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By W. R. Johnson, M. Hansen, John M. Parks

AS part of a research project sponsored by the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories, which had the objective of obtaining a magnet wire of good conductivity and low temperature coefficient of resistance, a comprehensive literature survey, supplemented by experimental work, revealed that a linear relationship exists for solid-solution alloys between the electrical conductivity, K, and the temperature coefficient, a, as expressed by the equation: k = a/ß where ß is constant for the solvent metal and a - per°C. tR0 It has long been known that the electrical conductivity at a given temperature and the temperature coefficient of resistance of binary alloys are related to their constitution by the LeChatelier-Guertler rules, as illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2: Rule 1—In alloy systems consisting of a heterogeneous mixture of two phases, the electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient vary as a straight line, if the composition of the alloys is given in volume percentage, Fig. 1. Rule 2—In solid solutions, the electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient are always lower than those of the solvent metal, and usually a considerable decrease occurs with the first small percentage additions of the solute metal, Fig. 2b. If the two components form a continuous series of solid solutions, the electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient curves take the form of a U-curve, Fig. 2a. That some kind of proportionality exists between electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient of resistance is implied by the LeChatelier-Guertler rules and by study of data such as those given by Smith and Palmer,' Fig. 3. Dellinger2 in 1910 first recognized this relationship in a number of commercial copper wires, ranging in conductivity from 94 to 100.7 pct I.A.C.S. He gave the ratio of temperature coefficient to the percentage of conductivity as a constant, C = 0.003939. A year later, Lindeck observed that the linear relationship was valid for a wider range of conductivity in "various sorts of copper," and concluded that the product of resistivity and temperature coefficient was 6.78x10-5 1.5 pct. Since then, this relationship seems to have been entirely ignored. Conductivity-Temperature Coefficient Relationship If the electrical conductivity of copper solid-solution alloys with phosphorus, silicon, arsenic, antimony, aluminum, nickel, manganese, and iron is plotted against the temperature coefficient of these alloys, the diagrams in Figs. 4 and 5 are obtained. Similar data were found with copper-rich solid solutions containing magnesium, cobalt, and titanium,'" as shown in Fig. 6. In all cases, a linear relationship exists. The point representing the highest

Jan 1, 1952

Trans No. Place Date Vol. 1. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. May, '71 1 2. Bethlehem, Pa. Aug., '71 1 3. Troy, N. Nov., '71 1 4. Philadelphia, Pa. Feb., '72.. 1 5. New York, N. Y. May, '72 1 6. Pittsburgh, Pa. Oct., '72 1 7. Boston, Mass. Feb., '73 1 8. Philadelphia, Pa. May, '73 2 9. Easton, Pa. Oct., '73 2 10. New York N. Y. Feb., '74 2 11. St. Louis, Mo. May, '74 3 12. Hazleton, Pa. Oct., '74.. 3 13. New Haven, Conn. Feb., '75 3 14. Dover, N. J. May, '75 4 15. Cleveland, Ohio Oct., '75 4 16. Washington, D. C. Feb., '76 4 17. Philadelphia, Pa. June, '76 5 18. Philadelphia, Pa. Oct., '76 5

Jan 1, 1944

Trans No. Place Date Vol. 1. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. May, '71 1 2. Bethlehem, Pa. Aug., '71 1 3. Troy, N. Nov., '71 1 4. Philadelphia, Pa. Feb., '72.. 1 5. New York, N. Y. May, '72 1 6. Pittsburgh, Pa. Oct., '72 1 7. Boston, Mass. Feb., '73 1 8. Philadelphia, Pa. May, '73 2 9. Easton, Pa. Oct., '73 2 10. New York N. Y. Feb., '74 2 11. St. Louis, Mo. May, '74 3 12. Hazleton, Pa. Oct., '74.. 3 13. New Haven, Conn. Feb., '75 3 14. Dover, N. J. May, '75 4 15. Cleveland, Ohio Oct., '75 4 16. Washington, D. C. Feb., '76 4 17. Philadelphia, Pa. June, '76 5 18. Philadelphia, Pa. Oct., '76 5

Jan 1, 1939

SECTION I Page Page New York Section War Meeting on Employment xxxii Sulphur and Pyrite v Local Section News xxxiv War Minerals Committee xviii Forthcoming Meetings xxxvi St. Louis Meeting xx Library xxxvii Minutes, of Meeting, Executive Membership xli Committee xxvi Institute Committees Iv Members in Military Service xxvi Officers and Directors lxii Personal xxx

Jan 10, 1917

By Clemens Jones

A FORM of apparatus for volumetric determinations which shall possess the features requisite for the constant use of potassium permanganate, is a very desirable fixture in a well-appointed laboratory. Expedients to economize time and insure accuracy are generously employed for various other reagents, while the permanganate seems to have been consigned to the use of an ordinary burette, and a black bottle of the standardized solution. But the introduction of new, methods dependent on the permanganate, and the urgency of technical requirements where it has long been indispensable, require a revision of practice more scientific and convenient. The apparatus designed by the writer for the laboratory of the Thomas Iron Company at Hokendauqua, Pa., is so simply contrived and works with such entire satisfaction that a description of it may be of use. It may be prefaced that the characteristics of a suitable device offer some mechanical difficulties when combined in a continuous appliance. The burette, B (50 C.C. to 1/10 c.c.), shown in Fig. 1, consists of the graduated tube proper and an arm, E, fused to it below the 50 c.c. mark. At its top are rubber connections with the blast-aspirator, shown in the cut (Fig. 2) of the front view. By means of an extra stopcock, D, connection through E is established with the reservoir F. The burette is clamped Securely to a slide, C, which is counterpoised and moves freely on guides between two parallel sides, L, suitably

Jan 1, 1887

By J. W. Onuscheck

The oxygen-fuel oil burner lance is a very useful tool at the Monessen B.O.F. It increases the overall flexibility of the operation. An additional 15,000 to 20,000 ingot tons can be produced at a given hot metal supply. It helps overcome sporadic drops in hot metal thermal values and/or supply. It results in increased yield, in particular, on high carbon heats where much yield was lost on reblow triggered slag reactions. The burner has also been adopted as a standard tool to aid burning in new vessel linings. Overall, steelmaking performance has improved with the use of standard preheat practice. Scrap charges up to 50 percent have been used routinely in times of extreme hot metal shortages, but the performance is weak in some categories. Development of a single step oxy-oil process is in progress. In this process, scrap and hot metal are charged as in the normal B.O.F. practice, but fuel oil is fired with the refining oxygen.

Jan 1, 1972

By Arthur Hockman, Howard W. Jaffe, Howard F. Carl

THE problem of establishing practical techniques for evaluating natural corundum ores arose from the desire to improve the existing purchase specifications for crystal corundum procured by the Federal Government for stockpiling. Such purchase specifications had been developed for a large number of products, including minerals and ores considered to be critical and strategic because of the country's dependence on foreign sources of supply. It will be apparent to anyone considering the subject of purchase specifications that the determination of whether or not a submittal meets the specifications is a prime consideration. Consequently satisfactory specifications for minerals should not only incorporate physical, chemical, and mineralogical requirements that are practical but should also establish the means by which both buyer and seller can be assured that materials meet stated requirements. The Munition Board's Material Purchase Specification for corundum, dated February 1954, covered two grades of crystal corundum intended primarily for abrasive use. It established limits of size and of composition: Grade A, at least 95 pct +3 mesh and 92 pct alumina (Al2O3); Grade B, at least 95 pct +7 mesh and 90 pct alumina. It also specified that "of each lot of material, not less than 95 percent shall have a hardness equal to or exceeding nine (9) on Moh's Scale." These specifications were unsatisfactory for several reasons. They did not allow the purchase of lower grades of corundum being used by industry. Neither did they specify exactly what a corundum ore actually was, except that it should contain so much alumina and have a certain scratch hardness. Nothing was said about the abrasive qualities of the material that was to be purchased primarily for abrasive use. During the period 1946 to 1948 supplies of the two grades defined in the then current specifications continued to decrease. Early in 1949 industry recommended that the finer sizes of corundum known as "crystal corundum concentrates," ¼-in. to 16-mesh material, be added to the stockpile specifications and that lower grades of crystal corundum also be included. In the spring of 1949 the National Bureau of Standards and the Bureau of Mines were asked by the Munitions Board to cooperate in developing more practical specifications for grading natural corundum ores. The National Bureau of Standards indicated that it would investigate physical test methods for determining abrasive characteristics of corundum, and the Eastern Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines at College Park, Md., stated that it would consider the mineralogical aspects of the problem. Members of these two agencies, in consultation with representatives of the Office of Materials Resources of the Munitions Board and of the Federal Supply Service of the General Services Administration, and with the cooperation of industrial suppliers and consumers of abrasive corundum, developed, in a fairly short time, more practical specifications for six grades of corundum ores. The new specifications, issued January 1951, were for corundum, natural crystals, as by this time high-purity synthetic corundum was available and widely used. Nevertheless, for certain specific applications the natural product was preferred over the synthetic material. It has been extensively used in forming snagging wheels. It breaks into more or less cubical particles, whereas artificial corundum fractures into splintery shapes. These produce irregular cuts in glass, while the more symmetrical shape produces a more uniform ground surface. For this reason natural corundum has been preferred for certain types of lens grinding. Pure corundum is clear, colorless alpha alumina (A12O3), but it is rarely found in nature in this form. The most important gem varieties include the blue and yellow sapphires and the ruby. Minute impurities of titanic oxide impart a blue color,

Jan 1, 1955

By Walter Wood

The specifications for cast-iron pipe that have been submitted at this meeting are practically the outgrowth of those which were originally adopted, about 1860, by Mr. Kirkwood of Brooklyn, N. Y. They have been changed but little since that time, the mode of testing pipe in the hydraulic press, as well as the method of coating, not having departed from the original practice. The chief addition to the specifications has been in the adoption of a test-bar 2 in. by 1 in. in crosa-section, broken between 24-in. supports by a transverse strain applied on the flat side. Test-bars were first introduced into pipe-specifications about 1870. At that time a satisfactory test-piece had to stand a tensile strain of 16,000 lb. per square inch. The present test-bar was adopted in order to give some idea of the deflection of the iron that was being used. These deflection-tests have been so satisfactory to both engineers and manufacturers, and have met the requirements of the pipe-trade so accurately, that it is considered best to hold to the . 2-in. by 1-in. bar instead of adopting the short " Arbitration Bar," which yields but little information from the stand-point of deflection. The new feature in these specifications is the effort to reach standards to which pipe shall be cast in the future, thus permitting the manufacturer to make up stock and the purchaser to find material on hand when he asks for deliveries. Heretofore there has never been ally standard weight for pipes? although in some sizes certain weights are more frequently asked for than others. The fixing of standards for pipes permits the adoption of definite standards for fittings. It has been aimed to secure such uniformity for fittings as will permit the same class of fittings to cover two or more classes of pipe. In order to accomplish

Jan 1, 1905

By Richard Borg

The partial molal free energy of Cd in each of the four intermediate phases, Cd3 Cu, Cd8 Cu5, Cd3Cu4, and CdCu2 is determined using the Knudsen vapor pressure technique. Measurements are made also within the two-phase regions, and thus the variation in FCd is now known across the entire phase diagram. The absolute values are all less the 2.0 kcal and increase regularly with increasing Cd concentration. The small absolute value of the free energy precludes the possibility of obtaining highly accurate values; nevertheless, the results are compatible with those previously reported for the liquid phase. Additional results are reported concerning the lattice parameters of the 6, E, and b phases. THE elements Cu and Cd combine to form four intermediate phases which are designated* and E and which include respectively the following inter metallic compounds: CdCu2, Cd3Cu4, Cd3 Cu5, and Cd3 Cu. The extent of each phase with respect to temperature and composition is shown in Fig. 1 which is the equilibrium diagram drawn according to Hansen.1 All four phases are brittle, and most probably are true intermetallic compounds. Only the crystal structure of the 6 phase has been thoroughly investigated.2,3 The structure is cubic and isotypic with y brass. The structure of Cd3 Cu has not been previously reported, It is hexagonal with a = 8.11 and c = 8.76 0.02Å and the structure is presently being determined.* The compounds Cd3 Cu4 and CdCu, have been each previously the subject of a single investigation. Cd3Cu, is presumed to be cubic4 with the space group Fd3m, whereas CdCu2 is hexagonal2 with the C14-type structure. Cu2 Cd is found by X-ray analysis to be hexagonat with lattice parameters a = 5.00A and c = 16.17Å. The material appears to be pure Cu2Cd as all reflections could be indexed on the basis of the single hexagonal structure. These values disagree with those of Kripyakevich and coworkers5 who report a = 4.96Å and c = 7.98Å. Their investi-

Jan 1, 1962

In situ mining is no longer a "last ditch" approach for recovery of uranium, but a proven and competitive method of exploiting sedimentary deposits. Today, in any feasibility study of uranium properties, the project manager would be prudent to compare the economics of in situ methods with conventional surface and underground techniques. In this comparison of in situ and open-pit mining, John J. Borkert and Carl E. Gerity of Occidental Minerals Corp., evaluated a group of hypothetical uranium deposits using the three most sensitive depositional characteristics of depth, size, and grade. Their conclusion: in situ is generally the better method to maximize total net profits and return on investment. At uranium values of $40 per pound, their analysis found open-pit mining to he unprofitable, generally, when stripping ratios were greater than 30:1, the deposit grade-thickness (GT) was 0.5 or less, or the ratio of depth to GT was greater than 200.

Jan 10, 1978

By Milo W. Krejci

The plant and quarries of the Inland Portland Cement Co. are located at Metaline Palls, Wash., about 128 miles north of Spokane, on the Pend Oreille river, and within 10 miles of the Canadian border. The plant is one of a chain of cement plants controlled by the Lehigh Portland Cement Co., of Allentown, Pa. Work on this plant was commenced in June, 1910, and was completed in April, 1911, but on account of some delays in the construction of the power plant, the works were not put into operation until August, 1911. Since then it has been in continuous operation and has furnished the Inland Empire with a high grade of cement. Fig. 1 is a view and Fig. 2 is a plan of the works. Water Power Development.—The source of the water supply for the hydro-electric plant of the Inland Portland Cement Co. is Sullivan lake, a body of water approximately 5.5 miles long and' 0.5 mile wide, situated in the Kaniksu Forest Reserve. A wooden crib dam was installed so as to raise the elevation of the lake 25 ft., and the additional storage capacity was taken up by the diversion of Sullivan creek into the lake by means of a wooden flume, 0.25 mile long, 6 by 8 ft. in cross-section, and a ditch 1,200 ft. long. The water from the lake follows the natural water course to an intermediate storage reservoir, which was created by the construction of an earthen dam. This pond was used in connection with the saw mill which was installed at this point. Besides the earth dam, there was also built a crib, at the point shown in the sketch map, Fig. 3. This crib dam is 35 ft. high. From this point the excess water follows the natural course of Sullivan creek to the Pend Oreille river. The water is taken from this intermediage storage by means of a 6 by 8 ft. wooden flume approximately 13,000 ft. long. This flume is built up on the side hill, piling being driven most of the way on

Jan 1, 1914

By S. D. Michaelson, Eric Sinkinson

Many of the magnesite ores of the western part of the United States contain such large amounts of silica and hydrous silicate minerals that the value of the ores is either low or nominal. Expensive and carefully controlled mining methods are necessary to prevent excessive dilution of the higher grade ores by introduction in mining of small pieces of the hanging walls or footwalls of the deposit. This difficulty is further complicated by the various states of decomposition of the country rock of the deposits in which many of the ores occur. The problem the authors attempted to solve arose from a request to float an impure magnesite containing varying proportions of siliceous gangue with calcium carbonate. The ore is normally enclosed in serpentine masses, somewhat decomposed, and in mining it wall rock is incidentally added, so that variable amounts of siliceous material occur in the samples. The silica, alumina, and iron oxide are so closely associated with the magnesium carbonate in the magnesite that ordinary mechanical separation at coarse mesh sizes is of no avail. It is well known that calcium carbonate can be floated by suitable reagents, therefore it seemed reasonable to suppose that magnesium carbonate minerals would behave in a similar manner, but experimental trial proved that this supposition was unfounded. Therefore the first step in the problem was to find out what differences of behavior there were between magnesium and calcium carbonates under flotation conditions, or when suspended in water. In water at 18" C. magnesium carbonate is slightly more soluble than calcium carbonate; in fact, MgCO3 is soluble to the extent of 0.0106 grams in 100 c.c. of water at 18" C. and CaCO3 to the extent of 0.0013 grams. However, magnesium carbonate in water gradually changes to the basic carbonates of a composition (3MgCO3.Mg(OH)23H2O) or (4MgCO3.Mg(OH)25H2O), depending upon conditions, and calcium carbonate to calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2. The relative solubilities of these hydroxides in water are the reverse of the solubilities of magnesium and calcium carbonates. The range in published figures for solubility

Jan 1, 1938

By S. D. Michaelson, Eric Sinkinson

Many of the magnesite ores of the western part of the United States contain such large amounts of silica and hydrous silicate minerals that the value of the ores is either low or nominal. Expensive and carefully controlled mining methods are necessary to prevent excessive dilution of the higher grade ores by introduction in mining of small pieces of the hanging walls or footwalls of the deposit. This difficulty is further complicated by the various states of decomposition of the country rock of the deposits in which many of the ores occur. The problem the authors attempted to solve arose from a request to float an impure magnesite containing varying proportions of siliceous gangue with calcium carbonate. The ore is normally enclosed in serpentine masses, somewhat decomposed, and in mining it wall rock is incidentally added, so that variable amounts of siliceous material occur in the samples. The silica, alumina, and iron oxide are so closely associated with the magnesium carbonate in the magnesite that ordinary mechanical separation at coarse mesh sizes is of no avail. It is well known that calcium carbonate can be floated by suitable reagents, therefore it seemed reasonable to suppose that magnesium carbonate minerals would behave in a similar manner, but experimental trial proved that this supposition was unfounded. Therefore the first step in the problem was to find out what differences of behavior there were between magnesium and calcium carbonates under flotation conditions, or when suspended in water. In water at 18" C. magnesium carbonate is slightly more soluble than calcium carbonate; in fact, MgCO3 is soluble to the extent of 0.0106 grams in 100 c.c. of water at 18" C. and CaCO3 to the extent of 0.0013 grams. However, magnesium carbonate in water gradually changes to the basic carbonates of a composition (3MgCO3.Mg(OH)23H2O) or (4MgCO3.Mg(OH)25H2O), depending upon conditions, and calcium carbonate to calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2. The relative solubilities of these hydroxides in water are the reverse of the solubilities of magnesium and calcium carbonates. The range in published figures for solubility

Jan 1, 1938

By M. E. Straumanis, S. M. Riad

The lattice parameter of 99.999 pct pure Ag rtlas redetevnzined and found to be az5 = 4.08626 5 0.000041 with the vefnzctiotz correction included); the expatzsion coejjicient between 10° and 65°C was 18.73 X10-6°C-1. The lattice paratneter increased upon solution indium in silver in good agrement with other authors. The solid-solubility limit around room temperature was at 20.4 wt pct of in, which suggests that the high-temperature solubility (at about 689°C) determined by other authors is too low. The expansion coejficient of si1ver increases with the itzcrease of indium content between 10° and 65° C from, 18.73 (In = 0) to 20.9 x 10-6°C-1 (In = 20.4 pct), being only very slightly influenced by small amounts of indium. The expansion coefficents of all solid solutions increarsed strongly with temperature, reaching values > 27 x 10- 6 800°C. ACCORDING to the Ag-In diagram,' the solubility of indium in silver (the a phase) extends to about 18 pct by weight at room temperature. However, there has been only one investigation of the solubility limit by X-ray methods—that of Weibke and Eggers.2 Hume-Rothery, Lewin, and Reynolds measured only the lattice parameters of Ag-In solid solutions3 as did Owen and Roberts4 and Adler and Wagner.' The thermal expansivity of four solid solutions was determined by Owen and Roberts4 in a temperature range between 25" and 300°C. In view of the limited amount of work on Ag-In solid solutions, it seemed appropriate to redeter-mine the lattice parameters and the room-temperature solid-solubility limit, to find the exact expansion coefficients of the solid solutions at about room temperature (between 10° and 60°C) and the expansivity up to 800°C, and finally to derive the thermal-expansion coefficients for any alloy within the solid-solubility region. THE ALLOYS AND THE DETERMINATION OF LATTICE CONSTANTS The metals used were 99.9991 pet pure, supplied by the ASARCO company. Both silver and indium were weighed accurately on an analytical balance in

Jan 1, 1965

By R. Adair, W. R. Hudspeth, W. T. McDaniel

ANEW method for concentrating the flake mica either from present washing plant tailings or from new feed has been developed. In this paper, flake mica refers to that which occurs in weathered granites, alaskites, pegmatites, and schists in a form too fine to be considered sheet mica. It ranges in size from 1 in. or more down to 200-mesh or finer and occurs with kaolin, quartz, and partially kaolinized feldspar. Scrap mica, a term often used indiscriminately to describe everything other than sheet mica, will be used to denote the waste product from sheet mica mines and fabricating plants. Both flake and scrap mica are used in the mica grinding plants to produce wet-ground or dry-ground mica, although some flake mica recovered from clay mining operations is fine enough to be marketed without grinding. Until 1930, ground mica was made almost entirely from scrap. From 1930 until 1935 a gradually increasing amount of flake mica was mined, and most of this was sold without grinding. A large percentage of this mica was recovered from clay washing plants. In this type of operation the recovery of any sheet mica was .of secondary importance and was considered a byproduct. North Carolina produces more flake mica than any other state, accounting for 73 pct of the total domestic production.' In the following review of current practice in jig plants, there is no intention to disparage these operations. Within the limitations under which they were built, they are examples of mechanical ingenuity. The term jig plant is a carryover from early practice since there are no jigs in operation at the present time. Current practice, as shown in Fig. 1, is based on successive stages of differential crushing with rolls followed by trommel screens to remove the more easily crushed gangue minerals. The oversize mica product then is usually dried, and passed through another set of dry rolls and a final screen to remove the remainder of the grit. This process is effective in recovering up to 50 pct of the mica in the original ore, the balance being lost in the screen undersize, usually —% in. Jigs and tables were at one time used to treat this screen undersize and were capable of recovering a part of the mica larger than about 60-mesh.V ine mica lost in these plants is normally washed away in streams and can be considered irrecoverable. There are ten or more washing plants in the North Carolina area that are losing approximately 50 pct of the mica in the feed. Since the three cooperating agencies, the Asheville Minerals Research Laboratory of North Carolina State College, the North Carolina Dept. of Conservation and Development, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, are concerned with conservation of minerals, they have investigated means for improving the efficiency of these mica plants. The mica industry has been cooperating fully with the laboratory to establish a more efficient method of recovery for flake mica. Choice of Methods The initial investigation was concentrated on finding a means of reducing the losses from plants now using the conventional flowsheet shown in Fig. 1. To accomplish this it would be necessary to collect the screen undersize products through the plant and remove from them the mica from Vs in. down to

Jan 1, 1952

By Eric Sinkinson

MANY of the magnesite ores of the western part of the United States contain such large amounts of silica and hydrous silicate minerals that the value of the ores is either low or nominal. Expensive and carefully controlled mining methods are necessary to prevent excessive dilution of the higher grade ores by introduction in mining' of small pieces of the hanging walls or footwalls of the deposit. This difficulty is further complicated by the various states of decomposition of the country rock of the deposits in which many of the ores occur. The problem the authors attempted to solve arose from a request to float an impure magnesite containing varying proportions of siliceous gangue with calcium carbonate. The ore is normally. enclosed in serpen-tine masses, somewhat decomposed, and in mining it wall rock is inci-dentally added, so that variable amounts of siliceous material occur in the samples. The silica, alumina, and iron oxide are so closely associated with the magnesium carbonate in the magnesite that ordinary mechanical separation at coarse mesh sizes is of no avail. It is well known that calcium carbonate can be floated by suitable reagents, therefore it seemed reasonable to suppose that magnesium carbonate minerals would behave in a similar manner, but experimental trial proved that this supposition was unfounded. Therefore the first step in the problem was to find out what differences of behavior there were between magnesium and calcium carbonates under flotation conditions, or when suspended in water. In water at 18° C. magnesium carbonate is slightly more soluble than calcium carbonate; in fact, MgCO3 is soluble to the extent of 0.0106 grams in 100 c.c. of water at 18° C. and CaCO3 to the extent of 0.0013 grams. However, magnesium carbonate in water gradually changes to the basic carbonates of a composition (3MgCO3.Mg(OH)23H20) or (4MgCO3.Mg(OH)25H20), depending upon conditions, and calcium carbonate to calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, The relative solubilities of these hydroxides in water are the reverse of the solubilities of magnesium and calcium carbonates.. The range in published figures for solubility

Jan 1, 1936

By Eric Sinkinson

MANY of the magnesite ores of the western part of the United States contain such large amounts of silica and hydrous silicate minerals that the value of the ores is either low or nominal. Expensive and carefully controlled mining methods are necessary to prevent excessive dilution of the higher grade ores by introduction in mining of small pieces of the hanging walls or footwalls of the deposit. This difficulty is further complicated by the various states of decomposition of the country rock of the deposits in which many of the ores occur. The problem the authors attempted to solve arose from a request to float an impure magnesite containing varying proportions of siliceous gangue with calcium carbonate. The ore is normally enclosed in-serpen-tine masses, somewhat decomposed, and in mining it wall rock is inci-dentally added, so that variable amounts of siliceous material occur in the samples. The silica, alumna, and iron oxide are so closely associated with the magnesium carbonate in the magnesite that ordinary mechanical separation at coarse mesh sizes is of no avail. It is well known that calcium carbonate can be floated by suitable reagents, therefore it seemed reasonable to suppose that magnesium carbonate minerals would behave in a similar manner, but experimental trial proved that this supposition was unfounded. Therefore the first step in the problem was to find out what differences of behavior there were between magnesium and calcium carbonates under flotation conditions, or when suspended in water. In water at 18° C. magnesium carbonate is slightly more soluble than calcium carbonate; in fact; MgCO3 is soluble to the extent of 0.0106 grams in 100 c.c. of water at 18° C. and CaCO3 to the extent of 0.0013 grams. However, magnesium carbonate in water gradually changes to the basic carbonates of a composition (3MgCO3.Mg(OH)23H20) or (4MgCO3.Mg(OH)25H20), depending upon conditions, and calcium carbonate to calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2. The relative solubilities of these hydroxides in water are the reverse of the solubilities of magnesium and calcium carbonates. The range in published figures for solubility

Jan 1, 1936

By N. Marusov, D. K. Lowe, J. C. Karp

This paper considers, from an engineering viewpoint, several factors involved in creating, designing and locating horizontal barriers for controlling water coning. This is an effort to consolidate new concepts with previous information so that a reasonable selection of barrier materials, dimensions and vertical position can be made. Coning theories previously developed are briefly reviewed and an effort i,s made to reduce the results of coning-theory calculations to a point where routine calculations can be made with a desk calculator. It is expected that these simplified calculations will give usable predictions of the amounts of improvement attainable with barriers of various dimensions. Apparatus and procedures used for testing the suitability of commercial cements are described and test results are presented. INTRODUCTION Just about as soon as the phenomenon of water coning was recognized as an oilfield problem, there were suggestions that the production of water coning could be controlled or completely suppressed by means of horizontal barriers. It was also suggested that natural barriers such as shale streaks were helpful in restricting bottom-water production. The implication was that wells not having the benefit of continuous shale streaks to suppress bottom waters should, in some way, be supplied with an artificial barrier. With regard to the selection of barrier materials, there are many references which give the merits of liquid barriers.',' These liquids include surface-active agents," recipitates' and emu1sions. There is no real need to review the merits of these materials again. This paper deals with the use of solid barriers which could be made from various cements. The two major restrictions placed on these barrier cements are that (1) they must be commercially available in large quantities, and (2) they must be applicable by means of standard tools and equipment with techniques that have been fully developed and are in general use at the present time. A schematic drawing of a horizontal barrier in a reservoir is shown in Fig. 1. Two maximum stable water cones are illustrated-—-one for the wellbore diameter and the other for a barrier. A maximum stable cone is one that has attained its maximum volume at the critical production rate and is on the threshold of producing water. The volume displaced by each water cone and the rise in water table are indications of the amount of water-free oil produced. Corrections for porosity, connate water and residual oil, of course, must be applied. The water-oil interface which defines a maximum stable cone is called a free surface. It is a surface over which the pressure is constant. This free surface has the shape of a limiting streamline at and below which there is no movement or transport. The shape of the water cone describes the pressure drop in the reservoir. The effect of a completely impermeable barrier on the cone shape is essentially the same as extending the wellbore out to the barrier radius. The placement of a horizontal barrier requires that a horizontal fracture be created using a single-point entry technique. Two methods may be employed for filling this fracture. One method consists of propping the fracture before filling with cement. The other consists of fracturing with fracture fluid, then immediately following with cement

By G. F. Bolling

STUDIES of grain boundary migration in zone-refined metals have all shown that the rate of migration is greatly reduced by small added solute concentrations. However, it is apparent that a difference exists between boundary migration during normal grain growth and single boundaries migrating in a bicrystal to consume a substructure. To effect the same reduction in velocity in the two cases, much more solute is required for grain growth than for the single boundary experiments. One case is available for direct comparison; both Bolling and winegardl and Aust and utter' added silver and gold to zone-refined lead to study grain growth and single boundary migration, respectively. For comparable reductions in migration rates, about 500 times more solute was required to retard grain growth than to retard the single boundaries. A reason for this difference is suggested here. The rate of grain boundary migration is dependent on solute concentration and must therefore also depend on the solute distribution; i.e., regions of higher solute concentration encountered by a moving boundary must produce greater retardation and thus could determine any observed rate. A dislocation substructure can be the source of a nonuniform solute distribution since it can attract an excess concentration of certain solutes. In fact, it is probable that the solutes which impede grain boundary migration most would segregate most severely to a substructure for the same reasons. Thus a dislocation substructure present in a crystal being consumed could locally magnify the concentration of solute confronting an advancing grain boundary. In the single boundary experiments a low-angle substructure, within single crystals obtained by growth from the melt, was used to provide the driving force to move a grain boundary; in grain growth, no substructure of this magnitude was present. The increased solute concentration at subboundaries should be given approximately by C, = G e c,/kT, where t, is a binding energy and CO the bulk concentration. To account for the difference between the two experiments in the Pb-Ag and Pb-Au cases, C, must be the concentration impeding the single boundary migration, and a value of t, = 0.25 ev is necessary. This is reasonable, even though calculation on a purely elastic basis gives t, = 0.12 ev. because electronic effects must enter for silver and gold in lead. The compound AuPbz forms3 and the metastable compound AgrPb has been reported to nucleate at dislocations prior to the formation of the stable, silver-rich phase.4 Other observations support the hypothesis that a magnified solute concentration impedes the single boundary migration. For example, some crystals were grown by Aust and Rutter at concentrations of ~ 0.1 wt pct Sn and 2 x X at. pct Ag or Au which exhibited a cellular substructure, and in these crystals no boundary migration was observed. It is therefore evident that the higher concentrations at cell boundaries drastically inhibited migration. Inclusions would not have been responsible for this inhibition since according to recent work on cellular segregation,5 no second phase should have occurred in the segregated regions at the cell boundaries for the conditions of growth used, at least in the Pb-Sn system. In the purest lead, only the "special" boundaries observed by Aust and Rutter gave rise to the same activation energy as that obtained in grain growth. It is reasonable to suppose that the structure of special boundaries does not favor segregation at low concentrations and thus solute, or an inhomogeneity in its distribution, would have no effect. Random boundaries, on the other hand, are affected by solute and the substructure would enhance residual concentrations in the zone-refined lead, leading to a higher activation energy. It is clear, even without a detailed theory, that the apparent activation energies and exact solute dependence in the two experiments must be different as long as the non-uniform solute distribution produced by the substructure is important. Recrystallization experiments should also be susceptible to the same kind of local segregation at subboundaries or disloca tion cell walls; a suggestion similar to this has been made by Leslie et al.' Following the arguments presented here, the effects of a given solute concentration would be like those observed by Aust and Rutter if segregation occurred, and like those of grain growth otherwise. This work was partially supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; Contract AF-49(638)-1029.

Jan 1, 1962

By M. Muskat, H. H. Evinger

A METHOD has been developed whereby one may calculate the productivity factors of producing formations from a knowledge of the reservoir conditions. Account is taken not only of the heterogeneous character of the gas-oil flow system but also of the detailed variations with pressure of the shrinkage and viscosity of the oil, the solubility of the gas in the oil, and even the variability of the gas viscosity and the deviation of the gas from ideal behavior. Curves are shown giving the results of numerical calculations on the production rate as a function of the pressure differential for a high-pressure and a low-pressure system, three values of gas-oil ratio being treated in each case. Curves are also given showing the variation with distance from the well of the pressure, oil saturation, and permeability. The effect of connate water is briefly discussed in relation to the apparently large discrepancies between the calculated and observed productivity-factor values. INTRODUCTION The significance of the productivity factor as a measure of the capacity of an oil-bearing formation to produce is well recognized; for it is the composite and integrated resultant of the physical properties of both the porous medium and the fluid stream passing through it with respect to the ease with which the particular petroleum fluids present in the formation can flow through it and into producing wells. The most direct method of determining the productivity factor of a well consists, as is well known, in the simultaneous measurement of reservoir-pressure differentials and rates of production and the expression of the data in terms of rate of flow per unit pressure drop.1 Actual measurements carried out in this manner on producing wells have given factors that generally lie in the range of 0 to 100 bbl. per day per pound pressure drop. This wide range arises not only from variations in permeability but also from the varying sand thickness of producing formations. One of the aims of developing a theory of the mechanics of oil production obviously is that of predicting what the productivity factor should be from a knowledge of the individual characteristics of the producing formation and the fluids produced. For homogeneous fluid systems passing through a porous medium into a producing well, it has been known for some time that the steady-state rate of liquid flow Q is given by the formula:* [ ] where k is the sand permeability, h its thickness, µ the liquid viscosity, [Ap] the pressure drop between the well and the distant parts of the reservoir, in particular that at a radius [ro ]and [r ] is the well radius. This gives the productivity factor: [ ] which will have a numerical value for a liquid of I centipoise viscosity of 0.9316 or

Jan 1, 1941