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By Frank Doxey

AT Dominion Steel & Coal Corp. it has long been recognized that continued mechanization of mine operations is necessary in the Pictou, Cumberland, and Sidney coal fields of Nova Scotia. The varied physical conditions in these fields call for special consideration of individual cases before planning is finalized. Because standard equipment cannot be procured which would operate successfully, many experiments have been necessary over the years to keep pace with the progress made in other countries. There are two mines, producing 2000 tpd, located in the Pictou coal field. The field is badly distorted and crossed by many faults. Seams are highly inclined and irregular and vary in thickness from 5 to 40 ft. Entries are difficult to maintain because of squeezing of the coal. ribs and movement of the roof and pavement. Output from the three operating mines in the Cumberland field is 3000 tpd. The field is highly inclined, inclination varying from 12° to 32°. Overlying beds consist of shales and massive sandstone lenses of extreme toughness and are responsible for bumps when the stresses are relieved by extraction. At greatest depth these are among the deepest coal workings in the world. Depth of cover ranges from 2300 to 4000 ft. This prohibits room-and-pillar working and necessitates longwall operation. Working of contiguous seams concurrently to maintain output increases the already difficult conditions. The Sydney field, with a frontage of about 30 miles, is the most important of the Nova Scotia coal fields. With the exception of one small area it is now wholly submarine. Output is approximately 21,000 tpd. Seams are 21/2 to 8 ft thick, and cover in the areas varies from 600 to 2300 ft, with an average of 1500 ft from sea bottom to the top of the seam. The seams dip in a seaward direction, pitches ranging from 6" to 4.0". The shoreline is the last place of entry to the seams and distance from the bank to the working faces is generally over 3½ miles, in some cases as much as 6½ miles. Ventilation is a problem and requires the construction of large permanent airways. Getting and Loading Coal: In 1925, in view of heavy pressures exerted by thickness of cover overlying the seams, roadways and pillars of the room-and-pillar system being worked began to break up and coal was lost. It was decided that a change in the method of extraction in areas with heavy cover was necessary, and experiments were made with many short walls and longwalls varying between 90 and 250 ft. Trial and error proved that the best operating length was between 400 and 500 ft, delivering all coal to the dip, with roadways to the face following a level course. The change-over was gradual, and the technique of roof control developed with the system, so that falls to the face are now very infrequent. An advantage of longwall mining is that it yields 95 pct extraction, especially important in coal seams of high quality or in seams where faults or disturbances restrict the workable areas. This percentage of extraction is based on the fact that the longwall advancing system takes development faces where pitch permits instead of driving headings and leaving roadway pillars. This system yields high tonnage during development and limits loss in extraction to duff left during operations. Accompanying disadvantages, on the other hand, are the heavy construction cost of main roadways and the necessity of driving all new flank face roadways through the gob. If the main roadways are driven through the solid, and large enough pillars are left on each side for protection against flank face weights, then the width of solid coal is approximately 1700 ft. This represents 10.6 pct of the coal available, or 89.4 pct extraction of the whole. These pillars, however, are of such size that they provide a useful pillar drawing area as a final operation of the mine. It may be that although the seam cannot be generally mined by the room-and-pillar method, it can be adapted to

Jan 1, 1955

By A. J. Griest, P. D. Frost, H. A. Robinson

The flow characteristics and uniform elongation of alpha-beta titanium alloys in the solution-treated condition were shown to be markedly affected by the solution temperature. Two classes of alpha-beta alloys were distinguished, based on the effect of solution temperature on the uniform elongation. Martensitic alpha-beta alloys, which are relatively weakly beta-stabilized, showed decreasing values of uniform elongation as the solution temperature was initially increased. However, after solution-treatment at still higher temperatures in the alpha-beta field, the uniform elongation of these alloys was again high, and often attained its maximum value. Nonmartensitic alpha-beta alloys, which are more heavily beta-stabilized, showed a continuous decrease of uniform elongation with increasing solution temperature. The behavior was rationalized in terms of the alpha-beta ratio and the alloy content of the beta existing at the solution temperature. The data indicate that in commercial practice close temperature control may be required to get maximum uniform elongotion, and hence, maximum potential formability, in solution-treated sheet. Bend-test data also were obtained for the solution-treated conditions. A MOST important objective of current titanium research is the development of age-hardenable alloys with superior formability in the solution -treated condition. Alpha-beta titanium alloys have been shown to be amenable to high-strength aging treatments after solution-treatment in the alpha-beta field.' However, heat-treatment data on the properties of solution-treated sheet, such as uniform elongation, minimum bend radius, and flow properties, which have a bearing on the potential formability, have not been widely available. This paper presents only the most significant results of a research program conducted at Battelle for the Air Force in an effort to develop sheet alloys that can be formed readily as solution-treated and subsequently aged to very high strengths. Data for 10 compositions representative of the more than 25 alloys studied in this program are presented. A primary objective of the paper is to demonstrate the pronounced dependence of the flow characteristics and uniform elongation on solution-treatment temperature. This effect is believed to be vitally important in the commercial heat-treatment of age-hardenable titanium sheet alloys. Experimental Procedures Melting and Fabrication—The nominal and actual compositions, beta transi temperatures, and rolling temperatures of 10 of the 30 alloys studied are presented in Table I. Stock :€or two of the alloys, E (Ti- 8Mn) and J (Ti-6A1-4V) was obtained from commercial heats. The remaining heats, except D and I, were double melted as 10-lb heats in a consumable-electrode furnace. Melting stock was 120 Brine11 hardness sponge. The oxygen and hydrogen analyses spotted throughout the heats indicate the range of interstitial levels resulting from the melting practice used. Heats D and I were melted as 20-lb ingots with the same grade of sponge. These ingots were cut in half and one portion used in the present evaluation. The ingots, which were about 4 in. diam and 4 in. in height, were upset forged and drawn at 1750°F to sheet bar 5/8 in. thick by 2 1/2 in. wide in such a manner that the top of the ingot corresponded to the top of the sheet bar. Slabs of the sheet bar, 5 1/2 in. in length were scalped to 1/2 in. thickness and rolled at the temperatures indicated in Table I to approximately 0.055 in. sheet. Elongation during rolling took place at 90" to the original forged length. The fabrication procedure used is described in some detail since the experimental heats showed considerable directionality in mechanical properties. The rolling procedures for the commercial heats were unknown, but were such as to produce essentially isotropic properties. All heats, as rolled, showed microstructures typical of alpha-beta alloys worked in the alpha-beta field; that is, the structures consisted of equiaxed alpha particles in a beta matrix. Heat Treatment— The effects of solution and aging heat-treatments on the properties of the alloys were evaluated uSing longitudinal and transverse tensile and bend coupons sheared from the sheet. Two or three solution-treated conditions were evaluated for each alloy. In addition, the alloys were also tested after annealing at 1200°F for 4 hr and furnace cooling. The solution-treated and annealed conditions were those in which the alloys might be expected to

Jan 1, 1959

By John R. Don

In the South Island of New Zealand an unusually favorable opportunity is offered for the analysis of the older crystalline rocks, underlying the sedimentary rocks which form the "country" of the gold-deposits. The Manipori formation of this island, comprising the greater part of the mountainous district west of lakes Manipori and Te Anau, in Otago, consists of an enormous thickness (estimated by Professor Hutton1 at 160,000 ft.) of crystalline schists, gneiss, syenite, and syenitic gneiss, with associated masses of granite; the whole forming the most picturesque fart of New Zealand. The famous West Coast sounds occur in this formation. No paying auriferous lodes have been discovered in it; and for this reason an examination of the rocks is specially interesting here. Stelzner, Posepny, and others, who have criticised the conclusions of Sandberger, have laid great stress on the fact that all the silicates analyzed by him were taken from the vicinity of orebodies containing those heavy metals which he notes as occurring in the silicates of the country-rock; their contention being that these metals, supposed to occur as silicates in gneiss and other crystalline rocks, were really contained as sulphides, and were therefore impregnations from the neighboring orebodies. The same objection, whatever be its weight, might be urged with equal justice against Mr. Becker's derivation of the mercury and gold of the lodes of the Pacific Coast from' the granite underlying their country-rock. In the case of the

Jan 1, 1913

By Thomas Fraser, Robert MacLachlan

The dry cleaning of coal is a relatively new art and, as might have been expected, a number of unforeseen problems have been brought to light in the few years that dry methods of treatment have been in commercial use. The pneumatic concentrators that were first adapted to the cleaning of coal had already been developed to a fair degree of efficiency, although at low ratings, in the field of ore dressing. The concentrating machines, therefore, were in a relatively more perfected state than the general technology of dry cleaning and, for this reason, the major difficulties encountered in the early plants were in the accessory operations involved in the servicing of the cleaners rather than in the functioning of the cleaners themselves. The crudities of a new technology were further aggravated, in some cases, by meagerness of appropriations which precluded even the provision of adequate storage bins and such other facilities as had been long recognized as indispensable to the proper functioning of older types of cleaning plants. The practice of dry cleaning is now sufficiently established so that we may examine critically auxiliary equipment and operations. The cleaning processes have been so simplified, with respect to presizing of the raw coal required and the quantity of air circulated, that stinting of expenditures for auxiliary equipment is not necessary to keep the per ton cost of installation in line with complete and well designed plants of other types. Furthermore, sufficient operating experience has been accumulated to ascertain the conditions most conducive to effective operation of dry-cleaning machines; at least the essentials of a definite technology of dry cleaning has been established. Early Operating Problems The problems that have occupied the builders and operators of dry-cleaning plants from the beginning have been relatively few, but difficult of solution. The principal difficulties have been: 1. The proper sizing of the raw coal to suit the cleaning process. 2. The handling of raw coal when it is delivered wet from the mine. 3. Dust collecting. 4. The maintenance of uniformity in cleaning performance.

Jan 1, 1931

By D. E. Hyatt

Many flotation plants practicing pyrite depression, mills leaching gold and silver ores, blast furnace facilities, and many metal plating shops share at least one common waste-water constituent of particular environmental concern-cyanide. In free or complexed form, cyanide ion is an emotionally and technically problematical reagent whose removal from water deserves attention. The initial consideration of the fundamental nature of soluble cyanides is followed by a discussion of decomposition or removal options for simple cyanide species. Complexed cyanide reactivity is discussed as it relates to ongoing or proposed methods for the decomposition or removal of soluble cyanides. New approaches to cyanide removal are discussed.

Jan 1, 1977

By D. R. Bomberger, M. Deul

An automatic microscope has been developed to measure the size and populations of macerals and minerals in fine coal particles. Differentiations are made on the basis of reflectance. This study is concerned with the size distribution of pyrite inclusions. Most fine coal cleaning processes do not remove pyrite as completely as a straight density separation. Consideration of the pyrite size distribution is suggested as a more accurate method of predicting sulfur reduction by a cleaning process. Analyses of float-sink results and Deister Table operation in terms of pyrite particle sizes are made. Other potential applications of automatic microscopy are also discussed. In the study of coal cleaning by pseudo-gravity methods (tables, cyclones, hydrotators, etc.), it is customary to express the deficiency of the process relative to float-sink measurements in some form of "percent efficiency". These have been calculated in many different ways in order to provide a means of extrapolation of test data to untested coal feeds. This works quite well with coarse coal (here defined as larger than one-eighth in.). Large, heavy pieces of refuse are rejected rather thoroughly by many cleaning processes, and the efficiencies relative to float-sink results approach 100%. In coarse coals, the difference in the sizes of fine pyrite is masked by the averaging effect of the large coal envelopes. The existence and fate of fine pyrite is often hidden in the larger numbers representing coarse (and easily removed) pyrite. There are cases where it is desirable to subject fine coal (here defined as smaller than one-eighth in.) to cleaning processes. This is true of naturally occurring fie coal streams and in cases where comminution followed by cleaning is necessary to provide the quality desired. It is in this area that the use of process efficiency relative to float sink fails. Percent efficiencies decline to very low figures, and equivalent separation densities become a matter for conjecture. The net result is that an attempt to estimate product quality from float-sink data and a process efficiency figure often results in large errors. This work represents a new approach to the problem by observing the fate of pyrite particles, grouped by sizes, in a cleaning process. Examples are given which relate pyrite size measurements to float-sink washability and to a Deister Table operation. EXPERIMENTAL WORK The automatic microscope used here has been previously described.' Briefly, it is an instrument which measures the diam of particles (as defined by a range of reflectance) exposed on a polished specimen. The instrument scans a sample briquet, measures diam of exposed pyrite inclusions and records the data by size intervals. Preparation of the briquet is critical, due to the automatic nature of the process. The principal requirement is for an optically flat surface, so that focus will be maintained as the motorized stage moves the specimen under the lens. The various substances present must be polished to the same level in spite of the wide difference in hardness between coal substance and minerals. The polishing method must not pluck out small grains, which might be rather loosely held by surrounding coal. The procedure below was successful in producing all of these results. The coal sample (8 mesh or finer) was riffled (a micro vibrating riffle is essential) to obtain 15 g. One volume of Lucite powder (thermosetting plastic mounting medium) was mixed with three volumes of coal and mixed thoroughly. A briquet was formed using a cylindrical die (1 1/4 in. diam) at 3000 lb per in.* pressure and 150°C. Preparation of the optical surface was accomplished on automatic polishing equipment, according to the following schedule: 1) Grinding: 3 stages, using successively fine Carborundum grits of 180, 320 and 600 mesh. 2) Rough polishing: 2 stages, using 3µ alumina on cast iron, followed by 1µ alumina on lead. 3) Fine polishing: 2 stages, using 0.5µ alumina on napless broadcloth over bronze, followed by 0.1µ alumina on silk filament cloth over bronze. Raw data were corrected for the fact that the chords

Jan 1, 1964

In preparation for the 119th meeting, New York, Feb. 17 to 20, 1919, the following committees have been appointed: Committee on Arrangements ALLEN H. ROGERS Chairman. NY. S. DICKSON, Secretary. J. E. JOHNSON, JR. F. T. RUBIDGE. P. G. SPILSBURY. H. C. PARMELEE. FOREST RUTHERFORD. Committee on Annual Dinner Committee on Luncheon F. T. RUBIDGE. FOREST RUTHERFORD, Chairman. E. B. STURGIS. E. MALTBY SHIPP Committee on Patriotic Meeting H. C. PARMELEE, Chairman.

Jan 11, 1918

Jan 1, 1938

By J. P. Nielsen

When two grains in a polycrystalline specimen meet at a point in the course of grain-boundary movements, and the new boundary created at the point is one of relatively low specific free energy, a nonequilibrium boundary condition occurs. The nonequilibrium is enhanced if the other grain boundaries involved at the point of meeting are relatively high in specific free energy. The nonequilibrium results in a correction by growth of the complex grain (two subgrains) to a large size, sufficient in many cases for it to become a self-propagating unit, i.e., a recrystallization grain. This mechanism, herein called "geometrical coalescence," is proposed as a logical origin for recrystallization nuclei, particularly for secondary recrystallization. RECENT publications1-' indicate that considerable progress has been made toward a complete understanding of the three microstructural processes in metals: recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth. However, a major problem persists, namely, the origin of recrystallization nuclei. It is generally accepted that once a recrystallization nucleus, a secondary recrystallization nucleus particularly, has reached a certain size, it will continue to grow at the expense of its neighbors, simply as a consequence of grain-boundary free-energy considerations. What has remained obscure, however, is the mechanism whereby such a nucleus comes into being and grows to the self-propagating size. Recrystallization Nucleation in a Two-Dimensional Grain-Boundary System In the left portion of Fig. 1 is shown schematically the meeting of grains 1 and 4 on disappearance of boundary 2-3, i.e., the boundary that existed between grains 2 and 3, as might happen in the course of normal grain-boundary migration. If, by chance —and the probability is not necessarily small— grains 1 and 4 are close together in their mutual orientations, or in some other special way mutually oriented so that the new common boundary has relatively a very low specific free energy (hereinafter referred to by s), then the grain boundary arrangement as depicted in the figure is highly unstable. This is particularly so if boundaries 1-3, 3-4, 4-2, and 2-1 are high in their s values. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that boundary 1-4 has a s equal to zero, and the s's of all the other boundaries present are equal to each other and constant, then the boundary arrangement on the right in Fig. 1 will be

Jan 1, 1955

Jan 1, 1947

By Karl Sundberg, Allen Nordstrom

Interesting results were recently obtained in geophysical prospecting at the Questa mine of the Molybdenum Corpn. of America in New Mexico. This paper describes that survey, which was carried out during October and November, 1927, by the Swedish American Prospecting Corpn. It is hoped that the paper will make it possible for the mining man to form an opinion of the applicability of geophysical prospecting under difficult conditions, showing, as it does, the results when prospecting for small small orebodies with comparatively poor conductivity, in a region of rough topography. Some principles underlying electromagnetic prospecting not known to be published previously will also be given in an elementary way, with special attention to the general structure of the electromagnetic field. Geological. Conditions at Questa The property is situated in the Taos range of the Rocky Mountains in northern New Mexico. About this region, L. C. Graton says:' The main range is made up of Pre-Cambrian granites, gneisses and schists but in the vicinity of Red River igneous rocks of later age are present almost to the exclusion of the older series. These younger rocks are divisible into two groups. The older of the two, probably Pre-Tertiary age, is represented by large intrusive masses of monzonite porphyry, usually containing considerable quartz. The more recent group comprises intrusive and probably effusive dark-colored andesites and coarse andesitic breccias, some of which contain fragments of the monzonite; there are also flows of rhyolite and beds of rhyolite breccia. The evidence regarding the relative age of the andesite and the rhyolite is not wholly satisfactory, but there is little doubt that the andesite is the older. The ore deposits, although occurring more commonly in the monzonite porphyry than in the rhyolite, nevertheless are believed to be genetically related to the rhyolite. They certainly cut the rhyolite or andesite in places, and hence fall in the late Tertiary. The molybdenite at the Questa mine occurs in veins in the alaskite granite porphyry belonging to the older part of the Pre-Tertiary eruptives. Overlying the granite porphyry is the granodiorite, capping the granite

Jan 1, 1929

By J. O. Brittain, N. R. Adsit

A number of zinc bicrystal specimens with the grain boundary loaded in simple shear were plustically deformed in creep in a vacuum at 200°C and under an argon atmosphere at 350°C. The results indicated that the amount of grain boundary sliding at a given time was controlled by the slip in the grains and was proportional to the resolved shear stress on the slip plane. Curves of grain boundary sliding vs time were found to be cyclic with no regular periodicity. ALTHOUGH grain boundary sliding (G.B.S.) has been investigated in a number of different types of tests on various materials there is substantial disagreement on the interpretation of the various observations. Gifkins1 has presented a comprehensive review of the subject of G.B.S. and fracture. He reports that the activation energy for high-temperature creep is equal to that for volume self-diffusion and that pure metals show less tendency towards intercrystalline fracture than alloys. Pure metals show appreciably greater grain boundary migration than alloys, and both grain boundary migration and grain boundary sliding follow the same general trend in time as plastic deformation during creep.' While there have been a number of different mechanisms proposed to account for G.B.S., none of the models explains all the results. Since zinc has only one prominent slip system, it was hoped that experiments on G.B.S. in zinc bicrystals might enable us to separate the effect of grain boundary angle and the effect of matrix slip and thereby resolve at least one part of this complex phenomenon. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Bicrystals of pure zinc (99.99 pct) were grown by a Bridgeman technique in a furnace having a gradient of 20°C per in. The bicrystals were seeded to a desired orientation and grown in a split graphite mold which was 3/4 by 5/8 by 8 in. The mold was enclosed in a Pyrex tube and the tube was evacuated and then filled with a small amount of argon before it was placed in the furnace. The growth rates were 1/2 to I in. per hr for the bicrystals and 1/2 to 3 in. per hr for the single-crystal seeds. The longitudinal V notches served to hold the grain boundary in position during the growth process. A schematic rep- resentation of a specimen which had been cut with a jewelers saw from the bicrystals is shown in Fig. 1. All specimens of a series were cut from the same crystal, some of which were 7 in. in length. After specimen preparation the boundary was approximately 5/16 in. long and the V notches had a radius of 1/16 in. The boundaries were straight at a magnification of X100 with the exception of a few which had a gradual radius of curvature of greater than 3.2 in.-1. Laue back-reflection photograms were taken on the specimens to check the orientation of grains in the bicrystals. The method of relating the orientation of the two lattices is shown in Fig. 1, where 0 is the angle between normal to the boundary and the trace of the basal plane, is the angle in the boundary between the trace of the basal plane and a line parallel to the V notch, and x is the angle in the basal plane between the Burgers vector and the perpendicular to the grain boundary. After mechanical polishing the specimens were chemically polished.2 Subsequent to the polishing operation the specimens were encapsuled under a vacuum of better than 25 annealed at 340°C for 1 hr to remove the effects of this handling, and again chemically polished. Finally, fiduciary marks were scribed on the specimen using a micromanipulator. Creep tests, which were conducted in a modified Bausch apparatusS with the boundary loaded in simple shear, were run at a constant load (since the boundary area remained essentially constant this is approximately constant grain boundary stress). The temperature was controlled to ±1/4°C as measured on a semiprecision potentiometer with a calibrated thermocouple. The specimens were tested in a vacuum of better than 0.5 at 200°C and in purified argon at a pressure of 1/2 atm at 350°C. The op-

Jan 1, 1965

Jan 1, 1935

Jan 1, 1949

Jan 1, 1949

By W. E. Bron, E. S. Machlin

GRAIN boundary migration in V-shaped thin specimens of high purity silver was studied. Each specimen contained two crystals having the relative orientation: (111)A/(111)B; (ll0)A/(101)B. The boundary between these two crystals varied between a continuous curved and an alternating two plane interface. The plane interfaces were oriented parallel to (101)A/(011B) and (121)A/(211)B. Traces of these planes are shown in Fig. 1. Evidently the two plane interface, although of higher area, comprises lower total interface energy than the average curved boundary it replaced. The plane boundaries were found to move at 650 °C to consume the broad segment of the V opposite to the direction of interface area and energy decrease. On investigation, using the thermal etching technique of Hendrickson and Machlin,1 it was found that the outer grain contained 8.3x108 more dislocations per cm" than the grain at the apex of the V. Consequently, the boundary moved to decrease the strain energy associated with the difference in dislocation density across the boundary. The rates of motion of specific {110} and {112} boundaries were measured during interrupted anneals at 650°C by referring the position of the boundaries to each other and a fiducial line on the specimen surface. The measured rates of motion are 0.075 and 0.025 mm per hr for the {110} and {112} boundaries, respectively. Plots of grain boundary motion vs time of annealing show straight lines with little deviation of data points from these lines.

Jan 1, 1957

Jan 1, 1938

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1935

NEW MEMBERS. The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the months of July and August, 1913: Members. ALDERSON, VICTOR C., Prest. of Colorado School of Mines :.Golden, Colo. ALLEN, JOSEPH W., Secy. & Treas. International S. & R. Co;, 42 Broadway, New York, N. Y. AMMON, ROBERT, Chief Sampler B. & M. Reduction Wks., Anaconda Copper Min.Co., Great Falls, Mont. BARBER, RAYMOND J., Min. Engr 234 Newbury St., Boston, Mass. BARDWELL, EARL S., Genl. Concen rator Foreman Boston & Mont. Reduction Plant, Great Falls; Mont.

Jan 9, 1913