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By C. D. Ramsden

DURING the war years of 1941 to 1945, maintenance of mine locomotives and other mine equipment took the form of rebuilding rather than of renewing. Pur¬chase of new parts became increasingly difficult and mine operators found it necessary to maintain equipment by sal¬vaging old parts. Mine-locomotive wheels, although not representing a high cost per pound of material, contain a con¬siderable amount of steel and without rebuilding would have to be scrapped long before even a moderate percentage of the steel in the wheel is actually consumed. Many mine operators have been re¬building locomotive wheels for several years with automatic open arc-welding equipment. In 1927, the Pittsburgh Coal Co. started such a program, using a single Westinghouse automatic welding head. Since that time, many refinements have been added, until in 1944 the setup was operating very efficiently. A desire to increase wheel life and to hold down rising costs led the company in 1944 to investigate the possibilities of the under¬flux arc-welding process for wheel rebuild¬ing, although at that time, little or no work had been done on multiple pass or "build-up" welding with the underflux arc. Work with this process had been confined largely to welding together flat plates in a "down hand" position. Possibilities for savings were intensified by the fact that the company has 300 locomotives in operation, using actively or as spares 1200 sets of wheels. During 1942 and 1943, about 500 sets of wheels were sent each year to the company's maintenance shop at Library, Pa., for rebuilding. Based on having 800 sets in service (many of the company's heavy locomotives have three- sets of trucks), the average life of a set of wheels was approximately 19 months. Anything that could be done to increase wheel life promised sizable annual savings. OPEN ARC WELDING With the open arc process, a set of wheels could be rebuilt for about 40 pct of the cost of new wheels. Underflux arc welding gave promise of greatly increased welding speeds, more homogeneous, dense deposits and the chance for use of a wider range in welding-wire compositions. Against this was ranged the higher cost of materials and the cost of developing the process from the theory to a practical reality. Since 1927, when a single open arc head was placed in operation, fixed welding procedures had been gradually developed, a positioner for handling a set of wheels was built, and a second head was placed in operation in order to weld two wheels simultaneously. The fixture, or posi¬tioner, which was built to position and turn the wheels under the two welding heads, included a motor drive, controlled by a rheostat, which rotated the wheels through a double set of speed reducers and a removable jaw coupling attached to one end of the axle of the wheel truck.

Jan 1, 1946

By J. D. Prater, H. R. Spedden, E. E. Malouf

With the expansion of copper leaching of the various mine wastes at the Kennecott properties, additional copper recovery facilities have been required. A research and development program has been pursued to determine a suitable economic approach to the processing of the additional leach solutions contemplated. lnvestigations on laboratory and pilot plant scales covered electrowinning, solvent extraction, launder and vat type cells, activated launders, precipitation drums, and precipitation cones. This paper contains information on the development and use of a new precipitation-cone-type copper recovery plant, which provides many advantages over older systems. The application of research findings to the old art of leaching copper from copper-bearing mine waste has resulted in a significant contribution of copper to over-all copper production. For example, at the completion of the current expansion program at the Kennecott properties in the United States, copper produced from waste dump leaching will amount to about 25% of the total production. Formerly only 2% was derived from this source. This planned expansion of copper leaching focused attention on the problem of developing more efficient methods for the recovery of copper from greatly increased volumes of copper-bearing solutions.1 The detailed investigations which have been made in laboratory pilot plant and plant tests for the recovery of copper from copper-bearing solutions have included electrowinning, solvent extraction, ion exchange and cementation with iron in launders, precipitation drums, activated launders, and precipitation cones. The results of these investigations have led to the development of a new precipitation cone-type copper recovery system providing many advantages over older methods. ELECTROWINNING OF COPPER FROM COPPER-BEARING SOLUTIONS The direct electrowinning of copper from relatively dilute solutions of copper-bearing mine water, namely solutions containing 10 to 20 lbs of copper per 1000 gal, has always been an attractive possibility.2,3 By this method, high-purity copper powder can be recovered with a power consumption of 3.5 kwh per Ib of copper. However, once the solution strength de-

Jan 1, 1967

By C. R. Swarts

The use of compressed air or gas in oil wells for raising crude oil to the surface has, within the last year, become a dominant factor In production engineering. Previous application of this principle was largely confined to oil wells that had been pumping for a considerable length of time. In the Seminole area, the gas-air lift has been applied to wells imniediately after natural flow has ceased and in some cases while the wells were still flowing. This early application of the gas-air lift has been watchcd with intense interest by the petroleum industry, both with respect to methods of application and mechanical installations and to the effects on immediate and ultimate production. Methods of Application The Seminole pool at its inception contained sufficient gas associated with the oil to cause natural flow. As no frce gas was found in the main productive horizon, the Wilcox sand, all the gas present was dissolved in the oil, hence the natural flowing life was short, rarely lasting over 45 days. When natural flow ceased, high fluid levels were common, and as depth and crookedness of holes were obstacles to efficient pumping, the gas-air lift was used almost exclusively in raising the oil to the surface. Because of the high gravity of the oil, 41" A. P. I., and its high gasoline content, and also because of the desire to obtain production before offset wells became productive, quantity of production was the aim of the operators and a method of flow was used whereby this aim could be fulfilled. One of the outstanding features of this method consisted in flowing the wells through the annular space between the tubing and rasing. By this means a greater quantity of fluid could be handled than by flowing through the tubing of the size in ordinary use. Wells that would produce only a few hundred barrels on the pump were by this rnethod made to produce as high as 7000 bbl. on the lift. A few days or wreks of production at that rate meant a large recovery of oil. Casing of 636 in. diameter was commonly used as a production string with a 5 3/16-in. liner set on top of the oil sand. Upset tubing for irtro-

Jan 1, 1928

By E. S. Machlin, S. Weing

GRAIN boundary stress relaxation has been the subject of several investigations in recent years, but as yet the phenomenon is not well understood. One of the major difficulties has been the lack of a sufficient amount of data with which to evaluate any proposed mechanism. Little information is available on the effect of small amounts of substitutional solutes on grain boundary stress relaxation. It is with this important phase of the problem that this investigation is concerned. The influence of substitutional solutes on grain boundary stress relaxation has been recently investigated in copper by Pearson: and in aluminum by Dorn et al.' Pearson studied the effect of zinc, gallium, germanium, and arsenic on the relaxation peak of OFHC copper.* The pure OFHC copper decreased the peak intensity and a second peak appeared at a higher temperature. This latter peak was termed the alloy grain boundary peak. At the lowest binary concentration studied, approximately 1 atomic pct, the primary peak was almost completely obliterated. Pearson found that the activation energy calculated from the alloy grain boundary peak for all solutes, irrespective of the concentration, was 44,000 cal per mol. Pearson concluded that the increase in activation energy from 33 to 44 kcal per mol is not continuous but abruptly changes from the lower to the higher value. As no attempt was made to investigate the intermediate range of concentration and hence calculate the possible variation of the activation energy for the initial grain boundary peak, this conclusion is hardly valid. In contrast to these results, Dorn et al. studied the effect of zinc, silver, copper, germanium, and magnesium on the grain boundary stress relaxation of aluminum. No change in the energy of activation was observed for binary alloys of the flrst four solutes, but a linear increase was found for increasing concentration of magnesium. Saturation was not found up to the maximum of 1.6 atomic pct. The energies of activation were obtained by plotting the horizontal displacement of the dynamic modulus curve vs temperature for two vibrational frequencies. As the modulus is proportional to the square of the frequency, this requires the measurement of the torsional frequency over a range of temperature. However, the technique does not lead to an unambiguous interpretation of the grain boundary

Jan 1, 1958

By M. Cohen, R. T. Howard

It has long been realized among metallurgists that a fast, reliable method for the quantitative determination of the percentage of microconstituents in an alloy would be of great benefit in studies of equilibrium and transformation in the solid state. For example, Polushkinl has shown that the compositions of two coexisting phases in a binary system at a given temperature may be calculated very simply with the aid of two alloys lying in the two-phase field if the relative amounts of the two phases in each alloy can be determined. Recently, Grange and Stewart2 have traced the course of the austenite-martensite reaction in a series of commercial steels by making visual estimates of the percentage of martensite formed as a function of cooling temperature. The correlation of mechanical properties with structure, a subject of wide-spread current interest, is likewise dependent upon quantitative microanaly-sis. Yet, there are very few investigations described in the metallurgical literature, wherein methods of quantitative microscopy are employed. Usually, the relative amounts of the microconstituents are estimated in a qualitative or semiquantita-tive way. The authors were faced with this problem some time ago in studying the kinetics of austenite decomposition. Several aspects of this research could not be treated satisfactorily by other quantitative tools, such as specific volume,' magnetic,6 dila-tometric, electrical resistance7 or x-ray measurements.a It became necessary to find an impersonal quantitative method that could be applied to microstructures. Fortunately, it was noted that geologists and petrographers had coped with quantitative microscopy to a considerable degree in their attempts to evaluate the mineral contents of rocks. A number of excellent articles were found on this subject, and since they appear to be unknown generally to many metallurgists, the first part of the present paper is concerned with a review of the literature in some detail. With this survey as a background, the authors have adapted the so-called methods of point-counting and lineal analysis to metallography, as described in the second part of the paper. Austenite-martensite structures were selected for illustration not only because they are important in many ways, but because such fine intermixtures are notoriously difficult to estimate visually. Literature Survey Perhaps the earliest work on quantitative microscopic analysis goes back to Delesse9 (1848) who proved mathemati-

Jan 1, 1948

By Walter Kauzmann

ALL viscous or plastic flow of incompressible matter is the result of shear strain; the changing shape of any body that is being plastically deformed can be completely described in terms of the shear strain occurring at each point in the body.[t] Furthermore, the relative amounts of shear strain occurring in different parts of a body under stress depend upon the relative rates of shear strain at those different points, so that if the dependence of the shear rate of any material on the temperature, shear stress, previous history, etc., were understood, the principles of plastic deformation would be known, and we could calculate how a body made of a given material, having a given shape, and subject to a specified system of forces, would change its shape with time. It may be said, then, that the problem of plasticity resolves itself into, first, the problem of the rates of pure shear processes, and second, the application of what is known about pure shear to actual cases. It is the purpose of this work to investigate the former problem -i.e., the dependence of shear rates on temperature, stress, etc.-from the standpoint of recent developments in the field of chemical-rate theory and with particular reference to the phenomena occurring in the creep of metals and in the plastic flow of crystalline solids in general. It is left for the mechanical engineer, and perhaps the expert in hydrodynamics, to deal with the problem of applications1 RESOLUTION OF MACROSCOPIC SHEAR INTO MICROSCOPIC MOVEMENTS; RESEMBLANCE TO CHEMICAL REACTIONS Just as any large body is made up of many small units, or atoms, so macroscopically observable shear is the result of many microscopic unit shear processes; just as the understanding of the behavior of large bodies demands the understanding of the atoms of which it is made, so the understanding of macroscopic shear demands the understanding of these fundamental unit processes. The study of shear from this "atomistic" point of view has made considerable progress. There has been fairly complete understanding of shear processes in gases for a long time, at least for nonturbulent flow, as a chapter on gaseous viscosity in any text on the kinetic theory of gases will prove. In recent years Andrade2 and Eyring3 have presented important theories for the flow of liquids and amorphous solids. Becker,4 Orowan,5 Taylor,6 Burgers,7 and Kanter8 have considered the

Jan 1, 1941

By M. Cohen, R. T. Howard

It has long been realized among metallurgists that a fast, reliable method for the quantitative determination of the percentage of microconstituents in an alloy would be of great benefit in studies of equilibrium and transformation in the solid state. For example, Polushkinl has shown that the compositions of two coexisting phases in a binary system at a given temperature may be calculated very simply with the aid of two alloys lying in the two-phase field if the relative amounts of the two phases in each alloy can be determined. Recently, Grange and Stewart2 have traced the course of the austenite-martensite reaction in a series of commercial steels by making visual estimates of the percentage of martensite formed as a function of cooling temperature. The correlation of mechanical properties with structure, a subject of wide-spread current interest, is likewise dependent upon quantitative microanaly-sis. Yet, there are very few investigations described in the metallurgical literature, wherein methods of quantitative microscopy are employed. Usually, the relative amounts of the microconstituents are estimated in a qualitative or semiquantita-tive way. The authors were faced with this problem some time ago in studying the kinetics of austenite decomposition. Several aspects of this research could not be treated satisfactorily by other quantitative tools, such as specific volume,' magnetic,6 dila-tometric, electrical resistance7 or x-ray measurements.a It became necessary to find an impersonal quantitative method that could be applied to microstructures. Fortunately, it was noted that geologists and petrographers had coped with quantitative microscopy to a considerable degree in their attempts to evaluate the mineral contents of rocks. A number of excellent articles were found on this subject, and since they appear to be unknown generally to many metallurgists, the first part of the present paper is concerned with a review of the literature in some detail. With this survey as a background, the authors have adapted the so-called methods of point-counting and lineal analysis to metallography, as described in the second part of the paper. Austenite-martensite structures were selected for illustration not only because they are important in many ways, but because such fine intermixtures are notoriously difficult to estimate visually. Literature Survey Perhaps the earliest work on quantitative microscopic analysis goes back to Delesse9 (1848) who proved mathemati-

Jan 1, 1948

[IRVING, JOHN D. :-(Continued.) Some Features of Replacement Ore-Bodies, and the Criteria by Means of Which They May be Discovered, XLII, [xlvii]. Discussions: on A Concise Method of Showing Ore-Reserves, XLIII, 714; on The Iron Deposits of Daiquiri, Cuba, LIII, 65; I on Recrystallization of Limestone at Igneous Contacts, XLVIII, 214; I on To What Extent is Chalcocite a Primary, and to what Extent a Secondary, Mineral in Ore Deposits, XLVIII, 194. minerals of gold deposits, Homestake belt, Black Hills, S. D., XLII, 54.]

Jan 1, 1918

By S. W. Ross

In 1936 a description of the plant (Fig 1) and process employed by the Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australasia Ltd. for the recovery of zinc from zinc concentrate by the electrolytic process was prepared. † During the twelve years which have elapsed since the preparation of the earlier paper, several major changes in the metallurgy of the process have been introduced. It is the purpose of the present paper to give a general description of these changes and thus to bring up to date the description of the plant and process. Summary The major changes in Risdon practice since 1936 have been: 1. Replacement of two stage roasting by a preliminary roast followed by the flotation of all the leach residue and the roasting of the flotation concentrate. 2. Screening of all calcine fed to the pachucas. 3. Continuous leaching of calcine and improved classification of pachuca discharge. 4. Close control of hydrogen ion concentration during purification for iron removal. 5. Recovery of cobalt as a good grade oxide. 6. Production of part of the zinc output in the form of "four nines" metal (99.99 pct purity). 7. Closer spacing of electrodes thus increasing the potential output of cathode zinc per cell by 50 pct. Changes which are in prospect and for which construction work is proceeding at the present time involve the starting up of: 1. Two suspension roasters. 2. A contact acid plant to produce 150 tons‡ of acid per day and replacing the existing Mills Packard chamber plant. 3. Extra power station capacity to permit greater current flow to existing cell room units. This will increase the output of cathode zinc from about 245 to 290 tons per day. Plans for the future envisage the building of an ammonium sulphate plant, the first unit of which will produce about 50,000 tons per year, and improved treatment of zinc plant residue for the recovery of zinc, lead and other metals. At the end of this paper tables of metallurgical data are presented relating to the year ending June 30, 1948. Details of Changed Practice Output In 1936 the production of cathode zinc amounted to about 200 tons per day. This has since been increased to about 245 tons per day while plant extensions are practically complete which will permit of an output of about 290 tons per day in the near future. Roasting Division ROASTING POLICY A major change has occurred in the roasting policy. Twelve years ago the method in use was to carry out a two stage roast in the first stage of which sulphide sulphur was reduced to about 6 pct. The pre-roast calcine was re-roasted in modified Leggo furnaces using coal as fuel, sulphide sulphur being reduced to about 0.8 pct. The whole procedure was described on pp. 482491 of the earlier paper. Although this roasting procedure had certain advantages it possessed some distinct disadvantages. For instance, it appeared uneconomical to heat up the entire input of pre-roast calcine to roasting temperature by the expenditure of fuel in order to oxidise a few percent of sulphide sulphur. It was argued that if the pre-roast calcine were leached and a process could be developed for the recovery of a zinc sulphide concentrate from the leach residue, this concentrate, small in weight compared with the pre-roost calcine, would probably roast autogenously, thus virtually eliminating the expenditure of fuel as well as greatly increasing the weight of sulphur oxidised per square foot of furnace hearth area. The obvious method of producing a suitable concentrate from leach residue was by flotation. It will be recalled (see p. 495 of the earlier paper) that when two-stage roasting was practised the leach residue was classified, the granular fraction was ground and floated while the slime fraction was thickened, filtered and dried ready for shipment to a lead smelter. This process worked quite successfully. However, when trials were made of leaching a calcine carrying several percent of sulphide sulphur the granular fraction still floated well, but the slime fraction carrying 8-10 pct sulphide sulphur yielded very poor results when subjected to flotation. This fact held up the application of "pre-roast" leaching for many years. However, successful flotation of the slime fraction of leach residue was finally achieved and in August 1940 the slime flotation plant began operation, while the leach-

Jan 1, 1950

By C. H. Li, R. J. Stokes, T. L. Johnston

Dislocation half-loops, artificially introduced by sprinkling with carborundum, were subjected to stress using three-point loading. The different stages of loop expansion and multiplication were then correlated with the macroscopic stress-deflection curve. Loop expansion started at approximately one-third of the "yield stress," defined here as the motivation stress. Above one-half of the "yield stress" simple multiplication commenced while about two-thirds of the yield stress gross multiplication developed short slip-line segments. These values were not affected by the age of surfaces exposed to both dry and wet air. Slip was not detected on unsprinkled crystals below two-thirds of the "yield stress." Thus the stress to activate intrinsic sources, defined here as the activation stress, was approximately twice the motivation stress. This relationship was independent of the strain rate used. It is concluded that lattice resistance takes the form of a viscous drag rather than a static type of force. THE importance of surface condition and environment as one of the more significant factors controlling the mechanical properties of ionic solids has recently received renewed attention.1-4 In some materials, notably the alkali halides, exposing freshly cleaved specimens to the atmosphere results in a progressive hardening and embrittlement of the crystals. This has been attributed to the surface layer becoming "aged," thereby restricting the motion of dislocations in such a way that pileup and eventually fracture results. It is necessary therefore in studying the mechanical properties of ionic crystals to inquire first into the density and distribution of dislocations in the normal cleaved surface and to understand the role these dislocations play in the onset of plastic flow. Knowledge of the effect of environment on this behavior will then assist in understanding the mechanism of embrittlement on aging. In the work reported here a method is described for studying the initiation of plastic flow from dislocation sources in the surface of magnesium oxide crystals. Preliminary results are described of the influence of surface age on this behavior. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES The magnesium oxide used in this investigation was obtained from the Norton Co. and had a nominal purity of 99.5.pct. Single-crystal specimens, having dimensions typically 1/4 by 1/8 in. cross section and 1 in. in length, were prepared by cleavage over (100) planes from the parent crystal. They were deformed under three-point loading with 3/4 in. spacing between the two end supports and a constant rate of deflection at the center of 0.001 in. per min. The maximum strain rate therefore was 1.5 X 10-5 sec-1. Reasons for choosing this particular form of loading will become apparent in a later section. In addition, a number of confirmatory type tests have been performed at higher loading rates where the maximum strain rate was increased to 1 x 10-3 sec -1. Following deformation the crystals were etched to reveal the dislocation distribution. In a previous paper5 we described a satisfactory etching solution consisting of 5 parts of saturated ammonium chloride, one part of sulfuric acid, and one part distilled water. Immersion of the crystals for 1/4 hr at room temperature developed reproducible conical etch pits at the points where dislocations emerged through the surface. It should be mentioned that dislocations freshly introduced by room temperature deformation gave sharply pointed etch pits which generally distinguished them from the almost flat-bottomed pits obtained on "grown-in" dislocations. The distinction is obvious in the photomicrograph included in Fig. 5(b). Annealing crystals at 1000°C for 12 hr on the other hand gave sharper etch pits on the grown-in dislocations and the distinction was no lower -possible; a similar observation has been reported for lithium fluoride. We have succeeded furthermore in chemically polishing magnesium-oxide crystals. Boiling in fresh 85 pct ortho-phosphoric acid for only 1 min resulted in a microscopically smooth surface which could again be etched to reexamine the dislocation distribution. This boiling time was sufficient to remove the surface damage introduced by cleavage (see next section). SURFACE DISLOCATION SOURCES There are a number of ways by which dislocations may be introduced into cleaved surfaces to act later

Jan 1, 1960

By A. B. Bowman

The 1963 Jackling Award lecturer describes the founding of Banner Mining Co. and its trials and tribulations before becoming an established firm. Such aspects as geological description of Banner mining areas, history of exploration and production, areas of present interest to the company and research work conducted by the company are included. Several years ago a wealthy Chinese business friend of mine purchased an interest in a proposed oil well to be drilled a great distance from his home. A few months later it came in as a producer and proved to be a huge success and materially added to his resources. I asked him why a man of his wealth should be so lucky in a venture outside his sphere of knowledge when most people of modest means never seemed to get ahead. His answer was, "Fat Hoy takes a chance." Even though this was his answer, I knew from my association with him that there were other tempering considerations which Mr. Hoy applied before making up his mind to enter any transaction. First, he was a cautious individual. He was also a great believer in details and insisted on knowing everything possible about a situation, and finally, he was what we call a very solid individual with good basic instincts and judgment. This philosophy of Mr. Hoy may be applied to most any business but especially to those engaged in a search for natural resources such as mining where great risks are involved. This article concerns events in the history and growth of Banner Mining Co., with which I have been associated for 27 years in capacities from mine surveyor to vice president. Mr. Hoy's philosophy has played a significant role in the exploration projects of this company over the years, but what is more important, the officers, directors, and controlling interests in Banner have been aggressive in their search for ore reserves. THE BIRTH OF BANNER Banner Mining Company was incorporated in September 1935 by a group of Oklahoma and Texas oil men for the purpose of exploring and developing the Bonney-Manilla mines at Lordsburg, N.M. These properties had a history of intermittent production since the first ore discoveries as far back as 1870. Most of the production from the district has come from four mines, namely, the Eighty-Five, the Atwood, the Bonney-Manilla, and the Misers Chest. The last two are now owned by Banner Mining. The Eighty-Five mine operated between 1885 and 1931, and production totalled 1,494,287 tons averaging 0.11 oz of gold per ton, 1.23 oz of silver per ton, and 2.80% copper. The vein extended for a distance of about 3000 ft northeast and was mined to a depth of 1650 ft. The Atwood mine, adjoining the Eighty-Five mine, to date has been of lesser importance as a producer, but it has been operating for several years producing high silica flux ores for a smelter. Production totalled 352,828 tons up to January 1, 1962 From the Bonney-Manilla and Misers Chest mines, owned by Banner, production through 1961 totalled 2,006,343 tons with an average grade as mined of 0.0192 oz of gold per ton, 0.760 oz of silver per ton and 2.63% copper. Banner built a 150-tpd flotation mill in 1936 after almost a year of development on the 600 level of the Bonney mine. After less than one year's operation, it became apparent that the 150-tpd rate was not sufficient to make a reasonable profit due to the marginal grade ores. The low tenor of the ore, mainly chalco-pyrite in a highly siliceous gangue, made mandatory the close control of costs in order to make ends meet. A 300-tpd unit was added to the mill in 1937, and it is still the operating unit today. The clean sulfides presented no problems in milling. A metallurgist doing research on it at the time stated that the copper minerals seemed to have a built-in desire to float. Mill recovery of copper throughout the 27 years of operation has averaged 96.23%. A PERIOD OF FORCED GROWTH World War II brought many hardships to Banner. Labor and supply shortages caused drastic curtailment in development work. Rapidly rising costs far outdistanced any relief from pegged prices which we received from Government agencies. Finally, a branch of the Government asked us to stop all devel-

Jan 1, 1963

By J. F. Olk, E. D. Spaulding, R. E. Thurmond, G. A. Komadina, R. W. Hernlund, J. A. Journeay

THE Pima pit is a 1700x1400-St oval, the long T axis parallel to the strike of the orebody. The north side of the pit is carried as a final pit slope that coincides with the footwall of the orebody. The south side and east and west ends of the pit are working slopes continually being stripped back toward the final slopes. An inclined roadway extending from the natural ground surface on a 5 pct grade down to the north- east corner provides access to the pit. This road enters the pit 130 ft below the natural surface and continues as a pit ramp on a 5 pct grade to the 3150-ft bench (roughly the base of the alluvial cover). At this point the ramp system is steepened to a 12 pct grade and continues to the pit bottom. The 5 pct grade is maintained in the alluvial section to facilitate scraper haulage out of the pit. In addition to this main access ramp, temporary working ramps in the alluvial areas allow shorter routes to dumps. These are left on top of working benches and do not change the overall working slopes. Below the base of the alluvium, haulage is by truck down to the skip loading point or up from the bottom to the skip loading point.

Jan 4, 1958

By John Chipman, Carl F. Floe

The system molten copper-oxygen-sulphur is of interest from both the practical and theoretical standpoints; practically, because oxygen and sulphur play an important role in the commercial production of copper, and theoretically because it offers a chance to study the reaction between an oxide gas, SO2, and a molten metal. Reactions of this type, such as that between CO or CO2 and molten iron, are important in many metallurgical operations. Again, the determination of any gas-metal equilibrium is of theoretical interest and value insofar as it contributes to the general development of the laws for solution of gases in metals. This problem is being given an increasing amount of attention in modern metallurgy. This paper is the first of a series and presents the results of a determination of the solubility of sulphur dioxide in molten copper at temperatures from 1100" to 1500ºC., and pressures from about 20 mm. of mercury to somewhat above atmospheric. Review of Previous Work The solubility of gases in most liquids has been found to obey Henry's law, which states that for a fixed temperature the amount of gas dissolved is directly proportional to the pressure. However this law does not hold for liquid metals. Instead, it appears that for many gases, particularly the simple diatomic ones such as O2, N2 and H2, the amount dissolved in liquid metals is directly proportional to the square root of the pressure. This is known as Sieverts' law. It may be recognized as a special case of Henry's law, which applies when the solute gas is dissociated into atoms or when it reacts with the solvent metal to form solute molecules containing single atoms of the gaseous elements, as, for example: 2M+G2=2MG K=(MG)2 /M2 X PG2 [I] which, if the solubility is not too high and the concentration of metal therefore nearly constant, can be simplified to: MG = K1 vPG2 [2 Following the same reasoning, it would be expected that the solubility of SO2 in copper would be proportional to the cube root of the pressure, the reaction being as follows: 6Cu + SO2 = Cu2S + 2Cu2O [3] K= Cu2S X (Cu2O)2 i - (Cu)6(Pso2) [4] or, neglecting the change in metal concentration and considering that the concentrations of sulphur and oxygen are both proportional to the volume V of gas absorbed: K1 =V3SO2 /Pso2 or

Jan 1, 1941

By Carl F. Floe, John Chipman

The system molten copper-oxygen-sulphur is of interest from both the practical and theoretical standpoints; practically, because oxygen and sulphur play an important role in the commercial production of copper, and theoretically because it offers a chance to study the reaction between an oxide gas, SO2, and a molten metal. Reactions of this type, such as that between CO or CO2 and molten iron, are important in many metallurgical operations. Again, the determination of any gas-metal equilibrium is of theoretical interest and value insofar as it contributes to the general development of the laws for solution of gases in metals. This problem is being given an increasing amount of attention in modern metallurgy. This paper is the first of a series and presents the results of a determination of the solubility of sulphur dioxide in molten copper at temperatures from 1100" to 1500ºC., and pressures from about 20 mm. of mercury to somewhat above atmospheric. Review of Previous Work The solubility of gases in most liquids has been found to obey Henry's law, which states that for a fixed temperature the amount of gas dissolved is directly proportional to the pressure. However this law does not hold for liquid metals. Instead, it appears that for many gases, particularly the simple diatomic ones such as O2, N2 and H2, the amount dissolved in liquid metals is directly proportional to the square root of the pressure. This is known as Sieverts' law. It may be recognized as a special case of Henry's law, which applies when the solute gas is dissociated into atoms or when it reacts with the solvent metal to form solute molecules containing single atoms of the gaseous elements, as, for example: 2M+G2=2MG K=(MG)2 /M2 X PG2 [I] which, if the solubility is not too high and the concentration of metal therefore nearly constant, can be simplified to: MG = K1 vPG2 [2 Following the same reasoning, it would be expected that the solubility of SO2 in copper would be proportional to the cube root of the pressure, the reaction being as follows: 6Cu + SO2 = Cu2S + 2Cu2O [3] K= Cu2S X (Cu2O)2 i - (Cu)6(Pso2) [4] or, neglecting the change in metal concentration and considering that the concentrations of sulphur and oxygen are both proportional to the volume V of gas absorbed: K1 =V3SO2 /Pso2 or

Jan 1, 1941

By E. V. Potter, E. T. Hayes, H. C. Lukens

Large volumes of hydrogen are liberated at the cathode during electrolytic precipitation of manganese. Most of the gas escapes from the electrolyte, but a considerable amount may be entrapped in the manganese plate. Gas has been observed to escape from manganese melts in puffs that bite at the surface. It has been reported that castings made with electrolytic manganese tend to rise in the molds; for this reason the manganese is often treated to remove hydrogen before the melt is made or it is premelted and used as cast manganese in making the alloys. The effect of hydrogen on the properties of manganese and its alloys is not known, but its effect on iron and iron alloys has been studied extensively.l.2 The close relationship between iron and manganese suggests that hydrogen may have a similar effect on the properties of manganese and its alloys. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the amount of hydrogen or other gases in typical commercial electrolytic manganese sheet and to investigate ways of removing it most conveniently. Apparatus The apparatus used is shown schematically in Fig. I. It consists of a chamber A in which the metal sample is placed, a vacuum or pressure gauge B, volume gauge C, vacuum pump D, hydrogen container E, auxiliary gas chamber F, and furnace G. The specimen chamber was made of two concentric quartz tubes. The outer one, a, connects with the closed gas system and is surrounded by the furnace G. A second tube, b, fits closely inside a and has a small end that projects into the space for the specimen and holds the thermocouple for measuring the temperature of the sample. The inner tube is joined to the outer tube outside the furnace, with rubber tape and sealing wax, to prevent gas leakage into or out of the closed system. This type of specimen container is loaded very easily and can be used several times if molten metal does not come in contact with the quartz. An ordinary mercury manometer B is used to measure the pressure in the system. The volume gauge C is essentially another mercury manometer, but the volume of the column is much larger than normal and the height of the mercury can be varied by raising or lowering the well H. In this apparatus the tube had a volume of IOO C.C. for a 60-cm. length. For larger changes in gas volumes, auxiliary containers F were used to increase the volume of the system by known amounts. Valves were arranged so that these auxiliary containers could be filled from the system and evacuated by the pump as often as necessary to accommodate the increases in the volume of gas in the system. The furnace G, used to heat the samples, was equipped with an automatic temperature controller, which maintained the desired temperatures within ± 5°C.

Jan 1, 1945

By D. R. Hay, E. Scala

Electrotransport has been superimposed on the rate-limiling- step in zone refining which is the impurity diffusion through the liquid at the solid/liquid interface. The efficiency of zone refining is increased and relative resistivity ratios (P300°k/P4 2°K) he increased by 50 pel in tungsten for a given number of posses using- the electrotransport field-aided method. The effiect of zotze refining in the presence of an electric field on the relative resistivity ratio is examined as a function of its intensity and polarity. THE effect of electrodiffusion on the effective distribution coefficient of zone refining has been discussed by Pfann and Wagner.' Control of the distribution coefficient in zone refining is of twofold interest. A distribution coefficient of unity can be increased or decreased, making possible the transfer of some previously inseparable solutes. The general efficiency of zone refining can also be increased. In the conventional zone-refining process impurities are removed by their retention in the molten zone and subsequent deposition at the end of the rod after a complete passage of the zone. In higher-melting-point systems a second mechanism may also operate, the volatilization of impurities from the molten zone. It has been suggested by schadler2 that, in refractory metals, vacuum distillation plays the predominant role in purification. In Koo's results,3 the resistivity ratio decreased beyond a zone-refined length of 6 in. from the starting end, indicating that some purification does in fact occur by true zone-refining action. Hay and scala4 showed that the degree of purity as measured by the relative resistivity ratio method depends on the square root of time in the molten zone (number of passes) and thus appears to be limited by diffusion in the boundary layer at the solidifying interface assuming good mixing in the body of the molten zone where a linear rate would prevail. The final concentration of impurities in electron-beam floating-zone purification depends very much on the operating conditions and results obtained by various investigators2,3,5 are difficult to correlate. The diameter of the starting material, operating vacuum, and rate of traverse are among the factors to be considered. There are, nevertheless, some general observations to be obtained from the literature. Lawley5 reviewed the literature up to 1962 and concluded that the major contaminants generally remaining in tungsten after electron-beam zone refining are molybdenum and carbon. Molybdenum due to its high melting point and distribution coefficient of nearly unity would be expected to be difficult to remove by either volatilization or zone refining. Carbon is not only a common contaminant in vacuum systems, but is also very difficult to remove by conventional vacuum melting. even with vacuums of 10-7 mm Hg. For each of those impurities removed by zone refining the equation of Pfann and Wagner may be applied: It relates the effective distribution coefficient k to a superimposed driving force which accelerates the solute away from the interface with a terminal velocity L" and to the more conventional zone-refining parameters; v = rate of traverse, t = thickness of the diffusion layer at the solidifying interface, D = diffusivity of the solute in the molten zone, and ko = equilibrium distribution coefficient of the impurity.

Jan 1, 1965

THE discussion of this topic at the Open-hearth Conference at Detroit on Nov. 3, 1927, was opened by statements of the general principles involved, made by manufacturers of molds. Because of their general interest they are printed below. WILLIAM HAIL RAMAGE,* Hubbard, Ohio.-I did not come prepared to read a paper, thinking. the most I would be called upon to do would be to make a few, remarks by way of discussion. A number of our friends have pre-viously asked questions. similar to this which really does not permit a direct "yes" or "no" answer. If I may he pardoned for so doing, I believe it advisable to discuss rather what we consider the principal factors which in-fluence mold life. I think possibly a little undue weight has been given to the subject of the analysis of the metal. For the last eight years we have spent a lot of time, effort, and money investigating this very problem from a chemical, physical and microscopic standpoint. We have had the benefit of complete records and history of over 100,000 molds in service at a variety of plants and over long periods of time. Obviously, I cannot be so specific that I should divulge information that is really a trade secret. In our opinion the principal factors influencing mold life are: (1) design of the mold; (2) process of manu-facture, including workmanship; (3) care in the steel plant or what might be termed "the use or abuse" in the steel plant; (4) the analysis of the iron and the physical con-dition of it. Under normal conditions these factors are of importance in the order named, although in specific cases they might be rearranged in any order you choose. For instance, the best mold made can be destroyed in one or two pours by subjecting it to certain conditions which are occasion-ally met in steel plant practice. Obviously, in that case, nothing else matters but that one item. On the other hand, I have seen molds made of such a terrible design that it was a foregone conclusion it would have to be broken after the second pour of the ingot to get it out. In that case, nothing but design mattered. As to the effect of process of manufacture, let me cite a case. Some years ago there were two batches of molds sent to a certain company. They were the same sized molds, used under the same conditions and in the same kind of service. There were, 20 molds in each batch. The second batch sent gave ten times the life of the first batch. It is true that the design was changed a little, but not very much, and it was not. a bad mold to begin with. It is possible that the iron may have been better in the second consignment but not very much. In my opinion, it is con-servative to say that of the 900 per cent improvement in life, 5 per cent was probably due to better iron, 25 per cent to better design and the remaining 870 per cent to process of manufacture and workmanship.

Jan 2, 1928

By H. I. Aaronson

ONLY limited studies have been made of pro-eutectoid a morphology in hypoeutectoid Ti-Cr alloys during previous investigations, 1-3 The nature of the eutectoid reaction, ß?a + TiCr2, has been considered in somewhat more detail.1,2,4,4 Inasmuch as the proeutectoid ferrite reaction in plain carbon steels has recently been extensively investigated in this laboratory, advantage has been taken of the opportunity to compare the morphologies developed in two rather different eutectoid systems in order to permit a preliminary estimate to be made of the degree of generality which may be ascribed to the various results obtained. Experimental Procedure The chemical analyses of the alloys used are given in Table I. The 7.22 pct Cr alloy was prepared by the Battelle Memorial Institute from iodide titanium and high purity chromium. The initial ingot was made by arc melting a master alloy and iodide titanium. The resultant ingot was twice remelted. by the consumable electrode technique. Upset forging at 950°C reduced the final ingot to 3/4 in. sq bars. The 10.94 pct Cr alloy was prepared by the Titanium Metals Corp. of America from sponge titanium and chromium of ordinary purity. This alloy was melted twice by the consumable electrode technique, forged at 1200° to a 3/4 in. sq bar, and rolled at 815°C to a 1/2 in. round. Specimens 1/4 in. x 1/4 in. x 1/16 in. were cut from the 7.22 pct Cr alloy; halves of disks 1/2 in. in dlam and 1/16 in. thick served as specimens of the 10.94 pct Cr alloy. These specimens were individually encapsulated in Vycor, Each capsule was evacuated three times to a pressure of 2 to 6 x lo-' mm Hg and flushed twice with a reduced pressure of argon prior to sealing. The inclusion of two small packets of zirconium chips permitted the capsules to be outgassed and internally gettered, without heating the specimen, prior to heat treatment. The specimens were solution annealed for 40 min at 1000°C, isothermally reacted in deoxidized lead pots, and quenched in iced water. Most of the isothermal reaction treatments were carried out at 25" intervals between 725° and 550°C on specimens of the 7.22 pct Cr alloy and at 650°C on specimens of the 10.94 pct Cr alloy. Results and Discussion Morphologies of Proeutectoid a*—Kinetics of the ß?a Reaction: Fig. 1 shows the TTT-curves for the beginning of the proeutectoid a and the eutectoid reactions in the temperature range investigated in the 7.22 pct Cr alloy. The M, temperature in this alloy is below 0°C. The curve for the beginning of the proeutectoid a reaction is in good agreement with that of Frost, Parris, Hirsch, Doig, and Schwartz' for a 7.54 pct Cr alloy, appears at considerably earlier reaction times than the corresponding curve presented by Rostoker4 for a 7 pct Cr alloy, and lies athwart the curve of Spachner and co-workers11 for an 8 pct Cr alloy. Differences in criteria for the beginning of the a reaction and the relatively high rate of this reaction at lower temperatures presumably account for some of these divergences and may also explain, in part, the apparent failure of an iodide-base 7.22 pct Cr alloy to react more slowly than sponge-base 7 to 8 pct Cr alloys. Grain Boundary Allotriomorphs: Crystals of this morphology nucleate at and grow preferentially and more or less smoothly along the matrix grain boundaries.5-7 Allotriomorphs are the first morphology to precipitate at most grain boundaries at reaction temperatures from 725°C, the highest temperature studied, at least through 575°C. Fig. 2 Shows typical allotriomorphs, formed during an early stage of transformation at 725°C. Grain boundary allotriomorphs are not the predc=iaant morphology at late reaction times at any temperature studied. However; from 725" through

Jan 1, 1958

By Robert Keeney

Before the outbreak of the war in 1914, the only electric-furnace smelting plant operating on a commercial basis west of the Mississippi River was an electric pig-iron plant in California; rare metal ores were not smelted, concentrates of molybdenum, tungsten, uranium, and vanadium ores being shipped east for reduction. Practically no- chrome ore was being mined, and only comparatively small amounts of manganese ore. Today there are two electric smelting plants in California, one in Washington, one in Iowa, and four in Colorado; two plants are under construction in California, and one in Montana. Ores of manganese, chromium, molybdenum and tungsten are now smelted in the West, and although uranium and vanadium concentrates are still shipped to the East, they will probably be treated in western plants in a short time. The four electric-furnace plants in Colorado are listed in Table 1. TABLE 1.-Electric Smelting Plants in Colorado Capacity, Company, Location Kilowatts Products . Tungsten Products Co Boulder 800 Ferrotungsten, ferromolybdentun. Boulder Tungsten Production Co. . Boulder 400 Ferrotungsten. Ferro Alloy Co Utah Junction 1200 Ferrochrome, ferrotung-sten. Iron Mountain Alloy Co Utah Junction 3000 Ferromanganese. Power for all of these plants is supplied by the Colorado Power Co.

Jan 8, 1918

By H. W. Paxton, C. C. Busby

IT has been shown previously' that strain aging can markedly improve the tensile properties of low carbon martensites, especially the yield-tensile ratio, without seriously affecting the ductility. In view of interest in high strength steels, an investigation has been made of the effect of strain aging following tension or rolling on the tensile properties of A1S1 4340 in an attempt to obtain a tensile

Jan 1, 1957