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By Theodore Simons

During the last half century a great amount of ingenuity and energy has been devoted to the invention of appliances for the recovery of valuable minerals from very fine sands and slimes. The reason for this is that in almost every dressing plant the greatest losses of values, considered relatively as well as absolutely, occur in the treatment of slimes. The natural aim of mill operators to minimize these losses has in recent years received another impetus, from the fact that the gradually diminishing occurrence of high-grade ores makes a more intense recovery of values from existing resources absolutely necessary for profitable operation. The results of such attempts are found in the appearance of a great number of machines and appliances which make it profitable to-day to rework old clumps, containing the tailings of older processes. A constantly growing difficulty of obtaining skilled labor and the increase in wages made it prohibitory to employ those types of machines which required much attention, and in the middle of the ninieteenth century the various concentrating tables of the percussion type, which automatically discharge their products, began to take the place of the intermittent tables, on which, when the bed had reached a certain thickness, operation had to be stopped in order to allow the skimming by hand of the separate layers formed on the table. In the course of years, two general types of machines evolved for the treatment of fine sands arid slimes: The so-called concentrators and vanners, on the one hand, and the buddles and round tables on the other.' For the profitable treatment of the very finest slimes, round tables have as a last resort proved more satisfactory and econoillical than other machines. In recent years they have agaiu become the subject of close inves-

Jan 1, 1914

By C. W. Robinson

Transportation is the minerals business. Once upon a time the geologist, the engineer and later the metallurgist reigned supreme, but the leading role in mineral development today is the economist-especially the transportation economist. Obviously this trend is more important for large volume, low value mine-to-market movements of such commodities as iron ore, phosphate, potash, coal and petroleum. But, transportation is of sufficient importance to all mining activities to be included in forward planning. Civilization has been influenced by transportation developments to an extent little understood or appreciated. Although industrialists are capable of intelligent historical analysis of this phenomenon, too frequently they have failed to project, or anticipate those changes in transportation techniques which will influence the pattern of industrial growth.

Jan 1, 1971

By R. E. Miner, J. K. Jackson, D. F. Gibbons

Internal-friction measurements were made during isothermal aging treatments of 18 pct Ni maraging-steel wires between 420° and 612°C. A sharp initial drop in the internal-friction level was interpreted in terms of a rapid dislocation recovery reaction. The rate of the recovery was found to be independent of temperature. Truncation of the recovery reaction was apparent in those systems that exhibited the rapid age-hardening characteristics of the maraging steels. It is proposed that this initial hardening response is the result of a low activation energy preprecipitation reaction involving molybdenum. A gradual rise in the internal-friction level at longer aging times was associated with the precipitation of a molybdenum-containing precipitate. CONSIDERABLE research effort has recently been devoted to the mechanisms responsible for the high strength and toughness of 18 pct Ni maraging steels. These bcc martensitic alloys are found to harden during aging at temperatures between 400° and 600°C. The aging response is very rapid with more than half the total hardness increase occurring within the first few minutes of aging, Fig. 1. Precipitate particles have been observed in the later stages of aging by a number of investigators.'-' While the identity of the precipitates remains the subject of some controversy, one or more of the intermetallic compounds, Ni3Mo, Ni3Ti, and Fe2Mo, are almost certainly involved. Heterogeneous nucleation of precipitates at dislocations has been noted8 and cobalt is believed to enhance the formation of fine, homogeneously distributed particles by lowering the solubility of the alloying elements in the martensitic matrix.3,7 Transmission electron microscopy studies of the initial hardening behavior have not been fruitful. Strengthening mechanisms based on atomic ordering have not been generally supported by X-ray and neutron-diffraction experiments.9 In the present investigation, the aging reaction was studied using isothermal-aging internal-friction measurements. The marked sensitivity of internal friction to short-range diffusion and precipitation processes has provided a convenient tool for the elucidation of the strengthening mechanisms operative in the maraging steels. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE An upright torsion pendulum was used to measure the internal friction of several maraging steels during isothermal aging. The pendulum was placed in an atmosphere of helium at a pressure slightly less than atmospheric. To permit measurement of internal friction during the first minutes of aging, the specimens were rapidly heated by passing a current through them in a manner similar to that described by Ang and Wert.10 Thermal gradients in the specimen were largely eliminated by using specially designed specimen grips11 which produced temperature variations of less than 1 pct over 90 pct of the specimen length and less than 3 pct over the entire length at aging temperatures up to 620°C. A proportioning strip-chart program controller was employed to maintain constant specimen temperature during treatments of up to 36 hr duration. A number of vacuum-melted laboratory heats having compositions near that of a typical commercial 18Ni-7Co-5Mo-0.4Ti alloy were investigated. The amount of cobalt was varied from 0 to 7 wt pct in five of the heats. Either molybdenum or titanium was omitted in the remaining two heats. The alloy desig-

Jan 1, 1967

[ ] DISCUSSION F A LORIA*-The method of testing gun steel for resistance to surface cracking described in this paper was restricted to the examination of small, rod-shaped specimens The writer would like to point out the importance of other factors in producing defects in forged and bored gun tubes which would not be apparent in this investigation because of the nature of )he test Actual section size would accentuate the possibility of internal wall (bore) defects arising from unequal expansion between the internal and external wall surfaces on firing, resulting in internal tearing Checks and tears on the inside walls arise from internal tensions and nonuniformity on cooling, but the internal tearing can be reduced by using alloys of low expansion and of good thermal conductivity so as to reduce the difference between the outer and inner wall surfaces Also, the possibility of the location of inclusion segregates within a machined gun tube becomes more likely than in a small test specimen The effect of these nonmetallics on gun life and performance is evident when one realizes that the inclusions are soft yet brittle They reduce the amount of plastic deformation which can take place before cohesive failure occurs Once localized fracture has occurred at the position of a chain of these inclusions, a sharp notch (crack) is formed which produces stress conditions more favorable to cohesive failure than to plastic deformation These cracks aid erosion by providing channelways for the explosive gases, eventually leading to the tearing out or spalling of blocks of metal Oxidation of the surface may be partly responsible for the change in the surface of gun steel during firing observed by the author The appearance of burn on the surface is an indication that high temperatures were reached on firing, resulting in a slight oxidation of the surface Since the color of the oxidized film depends on both temperature and time, a higher temperature is required for a given color to form when it is caused by explosive heat, which acts for only an extremely short time at a given spot, than when it is caused by ordinary tempering The cross section of the gun steel specimen, Fig 16, illustrates that the repeated firing temperatures were high enough to cause

Jan 1, 1948

By T. L. Berger, M. C. lnman, M. F. Rose

AFTER shock loading, mechanical twinning has been observed by several authors1-4 for a variety of fcc metals and alloys. It has been shown2,3 that low stacking fault energy materials deform primarily by the formation of mechanical twins and stacking faults during dynamic loading. Further, Inman, Murr, and Rose2 have shown that a correlation exists between the average hardness and the volume percent of mechanically twinned material in stainless steel. It has been observed in nickel' that mechanical twins are produced during shock deformation if the peak pressure associated with the shock wave is greater than 350kbar. It is the purpose of this work to discuss shock-hardening mechanisms in nickel and to determine to what extent the initial condition influences the final response. The "flying plate technique" was used to generate planar shock waves with peak pressures as high as 710 kbar. The details of the technique5" have been discussed elsewhere and will not be repeated here. The material used in this study was polycrystalline nickel of 99.98 pct purity and had an initial grain size of 0.18 mm. Prior to any deformation, all samples were given a stress-relief anneal of 6 hr at 600°C in a vacuum furnace. After annealing, the initial condition of the samples was changed by cold rolling individual samples from 0 pct to a maximum of 80 pct reduction in thickness. This provided samples with controlled initial histories for shock deformation. Immediately after shock loading, the specimens were slowed and quenched by suitable arrangement of buffer material and water bath. This technique minimized specimen damage and the effects of shock heating on the samples. Since deformation twins in high stacking fault energy fcc metals are only produced at high stress levels, the initial defect configuration prior to mechanical twinning should greatly influence the number of twins formed. In fact, Zukas and Fowler7 have found that prestraining in iron and steel greatly suppresses the formation of mechanical twins during the shock deformation process. Following the methods of Warren and warekois8 and Cohen and Wagner,9 X-ray diffraction profile analysis was performed to determine the incidence of stacking faults and mechanical twins in the deformed nickel. Analysis was made on samples in the annealed, cold-rolled, shock-loaded, and cold-rolled—shock-loaded states. The estimated accuracy of the peak position measurements is *0.01 deg in 2?. Therefore the accuracy in the measurement of the relative peak shifts between the (400) and (222) diffraction line profiles is on the order of *0.04 deg in 2?. None of our measurements indicated peak shifts greater than 0.04 in 28. This would correspond to a fault density of -1 pct and sets the limit on the sensitivity of our instrument. Similarly, analysis of the shift in the center of gravity of the diffraction line profiles yields the minimum measurable value of the twin fault probabilitya to be -0.002. Fig. 1 shows mechanical twinning in nickel shock-loaded to 400 kbar. In this photograph, fault intersections are clearly visible. The thickness of the individual fault lamellae was determined from the image widths of their lines of intersections by the

Jan 1, 1968

By A. Rosenzweig, M. M. Karnowsky

The generalized binary diagram of the Au-Sn-Pb system is presented. The chief characteristic is the pseudobinary between lead and AuSn. On the high-gold side of the pseudobinary, four reaction isotherms were found at 363°, 274°, 225°, and 204°C. On the low-gold side of the pseudobinary, three reaction isotherms at 277°, 205°, and 176°C were found. A vertical section from the eutectic solder composition to gold was developed from the isothermal sections generated. METALLURGICAL problems arising from the intentional or accidental formation of Au-Sn-Pb alloys in soldering applications have indicated a need for information on the phase equilibria in this ternary system. The literature indicates that a complete diagram presenting this information has not been prepared. Even the recent excellent work by prince' entitled "The Au-Pb-Sn Ternary System" actually extends only to the AuSn or 50 at. pct Au range. There are more events in the 50 to 100 at. pct Au than in the less than 50 at. pct range. This article by Prince furnished much guidance in preparing this report. Initial efforts with the isopleth from the eutectic solder composition 61.9 wt pct Sn-38.1 wt pct Pb and 0 to 90 wt pct Au indicated that extensions of the work to the whole of the diagram (even if in less detail) were necessary to understand this system. In undertaking the construction of such a diagram, this study used differential thermal analyses (DTA) and metallography with verification and identification of phases by electron microprobe analyses. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The procedure began with the development of a cell which would be unreactive with lead, tin, and gold, retain its strength to 1100°C, exclude oxygen, and also furnish a suitable well for insertion and protection of a thermocouple to monitor temperature changes in the material. Such a cell would make it possible to reuse the sample should a repetition of determination be desired. Fig. 1 is a photograph of two such quartz cells as finally developed. The specimens have been run many times. The cell is made up of an inner sample bucket and an outer capsule with a thermocouple well which the sample surrounds. The DTA unit was an assembly devised from available instrumentation. The sample holder was a 3-in.-long cylinder of nickel, 2 1/2 in. in diam, fitted securely in a vertical tube furnace. Two holes 7/8 in. in diam were symmetrically located to receive the quartz cells. A dummy cell with nickel powder was used as the reference. The absolute temperature was recorded with a Pt/Pt 10-pct Rh thermocouple with an automatic Kaye ice bath compensator. (Calibration indicated the compensator to be accurate to better than ±0.5° over the 100° to 1000°C range.) The absolute temperature was measured in the sample and recorded on an L&N mul-tirange recorder with a full-scale display of 1 mv and automatic ranging of 99 mv. The differential signal between the sample temperature and the reference temperature was amplified with an L&N microvolt amplifier and recorded on an L&N Speedomax G recorder. Since two charts were obtained, the chart speeds were equalized and each event was noted on the differential chart, and the temperature at that time was obtained from the temperature record.

Jan 1, 1969

By Franklin Bache

THERE seems to be in the public mind, and even in the minds of some coal-operators not experienced in mines subject to dust-explosions, a feeling that there has been something mysterious at the bottom of a number of recent American colliery-explosions. It has been declared in cases of accidents in mines regarded as particularly well equipped, in which every preventive precaution was said to have been taken, that the explosions were incomprehensible, and resulted from causes beyond the present knowledge of the practical coal-operator. But it is safe to say that no explosion has taken place which could not be explained by reasons well understood by most operators. The LT. S. Geological Survey Test Laboratory, recently inaugurated at Pittsburg for the reported purpose of investigating scientifically the matter of explosions in mines, will discover no new explanation of explosions. It call, however, co-ordinate the previous investigations of similar boards in England and on the Continent; and it may do a vast amount of good by promulgating widely, and in a form comprehensible by the most unlettered miner, certain facts and obvious deductions that cannot but have an effect in reducing the number and extent of the mine-disasters which, in the last few years, have been so terrible in frequency and magnitude. The only possible sources of explosions of any magnitude in coal-mines are : (1) explosives stored in quantity in the mine; (2) gases generated or liberated in the mine; and (3) coal-dust. Combinations of any of the three may, of course, take part in the result. The danger of any great loss of life from stored explosives alone is very remote. The simplest ordinary precaution forbids the presence, in one place underground, of any considerable quantity of explosives, and it would require an

Aug 1, 1909

By G. W. Tracy, R. D. Carter

Numerical calculations were made to determine the behavior of reservoirs with high-pressure drawdown and wide well spacing where the initial productivity is low and the wells are completed by hydraulic fracturing. The two-phase flow equations were solved for the flow into a single well. This well was assumed to be producing from a reservoir with hydraulically created horizontal fractures (four different systems with fractures were studied). For comparison purposes, additional two-phase flow calculations were made assuming a reservoir with uniform rock properties. The two-phase flow results were also compared with the conventional calculation methods, which do not include the effect of saturation gradients resulting from a simultaneous flow of oil and gas which are normal to this type reservoir. It was found that the conventional methods predict (1) a high and too optimistic value of ultimate recovery, (2) a high producing rate and a high reservoir pressure at a given oil recovery and (3) a low trend of gas-oil ratio with oil recovery. Included in the two-phase flow calculations were provisions to control the oil production rate by an allowable rate and, also, by a gas-oil ratio penalty rule. For the systems with hydraulic fractures, the producing rate was controlled by the gas-oil ratio penalty rule for most of the life. This is in contrast to the system with uniform rock properties which went "on decline" almost immediately. An unexpected characteristic of the systems which included fractures was the early rise in producing gas-oil ratio from 730 cu ft/bbl to approximately 1,200 cu ft/bbl, followed by a "leveling off" before the normally expected gas-oil ratio rise began. Additional features which are a result of hydraulic fracturing are (I) greater ultimate recovery, (2) higher average producing rates and (3) a lower average reservoir pressure at a given oil recovery. INTRODUCTION Some oil fields discovered during the past few years are producing from certain volumetric ally controlled reservoirs (often referred to as solution or internal gas- drive reservoirs) which are characterized by high-pressure drawdown at the wells. Since the available pressure drawdown at a well is limited by the static reservoir pressure and the producing rate is controlled by the available drawdown, wells completed in this type of reservoir usually produce at a rate less than the allowable from the time of completion. Because of this, this type of reservoir is referred to as a low productivity reservoir. Economic considerations require the use of wide well spacing and well stimulation by hydraulic fracturing to make commercial wells in this type of reservoir. Performance predictions for volumetrically controlled reservoirs have been made using a combination of two standard equations. 1. The "Schilthuis" or "Muskat" type material balance equation is used to relate the average reservoir pressure and the cumulative oil recovery. 2. The results from the material balance equation and the productivity factor as described by Pirson' are used to relate the cumulative recovery with producing rate and time. The material balance equation assumed uniform pressure and liquid saturation conditions throughout a reservoir. The steady-state radial flow formula allows for a pressure gradient toward a well but assumes uniform liquid saturation. These calculation methods are adequate for application to reservoirs wherein the drawdown at the well to realize satisfactory producing rates is small compared to the total pressure. In low productivity, volumetrically controlled reservoirs, the pressure drawdown at the well is large cornpared to the total pressure. Although a precise number cannot be given for the magnitude of a large pressure drawdown, values in excess of 1,000 psi would definitely be included. For practical considerations, this usually occurs when the formation flow capacity is less than about 100 md-ft. However, this limit of formation flow capacity will vary with the well producing rate. The low pressure in the neighborhood of the well which results from a high drawdown causes evolution of large volumes of gas. This causes the gas saturation to be higher near the well than at a greater distance—-hence, a non-uniform gas saturation. Also, the relationship between the relative permeability to oil (K/K) and gas saturation is nonlinear but decreases approximately in an exponential way with increases in gas saturation. Because of this, the following chain reaction is established.

By AIME AIME

ALMOST as many attended the annual dinner this year as last, when the presence of Mr. Hoover was such an attraction that almost two-thirds more than had ever attended before were present. Only by putting the late comers at tables in the balcony could everybody be accommodated. Past President De-Golyer was the toastmaster and in opening the post-prandial exercises referred to the regrettable fact that this was the last of the long series of dinners which have been held at the Waldorf, as the hotel will be torn down to give way to an office building before another year. To the delight of the gathering "Oscar" appeared and, in a delightfully brief but characteristic speech, referred to the long association that had existed and hinted that a new Waldorf-Astoria may arise, where the Institute could continue to gather annually in an enlarged replica of the room they had met in so long. Before taking up the presentation of the medals, Mr. DeGolyer referred to the Institute's "Legion of Honor," the 34 men who have been members continuously for over fifty years. For various reasons only five of them, W. S. Ayres, F. G. Corning, Henry D. Hibbard, A. F. Schneider and Arthur Thacher, could be present. They were all seated at the speaker's table, and W. S. Ayres, 56 years a member, as the dean of the group, was called on to respond for them all. He said: "The introduction I have just received would indicate that this particular group of men to which I belong is considered by the chairman to be a group of real antiques. Possibly you are questioning the accuracy of his judgment. I hope you are, although there may be some first-sight evidences tending to substantiate the view held by the chairman.

Jan 1, 1929

By Bernard H. Coyle, Robert N. Anderson, Judith A. Koperski

Between 6 and 8 million cars are shredded annually in the U.S. This shredded material is magnetically separated leaving a mixture of nonmetallics and nonferrous metals which can be further separated into its metallic and nonmetallic constituents. The metallic portion is a mixture of metalr; and alloys containing predominately zinc, and some aluminum, copper, and residual iron. Hydrometallurgical strategies are proposed for recovering the aluminum, copper, and zinc. The thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of the most promising alternatives to separation are discussed.

Jan 1, 1978

SME Membership Directory Listings of record March 31, 1072 SOCIETY OF MINING ENGINEERS OF AIME

Jan 7, 1972

By J. M. W. Mackenzie, M. H. Buckenam

Flotation experiments using stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and ricinoleic acids and naturally occuring products rich in these acids as collectors for calcite are described. The results confirm the validity of the rule of Hukki and Vartiainen relating the collecting power and unsaturation of the C18 acids. Reasons for this relationship are discussed and a close relationship between mineral depression and critical micelle concentration is reported. It has long been recognized that the unsaturated fatty acids are in general superior flotation collectors to their saturated homologues. Whereas earlier workers concentrated on saturated and monoethe-noid acids, recent investigations have centered on oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and the substituted mono-ethenoid acid: ricinoleic. From studies of the collecting properties of palmitic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids on ilmenite, rutile, hematite, and magnetite, Hukki and Vartiai-nenl concluded that the collecting power of fatty acids increased with unsaturation of the hydrocarbon chain. Sun, Snow, and Purcel12 investigated the collecting properties of unsaturated fatty acids as collectors for phosphate ores and concluded that the collecting power increased with increasing unsaturation of the hydrocarbon chain up to two double bonds and that further unsaturation decreased the collecting power. More recently Sun3 studied the collecting power of the C18 fatty acids stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic on 37 minerals. The results of these experiments with a few exceptions showed that the collecting power of the acids increased in the order stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic. The relative collecting powers of linoleic and linolenic acids were in many cases altered by the cleanliness of the mineral surface prior to flotation. Sun concluded that linolenic acid may become oxidized by atmospheric oxygen during flotation, a reaction which would reduce its effectiveness as a collector. This deduction is supported by Gaudin and Cole4 who concluded that oleic and linoleic acids do not undergo appreciable oxidation of the double bonds during flotation but that the linolenic acid double bonds are measurably affected. The most complete investigation on the influence of hydrocarbon chain unsaturation on the collecting properties of fatty acids is that of Kivalo and Lehm~svaara.~ These workers using linolenic acid of a higher purity than Hukki and Vartiainen showed that this acid was superior to oleic and linoleic acids as a collector for magnetite. They also found that ricinoleic acid was a more effective collector for this mineral than the other acids investigated, an observation particularly apparent at high collector concentrations. Seeking to explain the superiority of the unsaturated acids these authors considered the effects of critical micelle concentration, surface activity, hydrolysis, and cross sectional area of the hydrocarbon chain in relation to unsaturation. Using what, according to the results of Caviere are erroneous surface tensions of the soap solutions of these acids, they concluded that the surface activity decreases and the critical micelle concentration increases with increasing unsaturation. In view of the data of Cavier, whose results show that surface activity of these soaps increases with unsaturation, the deductions of Kivalo and Lehmusvaara are open to criticism. The degree of hydrolysis of the soap solutions as measured by Kivalo and Lehmusvaara decreases as the unsaturation of the fatty acid increases, a result which helps to explain the superiority of unsaturated acids as collectors. In view of the superiority of unsaturated acids as collectors for many minerals, attention has been directed towards the utilization of fatty acid raw materials such as tall oils and linseed oils which contain considerable quantities of these acids. This paper describes test work to determine the effect of unsaturation of the hydrocarbon chain on the collecting properties of fatty acids on calcite, and includes comparable test work using natural products rich in unsaturated acids. TEST WORK Reagents: The pure fatty acids used were oleic, linoleic, and linolenic. Of these, oleic was supplied by British Drug Houses Ltd. and the others were produced by the Hormel Inst. When not in use these

Jan 1, 1961

By W. E. Quist, R. Taggart, D. H. Polonis, C. J. van der Wekken

An intermediate compound that has been identified as Niab is observed to form as a decomposition product from supersaturaled Ni-Nb solid solutions during aging at temperatures between approximately 300" and 500°C. On the basis of data from electron microscopy and selected-area diffraction, the structure of this compound has been determined as fct with a = b - 3a0 and c = a, wlzere a,, is the lattice parameter of the parent solid solution. The compound consists of close-packed layers with triangular ordering, where the niobiutrl atoms are separated by two nickel atoms ([long- close?-packed directions. A nine layer stacking sequence is required to describe the proposed structure. STUDIES of the Ni-Nb binary system have been limited primarily to phase diagram determinations,'-4 investigations of high-temperature equilibrium phases,5"1 and the determination of the influence of deformation on the structure of the equilibrium compound.8 The nickel-rich portion of the binary system is reported to be of the simple eutectic type in which the maximum solubility of 12.7 at. pct Nb occurs at 1282"c.' The two-phase field below the eutectic temperature is bounded by the a fcc solid solution and an orthorhombic Ni3Nb compound. No metastable phases have been reported in previous investigations. In transformation studies of certain nickel-base commercial alloys that contain niobium, two ordered metastable compounds containing niobium have been shown to precipitate from the solid solution, both of which have been identified as y' and have the composition NisNb or Ni,Nb. One compound has been reported to have the bct DOz2 type Al3Ti structure" and the other the cubic LI2 type Cu3Au structure.9,11 In the present work on Ni-Nb binary alloys a metastable y' compound has not been detected after conventional quenching and aging treatments. An anomalous behavior was noted in electrical resistivity measurements. in alloys containing between 7 to 12 at. pct Nb when aging treatments were performed below 500°C after fast quenching from 1250°C. Transmission electron microscopy has shown that this behavior is caused by the formation of a low-temperature precipitate of unreported structure type and composition. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Several Ni-Nb alloys, containing up to 11.5 at. pct Nb. were prepared by either levitation melting and casting in copper molds or by induction melting in alumina crucibles; both techniques employed purified helium gas as a protective atmosphere. The purity of the nickel and niobium used to make the alloys was 99.98 wt pct Ni and 99.9 wt pct Nb. The composition and homogeneity of the alloys were checked by weight measurements and by electron microprobe analysis. The induction-melted alloys were homogenized for 100 hr at 1100°C. The resistivity specimens were prepared from rods swaged to 2.5 mm and the electron microscopy specimens were cut from sheet that was rolled to 0.4 mm and thinned using a modified Bollmann technique." The elevated-temperature solution treatments were carried out in a purified helium atmosphere followed by direct quenching into a 10 pct NaCl solution at 23°C. Additional protection against oxidation of the samples during solution treatment was accomplished by using tantalum foil as a "getter" in the furnace. The specimens were aged at various temperatures in salt baths controlled to +2oC. A Leeds and Northrup K5 potentiometer was used to make electrical resistivity measurements on specimens immersed in liquid nitrogen. Electron microscopy and diffraction studies were carried out with JEM-7 and Philips EM-200 microscopes operating at 100 kv. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Ni-Nb alloys containing between 7 and 11.5 at. pct Nb that have been solution-treated in the range 1220" to 1280°C and quenched to 23°C undergo a precipitation reaction when aged in the temperature range 300" to 500°C. Precipitation was detected by selected-area electron diffraction after aging a specimen for as little as 30 sec at 350°C) whereas the reaction was well-advanced after aging for 150 hr at 475°C. Electrical resistivity measurements were used to monitor the progress of the precipitation reaction. In the present experiments the nucleation process for precipitation required a high solution temperature and a rapid quench into brine. The presence of aluminum, iron? and carbon in amounts totaling less than 1 wt pct was found by electron diffraction to completely suppress the formation of the low-temperature precipitate that has been detected in the binary alloy. Electron diffraction techniques were used to determine the structure of the precipitates that formed during the decomposition of the Ni-Nb supersaturated solid solutions. Figs. l(a) through l(d) show electron diffraction patterns oriented to the [loo], [110], [lll], and [I031 zone axes of the matrix. Areas of reciprocal space between these sections were investigated by slowly varying the orientations of the crystal under study; this procedure revealed no reflections other than those depicted in Fig. 1. The presence of super-lattice reflections at points coincident with the matrix reflections was confirmed by the examination of an almost completely transformed structure. On the basis of the accumulated diffraction data, the reciprocal lat-

Jan 1, 1970

By A. L. Moore

KAISER Bauxite Co., a subsidiary of Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., has been mining and shipping Jamaican bauxite for over a year. On Feb. 10, 1953 the first boat load of bauxite left Port Kaiser, Jamaica, for the company's alumina plant at Baton Rouge, La. To provide its own source of the aluminum ore, a Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. exploration party started initial reconnaissance in 1947. This work, and subsequent exploration, led to the acquisition of reserves sufficient to warrant a full-scale mining operation for several decades.

Jan 3, 1954

[†AARONSON, ALFRED E., Vice-Pres., Mid-Co. Petroleum Co., Mid-Co. Bldg. Tulsa, Okla. '18 ABADIE, EMILE R., Min. Engr Address wanted. '76 ¦ABADILLA, QUIRICO A. Geol. Dept. Cia. Mexicans de Petroleo "El Aguila," S. A., Edifico "El Aguila," Esq., Calles Aurora y Comercio,] [ ]

Jan 1, 1925

By R. L. Dietrich

Magnesium alloy sheet has less ability to accept bending at room temperature than most of the heavier metals. In work designed to improve the bend properties, the preferred orientation of the sheet is of major importance as it is in all studies of the properties of wrought magnesium products. When rolled into sheet, all of the common magnesium alloys form an orientation texture having the basal (002) planes approaching parallel to the surface of the sheet. This texture is only slightly affected by annealing. Magnesium single crystals are highly anisotropic, and, as might be expected, so are magnesium alloy wrought products in which a strong preferred orientation is developed. It is therefore not surprising that bend properties are affected by orientation. Ansel and Betterton1 reported that the orientation of AZ3lXt sheet varies from surface to center and that bend properties are improved by etching away the sharply oriented material at the surface of the sheet to reach the more broadly oriented structure below. This paper covers a study of that orientation, either during the rolling process or by treatment of the finished sheet, in an effort to improve the bend properties and toughness of sheet. Literature The orientation texture of magnesium and magnesium alloy sheet has been studied extensively. Early determinations2 showed that pure magnesium sheet has a preferred orientation in which the basal planes are parallel to the sheet surface within very narrow limits. J. C. hIcDonald3 and J. D. Hanawalt4 reported that sheet containing a small amount of calcium develops a "double" texture, that is, the majority of the basal planes are a few degrees from parallel to the surface and there is a noticeable vacancy at the parallel position. Bakarian5 made careful quantitative pole figures of both pure magnesium sheet and MI alloy SEPTEMBER 1949 sheet which show these features. In all of these studies, however, the orientation was determined by transmission methods in which the resulting pattern is an average through the thickness of the sheet. The tendency of wrought metal to exhibit a different orientation at the surface from that in the center has been reported by many investigators. G. von Vargha and G. Wasserman6 found that with copper, aluminum, iron, and brass the textures of rolled compared to drawn wires were the same at the center but differed markedly at the surface. It was also reported by investigators7 that the orientation of rolled aluminum varies from surface to center. Har-greaves8 found that the surface texture of AM503 (magnesium alloy similar to MI) sheet was different from the center texture. It is reported by Edmunds and Fuller9 that zinc alloy sheet sometimes had a thin layer at the surface with a strong orientation of the basal planes parallel to the surface, which, if present, impaired the bend properties of the sheet. Part1 Surface Orientation ofMag- nesium Alloy Sheet and the Effect on Properties Attempts to correlate the bend properties of magnesium alloy sheet with tension ductility over short gauge lengths proved unsuccessful and the subsequent investigation showed that nonuniformity in orientation is a con- tributing factor as the properties of the surface material have a much more important effect in bending than in tension. A program to study the relationship between surface orientation at the surface and bend properties was then undertaken. First, the effect of etching away the surface of sheet on the bend properties and the orientations at the various depths were studied. Sheet samples of M1, AZ31X, and AZ61X were etched in dilute nitric acid to remove the surface material for various depths to 0.015 in. As may be seen in Table 1, the minimum bend radius improved considerably as the surface layers were etched away but it was necessary to etch the sheet quite deeply, much more so than was found necessary by Edmunds and Fuller9 on zinc sheet. It is also apparent that the amount of etching required is a function of the sheet thickness. In all of this work, radii were measured as R/t, the radius divided by the sheet thickness, in order to eliminate the effect of the reduction in sheet thickness produced by the etching. To determine the orientation texture of the sheet, X ray reflection patterns were taken using copper radiation with the bearn striking the specimen at an angle of 17' to the surface, which is the Bragg angle for the (002) planes of magnesium. Two exposures were made of each specimen, one with the beam perpendicular to the rolling direction and the other with the beam parallel to the rolling direction. The symmetry of the preferred orientation in magnesium sheet is such that these two photographs gave an approximation of the pole figure sufficiently accurate for qualitative work and it was not thought worthwhile to make complete pole figures. These X ray patterns show that the orientation has a much narrower spread at the original surface of the sheet than below the surface. The narrow spread is found in sheet having the majority of the basal planes (002) parallel to the surface, and since this is an unfavorable position for slip, it is

Jan 1, 1950

By D. de Fontaine

A convolution procedure is described for obtaining an analytical expression for the composition profiles of solute concentration:; in binary solid solutions. The free energy of solutions containing such compositional inhomogeneities can then be evaluated and the stability of spherically symmetric clusters (G.P. zones, for short) us a function of their radii and central compositions can be studied accordingly. Two characteristic zone radii are defined: the minimum radius (RM) corresponding to the smallest zone for which growth is energetically favored over dissolution, and the critical radius RK) corresponding to zones associated with the minimum work of formation. The values of RM and RK coincide at the two classical limits of nucleation and growth and spinodal decomposition. As the spinodal is approached, however, RM and RK diverge increasingly and it is proposed that the initial] decomposition morphology is governed more closely by the minimum, rather than by the critical radius since the former possesses no singularity within the m eta stable phase boundary. Reversion is briefly discussed in the light of the foregoing and it is shown that a set of reversion temperatures located between the coherent miscibility gap and the coherent spinodal must correspond to a given distribution of low temperature zones. SINCE the early works of Guinier1 and preston,2 the kinetics and morphology of GP zones have been studied extensively, see Ref. 3, for example, for a recent review. Nevertheless, a completely satisfying theoretical treatment of the decomposition of meta-stable or unstable binary solid solutions is still lacking due to the almost unsurmountable mathematical difficulties that one encounters in attempting to solve the pertinent diffusion equation which, in principle, describes the whole process. This equation, first derived by Cahn for the initial stages of spinodal decomposition,4 is a nonlinear partial differential equation of the fourth order in anisotropic space, a general analytical solution of which is completely out of the question. From this equation, some prediction can be made, however, concerning the later stages of spinodal decomposition5 and a recent numerical solution6 of the equation in the case of one- and two-dimensional composition modulations of a solid solution inside the spinodal has led to the following considerations: the sinusoidal morphology7 is to be expected only for solutions of average composition c, located near the center of the coherent miscibility gap.8 For solutions with co closer to the spinodal decomposition, depleted shell zones9 should constitute the first recognizable decomposition product, later evolving to iso- lated, enriched preprecipitates in a uniformly depleted matrix as this must, in all cases, constitute the final metastable morphology, barring, of course, loss of coherency and change in crystal structure. In agreement with the qualitative description of Bonfiglioli and Guinier,l0 it thus appears that the various models discussed by previous authors are, in fact, idealized successive stages of the general decomposition process. Unfortunately, corresponding calculations for a solid solution outside the spinodal are not yet available because of two additional difficulties: it is essential that the diffusion equation be solved in three-dimensional space, and furthermore, one must include in the equation an appropriate "source term" describing the statistics of the creation of composition fluctuations required to trigger the nucleation events. At present, a general treatment of this problem does not appear to be tractable. Nevertheless, by using a modelistic approach, i.e., by selecting a priori certain composition variation profiles and by evaluating their associated free energies, one can draw certain conclusions relative to the stability of these isolated composition modulations or "zones", both outside and inside the spinodal. This is the object of the present investigation. THEORY We shall now describe a standard four-parameter spherically symmetric GP zone, evaluate its free energy according to the Cahn and Hilliard11 formula (Eq. [5], below), and plot the corresponding energy surfaces as a function of zone amplitude and radius as

Jan 1, 1970

By Philip Kraft

WHEN it came time to write a biography of Philip Kraft, we got out a copy of Bartlett's "Familiar Quotations" and looked through the references to Travel, Traveled, Traveler, and Traveling, feeling sure there would be some reference to Mr. Kraft. Sure enough, we found: "Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience." Had Francis Bacon done his writing three and a half centuries later, Mr. Kraft might well have served as the inspiration for that sentence. New Yorker born, he received his B.S. and E. M. degrees from Columbia. In 1912, then 22 years old, he took off for Germany where he spent two years studying at the Royal School of Mines, Berlin, for his Doctor of Engineering degree. Contrary to the Greeley-Soule precept, Mr. Kraft, on his return from Europe, went north to South Porcupine. Ont., working as geologist and mining engineer for the Dome Mine. From South Porcupine his next stop was Washington, D. C., where, during the years the country was in the first World War, he was engaged in war work.

Jan 1, 1947

By Hans Lundberq

WHEN geophysical methods were first employed in the search for ore deposits and oil accumulations, it was hoped that they would provide a direct means of locating such concentrations. Magnetized needles were used long ago in prospecting for magnetic iron ore, and soon after the discovery of galvanism in about 1790 attempts were made to find concentrations of valuable minerals electrically. Evidence indicating that the early geophyeical instruments were regarded merely as improved divining or dowsing rods is to be seen in the names "mineral finders," "ore finders," etc., that were applied to them. Today, appellations of this kind raise serious doubts in informed minds as to the intelligence and integrity of individuals advocating the use of such euphemistically named methods or instruments, for experience and research have shown that, geophysical, it is never a question of directly locating a given mineral but merely of delimiting its possible occurrence.

Jan 1, 1939

By P. E. Arnold, G. S. Ansell

RELAXATION in metals has been studied in detail by many workers in recent years.1-5 These studies have shown that there is an energy-loss peak observed in a metal placed in mechanical resonance at low frequencies which may be correlated with various metallurgical processes. These experiments have been largely used to study single-phase materials. In order to study the effect of a finely dispersed second phase in a metal matrix upon this phenomenon, the relaxation behavior of an aluminum-aluminum oxide SAP-Type alloy in both the fine-grained as-extruded and coarse-grained recrystallized conditions was investigated by the use of internal-friction measurements. The alloys studied, designated MD 2100, consist of a matrix of commercial-purity aluminum containing a finely dispersed second phase of aluminum oxide. The aluminum oxide is present in this alloy in the form of fine platelets approximately 130A units thick and several microns on edge. The mean free path betwen dispersed platelets is approximately 0.5 p. The grain size of this alloy is extremely stable at temperatures as high as the melting temperature of the aluminum matrix. In the as-extruded condition the grain diameter is several microns, while in the recrystallized condition it is several millimeters in diameter. The damping characteristics of the alloy samples were determined using a torsional-pendulum device. The internal-friction constant was determined for this alloy in both the fine-grained as-extruded and coarse-grained recrystallized conditions over the temperature range from 343" to 923°K at frequencies of 0.9, 1.3, and 1.8 cycles per sec. An internal-friction peak was observed in testing the fine-grained alloys which was not observed for the coarse-grained alloys. This peak, which might be associated with a type of grain-boundary relaxation, was observed at each of the three different test frequencies for the fine-grained sample. The temperature at which the relaxation peak occurred for each of the three different frequencies is shown in Table I. From these data an activation energy of relaxation for each pair of frequencies was determined by comparing the temperature shift of the relaxation peak with frequency between each of the test frequencies, assuming that an Arrhenius-type rate equation is applicable. The activation energy of relaxation determined from these data is also shown in Table I. The mean value of the activation energy was about 6 kcal per mole. The activation energy for the relaxation process determined in this investigation indicates that the relaxation associated with the grain boundaries in this aluminum-aluminum oxide SAP-Type alloy is quite a different process than grain boundary relaxation in single-phase aluminum alloys. In these latter alloys, the activation energy for relaxation has been found to be the activation energy for self-diffusion, approximately 36 kcal per mole1,2 Where the activation energy is the same as the activation energy for self diffusion, it has been proposed that the relaxation phenomena is dependent upon vacancy formation and motion. It is apparent therefore, that, in this aluminum-aluminum oxide SAP-Type alloy, the relaxation must be due to another type of atom transport. It has been shown previously in studies of the high-temperature, low-stress, steady-state creep behavior of as-extruded aluminum SAP-Type alloys, that the activation energy for steady-state creep is one that may be characterized by the nucleation of dislocations from the grain boundaries. It is proposed that the relaxation behavior observed here is due to a similar effect. In this case, the internal-friction peak is a resonance behavior due to the time-dependent nucleation of dislocations from grain boundaries in the sample. A process of this type would have an activation energy which is undoubtedly stress-dependent and of the form Q = Q, + (dQ/du)u

Jan 1, 1962