Search Documents

By Colin Fink

THE important developments within the past few years in electrochemistry, in particular in the electric furnace art, in electrometallurgy and in the methods of combatting corrosion are to be the subjects of my discussion. Fig.1 shows the rise of the electric steel furnace industry in this country and Canada. Many prophesied that the electric furnace was largely a war baby and that the sudden rise in the industry, due to the outbreak of the great war, would be fol-lowed by an equally sudden drop after the armistice. However, the curve shows that this, prophecy was not correct; the number of furnaces in operation in this country and Canada has continued to increase steadily, so that at the end of 1925 there were over 525 electric steel furnaces in successful operation. What does this mean? It has a big significance, namely that the en-tire steel industry has been revolutionized, to a certain extent, that we have been able to introduce certain alloys and steel products that we were unable to pro-duce before. On the table is. a sample of metallic chro-mium, analyzing more than 98 per cent chromium, made in the electric furnace. Before the war, the only commercial method of producing chromium was that by the Goldschmidt process. If chromium oxide is mixed with granulated aluminum, a violent reaction occurs, resulting in the production of metallic chro-mium. However, the price of chromium so made will always be above that of the raw material, which at the present time is about 27 cents a pound.. Furthermore, the chromium metal could only be turned out in small quantities, whereas in the electric furnace, large quan-tities, ton masses, can be produced today. The advent of chromium produced in the electric furnace has brought about an entire new phase in the alloy indus-try. The fuel-fired furnaces can turn out a low-carbon chromium steel that runs about 3 per cent chromium, whereas in the electric furnace, 60 per cent ferro-chromium is daily produced in large masses with almost entire elimination of carbon. It is difficult indeed to turn out ferrochrome very low in carbon. New steels are being produced today, for example the steel with which everyone has become familiar within the 'last few years, "stainless steel,". and which would have been impossible without the low-carbon ferrochrome. The elimination of most of the carbon made it possible to roll the chromium steels into thin sheets and manu-facture them into knife blades.

Jan 2, 1927

By Andrew W. Jenike

STORAGE AND FLOW Introduction The layout and design of a bin or stockpile for bulk solids should assure reliable feed at the required time and rate without spillage and, when required, without segregation and degradation. The typical procedure in the design for gravity flow follows these steps: 1. The bulk solids to be stored are identified and the range of moisture content, temperature, feed rate and time of storage at rest, as well as the storage capacity, are specified. The materials of construction of the hopper, that is of the converging part of the bin, are decided upon. Hopper liners and coatings to reduce wall friction are considered. 2. The flow properties of the bulk solids and the friction angles against the wall materials are measured for the expected range of conditions. 3. The width of a slot outlet needed for reliable flow of each solid under the full range of conditions is determined from the tests. This dimension is an explicit measure of flowability of a solid. The widest slot determines the critical solid and the critical conditions. 4. A suitable feeder of size sufficient for the widest slot outlet is selected. 5. On the basis of the measured wall friction angles, a suitable wall material is selected and a mass flow hopper is designed to ensure reliable and uniform flow of solid into the feeder and to minimize the load on the feeder. The mass flow hopper may extend upward to the intersection with the cylinder thus producing a mass flow bin. Alternatively, the hopper may terminate at a height equal to a few widths of the outlet and then expand at a less steep slope in its upper part in order to save headroom, or it may terminate in the flat bottom of a bin or stockpile. The choice depends on the flow properties of the solids and the size of the bin or stockpile. 6. The design of the bin is completed for the specified storage capacity. Multiple hoppers and

Jan 1, 1982

By E. R. Phelps

A determination of feasibility of a new surface mining project requires a study in orderly fashion through the procedures outlined in Section 2 and the previous two chapters of this section. The information and data collected as described in Chapters 3.1 and 3.2 must be correlated, and the many variables that affect the venture must be reviewed. This review will furnish the mining engineer with the information required to make a preliminary evaluation of estimated profit in the venture. It is at this time that management must make yet another decision whether to drop or continue the project. 3.3-1. Maps. For the purpose of collecting, outlining, and correlating a large portion of the data required for a surface mining feasibility study, maps are essential. A map to a mining engineer is like a sheet of music to a musician, or a blueprint to a designer. It provides a pictorial method of presenting mining information not only for practical application in estimating and planning, but also for demonstration of physical relationships to those charged with decision-making responsibilities. GENERAL AREA MAP. The first step in the process of graphic information assembly is the preparation of a "small scale" general area map. Such a map may cover a mining district, a market area, a watershed area or district, or the whole or a section of a geologic feature such as an iron formation or coal seam. An example of such a general area map is shown in Fig. 3.3-la which outlines the various coal mining areas in the vicinity of a proposed "mine-mouth" power station, the Liddell Power Station Project. If Quadrangle Maps of the United States Geological Survey, or their equivalent, are available for an area, a common and very effective technique is to superimpose mining data on these maps, either directly or by means of transparent overlays. Valuable topographic information

Jan 1, 1968

By L. M. Pidgeon

The reactive metals are above manganese on the electromotive series. Their compounds are characterized by large heats of formation and they cannot be reduced from their ores by classical methods. Three general production methods have been used: a) Fused salt electrolysis, b) reduction of a halide by another metal, and c) reduction of the oxide by another metal. Method (a) is highly developed, as in the case of aluminum, (b) in the case of titanium, and (c) has been successful in the case of volatile metals such as magnesium and calcium. It is suggested that future improvements will take place in (a), and particularly in (c), but are rather less likely in the case of (b). THIS year of 1963 is the centennial of the birth of both Charles Hall and of Heroult, the founders of the aluminum industry. Aluminum is the one reactive metal which has reached massive stature in modern industry and perhaps the only such metal to have been produced in any quantity before the turn of the century. It has been joined by others, some on a very modest scale, but all of importance and all of fascinating interest. When invited to give the Fifth Extractive Metallurgy lecture, it seemed appropriate to look back upon the short history of this group to trace the developments which brought extraction methods to their present state and, at great risk, offer opinions as to future trends.

Jan 1, 1963

By Philip McKenna

WHEN a new material becomes available to industry, it is useful to describe its properties as a guide to its most effective application; and when the new material may be produced in compositions having a series of graded properties, tests to select the combination of properties best adapted for various uses are helpful. The class of materials to be con-sidered in this paper are hard tool materials produced by processes of powder metallurgy from hard carbide constituents and various matrices of iron, nickel or cobalt, or alloys of them with tungsten, or tungsten and carbon. The customary use of carbide hard alloys is for metal-cutting tools; although wire-drawing dies, lathe centers, follow rests, grinding rests, burnishers, rolls, extrusion dies, measuring gauges and micrometers, and a number of other tools are also made with these hard alloys as the essen-tial wear-resisting parts. The properties and tests to be considered are those affecting these uses. In the development of tool, materials since the industrial revolution we have had carbon tool steels, Mushet steel, high-speed steels, stellites, and now cemented carbide compositions. For an understanding of the latter category of materials their properties and uses relative to the older and more familiar tool materials will be considered.

Jan 1, 1938

EDUCATION for the mineral industry was at first a single comprehensive curriculum, but it was early recognized that the main basis of mining is physics, while that of metallurgy is chemistry. The first school to offer curricula leading to degrees in mineral industry education in the United States (1853) had separate ones in mining and metallurgy. The Columbia School of Mines (the fist really successful one) had only a single curriculum when it opened in 1864, but within a few years had so reorganized its work that it offered curricula in mining, metallurgy, geology, chemistry, and civil engineering. Interest in the metallurgy or geology curricula was slight at fist, and for the next 30 years the great majority of Columbia students took the mining curriculum, probably partly because it contained nearly as much geology as the geology curriculum, practically all the metallurgy, and most of the chemistry, and partly because of the degree awarded for it. Other schools kept their mining curricula equally broad, and as late as 1900-1910 men were graduating as mining engineers who were practically as well prepared to make geology or metallurgy their life work as they were for mining. Gradually, however, the subject matter of mining geology and metallurgy became so enriched through research and development that separate curricula in them became worth while; their progressive development is the subject of another chapter. Mining curricula also began to be somewhat diversified, and schools in areas where coal mining was of outstanding importance began to offer options in coal mining, the earlier curricula having been chiefly aimed at metal mining. The petroleum industry began its meteoric rise about the same time as mineral instruction in this country, but little more of applied science attended its birth than had attended such ancient practical arts as copper and iron

Jan 1, 1941

HAVING promised you to write concerning the nature of ores in particular, I must tell you some general facts, especially those concerning the places, kinds, and manner of their existence as well as the tools which are used. However, you must know that according to good investigators these ores are found in many parts of the world. They show themselves almost like the veins of blood in the bodies of animals, or the branches of trees spread out in different directions. Indeed, careful investigators of minerals, wishing to show by analogy how ores are located in mountains, have drawn a large tree with many branches, planted in the middle of the base of a mountain. From its principal trunk extend various branches, some thick, some slender, exactly like real trees in mature forests. They think that these grow and enlarge continually and draw themselves toward the sky, ever converting into their own nature the most disposed adjacent materials so that finally the tips arrive at the summit of the mountain and emerge with clear sign, sending forth, in place of leaves and blossoms, blue or green fumosities,* marcasites with small veins of heavy mineral, or other composition of tinctures. From these things, when they are found, it is possible to make certain inference that such a mountain contains ores, and as the signs are more or less, so are the minerals plentiful and rich or poor. For this reason the prospectors for these things take heart according to the manifestations that they find, and with hope and certainty of profit they take all possible pains to mine with skill and expense those things that the signs have indicated. Often there are ores of such a kind and quality that they raise a man in wealth to the skies. For this reason men penetrate with eyes of appraisal and judgment within the mountains and see almost exactly the places where there is ore and the

Jan 1, 1942

By William M. Brewer

History.—The history of gold-mining in Georgia and Alabama antedates the discovery of gold in California. A very large proportion of the gold used in the United States previous to 1849 was produced by these States. A great deal of this history is merely tradition, and no reliable statistics can be obtained ; yet a personal examination of the gold-fields of Georgia and Alabama indicates that tradition is as fairly reliable, with regard to the history of these gold-regions, as it is in any similar cases throughout the world. In Georgia, the history of gold-mining dates back to 1829, when the first gold-mining excitement in the United States occurred. In Alabama, the discovery of gold was made some years later through the work of prospectors, incited by the rich finds in the Georgia mining camps. The greatest product of gold in these States was between the years 1840 and 1849. In Lumpkin county, Ga., and Cleburne county, Ala., the districts from which the most of this gold was taken, the tailing-dumps are silent witnesses of the extensive operations which were carried on by the primitive and crude methods then known. It is no rare thing to see trees 12 to 15 inches in diameter, and even

Jan 1, 1896

By T. B. Brooks

THE iron ores of the Marquette region are mostly extracted in open excavations; hence the process is more properly quarrying. Several attempts at underground work have been made, which have not, on the whole, been successful. The Edwards mine has been almost entirely wrought by candle-light. The slate ore pit, NO. 1, of the New England mine, is now worked in the same way, as is also the Pioneer furnace pit of the Jackson mine. The Champion mine was opened systematically for underground work, with two levels, 60 feet apart, and three shafts at distances apart along the bed of 200 feet; but this idea has been practically abandoned, the greater part of the ore in that mine being now taken out in open pits. Several other mines have occasionally worked underground stopes, but only temporarily; if such stopes could not be opened out to daylight, they have usually been abandoned. In brief, it may be said that no considerable amount of ore has as yet (1870) .been extracted underground in the region, and of that so mined very little has been taken out at a profit; and I may add that it seems to be the belief of the most experienced mining men that this state of things will hold for some time to come for reasons which will appear. Nearly the same remarks may be applied to the mines of the Iron Mountain region, Missouri, the ores of which are very similar in character to those of Marquette. Some of the New York and New Jersey magnetic deposits are wrought open, but this is the exception, underground mining there being the rule. The following brief sketch of the geological structure of the Marquette deposits will indicate some advantages of the method of mining employed. The iron-bearing (Huronian) series of rocks, are stratified beds, the principal ore formation being overlaid by a quartzite, and underlaid by a diorite, or greenstone. This ore formation is made up, first, of pure ore; second, of "mixed ore" (i. e., banded

By L. E. Welch, C. W. MacGregor

THE past 20 years has seen a revolutionary change in the testing of materials at elevated temperatures. This has largely been brought about by the practical importance of the creep problem in the design of equipment for operation at high temperatures. The short-time tension test carried out at elevated temperatures has consequently assumed in many cases only a secondary role compared to the long-time creep test. In many problems, however, a knowledge of the short-time high-temperature properties of a metal is essential. To mention a few cases in which this is so, we might include all hot-forming operations such as rolling, forging, etc., the welding problem if residual stresses are to be computed, the development of new alloys for high-temperature service where, in the initial stages, time does not permit of long duration creep tests, and others. Usually a knowledge of the short-time properties is desired, if only to serve as a background against which to compare creep behavior. In conducting short-time high-temperature tests, it has been almost the universal practice to determine stresses based on the original area and strains referred to the original gauge length which is usually chosen as 2 in. It has been pointed out 1,2 that one of the reasons that the true significance of certain tensile properties is not understood, which perhaps curtails their usefulness, especially when the material is applied [ ] under conditions differing considerably from the test conditions, is that true physical stresses and strains are not determined. It is essential to have a knowledge of true stresses and strains in order to correlate the values present in the tension test with those existing, for example, in hot metal-forming operations and in the general problem of the yielding and failure of metals under combined stress conditions. Stress and strain values based on the original dimensions of the test piece do not exist physically except in the early stages of the test. Since at the present time there is very little information in the literature on true stress-strain relations in the short-time high-temperature tension test it is proposed in the following pages to describe a

Jan 1, 1942

By Thomas Clagett

THE Pocahontas coal field comprises the area in Tazewell County, Va., and Mercer and McDowell Counties, W. Va., in which Nos. 3 and 4 Pocahontas seams of bituminous coal are mined. It is a mountainous region with ridges rising 300 to 1000 ft. (91 to 305m.) above the very narrow valleys and, except for some poorly kept farms along the tops of the ridges and the area occupied by the mining and coking plants and villages, is wooded throughout. First shipments were made from Pocahontas in 1883. There are now, about 100 mines, 95 per cent. of which are drift mines. At the end of 1920, approximately 298,000,000 gross tons of coal had been produced and 35,000 acres of coal mined. No. 3 seam is from 4 to 10 ft. (1.2 to 3 m.) thick, but the change is gradual and the thickness fairly uniform in any particular locality. It has a streak of bone, about 2 in. (5 cm.) thick, io which the coal adheres on both sides. In parts of the field this bone is replaced by hard slate, usually from 2 to 4 in. thick. The seam has a slate or fireclay bottom and a draw-slate top. No. 4 seam is from 65 to 80 ft. (19.8 to 24 m.) above No. 3 seam, and of minable section only in the western part of the field. It is from 3 to 8 ft. thick and has two streaks off bone, each from 1 to 2 in. thick. It has a fireclay or slate bottom and is overlaid by from 4 to 24 in. of a laminated coal and slate, locally termed "black rash," which is separated from the coal seam by about 3 in. of slate. This "black rash" averages about 25 per cent. ash, but contains some clean coal. The coal in both seams is quite soft. Cleavage sufficiently well defined to exert an influence on the mining is rare. Overlying strata are slates, shales, and sandstones, the sandstones predominating, extending from .30 to 1000 ft. above No. 3 seam. The strata directly above the. draw slate of No. 3 seam, or "black rash" of No., 4 seam, and up to the first sandstone are usually slates or shales, about 10 ft. thick over the

Jan 5, 1922

By Stephen Taber

INTRODUCTION THE term asbestos, as commonly used, includes half a dozen minerals all having a well-developed fibrous structure, but differing in chemical composition and in some of their physical, properties. In its strict application the name is limited to the fibrous varieties of the monoclinic amphiboles. Commercially, however, the most important of the asbestiform minerals is chrysotile, a fibrous variety of serpentine. About 95 per cent. of the asbestos used in manufacturing is chrysotile, and it commands a much higher price than any of the other fibrous minerals now on the market. Although the production of asbestos has increased rapidly in recent years, comparatively little has been published concerning its origin. The present paper is preliminary in its nature, and therefore does not pretend to exhaust the subject. The ideas herein developed are the result of field investigation, laboratory experiments in the growth of fibrous

Jan 10, 1916

By A. J. Kesterton

MORE than 90 pct of the total tonnage of ingots made at Abbey Melting Shop is for steel sheet to specifications ranging between 0.055 and 0.07 pct maximum carbon. Since the rate of carbon elimination in the open hearth declines considerably as the carbon approaches these low levels, the use of oxygen for this purpose constituted a profitable field for development, particularly to increase ingot output. Development Several experiments were carried out initially in which water-cooled guns, originally of all-steel construction and later with fabricated copper heads, were introduced manually through a hole in the back wall of one of the 225 net ton furnaces, the oxygen being delivered about 4 to 6 in. above the slag. Successful blows were obtained, but manipulation of the gun was cumbersome. Application through the charging doors by means of bare steel lances was considered but rejected, because much of the scrap was light, necessitating a large number of buggies per charge, and consequent long occupation of the track in front of the furnaces by buggies. To construct an efficient mechanism it was decided to experiment with the introduction of the gun through a hole in the roof. This was eventually successfully achieved, with the following advantages. 1) The actual mechanism required is simplified, and can easily be remotely controlled. 2) No large steel framework projects out over the back platform, possibly interfering with tapping, and there is no danger of damage by casting cranes. 3) The railway track in front of the furnaces is left entirely clear for the passage of scrap buggies, eliminating interference with adjacent furnaces charging. 4) As compared with the use of bare steel lances, a water-cooled jet eliminates the manpower required to handle, control and change the bare pipes. 5) A jet through the roof can be situated over the center of the bath so that, whatever the direc-

Jan 1, 1958

By E. N. Aqua, C. M. Owens

The microstructure in cold-rolled Zircaloy-4 sheet has been characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction line-broadening techniques. The rate of work hardening is measured in terms of microstrains, particle sizes, micro hardness, the tensile yield strength. The tensile yield strength of Prestrained (less than 10 pet) Zircaloy-4 sheet is found to be a linear function of the square root of the dislocation density, us predicted by work-hardening theories. ZIRCALOY is one of the most important structural alloys for nuclear reactor applications.''2 In order to understand the effects of the nuclear environment on Zircaloy structural members, the preirradiation microstructure must be characterized. This report will describe the substructure existing in cold-rolled Zircaloy-4 sheet as observed by electron microscopy and by X-ray diffractometry. I) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Commercial Zircaloy-4 strip was cold-rolled and annealed in argon at 760°C for 1 hr. The annealed sheet was again cold-rolled to a maximum of 50 pct reduction in thickness with segments of the strip being retained after 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 pct reductions. One-inch-square portions were chemically polished (50 parts HNO3, 50 parts H2O, 10 parts HF) and mounted onto lucite blocks using double-sided tape to prevent bending during handling. Thin foils suitable for transmission electron microscopy were prepared from each of the sheet samples. The sheets were mechanically polished through 600-grit paper to a 3 to 4 mil thickness and were chemically polished by immersion for 1 to 2 min in a solution containing: 50 parts HNO3, 50 parts H2O, and 10 parts HF, and rinsed in distilled water. The final metallographic procedure was to electropolish for less than 10 sec with an electrolyte of 10 parts perchloric acid and 90 parts glacial acetic acid, at 20 v, at room temperature using stainless-steel point cathodes and a vigorous stirring action. These foils were examined in a Philips EM 200 electron microscope using a 100-kv accelerating voltage.

Jan 1, 1968

By J. L. Gillson

IN a brief summary of the many occurrences of fluorspar in our western states, it is not possible to go into detail in regard to the geology, mining and milling methods, and reserves about individual deposits. Rather a broad review is made of the occurrences and an analysis of how the western deposits may fit into our future domestic economy is presented. GENERAL STATEMENT ON FLUORSPAR SITUATION Fluorspar has been used for years as a flux in the manufacture of basic open-hearth steel, in foundry cupolas for melting pig iron, in the manufacture of opalescent glass and in the preparation of hydrofluoric acid. In 1880 the annual production of fluorspar in the United States was around 4000 tons per year. By 1900 it was up to 21,656 tons and between 1902 and 1908 it averaged about 40,000 tons annually. Prices were then so low, by present standards, that it seems impossible to believe now that mining could have been performed profitably at the price levels then prevailing. In 1890 fluorspar sold at the mines for $6.70 per ton, in I901 for $5.81, in 1916 for $5.92. When the United States entered World War I, fluorspar production and price skyrocketed; the production reached 263,817 tons in 1918, with prices above $20.00 per ton, and prices were even higher in 1919 and 1920. After 1920, the domestic production fell from the 1918 level to about 125,000 tons annually and the average price dropped back to about $I8.00 per ton. By 1935 the average price had fallen to $15.00, but in 194o with a rising demand the average price of all grades had gone back up to $20.31. Today it is 75 per cent higher than in 1940 and presumably the price of acid grade at least would be even higher if it were not for price ceilings. The first subsequent year that the domestic production exceeded that of 1918 was 1941, and the 1944 production is expected to exceed 400,000 tons, 'or over one and a half times that of 1918. In five-year periods, average production and imports were as are shown in Table I. [ ] Many people concerned with the consumption of fluorspar believe that the postwar period ahead will show a repetition of price trends of the last such period. They believe that imports will be- again an important factor in the available supply and the price will fall back gradually toward the prewar level. The following basic factors are pertinent in analyzing this conclusion:

Jan 1, 1945

By Archer Wheeler

THE copper industry in the Province of Katanga, in the Belgian Congo, which is now controlled and operated by the Union Minere du Haut Katanga, had its inception many years ago in the vision of a Scotsman, Robert Williams, now Sir Robert Williams, Baronet. He it was who personally negotiated the mineral concession with King Leopold of Belgium, sent in the prospecting parties who located most of the present mines of the company, later arranged for the Belgian participation from which the present company was formed, and has been its active mentor ever since. The idea back of his efforts was the establishment of an industry on the Congo-Zambezi divide, of sufficient importance to draw up to it the head of the Cape to Cairo Railroad, the dream of Sir Cecil Rhodes, and the consummation of which he had left as a legacy to Mr. Williams, his successor. The reports of the prospecting expeditions showed that copper in profitable quantity was there, but many difficulties lay in the way of the establishment of the infant industry. The isolated location of the mines, various tribal wars, the Boer War, and many other factors contributed to making progress very slow. However, in spite of these difficulties the railroad was finally built and a blast-furnace plant erected at Lubumbashi, near Elisabethville, the capital of the Province. Operations of this plant were started in 1911, treating high-grade oxidized ores and producing pig copper by a reducing smelting. Production has been continuous since that time and the company has grown so that at present it ranks as the largest individual copper producer in the industry. It is a fitting monument to the foresight, optimism and driving force of its founder, and the progressive policies of his Belgian colleagues. In January, 1914, the Union Miniere du Haut Katanga engaged as its consulting engineer, Archer E. Wheeler, metallurgical engineer, at that time general superintendent of the Great Falls plant of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Mr. Wheeler was commissioned by the Board of Directors to proceed into Katanga, and make all necessary investigations to enable him to report on a comprehensive development program, and to recommend a scheme of treatment particularly for their low grade

Jan 1, 1932

By Kenneth B. Ray, George R. Gardner

The application of wet cleaning processes for the beneficiation of bituminous coal has created in some localities a problem in the recovery and disposal of fine solids in the washery water. The maximum allowable concentration of these solids in the washery circuit that is consistent with satisfactory operation of the cleaning units remains a controversial point. It has, however, been generally recognized for a number of years that some degree of control should be exerted over the concentration of such material. Early methods of control involved intermittent or continuous discharge of a portion of the plant slurry into near-by streams or settling ponds, and this persisted even after the adoption of settling tanks or cones. The practice is not always economical, for two reasons: first, because of the waste of coal, and, second, because it is sometimes difficult and expensive to obtain an adequate supply of water. The latter condition often is aggravated by chemical treatment of the make-up water that is necessary to prevent excessive corrosion of plant equipment. The modern approach to this problem has been the adoption of continuous thickening devices. However, because such equipment occupies considerable plant space and is somewhat expensive to construct, the practice of loading these thickeners beyond their rated capacity is widespread, therefore often the performance of such units is not altogether satisfactory. In recent years, European washeries have increased the rate of settling of the fine coal from the slurry by the addition of specially prepared starch solutions. These reagents cause flocculation of the solid particles and thereby increase the rate of sedimentation. The first important work on the flocculation and clarification of coal slurry was done by Henry, who developed the Henry process and used it successfully in Belgian preparation plants. Soon after the initiation in Belgium, the process was introduced into England, where subsequent, investigation developed similar processes, which were successfully used in

Jan 1, 1939

By Leland Russell van Wert

In 1888, Howard,1' working at the Watertown Arsenal on the tensile properties of ferrous materials at various temperatures, noted the curious fact that the stress-strain diagrams of low-carbon steels tested within a certain temperature range (200" to 350" C.) departed more or less from the normal regularity of such diagrams as secured by testing at either above or below these temperatures. This same jagged appearance of similar diagrams for steels has been observed by at least one other investigator, and de Forest2 has reported similar irregularities in the tensile testing of some nonferrous alloys. Recently again, this anomaly in diagram contour has been shown in a most striking fashion, apparently because of its accentuation by the method of testing employed, by Dr. Albert Sauveur.~ He described (for nonaustenitie steels) two quite distinct types of torsional stress-time diagrams: (1) those with a regular and smooth outline, derived normally by testing at temperatures above 300" C., or below 200" C. (as, for example, Figs. 4a or e); and (2) those presenting a decided "stepped" appearance, which are invariably produced when twisting is done within the 200" to 300" C. range (examples, Figs. 5a and b). The torsion test brings out so much more sharply (and convincingly) the irregularities occurring at 200' and 300" C. than does the tensile test that they can no longer be considered as resulting from simply idiosyncratic or accidental and inconsequential causes. Clearly, from the temperatures involved, the "stepped" type of diagram, or more accurately, the peculiar manner of response to torsional stress which manifests itself in the diagram, is an aspect of the "blue-heat" phenomenon. One's curiosity, if nothing else, prompts an inquiry as to the nature and significance of these "steps." What do they mean? What causes them To these questions there are no completely satisfactory answers. The following experimental observations are offered as suggestions towards the solution of the problem.

Jan 1, 1931

By R. L. Templin

In treating a cast metal by any working process such as rolling, drawing or forging, variations in the conditions present in the remelting, casting, chilling and preheating of the initial ingot will certainly have some effect on the physical properties of the final product. In considering the effects of cold working on the physical properties of metals, however, it will be assumed that these factors, being controlled according to best practice, will remain constant and therefore may be neglected. Starting with such a uniform metal ingot, the next operation in the production of wrought metal involves hot working by rolling, forging or extrusion so as to produce a slab, billet or bloom. This working must be sufficient to produce substantial grain refinement and minimize any defects occurring in the initial ingot. Even such a hot-worked product is not suitable as a starting material for determining the effects of cold working because it contains internal strains analogous to those resulting from cold working. It is necessary, therefore, to supplement the hot working with a considerable amount of cold working, followed by a proper annealing in order to obtain a material suitable for use in defining the effects of cold working on the physical properties of a metal. That is, if the effects of cold working are to be evaluated accurately it is necessary to have other effects at least constant if not absent. Such material, unfortunately, cannot always be obtained in commercial practice but the requirements just indicated certainly represent the desired goal; this goal has been attained in the treatment of some metals, one being aluminum. Factors That Must Be Considered Simultaneously with Cold Working So many other factors affect the physical properties of a metal that it is necessary to consider these factors simultaneously with cold working; their effects vary in magnitude with the amount of cold work present. The most important of these factors are: (I) chemical composition, (2) structure, (3) temperature of working, (4) character of working, (5) rate of working, and (6) methods used for measuring results. For

Jan 1, 1930

By Samuel Hoyt

This paper gives a short account of plastic deformation as observed in single crystals of zinc, zinc having been selected for the experiments described herein because the phenomena are comparatively so simple and can be studied throughout such a wide range. It is hoped that the paper will serve to show the type of information which studies of single crystals afford and will contribute toward the solution of the general problem of metallic behavior. PRODUCTION OF ZINC SINGLE CRYSTALS The method of Czochralski,1 as modified by vow Gomperz,l was used to produce the crystals studied. The equipment is shown in Fig. 1. Molten zinc is held in a crucible at a temperature which is not far above its melting point, as measured by a pyrometer. A lava disc floats on the melt, and is provided with a central hole about 1 min. in diameter. A glass tube, drawn into a capillary at the lower end, is suspended from a string which is wound up by an electric drive at the speed desired. At the start, the glass capillary is let down into the melt and the hoist is started. The capillary brings up a small quantity of molten metal with it to a point just above the lava disc. At this point, a jet of hydrogen cools it and causes it to crystallize, with the result that a -small crystal forms. As the hoisting is continued, more molten metal is drawn up, in turn to be solidified by the jet of hydrogen. This additional metal continues the growth of the crystal already formed, and a long, cylindrical crystal results. The speed of hoisting used was generally between 0.1 and 0.5 mm. per sec., and the crystals were from 4 to 6 in. long and about 1 mm. in diameter. By varying the conditions, crystals of quite different orientations were obtained and were used in the study of the phenomena to be described.

Jan 1, 1927