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By S. J. Hruska, G. M. Pound

The critical supersaturations for appreciable nucleation rate of cadmium crystals on copper and glass substrates at 186°Kwere measured as a junction of thermal-beam energy over a range of source temperatures between 616" and 839OK. There was no effect of source temperature on critical super saturation. This implies that the adsmbate prior to nucleation is in thermal equilibrium with the substrate. THE deposition of metallic vapors on solid substrates has been found to exhibit a critical behavior in that the rate of formation of deposit increases markedly when the intensity of the vapor source is increased slightly.* Evidence of the ability of sub- where Je is the flux which would arrive if the substrate were equilibrated with bulk condensate at the adsorbate temperature. The following work was undertaken to test this hypothesis. A) Energy Exchange Between Metallic Vapor and Substrates. When a freely translating atom collides with a stationary solid body its energy and momentum undergo changes which determine whether the atom is reflected or adsorbed. An atom is considered to be reflected if it returns to a freely translating state after remaining under the influence of the body for only a time comparable to the period of oscillation of atoms on the surface. An atom which remains for a longer time is said to be in an adsorbed state. The parameter which describes the energy transfer occurring at the interface is the thermal-accommodation coefficient which may be defined in terms of energy as Ei = average energy of impingent atoms, Eeq = average energy of an emergent atom which has equilibrated with the substrate, and Eem = average energy of an emergent atom. If a temperature is assigned to each of these energies, we have at as defined by Knudsen.2 Since this allows no distinction between reflected and evaporated atoms, a more specific definition is introduced for the present purposes, namely 71 = probability that an impingent atom is transferred to an adsorbed state, aj = thermal-accommodation coefficient for reflected atoms, and aTc = thermal-accommodation coefficient for adsorbed atoms. During a time t,, the mean stay time, prior to evaporation the adsorbed atom (adatom) will interact with the substrate and this will have the net effect of transferring the adatom towards a state of

Jan 1, 1964

By Francis Cameron

Gloomy predictions that domestic mineral reserves are approaching exhaustion are unwarranted and may be harmful, this author contends. Specific mineral forecasting errors in the Paley Report are cited to support this contention, and steps that can be taken to insure a progressive mineral industry capable of keeping pace with the major raw material needs of the nation through advancing technology are suggested. Mining is both exciting and rewarding —although at times somewhat frustrating— and we all can have real pride in our industry, in its people, and in its accomplishments. It is, however, with concern that I have noted a deterioration in this Country in what might be called mining's stature and in the growth of a belief in many quarters that our mineral reserves are rapidly approaching exhaustion. In other words, there is a popular image that we are fast becoming a "have not" nation in many respects and that the domestic mining industry can no longer be considered, in the vernacular of Wall Street to offer much in the way of "growth potential." I do not subscribe to this hypothesis, nor do I be-li4ve that the record of the mining industry bears this out. However, let me add that we can, in time, talk ourselves into this frame of mind and we can hasten the day when this very well might come about by unnecessary and unwise legislation or regulation. My remarks today are basically designed to give my reasons for refuting this negative philosophy and to review our record. With your help, I know we can improve our image, and the public's recognition of our industry's peculiar problems. The progress of our civilization over the centuries has been fundamentally based upon proper use of raw materials, both agricultural and mineral, and upon energy, human or otherwise. As the standard of living has progressed century by century, the demands for mineral raw materials have increased in an irregular, but steadily rising progression. Fortunately, those minerals on which we depend most, i.e., iron, coal, petroleum, copper, aluminum, lead, and zinc have been neither too difficult to find nor to process into useful form. Iron, the most useful of all metals, is present in various amounts in most rock types and soils. Gold, seemingly the most generally desired (but certainly not the most useful of all metals), occurs in sea water in a far greater total tonnage than has been won from all of the world's known gold mines. If the latter is true, then why do we not see large installations treating sea water for the recovery of its gold content? The answer, of course, is that even the French, who seem, from their recent actions, to value gold above all else, have not devised a way of doing this at a profit. Theoretically, it is possible, but not with today's technology at a cost which would justify the effort. Man has exploited only those mineral concentrations which accidents of nature have placed within his so far limited means of finding and utilizing. What we geologists and engineers refer to as an orebody is nothing more than a concentration of minerals, exploitable with available knowledge, that will yield a value greater than the value attached to the energy and capital required to produce it. What is "ore" and what is not "ore" is, in the end, a matter of economics. The economic problem stems from the physical and chemical character of mineral deposits. The good Lord stacked the cards heavily in favor of rising costs by limiting the amount of the higher grade ores easily available. As the best and most accessible ores are depleted, it becomes necessary to work harder and with greater ingenuity to produce more from less accessible and lower grade resources. The quantity of mineral raw materials we can have in the future will be determined largely by what we can afford to pay for them in terms of human effort, capital outlay and production energies. We will always have the problem of cost with us and our only real means of keeping ahead of rising costs is by continually improving our technical abilities. We, in this country at least, no longer have open to us large and unexplored virgin wildernesses in which a pick-and-shovel prospector might uncover an untouched mineral bonanza. The rest of the world also has few conventional frontiers left in which the explorer-prospector is free to roam. We do, however, have enormous land areas unexplored, and untouched po-

Jan 1, 1969

By L. Weyher, H. L. Lovell

This discussion is restricted to a very specific application of the cyclone - its use as a hydro-cyclone in the cleaning of fine coal. It is hoped that the development of the present data will assist in the further elucidation of existing qualitative models, and also in an enhanced application of the hydrocyclone and provide a base for further research. Discussed are the mechanisms of gravity separation in hydro-cyclones, test procedures, experimental observations, and industrial applications from these studies. Within the general area of unit operations, a considerable effort has been expended in theoretical and empirical research associated with cyclone operations. The motivation involves the industrial requirement for devices and techniques to manipulate small particles at low operating costs, a situation required in coal preparation. There are good reasons why the cyclone helps to satisfy this demand, because it combines operational simplicity (no moving parts) with versatility and high throughput capacity per unit area. The cyclone is one of the most widely applied tools in the process technologies. There are areas for potential cyclone application which have been only meagerly explored or not considered at all. This discussion is restricted to a very specific application of the cyclone - its use as a hydrocyclone in the cleaning of fine coal. It represents an initial presentation of a more comprehensive report. Coal preparation can appropriately claim the hydrocyclone since most of its predominant industrial uses have originated in this area and have spread into other applications, including the broad field of ore dressing, the petroleum industry, chemical processing, nuclear engineering and food technology. There is one operational principle common in all cyclones: A fluid is tangentially introduced into a cylindrical or conical container under pressure. A predominantly irrotational flow field1 is established within the cyclone (Fig. 1). The uniqueness of this flow is indicated by the variation in tangential velocity across the cyclone radius, which reaches a maximum a short distance from the center and decays toward the cyclone wall. In contrast, the tangential velocity in a centrifuge increases uniformly toward the wall. Usually two products are discharged from the cyclone. They differ in that one discharge consists predominantly of that portion of the feed fluid which moves along the wall axially away from the feed inlet, while the other consists predominantly of fluid spiralling along the central regions of the cyclone, in an axial direction opposite to that of the wall current. Fig. 2 indicates these discharge points schematically. The latter product may be termed the vortex-product, since it is discharged with the central vortex-current. In the case of conical cyclones, the former product may be referred to as the apex-product. Although the names "over- and underflow" are widely used, many cyclones are operated from extreme angular positions thus the proposed terms are less ambiguous. The cyclone feed fluid can be laden with solid particles or nonmiscible fluid drops. Such a feed component is discharged from the cyclone, after some residence time, into the one or the other product. Yet, the orifice through which a particle will leave the cyclone is dependent upon a number of factors. These factors, in a statistical sense, determine the path of the particle within the cyclone. Thus, different separation phenomena are possible and different process results attainable by the controllable variation of the particle path. It is then, to attain a fuller understanding of this particle path, to which this study is ultimately directed. It is anticipated that the detailed study of the data being developed will allow further elucidation of existing qualitative models. However, the development of a quantitative description of cyclone operation in terms of a mechanism is not currently feasible. The flow conditions in a cyclone are not fully understood even for a pure fluid, without the added complexity of the inclusion of multiple size-density particles. It is hoped that the development of the present data will also assist in an enhanced application of the hydro-cyclone and provide a base for further research. Some practical applications drawn from the data are suggested. Cyclone operations have been classified according

Jan 1, 1967

By Pradeep K. Rohatgi, Clyde M. Adams

An analysis of heal conduction in the freezing of a solution has been performed. The case considered is the semi-infinite mass of solution, bounded by a con-stant-temperature plane with one-dimensional heat flow, Numerical cooling rate and freezing rate distributions hare been calcutated for the particular case of unidirectional freezing of aqueous solutions against. a cold copper chill. The solution at each level parallel to the chill surface is subjected to a spectra of frcezing rates; the freezing rate is inilially lour., passes through a maximum, and then decreases until solidification is camplete. Arange and maximum freeeing rates are inversely proportional to the square of distance from the chill surface. The temperature of the chill surface in contact with the solution remains constant during solidification. Experimentally, it is observed that deudrite sparing increases linearly with distance from the chill surface; in the light of heat -flow analysis this means that the dendrile spacing is imersely proportional to the square root of the maximum freezing rate. SOLIDIFICATION of liquids is accompanied by rejection of latent heat at the solid-liquid interface. The over-all rate of liquid to solid transformation is governed by the rate of heat extraction. Analysis of the heat transfer in the liquid during freezing is important since it determines the freezing rate and resulting structure. A considerable amount of work has been done on metallic systems since solidification is frequently a major step in processing metals. Unidirectional freezing from heat sinks has been treated by several investigators.1-4 Much of the work has been limited to the simpler case of substances such as pure metals which freeze isothermally at a unique transformation temperature. In this case the thickness of the solid zone y, next to a chill surface. is a parabolic function of the time. 8. where a and b are constants. Eq. |1| is a close approximation giving the progress of solidification for the case in which there is a small but finite thermal contact resistance at the interface between the freezing liquid and the chill.' It has been used with some success in connection with large steel ingots4 when the therma1 contact resistance is negligibly small (as is the case when water is brought into contact with the metal chill). The constant, b. becomes zero and Eq. [l] is then exact. even when the thermal properties of the chill and the freezing liquid depend on temperature. Analysis of unidirectional solidification of solutions is more complicated since the latent heat is evolved over a range of temperatures. Next to the all-solid zone in contact with the chill surface there is a solid plus liquid zone in which solidification takes place. Although the equations presented are considered quite general the numerical and experimental results are for freezing of aqueous solutions from a copper chill. I) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Solutions of potassium chloride, sodium chloride. and lithium chloride have been used. These solutions form a eutectic: a typical phase diagram is shown in Fig. 1. A solution at its liquid us temperature is poured into a tygon tube mounted on a relatively large copper chill. The chill is immersed in a freezing mixture of dry ice and acetone at -70°C. A thermocouple connected to a high-speed recorder was mounted near the top of the chill to measure the fluctuation in the temperature of chill surface in contact with the solution. In this system the progress of solidification can be visually observed through the tygon tube. After the specimens freeze to a desired height they are removed from the copper chill and stripped from the tygon tube. Longitudinal and transverse sections are cut from the specimen for micrographic examination. Specimens in the form of a thin slice are mounted on a transparent glass slide by freezing small drops of water around the periphery. They are then polished on a series of emery papers; the final finishing is done on a soft tissue paper. A Leitz Biological microscope was used for structural observations; photography was

Jan 1, 1968

By H. Ries

SPECIAL sands are those that are employed for special purposes. They have a limited use, as compared with sands for concrete and plaster. The sands discussed in this chapter are those used for foundry purposes, glass manufacture, filter beds, abrasive purposes, sandblasting, engine sand, sand for sheet asphalt, and furnace sand. These sands are almost invariably high in silica, consisting chiefly of quartz grains. In some-for instance, glass sands-freedom from ingredients other than silica, such as iron oxide, is important. Certain grades, like filter sand, require rather careful sizing, and in foundry sands the bond, usually clay, is important. One deposit may sometimes be used to supply several grades or types of sand by appropriate methods of screening and washing. The special sands discussed here are usually obtained from deposits of unconsolidated material but sands high in silica are derived occasionally from soft sand- stones that can be disintegrated easily. Requirements are not the same for all uses, and, while certain properties may be demanded, there are no officially adopted standard tests except for foundry sands. FOUNDRY SANDS Definition-Foundry sands include those siliceous sands that are used to make the forms for casting metals. If these are employed for making molds, they are known as molding sands; if for the cores that form the hollow spaces in the casting, they are called core sands. Naturally bonded sands are those containing a variable, though not usually large, amount of clay, which serves as a bond. Synthetic sands, now much used, represent an artificial mixture of sand with usually fire clay or bentonite. Core sands may be bonded with oil, cereal binders, resin, pitch, or other materials. The foundrymen apply the term "sharp sand" to one that is free from bond. Properties-The important properties to be tested at room temperature are texture or fineness, permeability, strength, deformation, and flowability. Those tested at elevated temperatures are compressive strength, expansion and contraction, sintering point, and durability. More attention probably has been given to research on the properties

Jan 1, 1949

Jan 1, 1920

By Robert Goodrich

EXPERIMENTS ON A PORPHYRY COPPER ORE FROM BISBEE, ARIZ. THIS research was done partly in the non-ferrous laboratory of the Department of Metallurgy of Columbia University, under the direction of Dr. Edward F. Kern, and completed elsewhere. Acknowledgment is due to Prof. Arthur L. Walker, Dr. Edward F. Kern and Dr. William Campbell of the Department of Metallurgy, for their kind advice and for the inspiration derived from their instruction. This report is given under the following heads: Petrographic Description (Microscopic Study); Sampling and Preparing Ore for Treatment; Chemical Analysis; Treatment of Ore. PETROGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION Texture: Variable. Fine to medium mixed aggregate. Original structure: Obscure. Secondary structure: Fractured; healed.

Jan 8, 1915

By John R. Burger

Industrial mineral mines that have recently been opened, or soon will be opened in the northern circumpacific will produce potash in Canada, Mexico, and Thailand; phosphate in the US, Mexico, and Colombia; soda ash in the US; and chromite in the US and the Philippines.

Jan 1, 1982

Jan 1, 1964

Jan 1, 1915

By O. H. Eschholz

The electrostatic process of fume precipitation is an excellent example of the successful application of scientific knowledge to an industrial operation. Originally proposed for the precipitation of sulfuric acid mists, it has been extended until at present there is practically no fume-carrying gas to which the method cannot be applied. Among the more common applications are: the recovery of non-ferrous smelter flue-dust, iron blast-furnace dust, cement dust, and potash fume. It should be borne in mind that the process is restricted to the precipitation of suspended particles, either liquid or solid, and does not separate gaseous constituents. However, by proper temperature control, mixtures of vapors having different temperatures of condensation to either solids or liquids may be selectively precipitated. The process consists essentially of subjecting suspended particles, including those too minute to be effectively acted upon by centrifugal or gravitational forces, to such an electrical force that they are driven from the gas stream, acting as a conveyer, and deposited upon a suitable receiving surface. This directional impulse is obtained from the interaction of charged particles and an electrostatic field of definite intensity gradient existing between two dissimilar electrodes, known as discharge and receiving electrodes. In principle, the equipment is equally simple. As shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1, it consists of: (1) A source of high-potential direct, current,, requiring: (a) Source of alternating-current energy. (b) Means of transforming from low voltage to high voltage. (c) Means of converting alternating to direct current. (2) Precipitation chamber having: (a) Transmission tubes for fume-laden gases. (b) Suitably designed and disposed electrodes. (c) Means for affecting removal of deposited solids. Although Hohlfeld demonstrated, in 1824, that a smoke-laden atmosphere could be cleared by applying an electrostatic field, and while Sir

Jan 1, 1919

OF THE many categories into which scientific knowledge has been arbitrarily divided, the one which has proved most applicable in our attempts to gain an insight into the details of steelmaking processes is physical chemistry. To the young metallurgist who has only recently survived a college course in this subject, the application of its principles to reactions in liquid steel should not be difficult. To one who has had no such course or whose auld acquaintance with the subject has all but been forgot, such application is all too often thwarted by the abstruse presentations of the subject found in many of the available textbooks. AS a tool for the control of a complex process involving many chemical reactions, physical chemistry can become very valuable. The specialist who is using this tool for many purposes and perhaps contributing to its development will want to know a great deal more about it than can be included in this book. He will be interested in its history, its accomplishments and limitations, and its applications to many and varied problems. To the steelmaker or metallurgist, however, it is only one of a number of tools that he must use. He is willing to forego the detailed study of its inner workings in order to concentrate upon the development of skill in its application. It is the purpose of this chapter to present a simplified view of physical chemistry as a tool of great potential usefulness. This purpose and the desire for brevity have required the elimination of many of the gadgets with which the tool is usually adorned. It is hoped that this simplification will be conducive to clear understanding. The beginner is urged not to overlook the more extended treatments of the standard textbooks.* He is assured at the same time that the basic tool is sound and serviceable and is guaranteed to give satisfaction if regularly lubricated with common sense. Certain parts of physical chemistry require rather formidable mathematics for their complete development, but in the main those applications in which we are here interested can be expressed in fairly

Jan 1, 1944

By R. J. Burgess, A. R. Ramey, A. R. Adams

During interpretation of pressure buildup tests on gas wells in a tight dolomite gas reservoir, peculiar behavior was noticed. Two straight lines were apparent. Effective permeability to gas taken from either straight line was about the same, and the Miller-Dyes-Hutchinson dimensionless time check for the straight line was proper for both straight lines. Geological data indicated the likelihood of scattered trending fractures in the reservoirs. Since the first straight Iine yielded permeability values close to the geometric mean permeability from core analyses, it was postulated that the reservoir model was that of an acidized well completed in the tight dolomite, but that widely scattered hairline fractures caused the mean permeability of the reservoir distant from the well to be higher than the matrix permeability. Because all other studies of fractured reservoirs to the authors' knowledge assumed that the fracture matrix was dense enough to communicate directly with the well, no interpretative methods were available. The Hurst line-source solution for a radial change in permeability for interference between oil reservoirs was adapted to pressure buildup testing. The result indicated that the first straight line should yield the proper matrix permeability and wellbore skin effect. The second straight line may be extrapolated to obtain static pressure. The time of bend between the straight lines was used to estimate distance to a fracture. Application to field test data is shown. It is believed that the methods developed and the case history presented will add to present tools available for pressure buildup interpretation. Introduction Since the pioneer studies by Miller, Dyes, and Hutchin-son1 and Horner' in 1950 and 1951, well test analysis has become recognized as one of the most powerful tools available to both production and reservoir engineers. Well test analysis serves as a logical basis for well stimulation and completion analysis, and for long-term reservoir engineering. Since the early 19501s, much effort has been placed on the development of well-test analytical methods. Reservoir and well conditions of increasing complexity have been considered systematically to provide the analyst with a catalog of causes and effects. Matthews and Russella state that some 200 papers dealing with this subject have been published in the last 35 years. Developments in well test analysis appear to have originated in one of two ways. Either a physically realistic field condition was anticipated and analytical solutions for the condition achieved, or anomalous field test behavior was recognized and interpretative methods sought for the anomaly. In recent years, it has appeared that the latter has inspired an increasing number of studies. The analyst today finds an increasing number of known cause and effect studies available for well test analysis, the classic of which is that of finding the specific flow problem that generated the answer — the well behavior. Although it may be impossible to achieve this goal uniquely, the analyst often is able to select a useful interpretation that combines all known performance and geologic data — or to show that various logical alternatives would not significantly affect the interpretation. During a recent reservoir study, we observed gas well test behavior that did not appear to fit behavior described previously. Although it cannot be said that we have found a unique interpretation, we shall present in this paper the peculiar behavior observed, and describe the reservoir and interpretative methods developed. Reservoir Description The subject gas reservoir is a 9-mile-long, narrow dolomite reservoir lying within a limestone of Ordovician age. (See Fig. 1.) The dolomitized rock in the field consists of dark brown to buff, dense to coarsely crystalline, vugular dolomite containing numerous hairline fractures, many of which may have been closed in the reservoir and parted when cores were brought to the surface. Larger fractures are also apparent in core, but usually are filled and sealed with euhedral dolomite crystals. Portions of the north flank of the reservoir are known to be cut by a sealing fault downthrown to the north. Gas wells located near the fault have higher open flow potentials than those more distant from the fault. This is believed to be a result of higher permeability near the fault due to more extensive and open fractures. Detailed coring and core analysis have been performed on several of the wells in this reservoir. Fig. 2 presents permeability variation' plots for both horizontal and vertical

Jan 1, 1969

By K. T. Koone, R. J. Blackwell

One of the more important problems to be solved in designing a miscible flood is related to the size of the solvent bank used. Size of the bank may be critical to economic success. Too large a bank loses money; too small a bank may deteriorate and fail to maintain the miscibility needed for high recovery. An important factor in deterioration of a small bank is permeability channeling. In a highly stratified reservoir, solvent speeds ahead in the more permeable zones and mixes laterally with fluids bypassed in adjacent, low-permeability strata. Numerical solutions have been obtained .for the differential equations that describe the movement of a slug through a two-layer system in which mixing occurs both in the direction of flow and transversely. The solvent slug is assumed to have the same density and viscosity as the resident fluid and the pushing fluid. These solutions have been verified by comparing them with similar concentration profiles obtained in the laboratory in a 36-ft stratified model packed with glass beads. The theoretical study revealed that when the dominant mechanism causing a bank to fail is lateral mixing the bank size needed for a given recovery may increase with length rather than decreasing as the square root of reservoir length, as suggested by one-dimensional mixing theory. From a comprehensive examination of the variables, a generalized correlation is developed that relates strata thicknesses, bank size, fluid velocity, mixing coefficients, system length and simple solvent-resident fluid phase behavior to the area miscibly swept. INTRODUCTION Miscible displacement, or solvent flooding, continues to receive widespread attention as a method for increasing oil recovery over that possible in conventional gas-drive or waterdrive projects. A basic economic requirement in the application of such processes is the use of as little solvent as possible. A basic physical requirement is that enough solvent be used to maintain miscibility. Economics places an upper limit on the size of a solvent slug, and physical considerations establish a lower limit. Consequently, the practicality of any given miscible process requires that the economic limit be greater than the lower limit imposed by physical requirements. Procedures exist for determining the economic limit; however, procedures for determining realistic minimum bank sizes exist for only special reservoir situations. In the past, bank size has usually been selected on the assumption of a piston-like displacement for which only longitudinal mixing is important. This assumption leads to the favorable conclusion that bank size, expressed as per cent of pore volume, is inversely proportional to the square root of length. Collins considered the problem of transverse mixing of solvent with fluids in bypassed zones with the assumptions that no forward mixing occurs and that the concentration is uniform in the permeable stratum of interest. 1 Lauwerier considered a mathematically similar problem in thermal recovery operations.2 Their work suggests the much less favorable conclusion that bank size could be directly proportional to the length or even higher powers of the length. This paper considers the physical behavior of a small solvent bank as it moves through a real reservoir, without imposing many of the restrictive assumptions of past treatments. To facilitate mathematical description, an idealized, two-layer model that permits mixing both laterally and in the direction of flow will be considered. A calculation procedure for solving the descriptive equations will be developed for a displacement involving fluids of equal density and viscosity. In addition, laboratory experiments designed to check the computational results will be described, and the coincidence of calculated and observed results will be discussed. The use of many solutions for a variety of bank sizes, strata thicknesses and characteristic system lengths to develop a usable correlation between

Jan 1, 1966

By Hobart M. Kraner, E. B. Snyder

THIS paper shows that volume stability, low porosity and decreased pyroplasticity are desirable for blast-furnace linings, particularly for the hearth. It shows further that a hot load test is a valuable means of testing the fusion or softening behavior of a refractory at operating temperatures. The effect of carbon monoxide on commercial blast-furnace refractories in their as-received condition and after refiring is reported, showing that many commercial blast-furnace refractories disintegrate badly but that refiring decreases the effect and certain special refractories are now available which are almost free of the tendency. FACTORS AFFECTING CHOICE OF REFRACTORIES If one were to depend entirely upon experience or trial in the selection of clay refractories, the solution of a problem would be a slow process. Furnace campaigns are so long and attended by so many variables that it is difficult to draw fine distinctions within a reasonable period of time in regard to the quality of refractories used. It could be said, of course, that if service results do not yield the proper information for intelligent choice, there is no difference in the quality of brick being considered, but this is not necessarily true. Conventional ceramic tests are designed to give the ceramic engineer information as to the refractoriness and firing temperature, which he in turn interprets in terms of volume stability, ability to withstand load at high temperature (pyroplasticity), permeability, chemical stability and resistance to the action of slag. In most refractory applications several of these factors are involved. In a particular instance, one requirement may be predominant, while in others some other factors may be of primary importance. In this country, clay refractories are generally made from mixtures of plastic and flint fire clays. The process of firing a clay refractory is one of slowly melting the constituents, and during this operation its porosity is gradually reduced. The process is arrested, of course, in its incipient stages and the progress is determined by measuring slight changes in. porosity, volume, bulk gravity, etc., that have taken place. Often the temperatures to which clay refractories are exposed in service are higher than those employed in their firing. However, if the manufacturer were to fire them at such high temperatures the brick would distort. Therefore it would be difficult for the manufacturer to fire all of his clay refractories to temperatures . at which they are to be used, although in many cases it would be desirable from the user's point of view if he would do so. The porosity of clay refractories decreases by firing, to a minimum limit, after which a further increase in the temperature causes expansion in certain clay constituents and bloating in others. -Both may occur in the same refractory containing two such clays.

Jan 1, 1944

By Richard P. Hight

Abrasives include the substances, natural or artificial, that are used to grind, polish, abrade, scour, clean, or otherwise remove solid material, usually by rubbing action but also by impact (pressure blasting for example). They do not include abrasive tools, for instance, lathe tools and files--or polishing agents such as waxes, which act by filling pores. Detergents and cleaners whose action is chemical rather than physical are omitted al- though some chemical-action polishes and cleaners may also contain solid abrasives, for example, many automobile and metal polishes. General Considerations The most important physical properties of materials that qualify them for use as abrasives are hardness, toughness (or brittleness), grain shape and size, character of fracture or cleavage, purity or uniformity. For making bonded abrasive products such as grinding wheels, additional important factors are stability under high heat and bonding characteristics of grain surfaces. The economic factors of cost and availability are always important. No one single property is paramount for any use. For some uses extreme hardness and toughness are needed, as in diamonds for drill bits; for others, the factors of greatest importance are hardness and ability to break down slowly under use, to develop fresh cut- ting edges when grains become worn-for example: in garnet for sandpaper neither highly cleavable or friable grains nor extremely tough grains are wanted. For still other uses, great hardness is objectionable; for example, abrasives for dentifrices and for glass-cleaning soaps. For the most efficient use in the more critical applications, the different types of abrasives are rarely completely interchangeable; thus, while crushed quartz and garnet are both used in sandpaper, the papers are not at all interchangeable in their use applications. In the last analysis, the choice of a high grade abrasive depends upon the quality and quantity of work done by the abrasive per unit of cost. Initial cost of an artificial abrasive may be much greater than that of a natural abrasive but the artificial abrasive may do so much better work than the natural one, and do it so much faster that the ultimate cost will be less. It is for this reason that artificial abrasives have largely replaced natural abrasives. Abrasive Value Mineralogical hardness or "scratch" hardness as expressed in Mohs' scale is an important property in evaluating abrasive materials, but, as noted before, it is only one of several essential properties. The mineral hardness of pure crystal almandite garnet is about 7.5, but if the crystal is crossed by incipient fracture planes, or if it contains inclusions of other minerals, the apparent or useful hardness may be much lower. While the quartz grains in a sandstone have a hardness of 7, the bond holding the grains together may be so weak that the stone is valueless as a commercial abrasive. In artificially bonded wheels and stones, the hardness, strength, and character of the bond are fully as important as the hardness of the abrasive grains. Thus, in an overall consideration of abrasive hardness of loose abrasive grains, both "scratch" hardness and toughness must be considered. In naturally or artificially bonded abrasive stones, bond characteristics are a third factor, which is most important. The problem of abrasive hardness is further complicated by the inadequacies of methods of testing hardness and of expressing relative values. The Mohs' scale is inadequate both because the methods of testing are very crude and

Jan 1, 1975

Jan 1, 1915

By E. R. Atkins, G. H. Smith

Results of laboratory tests are presented to show that lire value of "m", in the Archie expression dernlined by the shapes of the particles in the system. Tile value of m "the shape factor", is constant for a system of particles of a given shape for a range of F - + values. Applying this concept, one can predict F - + relationships for mixtures of particles with different shapes, and these predicted relationships are useful in electric log interpretation. It is suggested that an equation of the form 1/F -10mcan be used to describe the properties of natural formations containing varying amounts of sand and clay. From this work and values of "a" and "m" reported in the literature, it appears that in many cases rocks in the same geological horizon have a common primary porosity but contain varying amounts of a particular clay. It is concluded that the equation can be applied to a rock-water system only when values of "a" and "m" have been established for the particular system. INTRODUCTION The petroleum literature contains many reports of the results obtained by determining formation resistivity factor F and porosity + of rock samples from oil fields all over the world. The usual practice is to use data from a large number of samples from a number of fields to find an average relationship between F and +. Several such average relationships have been advanced. In the absence of data on a particular formation or field, it has been the practice to use the average relationships to give a rough approximation of the F - + relationship. The purpose of this paper is to report on basic relationships that exist between F and + for naturally occurring particles in water solutions. Other workers' have found the same relationships apply to the diffusion of hydrogen through packed beds of dry particles. In the work discussed here, relationships for application to unconsolidated sands or shales containing mix- tures of particle shapes are derived. These relationships, developed for unconsolidated formations, may apply to consolidated formations. EXPERIMENTAL To evaluate F- relationships for unconsolidated rocks, the results of laboratory measurements on simple slurries of clay or sand will be used. Such laboratory studies are concerned with the electrical behavior of water-containing rocks. The wet rock constituents are electrically similar in slurries and in rocks. Archie2 defined formation resistivity factor as All resistance measurements were made using a 1,000-cycle impedance bridge with an oscilloscope as the null detector." The accuracy of this bridge was better than * 0.15 per cent. For the particular apparatus employed, no additional reactance was required to achieve balance for samples with resistances between

By Henry C. Freeman

The writer spent the month of November last in the La Plata mountains, Colorado, and the material portion of his observations, so far as they may be of general interest, is here recorded. The La Plata mountains lie northwest of the town of Durango. The California mining district is co-extensive with the mountains. They appear on the map as an isolated group; but an examination on the ground shows that they are the continuation of the great

Jan 1, 1885

By Arthur B. Cummins

Mineral fillers are employed in United States industries to the extent of more than seven million tons annually, valued in excess of a hundred million dollars. This substantial usage involves a wide variety of mineral materials. To this may be added products manufactured from minerals, such as carbon black, portland cement, lime or chemically precipitated calcium carbonates, which would add substantially to the total. The purposes for which fillers are used differ considerably. Minerals used as fillers are mostly silicates, silicas, and carbonates as referred to hereinafter. The term "mineral filler" has various meanings in mineral technology and in the arts. Fillers are comparatively inert and their action is mainly physical. Materials that are employed primarily for chemical reactivity, or for pigment or abrasive functions ordinarily would not be considered to be fillers when used for these purposes. Nearly all filler usages are based on advantages which are gained by desired modification of composition properties or by improvements in processing. A simple definition for a filler is an inert material that is included in a composition for some useful purpose. This definition may be amplified or made more specific for each of the filler usages, the major ones of which are: paints, paper, plastics, rubber, bituminous compositions, pesticides and fertilizers. There are in addition a whole host of minor usages. Powdered minerals when employed as components in paints, varnishes and lacquers are considered as extender pigments or low refractive index pigments. In paper, the term loading material as well as filler is used; in pesticides, the terms diluents and carriers connote different functions. For bituminous compositions, rubber and plastics, the usage of the simple word "filler" is more usual, but the designation loading material is sometimes used. Minerals Used as Fillers Most of the industrial minerals, and many rock powders are employed to some extent for different filler uses. These usages vary from year to year depending on availabilities, costs, technologic trends and advancements. For the major applications, however, and for the more particular requirements at any given period, there are general trends which favor a more or less restricted group of filler products for each of the major consumer fields. This selection of materials is determined by the characteristics of the individual filler products, their effectiveness in fulfilling the primary function or functions for which they may be employed, and the cost after incorporation in the finished product. The mineral-bearing materials of major importance as fillers are: limestones, clays of several types, talc, pyrophyllite, mica, barite, diatomite, crystalline silicas, asbestos, slate and other rock dusts. Others of secondary importance include: gypsum, vermiculite, phosphate rock, perlite, and pulverized wastes, such as slag and fly ash. A considerable number of other minerals are used to lesser extent. Among these minor mineral materials are: feldspar, pumicite, wollastonite,18 tripoli, nepheline syenite,6 coal, altered volcanic rock and others.2 Indeed, most mineral materials, when reduced to fine particle size may have some potential usage as fillers, depending on their properties, availability and price. On the other hand, the more exacting filler requirements

Jan 1, 1960