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By AIME AIME

AN IMPORTANT innovation in Alabama in the semi-longwall type of coal mining as applied to low-dipping thin seams has been introduced by the Galloway Coal Co., mining the Mary Lee high-ash seam which averages only 26 in. thick. The property is their Mill Creek mine, near Carbon Hill, Ala., in the Warrior coal field. The results, although not final, indicate that roof conditions can be successfully handled by this method without loss of walls, with a rate of recovery much above that possible with the room-and-pillar method, and at the low production cost necessary for this grade of coal. Double cross-headings are turned off a main haulageway on 60-ft. centers and driven 40 ft. wide with thin chain pillars between. These double entries are turned at 525-ft. intervals, leaving a solid block of coal 440 ft. across; that is, from the outside of one pair of headings to the inside of the next pair is 440 ft. The bottom, which consists of hard fireclay, is taken in these entries 8 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep for head room.

Jan 1, 1934

By AIME AIME

BY the end of 1943, the United States will be able to produce aluminum at a rate of 1,150,000 tons a year. How much aluminum is 1,150,000 tons? It is sufficient to replace every railroad passenger car in this country three times a year. Or, it would put a thirty-piece aluminum cooking utensil set in every one of America's 34,000,000 homes with enough metal left over to make 5,000,000 miles of aluminum transmission cable, such as was used in the electrification of much of rural America. Expansion of aluminum production capacity for the war program has occurred in three steps: (1) expansion by private industry; (2) the letting of contracts by the Defense Plant Corp. for the construction of additional aluminum plants which may remain after the war to compete with existing facilities; and (3) the more recently announced D.P.C. program for the building of emergency plants to make aluminum, using stand-by power available in large metropolitan centers power of relatively higher cost, making it questionable whether such plants, now gravely needed, will be able to compete in a peacetime economy.

Jan 1, 1943

By Giovanni B. Barla, Stefan H. Boshkov

The block caving method is examined in this paper on the basis of experimental results and observations in the field, and through the use of numerical modeling by the Finite Element Method. The Grace Mine, developed by a panel caving method, served as a reference case. However, the results obtained and the simulation techniques which have been developed may find useful application in more general conditions as encountered in other mining operations by block caving. Following a brief description of the Grace Mine and of the mining method, the problems associated with the behavior of underground drifts at the production levels, during undercutting and caving, are addressed. The most important results obtained through monitoring of strains and loads in the supports of a runway are discussed, while giving relevance to the sequence of mining operations in the immediate vicinity. The most important geomechanical data, as provided for subsequent modeling, are described with reference to: (a) rock mass characterization and (b) in situ state of stress. Then, the numerical modeling procedures, developed by the Finite Element Method in order to predict the caving phenomena and the behavior of underground openings during undercutting, are discussed. Finally, an attempt is made to compare the pre- dictions of the numerical analyses with, the measurements carried out at the instrumented site. Suggestions as to how to improve the results both qualitatively and quantitatively are also given.

Jan 1, 1984

By Julius Pohlman

The history of Niagara Falls, as currently told, is simple, and by that very simplicity it has been rendered plausible. AS the story runs, the Falls were once situated at Lewiston, 7 miles to the north of their present site; and, since all the rocks in this section are alternate hard and soft strata, the waters acting readily upon the soft shales caused their removal, and the overlying hard lagers, deprived of support, broke down under the weight of the large volume of water that rushed over them; and this erosive action has sent the edge of the fall more and more southward, until it now has excavated the seven-mile gorge between Lewiston and the village of Niagara Falls. (See Fig. 1.) As early as 1790" we find this theory advanced in a description of this region; and it has been practically endorsed by subsequent observers, the most prominent of whom was Prof. James Hall, the State Geologist of New York, who surveyed the Falls in 1841, and gave the most exact description of their surroundings in the publications of the State Survey.? Not until 1883 was the correctness of the accepted theory of the Falls questioned.‡ The geology of the basins of the Great. Lakes, as elucidated by Newberry,§ Speneer,ll and others, has added largely to a clearer understanding of the life-history of the Falls. The investigators have shown us that Lake Erie, as a lake, is, geologically speaking, quite young; that its valley was excavated in pre-glacial times by a series of rivers; and that the Maumee, Sandusky, Cuyaboga, Alleghany and other rivers carried the drainage of the surrounding

Jan 1, 1889

By W. S. Ayres

BACK in the early nineties the old Dickerson iron mine in Morris county, N. J., was operated by a vertical shaft 850 ft. deep and by a continuing slope for more than 1000 ft. more 011 an incline of 65", together making the vertical depth about 1800 ft. I was then the general superintendent there. This mine, named for a former governor of New Jersey, had been worked more or less continuously from long before the American Revolution and up to this particular time. The pumping equipment was of the old-time Cornish type, with its long pump-rods running down the vertical shaft and the slope to the sump at its bottom. It was operated by a large flywheel engine in the engine room and all angles were turned by the usual bobs. Saturday was the day fixed for lowering the "suction" into the deepened sump at the bottom of the advancing slope. The mine foreman had gone down with the morning shift to superintend this very vital and particular work, which consisted not only of lowering the "suction" into the sump immediately after the pump had been stopped, but of securing it to the rock and putting in the added sections of column-pipe and of tightening up the numerous bolts at their joints, all before the water rose to the point of working. At an appointed time during the forenoon I had agreed to go down into the mine and join the mine foreman in consultation over any difficulties that might have arisen. At the time agreed I went down by the cage to the bottom of the vertical 850-ft. shaft, and then by ladders down the slope for over 1000 ft. more.

Jan 1, 1930

By B. F. Fackenthall

The Durham Iron Works of Messrs. Cooper & Hewitt, near Riegelsville, Pa., occupy a site which has been almost continuously the scene of iron-manufacturing industry since 1727. Doubtless if Anthony Morris and his thirteen associates, who in that year erected a blast-furnace on the Durham Creek, a short distance above where the Durham Iron Works now stands, could have had a vision of the improved and enlarged apparatus of their successors, they would have been not less astonished by the huge stack, the hot-blast ovens, and the blowing-engines of the modern blast-furnace, than by the railroad which now follows the bank of the river on which their clumsy " Durham boats " once floated pig-iron to Philadelphia. In one particular, posterity must confess their snperiority. We are told that in November, 1728, they shipped three tons of Durham iron to England. The proprietors of the Durham Iron Works are not now shipping iron to England. The present Durham furnace was built (in place of two smaller ones) in 1874 and 1875, and made its first blast in 1876. A description of it, with other works of the same proprietors, at Trenton, N. J., by A. L. Holley and Lenox Smith, was published in London Engineering for January 31st, and February 21st, 1879. Since that time, a number of improvements, dictated by experience, have been made in the details of the furnace and fittings; and the recent roilclusion of a long and successful blast presents a convenient opportunity for a description of the works and a statement of the results of practice. The accompanying drawings will show the general arrangement of the works. The furnace, Plate I., Figs. 1 and 2, is 75 feet high by 19 feet bosh. The hearth is 11 feet 4 inches in diameter, with seven tuyeres 5 feet 6 inches above hearth-line. The tuyeres project 9 inches into the furnace, making the interior tuyere-circle 9 feet 10 inches in diameter. The front is a modification of Luermaun's

Jan 1, 1886

By Thomas T., Read

IT will be recalled that the first professor of metallurgy in the United States, appointed in 1855, never really gave any instruction in metallurgy and gradually turned into a professor of mineralogy. Metallurgy was included with. mining in the early curricula, two students who took the B.S. in mining engineering from the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania in 1862 wrote their graduation theses on the metallurgy of copper and zinc, respectively. Even after Columbia School of Mines established, in 1868, a separate curriculum leading to the Ph.B. degree in metallurgy, very few students elected it,* preferring to take the mining degree, since they received in its curriculum nearly all the metallurgical instruction they would have in the metallurgical curriculum. For many years a large proportion of the men who attained prominence in metallurgical enterprises had taken mining rather than metallurgical degrees. METALLURGY Clifton Sorby's study of thin sections of rocks under the micro¬scope, beginning in 1850, and its subsequent development by Zirkel and others, had made microscopic petrography a recog¬nized department of geological research as early as 1873. . It was inevitable that the idea of studying polished metal surfaces-¬under the microscope by reflected instead of transmitted light would occur to investigators. Sorby himself did it in 1864, and Adolph Martens and Floris Osmond may -be especially named among the many European workers who, by the late eighties, had so developed the, necessary techniques that they were able to photograph polished metal surfaces at magnifications as high

Jan 1, 1941

By D. K. Deardorff, Haruo Kato

D. K. Deardorff and Haruo Kato (U. S. Bureau of Mines)—We wish to refute the 1875" 20°C value that Giessen, et al., report as the transformation temperature of hafnium. Although these authors state that their work along this line will be reported later, we can't leave their value undiscussed, for we believe it to be 125°C too high. Our value of 1750° 20°C, which the authors mention, has been substantiated in our laboratories by the use of three other methods. The first method of substantiation was by heating and cooling curves using a hafnium/tungsten thermocouple, the couple having first been calibrated against a t/Pt-10 pct Rh couple. The second method was by quenching and metallography of dilute Hf-Ta alloys. The third cussion, it may be pointed out that the observations of Rogers referred to large unidirectional strains where the internal cracks or voids appeared only after a strain of 32 pct or more. On the contrary the internal fissures observed, as a result of fatigue cycling, occurred for a total extension of some 5 pct and furthermore followed the directions of the slip zones. Finally, it is not our contention, as implied in Dr. Alden's last paragraph, that the tensile stress is an important factor in crack propagation. Indeed, in connection with the reference to the companion report, special note is made of the fact that "Deformation was apparently concentrated in grains which have a slip plane nearly perpendicular to the specimen axis and thus near the plane of maximum applied shear." This dependence of the growth of fissures on the orientation of the slip planes with respect to the direction of maximum applied shear is clearly shown in work on the torsional cycling of single crystals which has been submitted for publication. method was by heating and cooling curves with W/W-26 pct Re thermocouple. Counting the original resistometric method, four different methods have yielded 1750" 20°C as the transformation temperature of hafnium. All our work on determination of the hafnium transformation temperature has shown that the specimen under test must be quickly heated to and through the transformation temperature if the lowest possible transformation value is to be determined; otherwise a higher value not representative of pure hafnium will result. Speed was emphasized in all methods. In our resistometric work the corresponding voltage, amperage, and temperature readings were taken quickly and the transformation temperature was usually reached within 5 min total heating time. In the thermal analysis work involving Hf/W or W/W-26 pct Re thermocouples the transformation temperature was attained within three minutes total heating time, this time being less because the two variables were

Jan 1, 1963

By David Turnbull

IN isothermal recrystallization processes, new crystals generally grow into the matrix until they impinge upon other new crystals or an external surface, at constant linear rates G. Before impingement the perceptible course of growth can be described by the equation: 1 = G(t-7) C1I where, G = dl/dt, 1 is a crystal dimension measured in a constant direction, t is the time, and 7, the nucleation period, is a positive intercept on the time axis. Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of I as a function of time for a recrystallizing grain. G is dependent upon temperature, driving energy (strain or surface energy), relative grain and boundary orientations, but is generally independent of time. The frequency of nucleation, fi, (time" volume") can be defined by the equation: N = 1/fV [2] where ? is the mean nucleation period and V is the volume of the specimen that has not recrystallized. The kinetics of primary and secondary recrystallization generally can be described satisfactorily in terms of the parameters N and G only.'-" After recrystallization is complete the average grain size 7 increases with time by "normal grain growth;" didt, the average rate of grain growth, is strongly time dependent and has not yet been precisely related to G for the motion of the individual grain boundaries constituting the system. It has been suggested4* " that the elementary act in grain boundary migration is closely related to the elementary act in grain boundary self-diffusion. Although the distance of atom movement in the two processes may be somewhat different, there is reason to expect that the activated states may be very similar, so that the free energy of activation for grain boundary migration should be of the same order of magnitude as for grain boundary self-diffusion. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a satisfactory basis for comparing data on self-diffusion and grain boundary migration and to make such comparisons where possible. Theory The formal theory of grain boundary migration rates is analogous to the theory for the rate of growth of crystals into supercooled liquids reviewed elsewhere 6-8. Boreliuss has shown that the latter theory describes, within the theoretical uncertainty, the growth of selenium crystals into supercooled liquid selenium. Motto and more recently Smolu-chowski" have derived expressions for the rate of boundary migration in recrystallization. The treatment to be presented is similar to Mott's excepting that the formalism of the absolute reaction rate theory will be used. The atomic mobility, M, in grain boundary migration is defined by: G = -M6p/6x where p is the chemical potential per atom and x is the coordinate measured in the direction of grain boundary movement. Let AF be the free energy difference per gram atom on the two sides of the boundary and k the thickness of the boundary. For RT>>AF the potential gradient across the boundary (6p/6x) is essentially linear and it follows that: SF/8x = - aF/N\ [4] where N is Avogadro's number. According to the Nernst-Einstein equation, M is related to a diffusion coefficient, Do, for matter transport in grain boundary migration by the equation: M = Da/kT [5] Substituting eqs 4 and 5 into eq 3 gives the basic relation between Do and G: G = DoaF/\RT [6] Do values may be calculated from experimental values of G from eq 6 and directly compared with the coefficient of self-diffusion within the crystal, DL, or the grain boundary self-diffusion coefficient D,. However, a more convenient, though equivalent, basis for comparing atomic mobility in grain boundary migration and self-diffusion is through the constants of the absolute reaction rate theory. According to this theory diffusion coefficients may be written:" D = k2(kT/h) exp [-AF,/RT] 171 aFa, the free energy of activation, is related to the measured energy of activation, Q, by the equation: AFA = Q - T aSx - RT [8] where aSa is the entropy of activation. Substituting eqs 8 and 7 into eq 6 gives: G = ek(kT/h) (aF/RT) exp [(AS,,)C/R] exp C-Qc/RTI C91 where the subscript G refers to boundary migration. The relationship between the driving free energy and the free energy of activation in boundary migration is indicated schematically in Fig. 2. Experience indicates that the variation of G with temperature can be described by: G= Go exp [- Qc/RT] [10] where Go and Qc are generally temperature independent over wide ranges of temperature. Comparison of eq 9 with eq 10 gives:

Jan 1, 1952

By C. A. Stickels

In a recent paper, Held1 showed that rolling conditions can have a marked effect on the volume fraction of surface texture produced in low-carbon steel. This variation in rolling texture is reflected in the recrys-tallization texture and affects the plastic properties of the annealed sheet. The fact that roll friction can influence the surface deformation texture in iron and steel has been known for some time;'= but the magnitude of the effect has never been shown quite so clearly before. The analogous effect during wire drawing has been recognized for many year.4 Dillamore and Roberts5 examined surface textures in warm- and cold-rolled aluminum and copper. They found that when a surface texture was present it could be described as the interior texture rotated about the transverse sheet direction. The angle of rotation was a function of the type of lubrication, the amount of reduction per pass, and the temperature of rolling. The purpose of the present note is to show that surface textures in cold-rolled iron can also be described as interior textures rotated about the transverse sheet direction. Vacuum-melted electrolytic iron* was straight- rolled 90 pct at room temperature in a two-high rolling mill with 5-in.-diam rolls. Two rolling procedures were used: a) no lubrication with reductions of about 0.035 in. per pass, and b) heavy lubrication with lano-line and reductions of about 0.002 in. per pass. The final sheet thickness was 0.030 in. (110) pole figures were determined by transmission through specimens taken from the sheet surface and sheet midplane. The surface texture of the sheet cold-rolled according to procedure a is shown in Fig. l.* The shapes of the low-intensity contour lines indicate that the texture can be described as a partial fiber texture with a (110) fiber axis normal to the sheet. The approximate range of orientstions present is (011)[211] — (0ll)[100] — (011)[211]. This range of orientations is what one would obtain by rotating the interior texture 90 deg about the transverse sheet direction. The intensity of (110) and (222) reflections from planes parallel to the surface was measured after removing metal from the surface by chemical polishing. The surface texture here was confined to the outer

Jan 1, 1968

By W. G. Bearden, G. C. Howard, J. W. Spurlock

An investigation of the factors af-fec.ting the inter-zonal flow of fluids in the casing-wellbore annrc1rt.s of an oil or gas ivell is presented Laborntory tests revealed that failure of the caring-cement bond allows communi-cation of fluid at pressure differentials near 1.000 psi. Perforating with a 11011011: carrier gun does not shatter or crack the cement sufficiently to allow communication through these cracks and does not seriously affect the casing-cement bond failure pressure. The pressure to cause communication at the casing-cement bond can he increared to 3,000 psi by. limiting pipe deformation during cementing and subsequent operations. Communication can be prevented, however. up to pressures sufficient to cause the cement to fail or the casing to col-lapse, by attaching to the casing a seal ring of deformable ruhber molded between two steel flanges. When installed, one flange is attached rigidlv to the casing to serve as back-up for the gasket While tile other flange is movable. To date, these gasket seal rings have been field-tested in 27 Wells. Althotrgh communication has been noted in two wells, inter-zonal flow has been prevented in other wells in the same area by installing more seal rings between the communicaring zones. INTRODUCTION The inter-zonal flow of fluids behind casing cemented in oil wells during normal production or stimulation operations is a major operating problem. If it cccurs during production operations. it can seriously limit the pressure to which a reservoir may be depleted without harmful invasion of unwanted fluids. If it occurs during stimulation operations, it may preclude the possibility of stimulating the desired zone. This communication can be caused by failure of the bond between the casing and cement, failure of the bond between the cement and formation, or failure of the cement itself. This paper presents the results of an investigation of factors affecting com-munication at the casing-cement bond and methods which aid in preventing it. LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS The laboratory tests performed in this study were divided into three phases. The first phase consisted of tests to determine if perforating would shatter and crack the cement sheath so severely that communication would occur through the cement itself. The second phase consisted of tests to determine more precisely the cause for the casing-cement bond failure. The third phase consisted of tests to evaluate the effectiveness of various de-formable seals attached to the casing in preventing communication. EFFECT OF PERFORATING, The effect of perforating was invest~gated in tests performed with apparatus shown on Fig. 1. Cement was poured into the annulur space hetween 5%-in. casing and 8%-in. casing and allowed to cure for 72 hours. The apparatus was then perforated with a hollow carrier gun containing eight duPont 26-A shaped charges. Bull plugs were placed over the perforations in the 8 5/8-in. casing and hydraulic pressure was applied inside the 5 1/2i-in. casing. The pressure to cause fluid communication past the cement sheath was observed and termed the "bond failure pressure". Several different cement compositions were included in these tests, the results of which are shown in Table 1. In Tests 1 through 4 of Table 1, bond failure occurred at- the inter- .

Jan 1, 1966

By George S. Rice

IN other countries, research involving testing in various phases of ground movement and lessening its damaging effects, as by roof control, is going on more intensively than in this country, as evidenced by official mining papers and general articles appearing- in .Great Britain, Germany, France, and South Africa. One most important bulletin, "Some Aspects of Deep Level Mining on the Witwatersrand Gold Mines with Special Reference to Rock Bursts,"' was published by the Association of Mine Managers of the Transvaal, Johannesburg, under date of June, 1933, though not received in this country until 1.934. Since the deepest mining in the world is being done on the Rand-several mines over 7000 ft. deep and the Robinson mine 8000 ft.-the studies made are of intense interest to all mining men who have to deal with heavy ground pressure. In the discussion following the papers differences of opinions are shown on a number of problems; for example, on the ade¬quacy of sand-filling to prevent rock bursts and whether compressible or rigid artificial supports are best; also whether pressure bursts are due to the doming of strata and collapse of a lag of the dome or to induced shear cracks in the hanging wall. The problem of obtaining some means of warning of an impending rock burst led to testing with height indicators to find whether warning might be obtained by the lessening of distance between hanging wall and footwall. The indicators used are similar in idea but not in detail to the "convergence recorders" developed by the Safety in Mines Research Board of Great Britain for their roof-control studies in coal mines. Success at several Rand mines is claimed in that indicator records give some degree of warning when the lessening of height is rapid, although, on the other hand, when this happens bursts do not always occur.

Jan 1, 1935

By Joseph W. Richards

ALTHOUGH bad grammar, the above query is probably, at the present moment, good sense. Why was the Institute started and why does it continue to exist? The small group of men who worked out the original idea felt keenly the necessity of mining engineers and metallurgists getting together in order to discuss their professional problems. That necessity still exists but it does not strike the present generation of engineers so keenly because they have always had the Institute: they do not know what it is to be without it. The Institute is a great graduate school of mining and metallurgy. All of its members who have something to say worth saying are the teachers; all the rest may be learners or critics. No university or technical school can match the experience and information which the authors of its papers possess, no institution of learning has a body of potential listeners so extensive and so vitally interested.

Jan 1, 1921

By David B. Dill, Edgar R. Lea

The zinc deposits of the Balmat-Edwards Division of the St. Joseph Lead Company in northern New York State provide some 10 per cent of the domestic zinc produced annually within the United States. These complex ore deposits are contained within marbles of the Precambrian Grenville series, in a repetitive sequence of dolomites and silicated units. The Balmat ore bodies are localized at various intervals throughout some 1800 feet of the stratigraphic column on the northwest side of a band of gneiss that has continuity to the Edwards area, some 10 miles to the northeast. The Edwards ore bodies are located to the southeast of this gneiss. The marble formations are thought to have included repetitive intervals of marine sedimentation that provided mineralized source "beds" and were subsequently folded, flooded, and injected with melts at great depth and were sheared, recrystallized, and reconstituted. Detailed structural and stratigraphic studies throughout the northwestern Adirondacks, in the Balmat-Edwards district, and at each mine in particular indicate the close dependence of the ore deposits on the enveloping structure whether it be local, district-wide, or regional in scope. Primary folding has developed a northeast regional trend with northwest dips. Secondary folding has been developed by an almost horizontal northeast-southwest-oriented shear couple in the plane of the regional trend. The secondary folding has produced crossfolds that intersect the regional northeast trend and plunge north to northwest at various angles. The ore bodies are found within certain stratigraphic horizons where repeated alternation of competent and incompetent beds encouraged unusually complex folding. Analysis of individual mine structures indicates that the location of each deposit is controlled by structural crossing of primary and secondary folding. The ore bodies, which are tabular, lenticular, or pod-like in form, have features that suggest parallelism to true bedding or modified flow banding, developed by northeast-southwest shearing stresses related to the development of the crossfolds. The ore deposits in general follow both structural and recrystallization trends within the wall rocks. Mobilization of the pre-metamorphic ore minerals is believed to have involved a combination of plastic flow under stress and solution of the sphalerite, minor galena, and pyrite. The ore fluids are thought to have been guided by secondary shearing and microbrecciation into structurally prepared areas where reprecipitation took place. The presumed premetamorphic mineralization now exhibits epigenetic high-temperature features related to late-stage metamorphism.

Jan 1, 1968

THE Lehigh Valley Section is planning with a num-ber of other organizations a three-day conference, April 25, 26 and 27, with field visits to cement, slate and steel plants in the vicinity of Easton, Pa. W. B. Plank is chairman and D. Knickerbocker Boyd is sec-retary. Headquarters will be at Hotel Easton. Wednesday' will be cement day. In the forenoon A. S. T. M. Committee D-16 will meet and after luncheon the delegates will visit the Martin Creek plants of the Alpha Portland Cement Co. An evening dinner and general session on cement is being arranged. Thursday morning will be devoted to a technical ses-sion on slate, and the breaking of ground for the new John Markel mining building at Lafayette College. After luncheon various slate quarries will be inspected, the visitors being guests of the companies. In the eve-ning there will be a conference dinner at Hotel Easton with a number of distinguished visitors. Friday will be given over to steel and will include a visit to Lehigh University, an inspection of the plant of the Bethlehem Steel Corp., and a luncheon as guests of the latter.

Jan 3, 1928

By M. C. Flemings, F. R. Mollard

Two-phase Pb-Sn alloys, ranging in compositiotz from 12 to 26 at. pct Pb, were unidirectionally solidified in a convection-fvee system, with thermal gradients in the liquid of up to 480°C per cm. Plane front solidification Loas achieved in all alloys at sufficiently steep gradient and slow growth rate. Conditions causing breakdown of the interface to a cellular or dendritic structure were roughly as predicted by a sinlple constitutional supercooling criterion. Structures of alloys of near-eutectic composition, solidified with plane front, exhibited a lamellar structure; the alloys furthest from the eutectic exhibited a rod-like morphology. Assumptions used in a previous paper for calculations of solute redistribution in two-phase plane front growth are shown to be reasonable for Pb-Sn alloys. Results of calculations are in good agveement with experiment. These show that variations in growth rate during solidification of the composite produce marked changes in average composition of the solid. IN a previous paper, Part I,' conditions necessary for plane front solidification of two-phase alloys were discussed and calculations given on solute redistribution in this type of solidification. This paper, Part 11, describes experiments on Pb-Sn alloys, designed to check the assumptions of the analyses presented, and to demonstrate their applicability to a given alloy system (Pb-Sn). APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE General. A vertical crystal growing unit was built for the study as described below, and "normal solidification" employed throughout (i.e., the ingot was completely melted except for a portion near the bottom end and then solidification initiated). The furnace was designed to permit achieving very low interface velocities, and steep gradients, in essential absence of convection; it is sketched in Figs. 1 and 2. Simple heat flow considerations indicated choice of a small-diameter specimen (ingot) to achieve high thermal gradients; ingot size chosen was 0.3 cm in diam. The ingots were held inside silica tubes 0.06 cm wall thickness. The requirement for an essentially convection-free system was met by use of the vertical furnace with the heat source over the heat sink, as well as by use of the small diameter ingots. In addition, by selection of tin-rich Pb-Sn alloys, the diffusion boundary layer (lead-rich) was denser than the bulk liquid and would not cause convection. The only apparent driving force for convection in this system was the small transverse temperature gradient resulting from heat flow into the samples from the furnace. Such convection must have been small, however, since 1) no temperature fluctuations in the melt were noted in the recordings, which would have indicated turbulent convection, and 2) experimental results obtained and described below could not have been achieved in presence of significant convection. Ingot Preparation. Pb-Sn alloys ranging from 12 to 26 at. pct Pb were prepared from high-purity lead and tin (99.9999 pct pure metal). Each alloy was prepared by first melting the pure metals in the proper ratio in air, in a Pyrex container. The melt was then stirred thoroughly with a graphite rod and cast into a preheated graphite mold. Ingots were then prepared from these castings for use in the actual experiments; each ingot consisted of a rod of alloy, 15 cm long in a 25-cm-long transparent fused-silica tube, 0.3 cm ID and 0.06 cm wall thickness. One chromel-alumel thermocouple, made with 0.004-in.-diam wire and protected by a two-hole alumina tube, was inserted into each ingot. The 1.5 cm of the thermocouple nearest the bead were protruding from the alumina tube and were coated with a very thin layer of boron nitride paste which provided electrical insulation while allowing good heat conduction. The electrically welded junction size was about that of each wire and the cross section of the two wires represented about 0.3 pct of the sample cross section. Including the coating, the thermocouple cross section still represented less than 0.5 pct of the ingot cross

Jan 1, 1968

By Charles Albert Ashburner

The coal-fields of the United States have been variously classified as to their geographical positions. In 1887 I proposed slight changes to the classification generally used, for more convenient description of our coal-fields in my report on the statistical history of coal in the States during 1886 for the United States Geological Survey. This new classification seems to meet all practical requirements and has been generally adopted. The coal-areas are grouped in two divisions—the anthracite division and the bituminous division. The anthracite division, in a commercial sense, may be said to include the anthracite districts of Pennsylvania alone, although small amounts of anthracite are mined in Colorado and have been

Jan 1, 1890

By W. C. Ellis, M. E. Fine

INTRODUCTION IN the iron-cobalt system there are several property-composition relationships of theoretical importance. The alloys are ferromagnetic exhibiting a maximum saturation at approximately 33 at. pct cobalt;1 the interatomic distances at room temperature show large positive deviations from Vegard's rule;2 and in the region of 50 at. pct cobalt there is an order-disorder transition which has a large effect on other properties. The thermal expansion data for the system have been reported3,4.5,6 only from room temperature to 100°C, and for this temperature range a minimum in coefficient in the region of 50 at. pct cobalt is well established. 3,4,6 This paper reports the expansion properties in the iron-cobalt system for temperatures from 30 to 850°C, shows the correlation with other physical properties, and proposes an explanation for the interrelation. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The thermal expansivities of iron-cobalt alloys in 10 pct steps in composition were determined from 30 to about 850°C. The major series of alloys was prepared by induction melting from Armco iron and cobalt rondelles with the addition of about 0.6 wt pct manganese. This series was supplemented by three compositions: high purity electrolytic iron, high purity electrolytic cobalt, and an alloy of 52.1 wt pct cobalt prepared from the high purity electrolytic iron and electrolytic cobalt by vacuum-melting. The compositions of both series of alloys are given in Table I. The specimens for measurement were prepared from the cast ingots by first hot-swaging followed in most instances by cold-swaging to 0.180-in. diam rod. Some alloys in the region of 50 pct cobalt, because of inherent cold-brittleness, were swaged hot to the final diameter. The expansion specimens were approximately 2 ½ in. long with flat-ground and polished ends. Before measurement they were annealed in hydrogen for r hr at 900°C. In the apparatus used for the thermal expansivity measurements (Fig I), a modification of that designed by Hidnert and Sweeney,7 the differential expansion between the specimen and vitreous silica was measured by a dial micrometer reading to 0.001 mm. An invar fixture supported the dial gauge, and this fixture, in turn, was connected to a split invar collar which supported the outer silica tube. A pyrex "T" was placed over the outer silica tube and was sealed to the invar collar by Apiezon Q sealing compound. A movable hollow vitreous silica rod which rested on top of the test specimen slid through a flexible rubber diaphragm cemented to the top of the pyrex "T." The specimen rested on a vitreous silica pedestal fused into the outer tube and was kept centered by a silica sleeve. A non-oxidizing atmosphere was obtained by admitting hydrogen into the

Jan 1, 1948

By C. S. Yust, Lida K. Barrett

The change in shape of the void in a sirzterir~g copper mass has been investigated as a juntction of' density. A serial sectioning' technique was used to eoaltrate the irregular shape of the void at two levels qf density. A measure of the void size and configuration, the proximity number, is defined and used to describe the progress of void removal. The process of. void removal deduced front the observations of this study contrasts with current sintering models in that it takes into account the irregularity of structure of a sintering mass and demonstrates that isolated Porosity does not occur first as spherical pores, but as large, definitely nonspherical sections of the void void volume. The process of sintering, about which there is much practical and theoretical knowledge, has evaded a direct and thorough analysis despite the intensity with which it has been studied for 60 years or so. This is due, of course, to the complex structure of a sintering mass and the inability to observe directly the development of a fully dense solid from the initial particulate arrangement. Extensive theoretical analyses have been based on the adoption of one or another of several model systems, that is, by visualization and analysis of some sort of regular assembly or arrangement of geometric "particles" approximating the conditions of a sintering mass. It seems appropriate at this time to try to examine experimentally in some detail the extent to which a sintering mass of irregular particles dlffers from these models. Many models deal with neck growth and the initial stage of sintering and follow the direction established by ~ucz~nski' in 1949 for the sintering of spheres to flat plates. Recently Johnson and cutler2 have adapted these models to sintering of powder masses. coble3 has presented a mathematical model for sintering that applies to the middle and final stages of the process. These papers, without exception, assume a regular geometry, generally spheres in contact in a regular array. Rhines~ and coworkers, however, are studying the sintering process by applying a model based on the topological concept of genus which permits them to consider an irregular structure. whites has described the various models with the exception of that of Rhines et al., and the assumptions on which they are based and their shortcomings. The present paper examines the geometric changes that occur in the powder mass during sintering by examination of the void. The method is to analyze a series of partially sintered structures and to propose from this analysis the sequence of events which occur in the removal of the void space as a sintering mass progresses from a collection of individual particles to a solid body. The irregular nature of the stacking of particles and of the particles themselves will be taken into account. The significant points derived from this study are: first, accurate reconstructions of the irregular void shapes are presented; second, it is clearly established that closed porosity occurs first as widespread volumes of interconnected porosity, definitely nonspherical in shape; and third, a new factor, the proximity number, is defined, which serves in this paper as a tool for describing the void shape changes observed, and which will be used in a later paper as part of the basis of a mathematical model for sintering. While the specific material studied is copper, the observations are thought to be relatively general as indicated by comparison of the results with partially sintered structures in other materials presented in the literature, both metallic and nonmetallic. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Four series of specimens representing progressive stages of the sintering process were prepared by sintering high-purity copper powder for various time periods. A relatively large particle size was used so that the void-solid interface could be readily distinguished at low magnification. In three series of specimens a loose stacking of particles was obtained by pouring powder into an alumina mold and lightly tapping the mold. The green density of such compacts was approximately 40 pct of theoretical density. Two of these three series utilized irregularly shaped particles in the size range -230 +325 mesh, one series sintered in vacuum and one in hydrogen at 950°C. The third series of loosely stacked particles consisted of spherical particles in the size range -270 +325 mesh, sintered in hydrogen at 950°C. A fourth series was prepared from compacted irregular particles sintered in hydrogen at 950°C. The specimens for this series were formed by lightly pressing the irregularly shaped particles in a steel die; the green density of the pressed pellets was approximately 60 pct. The irregularly shaped particles used in this study are shown in Fig. 1. The density of these particles, measured by a toluene picnometer technique, is 98.2 pct of theoretical density. Each particle is highly convoluted, and in some instances appears in cross section to contain internal porosity. The density measurement, however, indicates that completely enclosed porosity is very small so that the individual particles have a highly irregular surface but are essentially fully dense copper. Therefore, most of the void space that appears in two dimensions to be isolated within the particle is actually at the particle surface and connected to the external void in the dimension not included in the plane of the cross section. The void space that appears as void surrounded by the par -ticle or within folds in the particle w~ll be r~fc\r?

Jan 1, 1968

By O. F. Kammerer, W. E. Miller, D. H. Gurinsky, J. Sadofsky, J. R. Weeks

Zirconium and titanium inhibit solution mass transfer of steels by liquid bismuth, mercury, and lead. It is shown that in bismuth and mercury, these adsorb on the surface of the steels and subsequently react with nitrogen and possibly carbon from the steels to form inert, adherent surface layers of ZrN, TiN, or TiN + Tic. Data are presented which describe the condition under which thase deposits form. These inhibitors decrease the solution rate of iron into bismuth, and require a higher supersaturation for precipitation of iron from bismuth. USE of the low-melting heavy metals (bismuth, lead, mercury, and their alloys) as coolants has been limited because solution mass transfer of steels occurs in these liquids; i. e., iron dissolves in the hot sections of the heat transfer circuit and deposits in the colder sections. The rate of solution of iron and the temperature coefficient of solubility are sufficiently great to cause complete or partial stoppage by the deposition in the coldest section of a closed circuit in finite time, even though the actual solubilities are extremely low. In the development of the mercury vapor turbine by the General Electric Co., Nerad and his associates1 discovered that the addition of as little as 1 ppm Ti or Zr to magnesium-deoxidized mercury reduced the mass transfer of ferrous alloys by mercury to a negligible amount. Reid2 reported that titanium was detected chemically on the surface of steels contacted with this mercury alloy in amounts varying from 2.0 to 2.6 mg per sq in., the greatest amount being found in the hottest portion of the circuit. Reid stated that the titanium forms the intermetallic compound Fe2Ti by reaction with iron on the surface of the steels. This compound was presumed to be highly insoluble in mercury. More recently, El-gert and Egan3 have reported a greater than 100-fold reduction in the rate of mass transfer of a 5 pet Cr steel by liquid bismuth upon the addition of titanium (in excess of 50 ppm) and magnesium (350 ppm) in the liquid metal, during experiments performed in thermal convection loops* over the temperature differential 700° to 615° C. Also, Shep-ard and his associates' have reported that the addition of titanium to liquid bismuth and Pb-Bi eutec-tic produced a marked decrease in the rates of solution of both iron and chromium from type 410 steel capsules under static conditions. This inhibiting effect increased with repeated reuse of the capsules. Tests performed in this laboratory under carefully controlled conditions have shown that the addition of zirconium and magnesium, or titanium and magnesium, to liquid bismuth or lead greatly reduces the rate of mass transfer of chromium alloy steels and carbon steels in thermal convection loops with a maximum temperature of 550°C.5-9 The present paper will review the data obtained to date at this laboratory on the behavior of iron and steels in contact with liquid bismuth alloys containing titanium or zirconium, and will attempt to explain the role of the above additives in reducing solution mass transfer. Reaction between the Zirconium or Titanium Dissolved In Liquid Bismuth and an Iron or Steel Surface Reaction between Zirconium Dissolved in Bismuth and the Surface of Pure Iron-—A small pure iron crucible (analyzed by the supplier to contain 0.8 ppm N was contacted with bismuth containing approximately 0.1 pet Mg and varying amounts of a radioactive zirconium tracer. The crucible was then inverted at the temperature of contact. The thin residual layer of adherent bismuth was dissolved in cold, concentrated nitric acid. The crucible surface and the solidified bismuth were then analyzed for radioactive zirconium. An analysis of the activity loss on the crucible surface and the weight loss of the crucible during the nitric acid treatment showed that the acid treatment removed the zirconium that had originally been dissolved in the adherent bismuth, but not any zirconium that may have reacted with the crucible surface. The crucible was then pickled in warm aqua regia to remove all surface activity, hydrogen-fired at 600°C, and recontacted with a new liquid alloy. The results of the experiments contacted 1 hr at 450°C show, Fig. 1, a Langmuir-type adsorption with an adsorption free energy of approximately 17 keal per g atom Zr.5 This deposit was estimated to contain 1 atom of zirconium for each 7 to 8 iron atoms on the crucible surface, assuming a surface roughness factor of the pickled crucibles to be five. Increasing the temperature to 520°C caused consi-

Jan 1, 1959