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By William Romanoff

As you are no doubt aware, virgin copper, tin and zinc are strategic metals today and little, if any, is available in the manufacture of brass and bronze ingots. The source of alloys used in the manufacture of implements of war are, therefore, from ingots made almost exclusively from the refining of available scrap. It is amusing to hear of the unusual physical properties of various alloys because they mean nothing unless the foundryman is able to produce good sound castings. A discussion therefore means little unless something is said about the relative foundry practice of the various brass and bronze alloys. Among the factors that influence the quality of castings produced are: (I) improper gating, (2) wrong pouring temperatures, (3) poor sand conditions, (4) bad melting practice, (5) faulty pattern equipment, (6) metal. It seems to be the consensus of opinion that about 95 per cent of defective castings can be attributed to the first three causes. Metal while a source of trouble at times, is probably the least responsible for foundry difficulties. As you all know, a molder never makes a bad mold. His first thought is to blame the "damn" metal as this is the path of least resistance. Let's consider the "damn" metal and how it is made. In the manufacture of ingot, scrap is collected at various sources and is shipped to the refiner either directly or through the scrap dealer or broker. It is usually sorted, although not always. In working toward a specified chemical analysis, weighed amounts of various grades of scrap metals are melted, and then oxidized by blowing air through the molten bath to rid the metal of detrimental impurities or reduce them to within specification limits after which they are skimmed off with the aid of some added fluxes. The bath of metal is then poled with wood, chemically tested before and after additions are made to bring it up to required specifications, and finally poured into ingots, after which a final chemical and physical examination is made. As mentioned above, the impurities have either been eliminated or reduced to the point where they meet the specifications of all Government Agencies or Technical Societies. Therefore, why worry as to whether castings are to be made from strategic virgin metals or secondary ingots from available scrap. Tests have continuously been made and it is a proven fact that physical properties are no better from virgin metals than from secondary ingots of the same composition. It is definitely more fool-proof to make castings from secondary ingot than from virgin metals because if an error is made in weighing the copper, tin, lead or zinc of the latter, the analysis is off balance. If an error is made in weighing secondary ingots, you merely have more or less metal but the analysis remains constant. Furthermore, when pure copper is melted. it is susceptible to reducing gases as well as oxides. Secondary ingot is already alloyed with natural deoxidizers such as zinc, etc., and the volatilization of the latter also tends to eliminate reducing gases mechanically.

Jan 1, 1943

By Ashok K. Sinha

During the course of an in~*estigation into the occurrence of ordered AB3 structures, the following new phases have been found —CrRh3 (AuCu3 type), CrCo3 (MgCd3 type), HfCo4 (Ths Mn23 type), and WPt, MoPh type). The composition of the TiPt3-x phase (TiNi, type) is close to Ti23Pl77. The alloy chenzistry of transition rnetal AB3 structures is rezliewed in the light of electron concentration correlations of hex-agonality recently obtained for quasi-binary alloys. The relatizte colurne contraction in the AB3 structures increases with increasing difference in volume of the conzponents. A family of ordered close-packed layered structures is formed by stacking identical layers of composition AB, in various sequences, such that the coordination is twelvefold throughout and there are no A-A contacts. Previous work' on quasi-binary AB3 alloys has led to the conclusion that the stacking sequence of the AB, structures changes with increasing radius ratio RA/RB from a purely cubic, through different mixtures of hexagonal and cubic stacking to a purely hexagonal stacking. However. for binary AB3 alloys, a correlation between the type of the crystal structure and the position of the components in the various volumns of the periodic table has been noted.2-5 It has been noted6 that this correlation appears to hold even though the radius ratio RA/RB may vary over a considerable range with the location of the components in the three long periods. Another study7" of several quasi-binary systems led to the conclusion that an increase in hexagonality of the stacking is associated with increase in the electron concentration e/a. as defined by the average per atom of the total number of electrons outside the inert gas shells. In apparent conflict with this conclusion, it is known that seven binary alloy structures isotypic with TiNi3 which is 50 pct hexagonal occur at a higher electron concentration (e/n = 8.5) than that (e/a = 8.25) for the 100 pct hexagonal MgCd3 type structure present in seven binary AB3 alloys. Table 111. In the present work, an investigation into the occurrence of binary AB3 structures in transition metal alloys was made, and a survey of binary AB3 structures is presented. EXPERIMENTAL The starting materials were pure metals of 99.9 wt pct purity. The alloys were arc-melted under partial pressure of argon and annealed in sealed silica capsules lined with molybdenum foil under argon at- mosphere. The total weight loss upon melting and subsequent annealing was always less than 1 pct and hence the alloys will be referred to by their intended (unanalyzed) compositions. Wherever the constitution permitted. the alloys were given a homogenizing treatment at 1200°C (3 days) prior to annealing. Unless otherwise stated all alloys were annealed at 900°C for 1 week and water-quenched. Sometimes the final annealing treatment was carried out on powders to accelerate the attainment of equilibrium. X-ray powder patterns were taken using a Guinier-de Wolff focusing camera (CuK, radiation) or an asymmetrical focusing camera (Co or CrK, radiation). For lattice parameter determination. internal silicon standards were employed. The intensity calculations were made using a Fortran IV program written by Jeitschko and parthe.9 RESULTS Twenty AB3 and three AB4 alloys were investigated. Table I lists the crystallographic data on some of the intermediate phases encountered in the present work. Table II contains the X-ray data for HfCo, (Th,,Mn,, type). The positional parameter, x. was assumed to be 0.378. the value for Th6Mnn2310 The X-ray pattern of ZrCo, was very similar to that of HfCo, and the previous structure determination of ZrCo, by Kuzma el al." was confirmed. Ordering in the alloy CrCo could be ascertained by the presence of only one weak super lattice line (101). the others being too weak presumably owing to the small difference in the scattering powers of chromium and cobalt. This line was observed in the X-ray pattern of powder from the massive sample annealed at 830°C (7 days) after the powder had been reannealed at 600°C (24 hr). The diffraction pattern of the powder similarly reannealed at 830°C (24 hr) contained only the lines due to a mixture of hcp and fcc Co(Crj solid solutions. Therefore, it appears reasonable to assume that O2 and/or N2 contamination which would be less likely to occur during the 600°C anneal was not responsible for the observed weak reflection. Also. this reflection cannot be identified with any of the strong lines of the neighboring s phase which is present in the Co-Cr system at higher chromium contents. The composition corresponding to the TiNi3 structure observed by Raman et al.12 in the two-phase alloy Ti,zt,, has been established in the present work as being between There was satisfactory agreement for the low-angle lines (up to d = 1.997A) between the observed diffraction pattern of TiCua and that calculated assuming the ZrAu, structure. as recently proposed by Pfeifer-et a1.I3 However. some of the superlattice lines. e.g., at d = 1.937 and 1.919A. predicted by the ZrAu, structure were not actually observed eve? though neighboring lines. at d = 1.947 and 1.986A. of comparable calculated intensity were present. The ZrAu

Jan 1, 1970

By C. G. Bieber, J. R. Mihalisin, R. T. Grant

A growing demand for longer service life of gas turbines has placed increasingly rigorous requiret~rents upon superalloys employed for that application. Long-titne testing at high temperature has revealed that phase transformations occur in all superalloys. A common one of particular interest is o formation. Presented here are studies made to identify a and to characterize its formation and effect on properties in three cast nickel-base superalloys—IN 100 alloy, alloy 713C, and alloy 713LC. Methods are discussed by which o can be eliminated or inhibited in IN 100 alloy and alloy 713C. Evidence was obtained to indicate that some types of o may be more detrimental than others. Limitations in the electron vacancy approach to o prevention are pointed out, and it is shown how alternative approaches, such as reducing a complex superalloy matrix to the form of a pseudo-ternary system permitting equilibrium diagram treatment, lead to additional insights into the formation of in these alloys. AROUND 1960. Beiber1 developed IN 100 alloy, which still remains one of the strongest commercially available nickel-base superalloys. The principle used in the design of this alloy was to produce large quantities of y' phase in a y matrix through the use of copious amounts of aluminum and titanium. In 1963, ROSS' showed that when certain heats of this alloy were held for a long time at 1650°F they formed an acicular phase, subsequently identified as a.3 a is a hard and brittle phase first discovered in the Fe-Cr system by Bain and Griffiths.4 They termed it the "B" constituent. Subsequently this same phase was found in other systems, primarily those of the transition elements, and acquired the name "a" by which it is now known. The crystal structure of the a phase was first determined in the Fe-Cr system in 1950.5 It was shown to be tetragonal with a c/a ratio of about 0.52. as is the case with a found in other systems. This characteristic crystal structure is now the means by which a is identified. In superalloys, such as IN 100 alloy. large amounts of o impair the high-temperature creep strength and drastically reduce room-temperature tensile ductility. Discovery of o phase in some heats of IN 100 alloy quickly led to investigations of other superalloys for similar transformations. It was found that many of the stronger, more highly alloyed. super-alloys were indeed susceptible to o formation. This investigation has been concentrated on three commercial alloys: IN 100 alloy, alloy 713C, and alloy 713LC. J.R.MIHALISIN,MemberAIME, and C.G.BIEBER are with The International Nickel Co., Inc., Paul D. Merica Research Laboratory, Sterling Forest, Suffern, N. Y. R. T. GRANT, Member AIME, is with The International Nickel Co., Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa. Manuscript submitted May 22. 1968. IMD A detailed study has been made of the phase transformations and their relation to a formation along with a consideration of electron vacancy approaches for predicting a-forming propensity in these alloys. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Phase transformations were studied by light and electron microscopy, electron diffraction, microprobe investigations, and X-ray diffraction. Specimens for light micrographic examination were prepared by conventional grinding and polishing followed by etching with glyceregia (2:l HC1/HNO3 + 3 glycerine by volume). Photomicrographs of stress-rupture specimens were taken adjacent to the fracture unless otherwise noted in the text. Negative replicas for electron microscopy were taken from surfaces electropolished with a solution of 15 pct H2SO4 in methanol. For carbon extraction replication, a solution of 10 pct HC1 in methanol was used. A Siemens Elmiskop I was used for all electron microscopy. Selected-area diffraction studies were made at 80 kv using evaporated aluminum for standardizing the patterns. A nondispersive electron microprobe attachment was used to analyze the extracted precipitates chemically. The fluorescent X-rays were recorded using a flow counter containing P10 gas (90 pct Ar-10 pct methane) with a beryllium window and a single-channel pulse-height analyzer. The pulses from the analyzer were passed to a scaler-ratemeter and differential curves of counting rate vs pulse amplitude were obtained. The base line of the analyzer was driven with a synchronous motor at 0.5 v per min and a channel width of 0.5 v. The time for 105 counts was printed out for each 0.5-v increment. The microscope was operated at 80 kv with beam currents of 1 to 20 pa. This equipment detects elements from atomic number 13 to 40. X-ray diffraction studies were usually made on residues electrolytically extracted in 10 pct HC1 in H2O, although in one case a pattern was obtained from an etched surface of a metallographic specimen. A Siemens Crystalloflex IV was used with iron-filtered CoKa radiation. X-ray patterns were recorded using a goniometer speed of : deg per min. The scintillation counter and pulse-height analyzer operated at a channel height of 10 v and a channel width of 12 v. The equipment was calibrated with a powdered gold standard. The residues usually contained a number of phases. several of which could not be found in the ASTM card file. In addition, as is shown for the case of a phase in IN 100 alloy, other phases had a somewhat different lattice parameter from that reported in the ASTM card file, making it difficult to separate and identify constituents by comparison with ASTM d spacings. For these reasons, phases were identified on the basis of the lattice parameter obtained by indexing the ob-

Jan 1, 1969

By Karl F. Peterson, H. K. Najarian, Robert E. Lund

PRIMARY products of the Josephtown smelter are zinc metal of various grades, lead-free zinc oxide pigments, cadmium metal, and sulphuric acid. Zinc concentrates of domestic and foreign origin are blended and desulphurized at the roaster plant. The equipment includes five, 12-hearth Herreshoff roasters and two modified Trail-type suspension roasters. The sulphur dioxide containing gases from the roasting operation are diverted to a four-unit contact acid plant for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The roasted calcines are agglomerated by sintering on Dwight-Lloyd-type sintering machines; the sinter is crushed and sized within required limits; and the sized sinter is smelted in vertical shaft-type electro-thermic furnaces. Of the 13 electrothermic furnaces of various sizes now in operation, four are designed to produce American process zinc oxidc of various specifications; and the remaining nine furnaces are equipped with vacuum-type condensers and produce zinc metal. Papers describing the general smelting practice at Josephtown have been published by AIME. Since both High Grade zinc metal and lead-free zinc oxide pigments are produced direct from the electrothermic furnaces without need for subsequent refining, the elimination of impurities such as lead and cadmium has to be accomplished during roasting and sintering operations. To effect the producing of both High Grade and Prime Western zinc products, the roasting and sintering operations are on two separate circuits. A High Grade circuit produces finished sized sinter low in lead, cadmium, etc., for the High Grade furnaces; and the Prime Western circuit produces finished sinter destined for the furnaces producing Prime Western metal. Sintering at the Josephtown smelter differs in many important respects from the sintering practice in smelters operating horizontal retort zinc furnaces. Requirements of the electrothermic smelting furnaces define the physical characteristics of the sinter, while the chemical composition of the sinter is controlled according to the grade of metal and oxide to be made as final products. Three principal objectives in the sintering process at Josephtown smelter are: 1. To transform the zinc calcine from the roasting operations into a hard, yet porous agglomerate that will not crumble in the smelting furnace. 2. Crushing and sizing of the sinter to obtain a proper screen analysis which is normally —% in. down to +1/4 in. particle size. 3. To eliminate, particularly in the High Grade circuit, as much of the impurities such as sulphur, lead, and cadmium as possible. The sintering plant as originally built in 1930 was equipped with three standard 42 in. x 44 ft Dwight-Lloyd sintering machines. Each machine was equipped with a 15x60 in. sintering corporation fan driven by 150 hp, 900 rpm synchronous motor through a magnetic clutch and capable of delivering 30,000 cfm of air at 15 in. of water and 150°F. Each sintering machine was driven by 7½ hp dc motor with controllers for varying the speed of the machine from 8 to 32 in. per min. The pallets were cast iron and the grates of the herringbone type. The charge was mixed in a 4 ft diam x 8 ft Stehli pugmill and transported by belt conveyor, elevator and tripper conveyor to a small bin over each machine. Shortly after the start of operations the following changes were found necessary: 1. The herringbone grates which plugged very quickly and were difficult to keep clean were replaced by straight, narrow cast-iron grate bars running at right angles to the travel of the pallets. These grate bars are held in place by a center bar extending across the pallet on the 24 in. dimension and by removable retaining plates which form the sides of the pallets. 2. Mechanical grate knockers were developed in conjunction with new grate bars for continuously and automatically cleaning the grates. 3. As the cast-iron pallets cracked, they were replaced with cast-steel pallets. In 1938, the capacity of the sinter plant was increased with the installation of two 42 in. x 22 ft machines which were brought from the company's Herculaneum lead smelter. With a circulating load of some 250 to 300 pct, production of finished sinter on the 42 in. x 44 ft machines at this time amounted to about three tons of sized sinter per machine hour. In 1945, one of the 42 in. x 22 ft machines was replaced by a 60 in. x 44 ft machine of our own design. In 1948, as part of the plant-wide expansion program, the sinter plant not only was expanded but also divided into two separate plants; namely, Prime Western and High Grade circuits. The sinter destined for furnaces producing Prime Western zinc metal is made in a new plant comprising two 60 in. x 44 ft Dwight-Lloyd-type sintering machines, each having a 45,000 cfm Sturtevant fan at 18 in. water static pressure and served by an 8 ft diam x 12 ft long rotary charge pclletizer and auxiliary crushing and sizing equipment. The sinter destined for furnaces producing High Grade zinc metal and zinc oxide pigments is produced in the old sinter plant which was expanded to accommodate four of the 60 in. x 44 ft sintering machines, replacing the old sintering units. In the High Grade sinter circuit, two units of the 60 in. x 44 ft machines are used as preliminary soft sinter machines; and the remaining two units of the 60 in. x 44 ft machines are used to make finished hard sinter. Purification Theory Partial elimination of lead and cadmium in the sintering of zinc ores is common knowledge. However, by some manipulation and by taking advantage of the double circuit, it is possible to make zinc sinter which is nearly free of contaminators. Lead

Jan 1, 1952

By Michael Tenenbaum

THE importance of semikilled steel as a high tonnage grade has long been recognized. The increasing severity of the applications for which semikilled steel is used makes it desirable to obtain further information regarding the features of open hearth practice and ingot structure that can affect steel performance in subsequent rolling and fabricating operations. Accordingly, an investigation is being carried out studying the structure of various types of semikilled steel ingots. This paper reviews some of the observations made and information gathered in this investigation. By definition, semikilled steel may be considered to include all nonrimming steels in which the natural shrinkage occurring during ingot solidification is offset to an appreciable degree by gas formation. Accordingly, this type of steel includes the entire range intermediate between rimmed and fully killed steel. The resultant ingot structures range from those of steels that have been capped to suppress a weak rimming action to those steels that have been killed in the furnace or ladle to the extent that no mold deoxidizer is required. A survey reported to the 1946 AIME Open Hearth Conference' reviewed the practices being used at 28 major plants for the deoxidation of semikilled steel. It was found that most plants divide the deoxidizing additions between the ladle and the mold many of the plants adding only minor amounts of deoxidizer to the bath or none at all. Silicon, aluminum and titanium were the only elements used for ladle and mold deoxidation. Mold deoxidizers were added as capping additions or as uniformly fed additions. Several practices were reported in which the steel was deoxidized in the ladle to the extent that little or no mold deoxidation was needed. No reference was made to grades capped by using special mold designs or special closures over the top of molds. Accordingly, specific examples of this type of practice will not be considered in this paper. It appeared from this survey of deoxidation practice that semikilled steel can be divided into three types, namely, capped semikilled, in which aluminum is added near the end of pour or after shut-off, intermediate semikilled steels, in which aluminum is fed uniformly throughout the pour, and semikilled steels requiring no mold deoxidation. In an attempt to cover the ingot structures obtained by the range of practices reported in the preceding survey, three series of experimental heats were made using increasing amounts of aluminum, silicon and titanium for ladle deoxidizers. The ladle deoxidizers were added as stick aluminum, 50 pct ferrosilicon and 20 pct ferrotitanium (4 pct carbon), respectively. Two methods of studying ingot structures were used. Ingots were removed from production, burned longitudinally and machined to allow observation of the central pipe and coarse blowholes. During the machining operation much of the finely porous subsurface structure was obliterated. Accordingly, observations were also made

Jan 1, 1947

By G. K. Manning, A. R. Elsea, A. B. Westerman

INTRODUCTION A CONSIDERABLE number of high-temperature alloys, that is, alloys which have load-carrying ability at elevated temperatures, have been developed on an empirical basis. In order to determine why these alloys possess this particular ability, a project was started at Battelle Memorial Institute on the fundamental factors promoting high-temperature strength of alloys. At the time of inception of this study, the cobalt-base alloy, Vitallium, was widely used because of its good high-temperature properties. One phase of this study was to include an investigation of the structures observed in Vitallium after various heat treatments. However, before investigating the structural features of Vitallium, it appeared logical to examine the phase diagrams of the related binary systems in order to develop information as to which phases- might be present in Vitallium. A preliminary survey of the pertinent alloy systems was made, with particular emphasis on the cobalt-chromium system, which is the base for the Vitallium series of alloys. The early work of Lewkonja1 and Guertler2 indicated that cobalt and chromium are completely miscible in the liquid state, and, within a narrow temperature range, in the solid state; that the liquidus shows a minimum; and that the alloys containing 45 to '85 pct chromium undergo a transformation at 1200 to 1250°C. More recently, Wever and Haschimoto,3 Wever and Lange,4 and Matsunaga5 carried out experimental work which led to the diagrams shown in Fig I and 2. Both diagrams are based on thermal analysis, metallographic, magnetic, and dilatation data; in addition, X ray diffraction results were used by Wever and Haschimoto, and electrical resistance measurements by Matsunaga. It is apparent from a comparison of the two diagrams that there was a difference of opinion as to the locations of the boundaries of the various phases, and as to the existence of a phase containing approximately 47 pct chromium. With these exceptions noted, it might be pointed out that the two diagrams are similar, and that, in general, any particular reaction which is shown on both diagrams occurs at a lower temperature on the Matsunaga diagram than on that of Wever-Haschimoto-Lange. Thus, in view of the gaps in the data and the questionable features in the published diagrams, it appeared desirable to start the fundamental study of Vitallium by determining the diagram for the cobalt-chromium system. EXPERIMENTAL WORK For the convenience of the reader, the diagram as determined by the present investigation is presented in Fig g. The liquidus and solidus data for the low-chromium alloys were taken from the work of Wever and Haschimoto,3 while the, melting point for pure chromium is the

Jan 1, 1948

By J. A. Younkins, J. A. Brooke

In 1931 the Philadelphia Company acquired by lease several coal mines in southern Greene County, Pennsylvania. These mines were known as the "Dora," "Seventh Pool" and "Rosedale" mines in the Sewickley seam, and the "Rosemary," "Seventh Pool" and "Warwick" mines in the Pittsburgh seam. All these mines are in the immediate vicinity of Greensboro, Pa., with considerable river frontage on both sides of that village. The mines in each seam are contiguous and to some extent the properties in the two seams lie one above the other. In 1938 the property known as the "Sandy Run mine," in the Sewickley seam, adjoining the Dora mine, was purchased from the Fredericktown Coal and Coke Co. Altogether, by purchase and lease, the company gained control of approximately 3400 acres of coal land in Greene County, from which it was estimated that some 20,000,000 tons of coal could be extracted. Geology of Warwick Properties Both seams of coal outcrop along or near the river on both sides of the town of Greensbgro. They lie on the eastern slope of the Lambert syncline, near the southern end of the axis, consequently the predominant dip of the seams is away from the river, so that development for river handling has the unavoidable disadvantage of adverse grades for haulage to the outside. Predominant grades away from the river at right angles to the "butt" cleat of the coal average about 2.25 per cent dipping in a westerly direction, but local dips occur, which are considerably greater. Predominant grades parallel to the river and at right angles to the "face" cleat of the coal average about one per cent dipping in a northerly direction. Both seams of coal lie in the Monongahela formation, the Pittsburgh bed being the bottom measure of the formation and the Sewickley bed lying about 90 it. above. Approximately midway between the two lies the Redstone coal bed, which is generally thin and of erratic occurrence and therefore of little commercial value. It is mined only locally where it attains sufficient thickness. Sewickley Bed The Sewickley bed is commonly called the "five-foot" or Mapletown" seam, because in Pennsylvania it reaches its greatest thickness and has been mined most extensively in the vicinity of the village of illapletown, approximately one mile west of Greensboro. In the early development of the Warwick properties, which occurred near the river, the seam had an average of 5 it. 2 in. in height. As development proceeded away from the river, however, the height gradually decreased until the average height of the present workings is about 4 ft. 6 in. Present development is encountering lower coal

Jan 1, 1947

By J. A. Younkins, J. A. Brooke

In 1931 the Philadelphia Company acquired by lease several coal mines in southern Greene County, Pennsylvania. These mines were known as the "Dora," "Seventh Pool" and "Rosedale" mines in the Sewickley seam, and the "Rosemary," "Seventh Pool" and "Warwick" mines in the Pittsburgh seam. All these mines are in the immediate vicinity of Greensboro, Pa., with considerable river frontage on both sides of that village. The mines in each seam are contiguous and to some extent the properties in the two seams lie one above the other. In 1938 the property known as the "Sandy Run mine," in the Sewickley seam, adjoining the Dora mine, was purchased from the Fredericktown Coal and Coke Co. Altogether, by purchase and lease, the company gained control of approximately 3400 acres of coal land in Greene County, from which it was estimated that some 20,000,000 tons of coal could be extracted. Geology of Warwick Properties Both seams of coal outcrop along or near the river on both sides of the town of Greensbgro. They lie on the eastern slope of the Lambert syncline, near the southern end of the axis, consequently the predominant dip of the seams is away from the river, so that development for river handling has the unavoidable disadvantage of adverse grades for haulage to the outside. Predominant grades away from the river at right angles to the "butt" cleat of the coal average about 2.25 per cent dipping in a westerly direction, but local dips occur, which are considerably greater. Predominant grades parallel to the river and at right angles to the "face" cleat of the coal average about one per cent dipping in a northerly direction. Both seams of coal lie in the Monongahela formation, the Pittsburgh bed being the bottom measure of the formation and the Sewickley bed lying about 90 it. above. Approximately midway between the two lies the Redstone coal bed, which is generally thin and of erratic occurrence and therefore of little commercial value. It is mined only locally where it attains sufficient thickness. Sewickley Bed The Sewickley bed is commonly called the "five-foot" or Mapletown" seam, because in Pennsylvania it reaches its greatest thickness and has been mined most extensively in the vicinity of the village of illapletown, approximately one mile west of Greensboro. In the early development of the Warwick properties, which occurred near the river, the seam had an average of 5 it. 2 in. in height. As development proceeded away from the river, however, the height gradually decreased until the average height of the present workings is about 4 ft. 6 in. Present development is encountering lower coal

Jan 1, 1947

By Y. Nakada, B. Chalmers

The work-hardening behavior of surface layers of aluminum and gold single crystals was investigated by alternately deforming and then removing a thin surface layer by electropolishing or by etching. Aluminum crystals exhibited lower flow stresses after the surface removal; gold crystals did not. Abrasion of surface eliminated easy glide in both gold and aluminum crystals. By alternately deforming and removing the surface layer, it was shown that the abraded crystals work-harden preferentially under the abraded layer. It is suggested that this phenomenon is caused by the difficulty of propagating dislocations through the abraded layer. It has been demonstrated in numerous cases'-3 that the plastic behavior of metals in either single-crystal or polycrystal form is sensitive to the environment and to the condition of the surface; it has also been reported4-6 that single crystals of some metals, when deformed in tension, exhibit more work hardening near the surface than in the interior. A third type of effect that has been attributed to the special part played by the surface in plastic deformation is the influence of the dimensions of the specimen on the various parameters that define its plastic-deformation characteris- tics.?-'' Many of these experiments were made on aluminum, on which an oxide film is always present under available experimental conditions; many of the effects have been attributed to the oxide film, either in terms of its higher elastic moduli, which would cause local stress redistribution, or its higher strength, which would oppose the escape of dislocations at the surface of the metal. On the other hand, it has been suggested II,12 that the mere presence of a surface should be sufficient to produce the observed results. A rigorous examination of this question could, in principle, be carried out by comparing the behavior of aluminum with its oxide film with that of the same material without oxide. This experiment would present great difficulties. The most practical alternative is to compare aluminum with gold, which has no crystalline surface film at room temperature, and to study the effects of various surface treatments on gold. The experiments described in this paper fall into two groups, the objectives of which were to determine 1) whether single crystals of gold shared the property of aluminum that the removal of a surface layer after some plastic deformation reduced the flow stress for further deformation and, since the result of this was negative, 2) whether a surface treatment could be found that caused gold to behave in this way. I) EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS All the tests described below were carried out on single crystals of about 6 by 6 mm cross section and of sufficient length to provide a gage length of about 10 cm.

Jan 1, 1964

By J. H. Brophy

Experimental evidence in recent years shows that nickel coated hydrogen reduced tungsten powder can be sintered to 98 pct of theoretical density at 1100°C. New data indicate that the sintering rate is the same for nickel contents ranging from 0.125 wt pct (mon-atomic layer) to 5.0 wt pct Ni coated on 0.561. tungsten powder. Nickel tungsten made by coreduction from oxides sinters in a kinetically similar way, but the rate tends to increase with higher nickel contents. The activation of sintering can be accomplished with a minimum amount of nickel if coated powder is used. Transverse rmpture strength was found to increase in specimens containing 0.25 pct Ni as density increased during the initial stage of the carrier-phase sintering process. Upon the onset of grain growth in the final stage, strength was found to decrease. With increasing nickel contents up to 4 pct, strength increased. Maximum strengths in three-point loading were observed at 73,000 psi for 0.25 pct Ni and 93,000 psi for 5 pct Ni. These were comparable to that of massive tungsten recrystal-lized in the presence of nickel and tested in the same way. The results were sensitive to the mode of powder treatment and ductility was negligible in all cases. The study and application of sintered bodies of nickel and tungsten is not new; however, the analysis of the mechanism by which small additions of nickel increase the sintering rate of tungsten promises to Contribute new information regarding sintering theory in general. Initial experimental evidence was presented by the authors showing that nickel-coated hydrogen-reduced tungsten powder may be sintered to 98 pct of theoretical density at 1100°C in 16 hr.' Simultaneously, a kinetic analysis of the process showed that it took place in two distinct stages. In the first stage, nickel evidently served as a carrier phase through which tungsten atoms could move. This stage was kinetically similar to the 'solution-precipitationo step postulated when the carrier phase is liquid3 although in the nickel tungsten case, there is no evidence of the existence of a liquid phase either in equilibrium phase relationships or in mi-crostructures at the temperatures under consideration. In the present work, new data for nickel-coated tungsten powder are offered in support of the proposed mechanism, and a more explicit study of the second stage of densification is presented. Concurrently, the sintering kinetics of these coated powders are compared to Ni-W powder made by coreduction of oxides. In this way the present work can be compared to earlier results in nickel activated sintering of tungsten in which the coreduction process was emplyed. The ultimate utility of such an activated sintering process will be determined to some extent by the mechanical and physical properties of the final prod-

Jan 1, 1962

By J. J. Casey, R. S. Busk, D. L. Leman

The mechanical properties and the phase-temperature relationships of magnesium-lithium-aluminum, magnesium-lithium-zinc, and magnesium-lithium-aluminum-zinc alloys are presented. It is shown that the strengths of some of these alloys can be tripled by heat treating and aging but that the high strength is accompanied by brittleness and lack of stability. MAGNESIUM-LITHIUM alloys are interesting because the hexagonal structure of magnesium can be changed into the more ductile and workable body-centered cubic structure by the addition of only 10 pct lithium.1 After Loonam2 determined that the ductility of the magnesium-lithium alloys is destroyed by even trace quantities of sodium, it was possible to prepare ductile alioys and study their mechanical properties. Jackson3 and coworkers have ably described their results with both the binary and polynary magnesium-lithium alloys. The present paper is a report of the mechanical properties of wrought magnesium-lithium-aluminurn, magnesium-lithium-zinc, and magnesium-lithium-aluminum-zinc alloys. Experimental Procedure The alloys were made by melting 7 lb of magnesium in a steel crucible under a molten flux of 75 pct LiCl + 25 pct LiF3 previously dried at 1600°F. The metal was heated to 1300°F for alloying aluminum and zinc and then cooled to 1250°F for adding lithium (sodium content: 0.01 to 0.04 pct). After the lithium had been alloyed, dry LiF powder was sprinkled on the melt to thicken the excess flux. After a 15 min holding period, the flux was skimmed off. Paraffin vapors were used to protect the metal as it was poured into 3 in. diam by 11 in. long magnesium molds. Billets were extruded into 3/8-in. diam rod and 1/16 x 3/4-in. strip; sheet was prepared from 1/8x 7/8-in. extruded strip, first by hot rolling and then by cold rolling 2 pct per pass. Hot rollability, or the temperature range through which the alloys could be rolled, was determined by rolling the strip two passes at 30 pct reduction per pass. Cold rollability, or the percentage of cold reduction to cause detrimental cracking, was determined on 0.064-in. hot-rolled sheet. Standard ASTM procedures were followed to obtain the mechanical properties, using 0.2 pct offset for the yield strengths. The level of properties produced with commercial magnesium alloys using the procedure described is given in a previous publication." Results Magnesium - Lithium - Aluminum System: The good workability of magnesium-lithium alloys is illustrated by the data in table I, which shows approximately how the extrusion pressure decreases as the amount of cubic phase increases. Binary magnesium-lithium alloys are soft and weak, but aluminum raises their strengths con-

Jan 1, 1951

By B. N. Bose, M. F. Hawk

SINCE Davenport and Bain' introduced the isothermal transformation technique for the study of austenite decomposition in steels, a new field of investigation has opened up. Extensive research has been carried out on many different steels, but relatively little work has been done on eutectoid transformations in analogous alloy systems. The researches of Smith and Lindlief,² Mack,³ and Klier and Grymko²0 on the beta-phase transformation in copper-aluminum alloys, of Hibbard, Eichelrnan, and Saunders4 and Smith5 on the kappa-phase transformation in copper-silicon alloys, of Chaudron and Forester6 on the decomposition of "FeO," and of Wasserman7 on similarities between the iron-carbon, copper-aluminum, copper-tin, and copper-beryllium systems essentially comprise the field. The iron-nitrogen system, in view of its remarkable similarity to the iron-carbon system, is particularly attractive for the study of eutectoid decomposition. The present investigation is concerned with the study of isothermal transformation, proceeding by the familiar nucleation and growth processes, and of martensitic transformation characteristics of pure iron-nitrogen alloys. The kinetics of transformation and the morphology of the transformation products have been investigated, for these must be the factors determining the properties and behavior of the final product. The Iron-Nitrogen System he binary iron-nitrogen phase diagram has been a matter of considerable disagreement among vari01.1s investigators. However, the phase diagram according to Eisenhut and Kaupp8 and Lehrer10 is now considered essentially correct as reproduced in fig. 1. The important values, 2.35 pct nitrogen and 591°C, for the co-ordinates of the eutectoid point (obtained from this diagram and used in the re- search to be described) were confirmed in a concurrent study of Paranjpe, Cohen, Bever and Floe." The eutectoid decomposition involves the transformation of the ? face-centered cubic interstitial solid solution of nitrogen in iron to the a body-centered cubic interstitial solid solution of nitrogen in iron and the ?' nitride of iron. This nitride is essentially the compound Fe,N; it also possesses a face-centered cubic lattice but a considerably larger one than the ?; the nitrogen atoms in ?' are arranged in an ordered way in the centers of the unit cubes.8,10,11 A martensitic structure has also been reported8,12 in iron-nitrogen alloys and was studied in the research to be described here. Materials and Methods The specimens used in this investigation were prepared by nitriding "pure" iron. This iron was supplied by the Westinghouse Research Laboratories and is the product bearing their trade name "Puron"; it contains about 0.04 wt pct total impurities, the major portion of which is oxygen. Specimens were ribbons several inches long, a tenth of an inch wide, and 0.125 mm thick; this was the

Jan 1, 1951

By C. Richard Tinsley

INTRODUCTION Project financing has been defined by various authors in this book. It is founded on reliance upon the project's own future cash flows and secondarily on the collateral value of the asset base developed. It is chiefly provided by the banking community who, after an assessment of the risks involved (See Chapter 9) analyse the company's presentation (See Chapter 10) in order to structure a financing package often at a leverage of up to 80% debt. This paper describes the various support and structuring techniques used to delimit and abate the risk components perceived from the banks' experience on project development especially for the period before cash flow is generated (pre completion). ADVANTAGES The advantages of project financing extend beyond the offloading of risks to banks. Among the advantages are the following: 1. Longer loan maturity than conventional, unsecured financing; 2. Loan disbursement and repayment tailored to specific mine; 3. Ability of a joint venture without a "track record" to raise financing; 4. Obtain financing where further direct borrowing (corporate credit) limited by existing indentures; 5. Possibility of arranging finance off-balance sheets; 6. Leverage return on equity; 7. Obtain tax savings with certain project financing structures; and 8. Obtain flexible loan repayment conditions. It can also be said that from the point of view of the company, project financing has certain disadvantages which can be summarised as follows: 1. Perceived higher cost (risk premium) compared with straight corporate credit; 2. More documentation; and 3. Need to negotiate risk-sharing aspects. The main attraction of project financing is the ability to pass certain risks on to the lenders within a flexibly funded transaction. (For a more detailed description of the specific risks see the author's paper at the beginning of Chapter 9. The same risk system is followed here.) The typical project financing has corporate support prior to completion and will usually carefully control the resultant cashflow after completion to ensure the bank does not unnecessarily assume further risks of an equity nature. WITHIN THE COMPANY'S CONTROL Operating Risk This is broken into three interrelated segments for ease of description. Technical Component: This must be specifically addressed if new technology or unproven adaptations are to be used. The banks will have scrutinized the sampling and bulk testing work, perhaps grilling the geological, mineral processing, metallurgical, and mining engineering staff or consultants directly. A number of supports are available such as: TECHNOLOGY GUARANTEE: Either the company itself or the process developer will guarantee that the technology will work for a period of, say, six months to two years after startup. If not, then financial penalties will apply although these are rarely sufficient to repay the loan. Many process developers are weak financially and may have little substance to back such a guarantee.

Jan 1, 1985

By R. E. Zimmerman

THE separation of fine sizes of coal from its impurities by means of various flotation methods has become of increasing importance in the coal industry. This, no doubt, will be even more so in the future as the quantity of high grade coal is depleted, particularly that used for metallurgical purposes. The purpose of this paper is to describe and report the results of research work done under the auspices of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. to determine the amenability of their bituminous fine sizes of coal to flotation, to investigate the value of various reagents and factors affecting their use, and compare the results between froth flotation and bulk oil flotation. Compared with the preferential flotation of complex minerals, or ores, the flotation of coal is comparatively easy. However, this statement should not lull one into the feeling that there are no special problems involved. For instance, the separation of coal from pyrite in high sulphur coals is still far from being 100 pct successful. Size consist has considerable effect on reagent consumption and recovery. Other factors will be described and finally it must be remembered that in the flotation of coal a low priced material is being treated and thus economic considerations govern more closely its application than is generally the case in treating other minerals. As a result of the research work done by the Pittsburgh Coal Co. on the flotation of coal, it was concluded that it was practical to clean the -48-mesh coal commercially by froth flotation and after several different types of flotation units and circuits were investigated by means of pilot plants, large scale units were installed at their Champion Nos. 1, 4 and 5 Preparation Plants for the cleaning of -48-mesh slurries. These large scale operations have been recently described by D. H. Davis. 1 C. P. Proctor and C. B. Carlson2 in their chapter on Froth Flotation of Coal in the AIME Seeley W. Mudd series book on Coal Preparation describe some of the practical applications of our Pittsburgh Coal Co. laboratory work in actual plant practice as well as summarizing part of the investigational work. The author presents this paper, however, as a supplement to their reports, and records the basic research accomplished in the laboratory investigational work as well as the results of experi¬ments using bulk oil flotation. In presenting this work the author wishes to state much more work must be done in applying the principles of flotation to cleaning coal, especially in view of recent studies and practices in other mineral beneficiation fields. METHODS OF CONDUCTING LABORATORY TESTS The bulk of the research work was conducted in the laboratory of the Champion No. r Preparation Plant. This plant has elaborate facilities for sampling and analyzing coal and proved to be an admirable location

Jan 1, 1948

By I. W. Walling, F. B. Plummer

Bastin and others have demonstrated the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria in oil wells producing salt water. Analyses show that at 125°F. bacteria alone reduce sulphates in East Texas salt water by only 3 per cent in 30 days, forming principally hydrogen sulphide and sodium or calcium hydroxide. The hydrogen sulphide reacts with soluble iron compounds to produce iron sulphide in the absence of oxygen, and ferric hydroxide where oxygen and air are present. Where iron or other metals and iron sulphide are already in the water containing bacteria, I00 per cent reduction of the sulphates is complete in 30 days or less; where magnesium is present, reduction is complete in 15 days. The effects of changes in temperature, of different bactericides, and of concentration of bactericides on sulphate reduction are described in detail and illustrated by tables and curves. The significance of sulphate reduction on corrosive properties of oil-field water is briefly discussed. Chemistry of East Texas Oil-field Water The chemical composition of the water in the East Texas field salt-water disposal pits is shown in Table I. This salt water corrodes pipes, pumps, and steel tanks excessively, principally because of its content of oxygen, hydrogen, sulphide, and carbonic acid. The carbonates in the water when exposed to air tend to give up carbon dioxide and to precipitate calcium carbonate in large quantities. This forms coatings in tanks, settling pits, and ditches, and soon, unless removed by acid treatment, will effectively clog an injection well and reduce the flow of water back into the ground. The iron compounds in the water, most of which are dissolved from tanks and pipes, are in the ferrous form, and when exposed to the air are oxidized from soluble ferrous carbonate to insoluble ferric hydroxide, resulting in the precipitation of a gelatinous precipitate that will clog oil-field sands effectively: 2Fe(HCO3)2 + O + H2O -> 2Fe(OH)3 + 4CO2 The sulphates in strong sulphate-bearing water may be attacked by swarms of sulphate-reducing bacteria and more hydrogen sulphide may be produced. The hydrogen sulphide reacts with soluble minerals in the water to form black sludges. A knowledge of the chemistry of each reaction in oil-field water is important to the oil-field engineer, since means must be devised to prevent the formation of harmful precipitates that clog injection wells and to prevent corrosion of tanks by harmful products of biochemical processes. Methods of Treating Water before Injection into Ground* The open system of handling the waste salt water in the East Texas field consists of aerating and chemically treating the water to precipitate the unstable iron,

Jan 1, 1946

By F. B. Plummer, I. W. Walling

Bastin and others have demonstrated the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria in oil wells producing salt water. Analyses show that at 125°F. bacteria alone reduce sulphates in East Texas salt water by only 3 per cent in 30 days, forming principally hydrogen sulphide and sodium or calcium hydroxide. The hydrogen sulphide reacts with soluble iron compounds to produce iron sulphide in the absence of oxygen, and ferric hydroxide where oxygen and air are present. Where iron or other metals and iron sulphide are already in the water containing bacteria, I00 per cent reduction of the sulphates is complete in 30 days or less; where magnesium is present, reduction is complete in 15 days. The effects of changes in temperature, of different bactericides, and of concentration of bactericides on sulphate reduction are described in detail and illustrated by tables and curves. The significance of sulphate reduction on corrosive properties of oil-field water is briefly discussed. Chemistry of East Texas Oil-field Water The chemical composition of the water in the East Texas field salt-water disposal pits is shown in Table I. This salt water corrodes pipes, pumps, and steel tanks excessively, principally because of its content of oxygen, hydrogen, sulphide, and carbonic acid. The carbonates in the water when exposed to air tend to give up carbon dioxide and to precipitate calcium carbonate in large quantities. This forms coatings in tanks, settling pits, and ditches, and soon, unless removed by acid treatment, will effectively clog an injection well and reduce the flow of water back into the ground. The iron compounds in the water, most of which are dissolved from tanks and pipes, are in the ferrous form, and when exposed to the air are oxidized from soluble ferrous carbonate to insoluble ferric hydroxide, resulting in the precipitation of a gelatinous precipitate that will clog oil-field sands effectively: 2Fe(HCO3)2 + O + H2O -> 2Fe(OH)3 + 4CO2 The sulphates in strong sulphate-bearing water may be attacked by swarms of sulphate-reducing bacteria and more hydrogen sulphide may be produced. The hydrogen sulphide reacts with soluble minerals in the water to form black sludges. A knowledge of the chemistry of each reaction in oil-field water is important to the oil-field engineer, since means must be devised to prevent the formation of harmful precipitates that clog injection wells and to prevent corrosion of tanks by harmful products of biochemical processes. Methods of Treating Water before Injection into Ground* The open system of handling the waste salt water in the East Texas field consists of aerating and chemically treating the water to precipitate the unstable iron,

Jan 1, 1946

By Wilford S. Wright

FOR the past four years the management of the Black Hawk Consolidated Mines plant at Mogollon has conscientiously kept accurate records pertaining to cost of operation and the performance of certain equipment. These records have been valuable in coordinating the work in the mine, mill and power plant. Also, as to quantity and kind of equipment and supplies most suitable from the standpoint of economy and dependable operation, they have served as a guide. Through comparison with records at other mines, where the same things are being done in a different way, they have pointed out mistakes to be avoided. No outstanding accomplishments, either in costs or performances, are revealed; in fact, some of the results are perhaps quite inferior to those obtained at similar plants, but it is with the thought that more records should be published for the benefit of the mining profession that the author presents these data. To other operators and to mining engineers who are called upon to make estimates for prospective operations, the information herein should be helpful. GENERAL CONDITIONS Mogollon is in the southern part of Catron County, southwestern New Mexico. It lies near the western border of the Mogollon Range, 14 miles east of the Arizona line. Silver City, 80 miles to the southeast, is the nearest railroad point. The connecting road, over which supplies are hauled into camp by trucks, is an improved highway for about 50 miles; the remainder consists of graveled roads and unimproved steep mountain grades. One general supply truck and one tank truck make daily round trips. Hauling of supplies to the mine has cost at the rate of $0.08 per ton-mile; or, on the basis of ore production, $0.30 per ton mined. Lumber, hauled in from local mills, has cost an average of $30.00 per 1000 board feet, $8.50 of which has been for hauling. The annual consumption averages 108,000 board feet. Lime, hauled from a plant in Arizona, is about the only other item not brought out from Silver City. Fuel oil for the generation of power is the item of greatest hauling expense, the f.o.b. Mogollon cost of approximately $0.06 per gal. being nearly twice the f.o.b. refinery price. Water for power plant, mill and camp use flows to camp storage tanks through a 4-in. pipe line from a spring and intake 3 miles up Silver Creek Canyon. A few times, particularly in the month of June, mill operations have been suspended for two or three days because of water shortage. MINING CONDITIONS During the years 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941, the mine produced 230,059 dry tons

Jan 1, 1943

By H. G. Dwyer

CONSIDERATION for future expansion influenced the design of the new smelter at Chuquicamata. The section of the smelter now going into operation, while large, represents only little more than half of the ultimate plant. Equipment for the direct smelting of raw concentrates has been arranged in the conventional manner although needless details have been eliminated wherever possible while mechanical and electrical features not usually found in copper smelters have been incorporated. Access is afforded to all equipment but platforms and walkways have been held to a minimum. The poling and other platforms in the converter aisle, normally subjected to battering by ladles and other heavy equipment in transit, are of concrete construction with steel grid armor embedded in the exposed surfaces. Noticeably absent are the many platforms formerly required for the handling of converter flux since this material is charged to the converters through the side walls of the converter uptake hoods. Clear space with ample headroom is provided under each converter and converter puncher's platform to permit clean-up by small bulldozers. Remote controls have been introduced at many points. Electrical control rooms and control centers have been conveniently located. An electrical tunnel with cross tunnels and escapeways is situated under the entire length of the converter aisle for power feed lines. Skull breaking facilities are in a separate building near the smelter. A silica-slurry building with brick storage area is adjacent to the smelter building so that elevator service is available to both buildings. A smelter office, a change house and lunchroom are provided in convenient locations. Units of the smelter as presently constructed are shown in the plan and table on page 1194. The ultimate smelter will house 7 reverberatory furnaces, 14 waste-heat boilers, 9 Peirce Smith converters, 4 casting furnaces serving 2 casting wheels, and one holding furnace serving a straightline casting machine. Additional crane requirements in the converter aisle will necessitate the installation of special hoisting equipment in space already provided in a raised section of the roof over the casting end of the aisle. Thus a complete crane may be lifted high enough above the crane rails to permit the passing of another crane underneath thereby giving all cranes full use of repair facilities already installed. For the collection of gases, 2 dust chambers, each with separate stacks, will collect converter gases and 2 balloon flues with separate stacks will collect reverberatory furnace gases. Extensions necessary to complete the ultimate plant will be possible with little interruption to normal operations since the future converters and reverberatory furnaces will be added at the east end while additional casting facilities will be added at the west end of the present plant. The future units may be added singly or all at one time depending on requirements.

Jan 1, 1952

By E. A. Gulbransen, W. S. Wysong, K. Andrew

The reaction of carbon in solid solution in a metal with the surface oxide fim on many metals may be inferred from thermo-dynamic calculations for high vacua and high temperature conditions. Holm has recently shown that oxide films may be removed from ferrous materials by heating in a vacuum at high temperatures and that carbon is the essential element in the reaction. considerable work has been described in the literature on the de-carburization reaction. Several general references may been 2,3,4 However, the nature of the mechanism involved in the decarburization is not well understood. Our interest in this reaction resulted from many attempts to degas and to reduce by pure and dry hydrogen the surface oxides on strips of various types Of chrome-nickel alloys. Some of the early experiments On the behavior Of '3 pct chrome-iron in vacua of the order of 5 X lo' mm and at a temperature Of 600°C have been reported.5 These experi-merits showed a 'low reaction with the residual Oxygen Or water vapor in the system and no reaction with hydrogen. This is in accord with thermodynamic data which would lead to the prediction that it is extremely difficult to maintain a hydrogen atmosphere at 600' C pure enough to reduce Crz03 formed On the surface. The crystal structure of the superficial oxide film formed on 13 pct chrome- iron and Nichrome V has been investigated in the thin film range by Gulbransenr Phelps and Hickman,' and shown to be "203. It Was surprising to us to note that when a specimen of Nichrome V containing approximately 80 pet nicke1 and 20 pet chromium was heated to 850°C in a high vacuum, the specimen lost weight. The rate Of weight loss was very temperature sensitive. A study of this reaction in vacua and in a hydrogen atmosphere is the subject of this communication. Type Reactions Let us consider the various reactions which may occur when a metal is heated in vacua, in a hydrogen atmosphere, or in an oxygen atmosphere. The number and kind of reactions will depend upon the chemical nature of the metal, its alloying constituents and the location of the alloying constituents. The metals used in this study are chrome-nickel alloys of the heater type, They consist essentially of chromium, nickel and iron, small amounts of carbon, silicon and manganese and traces of zirconium, calcium, aluminum and magnesium. The trace elements are added to improve the lifetime and other characteristics of the alloy when used as a heater. Seven of the more important reactions with which we are going to be concerned here are as follows: 1. Metal . (gas) F? metal + gas — degassing of the metal 2. zM(s) + y }i Oi(g) M MIOu(s) -oxidation

Jan 1, 1949

By K. S. Krishnam, A. G. Guy

VOLUME 6 of the Transactions of the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy, Moscow, is devoted to the subject of "the experimental and theoretical study of the physical characteristics of dilute solid solutions,11 and summarizes work that has been done largely in the years 1958-9. In view of the attention that Soviet investigators have given to this subject, it seemed useful to carry out an independent experimental investigation in an effort to judge the scientific basis and practical significance of this field of study. The present note is a preliminary report of this investigation. The first property studied by the Soviet group was X-ray spectra of solid-solution alloys.' An anomaly observed at low concentrations (--0.05 at. pct) of the alloying element led to the theory that each impurity atom in a transition-metal base alloy is the center of a "block" of affected atoms with a radius of about 10"7 cm. This theory was further developed in a later paper.2 By this time similar anomalies had been found in diffusion coefficients3 and in thermal expansion.4 The entire development up to 1959 was reviewed in a comprehensive paper, and further theoretical ideas were also published at this time. Finally, the volume mentioned above was published in 19607 giving new experimental data on anomalies in optical properties and Hall constant, and a new theoretical treatment also appeared.' Although western scientists have done both theoretical work, summarized recently by Friedel,9 and considerable experimental work on dilute solid solutions, there is little support for the marked anomalies reported in the Soviet papers. Of the physical properties studied by the Soviet investigators, thermal expansion was chosen for the present investigation because of the relative ease of obtaining the necessary precision of measurement. A Leitz dilatometer was used for this purpose, and a special technique involving interchanging of the two specimens being compared permitted a precision of 0.05 x X in average thermal expansion over the range 27° to 600°C. The specimens were heated and cooled in vacuum or in a protective atmosphere at a rate of 50 °C per hr. Ferrovac E iron was used as the comparison specimen and in every case had a coefficient of expansion higher than (or equal to) that of the alloy. Since unintentional impurities are an important factor in studies of dilute alloys, special attention was given to the purity of the iron and the alloys used. The alloys were the same of those used by Abrahamson10 and by Michalak," and their preparation is described in these references. Chemical analyses of the Ferrovac E iron and of typical Fe-W and Fe-Mo alloys are given in Table I. The purity of the iron and alloys is undoubtedly higher than in the

Jan 1, 1962