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By Nicholas J. Grant, David S. Bloom

An investigation of the Cr-Ni system has revealed that there exists a eutectoid transformation at about 1180°C. 'The transformation in chromium implied by the eutectoid reaction was detected at about 100°C below its melting point. Associated with the eutectoid transformation, a metastable transition structure has been found. THE Cr-Ni phase diagram is shown in current literature to be a simple eutectic system in which the high chromium end of the diagram is incompletely determined, Fig. 1. The last investigation of this system was undertaken in 1936.' Because of limitations in metal purity, especially of chromium, and temperature measuring techniques, the diagram should be accepted with some reservations, as was indicated by Hansen.V or examwle.-, the wresence of the compound Cr²Ni, with a tetragonal structure," remains unverified and incompatible with the simple eutectic diagram. The work reported here began because of discrepancies that appeared in experimental studies in the binary alloys Cr-Ni and in the ternary system Cr-Mo-Ni. The existing binary Cr-Ni diagram failed to provide a complete explanation of observations made by microscope, X-ray, and thermal analyses. Experimental Methods The materials employed were of a higher degree of purity than were available to previous investigators. The Mond nickel used had a nominal purity of 99.87 pct, while the electrolytic chromium analyzed 99.03 pct with the major impurity being 0.5 to 0.7 pct oxygen with some iron. All alloys were melted in a vacuum furnace to remove dissolved gases, sufficient carbon was added to the charge to combine with all the oxygen as CO. Final analysis determined the carbon as about 0.02 pct and the oxygen around 0.06 pct or slightly more. Stabilized zirconia crucibles and thermocouple protection tips were used throughout and contributed no detectable impurity to the melts, as long as the oxygen in the chromium was kept low. Heats averaged about 250 g, which permitted about 2 in. of the thermocouple protection tips to be submerged. The temperature drop across the thermocouple protection tip was determined to be about 3°C, a minor source of error. The alloys, after removal from the vacuum furnace, were placed in a furnace operating in a purified argon atmosphere for the thermal analyses. An- nealed wolfram-molybdenum thermocouples provided the primary means of temperature determination, though a Pt-Pt-10 pct Rh couple was employed for a check when possible. A sensitive, high-speed Leeds and Northrup Speedomax recording potentiometer indicated the thermocouple output. X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained primarily on a Norelco unit, which permitted diffraction angles only up to 45" (28 = 90"). In general, either rotated or stationary solid samples were used, because it later evolved that many samples were susceptible to transformation resulting from the cold working involved in pulverizing. It was also noted that rotating a sample sometimes suppressed weak lines, so, usually, samples were not rotated. Later a high temperature camera was adapted for use at temperatures up to 1400 °C on the Norelco unit utilizing both solid and powdered samples. Unless otherwise noted, all X-ray patterns were made with a chromium tube and a vanadium filter. Further-

Jan 1, 1952

By B. B. A. Luzzat

ALUMINUM is today the most widely used of the nonferrous metals. The technical literature on the aluminum smelting process is, nevertheless, very meager, so that anyone interested in the subject cannot rely on more than a couple of dozen publications.' The patent literature is equally scarce; most patents refer to the production of alumina from aluminum-bearing ores, while not more than a few score significant patents deal with the electrolytic reduction of alumina, which is the real core of the aluminum smelting industry. The "reduction phase" is, from a technical and a scientific point of view, much more interesting than the "alumina phase", which, in effect, is only a combination of such well-known chemical operations as dissolving, precipitating, filtering, drying, and calcining. The electrolytic reduction of alumina, on the other hand, has features which do not appear in any other metal smelting operation. Some of them are of great technical and scientific interest even for those not directly engaged in the production of aluminum. The purpose of this paper is to describe in some detail the basic facts and developments of the reduction phase of aluminum smelting. Two Aspects of the Electrolytic Process The raw material for the reduction process is alumina (Al2O3) . Its purity in general runs as high as 99.50 pct or more. Small differences in the chemical composition generally do not affect the reduction process.* Of more importance are the physical prop- erties of the alumina, since they affect not only its rate of solution in the molten bath but also its heat insulating power.† In the following pages, un- less otherwise stated, it is assumed that a standard "Bayer" alumina is used. The reduction process, by which alumina is broken down into its components, may be roughly defined as its electrolysis in molten cryolite. The oxygen separates at the anode, and the aluminum at the cathode, which forms the bottom of the electrolytic cell. The electrolytic cell (or pot) where the process is carried out is a strongly reinforced steel box. The

Jan 1, 1951

By Maurice Ewing

THE purpose of this paper is to present the results of the application of the earth-resistivity method of subsurface investigation to the problem of locating seams of anthracite coal beneath a mantle of soil and subsoil. Details are given of the successful use of this method in locating the outcrops of anthracite seams in actual prospecting. The presence of the outcrop of an anthracite seam is indicated at points where electrical resistivity tests showed relatively low readings. The reason for, this is that in some localities the resistivity of anthracite was found to be about 0.0001 megohm-cm. compared to 1 to 200 megohm-cm. for shales and sandstones. For two reasons it is believed that the data sum-marized in this paper should be of particular interest. In the first place, most of the interpretations of the resistivity survey have been checked by subsequent drilling and some by the removal of the overburden and the exposing of the anthracite seams. It is infrequent that the oppor-tunity for checking results so thoroughly is given. In the second place, the fact that recent commentators 1.2.1 on the application of geophysical methods to mining have concluded that direct prospecting for anthracite and other types of coal is not promising makes the good results obtained more significant. So far as the authors can learn, the only previous experiment with electrical methods in the Pennsylvania anthracite field was one made by Sherwin F. Kelly in 1922, when he used the self-potential method at Wilkes-Barre4. The profile he made does not show a very marked correlation with the geologic cross section. Kelly points out that stray currents from electric motors in the mines undoubtedly affected his results, but the experience of the present authors with stray currents from mining machinery suggests the possibility that the potentials measured by Kelly were due almost entirely to this effect.

Jan 1, 1936

By P. V. Roundy, G. R. Mansfield

PUBLIC lands in Florida were first withdrawn from entry by President Taft on July 2, 1910, as a conservation measure because of their possible phosphate content. The reserve thus established was subsequently modified by further withdrawals and by restorations, so that on Jan. 1, 1934, it contained 66,796 acres, of which only a small part had been definitely classified. The reserved land was in scattered parcels, ranging from less than 40 acres to 320 or more, distributed in many counties. For administrative purposes and for final disposal of any of the numerous parcels, mineral classification of the land is legally necessary. In 1934 and 1935 the United States Geological Survey, under two successive grants from the Public Works Administration, prospected some 83 tracts of these lands in Polk County, comprising in all about 3300 acres, and six tracts comprising 240 acres in Citrus and Marion Counties. The tracts in Polk County were all in the so-called land-pebble field and the others in the hard-rock field. The Survey field party was under the direction of P. V. Roundy, from whose unpublished report the material in this paper is largely taken. The foreman of the prospecting crew was J. H. Wingate of Zephyrhills, Fla. The individual tracts were identified through the cooperation of the General Land Office, by transitman Hugh B. Crawford. This prospecting work fitted well the classification adopted for Public Works projects in general: it could not be done on any considerable scale under the Survey's usual appropriations; it gave employment to unemployed labor; and it may be expected ultimately to repay the Government in royalties more than the cost of the exploration. COMMERCIAL PROSPECTING METHODS Commercial methods of prospecting for phosphate in Florida have been briefly described by Mansfield.1 In the hard-rock field, where the floor of the phosphate deposit is extremely irregular, it is customary to drill as

Jan 1, 1937

By G. R. Speich

The precipitation of the Feab and Fe,Ti Laves phases (MgZn, type, C14) from Fe-Nb and Fe-Ti solid solutions, respectively, has been studied in the temperature range 500" to 800°C using hardness measurements, light and electron microscopy, and X-ray and electron diffraction. The Fe-Nb alloys contained 0.96, 1.67, and 3.80 pct Nb and the Fe-Ti alloys 3.5, 5.8, and 8.8 pct Ti. In both systems only the equilibrium Laves phase is formed, with nucleation occurring at grain boundaries, at dislocations, and in the matrix. No cellular precipitation or transition phases were observed. The precipitation of the Laves phase in a fine dispersion leads to significant hardening in both systems. The hardness of the aged alloys is proportional to the reciprocal of the square root of the interparticle spacing. The maximum solid solubility of titanium in a! iron is 9.0 pct Ti at 1280°C. THE precipitation of the FezNb and FezTi Laves phases (MgZn2 type, C 14) from Fe-Nb and Fe-Ti solid solutions, respectively, has been investigated as part of a continuing study of the mechanisms of precipitation from ferritic binary iron-base alloys. The iron-rich portions of the Fe-Nb and Fe-Ti phase diagrams are shown in Fig. l(a) and l(b). The Fe-Nb diagram is essentially that given by ansen' with the more recent work of Hume-Rothery and Gibson2 added. Goldschmidt3 indicates that the FezNb Laves phase has a solubility extending from 32 to 55 wt pct Nb. The Fe-Ti diagram is also essentially that reported by Hansen.l The recent results of Nishimura and kamei, Murakami, Kimura, and Nishimura,' indicate that the FezTi Laves phase has a solubility extending from 22.5 to 30.5 wt pct Ti. The L/6 + FezTi eutectic temperature of 1298°C indicated by Kornilov and oriskina' has been adopted. The addition of niobium or titanium to iron lowers the 6 — y transformation temperature and raises the y — a! transformation temperature. This results in a closed y field in the Fe-Ti system, but the lower solubility of niobium in a! (6) iron results in a eutec-toid, 6 — y + FezNb, at 1200°C, and a peritectoid, y + FezNb —-a, at 989°C in the Fe-Nb system. The maximum solubility of niobium is reported to be 4.5 wt pct in 6 iron,' 1.0 wt pct in y iron,7 and 1.8 wt pct in a iron.' Some results from the present work indicate that the maximum solubility in a! iron is actually less than 0.96 wt pct Nb. The maximum solubility of titanium in a! (6) iron is somewhat uncertain since the early work of To faute and Butting-haus indicated a value of 6.0 wt pct while later work of Kornilov and Boriskina6 yielded a value of 14.0 wt pct. The present work indicates that the maximum solubility is actually 9.0 wt pct. In both systems the phase in equilibrium with the iron-base solid solutions is a Laves phase (Mg znztype, C14), FezNb or FezTi. Both of these Laves phases have a wide range of Solubility. The precipitation-hardening behavior of Fe-Nb or Fe-Ti alloys has not been studied extensively. Genders and Harrison' reported that binary Fe-Nb alloys hardened upon aging. Peter and Fisher7 studied the mechanical properties of Fe-Nb and Fe-Ti alloys quenched from different phase fields.

Jan 1, 1962

By Nicholas J. Grant, Hanna Ibach, Bill C. Giessen

The system Ta-Rh was investigated over the entire comnposition range using metallogvaphic and X-ray techniques as well as thermal analysis. Terminal solubility limits, solidus temperatures, and the crystal structures of two new intermediate phases were determined. There are five intermediate phases: o, tetragonal, isostructural with o(Fe-Cr); a1, orthorhomnbic : a2, orthorhombic, isostructural with CozSi; 0 3, a high -temperature phase of unknozun structure; and a TaRh3, cubic, AuCu3 structure. a, aL, a,, and a melt peritectically; and a TaRh, has a maximum melting point. Five peritectic and one eutectic reactions occur. THE Ta-Rh phase diagram has not been fully treated in the literature; however, two inter metallic phases have been described.&apos;-&apos; This study attempts to work out the diagram covering the details of phase boundaries as well as the crystallography of the intermediate phases. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Starting materials were tantalum powder of 99.8 pct purity, supplied by National Research Corp., Cambridge, Mass., and rhodium powder of 99.9 pct purity, supplied by Bishop Co., Malvern, Pa. Analyses as given by the manufacturers are presented in Table I. In addition to the spectroscopic analysis, an oxygen analysis has been made of the tantalum powder. After preliminary trials, the standard procedure employed in making the alloys was as follows (see Ref. 4 for further details). The powders were weighed, mixed manually, compacted under 16,000 psi, and arc-melted at not more than 500 amp under thoroughly titanium gettered welding-grade argon of 400 mm Hg pressure. The gettering process was repeated after each melt. It had been shown previously5 that under these conditions no oxygen pick-up exceeding 0.001 pct in a hafnium button could be detected. The buttons, ranging from 5 to 10 g in weight, were inverted or, if possible, crushed and remelted three times. Melting presented no difficulty, except for tantalum-rich al- loys, which showed considerable spashing during melting. The average weight loss of 1 wt pct rose to 2.5 wt pct in these cases. Subsequent melting, however, resulted in losses of less than 0.1 wt pct. The melts obtained frequently showed small in-homogeneities, mostly in the tantalum-rich part of the system below 25 at. pct Rh. This was not due to insufficient blending of the elements, but to crystallization taking place from the cooled bottom. This condition was not improved by further re-melting; therefore the following precautions were taken. Cross sections of as-cast buttons were made. For the investigation only buttons were used where these inhomogeneities did not exceed 1 at. pct (estimated from the amounts of haSeS resent). In addition, only the center portions of such buttdns were utilized to minimize errors. Smaller buttons showed smaller concentration gradients and were used as a check. Finally, all alloys were homogenized to eliminate coring (see below). After this, the error in alloy composition due to inhomogeneity was cl at. pct. In order to confirm the concentrations of the alloys and to provide an impurity check, wet-chemical analyses and oxygen-fusion analyses of four key alloys were carried out. The results, together with the concentrations as calculated with the weight balance method, are presented in Table 11. It was found that for three alloys the agreement is very good (< 0.2

Jan 1, 1964

By O. Jay Myers

The war effort has furnished the necessary impetus for better magnesium foundry practice. Four or five years ago, there were but a few formulas in general use for core-sand mixtures for magnesium castings. Certain sands, binders, and inhibitors were specified and the proportions of these materials in each mixture were maintained between very narrow limits. As more and more war industries entered the field, much research was carried out and methods and practices were improved. Magnesium founding is still in a state of flux; therefore it is not uncommon to find one foundry spraying inhibitors on its cores, and another foundry using sand mixtures with incorporated protective agents. The basic core or dry-sand mold mixture for magnesium in use today is compounded with sand, core oil or resin binder, cereal, and moisture. Core oil or resin binder are added for baked strength while the cereal binder and moisture are for green strength. The normal mixtures (based on the weight of the sand) contain from o.5 to 1.5 per cent of both cereal binder and core oil, and the moisture content variesbetween 1.5 and 5 per cent. The ratio of core oil to cereal binder varies from 60:40 to 40:60, while the correct amount of moisture depends upon the method of coremaking. Protective Agents In all magnesium practice, protective agents are used in conjunction with the core and molding sands to prevent oxidation of the metal. The use of these inhibitors is not novel, but publications covering this field are not entirely adequate. Beck1 says: Magnesium alloys decompose water to form magnesium oxide, hydrogen being liberated in the process (Mg + H2O ? H2 ?+ MgO). This reaction results in the blackening of the skin and the appearance of areas of porosity on the casting surface, the cavities of which are filled with a grey oxide powder (these are termed &apos;burns&apos;). Although sand cores for magnesium castings are thoroughly dried during the baking cycle, burning will take place on the casting5 unless the metal is protected properly. This type of burning is more difficult to define than the "water-magnesium" reaction cited by Beckl A possible explanation may lie in the following equation: 2Mg + O2—> 2MgO Here, the source of the oxygen is not water, but the air in the mold cavity, together with the chemically combined oxygen in the core-binding media. Generally, two methods are used to prevent this reaction from taking place.

Jan 1, 1945

By N. J. Grant, D. Carne, J. B. Seabrook

IT is unnecessary to review much of the literature on hydrogen embrittlement of steel since several excellent reviews and bibliographies exist.1-3 Hot acid pickling and cathodic charging have been known to cause hydrogen embrittlement of steel and have been used as laboratory methods to charge steels with hydrogen.4-8 Experimental Procedure The problem of prime concern in all instances, except in the work of Sims and coworkers,10 is that at no time was there a definite known hydrogen value reported which could be related to a particular value of the degree of embrittlement. It was the purpose of this research to determine the relationship between hydrogen content and degree of em-brittlement quantitatively. The 1020 stock used for the specimens was hot-rolled 7/16 in. diam rod of the following analysis: 0.19 pct C, 0.40 pct Mn, 0.012 pct P, 0.036 pct S&apos; Vacuum-fusion analyses for nitrogen and oxygen gave 0.014 pct O2 and 0.0011 pct N2. Cathodic charging was used to cause embrittle-ment. The advantages of this method were that no quenching was necessary, the impregnation was reasonably controllable, and representative samples for analysis could be prepared simultaneously with the charging of the tensile bars. Analyses for hydrogen were made in a vacuum-fusion type of apparatus which extracted gas from the samples by fusion in a molten tin-iron bath&apos; This apparatus, which has recently been described in detail elsewhere, will not be discussed here.". " Consecutive samples can be analyzed every 15 min with an accuracy of 0&apos;03 ppm. A A from an electrolytic or pickling bath can be charged for analysis in about 3 min, and analysis completed in 15 min. Samples of as-received 1020 stock were analyzed and found to contain a negligible amount of hydrogen (0.06 ppm). Preliminary pickling and electrolytic charging gave highly variable results. Cold-worked samples showed higher values but ranged from 0.6 to 6.0 ppm of hydrogen. Charging at 90°C gave higher values of charged hydrogen, but troublesome films on many of the specimens resulted. It was not until a few drops of a catalytic poison, prepared from 2 g of yellow phosphorus dissolved in 40 ml of carbon disulphide,8 was added to the electrolytic cell that fairly consistent high values of hydrogen could be charged into the as-received 1020 steel at room temperature. The cell used is sketched in fig. 1. The anode and fixture for the tensile specimens were fastened to the cell cover as shown, and the specimen was screwed in place, centrally located with respect to the anode. At first, anodes of lead and graphite were tried, but they contaminated the electrolyte and gave a slight deposit on the specimen. Later, a platinum wire was used in the form of a uniform helix. A current of 2 amp, corresponding to about 0.5 amp per sq in. of cathode, was used for most specimens. The electrolyte was 4 pct H2SO4 solution. Fig. 1 shows the form of the special tensile bar, the main portion of which was an ordinary 1/4 in. diam, 1 in. gauge length test bar, except that two to four small cylinders of stock were left attached by small links to the bottom end of the tensile bar for the purpose of providing samples for hydrogen analysis. Thus the bars and samples were charged with hydrogen simultaneously and an analysis could be made while the bar was being tested mechanically. Experiments were performed to determine how representative the test cylinders were of the middle of the test bar proper. While the bar center was being analyzed, the small cylinder was stored in dry ice, since it had been shown that such storage prevents loss of hydrogen for many hours.12 The results of these checks are shown in table 1. The checks are very good (0.3 ppm) and indicate that it is permissible to use the small end cylinders to establish the hydrogen content of the tensile test bar proper-

Jan 1, 1951

By Paul A. Farrar, Harold Margolin

The system Ti-Cr has been re investigated From 40 to 100 pct Cr. The high-temperature modification of TiCr, was found to exist in the temperature range from 1365 where it terminates in the eutectoid reaction TiCr,(TI)* — HE chromium-rich region of the Ti-Cr system was investigated by Vogel and Wenderott,&apos; Mc Quillan,&apos; Van Thyne et dl.,&apos; and Cuff Duwez and Taylor determined the crystal structure of the low-temeperature modification of TiCr, to be fcc a = 6.943A and Levinger&apos; discovered the existence of a second (high-temperature) modification of TiCr, and determited its crystal structure to be hexagonal a = 4.932A, c/a = 1.617i. No information was obtained as to the temperature range over which each modification of TiCr? existed; therefore the present investigation was initiated. I) Experimental Techniques Alloys employed for the delination of this system were prepared from iodide titanium and high-purity chromium. The purity of these materials is as follows: Iodide titanium: purity 99.99 pct; major impurities—carbon 0.0001 pct; oxygen 0 to 0.002 pct; nitrogen 0 to 0.002 pct; silicon 0 to 0.005 pct; manganese 0.001 pct; copper 0.001 pct (Foote Mineral Co., Lot 609-29). Chromium #1: metallic purity 99.997 min.; interstitial content—oxygen 0.27 to 0.46 pct; hydrogen 0.028 to 0.038 pct; nitrogen 0.0002 pct (Ave-quipo Inc.). Chromium #2: purity 99.9 pct; major impurities—carbon 0.01 pct; oxygen 0.013 pct; nitrogen 0.02 pct; silicon 0.01 pct; sulfur 0.03 pct; iron 0.01 pct (Fulmer Research Institute Ltd.). A total of sixteen alloys of thirteen different compositions was prepared in the range from 40 to 95&apos; *All percentages are given in weight percent. pct Cr. The compositions of the alloys prepared were as follows: Ti-40, 45, 50, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 80, 85, 90, and 95 pct Cr. Two buttons were prepared of the 66, 90, and 95 pct Cr alloys. The 40 pct Cr and one of the 66 pct Cr alloys were prepared from the chromium # 2. All the other alloys were prepared from chromium #1. The alloys were arc-melted as 25-g buttons in a copper-hearth glass-walled furnace7 under an inert atmosphere of high-purity helium. The alloys were sintered at 250 amp and melted twice at 350 amp for 30 sec with the buttons being turned over between melts. Weight losses during melting were determined and in the range 45 to 68 pct Cr they were found, in all cases, to be less than 1.25 pct of the total alloy weight. A number of the high-chromium alloys shattered during cooling from either the first or second melt, which made the weight loss considerably larger than usual. The 70 and 80 pct alloys lost approximately 5.7 pct of their total weight, the 85 pct alloys 1.5 pct, the 90 pct alloy 2 pct, and the 95 pct alloy 3 pct. However, it is felt that the actual composition of the alloys in this region is probably within approximately 1 pct of the intended composition, as a large portion of the material lost was that due to shattering after melting. Nominal compositions were therefore used in plotting data and referring to the alloys. The alloys were cut into specimens, wrapped in molybdenum sheet, and encapsuled in argon-filled quartz or Vycor tubes for heat treatment. The heat-treatment times and temperatures are given in Table I. The specimens were quenched in iced brine (I.B.Q.) following heat treatment. The standard techniques of grinding, polishing., and etching were used in preparing the specimens for metallo-graphic examination. For alloys below 68 pct Cr

Jan 1, 1963

By Herbert R. Mosley, Paul M. Tyler

Strategically situated in almost the heart of the leading fertilizer-consuming area of the United States, Tennessee long has ranked second only to Florida as a phosphate-producing state. Since 1932 its share of the national output of phosphate rock has increased steadily, and in 1937 its production mounted to an all-time record. More significant even than the increase in tonnage are the forward strides in technology. The Tennessee Valley Authority&apos;s research program has led to quasicommer-cia1 operations using hydroelectric power to manufacture concentrated phosphatic fertilizer that is used to further the farmer education program designed to streamline the fertilizer business and halt the appalling waste of farm land by soil erosion. Even more stimulating to chemically minded imaginations is the production of elemental phosphorus by a private company that not only has succeeded in extracting it from the phosphate rock in electric furnaces but actually has contrived to capture it and to transport it safely in tank cars. New values have been created for low-grade phosphate deposits, and the economic life of reserves has been lengthened while the waste of former years goes back into the mills for recovery of its values by modernized methods. Tennessee&apos;s phosphate-mining industry dates from the discovery of blue rock in Lewis County in December 1893. Its known reserves are of the order of 101,500,000 tons, which compares with the production of 825,099 tons in 1937; that is, 21 per cent of the phosphate-rock output of the whole nation. The total output reported from 1894 until July 1. 1938, was approximately 19,000,000 tons. Offcial estimates of reserves are overly conservative and evidence submitted before a joint Congressional committee in November 1938 places "probable" reserves at more than 6,000,000,000 tons.

Jan 1, 1942

By W. H. Brandt

THERE has been much progress in the last two decades in understanding the hardenability of steel. Roughly, the progress has been along two lines, which may be designated as empirical and fundamental. This empirical work has progressed to the point where steels may be manufactured to the desired characteristics quite closely and heat-treatment and application problems can be approached with considerable confidence. Particularly noteworthy among the empirical work is that of Grossmann,12 who has given formulas for calculating hardenability as a function of composition, and the establishment of the isothermal transformation curve by Davenport and Bain.13 The latter does not fall entirely in the class of an empirical study, for while it provides a means of presenting a tremendous amount of empirical data in the form of a single curve, it also outlines clearly the problems that face the fundamental investigator. The isothermal transformation curve shows clearly that the phenomena occurring in the neighborhood of the knee of the curve are those that limit the hardenability of steel. Above the knee of the curve, the product of decomposition of austenite is lamellar pearlite and fundamental progress has consisted chiefly of a detailed study of structure and formation of pearlite, largely at the hands of Mehl and his collaborators.1-5 They have shown that formation of pearlite proceeds by a process of nucleation and growth and they measured both the nucleation and growth rate. However, there is still a wide gap between our empirical knowledge and fundamental knowledge, owing largely to the fact that there is no satisfactory theory of nucleation rate or of growth rate. This paper is being written in an attempt to fill in a small part of the gap. A method was presented recently14 for calculating the velocity of edgewise growth of pearlite using an expression for the carbon concentration that satisfies the diffusion equation. The edgewise velocity of pearlite growth in a plain carbon eutectoid steel was calculated, using linear extrapolations of the ferrite and cementite solubilities. While the results are in fairly good agreement with the experimental facts, the calculated velocity of edgewise growth is smaller at 600°C. than G, the radial growth velocity of pearlite nodules, whereas one would expect it to be larger. In this paper the calculation will be repeated using a new extrapolation for the ferrite solubility, which gives better agreement between G and V, the calculated velocity of edgewise growth. A calculation will also be made of the effect of carbon content on velocity of edgewise growth, and the problems of calculating the effects of other alloying elements on growth rates will be discussed. It will be assumed that the mechanism of pearlite growth, established by Mehl and

Jan 1, 1945

By M. M. Fine

THE problem of producing a uniform, medium-fine sand for glass-furnace feed has been of interest to the glass-container industry for many years. In the present investigation of the problem, conducted by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the Owens-Illinois Glass Co., Alton, Ill., a satisfactory method of producing such sand was developed. The investigation involved continuous-grinding studies of glass sand with flint and porcelain pebbles, steel balls and rods, and a simultaneous study of classification. The most satisfactory procedure consisted of grinding in a pebble or ball mill followed by a double classification: hydraulic classification to separate the oversize for return to the grinding unit and mechanical classification to remove fines and impurities from the ground sand. The proper application of this flowsheet usually yielded a graded sand containing less iron than the feed even when grinding was done in a steel-lined ball mill. The amount of sand ground into the so-called "dusting" sizes was, in all cases, less than 10 pct. Experiments were made which showed that this very fine sand could be beneficiated to a usable material. Background The advantages in utilizing a uniform, medium-fine sand as a feed for glass furnaces has motivated a considerable amount of research on the ,problem of producing such sand by glass producers and others. For the glass producer, the faster melting rate of such a graded sand offers the possibilities of reduced fuel costs and increased furnace capacity. In addition, there is the likelihood of improving the quality of the melt and thereby reducing the number of seeds (air bubbles) and stones (unrnelted grains) in the finished ware. Although the melting rate of a glass batch depends on other factors in addition to the grain size of the sand, there is experimental evidence to show that grain size influences the melting rate considerably. Potts, Brookover, and Burch&apos; found that when the raw materials (sand, soda ash, and limestone) were always matched in- size, there was a great decrease in the melting time as the grain size of the materials was decreased. They found, too, that when the grain sizes of the soda ash and Limestone were held constant at 40 to 60 mesh, the minimum melting time occurred when 40 to 60 mesh sand was used. The increase in melting time with decrease in grain size beyond 40 to 60 mesh was due, they postulated, to accelerated demixing or separation of batch during melting as the grain size of the sand decreased in relation to the grain size of the other materials. An earlier investigatora found that the highest rate of melting and purifying ordinary glass was obtained when medium-size sand (0.385 to 0.120 mm, correspondingly roughly to 40 to 120 mesh) was used. Although batches containing smaller-size sand were found to fuse more rapidly, the time required to remove air bubbles from such melts actually increased the total duration of the process. Coarsegrained sand, it was stated, increased greatly the times of both melting and purifying. Although the laboratory data are difficult to confirm on a plant scale, observations by the Owens-Illinois Glass Co. indicate a higher furnace capacity of better-quality ware when a medium-fine sand is used in the batch. During the recent war, the glass producer was inclined to overlook a considerable variation in raw materials in the interest of higher production. For instance, table I shows the wide range in the amounts of various screen fractions in sand supplied by one producer to the Terre Haute plant of Owens-Illinois. The sand, from the northern Illinois St. Peter sandstone, represented material used by that plant over a period of a few years during the war. Since the war, the glass industry has insisted on

Jan 1, 1951

By M. R. Pickus, I. W. Pickus

Ordinarily age-hardening is thought of as being associated with a limited solubility of one metal in another. Much less has been written about the type of age-hardening that attends the formation of superstructures. Solid solutions generally have a disordered or random arrangement of atoms; that is to say, in a unit cell, such as that of the face-centered cubic lattice, there is no distinction between atomic sites. Atoms of a given metal may occupy cube corners or face centers. Under certain conditions, however, some alloys develop what is known as an ordered structure. In this case, cube corners would be occupied by only one type of atom and face centers by another type. Associated with this ordering process are many interesting changes in physical and electrical properties. Moreover, in many instances the alloys become susceptible to age-hardening. From the evidence now to be described, it appears that age-hardening in 14-carat gold alloys is due to the formation of both a superstructure and a precipitate. Alloys of the metals gold, silver and copper were known in antiquity. The available knowledge regarding their constitution has been ably summarized and extended by Sterner-Rainer,&apos; Jänecke,2 Carter,3 Wise,4 and Coleman.5 Despite the long familiarity with these alloys and the numerous investigations of their properties that have been made, there is still much that remains unexplained. It has been known for a long time that the hardness of these alloys is closely related to the rate of cooling. Similar changes have been observed in the binary gold-copper systemI6 one alloy of which corresponding to the formula CU³AU, has been the subject of a careful and competent report by the English investigators, Sykes and Evans.7 They have established the fact that the shift of atoms from the ordered to the disordered condition takes place in some critical temperature range. At temperatures above the critical range the structure is random, and at temperatures below it the structure is ordered. No difference between these two structures is revealed by the microscope. Both have a face-centered cubic lattice and complete solubility, so that there is no evidence to suggest that the changes in properties are associated with a phase change. The more slowly the alloy is cooled, the higher is the degree to which the ordering process proceeds and the more marked is the increase in hardness. As experimental data were accumulated on I4-carat gold alloys, several contradictions arose. Certain observations tended to confirm the existence of a superstructure, while other observations seemed to be inconsistent with such a transformation. Present Investigation As a focal point about which to develop this subject, it is expedient to consider first

Jan 1, 1943

By Y. Okahara, I. Iwasaki

Chlorination behaviors of pure iron and manganese oxides were investigated by combining a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) technique with batch-boat roasting followed by leaching. Ferrous and manganous oxides could be chlorinated readily, but, in the absence of a reductant, the higher oxides of both iron and manganese were dificult to chlorinate. Thermogravimetric analysis curves were drawn to illustrate the complexities of the reactions, and the possible mechanisms were discussed. Then three manganif-erous materials from the Cuyuna Range of Minnesota were treated by a process involving the selective chlorination of manganese followed by leaching. The results were interpreted in the light of the chlorination mechanisms observed on the pure iron and manganese oxides. One of the unsolved problems challenging Minnesota&apos;s mining industry is the development of an economic process to utilize the manganiferous iron ores of the Cuyuna Range. Although these ores constitute one of the major domestic reserves of manganese (estimated at 432 million tons&apos;), their grade is too low for them to be mined solely for manganese. The nearly exclusive dependence of the U.S. steelmaking industry on foreign manganese ores has stimulated research over the years in treating the low-grade Cuyuna ores. As a result, a number of processes have been proposed.&apos;-&apos; Among these processes is chlorination. Chlorination is the high-temperature conversion of metallic oxides to chlorides by either chlorine or hydrogen chloride gas, or by solid chlorides of sodium, calcium, or magnesium. The metallic chlorides are then recovered by either vaporization or leaching. Although chlorination is an old art, it has become popular in recent years for the recovery of such new metals as titanium, zirconium, and niobium; for the removal of impurities like copper, lead, and zinc from pyrite cinder for ironmaking raw materials;&apos; and for the segregation roasting of coppera and nickel&apos; ores. The chlorination processes proposed for manganifer-ous iron ores have been relatively few (hydrogen chloride chloridization-leaching, hydrogen chloride and calcium chloride chloridization-volatilization,&apos; and chlo-rination-selective condensation6), due presumably to the economics and to the corrosion problems involved. However, the successful application of chlorination processes to other ores will undoubtedly contribute to technological advancements in the chlorination of man-

Jan 1, 1971

By O. Jay Myers

THE war effort has furnished the necessary impetus for better magnesium foundry practice. Four or five years ago, there were but a few formulas in general use for cores and mixtures for magnesium castings. Certain sands, binders, and inhibitors were specified and the proportions of these materials in each mixture were maintained between very narrow limits. As more and more war industries entered the field, much research was carried out and methods and practices were improved. Magnesium founding is still in a state of flux; therefore it is not uncommon to find one foundry spraying inhibitors on its cores, and another foundry using sand mixtures with incorporated protective agents. The basic core or dry-sand mold mixture for magnesium in use today is compounded with sand, core oil or resin binder, cereal, and moisture. Core oil or resin binder are added for baked strength while the cereal binder and moisture are for green strength. The normal mixtures (based on the weight of the sand) contain from 0.5 to 1.5 per cent of both cereal binder and core oil, and the moisture content varies between 1.5 and 5 per cent. The ratio of core oil to cereal binder varies from 60:40 to 40:60, while the correct amount of moisture depends upon the method of coremaking. PROTECTIVE AGENTS In all magnesium practice, protective agents are used in conjunction with the core and molding sands to prevent oxidation of the metal. The use of these inhibitors is not novel, but publications covering this field are not entirely adequate. Beck1 says Magnesium alloys decompose water to form magnesium oxide, hydrogen being liberated in the process (Mg + H20 -+ H21 + MgO). This reaction results in the blackening of the skin and the appearance of areas of porosity on the casting surface, the cavities of which are filled with a grey oxide powder (these are termed `burns&apos;). Although sand cores for magnesium castings are thoroughly dried during the baking cycle, burning will take place on the castings unless the metal is protected properly. This type of burning is more difficult to define than the "water-magnesium" reaction cited by Beck. A possible explanation may lie in the following equation: 2Mg + 02 -s 2MgO Here, the source of the oxygen is not water, but the air in the mold cavity, together with the chemically combined oxygen in the core-binding media. Generally, two methods are used to prevent this reaction from taking place.

Jan 1, 1945

By R. E. Hobart

THE development of the Hauto power plant and the claims made by various engineers that electricity was more economical than steam for power purposes in and about the mines; led the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., in 1911, to conduct a test to ascertain the consumption of power used by a large steam hoisting engine. The question being one on which no reliable information could be found, and the opinion of various engineers differing to such an extent, it was decided that a test under actual operating conditions was necessary. This was arranged for at one of the collieries. The engine selected was a 30 by 60-in. (76.2 by 152.4-cm.) piston-valve engine of modern type, and comparatively new. The boiler plant from which the hoist received its power was about 600 ft. (182 m.) from the engine, the latter being fed by a 10-in. (25.4-cm.) steam line insulated with magnesia pipe covering. Two batteries of the boiler plant, aggregating 1200 hp., were cut off and fed into a separate steam line leading direct to the hoist engine. Steam auxiliaries, consisting of feed-water pump and blowers, were fed by the boilers in test, and their consumption charged against the hoist. A barrel weighing device was installed, as it was felt that this would be the most accurate way of determining the consumption of water. The fuel, No. 3 buckwheat, was carefully weighed, and every precaution was taken to make the test accurate in every particular. The test was run for 1 week, or a total of 168 hr. A record was kept of the number of trips hoisted or lowered, and continuous indicator cards were taken. One particular set of cards was taken with the hoist operating balanced, and also with the hoist operating with no counterweight other than the empty cage, the coal in the car being weighed. The speed of the hoist was taken by means, of a graphic recording instrument which registered the number of revolutions every 5 sec. From this record, speed-time curves were plotted.

Jan 2, 1918

By J. E. Ostberg, G. Phragmen, A. Hultgren, S. Wohlfahrt

Detailed study was made of a number of rimming ingots, both low and high carbon, and especially upon effects of superimposed air pressure. Requirement to suppress core bubbles is between 10 and 15 atm; at 6.5 atm freezing was in semikilled manner and at 3 atm, steel was of rising type. Probable mechanism of freezing under various conditions is discussed. AN earlier paper&apos; reported an investigation made by a committee for studying rimming steel ingots appointed by Jernkontorets in Stockholm. The present paper is the outcome of some further work done by the same committee. Since the characteristics of ordinary rimming steel are connected closely .with the amount of gas liberated during freezing and since this amount of gas is governed by the pressure, it was considered of interest to ascertain in what manner and to what extent definite pressures applied to the top of the liquid steel in the mold would affect the solidification process and the consequent structure of a rimming steel of ordinary composition. The experiments were made at the Domnarfvets Steel Works. The steel was made according to normal practice in a 4-ton Rennerfelt electric furnace. Ferromanganese was added in the furnace; no aluminum was added, with one exception. Analyses of the four heats are given in Table I. The top-poured ingots measured about 12 in. sq x 48 in. and weighed about 1300 lb. One or two ingots of each heat were allowed to solidify under pressure, using a special device for admitting compressed air to the upper closed part of the mold, as shown in Fig. 1. A heavy plate sealed with asbestos was bolted to the top of the mold. The plate had a tapered aperture for pouring. Immediately after pouring the hole was closed by a wedged plug, and compressed air was admitted through a hole in the plug. Because of some delay in applying the plug, full pressure was not reached immediately. The pressure was adjusted to the desired value as indicated by a manometer. In order that the interior of the ingot might have the benefit of the pressure, the freezing of the top crust was delayed by a refractory lining applied to the top part of the mold, Fig. 1. Ingots were also cast from each heat without applied pressure, and with and without refractory lining at the top. Axial sections of ingots were cut either of the whole ingot or of some part of it of special interest; sections were polished and usually etched.&apos; To facilitate description of structures the following terms may be used for different types of ingots solidified under gas evolution: 1. Box-hat or boot-leg ingot: Abundant gas evolution during casting and during rimming; no rim holes. 2. Normal rimming ingot: Lively gas evolution during rimming; usually rim holes in lowest part of

Jan 1, 1952

By Robert Lewis

THE Utah coal field to which the name Book Cliffs is applied runs in a northeast direction from Mt. Hilgarde, in Sevier county, along the escarpment of the Wasatch Plateau to the vicinity of Castle Gate, thence southeast along the Book cliffs, which lie to the north of and generally within sight of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad,. to the Colorado line. The Book cliffs form the southern escarpment of the West and East Travaputs Plateaus, and vary in height from 2,000 to 6,000 ft. At the base of the Wasatch and Book Cliffs escarpments is a broad plain known as Castle valley. The coal beds outcropping in the escarpments along this valley are worked on the largest scale of any in the State, and this particular area is known locally as the Castle Valley coal field. Geology The Book cliffs are capped by the Tertiary-Eocene-formation, consisting of varicolored shales; buff sandstone, conglomerate, and subordinate thin beds of limestone. Different sections show diverse stratigraphy. This is mainly the Wasatch formation, and lies unconformably upon the rocks of the Upper Cretaceous. Fig. 1 is a generalized section of the rocks of the. Book Cliffs field. The Mesaverde formation contains the cliff-making rocks of the Book cliffs, and is composed of massive sandstone interbedded with sandy shales and beds of coal and carbonaceous shale. The sandstone has greater resistance to erosion and the formation is characterized by escarpment ledges and cliffs. The shale is commonly sandy and is drab in color, but where it is associated with the coal it is usually carbonaceous. The sandstone is generally buff, though occasionally it is white, and in places red. The bedding ranges from thin to massive. In the lower part. of the formation the sandstone is red in

Jan 7, 1914

By W. B. Lewis, M. E. True, M. C. Leverett

This paper states the theory underlying the design of two kinds of dimensionally scaled models of parts of idealized oil fields. One of these simulates an oil well and its surrounding sand for a distance of 16 ft. radially from the well. The other model simulates linear flow through layered sands. Construction and operation of the models are described and typical data are given. The unique features in the design of the models are: (I) the treatment of the permeability-viscosity quotient as a single variable and (2) the use of previously reported experimentally developed relations between relative permeability and saturation and capillary pressure, saturation, porosity, permeability and interfacial tension. The models at present simulate flow of oil and water only, through unconsolidated sands. They are superior to unscaled models, which may give rise to erroneous conclusions. The models are designed to study the desirability of various methods of well completion and the effects of various factors on recovery of oil from layered sands. Introduction Recent work on the fundamental behavior of flowing mixtures of fluids in sands has resulted in the development of some new theory in this field, much of which has been presented in previous papers.l-4 However, the application of this theory to the behavior of oil wells or oil fields has proved too complicated for ordinary mathematical techniques, except in very highly simplified cases. A practical solution to this problem appears therefore, to lie in the use of dimensionally scaled models of elements of oil fields. The object of this paper is, first, to present the theoretical and experimental basis of the design of such models, and, second, to describe their construction and operation. Experiments now under way on the models already built will yield material for other reports, which will be devoted to interpretation of the results in terms of oil-field behavior. So far, simple dimensional models of two kinds have been built and are being operated. These models represent different parts of an idealized oil field but obey the same underlying theory. The only fluids represented are oil and water, since certain questionable approximations are necessary for gas-liquid systems. General Theory Dimensional models have been used in other fields for a long time, and their theory is adequately given in the literature. 5 Here, it suffices to state that each physical element entering into a dynamic relation may be given a definite description in terms of three fundamental, but arbitrarily chosen, dimensions. These usually are mass, length, and time, symbolized here by the small letters m, I, and t. Two systems are said to be dimensionally similar or dimensionally scaled if for each element in one system there is a corresponding element in the second system and the ratios of the numerical magnitudes of corresponding elements are constant for all elements of the same dimensional type.

Jan 1, 1942

By Lawrence B. Wright, Lester G. Morrell

On the steep slopes of the Kootenays, 15 to 20 miles south of Nelson, B. C., are a number of ore occurrences (Fig. 1). One that has many features of mining and geological interest is the Ymir Yankee Girl Gold Mines Limited. Discovery of this property was made in 1899 at an outcrop on the hillside, some 2500 ft. above the village of Ymir. This proved to be a branch vein 20 ft. long leading to two main veins, the Yankee Girl and the Spur (Fig. 5). The ore pattern as now delimited shows a remarkable increase in ore area with depth below the outcrop. This recent development is of interest particularly in view of the fact that the property was nearly condemned, professionally. Another interesting feature, which has a bearing upon its history, is the persistent excess of tonnage produced from period to period over visible reserves. This is not ascribed to lagging mine development, but to detailed vein characteristics, which we will endeavor to make clear by giving a description of the veins and their surroundings. HISTORY AND PRODUCTION Little interest_was_evidenced-in this-distriet until the building of the railway in 1893 provided easy access and the discovery of the Ymir mine in 1896 attracted attention. As a result, the Ymir Yankee Girl group of claims was staked in October 1899. In 1907, an American syndicate took over the property and subsequently extended the 50-ft. drift and opened the present 400 and 540-ft. levels. In 1908, the Syndicate, without recording any shipments in the meantime, dropped its lease, which was taken up by H. L. Rogers, who bonded the Yankee Girl group. Rogers shipped 2622 tons of ore, mainly from the uppermost stope in the mine, which is reported to have yielded

Jan 1, 1940