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By M. H. Richman, L. M. Markowitz

MUCH of the available information on which the heat treatments of a particular steel are based is found in the isothermal-transformation diagram. Such is the case despite the fact that the usual thermal treatments involve continuous transformations, i.e., transformations which occur on cooling, rather than isothermal transformations. This rather unusual practice is continued because of the abundance of published isothermal-transformation diagrams1, 2 which are relatively easy to determine experimentally as compared to continuous-transformation diagrams.3, 4 However, this can easily lead to the production of improper micro-structures and may not allow full advantage to be taken of the inherent hardenability of a steel. A mathematical method of estimating the continuous-transformation diagram from the available isothermal data was developed by Grange and Kiefer;5 but, due to the mathematical approximations required in the calculations, the computation of continuous-transformation diagrams has been limited to individual cases and no large-scale compilation of these diagrams is available. With the present availability of high-speed digital computers, the problem of time-consuming approximations may be minimized and continuous-transformation diagrams may be constructed with the insertion of isothermal data into a basic program. It is the purpose of this report to announce the availability of such a program and compare the computed and experimental continuous-transformation diagrams for two different steels. Let us first review the method of Grange and Kiefer5 and then compare the results of the machine calculations with the experimentally determined diagrams. In order to apply this method, one requires the isothermal-transformation diagram and a set of curves representing cooling at constant rates. A section of an isothermal-transformation diagram is shown in Fig. 1 together with a cooling curve of M0F per sec. The cooling curve is constructed to start from the A1 (eutectoid) temperature if the transformation product is the eutectoid microconstituent (i.e., pearlite or bainite), from the A3 temperature if the product is primary ferrite, or from the 4, if it is proeutec-toid cementite. The cooling curve in Fig. 1 intersects the curve representing the start of isothermal transformation at a point A' corresponding to a temperature TX and a time fX. An arbitrary lower temperature To (on the

Jan 1, 1968

By Lewis A. Delano, Harold Rabling

It has been generally recognized that, owing to the extreme friability of galena, fine grinding has a tendency to cause excessive sliming of the mineral, so operators of lead mills have attempted to avoid this condition by commencing concentration at as coarse sizes as any mineral is freed. Jigging has been the basis of the milling process, making a clean coarse concentrate and a large amount of tailing, which was considered sufficiently low-grade to be rejected. However, developments and improvements in concentration processes are everywhere changing the low-grade tailing of yesterday into material worth re-treating today. Investigations of the work of the Hancock jig on the Bonne Terre ore have shown that the best results to be expected will give a tailing assaying 0.75 per cent. lead; the average for all conditions and grades of ore will be between 0.80 and 0.90 per cent. By crushing the jig tailings in ball-mills and retreating by tables and flotation, a tailing of considerably lower grade can be made; the problem then becomes an economic one of increased crushing costs versus higher recovery. In considering the entire elimination of jigging, the increascd smelting charges due to a greater amount of slime galena will be counterbalanced by the lower operating cost, increased recovery, and the many advantages of a simpler flow sheet. In developing these problems in the Bonne Terre mill of the St. Joseph Lead Co., a long series of tests has been carried out covering every stage of crushing and concentration, and a large number of possible flow sheets were considered and tried. Only the final results and a few comparisons will be given here. At the same time, a careful and detailed cost-keeping system has enabled us to compare milling costs with the various Bow sheets, and to calculate the economics of the problem with great accuracy. Concentration Problem The ore occurs as widely scattered deposits of galena disseminated through limestone; it has a specific gravity of 2.8 and the following composition: Pb, 4.00 per cent.; Fe, 3.00 per cent.; Zn, 0.32 per cent.; S, 3.10 per cent.; MnO2, 0.73 per cent.; SiO2, 4.20 per cent.; Al2O3, 3.20 per cent ; CaO, 28.60 per cent.; MgO, 16.85 per cent.; CO2, 36.00 per

Jan 1, 1922

By George S. Evans

Certain American operators bclieve that desulphurizing in the ladle offers a means of increasing blast-furnace and open-hearth yields with the possibility of improvements in quality of the steel. In fact, several producers have experimented with practically all of the known desulphurizing agents, including both standard grades of the alkalies and special preparations that have been offered from time to time during the past several years. Some of these are regularly being used today in large-scale commercial operations, with good results. Also, it is the practice to treat off-sulphur casts in the blast-furnace ladle at a number of plants. It is not known, however, that anyone in the steel industry (American) has ever adequately equipped a plant for desulphurizing blast-furnace metal in an efficient manner as regular operating practice. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of correct equipment and proper handling for obtaining uniform and efficient results. As will be shown, at the temperature of molten iron the alkalies are instantly neutralized by any free slag present, dissipating their desulphurizing value. Entrained silicates are rapidly washed out of the metal bath by the highly basic soda slags and will be satisfied ahead of desulphurizing reactions with FeS. More or less of the reagent will always be used up through reactions with the refractory lining. Desulphuriza-tion will be limited to the action of the free alkali then remaining in the slag. Causes for the erratic results generally found with desulphurizing tests in blast-furnace transfer ladles would include, among other things, variations in the quantity of furnace slag coming down with the metal, and differences in the percentage of kish and entrained silicates in the different casts. As the alkalies instantly unite with any free slags or silicates present, these, with any kish coming off, both dilute the reagent and reduce the surface contact between the slag and metal, thereby retarding the desulphurizing reactions.

Jan 1, 1938

By Alec M. Crowell, Thomas D. Bailey

Although natural gas was first discovered in Northwest Arkansas in 1887, . near Fort Smith, Sebastian County, the literature contains very little information on the region, which is separated distinctly from the oil area of Southern Arkansas. For that reason this brief and concise report is a summary of developments from discovery to the present time. Northwest Arkansas produced 5,736,-ooo,ooo cu. ft. of natural gas during 1942, the trend of production having been generally upward over the past five years, as is shown in Fig. I. Since 1904 a reserve of 237 billion cubic feet of natural gas has been discovered in Northwest Arkansas, of which approximately 162 billion cubic feet have been expended, leaving a reserve of approximately 75 billion cubic feet available as of Jan. 1, 1943. A prolific new field discovered in Pope County Oct. 23, 1942, will add to the reserve of the region materially. Per well reserves, over-all, are unusually high because of the practice of multiple completion. As yet no commercial deposits of oil have been discovered in Northwest Arkansas. but the gas deposits have proved of immense value industrially, principally in the processing of zinc ore mined in the local area as well as that imported from distant states. With the war, new interest in the exploitation of the metallic ores of the region lends new significance to the gas reserves tabulated herein. Geological Discussion The region covered in this report comprises the Arkansas Valley from Pope County weslward to the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line as shown in Fig. 2. This valley is a westward trending structural trough with sharp-topped ridges and mesa-like mountains rising above the valley's undulating surface. It is bounded on the north by the Ozark Highlands and on the south by the Ouachita Mountains. The sedimentary beds of the Arkansas Valley are composed mainly of noniossil-iferous shales and sandstones. The rocks contain a high content of carbonaceous material and many coal beds are found in the region. The Gxed carbon ratios (ratio of fixed carbon to volatile combustible matter of surface coals) are very high and average about 80 per cent over the region covered in this report. Little or no calcareous material is present. Rocks of the Arkansas Valley are sharply folded, and igneous intrusive rocks cut the sedimentary beds at a few places. The Arkansas Geological Survey' made a detailed reconnaissance survey of the Arkansas Valley province in 1927, the purpose being to delineate the major structural features (Fig. 3) and to point out the possibilities of discovering addi. tional gas deposits. More than fifty anticlines were mapped as a result of this survey. The information gained by this

Jan 1, 1943

By George S. Evans

Certain American operators bclieve that desulphurizing in the ladle offers a means of increasing blast-furnace and open-hearth yields with the possibility of improvements in quality of the steel. In fact, several producers have experimented with practically all of the known desulphurizing agents, including both standard grades of the alkalies and special preparations that have been offered from time to time during the past several years. Some of these are regularly being used today in large-scale commercial operations, with good results. Also, it is the practice to treat off-sulphur casts in the blast-furnace ladle at a number of plants. It is not known, however, that anyone in the steel industry (American) has ever adequately equipped a plant for desulphurizing blast-furnace metal in an efficient manner as regular operating practice. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of correct equipment and proper handling for obtaining uniform and efficient results. As will be shown, at the temperature of molten iron the alkalies are instantly neutralized by any free slag present, dissipating their desulphurizing value. Entrained silicates are rapidly washed out of the metal bath by the highly basic soda slags and will be satisfied ahead of desulphurizing reactions with FeS. More or less of the reagent will always be used up through reactions with the refractory lining. Desulphuriza-tion will be limited to the action of the free alkali then remaining in the slag. Causes for the erratic results generally found with desulphurizing tests in blast-furnace transfer ladles would include, among other things, variations in the quantity of furnace slag coming down with the metal, and differences in the percentage of kish and entrained silicates in the different casts. As the alkalies instantly unite with any free slags or silicates present, these, with any kish coming off, both dilute the reagent and reduce the surface contact between the slag and metal, thereby retarding the desulphurizing reactions.

Jan 1, 1938

By A. W. Ambrose

The underground losses of oil exceed by hundreds of thousands of barrels all the oil that has been lost in storage, transportation, or refining. The quantity lost is, of course, indeterminate; but when it is considered that the contents of an entire oil field have been excluded from recovery by invading waters, some idea of the amount wasted may be gained. Similarly, enormous quantities of gas have been lost underground. Conservation of the oil, therefore, should start before it is brought to the surface rather than after it is placed in storage tanks. Water is one of the most important causes for underground losses and the operator should give as serious consideration to an underground flood of water as he would to a destructive surface flood. The best insurance, of course, is to have the wells drilled in such a manner that water has no access to the productive oil and gas horizons, and on abandonment the wells should be properly plugged. The encroachment of edge water and the occurrence of waterin;the base of an oil sand present a very serious problem to an oil company sooner or later these waters are bound to cause considerable damage, if they do not entirely destroy the possibilities of further production. Too often, however, a field has been considered to be in a hopeless condition, whereas wells in as bad a condition in other areas have been repaired and the life of the field appreciably lengthened. The corrections are very often suggested by technical study. Very successful results have been accomplished by detailed underground work in the California oil fields, in Cushing, Oklahoma, and in other areas. The purpose of this paper is to outline briefly1 general methods of analyzing oil-field water problems in a producing or in a producing and developing oil field, with a view to suggesting repair work on offending wells. Reference is continually made to producing oil wells; the same general method of procedure, however, should be adopted in a gas field.

Jan 1, 1921

By M. M. Austin

Pure metallic tantalum, from a practical standpoint, is one of the newer developments in the metal field. Although it was used as filament in incandescent lamps in 1906, only within the last, five years has the metal been available in sufficient quantity and suitable form for more general application. In addition to corrosion-resisting properties and high melting point, the metal has an ability to withstand unusual amounts of cold working. It affords some striking demonstrations of block movement during plastic flow. Strength and Ductility of Tantalum Since there is no good way of defining working properties numerically, illustrations will be used. It is possible to roll a bar of pure tantalum 0.4 in. thick to sheet 0.001 in. thick, without heating or annealing. The sheet produced will be sound and may be bent upon itself at right angles to the direction of rolling. Longitudinally the sheet will be somewhat brittle. A disk of annealed metal may be cupped and drawn to the form of a capsule 3/16 in. dia. by 146 1? in. long. If carefully handled this capsule can be further deformed by drawing to a tube having an outside diameter of 0.050 in. Disks of tantalum may be spun into tubes of 39 in. dia. and 1½ in. long. In the form of rod, reductions may be made from 0.4 in. to 0.001 dia. In the latter process, it is necessary to heat the wire four or five times to 500" C., at intervals between 0.040 and 0.001 in. Although the melting point of tantalum is 2850" C., these heatings at 500" C. are sufficient to distinctly anneal it. Published figures on the strength and ductility of tantalum are not particularly accurate. This is due to the fact that these properties vary widely, depending on the extent to which the metal is contaminated by gas. There are no sharp critical points in these changes with gas content; samples of metal will vary from a springy or actually brittle condition to one of leadlike softness. Samples that have had a prolonged heating at high temperatures in a good vacuum, under conditions such as would be provided in vacuum-tube experimentation, will yield a product of about the hardness of annealed copper. The usual commercial metal will have the hardness of annealed mild steel.

Jan 1, 1930

By H. M. Dess, S. R. Bolin

A modifiedl Czochralski technique has been utilized to grow single crystals of YVO, pure or doped with europium or neodymium, from 1 to 2 in. long and 4 to 1/2 in. in dianz. An oxyhydrog-en gas-fired furftace zuas used in this ulork, and melts were contained in iridium crucibles. Successful application of the Czochralski ~vzethod was found to depend upon atmosphere control to prevent crusting and to limit melt decomposition, the establishment of symmetrical thermal gradients in the melt to obtain stable growth, and the selection of high-quality single-crystal seeds to prevent propagation of misorientations during growth and subsequent catastrophic cracking. The suitability of YVO4 as a host for laser-active trivalent rare earth ions has long been recognized. However, the problems associated with the growth of sufficiently large, good-quality single crystals have, until quite recently, seriously hindered satisfactory evaluation of the laser potentialities of this material. Both flux growth and Czochralski growth techniques were investigated at an early stage of interest in YVO,. The former method proved incapable of yielding crystals large enough for practical use,ly2 and the latter was beset with difficulties which took some considerable time to understand and overcome. Recently, however, the Czochralski growth process for YVO, has been improved along separate but similar lines of development by groups working independently in the Crystal Products Department of Union Carbide's Electronics Division and Bell Telephone Laboratories3 so that now good-quality single crystals of satisfactory size can be produced on a routine basis. Stimulated emission from a neodymium-doped YVO4 crystal grown by the Crystal Products Department of Union Carbide was obtained by O'connor4 of MIT, Lincoln Labs. An oxyhydrogen gas-fired furnace was used in this work, Fig. 1, and melts were contained in iridium crucibles. The starting material was 99.9 to 99.99 pct pure YVO4 powder purchased from the Chemical and Metallurgical Division of the Sylvania Electric Products Co. Typical impurity levels, determined by spectrographic analyses, were as follows: Si, 50 to 500 ppm Al, Fe, Mg, 5 to 50 ppm Ni, Pb, Mo, Mn, Ce, Cs, 1 to 10 ppm Initially, YV04 powders predoped with neodymium or europium were obtained from Sylvania. Later, however, because of a desire to grow a series of crystals containing relatively broad concentration ranges of these dopants, it proved more convenient to start with pure YV04 and mechanically admix Nd2O3 or Eu@~ powders plus equimolar amounts of V2O5. The empty crucibles were preheated to 1900" to 1950oC, a temperature range where melting occurred readily. The powdered YVO4 feedstock was then added incrementally. However, a marked tendency toward

Jan 1, 1968

By A. M. Kivari

OPERATIONS at the cement plant of the Permanente Corporation, in the hills about 45 miles south of San Francisco and 12 miles west of San Jose, are interesting to the members because of the adoption of modern hydrometallurgical methods for handling and beneficiating raw materials Closed-circuit grinding, classification, hydroseparation, flotation, agitation, and thickening are familiar terms at this cement plant These methods make it possible to process refractory limestone into suitable materials for the manufacture of modern cements Construction of the plant, haying originally a design capacity of 7000 bbl of cement per clay, was started in June 1939, and the first clinker was ground on the following Christmas Day At present the capacity is about 12,000 bbl of finished cement per 24 hr , most of the production being low-heat cement † About 3130 tons of limestone, 620 tons of clay and 100 tons of gypsum are required daily for this output Occasionally iron oxide is added to the clay to obtain the desired composition This, together with the gypsum, is purchased from outside sources Up to the present time, the corporation has produced low-heat, normal, moderate¬ heat, moderate-sulphate-resisting, high-early-strength, oil-well, modified-oil-well, and plastic cements Most of the present production is for Shasta Dam, near Redding, Calif , the told demand being 5,800,000 bbl of cement Following are sonic of the cement requirements of the Shasta D [im] specifications [ ] The average specific surface in the bin s sampled shill be not less Ulan 1800 sq cm per gram and no individual sample less thin 1600 sq centimeters Compressive strength The average compressive strength in pounds per square inch of three mortar cubes composed of one part cement and 2 75 parts fine testing sand, by weight, shall be equal to or greater thin the following

Jan 1, 1941

By William Hume-Rothery

MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I need not say how much I appreciate the honor of being asked to lecture to you, and how much I would thank you for your kind invitation. It is encouraging to feel that the abnormal restrictions of the war have been relaxed sufficiently to allow a free exchange of scientists between our two countries, and I hope that some of you will be persuaded to go to England, and to visit us at Oxford, so that I may repay a little of the kindness I have received from you. As this is one of the first lectures since the end of the war, I have thought it well to describe some of the advances in the theory of alloys which were made in the years between the two World Wars. From the point of view of theoretical science, these years have been of outstanding interest in the history of metallurgy. They have been years in which the development of new and more accurate experimental methods has led to the revelation of many new facts. At the same time, the theoretical developments have enabled some of these facts to be viewed as parts of a general scheme, and we may say that some of the foundations of metallurgical science have been laid. This work was naturally stopped by the Second World War, and it can therefore be reviewed as one definite stage in the development of our Science. To illustrate the new advances, I shall deal mainly with the alloys of copper and silver, since these have revealed many of the general principles. SOLID SOLUTION At the beginning of our period, the first steps in X-ray crystal analysis had been taken, and copper had been found to crystallize in the face-centered cubic structure (Fig I). The determination of this structure naturally was of immense importance in the understanding of our subject, because it meant that we were at last in a position to appreciate the underlying structure out of which the crystal of copper was built. The earlier science of metallography had shown that in many alloys of copper the addition of a second metal in not too large proportions resulted in the formation of a homogeneous alloy which was regarded as a solid solution of the one metal in copper. Fig 2, for example, shows the so-called equilibrium diagram of the copper-zinc alloys, and here you will see that there is a solid solution of zinc in copper extending to something of the order 35 to 40 at. pct zinc.

Jan 1, 1947

By Gordon G. Bentle, W. P. Fishel

GREINER, Marsh, and Stoughton1 have reviewed the literature in a monograph on the iron-silicon system. The lack of agreement among the various studies may be due to the difference in the purity of materials in some cases. The results of the X-ray method indicate only a general rather than a specific limit of the y loop. The iron-titanium system was investigated by Roe and Fishel,' whose results are used in determining the iron-silicon-titanium y loop. The literature indicates that no study has been made thus far of the iron-silicon-titanium system in the y loop region. Experimental Procedure The alloys were made from Armco iron, 99.86 pct Si, and 98.5 pct Ti. The titanium contains 1.07 pct Fe. The Armco iron contains 0.01 pct C, 0.005 pct Si, 0.02 pct Mn, 0.006 pct P, 0.01 pct S, and 0.04 pct Cu. A dilatation sample of Armco iron was prepared in the same manner as were the other samples. Several dilatation runs indicated that Ac3 begins at 905°C and ends at 910°C, which compares favorably with the study of Wells, Ackley, and Mehl' employing specially purified iron. All alloys were melted in an induction furnace in Alundum crucibles and were top poured into baked core sand molds. The ingots weighed about 600 g as cast. Dilatation samples of 4 in. by % in. diam were taken from the bottom end of the ingot, from which turnings for analysis were taken. Turnings from each end of two of the samples indicated that the alloys possessed uniform silicon content. A hole was drilled halfway through each end of a 4 in, dilatation sample. A chromel-alumel thermocouple was inserted in each hole and the surrounding metal peened in to hold the thermocouple in place. Fig. 1 represents the dilatation apparatus. The heating unit is an Alundum tube wound with resistance wire; the dilatation tube is a McDanel combustion tube; the push rod is zircon; the dial gage is graduated in 0.0001 in. and was vibrated to prevent sticking. A blank run over the temperature range of interest gave no significant dilatation. The thermocouples were attached to a multiple recording micromax which indicated the temperature at each end of the sample at 35 sec intervals. A Lindberg control unit governed the rate of heating of the furnace, and lowering or raising the

Jan 1, 1957

By Y. L. Yao

THE NaT1-type compound may be considered as the penetration of two diamond lattices in such a way that a superstructure of the bcc lattice is formed. Examples of the NaT1-type compound of lithium are LiZn, LiCd, LiA1, LiIn, and LiGa. Except for LiZn and LiCd, each molecule of these equiatomic compounds contains a total of four valence electrons. In LiZn and LiCd it was suspected (for example, see Ref. 1) that the fourth electron was withdrawn from the 18-shell of zinc or cadmium. An incomplete 18-shell would have to show strong paramagnetism. In 1955 Klemm and Fricke2 determined the magnetic susceptibility of LiZn, LiCd, LiA1, and LiIn (also NaTl and NaIn). The molar susceptibility of the outer electrons of LiZn and LiCd was found to be not strongly but weakly positive; that of LiAl and LiIn not negative but weakly positive. Thus they questioned the hypothesis about LiZn and LiCd in particular and the description of the NaT1-type structure in general. However, they did not determine the magnetic susceptibility of LiGa. This note is to report results for all five compounds of lithium. The starting materials are 99.9 pct pure lithium sticks containing less than 0.005 pct Na. 99.9 pct Zn, 99.9 pct Cd, 99.99 pct Al, 99.999 pct In, and 99.999 pct Ga. Weighed amounts of two components were wrapped in tantalum foil and placed in a graphite crucible. It was found that the tantalum sheath minimized the vaporization losses of lithium during melting. The sheath was easily stripped from the alloy rod and the tantalum in the alloy was barely detectable (less than 0.01 wt pct). The melting was performed in a resistance furnace under an argon atmosphere. Alloy specimens were annealed for 1 hr at 400°C in vacuum. The magnetic susceptibility at room temperature was determined by the Faraday Method, using the procedures previously described.' The results are shown in Table I. The interpolated values at 50 at. pct of Li and the average values at 48 to 52 at. pct of Li at 20°C determined by Klemm and Fricke2 are also shown. It is seen that the present value for LiZn and LiCd is slightly more positive but the present value for LiAl and LiIn is slightly less positive than their corresponding values. Also, it is noted there is an abrupt decrease of susceptibility of LiAl from 51.2 to 52.5 at. pct of Li. Klemm and Fricke2 found that the total susceptibility of LiZn, LiCd, LiA1, and LiIn is almost independent of temperature. slater4 gave a working expression for the diamagnetism of the atomic core as follows:

Jan 1, 1964

By Thomas D. Bailey, Alec M. Crowell

Although natural gas was first discovered in Northwest Arkansas in 1887, . near Fort Smith, Sebastian County, the literature contains very little information on the region, which is separated distinctly from the oil area of Southern Arkansas. For that reason this brief and concise report is a summary of developments from discovery to the present time. Northwest Arkansas produced 5,736,-ooo,ooo cu. ft. of natural gas during 1942, the trend of production having been generally upward over the past five years, as is shown in Fig. I. Since 1904 a reserve of 237 billion cubic feet of natural gas has been discovered in Northwest Arkansas, of which approximately 162 billion cubic feet have been expended, leaving a reserve of approximately 75 billion cubic feet available as of Jan. 1, 1943. A prolific new field discovered in Pope County Oct. 23, 1942, will add to the reserve of the region materially. Per well reserves, over-all, are unusually high because of the practice of multiple completion. As yet no commercial deposits of oil have been discovered in Northwest Arkansas. but the gas deposits have proved of immense value industrially, principally in the processing of zinc ore mined in the local area as well as that imported from distant states. With the war, new interest in the exploitation of the metallic ores of the region lends new significance to the gas reserves tabulated herein. Geological Discussion The region covered in this report comprises the Arkansas Valley from Pope County weslward to the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line as shown in Fig. 2. This valley is a westward trending structural trough with sharp-topped ridges and mesa-like mountains rising above the valley's undulating surface. It is bounded on the north by the Ozark Highlands and on the south by the Ouachita Mountains. The sedimentary beds of the Arkansas Valley are composed mainly of noniossil-iferous shales and sandstones. The rocks contain a high content of carbonaceous material and many coal beds are found in the region. The Gxed carbon ratios (ratio of fixed carbon to volatile combustible matter of surface coals) are very high and average about 80 per cent over the region covered in this report. Little or no calcareous material is present. Rocks of the Arkansas Valley are sharply folded, and igneous intrusive rocks cut the sedimentary beds at a few places. The Arkansas Geological Survey' made a detailed reconnaissance survey of the Arkansas Valley province in 1927, the purpose being to delineate the major structural features (Fig. 3) and to point out the possibilities of discovering addi. tional gas deposits. More than fifty anticlines were mapped as a result of this survey. The information gained by this

Jan 1, 1943

By Frederic L. Kadey

Perlite, as a volcanic glass, has been recognized since the Third Century, B.C. (Langford, 1978). The precise details of discovery often become lost in antiquity, and the variations among the stories pertaining to the more recent discovery of perlite as a material of commerce are no exception. Credit in the United States is given to a dentist who, while experimenting with tooth enamels about 1941, discovered that perlite-the rock-intumesced when subjected to heat. At about the same time it is reported that the chief geologist of Silver and Barytes Ores Mining Co. attempted to put out a picnic bonfire on the shores of Milos Island, Greece by throwing beach sand on it. The ensuing pyrotechnic display immediately conjured up in that man's mind the possibility of a new use for the volcanic rock that constituted most of the island. Very little was done with this discovery either here or abroad until after World War II. Today the name perlite is applied to both the hydrated volcanic glass, generally of rhyolitic composition, and to the lightweight aggregate that is produced from the expansion of the glass after it has been crushed and sized. Petrologically, it is defined as a glassy rhyolite that has a pearly luster and concentric, onionskin parting. Occurrences of perlite are restricted to several Tertiary to Quaternary age rhyolitic belts that trend in a generally north-south direction around the world. Commercially suitable deposits generally occur as domes of several hundred feet in height, although glassy zones in welded ash-flow tuffs and others associated with dikes and sills also have been reported. Mining is by ripping and blasting from open pits. Because of weight considerations, perlite usually is shipped to the local market area for subsequent expanding. In the United States, New Mexico leads in production with Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, and Colorado following in approximately that order. The principal use for expanded perlite is as a lightweight insulating aggregate in cryogenics, in plaster, concrete, and in loose fill insulation. Expanded perlite is also used in horticultural applications, and after subsequent milling and classification, as a filter aid. The United States is the world's largest producer and consumer of perlite. Table 1 shows the world production of perlite and Table 2 shows the perlite mined, processed, expanded, and sold or used by producers in the United States. Geology Composition and Morphology Any discussion of perlite must take into consideration its dual nomenclature, for it is known by the same name as both the naturally occurring rock and, after processing and expansion, as the lightweight aggregate of commercial significance. In its naturally occurring form, perlite is a rhyolitic glass that contains from 2 to 5% combined water. While perlite also can occur as andesitic or dacitic glass, these latter types are of negligible commercial significance. Table 3 lists the chemical composition of a few typical perlites (Anderson, et al., 1956; Langford, 1979). What sets perlite of commercial significance apart from other volcanic glasses is the fact that under the proper conditions of preparation-crushing and sizing-it will, when rapidly introduced into a flame of sufficient temperature, expand or "pop." All of the elements of composition contribute to the expansibility of the rock. The role of the combined water, however, is the most significant because it is believed not only to produce a fluxing effect in the softening of the highly siliceous glass prior to expansion, but it is also responsible for the explosive force of expansion through volatilization during heating. The current theory of the origin of the water in perlite is now less con-

Jan 1, 1983

By F. B. Foley

IT is with an unusual degree of personal satisfaction that I find myself in a position to pay tribute to the memory of Henry Marion Howe. One could not have spent any length of time in the presence of Dr. Howe without profiting intellectually. I do not hesitate to say that my years of association with him were the most stimulating of all my years of metallurgical study. He always impressed one with his own eager search for knowledge. Never dependent on the written word alone he sought information from anyone whose opinion he valued. His ability to piece together bits of apparently conflicting data from various sources so as to build up a logical hypothesis was unique. A small slight man with the intellect of genius he would have gone to the top in any endeavor he undertook and it was fortunate for metallurgy that its study attracted him as it did. Howe was a modest man. I like to recall an incident which left a lasting impression with me. The lab- oratory in his home, "Green Peace," was in the basement and access was by way of stairs leading down from his secretary's room. In using these stairs my attention was attracted many times to an ordinary cardboard shoe box which reposed on the shelf above the landing. It was crudely labeled on its side in black ink "Vanity Box." My curiosity was aroused to the point that I finally asked his secretary what it was. With some amusement she took the box from its shelf on the stairway, opened it and showed me its contents—numerous letters, from the foremost men of science of every civilized country throughout the world, commending his "Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron." I recall that in reply to one who thought there was not enough of Howe's own researches in his book he wrote, "Primarily I am a writer, secondarily an investigator." Howe wrote to make his readers think. No one ever strove harder than he to be right but above all, whether his viewpoint proved ultimately to be right or wrong, he was always content if by his stand, he provoked a reader to take the next step along the path to greater knowledge. I doubt that he was ever afraid to be wrong for he was always secure in the thought that his effort was guided by a sincere search for the truth. One continually searching for truth is entitled to occasional excursions up the wrong alley. A glance backward to the metallurgical confusion of some thirty to forty years ago, or need one go back so far, provides convincing proof of what a host of companions one may have in a common acceptance of ideas which the future will prove to be wholly untenable. Well over a hundred years have passed since investigators have interested themselves in the effect of increasing the temperature of iron and steel on their mechanical properties. We are told by Charles Walrandl in "Industrial Annals" for June 11, 1822, that bend tests, conducted in a Russian steel works of Prince Demidoff, on steel bars "highly heated" and bent during cooling became brittle when bent at an iris blue color. He concluded, "That when steel is heated to a temperature between 473°F and 662°F the mettle was more brittle between these limits than at a much lower or at a much higher temperature." It was a curious bit of information recognized as true to this day and still not explained satisfactorily. In 1878 Charles Houston in Annales de Mines associated this brittleness with an increase in tensile strength at 572°F. When this relatively low temperature is exceeded it is recognized that steel becomes weaker as temperature is increased up to the melting point, where no strength of practical importance remains. It is easy to believe, in fact it goes without saying, that this weakening as the temperature of a metal is increased is the result of the motion of the atoms making up the metal, a motion which itself is evidence of the temperature increase. However, if we are considering iron or steel we find that this decrease in strength is not a steady one, for, besides the increase in strength just referred to, one comes to a temperature, the critical temperature, where results of tests indicate the metal to be extremely weak and then as temperature increases to become sensibly stronger again. This apparent anomaly was made the subject of the first Howe Memorial Lecture, delivered by Albert Sauveur in 1924. It may be of interest to review these findings of Sauveur. He used two methods of investigation. One involved the twisting of bars. The bars were heated in an

Jan 1, 1951

By Jei Y. Choi, P. G. Shewmon

The surfrrce-diffusion coefficients (DJ for Aulg8 on (100) and (111) surfaces of copper have been determined between 1050" and 780°C using a new avuzlysis imd experimental procedure. The results are: D, has also been determined fm cua4 at 870°C, and the values found are 4.5 times larger than those measured by the grain boundary grooving technique for the same surface orientations. This difference is felt to result from the approximate nature of the mathematical solution used in the present work. Attempts to measure D, for silver on copper and silver surfaces indicated a means of matter transport different from surface diffision was dominant in moving tracer from the source out over the surface. Cnlculations and experiment both indicate that this is the flow of silver through the vapor phase which completely masks the much smaller flow due to surface diffusion. The previous self-difhsion studies of D, for silver and copper are discussed in terms of our own analysis and found to yield values of D, factors of lo5 or more greater than those found by the grain boundary grooving tech -nique. UNTIL about 5 years ago it was widely believed that the activation energy for surface diffusion, AH, , was less than that for grain boundary diffusion, AHb,, which in turn was less than that for diffusion through the lattice, AHz.' This was concluded from various evidence that D,> Db>Dl, and one tracer study of D, for silver on silver from which AH, was inferred.2 In 1959 Mullins and Shewmon demonstrated that D, could be determined from the kinetics of the growth of grain-boundary grooves.3 Using this procedure, Gjostein measured D, on copper between 800" and 1050°C and found that the activation energy was roughly equal to AHl .4 Subsequent work on copper,5" silver,',' and goldg between the melting temperature T, and 0.87 T, confirmed that AH, as determined using the grain boundary grooving or scratch-relaxation technique was equal to or greater than AHz. During the same period, Drew and Pye again determined AH, for silver on silver using a tracer techniquelo and a mathematical solution similar to that of Nicker son and arker.' Though the values of D, Drew and Pye measured at any given temperature were about 200 times smaller than those reported by Nickerson and Parker, they again found a low activation energy of about 10 kcal, or about one fifth that found at the higher temperatures with the mass transport technique. A distinguishing characteristic of these two previous tracer studies is that they have worked at low temperatures (-1/2 T,) where they felt volume diffusion was negligible and then analyzed these data as if all tracer atoms leaving the source flowed out into and remained in a homogeneous high-diffusivity surface layer of undefined thickness. This is totally different from the model used in the mass-transport studies or the studies of grain boundary diffusion, which assume the high-diffusivity surface layer to be only a few angstroms thick. If this latter model is applied to the earlier tracer studies, it is shown that the tracer has really pe!etrated into the lattice a mean distance of 1000A. Thus the tracer distribution observed after an anneal is thought to be due to the combined effects of surface and volume diffusion. Independent of the relative validity of the two models, it seems evident to us that any comparison of the values of D, as determined in these two ways is meaningless and misleading, since the values of D, and AH, obtained in these two ways would be totally different for the same physical distributions of tracer. Once the fundamental difference in the approaches of the two techniques is established, we are faced with the question of which model better approximates physical reality. Here all the evidence seems to be on the side of the ''thin surface layer" analysis. In fact, the authors of Refs. 2 and 9 do not argue for the "thick-layer model" we have described; they simply invoke it through the equation they use to calculate D, . The primary evidence for the thin-film approach is: a) grain boundary grooves and scratches widen in proportion to tU4 and Mullins' rigorous analysis shows that this is only valid for a surface layer which is quite thin relative to the width of the groove;11 b) all accepted or seriously discussed models of solid-vapor interfaces and high-angle grain boundaries assume that the disturbed region of the interface is at most a few a0 thick. With the above in mind, it was desirable to determine D, using a radioactive tracer and a "thin-

Jan 1, 1964

By K. W. Nelson, John N. Abersold

INDUSTRIAL hygiene has been defined by Patty' as "the science and art of recognizing, evaluating, and controlling potentially harmful factors in the industrial environment." This definition implies thorough study of operations, evaluation of potentially harmful factors through air sampling, micro-analyses and other means and finally, appropriate medical and engineering control wherever indicated. The prevention of industrial health injuries is a vital part of operations of American industry today. Progress and interest in this field has increased steadily for many years, the most rapid progress having been attained, perhaps, during the last three decades. It is significant to note that there are now official agencies in 46 states actively concerned with industrial health problems and that a western field station has been established recently in Salt Lake City by the U. S. Public Health Service to augment its industrial hygiene services directed from headquarters of the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Md. Many of the larger industries have found it advantageous to establish their own industrial hygiene departments. The American Smelting and Refining Co. is a world-wide organization engaged in the mining, smelting, and refining of lead, copper, zinc, silver, gold, by-product metals, including cadmium, arsenic, and others. In the United States there are 13 smelters and refineries, 11 secondary smelters or foundries, and a number of mines. Approximately 9000 workers are normally employed. It has long been the established company policy to seek out occupational hazards and provide safeguards for employee health. Protective equipment has been supplied to individual workers and exhaust ventilation installations have been in use in some operations for more than 40 years. All of the major units have their own medical departments which provide employees with excellent medical and hospital care. In 1937 full scale industrial hygiene studies were undertaken at the Selby Plant and were extended to most of the other smelters during the next three years. In 1945 the Department of Hygiene was organized with Professor Philip Drinker of Harvard University as Director and with Dr. S. S. Pinto as Medical Director. The department is responsible for coordinating and maintaining a program for the good health of all employees from top management down to the lowest paid day worker. It is essentially a service organization serving all of the United States plants regardless of location or size. Full and part-time physicians employed in all of the company's American plants and working in close cooperation with the Medical Director are responsible for de- termining the state of health of all the employees and giving treatment when necessary. In general, medical care is confined to accidents or illnesses occurring while the men are on the job. Among the duties of the doctors is the making of careful physical examinations of new employees and routine check-ups of old employees. In addition to medical care a primary responsibility of the department is the prevention of occupational illnesses. In this the main concern is with the working environment in relation to its effect on the worker. Environmental factors may be dusts, fumes, gases, toxic materials, heat, humidity, radiation, or noise. The objectives are: (1) Immediate control of these factors through the education of the worker, through providing the wearing of respirators or other protective devices, and through careful medical examinations and regular analysis of urine specimens; (2) a long range control program which may be accomplished by local exhaust ventilation, wetting of materials, changes in metallurgy, changes in methods of handling, or by use of special devices and special equipment. To accomplish these objectives a fine industrial hygiene laboratory was built in Salt Lake City and equipped to do routine and experimental work. Trained and experienced industrial hygienists obtain the facts by making frequent hygiene surveys. These surveys include tests of the air, studies of all processes, and careful investigation of ventilation, lighting, and general working conditions. Except in emergencies, the air contaminants and often the substances handled by the worker are sent to the laboratory for analysis by chemists and technicians specially trained in industrial hygiene methods. The findings are evaluated in terms of limits recommended by various State and Federal agencies, and in light of all available medical data. The methods used for studying the working environment involve all of the usual chemical and physical procedures employed in industrial hygiene. The Impinger, electric precipitator, thermal pre-cipitator, and filter paper sampler have been used to collect atmospheric dust and fume samples. Of special interest here is the filter paper sampler, shown in Fig. 1, which was developed by Dr. Silver-man at Harvard University. The instrument has been improved and is used very extensively in field studies. A water manometer connected behind an orifice is used to determine the rate of air flow. Calibration is effected by use of a standard gas meter or rotameter. The dust or fume is collected on a filter paper clamped between two rings, as shown in Fig. 2. The filter paper, such as Whatman No. 52, collects both dust and fume with a very high efficiency. The instrument is very convenient and easily transported. The solids collected on the filter paper are analyzed in the laboratory usually by use of a polar-ographic procedure. By this procedure it is possible to measure quantitatively in a single analysis the

Jan 1, 1952

By J Price, M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey

COAL mine operators recognize coal as an abrasive material, because the wear of drilling, cutting, and conveying equipment is reflected as a cost item for replacement of parts. Similarly, industrial consumers of coal experience abrasive wear on all coal-handling equipment. Operators of pulverized fuel plants are doubtless most keenly aware of the abrasiveness of coal, because under the high contact pressures developed between coal and metal in pulverizers, abrasive wear is increased many fold. Moreover, experience in operating pulverized fuel plants has demonstrated that some coals are much more abrasive than others. Hardgrove' stated that maintenance costs entailed by the wear of grinding elements is often a more important variable than the cost of the power required to pulverize different coals. Craig2 also reports that one coal may cause pulverizer parts to wear several times faster than another. It is apparent, therefore, that those concerned with pulverizing coal could profitably employ a method for estimating the abrasiveness of different coals, just as they utilize standard tests for thermal value, grindability, and ash-fusion temperature to assist in selecting the most suitable and economical coal to use in a particular plant. The objective of this investigation was to develop a test procedure that would be suitable for general use in estimating the abrasiveness of coals. However, few, if any, of the standard tests now used for evaluating the properties of coal are the product of a single investigation or the result of a single investigator's efforts. Rather, in each case, a testing procedure was devised by one investigator, used by others on a wider variety of coals, and finally refined completely as the result of the joint efforts of a number of interested people. Thus, the test procedure for estimating abrasiveness developed in the course of this work may not be refined sufficiently in its present form for general use, but it may serve as the starting point from which an acceptable test procedure can be developed. The method has been used thus far on only about a dozen coals, and there has been no opportunity to attempt a correlation between experimental results and actual plant experience. Only wider use of the procedure by other investigators and correlation with plant experience can determine to what extent the method will have to be modified to render it suitable for general application. Test Method Although the literature contains no record of an attempt to devise a method for estimating the abrasiveness of coal that could be used industrially, several investigators have tested properties of coal that are closely related to its abrasiveness. The abrasiveness of a material generally is considered to be related to its hardness, and hardness tests for coal have been employed by Heywood,' O'Neill," and Mathes. Also, the resistance of coal to abrasion, a property that presumably is related to the abrasiveness of coal, was measured by Heywooda and by Simek, Pulkrabek, and Coufalik.2 11 these investigators tested only individual pieces of coal. Since coal is a heterogeneous material having components of varying properties, tests of this type can yield results having little more than academic interest. Only a test method that utilizes a representative sample of coal can give results that are useful industrially. The abrasion tests used for various other materials have been considered for adaptation to testing the abrasiveness of coal. The tests used for metals,7-9 paving and flooring,'" and rubber," cannot be used because coal is not sufficiently abrasive.~ The present experimental work was begun before World War II and was conducted by three research fellows"'" working under a joint agreement between the University of Washington and the Bureau of Mines. After a great deal of preliminary work with a variety of apparatus and materials, a test procedure was developed which consisted of rotating a test disk 2Yz in. diam in a steel mortar containing the coal sample. The shaft carrying the test disk at the lower end and a 100-lb load on the upper end was free to move vertically. The bed of coal in the mortar was kept fluid by low-pressure air admitted through a port near the bottom of the mortar. Measurable wear on an Armco iron disk could be obtained in this test procedure, but, despite extensive efforts to eliminate them, several major disadvantages remained in this test method. First, with most coals the amount of wear on the iron disk did not exceed a few milligrams. Second, a single type of disk was not applicable for all coals. A smooth iron disk gave satisfactory results with both bituminous and sub-bituminous coals, but hardly any wear with anthracite or coke. A disk having studs or projections gave more satisfactory abrasion losses with anthracite and coke and presented no operating difficulties with free-burning bituminous and sub-bituminous coals. It could not, however, be used with caking coals because these coals formed a

Jan 1, 1952

By George B. Langford

The McIntyre mine is in the Pearl Lake section of the Porcupine gold area. The rocks are Keewatin lavas intruded by quartz porphyries and albitite dies of Algoman age. Gold-bearing quartz veins are found in the Keewatin rocks near the porphyry stocks. The whole area has been highly compressed by forces acting along a N. 20°W. line. These forces folded the Keewatin rocks before the intrusion of the Algoman rocks, and later schisted both the Keewatin and Algoman rocks. Vein fractures were developed after the folding but before the development of the schist by the compres-sive forces being locally broken up into couples. These couples were set up by the differential resistance to deformation of porphyries and basalts, and also by the competency of the dacites and incompetency of the tuffs and fragmental rocks. During the important period of vein formation, two zones were developed—an inner productive zone in which the quartz veins are ankerite-bearing and an outer barren zone in which the quartz veins are calcite-bearing. The vein solutions originated in the same magrna that supplied the albitite dikes. Introduction The McIntyre mine, in the Porcupine gold area of northern Ontario, has passed its twenty-sixth birthday and has been producing gold since early in 1912. During this time approximately ten million tons of ore has been mined and over three and a half million ounces of gold recovered. This amount of ore would be sufficient to fill 2300 standard railway freight trains, each of 100 cars, and the gold produced, although only equivalent to a cube 51/2 ft. to the side, would weigh approximately 100 tons, a load for three freight cars. Silver has been produced in the ratio of 1 oz. of silver to every 4.4 oz. of gold, so that the total silver recovery is in the neighborhood of 700,000 ounces. The early history of the mine, like that of many others, shows that for several years it fought an uphill struggle for existence. One of the important features in winning this fight was the early recognition of some of the geological conditions responsible for the ore deposits, and the application of this knowledge in the search for ore and in the acquiring of adjoining properties. As early as 1913—only two years after the mine was opened—a geological department was organiaed. It has functioned almost continuously since that date and has demonstrated the importance

Jan 1, 1941

By B. Egeberg, H. B. Smith

Britannia metal is a white alloy consisting primarily of tin and antimony, the tin greatly predominating. The alloy usually contains a small amount of copper and occasionally very small amounts of one or two other metals, such as bismuth, zinc, and lead. It is capable of being cold-rolled, it takes a high polish, and it is fairly noncorrosive; properties which make it a popular metal for many household and traveling utensils. Britannia metal is similar in many respects to pewter and has largely replaced pewter in the arts, but it should not be confused with that alloy, because pewter is essentially a tin-lead alloy, while Britannia is a tin-antimony alloy. In view of the fact that so little has been published concerning Britannia metal, the authors feel justified in presenting the results of their investigation, particularly since the behavior of this alloy under cold rolling and heat treatment differs so greatly from that of other metals and alloys. The old craftsman, engaged in the making of ornaments or tableware, heated the cold-rolled sheet metal or his finished product to a straw color corresponding to about 375" I?., claiming to produce thereby a harder and more rigid article. The fact that possibly led him to this heating was that a reheated article or sheet made from Britannia metal has a distinct metallic ring when struck a sharp blow, whereas an unheated article or sheet has a leady, dead note. No doubt he has associated the metallic ring with a greater rigidity and strength, and justly so, as will be seen later. The approximate analysis of the metal we investigated was 91 Sn, 7 Sb, 2 Cu, and the molten metal was bottom-poured into an iron mold yielding an ingot 7 3/4 in. wide by 11 in. long and % in. thick, the casting temperature being 800" F. The ingot was cold-rolled to a sheet 0.032 in. thick, sufficiently large samples for experimental purposes being cut from the sheet at intermediate stages. The samples were all tested for hardness with scleroscope and Brine11 machine, then heated to 212" F. for 30 min., and again tested after cooling to room temperature. The same samples were heated successively at 300°, 400°, and 440" F., followed

Jan 1, 1929