Search Documents

By K. Sallmann

Spurred by a variety of factors, coal flotation is making headway among the preparation plants of West Germany. Mr. Sallmann provides a general view of flotation practices being employed in his country, with special emphasis on the many-sided problems that confront German coal preparation engineers.

Jan 9, 1961

Diffusion in Solid Metals. BY ROBERT F MEHL (Institute of Metals Division Lecture Tech Pub 726 in Metals Tech, Aug , also Trans, vol 122 22,500 words ) Diffusion in solid metals constitutes one of the important fundamental phenomena in metallurgical behavior Apart from its obvious importance in processes such as chromizing, carburizing, nitriding and calorizing, it plays an important part in the processes of homogenization, age-hardening, and transformations in steel, its scientific importance is no less great Diffusion may occur within a grain, along a grain boundary, or upon a surface, though the exact and even the relative values of these separate processes are known for only a very few cases The requirement of solid solution formation presents the possibility of identifying solid solution phases by a study of diffusion layers Some distortion accompanies diffusion, leading to little¬ understood grain-size changes Distortion assists diffusion though usually it dis¬appears before diffusion has become extensive In a binary system the rate of diffusion is the more rapid in the lower melting metal Many of the published data are too qualitative to permit sound scientific conclusions Age-hardening data may be treated as diffusion data and rates of reaction in steel could profitably be studied from this point of view Studies on diffusion are of great importance to the develop-

Jan 1, 1937

By Henry M. Howe

Many direct processes have been proposed for the treatment of oxidized ores of copper by reducing the copper oxide to the metallic state, and by separating it from its impurities by a subsequent fusion. The radical objection common to all the methods which have come to my notice, except those in which sulphur plays the prominent part, is that the very deoxidizing agent which effects the reduction of the copper oxide, inevitably reduces at the same time a very considerable part, if not the whole, of the iron which almost invariably accompanies copper in its ores. The result is that, when the ore is subsequently fused, a very great quantity of the already reduced iron separates from the slag along with the copper, alloying with it, and necessitating costly subsequent operations for its separation. Thus, at Perm, in the Urals," the product of the fusion of ferrnginous copper oxides is a mixture of one hundred and fifty-tive parts of highly cupriferous pig iron with two hundred and fire parts of very impure and ferruginous black copper, containing Pome 10 per cent. of' carbon and iron, though free from sulphur, and of course very difficult to refine. If, in order to avoid this reduction of iron to the metallic state, the reducing action be made feebler, it inevitably results that a considerable part of the copper as well escapes deoxidation; and, consequently, the slags are so rich that it becomes necessary to treat them subsequently in order to recover the copper which they contain. Thus,. in treating native copper, at Lake Superior, where the reducing action is purposely made feeble in order to prevent the deoxidation of the iron, the slags from the first fusion of the ore carry so much copper as to render it imperative to treat them again, which is done in a cupola. And yet, in spite of so far weakening the reducing action as to cause a notable slagging of the copper, a very considerable reduction of iron actually takes place. These are the two dangers which threaten the smelter of oxidized copper ores. If he wishes to avoid slagging his copper, he must have so strong a deoxidizing action as to reduce a great deal of his

Jan 1, 1879

By H. M. Howe

(Read at. the Lake George Meeting, October, 1878.) MANY direct processes have been proposed for the treatment of oxidized ores of copper by reducing the copper oxide to the metallic state, and by separating it from its impurities by a subsequent fusion. The radical objection common to all the methods which have come to my notice, except those in which sulphur plays the prominent part, is that the very deoxidizing agent which effects the reduction of the copper oxide, inevitably reduces at the same time a very considerable part, if not the whole, of the iron which almost invariably accompanies copper in its ores. The result is that, when the ore is subsequently fused, a very great quantity of the already reduced iron separates from the slag along with the copper, alloying with it, and necessitating costly subsequent operations for its separation. Thus, at Perm, in the Urals,* the product of the fusion of ferruginous copper oxides is a mixture of one hundred and fifty-five parts of highly cupriferous pig iron with two hundred and five parts of very impure and ferruginous black copper, containing some 10 per cent. of carbon and iron, though free from sulphur, and of course very difficult to refine. If, in order to avoid this reduction of iron to the metallic state, the reducing action be made feebler, it inevitably results that a considerable part of the copper as well escapes deoxidation ; and, consequently, the slags are so rich that it becomes necessary to treat them subsequently in order to recover the copper which they contain. Thus, in treating native copper, at Lake Superior, where the reducing action is purposely made feeble in order to prevent the deoxidation of the iron, the slags from the first fusion of the ore carry so much copper as to render it imperative to treat them again, which is done in a cupola. And yet, in spite of so far weakening the reducing action as to cause a notable slagging of the copper, a very considerable reduction of iron actually takes place. These are the two dangers which threaten the smelter of oxidized copper ores. If he wishes to avoid slagging his copper, he must have so strong a deoxidizing action as to reduce a great deal of his * Rivot, Prineipes Généraux du Traitement des Minerais Métalliques, i, p. 79.

Jan 1, 1879

By C. D. Broadbent

Open pit blasting can be a low cost routine or a high cost bottleneck depending on geology, environment and the operator's ability to master site conditions. Because blasting is a repetitive operation, there should be ample opportunity to optimize the process; but ordinarily this optimization is rarely achieved and then only if conditions remain consistent and predictable. Often, however, and particularly with porphyry coppers, hidden differences in rock characteristics nullify the operator's best efforts. At a porphyry copper deposit being mined by Kennecott Copper Corporation, all of the following rock types occur; oxidized and fresh porphyry, altered and silicified limestone, explosion breccia, rhyolite, sandstone, shale and several others. The units can cover large areas or be limited to a few tens of feet in maximum dimension. They are rarely visible on the bench surface and often do not show up in the bench slope. Even though the blastability of these rocks varies substantially, a generally-uniform blasting pattern was formerly used with disappointing results. Secondary blasting was often required and high bottoms occurred frequently, overblasting wasted drilling time, and explosives caused excessive throw.

Jan 4, 1974

By Warren A. Sinsheimer

ProbDly there has never been a year during which the petroleum industry expended so much effort as in 1929 in an attempt to rectify its ills. Eventually good will undoubtedly result, but as yet there have been no marked changes from the unhappy conditions familiar to all. Throughout the year remedies were sought that would cure the long-existing troubles of overproduction and waste. Proration of production and voluntary curtailment of output, for a short time considered the means for stability, not only failed but contributed to further waste and created a false sense of security. It encouraged a high rate of field development, weakened the economic structure by excessive development of newly discovered reserves and absorbed large sums of capital yielding meager or negative return. The manufacturing of gasoline by refiners without regard for market requirements furthered the unsatisfactory condition by falsely stimulating the demand for crude and placed on the market an oversupply of finished products, particularly gasoline. The marketing section of the industry has made progress by its adoption of the Code of Ethics as promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission and by the formation of an Export Association. The year 1929 opened not only with a current supply of oil exceeding demand but with an additional daily shut-in and potential supply variously estimated at from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 bbl. This situation stimulated the industry, through the American Petroleum Institute, to attempt to work out an economically sound solution which would further conservation by bringing supply and demand into closer balance. Production Control After a thorough study of producing conditions, the committee of the American Petroleum Institute had for its recommendation that the production of crude oil in 1929 be held in check to an amount equal to that produced during the year 1928. The Federal Oil Conservation Board heard the appeal of the American Petroleum Institute and referred the matter to the Department of Justice. It was ruled that neither the Federal Oil Conservation Board nor the Department of Justice had the * Land and Oil Production Dept., Henry L. Doherty & Co.

Jan 1, 1930

By A. Phillips, D. H. Killpatrick, V. Kerlins

The tensile failure of two dispersion-strengthened Ni-20 Cr alloys was studied and compared to the fracture of a similar alloy with no dispersoid. The fracture characteristics were studied using electron fruc-tography and transmission electron microscopy. In all three cases, the mode of failure was found to be microvoid coalescence. The failure in the dispersion-strengthened alloys was found to have initiated at the particles. The size of the dimples in the fracto-graphs was found to be related to the spacing of the particles, but not to the total elongation before failure. The elongation before failure was found to be related only to the amount of dispersed phase. These results are compared to those predicted by a theoretical model of ductile failure. THE continually increasing strength requirements for creep-resistant materials capable of long life at service temperatures above 1600"F (875"C) have developed considerable interest in dispersion-strengthened nickel-base alloys. The high yield strength of these alloys results from the presence of a dispersion of fine particles of thoria which act to impede the normal motion of dislocations. Many theories have been presented to explain the role of the dispersion in the strengthening of these alloys. A good review of these theories is presented by Ansell.' The ultimate strength of such alloys is not only related to mechanisms raising the yield strength, but also to the amount of work-hardening which occurs. This work-hardening is determined by the work-hardening rate and the amount of plastic strain before failure. Since fracture limits the amount of plastic strain, a study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the fracture mechanisms in these alloys. Electron fractography and transmission electron microscopy were used to study the fracture characteristics in two dispersion-strengthened alloys and one similar alloy containing no dispersoid. These results are related to the tensile properties of the dispersion-strengthened alloys at room temperature and at 2000°F (1095°C). The results are also related to a theory for ductile fracture. 1) PROCEDURE Standard tensile specimens were made from 0.020-in. (0.051-cm) sheets of three different Ni-Cr alloys. The alloys had nominal compositions of Ni-20Cr, Ni-20Cr-2Th0,, and Ni-2OCr-4Th0,. All alloys were supplied in an annealed condition. The specimens were fractured in tension at room temperature to determine the effect of the dispersed thoria on the fracture appearance. The tensile properties were determined from the average of a minimum of three ten- sile specimens for each condition tested. The fracture surface of all of the alloys was examined by electron microscopy using standard two-stage plastic-carbon replica techniques. Thin foils of the dispersion-strengthened alloys were used to investigate the size and spacings of the dispersion particles, and to investigate sections of the 2 pct thoria alloy taken from areas of the specimen adjacent to the fracture surface. The thin foils were mechanically ground to 0.010 in. (0.025 cm) and then chemically polished to approximately 0.001 in. (0.003 cm) in a solution of 29 g of ferric chloride and 10 ml hydrochloric acid in a liter of water. The polishing solution was maintained at 150"F (65°C) during the thinning operation. The final thinning of the foil was done electrolytically using a solution of 700 ml ethanol, 100 ml 2-butoxy eth-anol, 120 ml distilled water, and 78 ml perchloric acid (70 pct). The potential was maintained at 15 v and the bath temperature at -20°~ (-29°C) during the thinning operation. The final thickness of the foil was approximately l000A as determined from the width of twins boundaries observed in many of the foils. 2) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The electron fractographs of the fracture surfaces of the alloys are shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The normal interpretation of this type of fractographz is that, as a result of the difference between elastic and plastic properties of the matrix and the particles or other inhomogeneities in the alloy, microvoids are formed

Jan 1, 1969

By D. D. Button, L. D. Jaffee

INTEREST in the use of graphite as a high-temperature engineering structural material has recently increased markedly. However, actual use of this material has been limited, in part because information about its high-temperature mechanical properties has been lacking. The information needed includes not only reliable values for the properties, but also how to control these properties. Malmstrom, Keen, and Greenl have reported on the tensile and creep properties of some graphites above 2700° F (1500°C). They observed measurable creep under tensile loading at 4000 OF (2200 °C) and higher, with elongations of about 7 pct at 4500°F. Their typical elongation-vs-time curve showed the normal three stages of creep found for many metals at elevated temperatures. The specimens used were heated by passing an electric current through them. This method of heating caused a significant difference between the surface and axis temperatures, and may have affected the results. More recent work by kattus, in which the specfinens were also heated by their own resistance, showed very little plastic deformation for either slow or fast tensile testing or for creep testing. Work at this Laboratory, already reported,3 showed that for temperatures above 4500 "F and under conditions of slow tensile loading some commercial graphites exhibited elongations up to 20 pct. The work reported here is the continuation of a study of the tensile creep behavior of some commercially available synthetic graphites at temperatures up to 5300°F, and is preliminary to a more systematic investigation of the variables governing the high-temperature mechanical properties of graphite. MATERIALS TESTED The tests were conducted on six blocks from four lots of synthetic graphite bearing four different commercial-grade designations. These blocks were selected because their tensile stress—strain properties had been determined in previous work.3 Table I pre- sents the available information, supplied by the producers, on the processing of these materials. Also included in this Table are the densities and the tensile strengths at room temperature and 4500°F determined by the authors. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE The furnace used to heat the specimens for testing is shown in Fig. 1. The heating element was a graphite tube, 3-in. OD by 2 1/2 in. ID by 24 in. length. A spiral was cut into the 6-in. center portion of this tube to provide a high-resistance sec-

Jan 1, 1961

By Clare B. Carlson, C. P. Proctor

THE history of the froth flotation of coal is relatively short. The flotation process was applied to fine-coal cleaning about the time of the end of World War I. Coal flotation finds more widespread use in Europe than in the United States and is used on a commercial scale in nearly all major coal-producing countries in the world. In Fig. 1 the general arrangement of a froth-flotation plant at a British colliery is shown. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE PROCESS Application The flotation process is applicable to the cleaning of the fine sizes, particularly minus 48-mesh coal, although it may be used on sizes as coarse as % in. Since most cleaning processes usually are not effective on sizes smaller than 48-mesh and certainly not effective on minus 100¬mesh, the froth-flotation process offers a solution to the problem of cleaning these sizes. This process consists of agitating the feed pulp with a small amount of reagents, usually 1.0 to 91/ lb. per ton of feed in the presence of water and air; the reagents help to form small bubbles that collect on the particles having a greater affinity for the bubble surface than for the water surface, in this case the fine coal, and the bubbles buoy these particles to the surface to form the froth or concentrate. Slate and shale particles remain wetted and suspended in the water to be drawn off as tailing. The frothers commonly used in coal flotation are cresylic acid, pine oil, and alcohols. More expensive frothers, used in ore flotation, work satisfactorily but do not compare with these cheaper reagents for over-all cost. Collectors used are low-grade petroleum fractions, such as cheap, partly refined fuel oil, or lubricating oil, sometimes mixed with small amounts of kerosene. Other collectors used are the fatty acids and their

Jan 1, 1943

By Robert B. Paul

This paper describes the new lead smelter and refinery recently completed by the American Smelting and Refining company in Southeast Missouri.

Jan 1, 1970

By J. P. Newell, R. W Storey

This paper describes the development of a continuous float-and-sink process to produce coal low enough in ash content to be suitable for production of electrodes. The cleaned coal had a combined iron and silicon content of 0.239 pct. The efficiency of recovery was 84 pct. AUGER mining is a form of continuous mining in that it completely replaces with a one-cycle operation the older conventional cut, drill, shoot, and load method of mining. Relatively new, having been utilized only within the last few years, it is even more continuous in its production of coal than some other forms of continuous mining being practiced in this country today. There are at present coal recovery augers in operation working along strip-mined highwalls from the outside. This paper will deal with underground mining, specifically with an experiment which was carried out with a machine developed for this purpose. The location of this experiment was in Pike County in eastern Kentucky in the upper split of the No. 3 Elkhorn seam. Coal height was 32 in. and roof conditions were very bad, with 10 in. of soft draw slate coming down with every cut in conventional mining. The coal is high-grade bituminous, excellent for metallurgical coking. Underground auger mining fills a need for a method of recovering coal in thin seams, under bad roof conditions or in split seams. In many cases it might save money by eliminating the handling of excessive quantities of rock. In fact, if the coal can be recovered, as in the case of this experiment, without mixing with any impurities outside the seam, it may be possible to load or ship a satisfactory product with little or no preparation or cleaning expense. The need for some economical method for recovering coal from thin seams is becoming more pressing as the more profitably mined seams are exhausted. Basic Principles of Auger Mining The principles of the auger, or screw conveyor, have long been used in drilling small diameter holes for blasting and other purposes. These same fundamentals apply to large diameter drilling. However, considerably more attention was given to designing a cutting head that would not pulverize the coal and consequently would require a minimum of power to drive it. The head, as designed for this job, consists of a cylinder 25 in. in diam with steel bits set in 3 positions spaced around the forward rim. A conventional coal drill bit, at the head of a bursting cone in the center of the cylinder, trails the forward rim slightly, see Fig. 1. The bursting cone and auger connections are anchored to the cutter barrel by 3 arms spaced at 120". This head design proved to be very satis-

Jan 1, 1953

By J. P. Newell, R. W. Storey

This paper describes the development of a continuous float-and-sink process to produce coal low enough in ash content to be suitable for production of electrodes. The cleaned coal had a combined iron and silicon content of 0.239 pct. The efficiency of recovery was 84 pct. AUGER mining is a form of continuous mining in that it completely replaces with a one-cycle operation the older conventional cut, drill, shoot, and load method of mining. Relatively new, having been utilized only within the last few years, it is even more continuous in its production of coal than some other forms of continuous mining being practiced in this country today. There are at present coal recovery augers in operation working along strip-mined highwalls from the outside. This paper will deal with underground mining, specifically with an experiment which was carried out with a machine developed for this purpose. The location of this experiment was in Pike County in eastern Kentucky in the upper split of the No. 3 Elkhorn seam. Coal height was 32 in. and roof conditions were very bad, with 10 in. of soft draw slate coming down with every cut in conventional mining. The coal is high-grade bituminous, excellent for metallurgical coking. Underground auger mining fills a need for a method of recovering coal in thin seams, under bad roof conditions or in split seams. In many cases it might save money by eliminating the handling of excessive quantities of rock. In fact, if the coal can be recovered, as in the case of this experiment, without mixing with any impurities outside the seam, it may be possible to load or ship a satisfactory product with little or no preparation or cleaning expense. The need for some economical method for recovering coal from thin seams is becoming more pressing as the more profitably mined seams are exhausted. Basic Principles of Auger Mining The principles of the auger, or screw conveyor, have long been used in drilling small diameter holes for blasting and other purposes. These same fundamentals apply to large diameter drilling. However, considerably more attention was given to designing a cutting head that would not pulverize the coal and consequently would require a minimum of power to drive it. The head, as designed for this job, consists of a cylinder 25 in. in diam with steel bits set in 3 positions spaced around the forward rim. A conventional coal drill bit, at the head of a bursting cone in the center of the cylinder, trails the forward rim slightly, see Fig. 1. The bursting cone and auger connections are anchored to the cutter barrel by 3 arms spaced at 120". This head design proved to be very satis-

Jan 1, 1953

By Alfred F. Brainerd

There has been no enterprise undertaken in this and adjoining States which has attracted so much interest, or has been watched so closely as this, the first successful attempt to convert our ordinary high-phosphoric pig-iron into steel from native material. Our iron-masters have noticed intently every attempt to convert high-phosphorus pig-irons into steel by the Clapp-Grifith process in this country, and the basic process on the Continent, and studied the various patents aiming to accomplish the same purpose, and the various litigations arising among various patentees over their rival claitns; but up to August, 1887, nothing was done, and no move had been made to introduce any process for making steel. At the time above named, Mr. James Henderson, of New York, came to this place with a view of introducing his patent furnace and other metallurgical processes and appliances. After some delay and personal interviews between parties interested and the inventor, a party of gentlemen, all of moderate means, and entirely unacquainted with the manufacture of either steel or iron, decided to form themselves into a body corporate, known as the Henderson Steel and Manufacturing Company, with a capital stock of $20,000,

Jan 1, 1889

By T. W. Guy

DURING recent years, tremendous strides have been made in the economical use of coal. This has resulted in, and to some extent has been a result of, making the fuel specifications more and more rigid. For this reason, all producers have found it necessary to improve their preparation materially, both as to sizing and the elimination of impurities, either by more effective preparation underground or at the tipple and cleaning plant, or both. This cause and its effect in all producing fields seem likely to continue for several years-at least. The splendid inherent qualities of the Pocahontas and New River coals are known all over the world, but their good reputation is only partly due to inherent qualities, and to natural conditions which generally favor loading coal comparatively free from impurities; it is due in large measure to the care and skill used, either with or without the aid of mechanical devices, to ship products consistently low in ash. The first coal from the West Virginia smokeless fields was mined and shipped near Quinnimont, on New River, in 1871, while the first shipments from the Pocahontas field were in 1883. The development of both fields progressed rapidly. At first activities followed the main lines of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railroads, and were extended later as branch lines were built from these roads. The Virginian R. R., about 1907, opened up the Winding Gulf territory, which has since become a large producer of smokeless coals from the Pocahontas and the New River measures.

Jan 1, 1931

By C. F. de Mendonca, T. Kater, R. P. de Souza

Since 1976, Cia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) has carried out tests to develop a type of pellet made with an organic binder. Peridur is one binder that showed it could be used in industrial plants. Extensive tests were run in CVRD's pilot plant. The results are presented in this paper. The decision was made to carry out an industrial production of 50 ht (55,000 st) of pellets. The results are shown in this paper. No detrimental effects of the Peridur were observed in either the process or in product quality.

Jan 1, 1985

Jan 1, 1920

By W. Rostoker, S. A. Spachner

STUDIES of precipitation phenomena by use of X-ray diffraction effects have shown that atoms of the precipitating phase initially form lattices of limited periodicity in two or three dimensions.1, 2 Such diffraction effects are usually plotted in reciprocal space to facilitate identification. Atomic chains, or gratings possessing unlimited periodicity in only one dimension, cause uniform intensity planes in reciprocal space. Platelets, or gratings possessing unlimited periodicity in two dimensions, cause uniform intensity rods in reciprocal space. Such studies have been accomplished by use of white radiation (Laue technique) or characteristic or monochromatic radiation used with rotating single crystal or Weissenberg cameras. Each one of these techniques have associated drawbacks. If the Lque or rotating single-crystal technique is used, the results which are obtained may be ambiguous.3 Diffraction photograms made with a WeisSenberg camera do provide a direct but distorted representation of the variation of diffracted

Jan 1, 1960

By Peretti, E. A.

Since its development about forty years ago by J. V. N. Dorr (Cyanidation and Concentration of Gold and Silver Ores, McGraw Hill Book Co., 1936, 1-5), and others, continuous countercurrent decantation has not only become one of the standard methods for extracting gold and silver from their ores, but has also found wide application in other metallurgical and chemical industries. In 1917 L. B. Eames published an excellent paper (Countercurrent Decantation, Trans AIME, 1917, 57, 143- 158), in which he determined the effects of grade of ore, ratio of solution precipitated to ore treated, variations in the density of the thickener spigot discharge and variations in the value of the barren solution upon the gold assay of the solutions discharged from the thickeners in the system. Eames showed that, other things being equal, the dissolved gold lost in the tailing varies directly as the value of the ore and as the value of the barren solution. The tailing loss de- creases rapidly as the ratio of solution precipitated to ore treated is increased to about three or four to one. Beyond this point the improvement is negligible.

Jan 1, 1949

By William P. Blake

Eureka has for several years past been known as one of the most important centres of production of argentiferous lead in the country. The average daily yield is now one hundred tons of lead bars, in which the silver and gold of the ore is concentrated. The value of this lead, called " bullion," is about $300 per ton. To produce this quantity of metal, about four times the weight of ore, or say four hundred tons, is required. Most of this ore is supplied by the two leading mines of the district, the " Eureka" and the " Richmond," adjoining claims on Ruby Hill, about two miles from Eureka. There are, however, many other mines from which considerable quan-

Jan 1, 1879

By William P. Blake

(Read at the Amenia Meeting, October, 1877.) EUREKA has for several years past been known as one of the most important centres of production of argentiferous lead in the country. The average daily yield is now one hundred tons of lead bars, in which the silver and gold of the ore is concentrated. The value of this lead, called "bullion," is about $300 per ton. To produce this quantity of metal, about four times the weight of ore, or say four hundred tons, is required. Most of this ore is supplied by the two leading mines of the district, the "Eureka" and the "Richmond," adjoining claims on Ruby Hill, about two miles from Eureka. There are, however, many other mines from which considerable quan-

Jan 1, 1878