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By S. Skowronski

OvErpolEd copper, as commonly defined,- is copper which has been excessively reduced during the poling period of the refining process. Owing to its porosity, such coppcr is unfit for commercial purposes. The cause of this phenomenon is undoubtedly the lack of oxides in the copper, yet this does not completely explain it. Refined copper of the same "pitch" and "set" varies considerably in oxygen contents, and analyses of overpoled bars also show similar wide differences; moreover, it is possible to melt copper in 'crucibles so as to obtain bars that are practically free from oxygen although they show a "tough pitch" and "level set" surface. Frederick Johnson advances the following theory: The regulation of the quantity of oxygen in copper is the keynote of all copper refining. It is the presence of a well defined proportion of oxygen in the form of cuprous oxide, forming a copper-cuprous oxide eutectic, which enablcs copper to be cast free from blowholes. It seems that when oxygen is present, other gases are less soluble in molten copper; when oxygen is absent, or is present in insufficient quantity, the copper dissolves other gases, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which are insoluble in the copper when solid, and, being rejected during the process of solidification, causes internal porosity and external ridges and excrescences.1 The "level set" of wire bars, etc., is entirely the result of a compromise between the occluded gases and cuprous oxide. With excess of the former the metal would be "overpitch" and spongy, while an excess of the latter would result in the metal being "underpitch" and brittle.2 The result of the absorption and subsequent expulsion of reducing gases, carbon monoxide and hydrogen,' and the effect of this action on the overpoling of copper are in dispute; the literature on the subject is full of contradictory statements and will continue to be so until better analytical methods have been developed. Sulfur, however, is tangible. The refiner can see it in his button sample and consequently attributes to it any trouble that may happen during the melting of the copper.

Jan 1, 1919

By E. P. Mathewson

In a discussion of a paper on The Basic Process as Applied to Copper Smelting, by Percy C. Gilchrist, read before the Society of Chemical Industry, London, Jan. 5, 1891,' Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen asked Mr. Gilchrist whether he thought that the substitution of a basic lining for acid lining in the Manhks process would afford anything like the service which it had been shown to render in the metallurgy of iron. Claude Vautin stated that he had experimented for over two years. with basic linings for Bessemer converters for copper mattes at Cobar, but had given up the attempt on the score of cost. Mr. Gilchrist in his reply stated that he did not believe in applying any system of Bessemerizing to copper. About the time of the presentation of the paper mentioned,Hermann Keller, Superintendent of the Parrot smelter, in Butte, was experimenting on a large scale with converters lined with magnesite brick. He gave up the idea on account of the cost of linings and because no particular advantage was observed. My belief is that his tuyeres and converters were too small. A short time afterward similar experiments were tried at the Great Falls plant of the Boston & Montana Co., and at the Old Works of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. in Anaconda. These were abandoned on the score of cost and the lack of advantages. The same cause of failure, in my opinion, holds here. The Anaconda Copper Mining Co., however, adopted the magnesite brick lining for its tilting casting machines. Fig. 1 is a view of the first tilting furnace casting copper. It was made from an old Brueckner roasting cylinder. Fig. 2 shows an elevation and vertical and horizontal longitudinal sections of the second tilting furnace, built in 1897.

Jan 1, 1914

By O. W. Ellis

In view of the extensive use of the brasses and bronzes in engineering practice it is indeed surprising that so little scientific work has been done on the oxides in these alloys. Recognition of the ill effects of these compounds is universally accorded, both in foundry procedure and in such specifications as cover the melting of these useful mixtures. In the latter, limits, for example, are placed on the proportions of scrap metal In the charge, and clauses governing the use of fluxes are included, the addition of fluxes to the charge being made with the object of avoiding oxidation during the process of melting and of subducing and separating non-metal-lic matter from the melt.1 In the manufacture of brass it occasionally, though rarely, occurs that the virgin metals, copper and zinc, alone arc used. In the event of virgin metals being employed, that of the higher melting point is always melted first. If it is melted under suitable conditions, little or no oxidation will occur. Whether oxidation has occurred or not, however, can best be determined by microscopic examination of a sample taken from the melt. Avoidance of Oxidation in Furnace Practice When melting virgin copper in crucible practice, the avoidance of oxidation is not difficult, nor is it hard to forestall trouble in the electric furnace. In gas-fired furnaces of the barrel type, however, the avoidance of oxidation is almost impossible, no matter what the condition of the flame, the flux employed, or the amount of charcoal included in the charge. Copper melted in furnaces of this type is almost invariably so highly oxidized as to requirc very considerable additions of such deoxi-dizers as, for example, silicon copper to render it free from cuprous oxide. As a result,, the castings produced are decidedly inferior, on account of the. large amount of silica which is engendered in the metal as a result of the reaction, Cu2O + Si = SiO2 + 2Cu. The deoxidation of such oxidized copper could, of course, be effected by means of zinc with, however, even more disastrous results.

Jan 1, 1930

By Waldemar Lindgren

I. INTRODUCTION AT the time of the discovery of America the old world had a scant supply-of the precious metals. Both the northern and the southern part of the new continent proved wonderfully rich in gold and silver and its treasures were eagerly looted; though the looting has lasted four centuries, the nines of its mountain chains are far from being exhausted. Even the later discoveries in Australasia and eastern Siberia could not rob the Western Hemisphere of its position as the greatest gold and silver producing region of the world, though finally the developments in a narrow and circumscribed area in South Africa wrested from the Americas their supremacy in the production of gold. Nevertheless the history of the two parts of the great western continent has been strikingly different. At first the Spaniards extracted vast treasures of silver from Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, while Colombia and some placer deposits in Peru yielded a smaller quantity of gold. A couple of centuries later, a stream of gold began to flow from Brazil, the silver production from the countries mentioned above continuing strong in the meanwhile. Later on, the yield of South America diminished, but to offset this there began a wonderful series of discoveries in North America. The gold fields of California astonished the world; and when the cream of these had been skimmed off there began a no less amazing development of the Central Cordilleran gold and silver districts, which soon wade the United States the greatest producer of the precious metals. Aided by ever improving technique, extensive exploration, and a system of railroads, the yield was maintained and increased. Still later followed the discoveries of the gold fields of the arctic region and silenced those who had maintained that the zenith in gold production had passed. Recently the province of Ontario in eastern Canada

Jan 4, 1916

By Oliver Bowles

Slate is a fine-grained rock that has a more or less perfect natural cleavage, permitting it to be split readily into thin, smooth sheets. According to a definition established by the American Society for Testing Materials, slate is "a microgranular crystalline rock derived from argillaceous sediments by regional metamorphism and characterized by a perfect cleavage entirely independent of original bedding, which cleavage has been induced by pressure within the earth." Origin and Character Slates have originated from sedimentary deposits consisting largely of clay. Such materials were carried by streams and deposited in seas or lakes in successive horizontal beds. Other materials such as calcium carbonate, sand, or gravel may have been deposited over the clays, and the pressure of these superimposed materials gradually consolidated the materials below into bedded deposits of shale. Shale is a stratified rock formed by recrystallization of the clay plus adsorbed potash into the mica, sericite. Shale has neither the strength nor the splitting properties of slate since the mica is fine and the flakes unoriented, and the quartz grains do not interlock. Many shales, however, have been subjected to intense metamorphism. Mountain-building forces ever at work in the earth's crust may crumple, squeeze, and fold the shales. At the same time, accompanying high pressures and temperatures changed the original minerals into mica, interlocking quartz, or chlorite. Both mica and chlorite consist of minute tabular sheets or flakes with perfect cleavage. The intense pressure and movement tend to orient these flakes in parallel positions normal to the direction of pressure. The parallelism of the flakes results in the tendency to split with ease in one direction, which has been termed "slaty cleavage," and which is the outstanding characteristic of slate. Actually, the cleavage is through the cleavages of the individual micaceous plates. The original bedding of the slate is often folded and contorted, and the slaty cleavage commonly cuts across it at sharp angles. Composition MINERALOGICAL COMPOSITION The most abundant mineral in most slates is white mica (sericite), a hydrous silicate of potash and aluminum. It is present in very small flakes recognizable only with a microscope. Small grains of quartz (silicon dioxide) are also abundant and are regularly distributed among the mica flakes. The mica-like mineral, chlorite, is usually present in considerable quantities. Chlorites are of several kinds, the more common being hydrous silicates of aluminum and iron or magnesium. Other common minerals present in small quantities are rutile, clay, hematite, pyrite, carbonaceous matter, feldspar, zircon, tourmaline, calcite, dolomite, and siderite. The general range of the chief constituents is about as follows: Sericite, 38 to 40; quartz, 31 to 45; chlorite, 6 to 18; hematite, 3 to 6; and rutile, 1 to 1 ½ pct. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION Results of many analyses indicate that clays, shales, and slates differ little in chemical composition. The changes that take place during metamorphism are confined largely to rearrangement of the elements into new minerals with accompanying changes in physical properties such as hardness and cleavage. The general

Jan 1, 1960

By Dara P. Antia, Morris Cohen, Frank S. Gardner

THERE is a conspicuous lack of information in the literature on the precise role played by residual quantities of austenite in heat-treated steels. While retained austenite may be expected to have significant effects on such important properties as the impact resistance of tools and carburized parts and the dimensional stability of dies and gauges, attempts to study these problems systematically have suffered from the absence of a reliable technique for ascertaining absolute amounts of austenite. With such a technique, not only could the relation between residual austenite and service behavior be investigated, but the chemical and heat-treatment factors that control the quantity of the austenite could also be established. Thus, the retained austenite content could then be regulated in accordance with the results desired. The presence of retained austenite may be inferred by observing the changes in properties (hardness, specific volume, electrical resistance, etc.) due to its decomposition on subatmospheric cooling1 or on tempering,2 but these indirect measurements are not readily translated into percentages of austenite. Quantitative determinations have been achieved in special cases by means of dilatometric3 and magnetic4,5 measurements; but the former procedure requires that observations be conducted during the hardening and involves difficult calibrations that limit its applicability, while the magnetic procedure is very sensitive to extraneous influences and depends upon assumptions that can only be considered as approximate in an absolute sense. Furthermore, both the dilatometric and magnetic effects are volume properties, and cannot be conveniently utilized to explore variations in retained austenite from point to point in a specimen. Some microstructures lend themselves to accurate evaluation of retained austenite contents by metallographic methods,3 but such instances are not too common, and at best, the procedure is tedious. The characteristic X-ray diffraction lines of austenite permit positive identification of its presence; and in the present paper the intensities of these lines, or the corresponding densities* on photographic film, are employed to measure the amount of the retained austenite. In order to cancel the effect of uncontrollable variations in the X-ray exposure and film-development conditions, a standard reference line is superimposed on each film by maintaining a foil of aluminum in the path of the incident X-ray beam during the entire exposure. With different samples of steel and the same foil, the ratio of the density of some one austenite line to the density of

Jan 1, 1943

By J. B. Bassett, E. S. Rowland

The experimental work reported herein firas inspired by the publication of a paper by Grange and stewart, in which it was suggested that at low chromium contents the effect of this element on the Ma point was greater than at higher chromium contents, It was argued that, if a small increase of chromium in solution in austenite caused a sharp lowering of the M, point, it might lead to an explanation of occasional unsolved stress cracking of SAE 52100 during heat treatment. Commercial hardening is carried out at temperatures of incomplete solution, leaving carbides available to enrich the austenite during any inadvertent increase in temperature, such enrichment of the austenite in chromium content would lower the M, point nearer room temperature where cracking is more likely to occur. According, it was decided to investigate the effect of chromium, in quantities between o and 2 pet, on the M, point of commercial steels. Fig I summarizes the data available on chromium steels. For purposes of comparison, the M, temperature values were corrected by means of the Grange and Stewart formulas to (I) Hypoeutectoid compositions: 0.50 pct carbon and 0.80 pct manganese (z) Hsereutectoid compos-sition': 1." pet carbon and O.35 pct manganese. Only the steels having compositions reasonably close to these corrected values were included, because large adjustments inevitably introduce increased error such as are experienced in using the formula. The straight lines of Fig I were drawn by the authors. These data obviously do not settle the question Of the effect Of chromium On the Md Oint, particularly at low chromium contents. While it is fairly well established that chromium causes the M, to be lowered when present in quantities of I pet Or more, Grange and Stewart1 have suggested that in small amounts (less than 1 pet) it is more effective in lowering the Ma point, while Klier and Troiano2 have suggested that in small amounts it is less effective in lowering the Ma point. Payson and Savage3 concur with Klier and Troiano and further suggest that the effect is not linear at these concentrations. Rose and Fischer4 report that small amounts of chromium actually raise the Ma point of a 0.20 carbon steel. Material Two series of 35 Ib induction heats were melted for this work, the analyses of which are given in Table I. One series was aimed at 0.50 pct carbon and 0.80 pct manganese with chromium additions in 0,25 pet increments from o to 1.5 pct with a single heat at 2.0 pct Cr. This series was considered necessary because the commercial heat treatment of SAE 52100 does not generally introduce more than about 0.60 pct carbon in solution in the austenite. The high

Jan 1, 1949

By L. Segle, R. Resnick

NUMEROUS experiments in the past few years have proven that void formation occurs quite generally in the diffusion zone of bimetal specimens1-4 The phenomenon has been explained in terms of the accumulation of lattice vacancies resulting from unequal diffusion of the constituents and their eventual precipitation as holes.= Attention has recently been directed to the fact that voids also form within homogeneous metals during high-temperature creep.' The idea has been put forward that these voids form by the condensation of excess lattice vacancies generated by intersecting dislocations.".' If the precipitation of lattice vacancies from solution is treated as a nucleation and growth process, the predicted vacancy concentration for homogeneous nucleation of voids at an observable rate is 100 to 1000 times the normal thermal equilibrium concentration. It appears that voids actually form during diffusion at vacancy supersaturations which are much lower than this8 According to the calculations of Machlin,' the same must be true for voids formed in homogeneous metals during creep, if these are considered to arise from the precipitation of lattice vacancies. Therefore, if the vacancy mechanism is valid, it seems that the holes which form in diffusion and creep specimens are heterogeneously nucleated by imperfections or impurities in the metal. Irregularities in the frequency and distribution of voids in diffusion couples bear out this explanation.' , It is not known at the present time what the nuclei are on which vacancies condense. Various investigators have speculated that they could be certain dislocation configurations, already existing voids produced during solidification or working, gas pockets, or inclusions in the metal. Relatedly, the precise value of the degree of vacancy supersatura-tion for void nucleation is still uncertain. An initial attempt to estimate this value from diffusion data, made by Balluffi, indicated that voids form in diffusion couples at vacancy concentrations which may

Jan 1, 1958

"It shall be within the discretion of the Board of Directors to establish a medal to be known as the Charles F. Rand Memorial Medal to be awarded at such a time 'and under such rules as may be determined by the Board of Directors, for Distinguished Achievement in Mining Administration." The establishment of this medal was announced at the annual meeting in February, 1932, the term "mining" being defined in its broad sense to include metallurgy and petroleum. The members of the Charles F. Rand Foundation Award Committee, of which J. V. W. Reynders is Chairman, are listed on page 12. In both 1938 and 1939, the Committee gave consideration to the question of choosing a medalist but in each year the decision was reached to give financial help to other projects as an alternative. In 1938, publication of a monograph on "Struc¬ture of Ore Deposits in the Continen¬tal Framework" and of a booklet en¬titled "The Call for Endowment" was financed; and in 1939, a special appro¬priation was made to defray the ex¬ penses of special speakers for Affiliated Student Societies of the Institute. In 1940, the Committee elected to nominate a candidate for the medal and unanimously selected Robert, Crooks Stanley, Chairman of the Board of the International Nickel Co. This recom¬mendation was approved by the Board of Directors and Mr. Stanley became the first recipient of the medal. Citation for Award to Robert Crook,, Stanley. "For His Pioneering Leadership During a Period of Active Growth and Development of a World-wide Enterprise Involving the Mining of Nickel Ores, the Metallurgical Treatment Thereof, and the Expansion and Diversification of World Markets for Nickel Products. "For His- Able Direction of the Corporation Encompassing These Activities, Which Has Established an Enviable Record in Its Relations With Employees. Stockholders and With the Public."

Jan 1, 1941

By W. W. Smeltzer

The linear formation rates of wustite films have been determined over the temperature range 590° to 1030°C using a vacuum microbalance technique. These rates are dependent directly on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, Activation energies for film and scale formation in carbon dioxide and oxygen atmospheres are equivalent to either the dissociation energies of carbon dioxide and oxygen, or the activation energy for the diffusion of cation vacancies in wustite. Of the metals, iron is the most widely used basic constituent of durable alloys despite its intrinsic property of converting at a relatively rapid rate to the oxides from which it is derived. This property has accounted partially for many investigations on the oxidation of iron at low and high temperatures. Interpretation of the results have been complicated by formation of multilayers containing the various oxide phases. To aid in elucidation of the oxidation kinetics, measurements have been carried out in this investigation on the growth of the wustite surface layer. There are several studies directly related to the objective of this investigation. The growth of multilayer scales has been demonstrated to be diffusion controlled in oxygen at atmospheric pressure over the temperature range 450" to 1200°C by Davies, Simnad, and Birchenall.' To gain an insight into the diffusion mechanism, Himmel, Mehl, and ~irchenall' determined the self-diffusion coefficients of iron in wustite, magnetite, and hematite. These results were used to evaluate the oxidation rates of iron and its oxides, taking as a basis the theoretical parabolic rate equation developed by Wagner., The evaluations were compared to experimental data and were shown to provide essential confirmation of this theory. Fischbeck, Neundeubel, and salzer4 have demonstrated that the oxidation of iron in carbon dioxide and other atmospheres at high temperature obeys a linear relationship. Because the Arrhenius temperature coefficients of the reaction rate constants changed at the A, point they concluded that the passage of iron into the oxide controlled the reaction. This viewpoint has been accepted by Benard and ~albot' to explain the occurrence of linear rates in oxygen before the onset of diffusion-controlled parabolic oxidation. This basic premise of a rate-controlling reaction at the iron/oxide interface has been questioned recently by Hauffe and Pfeiffer.' Since the formation of wustite may follow a linear or parabolic relationship depending on the pressure of the gaseous re-actant, they propose that linear oxidation is determined by a chemisorption reaction while parabolic oxidation is controlled by diffusion. As confirmation of this viewpoint, Hauffe and pfeiffer6 and Pfeiffer and ~aubmeyer' have established that the linear scaling constants of wustite formation at 1000°C in carbon-dioxide or low-pressure oxygen atmospheres

Jan 1, 1961

By C. E. Sims

THE carbon-oxygen reaction without doubt is the basic reaction in steelmaking. It is important on several counts: In the first place, carbon is the element that distinguishes steel from iron. It is the principal element controlling properties, and its control is of prime concern. Although the principal objective of the carbon-oxygen reaction is to oxidize excess carbon, the accompanying boil should not be underrated. The mechanical agitation, stirring, and mixing resulting from the boil are so useful in the distribution of heat and in promoting uniformity of composition in the bath that, were it not a natural accompaniment of the carbon-oxygen reaction, it is probable that something would have to be invented to replace it. The open-hearth operation, for example,, with the bath heated from above by radiation, would be impracticable without the carbon boil. The electric-arc furnace is somewhat less dependent on it, but every melter knows how much easier it is to gain temperature with minimum damage to refractories during the boil than with a dead bath. The motor action of the induced current of the induction furnace makes the carbon boil unnecessary but even there a severe oxidation has been found useful in giving greater freedom from porosity in certain steels. The quantitative aspects of the carbon-oxygen reaction have been given considerable attention by a large number of investigators, and the principles of physical chemistry have played an important part in these studies. Physical chemistry is the science of the mechanics and mathematics of chemical reactions. It is possible to study the mechanisms of reactions in a qualitative manner without reference to mathematics and thus obtain valuable concepts as to the manner in which the wheels go around. When it is desired to express quantitative relations in these reactions, however, resort to mathematics is not only convenient but necessary. Mathematics may also be regarded as the shorthand language of physical chemistry. A basic relation whose description requires numerous words may be expressed very simply by a mathematical formula or equation. A good example of this is the equilibrium constant for a chemical reaction. Expressed verbally, it is: When a chemical reaction has reached a condition of equilibrium, the product of the concentration of the reacting substances on one side of the equation, divided by the product of the concentration of the reacting substances on the other side, gives a quotient that is a constant at constant temperature. For the carbon-oxygen reaction C + 0 [=] CO this is expressed simply as [ ] where K (from the German Konstant) is the equilibrium constant for the reaction. Although mathematics is such a necessary and useful tool, it is also a potential pitfall. Mathematics in itself is an abstract science, which is not inhibited by consideration of mechanisms or materials.

Jan 1, 1947

By C. C. Nathan

Data are resented on the physical properties of five waxes obtained from fields in Texas and Louisiana in which "parafin" troubles are being experienced. The crude parafin was fractionated into three components, voluble in cold acetone, soluble in boiling acetone, and insoluble in boiling acetone. The acetone insoluble fraction was found to consist essentially of straight chain parafin hydrocarbons in the molecular weight range 525 to 700. Solubilities of the purified high molecular weight parafins were determined in a number of solvents. It was found that in hydrocarbon solvents, including crude oil, solubilities could be calculated satisfactorily by use of ideal solubility relations. In chlorinated, and oxygenated solvents, large deviations from ideal behavior were observed. These deviations could be partially correlated with the internal pressure of the solvent. INTRODUCTION A problem encountered in many producing oil fields is that of "paraffin" deposition. The problem refers to the deposition of material from the crude oil onto tubing, pumping rods, flow lines, or other material contacted by the crude. This problem has been recognized for nearly a hundred years, and numerous investigations have been reported on its causes and prevention or alleviation. One of the more comprehensive of such investigations was published by Reistle1 in 1932. A few of the salient findings of his report are briefly as follows: The term "paraffin" as used to describe this problem refers to the deposit of carbonaceous material which is not soluble or dispersible by the crude oil under the conditions where deposition occurs. The "paraffin" normally consists of high molecular weight paraffin hydrocarbons, both straight chain and branched, resins and asphaltic materials of undetermined nature, occluded oil and water, and possibly sand. In consistency, the deposit may vary from a soft, sticky material, to one which is hard and brittle. Deposits are usually black, although lighter colors are sometimes observed. Under the conditions of temperature, pressure, and crude oil composition occurring in the underground reservoir, the paraffin is in suspension or solution in the crude. As the oil flows to the surface, there is generally a reduction of temperature, pressure, and the amount of dissolved gases contained in the oil. Reduction of temperature and gas break-out were shown by Reistle to be factors causing reduced solubility of the paraffin in the crude. Thus, as the crude containing paraffin rises to the surface and flows to storage tanks at atmospheric temperature, the solubility of the paraffin may be exceeded. Deposition will begin at the point in the system where the temperature of the system falls below its cloud point, and continue as long as there is a further drop in the solution power of the crude for the paraffin. The severity of the deposition as well as the location of the bulk of the deposition, i.e., in subsurface or surface equipment, will depend on the amount of paraffin originally in the crude, the manner in which pressure and temperature of the crude

Jan 1, 1956

By G. P. Conard, E. H. Rennhack

The generation of fibers composed of individual TiZn15 compound particles and their influence on crystallographic orientation in chill-cast, hot-rolled hypoentectic Zn-Ti alloys were explored. Metallo-graphic examination and X-ray diffraction data show that such fibers form a planar network after 50 pet reduction which eventually tends to suppress twinning at some critical reduction level (-90 pct) where the grain size approaches the interfiber, spacing. This leads to the development of a duplex-type projerred orientation through slip rotation consisting of an al-most ideal (0001)(2iiOj texture and a (0001) (1010) rotated component. Correlations between basal-plane rotation and secondary- creep rc11e sugg-est, however that prejerred orientation does not contribute in a major way to the creep resistance of these alloys. EFFORTS to improve the creep resistance of zinc through alloying without incurring a loss in fabricating properties have achieved only minor success with the exception of the very effective addition of titanium. Anderson, Boyle, and Ramsey,l for example, demonstrated that increasing the amount of thiselement from 0.05 to 0.23 wt pct produced a progressive, 45-fold increase in the inverse creep rate of hot-rolled

Jan 1, 1967

By John E. Conley

The production of lime by the burning or calcination of limestone, including all varieties from true dolomites and magnesian limestones to high-calcium types, continues as one of the essential basic industries. In 1937, a total of 4,124,165 tons of lime valued at approximately $30,091,000 was produced in the United States.' The importance of any contribution to our knowledge on the mechanism of the lime-burning process is, therefore, obvious. The burning of limestone has been practiced since the earliest days of our civilization, and the literature on the various phases of the industry is voluminous. Calcination of the various types of limestone has been studied by many previous investigators, but some points require additional research. Each occurrence of limestone provides an opportunity for specific investigation, because the characteristics of stones in different localities vary. Knibbs13 has given an excellent discussion of available data on the theory of lime and magnesia burning. The thermal dissociation of calcium carbonate has been studied more recently by Johnstonr2 Smyth and Adams,3 Ralston et al.,4 Furnas,6 Potapenko,6 and Southard and Royster.7 As a result of these investigations the dissociation temperature at atmospheric pressure has been established as 894" to 898' C. The dissociation of dolomite and magnesite, although studied by several investigators,4,6,8 still requires clarification by additional data. The calcination of limestone was studied for a twofold purpose: (I) to extend our information on the mechanism of the lime-burning process and (2) to standardize the conditions for calcination of high-calcium and dolomitic limestones for subsequent hydration tests on the lime.

Jan 1, 1942

By G. S. Rice

Some form of longwall mining is generally used in Continental Europe; also in Great Britain where the coal is weak and friable, or the coal bed provides material for pack walls and filling, or where the bottom is soft and squeezes up easily, or the roof is pliable, or the bed is thin and brushing provides building material, or the thick multiple seams are mined in layers, such as the 24-ft.seam at Weymss, Scotland, or the 10-yd. pitching bed near Coventry, England. Pillar methods have been retained in British fields where the coal beds are from 5 to 9 ft. (1.5 to 2.7 m.) thick, and free from thick partings or binders or without draw slate, which would provide waste rock for pack walls, or where the roof is hard and requires shooting to bring down, and also the bottom or floor is comparatively hard. The room-and-pillar system, by which probably 95 per cent. of the coal of the United States is produced, is now found in only a few mines in Wales, where it is known as the pillar and (single) stall method. The American room-and-pillar system is not equivalent to the bord-and-pillar or stoop-and-room system. The essential difference between the bord-and-pillar and the average American room-and-pillar system is probably due to natural conditions. The majority of the coal mines in the United States have a depth of less than 700 ft. (213 m.). The bulk of the coal mined in Europe comes from a depth of more than 1200 ft., while the deepest mines in Great Britain, Belgium, and France reach 3500 to 4000 ft. In deep workings wide spans are impracticable, even with the use of abundant timber; accordingly, as the mines in the United States become deeper the rooms will become narrower and the pillars thicker, and the bulk of the coal will be extracted on the retreat. It is generally conceded, without reference to the cost of production, that the larger the pillars left on the first mining, the more thoroughly can the coal be extracted. In Europe complete extraction is generally compelled either by the lessors or by the governments; whereas in this country it has been more largely a question of competitive cost of production, or the support of the surface in the flat farming districts of the

Jan 1, 1922

By Samuel M. Cassidy, George M. Rigg

During 1937 a program was begun to mechanize and modernize the then 28-year old Isabella mine of the Weirton Coal Co., which is on the Monongahela River, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, at one edge of what is generally known as the Coke Region. Weirton Coal Co. is a subsidiary of the National Steel Corporation, and produces metallurgical grade coking coal for the Weirton Steel Co., Weirton, W. Va. Improvements subsequently made included a cleaning plant for washing the entire mine output, shovel-action track-mounted machines for mechanically loading all the coal, universal-type track-mounted cutting and shearing machines, post drills, 8-wheel mine cars of 10 tons capacity, cable-reel gathering locomotives and other auxiliary equipment. This paper presents the factors, reasons and results of decided changes from the mining system generally prevailing in the region, as well as abandonment of selective mining practices in favor of complete seam extraction. Coal-seam Conditions Fig. 1 illustrates the Pittsburgh coal seam on the property. Cover over the seam averages 450 ft., and 675 ft. is the maxi- mum. Main roof varies from very weak to medium strong; usually it disintegrates rapidly on exposure to air. The "wild" coal makes a fairly strong immediate roof if supported by crossbars and if unbroken affords a seal to the main roof. The draw slate is very weak and treacherous. The floor is characterized by numerous irregular bottom rolls, or "horsebacks," protruding from a few inches up to 3 ft. into the coal. Some are soft, but many are hard and flintlike. Although the bottom slate usually is hard, the underlying fire clay causes it to buckle and heave readily with any moderate increase in roof pressure or where damp. As a whole, the bottom is weaker than the main roof. The coal is characterized by numerous closely jointed face and butt cleats and a woody, springy nature when shot, both having a decided influence on face practices. As shown in Fig. I, at both the top and bottom of the main coal seam is a layer of coal of higher ash and sulphur content than the body of coal in the middle. Factors That Influence the Mining System Equipment was bought and organization for mechanical loading was made on the basis of working each mechanical unit as near its full capacity as possible, to lessen investment cost and obtain best operating efficiency. This led to combination double and triple-shift operation at the start, and, very shortly, to all sections being triple shifted.

Jan 1, 1947

By Joseph E. Pogue

The past year in the petroleum industry was one of overproduction, rising inventories, low prices, and meagre to vanishing profits. This outcome was the result of a long period of intensive and uncompensated effort on the part of both financial and industrial interests, to stimulate supply on the theory that the primary problem facing the petroleum industry was the development of an adequate reserve of raw material to protect a large and ever-growing investment. The stimulus was applied in various forms and through diverse channels: capital had long flowed into the industry in excessive amounts under the attraction of large expected profits; the price level for crude petroleum had persistently been influenced by speculative considerations, with the result that prices declined slowly in periods of flush production and were quick to advance in anticipation of statistical improvement, thus maintaining a superfluous degree of stimulus on wildcatting and on drilling; speculation in inventories had led to the unsound, or at least unusual, business practice of accumulating huge stocks of oil; and, above all, the industry had directed the potent force of technology to the expansion of supply and achieved radical results in accelerating oil discovery, speeding up the rate of oil extraction, and enlarging the recovery of gasoline and lubricating oils from the raw material. In short, the economic conditions of 1927 were exactly those to which the objectively driven enterprise of the petroleum industry had long been directed; and the undesirable financial consequences arising therefrom reflected no lack of success in what had been set out to be achieved, but rather the failure to have established concurrently the necessary means of economic control to prevent the immediate conversion of reserves into current supply, and likewise the oversight in neglecting to apply the technological force to the enlargement and diversification of the market for petroleum products. Perhaps, when viewed in its longer perspective, 1927 will stand out as the turning point in the economic policy of the petroleum industry, when the technique of rationalizing production made its initial claim for recognition.

Jan 1, 1928

By C. M. Loeb, T. E. Norman

The use of ball, rod and tube mills for grinding ore, cement and other materials has grown so rapidly during the past forty years that the world's annual consumption of ferrous grinding media for these mills is now estimated to be between one half million and one million tons per year. Ferrous grinding balls constitute the major portion of this tonnage. Obviously they represent sufficient value to justify thorough studies of the factors governing their performance. The selection of grinding balls is governed principally by: I. Quality (wear resistance, impact resistance, soundness, and the like). 2. Sources of supply and delivered cost. 3. Grinding characteristics or efficiency in the ball mill. This paper deals principally with the quality of ferrous grinding balls. In the study of these factors certain data relative to the fundamental nature of ball wear in ball mills have been obtained. These data are also presented and discussed briefly. The Development of a Suitable Wear Test A study of the fundamental factors governing the quality of grinding balls has been hampered seriously by the fact that a competent test has, in the past, involved the purchase of several hundred tons of balls of a specific type which were then run in one or more ball mills for a period ranging from several months' to several years' duration. Often, during the period of test, it became necessary to change operating conditions or the character of the ore fed to the test mill with the result that the rate of ball consumption changed and the test figures became of little value. Under such circumstances, progress in the development of better grinding balls, has been necessarily slow. Economic factors and variations in the quality of balls produced by different sources of supply generally make it necessary for each mill operator to determine for himself the most suitable type of balls for his mills. In our own ball mill grinding operations at Climax, Colo., we were faced with this problem. After we had run a few large scale wear tests at considerable expense we decided to investigate the possibilities of a small scale wear test which would be capable of testing numerous types of balls within a relatively short time. The most important requirement of any test is, of course, that it give results which can be used to predict accurately the wear in full scale operations. It was known that Ellis and his associates1,2 had developed a method of testing grinding balls by small scale tests run at the Ontario Research Foundation. Ellis' method of testing was used as a starting point in our investigations. In the course of our tests a number of modifications of the original method were found to be desirable so that, by an evolutionary procedure, a method of small scale

Jan 1, 1949

By H. J. Ramey

The wellbore acts as a storage tank during drawdown and build-up testing and causes the sand-face flow rate to approach the constant surface flow rate as a function of time. This effect is compounded if non-Darcy flow (turbulent flow) exists near a gas wellbore. Non-Darcy flow can be interpreted as a flow-rate dependent skin effect. A method for determining the non-Darcy flow constant using this concept and the usual skin effect equation is described. Field tests of this method have identified several cases where non-Darcy flow was severe enough that gas wells in a fractured region appeared to be moderately damaged. The combination of wellbore storage and non-Darcy flow can result in erroneous estimates of formation flow capacity for short-time gas well tests. Fortunately, the presence of the wellbore storage eflect permits a new analysis which can provide a reasonable estimate of formation flow capacity and the non-Darcy flow constant from a single short-time test. The basis of the Gladfelter, Tracy and Wilsey correction for wellbore storage in pressure build-up was investigated. Results led to extension of the method to drawdown testing. If non-Darcy flow is not important, the method can be used to correct short-time gas well drawdown or build-up data. A method for estimation of the duration of wellbore storage effects was developed. INTRODUCTION In 1953, van Everdingen and Hurst generalized results published in their previous paper3 concerning wellbore storage effects to include a "skin effect", or a region of altered permeability adjacent to the wellbore. Later, Gladfelter. Tracy and Wilsey4 presented a method for correcting observed oilwell pressure build-up data for wellbore storage in the presence of a skin effect. The method depended upon measuring the change in the fluid storage in the wellbore by measuring the rise in liquid level. To the author's knowledge, application of the Gladfelter, Tracy and Wilsey storage correction to gas-well build-up has not been discussed in the literature. It is, however, a rather obvious application. Gas storage in the wellbore is a conlpressibility effect and can be estimated easily from the measured wellbore pressure as a function of time. Several approaches to the wellbore storage problem have been suggested. As summarized by Matthews, it is possible to minimize annulus storage volume by using a packer, and to obtain a near sand-face shut-in by use of down-hole tubing plug devices. Matthews and Perrine have suggested criteiia for determining the time when storage effects become negligible. In 1962, Swift and Kiel' presented a method for determination of the effect of non-Darcy flow (often called turbulent flow) upon gas-well behavior. This paper provided a theoretical basis for peculiar gas-well behavior described previously by Smith. Recently, Carter, Miller and Riley observed disagreement among flow capacity k,,h data determined from gas-well drawdown tests conducted at different flow rates for short periods of time (less than six hours flowing time). In the original preprint of their paper, Carter et al. proposed that the discrepancy in flow capacity was possibly a result of wellbore storage effects. Results of an analytical study of unloading of the wellbore and non-Darcy flow were recorded by carter.14 In the final text of their paper, Carter et al.!' stated that they no longer believed wellbore storage was the reason for discrepancy in their kgh estimates. In view of the preceding, this study was performed to establish the importance of non-Darcy flow and well-bore storage for gas-well testing. In the course of the study. a reinspection of the previous work by van Everdingen' and Hurst' was made, and the basis for the Gladfelter, Tracy and Wilsey' wellbore storage correction was investigated and extended to flow testing. WELLBORE STORAGE THEORY As has been shown by Aronofsky and Jenkins,11-12 Matthews," and others, flow of gas can often be approximated by an equivalent liquid flow system. The following developnlent will use liquid flow nomenclature to simplify the presentation. Application to gas-well cases will be illustrated later. First, we will use the van Everdingen-HursP treatment of wellbore storage in transient flow to establish (1) the duration of wellbore storage effects, and (2) a method to correct flow data for wellbore storage. DURATION OF WELLHORE STORAGE EFFECTS When an oil well is opened to flow. the bottom-hole pressure drops and causes a resulting drop in the liquid level in the annulus. If V. represents the annular volume in cu ft/ft of depth, and p represents the average density of the fluid in the wellbore, the volume of fluid at reservoir conditions produced from the annulus per unit bottom-hole pressure drop is approximately: res bbl-- (V, cu ft/ft) (144 sqin./sq ft) psi -(5.615 cu ft/bbl)(pIb/cuft) ........(I)

Jan 1, 1966

By W. F. Flanagan, D. H. Polonis, S. D. Dahlgren

Rotation diffraction patterns of Cu-4.84 wt pct Si polymystalline samples were taken during the course of isothel-ma1 affing of the suPersaturated a phase, a diffraction spots were obserzled to streak during the initial stages of aging, and this streaking was similar to the streaking of a spots observed earlier by Barvett with deformed super saturated samples of the same composition. Although it was suggested that stacking faults were the sole cause of styeaking in the deformed samples, the present study has shown that plates with one small crystallite dimension can also contribute to the streaking when there is lattice coherency across close-packed planes. THE decomposition of the supersaturated a phase in Cu-Si alloys has been reported to occur by means of both thermal and stress activation.1-4 According to the Cu-Si phase diagram,3 Fig. 1, the supersaturated a phase (fcc) is expected to transform during aging by the precipitation of the y phase. The results of earlier studies2,4 have indicated that metastable k phase (hcp with nearly ideal close packing) forms initially at temperatures below the eutectoid temperature, after which the k transforms to the a and y phases. Hof-mann et al.4 have proposed a metastable version of the phase diagram, showing the approximate boundaries for k formation below the eutectoid temperature. In view of the close-packed nature of both the a and k phases, it is essential to consider the role assumed by stacking faults in the transformation. Streaking effects have been reported by Barrett 1 in the rotating crystal X-ray patterns of strained Cu-Si alloys and were attributed to stacking faults rather than particle size effects. This deduction was based on the observation that streaks in the diffraction patterns did not occur tangent to the 220fee Debye ring. It is known that the atom movements involved in faulting leave some X-ray reflections unaffected while others are broadened,' and, in particular, it has been shown that faulting will not cause streaking of 220fee reflections tangent to the 220fee Debye ring as would be expected if all the reflections were broadened.' The formation

Jan 1, 1967