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By AIME AIME

ARRANGEMENTS for the Annual Meeting of the Institute were well advanced at the end of December as the following program will show. Heretofore this has been printed separately, but its inclusion in the Annual Review issue of MINING AND METALLURGY will, it is hoped, make it more easily available for reference until the final program is issued, which will be distributed at the meeting. Added details will appear in the February issue. Last year's meeting drew a record crowd of over 2300 which should be exceeded this year. Early reservations at the headquarters hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria, or any other convenient hotel are desirable, as are prompt reservations for the Annual Dinner. No one need worry about too much speechmaking this year, for the honors will be awarded and accepted in a few words instead of a few paragraphs, in seconds rather than minutes.

Jan 1, 1939

By Chester Fulton

IN Polk County, Florida, the mining of raw phosphates began some 50 years ago with dredging operations on the Peace River, and in other near-by places by removal of shallow overburden with negroes and wheelbarrows, or with mules and scrapers, and the excavation and screen-ing of deposits found close to the surface. There were many individual operations of comparatively short life. Later steam shovels removed the overburden, and still later hydraulic methods were substituted for the steam shovel. Within the last 10 years large electrically operated drag-lines have almost entirely replaced hydraulic mining for overburden removal. The matrix is still mined by hydraulic giants and pumped to the washer or recovery plant. The many small operations have long since disappeared and the most desirable phosphate lands have gradually been acquired through purchase or merger by the seven companies that are operating in the field today. These companies are producing and selling about 2,000,000 long tons of phosphate per annum, or about two-thirds of what the industry likes to think is the normal output, with 1929 and 1930 in mind. To produce these 2,000,000 long tons of raw phosphate, they mine and treat about 1,000,000 tons of tailings from older and less efficient opera-tions, about 11,000,000 tons of matrix, and remove from above this matrix some 22,000,000 tons of overburden. The mining practice that has made possible the excavation and handling of 34 million tons of material to win but 2 million tons of merchantable product, selling for probably an average of only $4 per long ton when dried, should be of interest to the mining profession, though little has been written of it. The Florida Pebble Field, as it has come to be known, comprises an area (Fig. 1) within a radius of about 18 to 20 miles centering around Mulberry in Polk County, a small town 30 miles east of Tampa, Florida's largest port on the gulf coast.

Jan 1, 1936

By B. G. Klugh

In a paper before the Institute at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., June, 1911,' Mr. James Gayley discussed the application of this process to iron-bearing materials. The same author² described the results of operations at the plant at Birdsboro, Pa. The purpose of the present paper is to present further discussion of some techuical details involved in the operation of this plant, and of the theoretical and practical relations of this product to blast-furnace practice. Since Oct. 1, 1911, the Birdsboro plant has been in operation at the blast-furnace of the E. & G. Brooke Iron Co. The results have been highly satisfactory, although the material treated, being chiefly the flue-dust currently made by the furnace or taker] from the accumulated stock-pile, was excessively high, and yet not uniform, in carbon, so that the desirable control or regularity of the amount of fuel in the mixture treated could not be maintained. Nothing could more forcibly demonstrate the flexibility of the process than the fact that, under these conditions, the sinter produced was, in all cases, of excellent quality. The Dwight & Lloyd process, as such, slid its present highly-developed mechanical appliances were described by Mr. Gayley in the paper above mentioned. While the repetition of some particulars will be unavoidable in this paper, it will be confined to features bearing upon the metallurgical principles involved. According to the principle of the process, the finely-divided iron-bearing material to be sinterecl is intimately nlixed with

Jan 1, 1913

By George H. West, Ross Cummings, L. V. Steck, B. P. Little, Robert D. Pike

The drilling of constantly deeper oil wells has made it imperative that the manufacturer of casing be ever searching for new methods and new materials to meet the increased demands. One phase of this search constitutes the subject matter of the present paper. Starting from the original Drake well in 1859, the depth of wells has advanced by leaps and bounds, until today depths of 6000 to 8000 ft. are common. Conditions point to the necessity for drilling to greater depths, and it is not at all improbable that much of the future oil produc- tion will be from wells around 10,000 ft. deep. The trend to deeper wells is nicely illustrated by the curve in Fig. 1.l The points plotted are the maximum depths attained in the various pools which were at their peak for the years given. It may be of some interest to observe the change that has taken place in the tensile and collapsing stresses over the last 25 years. The pressure at the bottom of a 900-ft. hole, equivalent to the pressure caused by an equal column of water, is only 450 1b. per sq. in. The equivalent water pressure corresponding to the depth of the deepest hole today would be 4762 1b. per sq, inch.

Jan 1, 1930

By F. C. Canney

Geochemical prospecting seeks hidden mineral deposits by sampling for variations in the chemical composition of naturally occurring materials. Usually the samples are of soils and other products of weathering and erosion—surface materials extremely susceptible to contamination by human activities. Except when a survey is conducted well away from populated areas, contamination is an ever-present hazard. The program's success is particularly endangered when the contaminants are the elements sought; if these occur erratically throughout an area, spurious anomalies completely unrelated to mineralized areas can be formed. Evenly distributed contamination can be dangerous too, if it raises the background to such a level that true anomalies can no longer be easily detected. Suppose, for example, that in an area where the lead background is 20 parts per million the soil over a lead vein contains 1000 ppm of lead. Here the contrast would be 50 to 1, which is very satisfactory for geochemical surveying. Now if 1000 ppm of lead from some source were added evenly to the soil in this area, the contrast would be reduced to about 2 to 1, and the anomaly would no longer be readily detectable because a threshold of significance twice the value of the background is the minimum generally used for interpreting geochemical data. Of the many possible sources of contamination, probably most important are smelter fumes, which may distribute large quantities of metal contaminants over many square miles of ground. For several reasons, the investigation reported here was begun in the Coeur d'Alene district in northern Idaho: 1) a lead smelter has been operated in this district since 1917 and an electrolytic zinc plant since 1928, and presumably the contamination patterns are strongly developed; 2) to evaluate the usefulness of certain geochemical techniques, V. C. Kennedy and S. W. Hobbs of the USGS had already studied the distribution of copper, lead, and zinc in the soils (both in background areas and other veins) and in the water and plants, providing a criterion for measuring the magnitude and effect of soil contamination; 3) one of the economically important parts of the district lies south of the South Fork of Coeur d'Alene River and within a radius of five miles of the reduction plants near Smelterville (Fig. 1). In this area, and in the entire district, conventional methods of prospecting are hindered by heavy vegetation and thick soil cover, and the possibility of contamination by smelter fumes has discouraged geochemical prospecting. Should data reveal that geochemical prospecting could be done successfully in such an area, a particularly useful tool would be available to mining companies and prospectors searching for concealed orebodies in this economically important part of the district. The field work on which this report is based was done from July 28 to 31, 1955. It should be emphasized that this was reconnaissance study only, and therefore far from exhaustive. Previous Investigations in U. S. : The first geochemical survey known to have been affected by contamination was conducted in 1940—a geobotan-ical reconnaissance made in the Michigan copper district by a private company. Geologists found striking variations in the copper content of oak and maple leaves, but unfortunately the high copper isograds of the study seemed to be related more to the Calumet and Hecla copper smelter fall-out than to mineralized ground.' The leaves of one oak tree near the smelter contained 0.4 pct Cu. Similar contamination was reported by Clarke (Ref. 2, p. 41), who conducted experimental geochemical soil and botanical surveys at Ray, Ariz. He found that the leaves of oak trees growing in unmineralized ground near Superior, Ariz., contained more copper than the leaves of oak trees growing on the capping of the Ray orebody and attributed this fact to contamination from the fumes of the Magma smelter at Superior. According to H. E. Hawkes,3 soils and stream sediments in the Superior area are also severely contaminated. Hawkes' work there has shown a copper content averaging 0.5 pct in the surface horizons of soils within one mile of the smelter stack. Samples taken only a few inches below the anomalous surface samples showed only background copper values. In 1950 L. C. Huff' of the USGS made a geochemical survey in an area near Jerome, Ariz., and found considerable zinc and copper in the soils over unmineralized basalt close to Clarkedale, Ariz., and over limestone close to Jerome. As the amounts were notably greater than could reasonably be expected to be derived from the underlying rocks, Huff suspected airborne contamination from the smelter at Clarkedale. Description of Area: The area sampled in detail (Fig. 1) for the study presented here is one of strong relief. The dominant watercourse is the westward-flowing South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. East of Kellogg the South Fork flows in a rather narrow canyon, but its valley floor widens considerably to the west where much of the flood plain is covered by an extensive veneer of mining, milling, and smelting debris. South of the South Fork and between Big Creek and Pine Creek is a mountainous area where

Jan 1, 1960

By Paul M. Tyler

The term "milling" as applied to nonmetallic minerals often refers merely to pulverizing without preliminary beneficiation. As applied to dimension stone, it embraces all the gteps involved in shaping and giving the desired finish to blocks. Processes such as sawing, planing, rubbing and polishing seem far removed from milling as the term is used in ore dressing, nevertheless they involve the element of concentration, for only 25 to 50 per cent of the gross quarry output may leave the mill as finished products after imperfect stone has been culled and the rough blocks trimmed. On the other hand, numerous nonmetallic minerals have to be concentrated in much the same manner as low-grade ores. Engineers and machinery manufacturers have begun to recognize more clearly the opportunities awaiting them in the nonmetallic field and have brought with them the methods and equipment developed in metal-mining camps, occasionally with little modification. General Economic Considerations Approximately one-half of the total value of the mineral production of the United States represents mineral fuels, and the other half is about equally divided between metals and nonmetals, the nonmetals recently having become relatively more important. In terms of volume the domestic output of nonmetallic minerals other than fuels is more than 10 times the annual output of metals. Considered on the basis of industrial utility and general commercial and military significance, moreover, the flow of nonmetallic mineral products is quite as needful to our national integrity and well-being as is that of metals, fuels, or other basic materials. Despite their importance individually and as a group, the nonmetallic mineral industries differ so widely in essential characters and economic environment that producers thereof have been slow to develop a community of interest among themselves or with the metal-mining fraternity. A spirit of change is in the air, rule-of-thumb methods soon may be relegated to limbo, and new methods—especially time-tested ideas borrowed from ore-dressing practice—are being introduced. A faithful record of plant practice in certain of these fields, however, must register

Jan 1, 1935

By John Johnston

THIS necessarily brief sketch will attempt to summarize the high lights of perhaps the best meeting so far held by the Iron and Steel Division. All sessions were well attended and the discussion was vigorous and of a high order. The technical sessions opened. on Tuesday morning. "Precipitation Hardening of Copper Steels" was discussed by Cyril S. Smith and Earl W. Palmer, and dealt with steel with a 1 per cent copper content. Discussion brought out that there were no fabricating difficulties, but that the surface might be somewhat checked due to intergranular penetration of copper which could be easily taken care of. Probable advantages of steels of this type for high temperatures were pointed out. "An Improved Nickel-chromium Hardened Chilled Cast Iron," by J. S. Vanick, described a wear-resistant cast iron and evoked a lively discussion.

Jan 1, 1933

By A. S. Richardson

AIR conditioning, or air cooling, for the improvement of ventilation in the Butte mines has come into increasing use during the past 10 years. In part, the methods practiced have been described in previous publications of the Institute, but some improvements on earlier methods have been made and a number of new features have been developed. This paper is presented as a record of progress made, and for the sake of completeness describes all general features of the work. The need for air conditioning in the ventilation of mines in the district arises from the fact that the temperature of the ground and mine water has shown a very great increase with increase in mining depth, and has now reached a maximum of slightly over 130°F. The most difficult part of the ventilation problem is the maintenance of temperature and humidity of a satisfactory standard in the working places, especially on the lower levels. Although ordinary ventilation is adequate to maintain good conditions in most of the working places it is subject to a number of limitations at great depth. Most important among these limitations is that with increase in depth the air becomes heated before it reaches the working places, both by compression from increase in atmospheric pressure and by heat transferred to it from rock at high temperature, so that its capacity for lowering temperatures is greatly reduced before it reaches the operating zone. Increasing depth of mining also increases the distance traveled by the air in its passage through the mine, and this causes a corresponding increase in resistance to air flow, so that there is greater difficulty in maintaining even the same volume in circulation. Thus, in the face of a demand that the ventilating system have a very much greater capacity to remove heat from the mine, the tendency is for that capacity to diminish. The only evident alternatives were (I) the opening of additional air shafts to increase the volume of air in circulation, (2) an extension of the existing system that would be subject to the same limitations, or (3) the adoption of an entirely different method such as air cooling. Fortunately for an economic solution of the problem, the mean annual temperature of the surface atmosphere at Butte is about 40°F., with very low relative humidity in summer, so that there is unlimited natural cooling power at a temperature range adaptable to air-conditioning methods. METHODS Two similar methods of air conditioning are used, as necessitated by service requirements and dependent upon the equipment available. In one, which is the more important and has the greater cooling capacity, water is circulated in a closed circuit, and, alternately, first absorbs heat from warm mine air and then dissipates it in the surface atmosphere by cooling at a cooling tower. The second

Jan 1, 1941

By Harry H. Power

INDUSTRY has the right to expect the petroleum engineering schools to supply more than the minimum technical qualifications necessary to obtain or discharge the responsibilities of a particular job. The basic training, social and economic orientation, should go far beyond these minimum requirements. Petroleum engineering students should also be well grounded in the history of the oil business so that they may understand the industry's progress since the advent of the Drake well. Furthermore, according to P. H. Bohart, the schools "have a definite duty to help the students form a workable philosophy of life, which includes an appreciation of the service of science to mankind, and a belief in the obligation of the individual who enters a profession to exalt himself by continuing his studies and growth so that he may never cease making contributions to the advancement of science and industry."

Jan 1, 1948

By J. F. Kemp

The use of nickel-steel has directed increasing interest of late towards the deposits of nickel, and at the same time the parallel advance in our knowledge of the basic igneous rocks has rendered these deposits a subject of important geological inquiry. Investigations have led to some views, more or less new, on the igneous origin of certain ores, which, though not universally accepted, have a growing number of adherents. In Europe, the mines in Norway have been especially suggestive subjects of study, and others somewhat less generally known have also added their testimony; while in this country the great economic importance and scientific interest of the developments in the Sudbury district of Canada, have furnished the principal texts for the discourses that have appeared among us. The purpose of the present paper is to set forth these views through the medium of one interesting ore-body, of which but little has been written ; and, by the description of another, to place in contrast two different geological associations in which nickeliferous pyrrhotite occurs, and to indicate a generalization, based upon these different geological characters, and justified by the experience so far gained. To Prof. J. H. L. Vogt, of Christiania, Norway, is due the chief credit for the revival of interest in the geology of nickel. His important contributions* of recent date have made generally available

Jan 1, 1895

By T. F. Witherbee

It is proposed to give, first, a description of the works; second, a report of the first six months of the present blast; and third, such improvements as have been suggested by the practical working. The site selected for this furnace was, at the time of commencing work, October, 1872, entirely covered by the navigable waters of Lake Champlain. A coffer-dam was first built of cribs of round timber filled with stone, forming three sides, while the shore answered for the fourth. Considerable excavating was done with a steam-dredge, a hole being left for it to pass out. The opening was then built up, and the cribbing banked up with blue clay from the bottom of the lake, to render it water-tight and the dam pumped out; the remainder of the excavating being done by hand. All of the foundations, with the exception of the elevator-tower, and fifteen feet of the east side of hot blast, rest on the Potsdam sandstone, which forms the shore line, dipping into the lake at an angle of fifteen degrees. Owing to jogs in the formation, a much greater depth was found necessary than was at first anticipated, the foundation under the stack

By T. F. Witherbee

IT is proposed to give, first, a description of the works ; second, a report of the first six months of the present blast; and third, such improvements as have been suggested by the practical working. The site selected for this furnace was, at the time of commencing work, October, 1872, entirely covered by the navigable waters of Lake Champlain. A coffer-dam was first built of cribs of round timber filled with stone, forming three sides, while the shore answered for the fourth. Considerable excavating was done with a steam-dredge, a hole being left for it to pass out. The opening was then built up, and the cribbing banked up with blue clay from the bottom of the lake, to render it water-tight and the dam pumped out; the remainder of the excavating being done by hand. All of the foundations, with the exception of the elevator-tower, and fifteen feet of the east side of hot blast, rest on the Potsdam sandstone, which forms the shore line, dipping into the lake at an angle of fifteen degrees. Owing to jogs in the formation, a much greater depth was found necessary than was at first anticipated, the foundation under the stack

Jan 1, 1876

By H. M. Day, C. H. Mathewson

THE constitution of the system silver-mercury has attracted the attention of many investigators during the last two decades, but since their results are for the most part in poor agreement, there is little need for a review of their individual contributions. It remained for the very careful thermal and microscopic investigation of Murphy' in 1931 to give the constitutional diagram in its present and unquestioned form, which is shown in Fig. 1. He devised methods for taking cooling curves on alloys under high pressures and for the microscopic observation of alloys which contained liquid mercury as a structural constituent at ordinary temperatures. The compositions of the intermediate phases were confirmed and supplemented through X-ray analyses by Preston2 and Stenbeck.3 According to Murphy, at 276° C. silver is able to dissolve 44 to 45 weight per cent of mercury, which may increase at lower temperatures to about 50 per cent. Preston concluded that the saturation boundary occurred at 46 ± 2 per cent at 100° C. From the values reported in the literature, these are the only ones that may be accepted as lying even in. the right region. PREPARATION OF ALLOYS The silver used in the present investigation was supplied by the United States Metals Refining Co. through the courtesy of the Committee on Industrial Uses of Silver and, since a complete spectrographic and chemical analysis was furnished, no attempt was made to purify it or to further establish the impurities present. The analyses reported by the company are shown in Table 1. Milligan4 has found that the magnesium content is probably less than 0.0005 per cent.

Jan 1, 1938

By R. T. Hukki

IT is no great exaggeration to say that present grinding practice and economics are largely determined by lining design. A record of outstanding liner wear can be achieved with any liner surface pattern that will positively lock the outer layer or layers of grinding media. With no slippage, lining wear is bound to be slight. At the same time, popular practice calls for tumbling loads of about 50 pct of mill volume to obtain maximum grinding capacity. Innumerable parallel grinding investigations have verified that optimum speed for such a mill lies within 70 to 85 pct of theoretical critical speed. If the mill is speeded up to 100 pct of critical, little or no grinding can be accomplished. Earlier Work on Supercritical Grinding: First investigations concerning grinding at supercritical speeds seem to be very old. Remarkable work on the subject has been performed by White,&apos; and his experiments have been described and summarized by Richards.&apos; White&apos;s contributions seem to have passed unnoticed by Fahrenwald,2,3 whose extensive experiments have been well presented, yet apparently very little appreciated. Additional work on grinding at supercritical speed has been reported, e.g., by Lewenson and Tscherny,&apos; USSR; Anselm and Grunder,&apos;, Germany: and Rose and Evans." Great Britain. Subcritical and Supercritical Speeds: In the formula of the critical speed given in the textbooks of mineral dressing, no factor indicating the coefficient of friction is generally included. If this factor = 1.0, which is equivalent to grinding conditions in a mill provided with heavily ribbed lining, the formula of the critical speed holds as such and grinding is possible at subcritical speeds only. In a mill equipped with a smooth or relatively smooth lining, the numerical value of the friction factor in the denominator of the formula becomes <1.0, indicating that grinding at supercritical speeds should be possible in such mills. It has been recently shown by the author&apos; that a wide supercritical speed range will become available for grinding—and especially for fine grinding—if the basic conditions within the mill have been selected properly. Mathematical analysis of mill dynamics at supercritical speeds&apos; has indicated that the mill speed may be increased if: 1) total mass of grinding medium decreases, 2) mass of the individual grinding piece increases, and 3) the coefficient of friction between the outer layer of medium and the mill lining decreases. It is obvious that the mass of the individual grinding piece will be affected by its shape and by its specific gravity. The coefficient of friction decreases with: 1) increasing smoothness of liner surface, 2) increasing roundness of the grinding piece, 3) increasing fineness of material to be ground, 4) decreasing pulp density, and 5) decreasing hardness (abrasiveness) of the mineral to be ground. In a mill equipped with heavily ribbed lining, practically no size reduction will take place between the lining and the outer layer of tumbling medium, because slippage is prevented. In the overwhelming majority of today&apos;s mills the grinding accomplished is by virtue of cataracting and/or cascading media with some action within the tumbling charge. Sub-critical speeds only can be applied. In grate-type or peripheral discharge mills equipped with a smooth lining a tumbling load of any kind of common medium occupying about 50 pct of mill volume will behave in such a way that practically no slippage will take place. This has been verified in experiments run by the author in the laboratory and in pilot plant mills&apos; equipped with smooth lining. Again, the operation is limited to the subcritical range. In a mill with a smooth lining, grinding will be possible either at subcritical speeds or within a wide supercritical speed range as soon as the basic requirements for a desired speed are fulfilled. In a mill operated at supercritical speed, any point on the liner surface proceeds at a speed greater than that indicated by the formula of the critical speed, while any grinding piece situated in the outer layer of the medium against the lining proceeds in the same direction at a speed less than that indicated by the critical speed. This speed difference produces a very effective attrition grinding zone between the liner surface and the outer layer of the medium. The share of attrition grinding of the total grinding accomplished increases rapidly with increasing speed in the supercritical speed range. The smooth surface of the mill lining may be well illustrated by the surface of a bucking board. The outer ball layer may be similarly represented by the lower surface of a muller. If the bucking board, the material to be ground, and the muller all proceed in the same direction at the same speed, no grinding will result. This is the general situation in the mills of today. If, however, the muller is pulled with respect to the board, moving or stationary, grinding will be accomplished effectively. Although grinding in today&apos;s mills is primarily the result of cataracting and/or cascading media, the principal place of grinding at high supercritical speeds will be the attrition zone.&apos; In the mineral dressing laboratory of the State Institute for Technical Research. Helsinki, Finland, large quantities of different ores have been ground in a pilot plant ball mill (3x3 ft) at a top speed about 230 pct of the critical. With the same mill, theoretical investigations concerning the grinding characteristics of ball mills equipped with a smooth lining have been carried out up to the speed of 313 pct&apos; of the critical. With a smaller mill, the grinding characteristics with a variety of grinding media have been investigated at speeds up to 2000 pct of the

Jan 1, 1959

By Francis C. Krauskopf, Carl E. Swartz

Metallurgists differ considerably in their opinions regarding the effect, if any, of small amounts of iron pyrites, or other iron compounds on zinc sulfide ores during the roasting operation. As a result, the literature on this subject expresses many conflicting ideas. The ore, previously crushed to pass through a 1-mm. screen, dries in the roasting kiln, losing water up to 200° to 300° C. At 150° C. iron pyrites begin to lose sulfur. As the temperature increases, while the ore is passing to the hotter part of the furnace, the sulfur burns to sulfur dioxide, leaving the metals as zinc oxide and ferric oxide. These two substances then interact to form zinc ferrite, a compound, yellow brown in color, having the general characteristics of a spinel. Like magnetite, another spinel, zinc ferrite is insoluble in alkalis and dilute acids. As a result, when leached with 10 per cent. sulfuric acid solution, zinc values tied up in this compound remain behind History In the electrolytic recovery of zinc from its ores, the roasted ores are usually leached with a 10 per cent. sulfuric acid solution. When the zinc ore contains iron pyrites as an impurity in an appreciable amount, the actual yield of metallic zinc is much lower than a theoretical calculation would indicate. Further, losses of zinc are, in a rough way, directly proportional to the amount of iron pyrites or other iron compounds present. When the iron is present in the ore in an isomorphous relation to the zinc, as in the case of a marmatite, a greater amount of zinc remains insoluble than when present as a true pyrite or marcasite. Work on the insoluble residues obtained from leaching of the calcines shows that the zinc lost is intimately tied up in this residue. Some investigators have suggested a definite compound, such as zinc ferrite; others merely a mixture of zinc and iron compounds. As early as 1851, Pelouze(&apos;)&apos; prepared calcium ferrite by fusion of calcium oxide and ferric oxide. Ebelman, 2) about the same time, prepared

Jan 1, 1928

By G. H. Anderson

During an investigation of the copper-rich portion of the copper-silicon-iron system as part of an extensive research program on P.M.G. alloys, which was begun in 1937 in the research laboratory of the Phelps Dodge Corporation, it became apparent that the binary copper-silicon system below 7 per cent Si needed revision, therefore an investigation was undertaken. Both X-ray methods and microscopic technique were employed. Despite the many investigations that have the clarification of this system as their object, no two successive reports on the system have agreed in placement of the alpha-phase solubility limit, and uncertainty about the secondary phase first to appear has been voiced several times.3,4,5 It was therefore not surprising, when T. Isawa&apos;s6 and M. Okamoto&apos;s7 works were reported at the time we were finishing up our experimental work, to find essential disagreement between their results and ours. But when C. 5. Smith&apos;s latest work on the copper-silicon systema was published just as we were finishing our laboratory report, it was indeed gratifying to find that the latter&apos;s diagram and ours checked in all essential features, except the temperature of the peritectoid line above 830" C. Many attempts were made to retain the beta phase during the present investigation, but none was successful. Isawa,6 however, reports that he has been able to obtain X-ray photograms of the beta phase. The structure, he states, is body-centcrcd cubic with a lattiee constant of 2.848 ,&. at 7.2 per cent Si. Okamoto7 and Smith8 both use the designation Kappa for the hexagonal phase, and to avoid confusion this designation will he adhered to in the present paper. Preparation of Samples The alloys were melted in vacuum in a high-frequency furnace. from copper cathodes containing 99.98 per cent Cu, and specially refined silicon supplied by The Electro Metallurgical Co. This silicon is stated

Jan 1, 1940

By G. H. Anderson

During an investigation of the copper-rich portion of the copper-silicon-iron system as part of an extensive research program on P.M.G. alloys, which was begun in 1937 in the research laboratory of the Phelps Dodge Corporation, it became apparent that the binary copper-silicon system below 7 per cent Si needed revision, therefore an investigation was undertaken. Both X-ray methods and microscopic technique were employed. Despite the many investigations that have the clarification of this system as their object, no two successive reports on the system have agreed in placement of the alpha-phase solubility limit, and uncertainty about the secondary phase first to appear has been voiced several times.3,4,5 It was therefore not surprising, when T. Isawa&apos;s6 and M. Okamoto&apos;s7 works were reported at the time we were finishing up our experimental work, to find essential disagreement between their results and ours. But when C. 5. Smith&apos;s latest work on the copper-silicon systema was published just as we were finishing our laboratory report, it was indeed gratifying to find that the latter&apos;s diagram and ours checked in all essential features, except the temperature of the peritectoid line above 830" C. Many attempts were made to retain the beta phase during the present investigation, but none was successful. Isawa,6 however, reports that he has been able to obtain X-ray photograms of the beta phase. The structure, he states, is body-centcrcd cubic with a lattiee constant of 2.848 ,&. at 7.2 per cent Si. Okamoto7 and Smith8 both use the designation Kappa for the hexagonal phase, and to avoid confusion this designation will he adhered to in the present paper. Preparation of Samples The alloys were melted in vacuum in a high-frequency furnace. from copper cathodes containing 99.98 per cent Cu, and specially refined silicon supplied by The Electro Metallurgical Co. This silicon is stated

Jan 1, 1940

By C. K. Gupta, P. K. Jena

Niobium (columbium) metal in the form of a button has been produced by calciothermic reduction of niobium pentoxide using sulfur as the heat booster. In these experiments with 50 g of niobium pentoxide per batch, the influence of percentage of calcium in excess of the stoichiometric, the percentage of sulfur by weight of the niobium oxide, and the outer-wall temperature of the bomb on the quality and yield of the metal has been studied. The maximum yield on this scale was 78 pct using 50 pct excess Ca and 20 pct of S and at a bomb-wall temperature of 600°C. In experiments conducted on 500 g of niobium pentoxide, reduction with 40 pct excess Ca and 20 pct of S, and at a bomb-wall temperature of 500°C, the.yield of the metal improved to 82 to 84 pct. Some of the reduced-metal samples have been electron-beam melted and the button melts thus obtained have been observed to be extremely ductile and capable of cold reduction to 98 pct without intermediate annealing. NIOBIUM, because of its high melting point (2468oC), its ductility, its resistance to corrosion especially in liquid metals, its high-temperature mechanical properties, and its relatively low capture cross section (1.1 barns) for thermal neutrons, has potentialities as a structural material in the field of nuclear engineering. Niobium and its alloys are also gaining importance in high-temperature technology as components in aircrafts, jet engines, and missiles, electronics, chemical engineering, and surgery. In 1904 Weiss and Aichel 1 produced niobium by reduction of its pentoxide by misch-metal. Since then a large number of investigations have been carried out for the extraction of niobium from its compounds. The various routes through which the metal niobium has been extracted from its compounds can broadely be classified into the following groups: a) reduction of its halides, oxides, and fluo-salts with metals like calcium, magnesium, sodium, and aluminum;2-10 b) reduction of its halides with hydrogen and oxides with carbon or carbides;11-18 c) electrolytic winning from its halides and fluo salts;19-25 and d) thermal decomposition and disproportion ion of its halides26-30 Among the processes in commercial use at present are sodium reduction or fused-salt electrolysis of potassium niobium fluoride, carbide or carbon reduction of the oxide, and hydrogen or metallothermic reduction of the chlorides. In 1907 Von Bolton2 prepared niobium by reducing niobium pentoxide with aluminum. Dennis and Adam-sona attempted reducing the oxide with magnesium powder in argon atmosphere and the resulting metal contained as much as 5 pct O. Mondolfo8 claimed a method for the reduction of the oxides with aluminum. In the case of both magnesium and aluminum reduction, it has been stated31 that by-product oxides such as MgO or A12O3 would involve a major separation problem. Further, in the case of alumino-thermic reduction, the solubility of aluminum in niobium and intermetallic formation have to be reckoned with. In 1922 Bridge3 produced niobium by calcium reduction of niobium pentoxide. Dennis and pdamson&apos; obtained the metal by a similar method with an oxygen content of 0.2 pct. In most of the cases of metallothermic reduction of niobium oxides mentioned above, the metal niobium is obtained in the form of powder. In an attempt to produce massive niobium metal, lock&apos; used iodine as the thermal booster in the bomb reduction of niobium pentoxide by calcium. Massive niobium metal was obtained with a maximum yield of 75 pct containing 0.1 pct 0. Joly32 carried out experiments on calcium reduction of niobium pentoxide on a 2-kg scale using sulfur as the heat booster in a sealed bomb filled with argon. In his experiments, the reaction was initiated by passing a current through niobium spiral wire embedded in the charge. In a typical run consisting of 2000 g of niobium pentoxide, 3100 g of calcium, and 800 g of sulfur (S/Nb2O5 = 3.3), he obtained massive metal in the form of a very uneven mass with a yield of -57 pct. With lower amounts of sulfur and calcium, powder niobium mixed with small metal globules was obtained and the yield was also poor. From these experiments he concluded that this method is not a suitable one for industrial development considering the quality and yield of metal obtainable and the possible hazards with higher ratios of sulfur to niobium pentoxide in the -~charere. In the present work, a detailed investigation on the calciothermic reduction of niobium pentoxide in a stainless-steel bomb in presence of sulfur as the heat booster was undertaken on a laboratory scale.

Jan 1, 1964

By Matti J. Saarivirta

Two new precipitation hardening copper-base alloys, Cu-1.5pct Ti-2.5 pct Sn and Cu-1.5 pct Ti-2.5 pct Sn-0.4 pct Cr were developed. High strength and medium conductivity are obtained by solution annealing and subsequent heat treatment. Combination of solution annealing, cold working, and heat treatment increases the strength further. Good elevated temperature strength and ductility makes these alloys superior to copper-beryllium-cobalt alloys. A considerable amount of research work is being done throughout the world to develop new and improved copper-base alloys. In many cases, the object is to develop alloys having a combination of high electrical and thermal conductivities, and high strength. The problem is complicated by the fact that any alloying element added to increase strength, invariably decreases conductivity. Among the few commercial precipitation hardening type copper-base alloys, the Cu-Be-Co alloys are best known. These alloys are used in many applications that require good spring characteristics cornbined with high strength and moderately high electrical conductivity. They can be formed readily after solution annealing, then heat treated to obtain high strength and conductivity. Because of the relatively high cost of the Cu-Be-Co alloys, considerable research has been aimed at developing new lower cost alloys having similar properties. As far as is known today, the binary Cu-Ti alloy is the only one whose properties are

Jan 1, 1962

By R. M. Hudson, P. E. Perry

Weight-gain data obtained by nitriding low-carbon sheet steel in an amrnonia CNH,) atmosphere indicated that the process obeyed a parabolic rate law. The calculated actization energy for nitriding in the range 964" to 1268°F agreed reasonably well with published data. At 1358"F, rate data indicated that the activation energy decreased. Weight-gain data obtained by uszng mixtures of NH3 -Nz at 1268°F containzng jrom 10 to 100 zol pct NH3 also obeyed a parabolic rate law. The rate of &apos;nitriding increased with an increase in the NH3 content of the gas Mixture. It is well-known that steel heated in gas mixtures containing ammonia (NH3) takes up much larger quantities of nitrogen than steel heated in nitrogen, both gases having a total pressure of 1 atm;&apos; this phenomenon can presumably be attributed to the catalytic decomposition of NH3 on the steel surface to furnish nascent (monatomic) nitrogen. This process was studied bv Brunauer. Jefferson, Emmett, and Hend-ricks at furnace temperatures of 752" and 831°F2 using mixtures of NH3 in Hz. Englehardt and wagner3 reported that, at a furnace temperature of 914°F and under their experimental conditions, both nitriding and denitriding were controlled by the rate of gas-metal reactions at a steel surface rather than by the rate of diffusion of nitrogen in iron. The present study was undertaken to obtain information on the kinetics of nitriding low-carbon steel strip at higher temperatures so that practical rates for short-time strip-annealing treatments could be estimated. Variables studied included time: temperature, and NH, content in the annealing atmosphere. Mechanical and chemical characteristics of steel nitrided in this manner will not be considered in the present article. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK The samples used were from a commercial low-carbon steel, 0.0244 cm thick, in the cold-reduced condition. The chemical composition of this steel is given in Table I. Panels were cut to 5.1 by 17.8 cm, degreased in toluene, and weighed just before treatment. Four specimens were nitrided under each of the experimental conditions. A study was made of the nitriding rate of steel in a 100 vol pct ammonia atmosphere, 740 mm pressure, at five specific temperatures within the range 964" to 1358°F. The nitriding rates of steel in ammonia-nitrogen gas mixtures containing 10, 18, 26, 50, and 100 vol pct ammonia, 740 mm total pressure, at 1268°F were also determined. All atmospheres used were dried by successively passing them through drying towers packed with soda lime and with Linde Molecular sieve Type 4A. Quoted gas compositions refer to those entering the furnace. Specimens were held in the constant-temperature zone of a vertical annealing tube furnace for times of 14, 3, 5, 10, or 15 min. Gas flow rates were maintained at 3.8 cu ft per hr, which was nineteen volume changes per hour for the system used. The rate of flow was selected to provide a high level of free NH3 for cracking on the steel surface where the ammonia gas is most effectively used as a nitriding agent. The vertical annealing tube furnace consisted of a Hevi-Duty tube furnace with a 2 1/2-in.-ID mullite ceramic high-temperature tube. The constant-temperature zone (controlled within 10°F) was about 10 in. long. After each specimen was degreased, a hole was punched in one end, for attaching the specimen by hook to a chain so that it could be lowered into or raised from the high-temperature portion of the tube by means of a power-driven winch. A stainless-steel access port with O-ring seals was connected by suitable glass-to-metal seals to the cool upper portion of the furnace tube. After the weighed specimen was placed in the access port, the furnace tube was evacuated to approximately 10"3 torr, and then the system was flushed thoroughly with the atmosphere under study. When the gas flow rate and constant-temperature zone of the furnace were established, the specimen was lowered into the constant-temperature zone. The atmosphere flowed from the top to the bottom of the vertical furnace tube and was then vented. For all these runs, during the first 3 min of the time the specimen was in the constant-temperature zone of the furnace the specimen was heating up to the tempera-

Jan 1, 1970