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By A. E. Harnsberger

I is obvious that details such as the physical and chemical properties and methods of heat-treating of the materials mentioned must be omitted in a paper on the subject of materials used in oil-refinery pumps1. Only sufficient identification is given to enable the reader to find additional information from already published data. Also, the subject covers many operating conditions, but only the most important services can be discussed here. To the oil refiner, the pumping equipment is of vital interest. Practically every refinery operation, from the charging of crude oil to a distillation unit to the shipping of refined products, involves some form of pumping machinery. Intermediate refining stages involve a great variety of pumping machinery to carry out successfully the aims of the refinery technologist. Temperatures at which oils are handled vary from — 50" F. to 900" F. Pressure may vary from subatmospheric to 2000 1b. per sq. inch. The selection of the proper materials involves a careful consideration of the conditions under which the particular pump must operate. The four most important considerations are temperature, pressure, corrosion, and abrasion or wear. Consideration of temperature may be divided into three parts: (1) extremely low temperatures of the order of —50" F.; (2) temperatures at atmospheric or slightly above; (3) temperatures from 200" to 900" F. Pressures fall into two groups: (1) pressures reached by ordinary trade pumps of the order of 200 lb. per sq. in., (2) extreme pressure conditions involving pressures as high as 2000 lb. Noncorrosive and corrosive oils can be treated differently. Under the latter falls corrosion in the presence of water, which will occur up to 250" F. The second type of corrosion occurs in high-temperature pumping equipment, with temperatures from 450" to 900" F., largely caused by sulfur compounds. There are also other corrosive conditions met with in refinery operations, particularly in the handling of acids, acid sludges and other specialized processes. These problems, although difficult to

Jan 1, 1935

By A. E. Harnsberger

I is obvious that details such as the physical and chemical properties and methods of heat-treating of the materials mentioned must be omitted in a paper on the subject of materials used in oil-refinery pumps1. Only sufficient identification is given to enable the reader to find additional information from already published data. Also, the subject covers many operating conditions, but only the most important services can be discussed here. To the oil refiner, the pumping equipment is of vital interest. Practically every refinery operation, from the charging of crude oil to a distillation unit to the shipping of refined products, involves some form of pumping machinery. Intermediate refining stages involve a great variety of pumping machinery to carry out successfully the aims of the refinery technologist. Temperatures at which oils are handled vary from — 50" F. to 900" F. Pressure may vary from subatmospheric to 2000 1b. per sq. inch. The selection of the proper materials involves a careful consideration of the conditions under which the particular pump must operate. The four most important considerations are temperature, pressure, corrosion, and abrasion or wear. Consideration of temperature may be divided into three parts: (1) extremely low temperatures of the order of —50" F.; (2) temperatures at atmospheric or slightly above; (3) temperatures from 200" to 900" F. Pressures fall into two groups: (1) pressures reached by ordinary trade pumps of the order of 200 lb. per sq. in., (2) extreme pressure conditions involving pressures as high as 2000 lb. Noncorrosive and corrosive oils can be treated differently. Under the latter falls corrosion in the presence of water, which will occur up to 250" F. The second type of corrosion occurs in high-temperature pumping equipment, with temperatures from 450" to 900" F., largely caused by sulfur compounds. There are also other corrosive conditions met with in refinery operations, particularly in the handling of acids, acid sludges and other specialized processes. These problems, although difficult to

Jan 1, 1935

By C. H. Mathewson

Discussion of the paper of C. H. MATHEWSON and ARTHUR PHILLIPS, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1916, and printed in Bulletin No. 109, January, 1916, pp. 1 to 50. ZAY JEFFRIES, Cleveland, Ohio (communication to the Secretary*).¬The authors are to be congratulated for this interesting and valuable contribution. The paper as a whole shows very careful experimentation coupled with rare judgment in drawing conclusions. I have been working along similar lines for the last two years with other metals and alloys. In a short conversation with Dr. Mathewson about July 1, 1915, he mentioned the fact that different degrees of cold work greatly affect the temperature of recrystallization on annealing, Later I determined the recrystallization temperatures of iron, mild steel, and copper, with different degrees of cold work and found that the greater the degree of cold work, the lower the temperature of recrystallization on annealing. In the course of these experiments, I conceived practically the same ideas regarding the reasons for recrystallization as those advanced in the article under discussion. After a metal has been reduced by cold work to about one-fourth of its original area, the differences in orientation of different parts of a given grain can be seen plainly at a magnification of about 1,000 diameters. It is interesting to note that in Fig. A, Plate I, the lines of deformation are not parallel. For example,. in the large grain at the lower left corner of the micrograph, if the lines of deformation about 3g in. from the left edge are continued in a straight line, this line will intersect a straight line drawn as a continuation of the lines of deformation on the extreme right of the grain, at an angle of about 20°. Similarly, if the lines of deformation at the extremities of the large grain in the right central portion of the micrograph are extended, the lines intersect at an angle of about 35°. The individual lines of deformation are not straight. In some of these the parts of the broken lines intersect at angles as great as 15°.

Jan 5, 1916

By J. F. Butler

Boron nitride, BN, has been identified in boron low-carbon steels by means of light microscopy, electron microscopy and diffraction, and chemical analysis. This boron nitride is responsible for strain aging suppression in these steels through the removal of nitrogen from solution; however, small oxidizing potentials which result in deboronization In the austenitic temperature range also result in boron nitride decomposition and the subsequent occurrence of nitrogen strain aging. THE addition of boron to low-carbon steels is an effective means of eliminating the detrimental effects of strain aging;',' however, the mechanism by which boron suppresses strain aging has not been established. In studying the effect of heat treatment on the strain aging of boron low-carbon steels, Butler3 found that no detectable nitrogen was present in the ferrite solid solution after various heat treatments even though the total nitrogen analyses of the steels were 0.003 pct N. Apparently the function of boron in suppressing strain aging is the removal of nitrogen from solution to form a relatively stable second phase. A clue to the identity of this phase was found by Speight4 who extracted from an aluminum-killed boron steel an acid insoluble residue which contained boron and nitrogen in proportions corresponding to the compound, BN. Shyne and Morgan5 found that the addition of nitrogen to a hardenable boron steel lowered its hardenability in a manner which suggest-d the presence of nucleating particles (presumably BN) even at high austenitizing temperatures. Although this indirect evidence for the presence of boron nitride in boron steels has been found, the compound was not identified metallographically as a separate phase in these steels. Because boron has an affinity for oxygen comparable to that of silicon,5 boron steels must be thoroughly killed with aluminum in order to prevent the reaction of boron with oxygen.7 The affinity of boron for oxygen also is demonstrated through the ease of deboronization of a boron steel in an oxidizing atmosphere. Digges, Irish, and Carwile8 found that a mixture of wet natural gas and air caused both deboronixation and decarburization of a boron steel at 1900°F. The boron content rose at the surface of the steel due to the formation of boron oxide. Shyne and Morgan9 encountered deboronization at much lower oxygen potentials; loss of boron occurred in steels treated at 1750o F under argon purified to 0.0014 pct 0, even though decarburization did not occur. Boron oxide, B2O3, is much more stable than the nitride, BN, as is indicated by the standard free energies of formation at 980oC: -235 kcal per mol of B2O3 (liquid) and -28 kcal per mol of BN (crystal). It is evident that the oxygen potential must be kept low in the presence of BN in order to prevent its decomposition and the subsequent formation of B2O3' The purpose of the work described in this paper was to identify the nitride phase responsible for the removal of nitrogen from solution and to study its stability under oxidizing conditions. IDENTIFICATION OF BN In order to identify the phase containing boron and nitrogen, several alloys high in boron and nitrogen were made up in a small vacuum furnace. In alloys 3 and 4, Table I, electrolytic iron was used as a charge material. Boron additions were made in the form of 18 pct B ferro-boron after the iron was molten. In the case of alloy 3, the charge was solidified at this point; for alloy 4, nitrogen at 1 atm pressure was admitted over the melt before it was

Jan 1, 1962

By Dr. O’Neil Thomas J., Donald W. Gentry

"October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February." -Mark Twain Although the preceding chapters describe the type of preliminary evaluation frequently performed in the mining industry, it has been assumed that input data are known with certainty-clearly an enormous simplification. In reality, estimates of ore grade, mining cost, metal price, etc., are subject to varying degrees of uncertainty due to the inability to predict the future with much precision. Management would probably not, for example, be equally attracted to two projects each offering a 20% DCFROI-one for a new gold venture in Nevada and the other for an undersea manganese nodule operation in the Pacific. The high risk with the latter investment tells the obvious; there is more to investment decision-making than a deterministic analysis using "best estimates" of input parameters. The science of decision theory normally distinguishes between decisions under uncertainty, where probabilities of various outcomes are unknown; and decisions under risk, where such probabilities can be estimated. The first case is rarely en- countered in practical capital investment analysis in mining, so the remainder of this chapter focuses on that class of problems where rational probability distributions for the future states of input variables can be estimated. RISK IN MINING Risk in the context of this chapter is the unforeseen deviation of individual cash flows from expected values for a capital project. For a mining venture, the source of this uncertainty could be any number of factors relating to such items as ore grade, ore reserve tonnage, operating costs, product prices, etc. With conventional *Adapted from O'Neil, T.J., 1979, "Procedures for the Preliminary Financial Evaluation of Metal Mining Ventures," Computer Methods for the 80s, A. Weiss, ed., AIME, New York, pp. 556-573.

Jan 1, 1984

By T. Egleston

The treatment of the residues from the manufacture of sulphuric acid which contain small amounts of copper, silver and gold, has attracted considerable attention in Europe. They are successfully treated in several works on the continent, and in as many as twenty establishments in different parts of England. As the process must sooner or later attract attention in this country, I have put together my notes made in three of the most important establishments in Europe. These are the works at Hemixem near Antwerp, of Duisbourg in Westphalia, and of Oker in the Hartz. In the last works only, the ores are produced in the vicinity of the place where they are treated. The works at Duisbourg treat ores which come from the Rio Tinto mines in Spain, which often contain considerable quantities of arsenic. They are roasted in a number of different works along the Rhine for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. They are brought by boat and are landed at the works by steam-cranes. They are carried at once by a double-inclined plane worked by steam to the storagehouses to be kept, until treated. The wagons, after being weighed, are dumped. The ore is assayed at once, the assay-sample being taken from the boat while the ores are being discharged. They are all fine, and contain two to eight per cent. of copper and about sixty per cent. of iron, and a small amount of silver and gold. Their average composition is given below:

Jan 1, 1886

By R. E. Cech

Particles -3 to 30 µ diam of a 29.5 pet Ni, 70.5 pet Fe alloy after being melted and solidified while falling through a hydrogen atmosphere were found to contain a distortion-free body-centered-cubic phase. In most particles, the amount of body-centered-cubic phase approaches or equals 100 pet. It was shown by a series of experiments that this phase forms directly from the liquid. It is pointed out that a mechanism previously suggested in recent papers on the theory of the liquid-solid transformation can account for the solidification of body-centered-cubic phase in a temperature range where face-centered-cubic is the stable phase. IN the course of an operation to produce powders for a study of the martensitic transformation in Fe-Ni alloys, an unexpected phenomenon was observed. Powders of a 29.5 pet Ni alloy, which has a subzero M, temperature, were found to contain considerable amounts of a body-centered-cubic phase at room temperature. The experiments to be described were designed to elucidate the mode of formation of this unexpected phase. Experiments and Discussion An alloy containing 29.5 wt pet Ni, balance iron, was vacuum melted from high purity electrolytic iron and carbonyl nickel shot and solidified in the crucible. The metal was converted to oxide, ground to 100 pet <37µ, pressed to a cake, and homogenized 20 hr at 1350°C. To insure homogeneity the grinding, pressing, and homogenizing heat treatment was repeated a second time. The oxide was then ground to 100 pct <37µ and hydrogen reduced at 500°C. The reduced powder was given a spheroidizing treatment to produce spherical cast particles. The treatment consisted of dispersing the particles in hydrogen and allowing them to drop through a vertical hydrogen furnace set to a temperature higher than the liquidus of the alloy. This operation, commonly known as shotting, has been described more fully elsewhere.&apos; The powder produced by this method was found to contain approximately equal parts of body-centered-cubic and face-centered-cubic phases. A magnetic separation technique, previously described,&apos; was applied, and it was found that particles were either completely face-centered-cubic or nearly completely body-centered-cubic. The microstruc-

Jan 1, 1957

By T. L. Joseph

BLAST furnaces are most efficient thermally when the C02 in the top gas is highest. Oxygen introduced in the air blast is converted to CO in the combustion zones. The extent to which CO, generated in front of the tuyères, is converted later to C02 depends upon the ratio of ore to coke in the charge and the degree to which C02, formed by reduction of iron oxides with CO, reverts to CO by the secondary reaction C + C02 = 2C0. About 300 to 400 lb. of carbon1 per ton of pig iron is normally involved in the solution-loss reaction or direct reduction of FeO with carbon, which produces the same over-all results; that is, lower C02 in the top gas. Riche has recently reported a reduction in fuel consumption at slower rates of blowing on two furnaces in spite of higher heat losses per ton of iron. Lower fuel consumption at slow operating rates was due to more complete reduction of the ore that resulted in higher C02 in the top gas and consequently more efficient use of carbon. Kinney3 has reported substantial savings in fuel as a result of crushing and sizing the ore charge. Improvements in practice brought about by sintering magnetite concentrates, flue dust and fine ores have been due to the establishment of conditions favoring more complete reduction of the ore in the upper part of the furnace. The extent to which oxides and fluctuations in composition in pig iron affect the quality of steel and finished product needs further study. There is evidence that more thorough preheating and reduction of the ore in the upper part of the furnace tend to give a better quality of iron. Bogatzkii4 found from laboratory work that the amount of oxygen enter-

Jan 1, 1936

By C.F. Pascoe, H.J. Roast

The object of this investigation was to compare the arsenical antimony-lead alloy with some of the regular bearing-metal alloys. With this end in view, the following tests were made: 1. Chemical analyses to show the composition. 2. Thermal analyses. 3. Macroscopic examination of fractures. 4.Microscopic examination. 5. Tensile tests. 6. Crushing tests. 7. Scleroscope tests.&apos; 8. Brinell tests, at temperatures from 80&apos; to 400&apos; F. Tests 3 to 8 were conducted on both sand-cast and chill-cast specimens. For the purposes of this paper the alloys have been numbered from 1 to 6; their composition is as follows: Lead. &apos; Antimony, Tin, CoppeR ARSEnic, NumBeR PeR CENT. PER CENT. PeR Cent. PeR CeNt. PeR Cent. 1 82.64 12.95 4.40 0.01 none 2 27.54 9.04 59.87 2.65 none I 3 none- 0.13 ------------1.47 4 82.95 16.85 none 0.20 none 5 83.78 15.35 none 0.05 0.82 6 0.15 7.87 . 84.13 7.85 none The analysis, in the case of the antimony, was made by solution in sul-furic acid and titrated with permanganate. For tin, the ferric-chloride method was used; for copper, the alkaline separations, and the thio-cyanate methods; for arsenic, volatilization of arsenic and titration with iodine. The lead, with the exception of alloy 6, was taken by difference. With the exception of No. 5, the alloys were taken as received from the manufacturer. About 40 lb, were melted in a graphite crucible and recast into small ingots to insure uniformity of composition; samples

Jan 1, 1923

By C. F. Pascoe, H. J. Roast

The object of this investigation was to compare the arsenical antimony-lead alloy with some of the regular bearing-metal alloys. With this end in view, the following tests were made: 1. Chemical analyses to show the composition. 2. Thermal analyses. 3. Macroscopic examination of fractures. 4.Microscopic examination. 5. Tensile tests. 6. Crushing tests. 7. Scleroscope tests.&apos; 8. Brinell tests, at temperatures from 80&apos; to 400&apos; F. Tests 3 to 8 were conducted on both sand-cast and chill-cast specimens. For the purposes of this paper the alloys have been numbered from 1 to 6; their composition is as follows: Lead. &apos; Antimony, Tin, CoppeR ARSEnic, NumBeR PeR CENT. PER CENT. PeR Cent. PeR CeNt. PeR Cent. 1 82.64 12.95 4.40 0.01 none 2 27.54 9.04 59.87 2.65 none I 3 none- 0.13 ------------1.47 4 82.95 16.85 none 0.20 none 5 83.78 15.35 none 0.05 0.82 6 0.15 7.87 . 84.13 7.85 none The analysis, in the case of the antimony, was made by solution in sul-furic acid and titrated with permanganate. For tin, the ferric-chloride method was used; for copper, the alkaline separations, and the thio-cyanate methods; for arsenic, volatilization of arsenic and titration with iodine. The lead, with the exception of alloy 6, was taken by difference. With the exception of No. 5, the alloys were taken as received from the manufacturer. About 40 lb, were melted in a graphite crucible and recast into small ingots to insure uniformity of composition; samples

Jan 1, 1923

By A. M. Hall

SULPHUR, even in small amounts, may often be harmful to nickel and high-nickel alloys, causing impairment of mechanical strength and destruction of malleability and ductility, as shown by Merica and Waltenberg.1,2 It may act. either in the form of nonmetallic inclusions produced in the liquid state during furnacing or as reaction products resulting from its diffusion into the solid metal. In recognizing the action of this element, ability to identify its various forms by means of the microscope is often of considerable importance, especially when direct quantitative methods are inapplicable. [ ] Of the sulphur compounds associated with nickel and high-nickel alloys, the sulphides that may be found in malleable nickel, Monel? and Inconel? are an important group. These sulphides were investigated by metallographic methods in order to provide descriptive data by which to identify them. The nominal compositions of malleable nickel, Monet and Inconel are given in Table I. The term "sulphide" is employed here in a very general sense, to designate a substance in which sulphur and one or more metallic elements are combined. The term includes any combinations of compounds and solid solutions. METHOD OF INVESTIGATION Three groups of small laboratory melts were made, one group to represent each of the three types of alloy under investigation. Within each group, a number of ingots with a sufficient variety of chemical analyses were prepared so that the effect of each of the elements entering the complete commercial alloy could be isolated and observed. In most cases, to facilitate metallographic study by exaggerating the number and size of the resulting sulphides, somewhat greater amounts of the minor elements were added than are present in the commercial alloys. Likewise, considerably more sulphur was added than is normal, but not enough to complicate the system. Transverse sections were cut at a point one third of the distance from the butt to the head of each ingot, polished and examined with an inverted stage metallograph equipped with a combination polarizing-analyzing vertical illuminator. The light source was a tungsten-mercury vapor arc lamp.

Jan 1, 1943

By T. L. Joseph

IN connection with its investigations of the blast&apos;-furnace process, the Bureau of Mines, in coöperation with the Minnesota School of Mines Experiment Station, developed a 6-ton experimental furnace. Such a furnace was needed to determine the feasibility of producing ferromanganese from Minnesota manganiferous iron ores, a problem of national importance because of the present need for manganese in the steel industry and our small reserves of ferro-grade ores. Furnace operators are reluctant to use new or untried raw materials or to make decided innovations in practice on account of the financial hazard of experimenting with full-scale equipment. A small furnace which can be operated at a relatively low cost is particularly adapted for testing new, raw materials and for determining the feasibility of decided innovations in practice. Laboratory experiments, plus whatever information may be available, are valuable but often do not indicate the net result of changes in an operation involving a large number of interrelated variables. From time to time the coöperation of the Bureau of Mines is solicited in connection with problems involving departures from normal procedure. Under these circumstances some sort of a practical demonstration is a desirable forerunner to full-scale operations which appear feasible after small-scale tests.

Jan 1, 1928

By Nicholas J. Grant, Olaf Troili, John Chipman

D. C. Hilty (Union Carbide & Carbon Research Laboratories, Niagara Falls, N. Y.)—How does this effect of silica compare with the effect of silica in combining with the lime in the slag to reduce the activity of CaO, thereby affecting the first equation? John Chipman(authors&apos; reply)-—That is the object of showing this effect for slags of two different basicities. In the more basic, the silica is more firmly tied up in the slag and is less easily reduced. It is therefore less able to interfere with desulphurization. The important point is that silica is acting in two ways. Of course it is an acid and as an acid it ties up lime and in tying

Jan 1, 1952

By H. J. French

AT THE request of a committee of the Engineering Division,1 National Research Council, a study of the properties of boiler plate at various temperatures up to about 900° F. (482° C.) has been instigated. The following is a report of preliminary tests made on two grades of ½ -in. plate and includes a description of the apparatus used in the determination of the proportional limit. Detailed reference to the many published investigations in connection with the properties of steel at various temperatures will be omitted from this report. Suffice to state that results obtained for variation in tensile strength elongation, and reduction in area with temperature are in substantial agreement with the effects now generally considered to be correct. Comparison of proportional limit values with results obtained by other investigators will be found in the conclusions.

Jan 2, 1920

By George Wolff

To THE average person, the purport of the items and figures on the balance sheet of a mining company are hazy and the real financial condition of the company is cloaked in obscurity. It is also likely that the satisfaction of the stockholder in his investment, as well as the determination of the prospective investor, rests more on the reputation of the company, his confidence in the management, the stated earnings per share and the dividends paid, than on a comprehension of the information contained in the balance sheet. The balance sheet of any company at best can only closely approximate the true financial condition as of a given date. Any item of asset, except cash, can probably be altered if another&apos;s viewpoint is applied. It is difficult and expensive to drill and explore an orebody to determine the entire tonnage of ore therein. Those inherent difficulties render it practically impossible to prepare an absolutely correct balance sheet of a mining company. It is possible, however, to present the facts of a mining company more intelligently and comprehensively than is usually done. With this, in mind, a balance sheet of an imaginary mining company is submitted, with supporting schedules. The same fundamental principles hold true whether we consider a large or a small company. Less complexity is involved in dealing with the affairs of a smaller company. Therefore, for this purpose, the assumed company operates but two mines and a smelting plant. It has been deemed advisable to introduce the features of the operation of a mine acquired prior to March 1, 1913 and one after that date. The presentation therefore is concerned in one mine with the appraisement as of March 1, 1913 and in the other with the appraisement by reason of discovery. A consequential factor pertains to dividends paid from depletion reserves and therefore free of surtax to the stockholders. While supporting schedules, when necessary, give details of certain items on the balance sheet, it seems desirable to give further explanations with respect to some of them. This seems to be important because some mining companies do not treat the items as indicated on the statements submitted.

Jan 1, 1928

By Morgan Walker

ONE of the most serious problems in the produc- tion of natural gas is the removal of water from the wells. As a gas well approaches its period of exhaustion, the removal of water by properly de-signed devices becomes increasingly important. Sev-eral methods are used for dewatering gas wells. If the .gas velocity and pressure are high enough, the water in the well will be carried out by the gas on opening the well to atmospheric pressure and allowing the gas to flow unrestricted except for the resistance of the casing. This method of dewatering a gas well is detri-mental to the producing sand, and very wasteful if used frequently. When the well has declined in production a string of tubing is often run in the well, with a packer set at the top or bottom of the well. If the top of the tubing is opened to atmospheric pressure and the gas is allowed to flow unrestricted as in the above method, the water can be discharged at the top of the well, provided the velocity of the gas is high enough. However, if the water has accumulated in the well until the water pres-sure is equal to or greater than the gas pressure, the ,water cannot be brought to the surface. In dewatering :a gas well by this method the operator sometimes finds -that if the packer is set near the top of the well and -the casing is tight, the water can be blown out when .it is impossible to blow it out with the packer set at the top of the sand. This is largely due to some gas leaking into the tubing through the collars. This method of dewatering gas wells is also wasteful. Water can be pumped out of a gas well with virtually the same equipment, as used for pumping oil, but the method involves installing a separate pump for each well, and difficulties are encountered in attempting to pump water under high gas pressure.

Jan 3, 1927

By Persifor Frazer

(Read at the Amenia Meeting, October, 1877.) IT has been the aim of the writer, by measuring his base line on the territory of theoretical chemistry, to attempt to fix by triangulation certain points within the domain of mineralogy. As the barest first experiment in this direction, a few of the hydrated oxides of iron have been selected, their theoretical construction reduced to percentage of the constituents into which the ordinary analytical methods would resolve them, and the results compared with actual analyses compiled from the most reliable sources; the accidental errors being as much as possible eliminated. This method seems to be a simple one and one easily pursued, but, as will shortly appear, it is beset with grave difficulties, all of which the writer does not pretend to have satisfactorily surmounted. In the first place arises the important question, what are we to understand by the hydrated oxides of iron ? In all books of chemistry and lexicons of minerals, the proposition, long ago taught by the earlier chemists, that water might exist in two forms of combination, viz., as water of crystallization or as water of constitution, is tacitly assumed. There is nothing in the principles of the new chemistry which is opposed to this ; for (to carry the mind&apos;s eye into .the process of construction of the least units into which a definite chemical compound is capable of being divided without losing its characteristic properties), however unlikely it may seem, it is, nevertheless, possible that a given molecule of iron may, under certain conditions of heat, pressure, etc., attract to itself as many molecules of the water in which it is natant as from the relative size, shape, attractive force, etc. of either, it is capable of taking up, and this complex system of associated molecules might oscillate as a physical unit so long as the conditions on which its existence was dependent remained unchanged. Moreover, it is highly probable that the first effect upon such a molecule produced by physical or chemical forces would be to separate it into two or more simple ones of different kinds, while a further application of these forces might rend asunder the bonds of the simpler compounds themselves.

Jan 1, 1878

By Edgar Bain

IN STUDYING the structural characteristics of martensite it is desirable that a clear conception of the material from which martensite is produced should first be obtained. Any theory of its formation and structure incompatible with the facts of its parent substance, austenite, can be eliminated with little consideration. Austenite is the name applied to solid solutions of carbon and other elements in gamma iron. At temperatures above about 900° C. (1650°, F.), pure iron exists in a system of crystallinity1 entirely different from the crystal structure below that temperature. This high-temperature allotrope of iron is of an atomic structure associated with great ductility, having very manifold symmetry and an abundance of easy slip planes. The exceptionally ductile and malleable metals (gold, silver, platinum, copper, aluminum, and nickel) have this same atomic arrangement-the face-centered cubic. The low-temperature allotrope of iron, alpha iron, the solid solutions of which are known as ferrite, has a body-centered cubic arrangement of atoms. Like it, in crystal structure, are the less ductile and malleable metals, molybdenum, tungsten, titanium and chromium. Fig. 1. shows the two atomic arrangements known in iron; the diagrams are drawn to scale. Either of these modifications of iron may dissolve other elements in the solid state; by so doing, the temperature of the transformation is changed. In general2-7, it appears that a solid solvent metal dissolves a metal solute by substituting foreign atoms in its own space lattice. Thus, iron may dissolve nickel in either of its crystalline forms by permitting an atom of nickel here and there to occupy the normal position

Jan 2, 1924

By H. Hanemann

THE application of other than mechanical methods to the study of the mechanical-physical properties of metals has become in the last few years a topic of investigation of ever-increasing interest, both from the theoretical standpoint and from that of the engineer and constructor. Besides the investigations which have been made of &apos;the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic metals, in their relation to the mechanical properties of these metals, which will be discussed more in detail below, there have been made studies of other phenomena in the same relation, and methods for the mechanical testing of metals have even been suggested, for example, the microscopic method of Tammann,1 and the thereto-electric, method of Turner2 for determining elastic limits. The application of all such methods, which are based upon the dependence of some physical, crystallographic, or possibly chemical property, upon the mechanical state of the metal, must be preceded by close and careful correlation of these various "test" properties with the known mechanical state of the different metals or materials. It is with this view that the present work, as well as that of many previous investigators of, what .may be termed in the interests of brevity, the mechanical-magnetic properties of ferromagnetic materials of construction, has been done.

Jan 12, 1915

By H. L. Riley, B. W. Gandrud

AS far as the present writers know, this system of flotation has not been used elsewhere in this country, but in the last couple of years it has been introduced, with minor variations, at one plant in England and one in Wales.&apos; The system has been described and discussed in a number of publications.2-5 The following is quoted from an abstract of the latest of these,5 a paper presented at an International Conference on Industrial Combustion in 1952. On the basis of experience to date with the commercial plants, it is believed that the kerosene-flotation process incorporates all the necessary elements to make it greatly superior to anything else now available for treating of fines in wet processes of coal preparation. Additional study and investigation are still needed, however, to determine if certain phases of the process can be improved to such an extent as to make it generally satisfactory and acceptable to the industry. Further improvements will be needed with respect to the capacities of the flotation cells and the reagent consumption. The situation referred to above explains why an investigation is being made of the possibilities of achieving better cell capacities. Results obtained from this investigation, which is still in progress, are believed significant with regard to both cell capacity in general and the relation of cell design to cell capacity in particular. Commercial equipment now being used in a laboratory-type investigation should have performance characteristics similar to those of the larger machines. Equipment and Procedures: All flotation tests have been made in a standard Denver sub-A 24x24-in. unit cell of 12-cu ft volume. Cell modifications to make it more suitable for the tests were an adjustable front-wall section for varying cell depth and a perforated scraper-drag assembly for removal of the float product. There is also an apron dry-coal feeder, a gravity-feed water supply, reagent feeders, and a centrifugal pump that feeds the mixture of coal, water, and reagents into the flotation cell. A wattmeter connected into the drive-motor circuit records the power requirements of the impeller throughout each run. Dry coal, water, and reagents are all fed through a pan-type intake to the feed pump. A Sturtevant blower was set up to furnish air for supercharging. A centrifugal pump with a garbage-can intake provides for disposal of refuse flow to an outside settling tank. Figs. 1 and 2 show the flotation cell; Fig. 2 also illustrates the blower for supercharging. For purposes of this investigation, the percentage by weight of the feed coal recovered in the float product under a standard set of conditions has been considered as the criterion of cell capacity. The authors realize that such a criterion may be somewhat unorthodox, as the term cell capacity is usually understood to refer to feed input and ordinarily takes into account the ash analyses of the float product and refuse. However, the word capacity is flexible enough so that Webster gives one definition as maximum output, a definition which seems to justify, at least partly, acceptance of the above criterion. It has been the authors&apos; experience in the Birmingham district that the ash-reduction efficiency of the coal-flotation process is generally satisfactory and that the only real problem is to increase the rate of float recovery so that the feed rate to any given bank of cells can be increased without undue loss of coal in the refuse. Originally it was planned to operate the flotation cell to simulate continuous operation during sampling periods. It was assumed that operating for reasonable time with feed coal, water, and reagents turned on would stabilize conditions so that the weight of float coal discharged during a fixed time interval would be an accurate measure of the rate at which the coal was being floated. It developed, however, that this supposition was erroneous. The float coal, caught for fixed time intervals and weighed, gave widely varying results in duplicate runs. Efforts to correct this trouble failed, and it was decided to try to operate on a batch-test basis, whereby all the float coal produced during a run on a known weight of feed coal would be caught in tubs, dewatered, and weighed. This method gives consistent and reproducible results, with total float product weight rarely varying by more than 3 or 4 pct on duplicate runs. The standard test procedure is as follows: A 132-lb sample of dry feed coal is weighed and placed in the feed hopper. The feeder is adjusted for a rate of 800 lb per hr. Feed water and reagents are turned on, and the feed and refuse pumps are started. One minute later the impeller is started. Six minutes are allowed for the cell to fill up with the water-reagent mixture. The feed of dry coal is started at the end of this 6-min period. One minute later the float-coal removal drag is started. The float coal is caught in one tub for the first 6 min after the flow of feed coal starts. Tubs are then changed, and the float coal is caught in a second tub until the feed coal runs out, when the tubs are again interchanged to catch the float coal for the remainder of the run in the first tub. The cell is kept running for 3 min with the water and reagents on after the feed stops to allow residual float coal to be removed. At the end of a test the wet float coal in both tubs is weighed and the total weight recorded. The product in the second tub is used for moisture determination and screen-size analyses. When the

Jan 1, 1956