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G. M. TAYLOR,* Colorado Springs, Co1o.-I do not think the plan outlined in this paper would work at Cripple Creek. Most of our men have had a pretty good education. The Cripple Creek district is a lessee district-I do not think there is one mine operating in Cripple Creek to-day that does not have the leasing system. We have as many men leasing on our property as we have mining and every plan who is working for wages is looking for n lease-everyman has mined for him- self, he has been his on7n boss on n lease, either on our own property or

Jan 1, 1919

By J. J. Rutledge

FULLY 60 per cent of the serious and fatal accidents in Maryland coal mines are due to falls of roof and side. Usually, the victim of the fall sustains a broken back, sometimes not only the vertebrae being fractured but the spinal cord also being severed. When the spinal cord has not been severed and yet the vertebrae have been broken or injured, it is often possible to rehabilitate the victim of the broken back. - Such accidents are classed as Permanent Total and the victim receives a certain compensation from the State Industrial Accident Commission; sometimes the amount is awarded in a lump sum, but usually it is paid weekly. When the amount allotted to the victim of such an accident has been expended, either in a lump sum or weekly payments, the victim of the accident is dependent on public charity. Some efforts have been made to physically rehabilitate the victims and make them at least partly self-supporting before the expiration of their compensation payments. The State Industrial Accident Com-mission has done some of this rehabilitation. The Maryland Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with R. C. Thompson, Supervisor of Vocational Rehabilitation, State Department of Education, and his assistants, has, through an informal cooperative arrangement, placed several of the victims in hospitals in Baltimore for treatment. Six years ago, through the efforts of the Maryland Bureau of Mines, a dozen or more broken-back victims were examined by an orthopedic surgeon and report was made to the Bureau regarding such cases and the possibility of their rehabilitation. This paper details the result of such examinations.

Jan 1, 1936

By T. W. Guy

The increased moisture due to water-spraying for coal dust control is of interest even for mines from which the coal is to be wet-washed before screening, because in many cases wet coal dust materially de- 20-mesh X 0 sizes as pct ROM average ............................... 6.3 pct Range 2.3 to 9.5 pct 20-mesh X 0 sizes as pct 3/8 X 0 sizes average........'...................... 18.9 pct Range 12.7. to 23.9 pct creases the loading efficiency of men and equipment at the faces. It also causes a serious increase in the normal wear and deterioration of all equipment with which it comes in contact. It is important to the consumer if it increases his as-received moisture. No attempt will be made in this paper to cover the entire subject of water-spraying of coal for dust control. It will be confined to discussion and data on (I) percentages of dust in bituminous coals, (2) moisture increases due to spraying for dust control in mines or plants by methods which have proved satisfactory for periods of one to five or more years, and (3) a few suggestions for research. Size and Percentage or Coal Dust The U. S. Bureau of Mines1 classifies as coal dust all bituminous coal passing a 20-mesh sieve (0.0328 in. square opening). The percentage of such dust to be found in ROM coal, of course, varies widely with the characteristics of the seam, and with the methods used in the mining and in the preparation of the coal. ROM screen analyses of 12 U. S. coals selected at random from personal files given in Table I show: A few other screen analyses examined indicating 40 pct or more of 20-mesh X 0 dust in 3/8 in. X 0 sizes were not included because of uncertainty that they were representative. The number of results in Table I is not sufficient to give a reliable estimate of the average, or of the range to be expected, but it indicates that in every case the coal dust is a relatively large percentage of the total ROM coal, and, of course, a progressively larger percentage of resultants as the larger sizes are separated for marketing.

Jan 1, 1949

By Louis D. Huntoon

After the completion, in 1905, of the Hammond Mining and Metallurgical Laboratory of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, it became necessary to secure and assay a large assortment of ore-samples, and to arrange the results in such a manner as to admit of use with the least amount of work on the part of the instructor. At first, pulp-samples, together with their respective assays, were secured from the mines, smelters, and public aesayers, but this practice did not prove satisfactory. It was not only difficult to secure a suffciently large supply of material, but it was also impossible to secure the proper assortment required for instructing students. It involved considerable work for the donors to select the samples and furnish a record of the assays, and also for the instructors to examine each pulp and determine its character. Some of the samples did not contain a sufficient quantity of pulp for the student to check his work in case his first assay did not correspond to the record. In order to increase the number of samples and to vary the character of the material, pulp-samples were later mixed with barren rock and with sulphides, but this method also was unsatisfactory and has been discontinued. At present, small lots of ore are secured by gift or purchase from engineers, public assayers, and the managers of mines, mills, and smelters. These lots weigh from 10 to 100 lb. each, and are rarely finer than 0.25 in. in size. The larger samples permit of a careful study by the instructor in order to determine the best method of assaying to be followed. In universities in which assaying is taught the record of the samples should fulfill the following requirements:

Jan 1, 1910

By H. F. Yancey, O. L. Furse

Although usually coal is screened with punched plate screens having round-hole perforations, there has been an increasing use of wire-cloth screens with square apertures, especially at pneumatic coal-cleaning plants and at other plants that use vibrating screens. It is therefore desirable to establish a relationship between round-hole and square-hole screens for use not only in experimental investigations of coal-preparation problems, but also for use in commercial operations. This need is apparent whenever it is necessary to substitute wire cloth for punched plate and still retain the familiar trade-size product. Although similar work probably has been done by industrial organizations concerned with the screen sizing of coal, the only recorded study of the subject other than the one described herein of which the authors are aware is that of Roesler,1 who screen-sized two samples of limestone and two of zinc concentrates crushed to pass 1/2 in. with a set of square and round-hole screens and found the ratio to be 1:1.23. Procedure In the course of a study of various methods for determining the friability of coal,2 it was necessary to screen-size the products of a series of friability tests of three different coals with both round-hole and square-hole screens. The coals used were from the Roslyn No. 3 and the Bayne mines in Washington and the Rolapp mine in Utah. Twenty 25-lb. samples of each of these three coals at 3 to 2 1/2 in. round-hole size were dropped from a height of 10 ft. to a concrete floor, and then screened with

Jan 1, 1934

By H. E. Hostetter

Grossmann's method1 for calculating the hardenability of steel from the composition and grain size has gained wide acceptance, and when properly used, has been well proved in practical application, both for estimating the hardenability of known compositions and for selecting compositions to meet known hardenability requirements. The Grossmann method uses as the criterion of hardenadility the "ideal critical diameter," DI, which is the' size round that will just harden to a structure of 50 per cent martensite at the center when given the theoretically fastest quench, or "ideal quench." The DI can be related to actual quenching practice if the severity of quench is known; or the DI can be correlated with hardenability as determined by the Jominy end-quench method.2 The effect on hardenability of each element present in a steel can be represented by a multiplying factor, the value of which depends on the amount of the element present and the degree of effectiveness of the particular element. (The value of the factor for a given carbon content varies with the grain size.) When the factors for all elements present in a steel have been determined from charts, they are multiplied, and the resultant product is the DI of the steel. The validity of Grossmann's scheme of multiplying factors has been confirmed in a number of other investigations.3-6 It can be appreciated that a certain desired level of hardenability can be obtained by adding chromium, molybdenum, nickel and vanadium to a base composition containing carbon, manganese, silicon and the usual impurities. Many of the ranges of hardenability used commercially can be obtained by any of the foregoing alloying elements used singly in the base composition. The same hardenability levels also can be obtained through use of any of a great number of multiple element combinations of these alloying elements. In this report a method will be presented for determining what one combination is the most efficient (based on hardenability and cost of added alloy) for a given level of hardenability. It should not be assumed from the emphasis given to hardenability, that hardenability is the only criterion for the selection of an alloy composition. Such properties as the hot-working characteristics, machinability, carburizing characteristics, amount of distortion during quenching and the retention of austenite may be considerations of importance in many applications. However, hardenability is one of the most important properties of an alloy steel and one that must be considered in almost all cases involving heat-treatment by quenching. Therefore, a method for determining the lowest-cost alloy combination should be of considerable value. Determination of Most Efficient Combinations For comparing the alloying elements on standards of cost and hardenability, it

Jan 1, 1947

By H. E. Hostetter

Grossmann's method1 for calculating the hardenability of steel from the composition and grain size has gained wide acceptance, and when properly used, has been well proved in practical application, both for estimating the hardenability of known compositions and for selecting compositions to meet known hardenability requirements. The Grossmann method uses as the criterion of hardenadility the "ideal critical diameter," DI, which is the' size round that will just harden to a structure of 50 per cent martensite at the center when given the theoretically fastest quench, or "ideal quench." The DI can be related to actual quenching practice if the severity of quench is known; or the DI can be correlated with hardenability as determined by the Jominy end-quench method.2 The effect on hardenability of each element present in a steel can be represented by a multiplying factor, the value of which depends on the amount of the element present and the degree of effectiveness of the particular element. (The value of the factor for a given carbon content varies with the grain size.) When the factors for all elements present in a steel have been determined from charts, they are multiplied, and the resultant product is the DI of the steel. The validity of Grossmann's scheme of multiplying factors has been confirmed in a number of other investigations.3-6 It can be appreciated that a certain desired level of hardenability can be obtained by adding chromium, molybdenum, nickel and vanadium to a base composition containing carbon, manganese, silicon and the usual impurities. Many of the ranges of hardenability used commercially can be obtained by any of the foregoing alloying elements used singly in the base composition. The same hardenability levels also can be obtained through use of any of a great number of multiple element combinations of these alloying elements. In this report a method will be presented for determining what one combination is the most efficient (based on hardenability and cost of added alloy) for a given level of hardenability. It should not be assumed from the emphasis given to hardenability, that hardenability is the only criterion for the selection of an alloy composition. Such properties as the hot-working characteristics, machinability, carburizing characteristics, amount of distortion during quenching and the retention of austenite may be considerations of importance in many applications. However, hardenability is one of the most important properties of an alloy steel and one that must be considered in almost all cases involving heat-treatment by quenching. Therefore, a method for determining the lowest-cost alloy combination should be of considerable value. Determination of Most Efficient Combinations For comparing the alloying elements on standards of cost and hardenability, it

Jan 1, 1947

By J. Walter Snavely

PRESENT-DAY processing in many industries, calcining, sintering, briquetting, beneficiation and nodulizing, increasingly calls for the handling of large volumes of hot bulk materials. Various types of conveyors have been employed. This discussion will cover the factors governing their selection. For temperature ranges up to 400°F, or approximately 200°C, a wide range of conveyors is available. Special constructions of rubber conveyor belts. steel conveyor belts, vibrating and shaker conveyors, apron conveyors, and drag chain conveyors, all are used successfully. As temperatures go well above 400°F, however, choice of conveyors is narrowly limited. This paper will consider the problem of handling bulk materials only where the temperatures exceed 400°F.

Jan 5, 1953

By Fred C. Bond

THEM is acute need for a method that will measure the size distribution of finely divided materials, particularly when the particle sizes are smaller than the openings of the finest screen cloth regularly available for testing. Several methods and types of apparatus are in common use, but none are entirely satisfactory for all purposes. The commonest methods are microscopic grain counts, elutriation by liquids or air, and sedimentation. Valuable results have been secured by air elutriating devices, typified by the Haultain Infra-Sizer and the Pearson Air Analyzer. These are especially useful in obtaining sized fractions that can be examined and analyzed separately. They are particularly advantageous because the sizes of the samples produced are adequate for a considerable amount of subsequent manipulation and testing. The sedimentation methods, such as the Wagner and Klein turbidimeters, and the sedimentation balance, do not deliver sized fractions, but they do provide a means for reasonably rapid comparative determinations of fineness and surface area, which are important in many industries. The sedimentation balance consists essentially of a balance pan suspended in a liquid that contains falling particles. These are weighed as they settle onto the pan, and the time rate of settling is determined. The size distribution is computed from the settling rate. The balance appears to be inherently more accurate than any of the other methods, and it has served a useful purpose in the study of numerous problems, but there have been limitations which have restricted its scope of application. Because of the essential simplicity of the method, it was felt that intensive investigation might lead to modifications that would make it a valuable tool for the operators in industries that require precise information regarding the results secured from grinding equipment. A large number of size-distribution determinations below 200 mesh were required in connection with a particular research problem in fine grinding. The sedimentation balance was used in this investigation, and a technique was gradually developed that ultimately gave good results. A serious difficulty appeared early in the work. It was discovered that less material always settled on the sedimentation pan and more on the bottom of the containing jar than could be accounted for by calculation, and also that the material that settled to the bottom of the jar outside the edges of the pan was considerably finer than that on the pan. This segregation was so great that the distribution obtained for the finer sizes was obviously very much in error; material ground to about the degree of comminution of cement might have only 60 per cent of the calculated weight actually settling on the pan, and the error increased with the fine-

Jan 1, 1939

By C. D. Hall

This paper may be divided into two main parts: (1) analysis and data to show that Eq. 6 adequately correlates the authors' experimental data, and (2) the assertion that Eq. 20 "should permit scale-up with data taken from one pipe diameter for Newtonian, inelastic non-Newtonian, and viscoelastic fluids, such as dilute polymer fracturing fluids, which produce considerable pressure reductions." The authors might well recommend that this broad grouping of fluid types could be correlated by using Eq. 6 (requiring data from at least two pipe diameters). On the other hand, Eq. 20 is only shown to be adequate for conditions within the range of the present data set. Specifically, predictions by Eq. 20 for diameter scale-up to casing sizes would give larger deviations than implied in Table 2, and scale-up for some other fluids that give large drag reduction could be grossly in error. The description of a class of fluids "which produce a diameter family of straight parallel lines on a log (d?p/4L) vs log (8 v/d) plot. . ." defines a necessary condition for using Eq. 6; i.e., that s shall be constant for each fluid. The proposal that Eq. 20 is applicable to turbulent flow of such fluids is equivalent to saying that the spacing of these parallel lines, with A being constant, will be found to correspond to m = -1.20 for all such fluids. Table 1 shows the values of m derived from data on 16 non-Newtonian fluids. The key statement of this paper is that the diameter exponents "do not vary significantly from . . . -1.20." In statistical terms, this says that the m value for each fluid, which was obtained from all the measurements made on that fluid. has not been shown to be different from the arithmetic mean of the m values for the 16 fluids tested. This implies that the group mean, -1.20, is a more reliable value to use for an individual fluid than is the m value derived from the data on that fluid alone. No statistical test is described to support the key statement that the diameter exponents do not vary significantly from -1.20. Such a test would have to take into account that each individual m value is shown to correlate the pressure gradients for its fluid, with only about 3 percent standard deviation over the diameter range covered. That is, the m value is not the result of a single independent measurement. Thus, it would not be sufficient, or valid, to compare the deviation of one of the m values with the variance of the 16 values of m about their mean. An alternative interpretation of the key statement is that the diameter exponents do not vary appreciably from -1.20; i.e., that using -1.20 does not cause serious inaccuracy. Table 2 seems to be offered in support of such an assertion. However, such a statistical treatment (1) is unnecessary and (2) cannot lead to any valid scale-up generalization. The amount of error introduced by using a 1"wrong" value of diameter exponent — i.e., -1.20 instead of m — is determined by Eq. 6. The ratio of the pressures predicted by Eqs. 6 and 20 for scale-up from ds in small pipe to d, in casing is The pressure for 30-percent calcium carbonate slurry (m = -1.112) in 10-in. ID pipe would be predicted 30 percent higher by Eq. 6 than by Eq. 20, if based on tests in 0.5-in. ID pipe. The data set tested in Table 2 represents only a limited sample of pipe diameters (ratio of about 4:l) out of the population of diameters that would

Jan 1, 1970

By George H. K. Schenck

The greatest difficulty in choosing solutions to environmental problems ill a free market economy (such as ours) stems from two factors: adverse effects of pollution are largely external to the producer, and expenditures made that improve the environment result in benefits that are free to all, These two factors are sufficient to explain why the solution to many environmental problems is to be found in public action. Such action is most likely to be economic- ally efficient if it can be carried out so that industry retains the freedom to make decisions based on the free market. Two examples-a zoned discharge fee and innovation of recycling systems-illustrate the type of changes in the mineral industry that would lead to an improved environment. The first requires that ownership of the relevant public resources be vested in control agencies. The second indicates that profit opportunities existing in solid waste recycling should facilitate innovation. Both concepts can reduce environmental loadings but will require imaginative thought from persons in the mineral industries.

Jan 1, 1971

By Lester Guttman

THE connection between short-range order and thermodynamic activities in binary solid solutions has been pointed out by Birchenall1 who calculated approximate values of the energy of interaction of Zn and Cu and of the degree of short-range order in alpha-brass at one composition and two temperatures. The purpose of this note is to call attention to a somewhat more accurate theory than that used by Birchenall and to extend the calculations to a wider range of temperatures and compositions as a means of testing its applicability. This is an example of the well-known general method of comparing measured thermo-dynamic functions of a system with those calculated from a microscopic model by means of statistical mechanics. In this case, mathematical approximations must be used which make difficult any decision about the validity of the model. Birchenall's statistical method resembles closely that called by Fowler and Guggenheim2 the "quasi-chemical" method which has been shown to lead in certain cases to results identical with those obtained by the method of Bethe.3 The quasi-chemical method has been extended by Takagi4 to give general formulae for the free energy of binary solid solutions based on several lattices at all compositions and temperatures. Specifically, he treats the four systems typified by: I. ß-brass; 2. a- brass; 3. AuCu3; 4. AuCu. When the temperature is so high that no long-range order exists, these formulae reduce to the same form for all lattice types, namely: [ ] Here the symbols have the following meanings: [F-Helmholtz free energy E-energy S-entropy k-the gas constant per molecule z-coordination number, (e.g. 12 in. a-brass). N-total number of atoms c-atomic fraction of A] VAA, VBB, VAB-energy per bond of the corresponding bonds log means log, throughout The superscript 0 denotes the thermo- dynamic function in the standard state, which has been chosen to be pure A or B with the same crystal structure as the solid solution. The quantity x is the ratio of the number of A-A bonds to the total number and for minimum F satisfies the equilibrium condition [ ] The free energy may also be written in terms of µA and µB, the chemical potentials or partial free energies per atom:

Jan 1, 1948

By L. A. Dale, D. A. Dahlstrom

Closed-water circuits are justified today from two standpoints: economical operation and prevention of stream pollution. In today's modern preparation plant, it has been found very desirable to have the plant circulating water maintained at a relatively low solids concentration of around 3%. In so doing, bene-ficiation equipment can operate at a much higher efficiency. However, makeup water requirements would become excessive if the fines were to be removed from the preparation plant by bleeding a 3% solids concentration to a tailings pond. With the ever increasing percentage of —200 mesh coal, clay and slimes in the raw coal, coupled with the creation of these fines within the preparation plant, the need for water conservation for economy reasons becomes even more important. Because of stream pollution laws, tailings ponds have become very costly to operate and maintain, resulting in the necessity of employing an in-plant method of water recovery. Accordingly, the primary system employed in water recovery in the coal preparation plant today consists of a solids concentration device to thicken refuse solids while at the same time producing a sufficiently clarified effluent that can go back to the preparation plant for water reuse. The thickened product is then normally passed to a dewatering device that will produce a handleable solid that can be disposed of

Jan 1, 1965

By T. R. Cass

THE renewed interest in titanium, resulting from its increasing application as a structural material, has stimulated basic deformation studies on this metal. In the course of our work, we have developed a dislocation etchant and applied it to a perfection study of melt-grown single crystals as well as to a preliminary investigation of plastic deformation in titanium. The etchant, Keller's etch (21 cu cm HF, 64 cu cm HC1, 106 cu cm HNO3, and 160 cu cm H20), reveals the emergence of both grown-in and fresh dislocations on pure titanium and a-phase Ti-Al single crystals. Pits are produced only on surfaces within a few degrees of the basal plane; the more exactly parallel to a basal plane the surface is, the more distinct are the pits. The observed pit density, however, does not appear to depend on the surface orientation; the pits simul- taneously become less distinct as the misorientation from a basal plane increases. Etch times are short, a few seconds, for pure titanium; longer times are necessary for alloy crystals.

Jan 1, 1968

By H. I-Lieh Huang, O. D. Sherby, J. E. Dorn

RECENT investigations1-4 have suggested that the total plastic strain, C, for high temperature creep under a given stress can be correlated by means of a temperature-compensated time, te- where t is the duration of test, e is the base of natural logarithms, aH is the activation energy for creep, R is the gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature. A typical set of data on which this deduction was based is given in Fig. la. Inasmuch as the e-in t curves for the various temperatures are identical except for their displacement along the In t axis where f and are appropriate functions. If the increase in creep rate with an increase in temperature is exclusively ascribable to a single process involv- ing thermal activation, (T) should equal RT and therefore it = constant [2] where ?= te Assuming the validity of this relationship, ? = ?2 at the same strain, or where the subscripts refer to two alternate test conditions.

Jan 1, 1957

By Lincoln F. Elkins, John T. Cooke

Injection of gas to increase oil recovery has been considered for almost all important discoveries during the past ten or fifteen years. However, the number of gas injection projects having sufficient history and data is too limited to permit valid generalities of effectiveness of gas injection. Management and engineers are faced with a difficult problem of selecting those reservoirs which are susceptible to profitable application of gas injection. Injection of gas to maintain high pressure favors some factors affecting reservoir performance such as viscosity, surface tension, and formation volume factor of oil by keeping gas in solution and favors some operating features such as extending flowing life of wells and storing part of the produced gas for future use or sales. Injection of gas at low pressure involves lower compression ratio, or at least a single gas-gathering system, larger displacement volume in the reservoir per unit of gas handled, and permits effective utilization of the naturally existing energy and agent for oil displacement that is gas dissolved in oil. Each program is thus a compromise to meet optimum economic conditions while striving to attain maximum recovery of this important nautral resource. The statement has often been made that pressure maintenance would greatly increase oil recovery by permitting abandonment of formation oil inflated with gas in solution rather than abandonment of the same liquid volume of tank oil, if the same terminal oil saturation could be attained. Simple calculations indicate increases in oil recov- ery as high as one hundred per cent on this basis for high formation volume factor oil encountered in current deep drilling. Important in this statement is "if the same terminal oil saturation could be attained." Implicit in this statement are the requirement of physical

Jan 1, 1949

By John T. Cooke, Lincoln F. Elkins

Injection of gas to increase oil recovery has been considered for almost all important discoveries during the past ten or fifteen years. However, the number of gas injection projects having sufficient history and data is too limited to permit valid generalities of effectiveness of gas injection. Management and engineers are faced with a difficult problem of selecting those reservoirs which are susceptible to profitable application of gas injection. Injection of gas to maintain high pressure favors some factors affecting reservoir performance such as viscosity, surface tension, and formation volume factor of oil by keeping gas in solution and favors some operating features such as extending flowing life of wells and storing part of the produced gas for future use or sales. Injection of gas at low pressure involves lower compression ratio, or at least a single gas-gathering system, larger displacement volume in the reservoir per unit of gas handled, and permits effective utilization of the naturally existing energy and agent for oil displacement that is gas dissolved in oil. Each program is thus a compromise to meet optimum economic conditions while striving to attain maximum recovery of this important nautral resource. The statement has often been made that pressure maintenance would greatly increase oil recovery by permitting abandonment of formation oil inflated with gas in solution rather than abandonment of the same liquid volume of tank oil, if the same terminal oil saturation could be attained. Simple calculations indicate increases in oil recov- ery as high as one hundred per cent on this basis for high formation volume factor oil encountered in current deep drilling. Important in this statement is "if the same terminal oil saturation could be attained." Implicit in this statement are the requirement of physical

Jan 1, 1949

By C. M. Brown

Selection criteria for the instrumentation employed in semi-autogenous grinding circuits are reviewed. Instruments in use for grinding mill and related process equipment start- up, shutdown, protection, monitoring, control, and performance reporting functions are discussed with examples given of current industry practice. The quantity and type of instrumentation used vary from operation to operation, but today many semi- autogenous circuits are highly instrumentated, and employ automatic process control for both circuit stabilization and optimization of economic performance. Examples of analog and digital based control systems exist, and are described.

Jan 1, 1982

By Pei-Yung Huang, Carle R. Hayward

IN order to understand more fully the actual state of copper lost in copper reverberatory slags, a systematic study on the various reactions between certain metallurgically important copper compounds and synthetic copper reverberatory slags was undertaken by the authors in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1942 to 1945.1 This paper, being only a part of the work completed, is published first because it furnishes the first experimental evidence of the formation of copper ferrite from reactions between cuprous oxide and copper reverberatory slags. CHOICE OF SLAG COMPOSITION The choice of the composition of the synthetic reverberatory slags to be used was much deliberated. Commercial copper reverberatory slags, neglecting minor constituents, average:2.3 45 to 47 pct FeO; 38 to 42 pct Si02; 5 to 6 pct CaO; 5 to 6 pct A1203. Since the ternary system CaO-FeO-SiO2 has been much more thoroughly studied4 and is much simpler than the quaternary system CaO-FeO-Si02-A1203, it was decided to use calcium oxide only instead of calcium oxide and alumina in the synthesis of the slags. Fortunately the composition of the average copper reverberatory slag with calcium oxide substituted for alumina lies in the region of the phase diagram clarified by the investigators. A survey of the phase diagram (Fig I) suggested two compositions: (I) the com¬position near the invariant point S, which is made up of 46 pct ferrous oxide, 37 pct silica and 17 pct calcium oxide; (2) the composition near the invariant point K with 45.5 pct ferrous oxide, 43 pct silica and 11.5 pct calcium oxide. Composition S has the advantage that the percentages of ferrous oxide and of silica almost exactly coincide with those of the average reverberatory slags, and that of the lowest melting point (1093° ± 3°C) in the whole ternary system. The calcium oxide content, however, obviously is high. Since we have already substituted calcium oxide for alumina, and since calcium oxide is more basic than alumina, the resulting slag is decidedly too basic. Composition K has a slightly higher melting point (1105° ± 3°C) and a higher silica content, but this is preferred because the slag is saturated with respect to tridymite and thus should not corrode siliceous refractories. Besides, it is less basic than composition S. The final slag composition, therefore, was chosen to

Jan 1, 1947

By C. F. Frey, P. J. Ahern, J. F. Wallace

THE high affinity of molten titanium for oxygen and nitrogen has resulted in considerable difficulty in developing a satisfactory melting procedure. It has been found necessary to perform melting operations either in a vacuum or inert atmos-phere, and failure to obtain a satisfactory crucible material has necessitated the use of special melting techniques. These techniques have included cold-mold arc-melting utilizing both consumable and nonconsumable electrodes, skull-melting, drip-melting, and levitation melting.' It has been recognized generally that the melting of both titanium sponge and titanium scrap would be expedited by the use of induction-melting procedures but the lack of a crucible capable of containing molten titanium without objectionable contamination thus far has prevented the use of induction-melting procedures. An extensive investigation: which included the common refractory materials was not successful in developing a satisfactory crucible for induction-melting. Some success in induction-melting has been attained with the use of a graphite crucible material, but in all instances sufficient carbon contamination was encountered to cause an appreciable reduction in the optimum mechanical properties of the titanium or titanium alloys. These investigations"" report an increase in the carbon content from approximately 0.3 to 1.0 pct. A serious reduction in the tensile and forming properties has been observed as a result of this carbon contamination. The development of a satisfactory induction-melting procedure for titanium without undue contamination undoubtedly would have considerable economic significance. Such a process would be particularly useful in melting the large quantities of low-cost scrap now available that can only be reprocessed at considerable expense and difficulty by the more elaborate techniques referred to previously. In addition, the process could provide a satisfactory method of melting and alloying of bri-quetted sponge for forging ingots.

Jan 1, 1959