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By M. von Heimendahl, G. Thomas

The microstructure of TD-Ni has been examined by transmission electron microscopy in the extruded, annealed. and deformed states. The tensile properties hove been correlated with the observed microstructures and the results ore com-pared with those obtained from pure nickel. The important conclusions are that the thorin particles in TD-Ni act as strong burriers to dislocntion motion during both deformation (slip) and annealing (climb). During deformation. the dislocations tangle around the particles and a cell structure is devleloped after 10 pct or more strain. The cell size appears to be determined by the spacing of the largest particles and is about five times smaller than that in pure nickel for the same strain. The higher work-hardening rate in TD-Ni compared to nickel is probably due to the more rapid rate of dislocation multiplication in the alloy as a result of dislocation-particle interactions. The Th0,particles inhibit recrystallization and twin growh so that some strengthening may arise from the high density of small annealing twins. THE strengthening of materials due to the presence of a dispersed second phase has been the subject of considerable experimental and theoretical investigation in recent years. One of the newest dispersion-strengthened alloys to be developed is TD-Ni,1 a system of approximately 2 vol pct thoria (ThO2) dispersed in a matrix of commercially pure nickel. This material is fabricated by powder-metallurgical techniques and offers high-temperature stability and useful mechanical properties virtually to the melting point of the base metal. While the mechanical properties of this system have been investigated,2,3 there have been no reports in the literature concerning the microstruc-ture of TD-Ni and its correlation to mechanical properties. This paper describes a transmission electron microscopy investigation of the micro-structure of TD-Ni together with its mechanical properties. The results are compared with the structure and properties of pure nickel.

Jan 1, 1964

The corrosion of aluminosilicate refractories by soda from three different sources has been studied by microscopic methods. Sodium sulphate from oil ash, sodium chloride used in glazing structural clay products, and sodium borate from borax-impregnated wood ash have fundamentally the same effect on the refractories. The soda is the chief medium of reaction and fluxing, the sulphur, chlorine, and boron being volatized as sulphuric, hydrochloric, and boric acids.INTRODUCTIONBecause of their strong fluxing action, alkalis are one of the main causes of corrosion and slagging of refractories.The action of potash and soda on refractories follows somewhat similar lines, although it is common for one alkali to be greatly in excess of the other. The course of the reaction in a number of cases of alkali attack has been studied by microscopic and chemical methods. For example, the action of potash on blast furnace refractories was studied by Kraner (1942) and Rigby and Richardson (1947), who described the occurrence of various potassium aluminium silicates. Its action on cement kiln refractories was described by Brisbane, Segnit, and Weymouth (1957). The action of soda on glass tank refractories has been studied by many people, for example Bisby (1956) and Resch (1954). Clews, Hugill, and Green (1940) made a microscopic examination of the attack by soda on silica bricks from a gas retort.Some recent cases of corrosion of aluminosilicate refractories which were brought to the attention of the Division of Building Research, C.S.I.R.O., illustrate phenomena which occur under conditions different from those...

Jan 1, 1964

By H. C. Fiedler

It was recently shown with 3.3 pct Si-Fe containing 0.026 pct S and 0.06 pct Mn that the extent of secondary recrystallization to a cube-on-edge texture is determined by the cooling rate from the solution temperature of the manganese sulfide inclusions.1 With a rapid cooling rate, many small inclusions rather than a few large ones are formed, which leads to increased restraint to normal grain growth and more complete secondary recrystalliza-tion. Strip samples 12 mils thick, rolled from 1-in.-thick slabs that were cooled at 130°C per min

Jan 1, 1964

The, Mount Charlotte orebody contains' 5,000 tons per vertical foot-Of'quartz gold ore at an estimated ore reserve grade of )just 'over' 3 'dwt. per ton, Production from it i.s plan ned at a rate of 1,000 tons per working day during 1964.

Jan 1, 1964

By Nicholas J. Grant, Noboru Komatsu

Electron-micrographic studies and hardness tests were made of an internally oxidized dispersion-strengthened Cu-12 vol pct SiO2 alloy follozuing longtime annealing at elevated temperatures. The rate of coarsening of SiO2 particles and the relationship between hardness and interpavticle spacing were Dispersion -strengthened alloys exhibit a remarkable stability of structure and properties at elevated temperatures compared with conventional alloys; nevertheless, when they are exposed to high measured. The rate of coarsening of SiO2 particles is controlled by the decomposition of SiO, rather than by the diffusion rates of silicon or oxygen through the copper matrix. The mechanism of coarsening was also studied by using a diffusion-couple technique. temperatures, weakening takes place as a result of coarsening of the dispersed phase. The theoretical treatment of the coarsening of dispersed phases has been treated by Greenwood,1 wagner,, and others3 by considering the interfacial energy of dispersions and the diffusion of solute atoms. Recently, experimental work on the coarsening of relatively insoluble, finely dispersed cobalt particles in copper was reported by Livingston,4 and on aluminum oxide in nickel by Dromsky, Lenel, and Ansell;5 according to these investigations, the rate

Jan 1, 1964

By H. Becke, D. Stolnitz, D. Flatley, W. Kern

Extensive solid solubilities of CdTe (zincblende-type struckre) and InTe (B37 type) in each of the rock salt-type compounds, PbTe and SnTe, have been observed. Partial phase diagrams have been determined by thermal analysis and X-ray metallography. The limiting mol fraction. X,, of the solute in the rock salt-type a phase and the corresponding eutectic temperatures, T,, are: (PbTe)l-x(CdTe)x: X,- 0.2, T, =866°C; (PbTe),-,(lnTe),: X, - 0.35, T, = 646"C; (SnTe),-,(CdTe),:X,- 0.11, T, = 784 "C; (SnTe),-,(lnTe),: X,-0.53, T, = 630°C. The lattice parameters of the a phase decrease linearly with X, even in (PbTe),-,(CdTe),, where a, (CdTe) = 6.481A > %(PbTe) = 6.459A. This is taken as proof that the cadmium atom enters an octahedral interstice of the tellurium atom sublattice; i.e., the formation of the a phase entails the direct replacement of lead by cadmium. The a, us X curve extrapolates to 6.16A at X = 1, in agreement with the value predicted for an ionic crystal of CdTe; it is also consistent with the reported lattice parameter It is well-established that the compositions of intrinsic semiconducting and semimetallic compounds conform to normal valence rules.1"5 The apparent exceptions can be explained by taking account of anion-anion covalences, as in CdSb, or of multiple cation valences, as in In Te.'This empirical generalization is the basis of the chemical approach to semiconductors2 by which the properties of an intrinsic semiconductor are rationalized in terms of the ionic-covalent bonds necessary to saturate the valence-electron complement of the anion sublattice. A fundamental shortcoming of this approach is its disregard of long-range crystal interactions. It cannot, accordingly, deal with the phenomenon of charge conduction except through the use of ad hoc postulates. As an example, a crystal of CdTe would, in the valence-bond picture: be described in terms of electron pairs, each with the same discrete energy, localized between every cadmium and tellurium atom. This is, of course, contrary to the Pauli of the high-pressure rock-salt form of CdTe, corrected for decompression from 36 kbar. The free energy of formation of the a phase of pure CdTe at room temperature is calculated from the phase diagram to be +10 kcal per g-atom, in accmd with the value calculated from the transformation pressure. The standard enthalpy is +13 kcal per g-atom, and the standard entropy is +9 eu. The latter value implies the formation of extra classical particles, such as vacancies, interstitials, or nondegenerate charge carriers, but these alternatives are not consistent with the semiconducting properties and the densities of the a phase. The extrapolated values of the lattice parameters of (PbTe),-,(lnTe), and Spectively, for the rock salt-type modification of InTe. The corresponding interatomic separation is intermediate between monovalent and trivalent indium. The qualitative implications of the results are considered from the viewpoints of both valence-band theory and energy-band theory. principle, and is corrected by methods of molecular-orbital theory in which bonds are replaced by bands of molecular orbitals whose energies, E, depend upon a crystal-momentum vector, k.7 Each band is derived from a linear combination of atomic orbitals with two electrons required to saturate each molecular orbital in the band. In a crystal of N atoms containing z atoms in its primitive unit cell, there are 2 N/z states per band which lie in a region of k space bound by the Brillouin zone. In an intrinsic semiconductor, the bands can be grouped into valence bands which are normally filled and conduction bands which are normally empty. If the highest valence band and the lowest conduction band overlap anywhere within the Brillouin zone, the material is rendered semimetallic. The quantity defines the effective mass, m*, of an electron in a conduction band (or of a hole, i.e., an electron deficiency, in the valence band) and leads directly to the concept of charge mobility through the relation \x = et/m*, where e is the electron charge and t is the lattice relaxation time.

Jan 1, 1964

By W. G. Diamond

Lightweight aggregates have become increasingly important to the construction industry. From 1953 to 1960, the quantity of the aggregates used in concrete block, precast and prestressed concrete, and monolithic structures increased about 92 percent. The present study was conducted in Bureau of Mines Area IV which encompasses the South-Central States of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. This is an administrative area and does not delimit a market area or imply an economic unit. Because of the increasing importance of metropolitan areas in evaluating economic growth, significant data showing relationships between growth of the metropolitan areas and the lightweight aggregate industry are included.

Jan 1, 1964

By Northcutt Ely

This chapter deals with the systems of laws by which governments regulate the exploration for and production of the minerals within their jurisdictions. It is a summary, restricted by necessary space limitations, of material assembled by the author for a publication of the United States Bureau of Mines, "Summary of Mining and Petroleum Laws of the World," (Information Circular 80 1 7, 196 1. ) The present study is organized in three parts, dealing with (1) the historical background of these legal systems, (2) laws of the United States, and (3) laws of other countries of the world. The reader's attention is invited to the acknowledgments at the end of the chapter, which inadequately express the appreciation due those who have assisted in the collection of this material. Part I. Historical Development of Major Western Systems of Land Tenancy with Respect to the Ownership and Control of Minerals The use of metals in primitive societies was largely confined to the manufacture of weapons for self-preservation. The ruler's control over copper, then bronze, then iron, was essential to maintenance of his own ascendancy at home and his group's position against neighbors who had access to similar metals. Ancient societies were thus characterized by the ruling group's ownership of minerals and metals. The Egyptian civilization, which emerged in the fourth millenium B.C. upon the agricultural subjugation of the lower valley of the Nile, was responsible for extensive development of the upper valley as a source of mineral wealth. The production of gold during the height of that civilization has been estimated at $30,000,000 per year, thus equaling the early placers of California and Australia. The mines of Egypt were the property of the Pharaohs and were controlled at their direction. Greek mining developed a different scheme of land tenancy which more closely resembled modem concepts. Development of mineral resources was

Jan 1, 1964

By Robert D. Pehlke, Kazuhisa Okajima

ThE prediction of the activity coefficient for a solute in a multicomponent liquid metallic solution based on measurements in the related binary systems has been the object of study for some time, particularly in iron-base alloys.1,2 Very few measurements, however, have been made on nonferrous systems; furthermore, measurements made for the specific purpose of testing various prediction equations are almost nonexistent. The measurements here described of the activity coefficient of cadmium in liquid lead alloys were directed toward this goal. One of the most direct means by which the activity coefficient can be calculated has been based on the independent influences of each solute. When solute metals i,j, k, and so forth are present, the activity coefficient, y, of one of these (i for example) may be expressed as a product of factors which represent the effects of each of the other components:

Jan 1, 1964

By Donald C. Strimbeck

The Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, is conducting research and development on a coal-burning gas turbine. This work includes the development of (1) turbine blades resistant to coal ash erosion, (2) equipment to feed coal under pressure to a turbine, (3) an efficient combustion system, and (4) equipment to remove coal ash from the gases that drive the turbine. Initial emphasis is being placed on testing the first turbine ever equipped with blades designed specifically for use with coal as the fuel. Operating tests with this turbine are now in progress. This paper describes the Bureau's coal-burning gas turbine development program and progress on this operating test.

Jan 1, 1964

By R. Wild

[When a blast furnace has a certain defined burden and is operated under fixed conditions of blast temperature, etc., the fuel efficiency is determined by the extent to which the reducing gases can remove oxygen from the burden in the furnace stack. This is determined by two distinct factors: 1) The uniformity of gas-solid contact, and 2) The ease with which oxygen can be removed from individual pieces of burden. This latter is often called burden reducibility. When burdens were poorly prepared the first factor was by far the most important and a study of the reducibility of individual lumps was of rather academic interest recent years good burden preparation with emphasis on sized material has led to greatly improved gas distribution in the stack, and thus the second factor has become much more important and there has been a marked increase in interest in methods of measuring reducibility.]

Jan 1, 1964

By Irving B. Cadoff, Ernest Levine

The fracture path in a Cu-4 pct Ag alloy wet with mercury was found to he dependent on the heat treatment used prior to tensile testing. Both quenched and slow-cooled alloys were embrittled by the mercury.. For quenched alloys, which were single -phase, the crack path was intergranular. Slowly cooled alloys, which contained precipitate platelets, exhibited transgranular fracture. By comparing stress-strain data for these alloys with similar data on mercury -embyittled solid-solution alloys, it was found that the role of the precipitate and that of the grain boundary in the fracture process were equivalent . THE fracture path which results when metals are strained in a liquid environment appears to be dependent upon the nature of the specific system. Mixed transgranular and intergranular cracking has been observed in the 2024 T4 aluminum alloy when wet with a Hg-Zn amalgam.' Transgranular fracture was induced in an A1-4 pct Cu alloy by masking off the grain boundaries from the liquid Hg-Zn amalgam.' The embrittlement of solid-solution alloys of copper in mercury results in intergranular fracture.' The effect of a precipitated phase on the fracture path in copper alloys is the subject of the present investigation. Cu-4 pct Ag was chosen so that its behavior could be compared with previous work on embrittlement of copper alloys. PROCEDURE High-purity copper (99.999 pct) was used as a base metal, along with 99.999 pct purity silver. Melting was carried out in graphite crucibles with manual agitation to get adequate mixing. The ingots were homogenized by means of vacuum annealing, chemically cleaned, and cold-rolled with intermediate vacuum anneals, to the desired thickness of 0.025 in. The rolled sheets were sheared to the final specimen size of 1 by 0.025 by 0.1 in. The specimens were then electropolished in phosphoric acid (concentrated) and heat-treated in an evacuated capsule at the solution temperature of 770°C. One batch was slow-cooled and the other quenched in water. The thermal etching which occurred during heat treatment was sufficient to permit grain boundary and precipitate delineation. Tensile tests were carried out in air and in mercury on a Table-Model Instron at a pulling speed of 0.2 in. per min. Wetting was accomplished by electro-polishing in phosphoric acid, rinsing in alcohol, and immersing in a pool of mercury. Once wet the coating was stable throughout the mechanical tests. In our studies it was found that wetting the surface or total immersion in mercury produced identical results. For convenience, the wetting technique was used for the experiments described. The crack pattern was observed directly on the surface by removing the mercury after testing. De-wetting was accomplished by flame heating the samples in a vacuum after testing and before observation of the surface. No etchant or polishing was used so as not to obscure the crack pattern on the surface. The mercury removal, however, resulted in a pitted surface but otherwise left the pertinent features visible. Photomicrographs were taken in this condition so as not to disturb the structure associated with the crack pattern. The average precipitate spacing was measured previous to coating the sample with mercury by use of an optical eyepiece micrometer. RESULTS The microstructure of the quenched specimens was single-phase while that of the slow-cooled specimens contained thin platelets of a second

Jan 1, 1964

By J. G. Early, F. V. Lenel, G. S. Ansell

The isothermal shrinkage rates of copper-powder compacts were determined in the temperature range from 760o to 1060oC. The rates for compacts fabricated from a pure spherical copper powder were compared, on the one hand, with those fabricated from a spherical powder containing a dispersion of aluminum oxide in the copper matrix and, on the other hand, with those fabricated from a pure copper powder having irregularly shaped particles. The irregular copper-powder compacts shrank much faster than the spherical copper-powder compacts and these, in turn, shrank faster than dispersion -strengthened copper -powder compacts. The experiments were run under a small external load. By varying this load, the stress dependence of the isothermal shrinkage rate could be measured for compacts from spherical-copper powders. This stress dependence was found to be approximately proportional to the 4th (dispersion-strengthened alloys) or 4.5th (pure metals) power of the stress. It is concluded that the material-trans port mechanism is due to dislocation climb rather than to Herring-Naharro creep. In this investigation the isothermal shrinkage rates of compacts made of copper powder with an average particle size of 70 g in the temperature range from 780o to 1060°C were studied. The aim of the investigation was to determine the mechanism of material transport responsible for the shrinkage of these compacts. Since the phenomenon observed in this investigation was shrinkage of compacts at high temperatures, it will be necessary to consider all the material-transport mechanisms possible in sintering. It is unlikely that evaporation and condensation, surface diffusion, or even volume diffusion of vacancies, in which surfaces of small radius of curvature are vacancy sources and those of larger radius of curvature vacancy sinks, will materially contribute to a sintering process involving shrinkage, i.e., one in which the centers of adjacent particles move towards each other. The two principal mechanisms which were considered were the so-called Nabarro-Herring mechanism and a plastic deformation mechanism by dislocation movement. Both of these mechanisms were originally conceived to explain creep, i.e., the plastic deformation of metals at elevated temperatures under a constant applied stress. The shrinking of metal-powder compacts which was studied in this investigation can be readily treated as a creep process. This means that the shrinkage rates observed are considered as creep rates under the influence of an applied stress. It is true that the stresses in sintering experiments are generally not constant but decrease continually with time, but, by considering creep rates or shrinkage rates over a relatively short time interval, the small changes in stress during this time interval can generally be neglected. Nabarro-Herring microcreep is a high-temperature deformation mechanism which is caused by a diffusional flow of vacancies from boundaries under a tensile stress towards those under a compres-sive stress. Herring1 has shown that in this type of microcreep the strain rate e is proportional to the applied stress and follows an equation of the form ma, aexp(-Q/RT) [l| where <j is applied stress, Q is the activation energy for self-diffusion, R is the gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature This type of creep can explain the shrinkage of a porous compact. The surface of the pores are subjected to the tensile stress of surface tension, while the grain boundaries are under a compressive stress also due to surface tension. Vacancies diffuse from the pore surface through the lattice to the grain boundaries, where they are eliminated. In order to maintain vacancy equilibrium at the pore surface the vacancies leaving the region of the pore surface are replenished from the volume of the pore, which means that the pores shrink.

Jan 1, 1964

By Alan S. Peck

Chemisorbed oleate films on the surfaces of fluorite, barite, and calcite were studied by means of infrared spectrophotometry. Evidence is presented which indicates the mineral anions, i.e., fluoride, sulfate, and carbonate, are displaced from the mineral surfaces as a result of the adsorption from aqueous solutions. Also, chemisorption reactions between oleic acid and fluorite or calcite occurred spontaneously in the absence of water. Carbon dioxide was identified as a reaction product when dry calcite was contacted with oleic acid. There was no evidence of reaction between oleic acid and barite in the absence of water.

Jan 1, 1964

By B. Ramaswami, Y. Nakada, R. Schaefer

EARLY investigations1 of the tensile properties of fcc single crystals did not reveal the easy glide region of crystals with axial orientations inside the standard stereographic triangle. With the production of high-purity metal, a region of easy glide became known1 Consequently, modern work of fcc single crystals ordinarily uses high-purity metal. In order to determine whether further purification of aluminum beyond 99.992 pct purity would result in significant alteration of the tensile properties of single-crystal specimens, metal was zone-refined and crystals grown from the purified material were compared to crystals grown from the original material. Some similar studies were made of gold and silver crystals. Aluminum. The material to be zone-refined was cast into bars 1/4 by 1/2 by 8 in. A zone, approximately 1-1/2 in. in length, was passed over each bar eighteen times at a rate of 6 in. per hr. Melting and stirring were carried out by an induction heater under a vacuum of approximately 10"5 mm Hg, the metal being held in a graphite container. he last 3 in. of each processed bar were then cut off and discarded. No quantitative determination of purity was made, but the effectiveness of the zone refining was tested by a method first suggested by Walton, Tiller, Rutter, and winegard3 depending on the relation between cell structure and impurity content. Rutter and Chalmers4 have shown that a cellular substructure is associated with the presence of impurities during solidificatibn, and have shown how solute rejection at the freezing interface can lead to such an association. Thus the observation of cells gives evidence of impurities being present. To look for cells, the last quarter of a zone-refined bar was cut off, remelted, and grown rapidly into a single crystal. It was then heavily electropolished and thermally etched.~ Cells were revealed by the presence of many parallel rows of etch pits. The same process was carried out with material from the first half of the bar, but no cells were detected. These observations give evidence that a significant amount of impurity material was moved to the "dirty" end of the zone-refined bars. Further indication of purification was obtained from recrystallization experiments. It was found that, after cold rolling to a 97 pct reduction in thickness, the material from the pure end of the bar re-crystallized at room temperature, but the material from the "dirty" end did not. Other investigators6 have previously reported that zone-refined aluminum recrystallized at room temperature. The purified material was cast into 1/4 by 1/4 in. bars, and seeded crystals were grown in a (100) orientation and in a single slip orientation where the Schmid factor is m =2. The crystals were then cut to the desired length, annealed for 24 hr at 610°C, furnace-cooled, and etched in Tucker&apos;s etch. The crystals were tested in a floor-model Instron machine, using a gage length of 4 in. and a strain rate of 1/2 pct per min. The resulting curves are shown in Fig. 1. It is seen that the differences between the curves for zone-refined and original-purity materials are small. These differences are within the scatter observed for crystals of the original purity. In particular, the zone refining does not significantly affect the onset of the different "stages" of the curves.

Jan 1, 1964

By D. A. Stevenson, R. A. Burmeister

Single-phase silver antimony telluride has been prepared by zone-melting techniques using initial compositions of A new phase appears upon prolonged annealing of this material, but the reaction does not appear to be a simple eutectoid decomposition. A complete analysis of the phase equilibria is complicated by the slow kinetics involved. The Hall coefficient, magneto -resistance, electrical resistivity, and Seebeck coefficient are all sensitive to the presence of second phases. The low Hall mobilities measured for single-phase material indicate that the usual band theory is inadequate to explain the observed transport properties in the system. Density anomalies of up to 2.5 pet between measured and theoretical density were observed but are not conclusive evidence for a defect structure. COMPOSITIONS in the Ag-Sb-Te system have been studied previously by several investigators.1"18 The interest in this system arises from potential thermoelectric applications of alloys on the Ag2Te-Sb2Tes vertical section. Although the composition corresponding to the formula AgSbTe, has received most attention, it has been found to consist of more than one phase.7&apos;8 A thorough understanding of the properties of this heterogeneous material has been impeded by both lack of knowledge of the properties of the homogeneous phases comprising it and the problem of analysis of transport properties in an inhomogeneous system. The present work describes the preparation of the homogeneous ternary phase and the corresponding electrical properties of both homogeneous and heterogeneous material. MATERIAL PREPARATION Most specimens for this investigation were prepared by encapsulating the elements in evacuated quartz tubes after which they were melted and homogenized in the liquid state. The ambient temperature was then dropped to 500°C and the resulting ingot zone melted. The growth rate, width of zone, stoichiometry, and number of passes have an effect on the resultant microstructure. Grains several centimeters in length were easily produced by this method. Other solidification techniques were also used, including uniform slow cooling of the entire specimen and rapid freezing. The microstructures of specimens produced by these techniques frequently differed appreciably from similar compositions prepared by zoning. A variety of nonequilibrium microstructures characterized by long needlelike particles resulted from the rapid-freeze method. PHASE EQUILIBRIA The lack of information on phase equilibria is a major difficulty associated with a comprehensive study of the Ag-Sb-Te system. Considerable confusion has resulted from the use of the formula AgSbTe, to identify the cubic ternary intermediate phase even though it has been established that material of this stoichiometry normally contains AgzTe as a second phase.798 In this paper, silver antimony telluride will denote the cubic ternary intermediate phase comprising the major portion of AgSbTe,. The term "single phase" will denote material which consists of only the cubic phase (as evidenced by metallographic examination and X-ray diffraction) and the term heterogeneous will describe multiphase material containing AgzTe, SbzTe3, or other phases in addition to the cubic phase. The single-phase material may actually contain a variety of inhomogeneities—gradual changes in composition on a macroscopic scale, localized fluctuations in composition, clusters or other products of early stages of the precipitation process, and a variety of point and line defects—all of which will not be detected by the present techniques for determining homogeneity. Single-phase material has been prepared from compositions close to 59 mole pct SbzTe3 21 (this notation refers to the location on the Ag,Te-Sb2TeS vertical section). Zone widths of =2 cm and growth rates 51.2 cm per hr were used. The single-phase region at elevated temperatures extends off the vertical section to a composition which can be expressed approximately as Ag,,SbzgTes,.9 The latter two compositions as well as AgSbTe, are represented in the conventional Gibbs triangle in Fig. 1. It is not presently possible to ascribe exact values to the limits of the single-phase region on a given isotherm or vertical section due to the extremely

Jan 1, 1964

By Frank Hultgren

The influence of grain boundaries and polygonized subsructure on the flow stress of commercially pure aluminum has hem studied. A systematic inz-estigoti017 of grain size and subgrain size and mis-orientation was pursued; the contributions of pain boundary md substruture hardening were found to he additive fuiictions. Subgrain boundaries exert greater influence on hardening at room temperature than do grain boundnries. Both subgrain diameter and misorientation influence flow stress, but only to the extent that both contribute to the dislocation density. The flow stress due to substructure may he described by the equation of = abp1/2. THE origin of substructure hardening in metals has remained unclear for a long time. Lately, both theory and experimental techniques have become more exact and merit a closer examination of the subject. In the present work, the influence of polygonized substructure size and misorientation in commercially pure aluminum on mechanical properties has been systematically investigated. The influence of substructure on mechanical properties has been compared with that of grain boundaries. In addition, the works of several authors are compared with theoretical predictions of substructure hardening. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES Aluminum of 99.9 pet purity (0.04 Fe, 0.046 Si, 0.00 Cu) was employed. Various grain sizes were produced by heavy (over 90 pet reduction in area) cold drawing and recrystallization at various temperatures. A (111) fiber texture was observed in all specimens. Grain sizes were analyzed statistically. Substructure of varying size and misorientation was produced by prestraining specimens of various recrystallized grain sizes. Specimens for mechanical testing and substructure analysis were recrystallized, prestrained, and annealed together. The samples were prestrained from 5 to 25 pet in tension at room temperature and annealed at 200" to 370°C for 2 hr. All samples were rapidly cooled (in air) from the anneal to retain the subgrain wall structure developed at the annealing temperature. A clearly polygonized substructure was developed in all cases. Substructure size was measured by the Berg-~arrett&apos; technique and analyzed statistically. Substructure misorientation was measured in the following manner. Individual grains in the polycrys-talline aggregate were isolated and their intensity distributions mapped using an X-ray goniometer and Geiger counter. From the observed profiles, the

Jan 1, 1964

By W. F. Domis, F. von Gemmingen, F. Garofalo

The effect of rain size on the creep behavior of an austenitic iron-base alloy has been studied at 1300° F under conditions of constant stress. The average grain diameter varied between 9 and 190 p (ASTM 10.7-2). The subgrain size and apparent activation energy for creep were not found to depend in any systematic manner on gain size. Grain hozmdary serrations were observed in all specimens tested. The variation of the secondary-creep rate, 2,, with the pain diameter, 1, is given by: es = K(213m + 1 )/l.]; 1, is the grain diameter zohere is reaches a minimum. Results in the literature shoujthat 1,increases as the temperature increases. At low creep temperatures is is therefore proportional to 12, at intermediate temperatures <, exhibits a minimum, and at high creep temperatures is is proportional to 1/1. The dependence ofis on the stress, u, is given by: t, = A" (sinh acrln, a and n show little variation with 1. The dependence of A" on 1 is given by: A" = KA[(21k + 13)/1]. For 1 » >>lmn = 4, and at constant values 01- isat lozu stress levels, the steady-state stress is given by the Hall-Petch relation. The variation of c, with grain size is believed to he associated particularly with grain boundary generation of dislocations which becomes more important with increasing temperatures. SEEMINGLY inconsistent experimental findings have led to a certain amount of confusion concerning the effect of grain size on creep behavior. The confusion is attributed to a lack of test results obtained over sufficiently wide ranges in grain size, stress, and temperature. Experimental results presented in this paper and results available in the literature1-5 show a consistent behavior and lead to a unified concept for the dependence of secondary-or steady-state creep rate on grain size. In accordance with this concept, which is substantiated experimentally, secondary-creep rate should increase with increasing grain diameter at low creep temperatures, leading to greater creep strengths for fine-grained materials. At intermediate temperatures the secondary-creep rate should decrease to a minimum and then increase as the grain size is increased. At high creep temperatures the secondary-creep rate should decrease with increasing grain size, leading to greater creep strengths for coarse-grained materials. Whether a temperature is high or low for creep in a metal or alloy depends primarily on its melting temperature. MATERIAL AND TEST PROCEDURES The material tested was an austenitic iron-base alloy of the following composition (wt pct): C, 0.005; N, 0.017; Mn, 1.26; Ni, 14.21; and Cr, 17.18. Two 15 -lb ingots were forged and hot-rolled to 5/8-in.-diam bars which were then cold-rolled and cold-swaged to a diameter of 0.49 in. These were sectioned into 3-in.-long blanks and heat-treated at various temperatures to obtain different grain sizes. The procedures employed and the results obtained are summarized in Table I. The secondary treatment at 1400° F followed the primary treatment without intermediate cooling to room temperature. This final treatment was employed to minimize various effects arising from heating to different temperatures during the primary treatment, particularly differences in intragranular dislocation structure, segregation of interstitial atoms at grain boundaries, and density of grain boundary ledges. The intragranular dislocation structure was examined by electron transmission metallography after each of the treatments described in Table I. Isolated dislocations and a few tangles were observed but no evidence of subgrains was found after any of the treatments. No grain-size effect was evident on the density and distribution of dislocations. Stabilization of grain boundary structure is particularly important because, as will be discussed later, grain boundaries influence high-temperature creep behavior. Magnetic-permeability measurements after each treatment and

Jan 1, 1964

By Ludwig Thomas, Klaus Detert

Klaus Detert and Ludwig Thomas (Westinghouse Electric Gorp.)— The results of C. Panseri and co-workers are quite important. The authors came to the same conclusions about the occurrence of zone formation in A1-Mg alloys as was outlined in previous papers.31&apos;32 Because of the sensitivity of their measurements, it was shown that zone formation could also occur at a much lower range of mag- nesium content than previously observed.31, 33 The idea of strong interaction between magnesium atoms and vacancies, as stressed by the authors, so that all of the quenched-in vacancies are kept in solution at lower temperatures but anneal out completely at 150°C, is in disagreement with our results which clearly indicate that zone formation and annealing out of vacancies occur simultane-

Jan 1, 1964

By W. C. Lacy

Urban development in semi-arid portions of the Southwest has upset a natural balance of geological conditions resulting in broad-scale and local subsidence or heaving ground conditions, Subsidence can be traced to two general causes: irrigation of reclaimed desert lands that have dry, low-density soils; and depression of the water table by ground water withdrawal. Accumulation of weathered volcanic tuff produces areas with swelling characteristics. Soil and subsidence studies made in the Tucson area in Arizona illustrate foundation problems typical of the Southwest that must be considered in the design of building codes. Anticipation of problems and the adoption of corrective measures in the design of engineering structures, establishment of pertinent building codes, and urban planning and zoning to obtain optimum land usage and conservation of natural resources demands a thorough understanding of geological conditions of a developing urban area. In the arid to semi-arid southwestern United States erosional and depositional processes result in special situations that require special precautions in building practices. A series of studies currently underway in the Tucson area, prompted by foundation failures and breaking of buried service lines, serves to illustrate some of these relationships between the geological environment and history and engineering problems. ENVIRONMENT The desert region of the Southwest is characterized by isolated mountain ranges rising abruptly from low valleys or plains — the ranges generally occupy less area than do the intervening valleys. In southern Arizona the valley floors step up from near sea level to 2000 ft or more in elevation, and the ranges may rise to over 7000 ft. Desert and steppe-type climates predominate — climate is controlled more by elevation than it is by latitude. Both climate types are characterized by a lack of precipitation, the former more so than the latter. Practically all the rain that falls in the region evaporates; runoff or recharge generally occurs only during the wettest period. Water table levels are generally being depressed. Vegetation is restricted and consists mainly of creosote bush, cacti and sage brush on the deserts, and mesquite, pinon juniper and various types of grass on the steppes. Precipitation varies from about 3 in. on the warm deserts to about 12 in. on the steppes. Most of this falls in the summer or winter, with only rare storms in other seasons. Summer thunderstorms, often accompanied by hail, bring cloudbursts which send torrents of water streaming down the mountains onto

Jan 1, 1964