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By J. F. Poland

Location of Basins and Geologic Features of Occurrence: The major ground-water resources of California occur and are stored in the many large alluvium-filled valleys of the state. The deposits of Quaternary age which hold the ground water commonly are called valley fill. Meinzerl has discussed the characteristic features of this fill and showed that for western United States its distribution is concentrated chiefly in western Utah, Nevada, central Oregon, California, southern Arizona, and central New Mexico (see fig. 1). For California the principal ground-water basins are shown on fig. 2. Except for the Mojave Desert and the "Basin and Range" Valleys (fig. 2, Nos. 23 and 23A), which are not shown individually, the basins outlined on fig. 2 contain all the large reservoirs in valley fill within the state. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys (fig. 2) together comprise the Great Central Valley of California, which has an area of about 18,000 square miles. The Sacramento Valley contains about 5000 square miles of valley lands, approxi- mately equal to the area of Connecticut; the San Joaquin Valley embraces about 13,000 square miles, equivalent to the areas of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. Both the area and the ground-water use in the Central Valley is far greater than for all the other shaded alluvial basins of fig. 2 added together. Except for the Sacramento Valley, all the major ground-water basins of the state are south of Sacramento. The valley fill in these ground-water basins has been transported by streams and most of it has been laid down in alluvial fans, producing the typical alluvial-fan structure of aquifers radiating as tongues from a prismatic pile of coarse, permeable debris at the canyon mouths; these aquifers are encased down slope by poorly sorted materials consisting of a clayey matrix with imbedded pebbles and boulders, interbedded with flood-plain silt. In the deeper inland structural valleys, the alluvial deposits interfinger at depth in the valley bottoms with horizontally bedded lacustrine sand, silt, and clay. The San Joaquin Valley is a good example. In the coastal valleys exposed to the sea, such as the Los Angeles coastal plain, the alluvial fans pass coastward into lagoonal and thence to shallow marine deposits. In all these basins, the gravel is coarsest and most permeable near the apexes of the fans, but tongues or lenses of clean gravel and sand may extend for many miles down the fan. Thus, these water-bearing structures are in a position to absorb stream flow near the canyon mouths and to transmit it through the buried radiating conduits.

Jan 1, 1951

By W. E. Keck

THE flotative properties of the principal minerals in Michigan's potential iron ores have been investigated to develop methods of bene-ficiation for the ores. One of these minerals, magnetite, is of considerable importance as a source of iron. Study of its flotation was similar to that of hematite1, another iron mineral in these potential ores. The present research consisted essentially of: (1) a survey of the literature on mag-netite flotation, (2) the preparation of pure magnetite, (3) the develop-ment of laboratory procedure and (4) flotation experimentation. Literature an Magnetite Flotation.-For the purpose of this discussion, the results of previous work on the flotation of magnetite can be sum-marized as follows. The mineral has been floated with pine oil2, and it has also been separated from synthetic mixtures with silicates by the use of the same reagent2. Magnetite and apatite in iron-ore slimes have been separated by flotation of apatite with sodium palmitate3. These data were utilized in the present investigation. Preparation of Magnetite.-The pure mineral was prepared from the magnetic-separator concentrate of an iron ore (obtained from the Wither-bee Sherman Corporation, Port Henry, N. Y.). This concentrate was slowly comminuted with laboratory rolls and pulverizer to pass 65 mesh and was then tabled several times. Tabling yielded a relatively coarse magnetite concentrate, tailing and slimes. The two latter materials were rejected insofar as the present work is concerned, and treatment of the magnetite (table concentrate) was continued by separating it into -65 + 200 and -200-mesh sizes. Separation of the sizes was made by first dry screening and then wet screening. The -200-mesh material was rejected to eliminate possible introduction of error into flotation

Jan 1, 1937

CHICAGO SECTION CHARLES H. MACDOWELL, Chairman, Luther V. DICE, Vice-Chairman, HENRY WT. NICHOLS,. Secretary-Treasurer, 164.5 E. 68 St., Chicago; Ill. ALEXANDER K. HAMILTON-, HENRY P. HOWLAND, GEORGE P. HULST, FREDERICK 1. SNYDER. There were 32 members present at the dinner of the Chicago Section which was held at the Chicago Engineers' Club on Friday Evening, December 22. At the meeting after the dinner, the Chairman called attention to the work of Mr. Hoover in Belgium and spoke briefly of the assistance which' could be given him through the Belgian Kiddies, Ltd. Mr. Alonzo Kinyon read a paper on "Burring Powdered Coal" which so interested the members that many of them participated in the long discussion which followed. Prof. Harry B. Pulsifier then described the metallurgical plants about Chicago. He mentioned briefly the equipment and interesting features of 30 metallurgical plants of importance and stated that there were also 200 foundries in the district. He said that when number, size, quality and diversity of the plants are considered, the Chicago District is justified in calling itself the greatest metallurgical center on earth. The paper was followed by a brief discussion in Which attention was called to some smaller and incipient plants of an interesting character. HENRY T. NICHOLS, Secretary.

Jan 2, 1917

By Albert L. Toenges

C. P. HEINER*—I would like to ask Mr. Toenges about the highest rank coal. I did not get that clearly. What kind of coal is that? A. L. TOENGES (author's reply)— The coal in the Matanuska field ranges from high volatile "B" bituminus to anthracite. It all depends on which direction you go in the Matanuska field. C. P. HEINER—Is it a large reserve. A. L. TOENGES—That is what we hope. That is what we are trying to find out. B. W. DYER*—In those strip beds, I wonder how far back the coal would weather ? A. L. TOENGES—I never noticed particularly. B. W. DYER—The weathering does not extend back like it does in this country ? A. L. TOENGES—No, it does not. B. W. DYER—Is that due to the freezing ? A. L. TOENGES—Probably so. B. W. DYER—In this country, you would expect nothing but weathered coal. R. H. SWALLOW*—Along that line, you mentioned some of the seams were on fire. Did you ever know how far back they burned, or was it hard to tell ? A. L. TOENGES—The fires occurred in the mine. That one you refer to was from an inside fire.

Jan 1, 1950

CHARLES P. BROOKS Charles P. Brooks, who had been identified with the mining industry in the West since 1874, having served at various times as mining and consulting engineer for most of the largest mining properties in Utah, died Dec. 11, at his home in Salt Lake City, of heart failure, after an illness of about one month. He was a very close business friend of the late Thomas Kearns and David Keith. In recent years he had been closely identified with the Silver King Coalition Mining Co., the Chief Consolidated Mining Co., the Grand Central Mining Co., the Prince Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co., and many other large properties. Mr. Brooks was born in Washingtonville, Orange County, New York, Aug. .21, 1851; he was the son of Charles Edward Brooks and Adeline Cannon Brooks. When 14 years of age he attended school at Chester, N. J., for one term, and accompanied the assistant principal of Chester Academy to New Paltz, N. Y., and finished the school year there. In 1866 he entered Dr. Stiles's school at Deckertown, N. J., and later the Sheffield School at Yale in 1867, where he received the degree of civil engineer with the class of 1870.

Jan 2, 1919

By Kenneth Seaver

It is rather gratifying that in the field of the manufacture of refractories, in which, as a whole, foreign practice has surpassed us, the United States stands pre-eminent in the making of silica brick. In some instances European manufacturers have refused point-blank to credit the possibility of making to such specifications as are Common with us, until the actual completed shapes were shipped for inspection. But both the manufacturer and consumer in foreign lands are now frankly learning from us, and benefiting by our advanced practice in this field, as is evidenced by the orders placed here and the efforts put forth abroad to come up to the standard of American-made material. In no metallurgical operation has the employment of silica brick spread with such leaps and bounds as in the building of plants for the carbonization of coal, particularly in the byproduct coke oven. Today, in practically all types of oven, the structure above the floor level (except the facings) is of silica, while in the recuperative and in some regenerative types, its use is extended to that portion of the oven below the floor as well. By reason of the fact that there are a number of classes of refractories of higher silica content than the usual so-called fire-clay brick, there is sometimes a misunderstanding as to the class of material referred to as "silica" brick. We here refer only to a brick having a silica content of 94 per cent. or more and made usually from quartzite rock with a small percentage of lime as a binder. The term "silica" brick is sometimes rather loosely applied to brick from highly siliceous clays, or to a quartzite refractory of mingled fire-clay and quartz rock; but such products are not considered in this discussion. : Materials The rock from which practically all high-grade silica brick are made is a true quartzite or metamorphosed sandstone, variously known as

Jan 1, 1916

By David J. Selleck, Eugene P. Pfleider

9.61. Introduction. Open pit mining methods produce more than 80% of all raw materials today in the United States. Much of this comes either from properties that formerly employed underground methods and were converted to open pit or from mines that ultimately must go underground when the economic stripping limit is reached. Generally the ores are transported over large vertical distances and techniques have been developed to do this economically. One approach is to combine conventional surface trucking, over relatively level roads, with the use of gravity and underground facilities. There are various modifications, depending upon the character of the orebody and the topography. Several schemes, as used in Sweden, Canada, and the United States, merit describing. One of the critical problems involved in the transference of ores from surface to underground is that of flow of bulk solids. Must it be crushed? Will it hang up in the transfer? What size and inclination of ore pass are required. How is the ore best fed onto the transporting device underground? As an example, the planning engineers for the Carol Project of the Iron Ore Company of Canada faced these problems in making their designs for the production and transportation of some 55,000 tpd from their Smallwood Mine in Labrador. Other operations, facing somewhat similar conditions, used other approaches of interest. This chapter describes some of the factors involved in the design, construction, and operation of a combination surface underground transportation system as applied to open pit mining operations. 9.62. Tunnel-Ore Pass Systems. The type, shape, dip, and size of the orebody, as well as the surface topographic features, generally estab-

Jan 1, 1968

By H. W. Mossman

Three aspects of magnetite smelting are discussed. The first is the working out of equilibrium conditions for eliminating sulfur. The second is the influence of magnetite solubility on the difficulty of tapping the reverb matte. The third is an approximation of the equilibrium conditions in the reverb gases which govern whether magnetite is mode or reduced in the reverb slag by these gases and by any iron sulfide in the slag. MAGNETITE has had a varied history in the Hurley Smelter since its start in 1939. Magnetite determinations on the smelter products are made regularly only on the monthly composite samples. Variations on the monthly averages are shown in Table I. Magnetite which drops from the slag and matte in the reverb has some slight bottom buildup which comes and goes, but no substantial accumulation from this source has been found at the end of a normal nine months' furnace campaign. However, there has been some low grade magnetite bearing material mixed with considerable A1,0,, which has slid down from the bottom of the sloping flue between the reverberatory furnace and the waste heat boilers. This accretion has required drilling and blasting near the skimming end of the furnace. The magnetite has interfered with tapping at times. When the smelter was first started, tapping trouble from magnetite was extremely severe. Increasing the reverberatory furnace temperature by putting in an air preheater and a Dutch oven has helped greatly, although there still is occasional tapping trouble. When the present series of physical chemistry articles on copper smelting started coming out in 1950, they were read with interest, but no immediate application was seen for them. Results of some laboratory work in 1952 aroused a much stronger interest in this physical chemistry. A series of melts was made on some converter slags, which had magnetite in very large grain sizes, with the object of reducing the grain sizes in the slag, as it was known that it was easier to handle in the reverb in that condition. Anything done in the tests greatly reduced the grain sizes—even in the controls, where nothing was done except melt the slag and cast it. There was more magnetite in the slags after the tests than before, and with wide variations. There were no obvious reasons lor much of what happened in these tests. Much of the base material published in English in this field was made available for study. Recalculations were made on many of the type problems, and part of the data was reduced to local temperatures and compositions. Explanations were found for what happened in the 1952 series of tests on converter slags, and the same principles turned out to be a description of much of what magnetite does in the reverb. This article is to present the results of that study, from the viewpoint of applying the technical material in definite numerical form to the operating conditions in both the converters and the reverberatory furnaces at the Hurley smelter. Table I. Magnetite Variations on Monthly Averages, 1939 to 1955 Pet Magnetite Lowest Highest Average Converter slag 13.6 43.3 25.4 Roverb slaa 2.7 20.9 8.7 Matte 28 15.9 98 In general it was found that magnetite is made or reduced in both the converters and the rever-beratory furnace, depending on variations of temperature, matte composition, and reverb gas composition occurring in ordinary plant operation. Within reasonable limits, the field conditions for formation or reduction can be predicted, and probably can be set up and maintained. Converter conditions affecting magnetite formation can be put into numerical values better than for the reverb from purely technical calculations. The converter can be operated so as to keep the magnetite in the slag down to between 12 and 14 pct and still give satisfactory life for the converter brick. This depends upon having converter flux available which will make a slag with a good separation without raising the temperature too high. In the Hurley reverb and others with similar conditions, it is likely that a compromise of conditions will give a reasonably good control of combustion and still keep the magnetite from building up on the bottom. This discussion consists of three main parts. The first is the working out of the equilibrium conditions in the converter for determining in which direction the reaction 3 Fe,,O, (s) + FeS (1) F? 10 FeO (1) + SO, will go under actual converter operating conditions. The second deals with the influence of the solubility of magnetite in the slag and matte in the reverb on the difficulty of tapping matte. The third is an approximation of the equilibrium conditions in the

Jan 1, 1957

By Paul M. Tyler

THE farmer pays the phosphate miner! Phosphorus is used in fireworks; goes to battle in military smoke screens, incendiary shells, and tracer bullets; and, in vermin destroying pastes, does its part in the war against insects. A lemon phosphate can be had for a nickel at most soda fountains, and tens of thousands of tons of phosphate rock are mined annually for use in the food industries, chiefly for making monocaleium phosphate baking powder. Sodium phosphate cleaning, washing, and scouring compounds consume substantial quantities: the iron and steel industries buy a few thousand tons yearly to make ferrophosphorus and to balance foundry-iron furnace charges; and even nonferrous metallurgists use a little for phosphor bronze and other alloys. Phosphoric acid, its salts, and diverse other derivatives of this versatile element have countless applications, and industrial outlets are increasing rapidly, especially in the United States. Nevertheless, in this country nearly 90 per cent and in the whole world fully 95 per cent of the phosphate rock consumed is absorbed ultimately in agriculture.

Jan 1, 1938

By J. W. Eckerd, P. S. Lewis, N. H. Coates

USBM designed, constructed, and operated an 18-in.-diam fluidized-bed combustor for highly caking coals to evaluate the method for possible application to power generation. In initial tests, combustion was carried on successfully, with carbon losses as low as 0.8%+ Coal ash was not satisfactory as a bed material, but mullite proved to be acceptable. Overall heat-transfer coeffients from the bed (-20 t 50 mesh mullite) to a water-cooled tube were about 75 Btuper hr-sq ft. Fluidized-bed combustion is being investigated by the U. S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) as a potentially cheaper method of firing power plant boilers. Lower combustion temperatures in fluidized beds—only 1400" to 1800°F-—should reduce fireside deposition and corrosion and nitrogen oxides production. Fluidized-bed combustion also offers possible advantages in the use of additives to control SO, emissions and amenability to processing of high-ash, high-moisture coals without special preparation. This paper describes development of a fluidized-bed combustor and the results of preliminary tests. Equipment and Procedure Fig. 1 shows the 8-ft-high combustor. A cone-shaped plate perforated by I/8-in.-diam holes supports the fuel bed and admits the fluidizing air; water passing through the 3/4-in. pipe extracts heat from the combustion bed. Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of the system. Coal is fed pneumatically to the base of the fuel bed. Combustion products are passed through two centrifugal separators to remove most of the entrained solids, then to a water

Jan 1, 1971

By W. A. Vine

When a hole is made in a stressed solid, such as rock pierced by mine openings, equilibrium of the solid is destroyed. To restablish that equilibrium the stress condition in the rock surrounding the opening becomes rearranged. This rearrangement may or may not develop local stresses in the vicinity of the opening which exceed the elastic strength of the rock. Since stability of the opening depends, therefore, on the strength of the naturally occurring rock surrounding the opening, this rock is an engineering material of construction, and all rock affected by the associated opening or system of openings may be considered a structure. The term invert is chosen to describe the formation of the structure built from the inside, as it were, and a consequence of mining rather than an entity built for a purpose. By definition, an invert structure is formed when openings are made underground and is com- posed of that material on the solid side of a rock-air interface wherein the stress condition is affected by the associated opening or system of openings. The shape of an invert structure is never clearly defined; the skin of the structure may be mapped, and even described, but the boundary of the structure within the solid rock mass must be arbitrarily set.

Nov 1, 1955

[Arizona BRENT N. RICHARD, Chairman ROBERT W. HUGHES, Vice-Chairman ROBERT E. S. HEINEMAN, Secretary-Treasurer Arizona Bureau of Mines, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. THOMAS G. CHAPMAN A. MENDELSOHN WILLIAM KOERNER A. C. REIFSNIDRR C. R_ . KUZELL WILLIAM M. SABEN ERNEST WITTENAU Black Hills NATHANIEL HERZ, Chairman C. E. DAWSON, First Vice-Chairman BANCROFT GORE, Second Vice-Chairman C. E. SCHMIDT, Secretary-Treasurer Homestake Mining Co., Lead, S. D. R. S. BLITZ NATHANIEL HERZ C. E. DAWSON A. I. JOHNSON L. B. EAMES F. C. LINCOLN BANCROFT GORE C. E. SCHMIDT]

Jan 1, 1940

By Fred P. Dewey

IN preparing material for the exhibit of the National Museum at the New Orleans Exposition in 1881, it was decided to attempt to photograph the interior of a coal-mine, in order to get a strictly truthful representation of a thick coal-seam, and to show incidentally the methods of mining. While we have many drawings, both mechanical and artistic, illustrating the subject, they are not satisfactory for these purposes, simply because they are drawings. Aside from this, much interest attaches to pictures of inaccessible places, and the enlarged copies (30 inches by 40 inches) of the photographs we succeeded in obtaining, have attracted a large amount of attention from the visitors to the Museum. The Kohinoor colliery, Shenandoah City, Pa., was selected as most suitable for the attempt, principally on account of the fine exposure of the Mammoth bed, and the comparatively level character of the workings, in that colliery. This is one of the many anthracite-mines of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. A detailed section of the fiftyfoot or Mammoth bed in this colliery is as follows: Feet. Inches. 1 0 Clod. 1 7 0 Coal. 1 0 Slate. Top Split. 8 0 Coal. 1 6 Slate divider.* 6 0 Coal. 1 0 6 Slate. 2 6 Coal. 0 5 Slate. 1 8 Coal. 1 2 Charcoal. 5 0 coal. 1 0 Bone and Coal. „ „ Coal. [ Bottom Split. 0 6 Bone and Slate. 3 0 Coal. 0 10 Bone and coal. 1 2 Coal. 0 2 Bone. 4 4 Coal. 0 1 Bone. 0 8 Coal.

Jan 1, 1888

By K. G. Davis

Dilute alloys of silver and of thallium in tin have been solidijzed unidirectionally under controlled conditions, to study the segregation associated with a cellular interface under conditions where both thermal and solute convection are present. Autoradiography and radioactive tracer counting techniques were combined with electron-probe microanalysis to study both macro- and microsegregation. It was found that, for concentrations giving only small amounts of constitutional supercooling, cell formation had little effect on the macroscopic distribution of solute along the specimen. At higher concentrations the effective distribution coefficient was higher than that expected for a smooth interface. Node spacing was independent of initial solute content at lower concentrations, becoming greater as keff increased. Silver content at the segregation nodes of silver in tin alloys was independent of initial concentration and considerably in excess of the eutectic composition. SINCE the investigation of cell formation at advancing solid-liquid interfaces by Rutter and Chalmers,' a large volume of work has been dedicated to the determination of solidification conditions under which a planar interface will break down into cellular form. Early experiments were explained satisfactorily by the concept of constitutional supercooling,2 but, due to poor measurement of temperature gradients in the liquid, lack of accurate data on liquid diffusion and equilibrium distribution coefficients, and uncertainty about the effects of thermal and solute convection, these experiments cannot be used as proof for the theory. More recent work, however, has shown that under conditions where convection is eliminated or can be ignored good correlation is observed.3,4 Investigations into segregation at cell caps5 and at cell nodes6-'' have been made, but no measurements appear to have been done on the overall, macroscopic segregation down a unidirectionally solidified rod of material which has solidified with a cellular substructure. This has practical importance in casting, where regions of material with cellular substructure are often encountered, and also in zone refining where the thermal conditions necessary for a planar interface are unattainable. Further, as will be shown, the macroscopic segregation can give information on the following question. Granted that a cellular solid-liquid interface develops from a planar one when the conditions for constitutional supercooling are exceeded, how much supercooling is present after the cells have formed? EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE AND RESULTS Specimen Preparation. Specimens 25 cm long with a square cross section 0.6 by 0.6 cm were grown in graphite boats by solidification from one end. Alloy compositions are given in Table I. Two specimens of each composition were grown. The tin was 5-9 grade and the silver and thallium both 4-9 grade. Ag110 and Tl204 were used as tracers. Each composition had the same quantity of tracer so that auto radiographs of specimens containing different concentrations of the same element could be easily compared. Thermocouples inserted through the lid of the boat into a dummy specimen showed that, over the first 10 cm of growth, thermal conditions were quite steady, with a rate of interface advance of 5.8 cm per hr and a temperature gradient in the melt ahead of the interface of 3.0°C per cm. The specimens were seeded from tin crystals of a common orientation to eliminate orientation effects. Dilution of the specimen by seed material was minimized by the provision of a narrow neck between specimen and seed crystal. Macrosegregation. After growth, the specimens were sectioned with a spark cutter. The rods of silver alloy were cut into 1-cm lengths and analyzed for Ag110 using a y -ray counter with fixed geometry. The specimens containing thallium were cut into 2-cm lengths and analyzed for T1 204 by taking 13 counts from each end of the cut lengths through an aperture in lead sheet approximately 0.4 cm square. The results are summarized in Figs. 1 and 2. To find the effective distribution coefficient for the silver in tin alloys under smooth interface conditions, the region of substructure at the bottom surface of one of the 10 ppm specimens, see Fig. 3, was removed by spark machining before counting. Autoradiography. For both alloy systems the samples were polished on sections taken alternately parallel and perpendicular to the growth direction, and autoradiographed by placing the polished surfaces in contact with Kodak "Process Ortho" film. Figs. 3 and 4 show the structures revealed. The alloy containing 10 ppm Ag showed substructure only after a few centimeters of growth, and then substructure was limited to a narrow layer at the base. The "speckled" substructure reported previously in this system4 is here clearly seen to be an intermediate stage between planar and cellular interface conditions. The other samples show a remarkable similarity considering

Jan 1, 1969

I-Mine Ventilation A C. CALLEN, Chairman E A. HOLBROOK, Vice-chairman H I. SMITH, Secretary CLARENCE E. ABBOTT ALFRED W. HESSE FRANK H. PROBERT GRAHAM BRIGHT G R. JACKSON GEORGE S RICE THOMAS H. CLAGTETT JAMES F. MCCARTHY E. J RISTEDT OSCAR A GLAESER W. B. PLANK GERALD F. SBERMAN, Coal Mining M D COOPER, Chairman HOWARD N EAVENSON JOHN A GARCIA THOMAS D THOMAS CHARLES ENZIAN JAMES W PAUL C M YOUNG JOHN J. RUTLEDGE Physiological Studies R R. SAYERS, Chairman C. L. BERRIEN W. D. BRENNAN A. J. LANZA

Jan 1, 1923

Jan 1, 1916

By Chester O. Ensign

Many publications to date have advocated under- seas mining operations, optimistically overlooking the paucity of information on mineral distribution and the ocean environments in which minerals occur. Such articles (smattered with opinion, as is this article) are herein tempered by my more conservative views on the economics of mining under the seas. For purposes of this paper, underseas mining refers only to the deeper surficial deposits of the continental shelf and the deep sea floor, i.e., the deposits of phosphorite and manganese nodules.

Jan 9, 1966

By R. W. Balluffi, R. Resnick

NUMEROUS investigations of chemical diffusion in a brass have been made and the results are collected in several places.1-3 This work has been mainly concerned with the determination of the chemical diffusivity as a function of composition and temperature. In 1947 Smigelskas and Kirken-dall&apos; showed that zinc and copper diffuse at different rates in face-centered-cubic brass, and since then, a number of efforts have been made to determine the intrinsic diffusivities of zinc and copper in this alloy.1, 5-9 Horne and Mehl8 in particular have recently determined the intrinsic diffusivities as functions of temperature and composition using sandwich-type couples and inert markers. Inman et al." also have determined the intrinsic diffusivities in homogeneous alloys using tracer techniques. When the present work was started, no information of this type was available. Consequently, measurements of the intrinsic diffusivities were made as a function of temperature at a constant composition of 28 atomic pct Zn with vapor-solid diffusion couples where the zinc was diffused into the diffusion couple from the vapor phase. The application of these couples to the study of diffusion in a: brass has been described previously.0,7 The temperature dependence of the intrinsic diffusivities was found to follow the relation D, = A, exp(-Hi/RT) and the values of Hzn, and Hcu, were found to be closely the same. It is emphasized, however, that the chemical dif-fusivity (D = N1D2 + N2D1) is a composite diffusivity and does not necessarily follow this exponential form. It is usually found to do so within experimental error for substitutional alloys because the heats of activation of the intrinsic diffusivities generally are not greatly different.&apos;" Also, at the onset of this work, there was no information available concerning possible unequal diffusion rates of individual components and the existence of a Kirkendall effect in alloys with other than face-centered-cubic structures. Since then, two reports indicating a Kirkendall effect in body-centered-cubic ß brass have appeared. Landergren and Mehl" have published a note describing Kirkendall diffusion experiments with sandwich-type couples. Inman et a1.9 also find a Kirkendall effect in this alloy using the tracer technique. In the present work, several aspects of the Kirkendall effect in ß brass were further investigated using vapor-solid couples. Two different couples were used, one in which the zinc was diffused into the specimen from the vapor phase and the other in which the zinc was diffused out of the specimen into the vapor phase. Briefly, the existence of a Kirkendall effect is confirmed and it is found that Dzn/Dcu = 3 at about the 46 atomic pct composition in this alloy at 600°, 700°, and 800°C. As a result of the unequal diffusion rates of zinc and copper, volume changes occur and subgrain formation is observed in the diffusion zone. In addition, significant porosity is produced by the precipitation of supersaturated vacancies. Diffusion in this alloy is therefore outwardly similar to diffusion in a brass where these effects are also observed, a Brass Experimental Methods—The use of vapor-solid couples in studying diffusion in a brass has been described in previous articles.6,7 The method briefly consists of sealing a copper specimen with Kirkendall markers initially placed on its surface in an evacuated quartz capsule along with a large zinc source of fine a brass chips and then diffusing the zinc into the specimen through the vapor phase. The zinc concentration at the specimen surface rises rapidly enough to a value near that of the a brass source so that the surface concentration may be regarded as constant during diffusion. Under these boundary conditions, values of the chemical diffu-sivity may be obtained by applying the Boltzmann-Matano analysis to the concentration penetration curve, and the intrinsic diffusivities may be obtained from Darken&apos;s5 equations when the velocity of marker movement is known. The diffusion specimens were made from OFHC copper in the form of disks 3.2 cm diam and 0.5 cm thick with faces surface-ground parallel to within +0.001 cm. Markers in the form of fine alumina particles <0.0002 cm diam were placed on the specimen surface. These specimens were then sealed in quartz capsules along with enough a brass chips of a 30.0 atomic pct Zn composition to keep the source concentration from decreasing by more than 0.3 atomic pct Zn as a result of the loss of zinc to the specimen during diffusion. The quartz capsules which were initially evacuated to a pressure of

Jan 1, 1956

By Fred E. Carter

AT first sight, the platinum group of metals seem of little import to we, the people," although actually the life of the common man is much influenced by them; this influence is usually indirect, hence his lack of knowledge and interest. He generally associates platinum with high-class jewelry and lets it go at that. Were 11e to go deeper, he would find that platinum metals play their part in his food supply, his clothing. his health, his transportation, his home. And the technical man is in general only slightly better informed, for he usually does not realize how necessary platinum metals are in the manufacture of the many construction materials and chemical products with which he is acquainted. Certainly, our daily lives would be profoundly affected if platinum were suddenly to become unavailable.

Jan 1, 1944

By R. W., Ludt

THE use of froth flotation for the separation of minerals has become one of the most important of ore dressing processes. Its particular adaptability to the enrichment of low grade ores has made the process an important factor in the national economy. The methods have been extended to the recovery of a great number of minerals. Among the few minerals which have resisted efforts toward industrial flotation is chrysocolla, a hydrated partly colloidal copper silicate. Chrysocolla, being a product of natural oxidation, has been found to occur in small quantities with many ores which are recovered by flotation methods. In present practice, these small quantities of copper silicate pass off with the tailings and are lost. The advantages to be gained by a satisfactory process for the recovery of chrysocolla is apparent. Any application of principles which points a way toward the satisfactory industrial flotation process for copper silicate would be of advantage. This paper presents an attack on this problem.

Jan 1, 1949