that he is wanted at seine particular level. Placed on the station posts, and within easy reach of the men on the cages are the signal pull switches for the main signals. The station, or "AC," pull switches are furnished with a short rope as shown in Fig. I, while the shaft, or "DC," pull switches are equipped with ropes that extend down the shaft past the next station. To avoid all confusion in the use of the three signal systems, a standard arrangement has been adopted in all mines for the location of the pull switches. Fig 2 illustrates the position of the pull switch at the various mine stations for the main signal systems, but it does not show the buzzer pull switch; this is fixed to the roof timbers about 25 ft. back from the shaft. If the skip pockets are a considerable distance below the station, a pull switch for each main shaft compartment is connected to the "AC" system and placed at this point. However, if the distance is short, a light cord is attached to the station pull switches and dropped down to the skip pocket.

Jan 1, 1923

By A. J. Lyon

The stability and permanence of any structural material used in aircraft are of paramount importance. The spontaneous hardening, or age-hardening, which takes place in some of the aluminum alloys under ordinary conditions of temperature and atmosphere, is accompanied by an increase in tensile strength and proportional limit and a decrease in elongation or ductility. Within the last few years the introduction of a number of strong and ductile casting alloys led to a study by the Materiel Division, Air Corps, of the permanence of the physical properties in several of these alloys. It has been found that even though some alloys have good properties directly after casting or heat treatment, they are not satisfactory for stressed parts that require a combination of strength and ductility. It has also led to the conclusion that all alloys that can be hardened by artificial aging—heating in a temperature range below 170" C. (340" F.)—will harden spontaneously if allowed to stand for a sufficient length of time. It follows that, in aircraft work where the factors of safety are limited on account of the necessity of keeping the weight of the structures as low as possible consistent with their safe operation, the properties of the alloys in the stable or final condition should be used as a basis for design rather than the properties obtained on the material directly after casting. The work of Wilm in Germany, Hanson and Gayler at the National Physical Laboratory in England, and Merica, Jeffries, and others in the United States, has shown that the spontaneous hardening is characteristic to a greater or less extent in all aluminum-base alloys in which the solubility in the solid state of the alloying constituents decreases with the temperature. It has been shown that, by heating to a temperature as near as possible to the melting point of the material and soaking at that temperature for a sufficient length of time and then quenching or cooling rapidly, a maximum amount of the soluble constituents can be retained in solution and the condition of maximum hardening effect upon aging can be obtained. Also, in ordinary sand and chill castings, without heat treatment, a sufficient amount of the alloying constituents is held in solution to cause important changes in the final physical properties.

Jan 1, 1929

David T. Day, Washington, D. C.: The paper of Mr. Adams is chiefly valuable because it emphasizes the ease with which petroleum can migrate in the earth's crust. Concerning this migration, I have little faith in the rôle of water as a carrier of gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon, suspended or mixed in the water in any way. My lack of faith is due to observation of

Jan 1, 1903