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By S. W. Parr

THE low-temperature carbonization of coal involves the carrying out of the coking process under conditions wherein neither the coal mass nor any of the passageways through which the volatile products pass are heated above 700° or 800° C. For convenience in this discussion, the single number 750° will be used to designate the maximum range. This temperature is not selected arbitrarily; it is the result of certain natural conditions that are inherent in the substances involved. Two of these conditions arc sufficiently pronounced to suggest a line of demarcation at this point as follows: (1) Below 750°, all the heavy hydrocarbons are expelled, which means that, at these lower temperatures, the illuminants, the gases of high calorific value, and the condensible oils are discharged; above 750°, there are given off the lean, non-illuminating gases consisting for the most part of hydrogen and marsh gas and having no condensible constituents present. (2) Below 750°, there is substantially no secondary decomposition; above 750°, the volatile products are readily decomposed, forming tars, naphthalene, free carbon, etc. It is not intended to maintain that no secondary decompositions occur below 750°. Many recent studies have demonstrated the practicability, especially in the presence of catalytic substances, of cracking certain of the hydrocarbon compounds; but at these lower temperatures the step is a moderate one, as, for example, from xylene to toluene or from toluene to an anthracene. These changes are moderate in amount. Not only do the reactions proceed slowly but they are subjected to the decomposing conditions for only a short time. This is evident when it is recalled that at these initial temperatures the decomposition, of the coal is very rapid and, if anywhere near a neutral pressure is maintained, the movement

Jan 2, 1920

1. Any society of undergraduates at a technical school, comprising students in any branch of engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, geology, etc., may be recognized by the Board of Directors in its discretion as an Affiliated Student Society, and its name, together with the names of its president and its secretary, may be published in Mining and Metallurgy or the Directory of the Institute. The members of such a society will not be named individually on the membership list of the Institute, but may at any time be proposed for election as Student Associates or Junior Members of the Institute, in the usual way. 2. Membership in an Affiliated Student Society, certified by the official representative thereof, and accompanied by suitable testimony as to character and qualifications, will have special weight with the Membership Committee of the Institute, in its consideration of the proposal of a candidate for membership. The Affiliated Student Societies receive the following privileges: 1. A copy of Mining and Metallurgy free; 2. The use of Employment Service; 3. The use of Mining and Metallurgy for publicity purposes, such as printing notices of their activities, etc.; 4. Assistance in obtaining speakers for their meetings, lists of moving-picture films, etc. To retain the privileges of the Affiliated Student Society, its officers must keep in touch with the Secretary of the Institute and advise him of its activities. The foregoing plan is not confined to students in mining engineering or metallurgy. Any undergraduate society of engineers may avail itself of the privileges offered. Societies desiring to be recognized as Affiliated Student Societies are requested to make application to the Secretary of the Institute, giving particulars as to the nature, membership and officers. The following list gives the names of the Affiliated Student Societies as of December 1, 1929, and their presidents and secretaries.

Jan 1, 1929

By S. R. Maloof

In 1945, Hollomon' showed that after plastic yielding and prior to necking under simple tension, both ferrous and nonferrous materials are approximated by an equation of the following form: where, a = true stress K = strength coefficient 5 = true strain n = strain hardening exponent If a material is stress free, a plot of log o vs log 6 would be expected to be a straight line, the slope of which is the strain-hardening exponent (n) and the intercept on the ordinate axis for 6 = 1. is the logarithm of the strength coefficient K. It can be easily shown that the strain-hardening exponent in the above equation is equal to the total uniform elongation prior to necking. Thus, one can determine the total uniform elongation prior to necking from such a plot and, as pointed out by C. W. MacGregor, 2 it is the amount of strain prior to necking which determines the extent to which a material may be deep drawn. In the view of the current interest in the fabrication of beryllium shapes, it was thought that a knowledge of the strain-hardening exponent of cross-rolled beryllium sheet would be of general interest. Load-strain data after yielding and prior to necking was taken from the work of Greenspan,3 converted to true stress and true-plastic strain, and plotted on log-log paper as shown in Fig. 1. The value of Young's modulus E for beryllium was taken as 43 . l06 psi. The slope of this plot gave a value of 0.212 for the strain-hardening exponent (n) and the intercept on the ordinate axis a value of 105,000 for K. The total uniform elongation is thus 21.2 pct, in excellent agreement with the value estimated by Greenspan (about 20 pct). Furthermore,

Jan 1, 1960

By Richard Pearce

IN looking around me for some subject on which to frame an address for this meeting, it has occurred to me that some results of observation and investigation, in regard to the varied conditions under which gold is found, may possibly prove of interest. The subject is one which frequently crops up in discussions at our meetings, but there is always an immense amount of uncertainty expressed as to the actual condition in which the gold exists in any particular ore. It follows, therefore, that any light which might be shed on this rather complex subject, would be of value to science and of service to mining and metallurgical practice. In some investigations which I have, from time to time, been led to make, for the purpose of determining to what extent an ore might be concentrated, I have been astonished at the very varied and apparently inexplicable results encountered, and have been naturally led to inquire into the causes for such seeming inconsistency. The mines of Gilpin county, Colorado, where gold was first discovered in that State, furnish an infinite variety of examples of its occurrence, and it was here that difficulties first presented themselves to the Colorado miners, in the sudden transition from what is called " free-milling gold-ore " to an ore characterized by properties which make the ordinary treatment by amalgamation stamp-mills utterly impracticable. So long as mining was limited to what might be called the zone of oxidation in the veins, just so long might amalgamation be conducted without difficulty; but directly the miner reached a point beyond the influence of the oxidizing power of the surface waters, the gold resisted all attempts at amalgamation, and recourse • was had to smelting.

Jan 1, 1890

By C. C. Henning

In any line of human activity logical handling requires an amount of attention to each phase that is in keeping with the importance of that phase. In the complex and rapidly changing field of modern ferrous metallurgy it is difficult to allot the proper degree of attention to the various subjects, and it is not surprising that one or more subjects of major importance should for a time be neglected. Bessemer steel is a good example of a neglected subject. It is largely taken for granted, inferior physical quality is assumed for it, and there is a • lack of interest in its technical development and commercial application. Availability of supply is limited. In spite of this technical indifference, limited source and lack of commercial exploitation, bessemer steel constitutes a large volume of tonnage in daily use. There is a fairly prevalent idea even among technical people that bessemer steel survives mostly because of low cost and by reason of a dwindling residue of applications sufficiently common to permit of its use. The difference in cost between bessemer and open-hearth steel is governed largely by the relative cost of manufacture of pig iron and the market price of steel scrap. During the past four years there have been long periods of time during which the price of steel scrap was low enough so that open-hearth steel was considerably lower in manufacturing cost than bessemer. As to application, it may be pointed out that thousands of tons of this material in the form of bessemer screw steel are applied for moving parts in automotive and other equipment. Some forging work and considerable heat-treating, particularly carburizing, is performed on this grade. From an economic standpoint the most effective contribution of bessemer steel lies in its free machining qualities. It is by far the freest

Jan 1, 1935

By C. C. Henning

IN any line of human activity logical handling requires an amount of attention to each phase that is in keeping with the importance of that phase. In the complex and rapidly changing field of modern ferrous metallurgy it is difficult to allot the proper degree of attention to the various subjects, and it is not surprising that one or more subjects of major importance should for a time be neglected. Bessemer steel is a good example of a neglected subject. It is largely taken for granted, inferior physical quality is assumed for it, and there is a lack of interest in its technical development and commercial application. Availability of supply is limited. In spite of this technical indifference, limited source and lack of commercial exploitation, bessemer steel constitutes a large volume of tonnage in daily use. There is a fairly prevalent idea even among technical people that bessemer steel survives mostly because of low cost and by reason of a dwindling residue of applications sufficiently common to permit of its use. The difference in cost between bessemer and open-hearth steel is governed largely by the relative cost of manufacture of pig iron and the market price of steel scrap. During the past four years there have been long periods of time during which the price of steel scrap was low enough so that open-hearth steel was considerably lower in manufacturing cost than bessemer. As to application, it may be pointed out that thousands of tons of this material in the form of bessemer screw steel are applied for moving parts in automotive and other equipment, Some forging work and considerable heat treating, particularly carburizing, is performed on this grade. From an economic standpoint the most effective contribution of bessemer steel lies in its free machining qualities. It is by far the freest

Jan 1, 1935

By C. C. Henning

In any line of human activity logical handling requires an amount of attention to each phase that is in keeping with the importance of that phase. In the complex and rapidly changing field of modern ferrous metallurgy it is difficult to allot the proper degree of attention to the various subjects, and it is not surprising that one or more subjects of major importance should for a time be neglected. Bessemer steel is a good example of a neglected subject. It is largely taken for granted, inferior physical quality is assumed for it, and there is a • lack of interest in its technical development and commercial application. Availability of supply is limited. In spite of this technical indifference, limited source and lack of commercial exploitation, bessemer steel constitutes a large volume of tonnage in daily use. There is a fairly prevalent idea even among technical people that bessemer steel survives mostly because of low cost and by reason of a dwindling residue of applications sufficiently common to permit of its use. The difference in cost between bessemer and open-hearth steel is governed largely by the relative cost of manufacture of pig iron and the market price of steel scrap. During the past four years there have been long periods of time during which the price of steel scrap was low enough so that open-hearth steel was considerably lower in manufacturing cost than bessemer. As to application, it may be pointed out that thousands of tons of this material in the form of bessemer screw steel are applied for moving parts in automotive and other equipment. Some forging work and considerable heat-treating, particularly carburizing, is performed on this grade. From an economic standpoint the most effective contribution of bessemer steel lies in its free machining qualities. It is by far the freest

Jan 1, 1935

By R. A. Sharma, F. D. Richardson

Manganese oxide acitivities and sulfide capacities have been measured at 1650°C in mixtures of MnO + A1203 and MnO + SiO2 - Al2O3. Sulfide capacities have also been measured at 165O0C for melts of MnO + SiO2, MgO + SiO2, MgO + SiO2 + Al2O3, MgO + MnO + SiO2, and SiO2 + Al2O3 and for crystalline CaO. The activity coefficients of the sulfides of manganese and magnesium have been derived where possible. It looks as though the activity coefficients of sulfides are greatest at compositions where the free energies of formation of the silicate mixtures have their maximum negative values. The amphoteric nature of alumina is reflected in the results for the binaries and ternaries in which it is present with silica. The limiting solubility of CaS in CaO at 1650°C is 6.3 x 10-4 mole fraction. THE activities of manganese oxide have been measured in a variety of silicate and aluminate melts by use of the equilibrium (MnO)slag = [Mn]pt .½O2 [l] and the experimental techniques described previously.' Sulfide capacities (CS = wt pct S (PO2/PS2)½) have also been determined in a series of melts, by use of an established method2 which exploits the equilibrium (O°) + ½S2 = (S") . ½O2 [2] If CS and the activity of a metal oxide are known in a melt, the activity coefficient of the metal sulfide can be calculated by use of the equilibrium constant K, for the pure phase reaction MO i ½S2 = MS + ½O2 [3] The activity coefficient of the sulfide is then given by the equation

Jan 1, 1965

By John Chipman

Published data on the equilibria of carbon in binary Fe-C austenite with H2-CH4 and CO2-CO gas mixtures are used to obtain the constants of an equation repre -senting the activity coefficient of carbon throughout the stable austenite range of temperatutre mid compositiotl. Calculated values for the solubility of graphite are found to be in agreement with the best-published direct observations. Its heat of solution is 10,680 calper g-atom. The free energy of formation of cementite is culculated from the equilibrium compositions of austenite and of gas. Its entropy and heat of formation are also obtained. BASIC knowledge of the high-temperature properties and treatment of steels is contained in the Fe-C diagram and its extensions for the effects of alloying elements. The application of thermodynamics to the Fe-C system, with addition of alloying elements, can serve to simplify and systematize this knowledge. The points of beginning are the binary fee solution, austenite, concerning which our information is reasonably complete, and the binary carbide, cementite. Further studies must include the other phases of the binary system, a and liquid, and for these an accurate knowledge of the ? phase boundaries is essential. These studies should provide a firm base for systematic study of the effects of alloying elements on all phases of the system, their transformations, and precipitation phenomena. With the aid of the simplifying thermodynamic concepts of activity coefficients and interaction parameters it is to be hoped that the results of these studies will be amenable to computer solution thus making the information on multicomponent systems more readily available than would be possible in multidimensional diagrams. Studies of the thermodynamic properties of austenite have utilized equilibrium measurements on the reactions:

Jan 1, 1968

Organization Place Date 1915 American Institute of Architects Washington, D. C. April American Iron and Steel Institute New York, N. Y. May American Society for Testing Materials Atlantic City. N. J. June 25-28 New York Electrical Society New York, N. Y. June National Association of Stationary Engineers Cincinnati, 0. Sept. 9-13 National Exposition of Chemical Industries New York, N. Y. Sept. 23-28 American Chemical Society Cleveland, 0. Sept. National Petroleum Association Atlantic City, N. J. Sept.

Jan 3, 1918

By Susasn Leiter

THAT oxygen in copper has been a source of trouble is well known and that that trouble has been real in the commercial world has been shown by Fuller.1 Moore and Beckinsale's paper2 at the annual meeting of the Institute of Metals in London, 1921, called forth considerable discussion. Prof. T. Turner expressed the opinion that it was not necessary to have cuprous oxide present in sufficiently large quantities to form either globules or seams in order to produce a bad effect if the copper were gassed. This brought up the question of the solubility of oxygen in copper and the authors desired to know whether there were any evidence of such solubility, because their experience was that whenever there was any oxygen in copper it was present in the form of free cuprous oxide, .which was practically always in the form of globules. Later Hanson, Marryat, and Ford3 stated that for all practical purposes cuprous oxide may be regarded as insoluble in copper. However, they found particles of the eutectic to coalesce to form much larger particles. They suggested that cuprous oxide was actually slightly soluble in copper, for it was diffi-cult otherwise to understand the mechanism by which such coalescence could take place. W. E. Ruder, in discussing that paper, said that his experiments had led him to conclude that a slight solubility must exist to allow for the ready coalescence of oxide particles, but conductivity tests convinced him that that solubility was very small. Nevertheless, there appeared to be a state of admixture of oxide with copper that closely resembled a colloidal mixture which at first was mistaken for a true solution and which usually existed at the grain boundaries.

Jan 2, 1926

W. 0. HOTCHKISS, * Madison, Wis.-It was fortunate, in a way, that this subject of income taxation came up during the war when the government could appeal, on the basis of patriotism, to men of large, business experience to undertake the work of formulating this matter and practically donate their services. At any other time the government would have been unable to secure the necessary number of men of like ability. There is one thing that must not be forgotten. In all cases, except the very largest and most important, the application of this income tax law to a mine is going to be made by clerks whose salaries are fixed by a Congress that appropriated a half billion of dollars for a war purpose and provided that $4000 should be the highest salary paid in the adminis-tration of that great sum. The Congress of the United States unfor-tunately seems almost entirely unaware of the fact that men of ability and experience are worth money and must be paid adequately if proper public service is to be secured. While the formulation of the broad plans for administering the law have been in the hands of. men of unusual ability, we have the future to guard, and, if possible, the mining industry should see to it that the Internal Revenue Department is permitted by Congress to pay salaries that will enable it to secure men of the ability and experience necessary to insure proper consideration of the industry. Another fact to which I would call attention is the difference between the business and the economic, or economists', points of view as to what a mine is. The economists have properly, from their point of view, classed a mine as a wasting asset, but the average metal mine is not a wasting asset if it is a real mine. The economists are correct in a broad sense in that every ton of ore taken out diminishes the orebody by that amount. When it comes to the consideration of an individual mine from the business standpoint, the future of that mine rests on unfore-seeable events-the discovery of new orebodies or the development of old bodies beyond the point of probable expectations. Every going mine must develop new ore each year to replace that extracted, and, .during all but the last one or two years of its activity, actually does so. Instead of being a "wasting asset" such a mine, from the practical stand-point which must control valuation, is an "increasing asset." From

Jan 12, 1919

By G. A. Hellstrand

IN 1915, H. A. Guess, Vice President of American Smelting & Refining Co., in charge of its Mining Department, learned that the Anglo-New-foundland Development Co., Ltd., a pulpwood and paper-mill enterprise, had found upon its large concession in Newfoundland, and had opened up by shaft to the third level and some drifting, a lenticular orebody indicat-ing about 100,000 tons, as an extremely fine-grained sulfide ore, averaging about 0.05 oz. Au, 4 oz. Ag, 1.5 per cent Cu, 10 per cent Pb, 18 per cent Zn; and that having sent parcels of this ore to Minerals Separation, Ltd., and various other metallurgical testing concerns without obtaining any success in commercial separations thereon, had discontinued work thereon and let the workings fill. Mr. Guess wrote to the general manager of that company and obtained a few hundred pounds of the typical ore, which he sent to his company's metallurgical testing laboratory at Flat River, Mo., outlining various flotation tests desired thereon, in an endeavor to obtain separation into a commercial lead concentrate and a zinc concentrate. But the art of flotation had not then progressed far enough to treat such ore, the galena and zinc blende being so fine grained that grinding to about 300 mesh was required to release the mineral particles in their gangue. Mr. Guess had flotation and other tests continued upon this ore from time to time with whatever new reagents and flotation devices were evolved as time went on, and finally, in 1925, he succeeded in effecting in his company's testing plant, then at Wallace, Idaho, separations into lead concentrates and zinc concentrates of satisfactory commercial grade. Mr. Guess then proceeded to unwater, examine and sample the property and made with the owners a partnership operating agreement upon the mine itself and a considerable area surrounding it, and in the early summer of 1926 began to prospect for additional orebodies, utilizing for such prospecting geophysical methods, under the direction of Hans Lundberg, methods which up to that time had been little used in mining in the western hemisphere.. This geophysical work found two large flat-lying orebodies of a type precisely similar to the smaller body of the original discovery. The larger orebody, some 3500 ft. west of the original

Jan 1, 1934

By B. W. Vallat

The Newport mine, located at Ironwood, gogebic county, Mich., on the Gogebic iron-range, is owned and operated by the Newport Mining Co., for the mining of iron-ore. I. GEOLOGY. The general geology of the gogebic range has been determined and recorded at different times by well-known geologists,' and their work will be referred to briefly in connection with the local conditions in the mine. The strike of the formation across this property is about 15" north of east. The general dip is 68" to the north. At the base of the formation on the aouth lies the granite. Looking north, at right angles to the strike of the formation, we have the foot-wall of quartz-slates and quartzite about 400 ft. wide; the iron-formation about 800 ft. wide, and the hanging-mall of black slates. The iron-formation is composed of banded jasper and quartzite together with iron oxide and concentrations of iron-ore. In character the ore iu a soft red hematite, with occasional masses of hard blue "steel ore." The formation is crossed in many places by diorite dikes, which cut through at various angles, the larger or main dikes dipping into the foot-wall in a SE. direction at angles varying from 15" to 30°, while numerous small dikes occur which strike through the formation in a vertical plane and at approximately right angles to the main dikes. There are various theories concerning these dikes, especially as to the time of their origin with relation to the ore-deposition. The commonly-accepted theory is that the dikes were there first, but there are some who contend that they were formed

Jan 1, 1912

By Evan Evans

HOME-TOWN boy makes good in a i1 big way in the home ' town, expresses concisely the accomplishments of Evan Evans. Born in Coaldale, Pa., in 1895, within sight of the mine head-frames and cleaning plants dotting the Panther Creek Valley, his whole life has been intimately associated with the strip and underground mines of this valley. One of the world's largest mineral deposits exists in the confines of the Panther Creek Valley and mining has been in progress for 125 years. Despite this long period of mining activity, two thirds of the coal in the valley yet remains to be mined. The Lehigh Navigation Coal Co. is the operating company.

Jan 1, 1947

Trans. Pamphlet Volume Number Title Author Meeting and Page* 1033 Relation of Air Presaure to Drilling H. W. Seamon New York 66, 743. 766 Speeds of Hammer Drills . Feb. 1921 1034 Time Factor in Depletion of Mines J. W. Roberts New York 66, 711 Feb., 1921 1035 Calculation of Ore Tonnage and Grade J. E. Harding New York 66, 117, 122 from Drill-hole Samples Feb., 1921 1038 Diacuasion of Papers Presented in 1920 1041 Run-off and Mine Drainage H. N. Eavenson New York 66. 624. 630 Feb.. 1921 1043 The Health of the Underground Worker A. J. Lanza New York Feb, 1921 1045 Dust-ventilation Studies in Metal D. Harrington New York 66, 272, 288 Mines Feb., 1921 1046 Discussion of Papers Presented at New York Meeting, 1921 1072 Breakage and Heat Treatment of Rock- B. F. Tillson New York 66. 758 drill Steel Feb., 1921 1073 Discussion of Papers Presented at New York Meeting, 1921 1076-M Analysis of Some Drill-ateel Teats F. B. Foley New York 66,789 Feb.. 1921 1077-M Application of Magnetic Analysis to C. W. Burrows New York 66, -796 Rock Drills Feb., 1921 1078-M Heat Treatment of Rock-drill Steel G. H. Gilman New York 66.779 Feb., 1921 1080 What is the Ideal Drill Steel? F. H. kingdon New York 66, 807 Feb.. 1921 1081 Rock Drill-Steels, etc. W. T. Ober New York 66,814 Feb.. 1921 1082-C Underground Mine Development, Its J. B. Dilworth Wilkes-Barre 66,715, 761 Definition and Valuation Sent.. 1921 1081 Drill Steel from Hollow Ingots P. A. E. Armstrong New York 66,809 Feb., 1921 1068 Authors' Replies to Recent Discussion 1092 Heat Treatment of Rock Drill Steel A.E.Perkins New York 66,811 Feb., 1921 1096-M Octagonal Ventilation Shaft of Davis- J. L. Bruce Wilkes-Barre 66. 252, 608 Daly Copper Co. Sept., 1921 1100-C Determination of Electrical Equip- G. Bright Wilkes-Barre 66,580,606 ment for a Mine Hoist Sept., 1921

Jan 1, 1927

By A. J. Phillips, C. G. Grant, Wm. B. Price

Admiralty nickel is a new corrosion-resisting and heat-resisting white metal alloy composed of 70 per cent. copper, 29 per cent. nickel and 1 per cent. tin. It has been given the trade name "Adnic." In 1924, Wm. B. Price' described this alloy and its successful use as a diaphragm metal. The physical properties of Adnic at ordinary and elevated temperatures were given in Mining & Metallury.~ A patent3 was granted on Adnic, April 28, 1925. Work was first started on this alloy during December, 1921. An investigation of the patent situation in this country and abroad, and also a search of the literature, did not reveal any work on the ternary diagram, copper-nickel-tin; and the only wrought copper-nickel-tin alloy found was that known as "Newloy," composed of copper, 64 per cent.; nickel, 35 per cent.; tin, 1 per cent. This was being manufactured and sold by Wm. Gallimorr & Sons, Ltd., Sheffield, England, for unplated spoon and fork stock, and first came to our attention in January, 1922. The preliminary work in connection with the development of Adnic was started by casting four binary copper-nickel alloys of the compositions shown in Table 1. Various a~ilounts of tin were added to each of these mixtures, to produce the series of ternary copper-nickel-tin alloys also given in Table 1. A 200-gm. sample of each of these was cast by iiielting in a clay graphite crucible and allowing the melt to slowly cool with the furnace. A longitudinal section from each of thcsc castings was polished and etched for examination. The castings were not homogenrous solid solutions, but showed the usual cored structure associated with cast alloys. Howcvrr, frorn an exarrlination of these sections we roughly determined

By WALTER M. DAKE

WITH the renewal of the contract between bituminous miners and operators, whereby a period of three years is assured without the devastating effect of irregularity of operation due to general strikes; and, with the increasing comprehension on the part of the large consumers as to the stabilizing effect of adequate storage upon prices; the coal industry has reached that period of its history in which permanence of purpose towards necessary changes is being crystallized, and these changes accomplished by the industry. It is to be hoped that during this era the phrase- " Our National Coal Problem "-will be relegated to the limbo of' antiquated expressions. That this epoch is upon us is evinced by the fact that operators are turning to consolidations, whereby financially sound companies will acquire smaller production units and place themselves in position to maintain constant supervision and control of their development and output; and, as further proof of the arrival of these changes, may be cited the entrance of additional members of the engineering profession into the many phases of management and operation, where- by the cost per ton of output will be, constantly reduced through the increasing use of modern methods and equipment. As an instance, attention is specifically called to the developments in mechanical loading, proposed and actual continuous underground transportation systems and betterment in methods of preparation.

Jan 1, 1924

By A. H. Geisler, F. Keller

Some of the important changes that take lace in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrys-tallization. Although improved metal-lographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based 011 the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mah13-l7 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chcmical or anodic treatment. .After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,l9 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,l7 nicke1,7 iron3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloyl1 by heating; films formed on iron8,9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-'" by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944

By F. Keller, A. H. Geisler

Some of the important changes that take lace in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrys-tallization. Although improved metal-lographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based 011 the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mah13-l7 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chcmical or anodic treatment. .After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,l9 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,l7 nicke1,7 iron3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloyl1 by heating; films formed on iron8,9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-'" by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944