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By AIME AIME

AS a new departure the annual business meeting was held at 4 p. m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16, instead of in the morning, as previously. The retiring President, Robert E. Tally, called the meeting to order and briefly spoke of the large measure of success that had been attained in balancing the budget of the Institute in 1931, so that, although receipts had declined over $26,000 compared to the previous year, expenditures had come within $3,000 of income. He referred in complimentary ,terms to the work of the committees on Membership, Admissions, Papers and Publications, and MINING AND METALLURGY, from which more would be heard late:. He also announced that a large and important committee on economics has been under consideration, and will be announced later. As an evidence of growth it was noted that a new Division, Mineral Industry Education, had been organized just an hour previously.

Jan 1, 1932

By John J. Collins

[CONTENTS PAGE Purpose and scopeI Core samplingI Sludge sampling.....7 Combining core and sludge assays13 Deviation and surveying of drill holes17 Conclusions24 Acknowledgments25 Bibliography25] PURPOSE AND SCOPE The purpose of this paper is to review a few of the problems involved in the interpretation of diamond-drill core and sludge samples, with the hope that it will stimulate discussion and bring forth some of the information on the subject that has been accumulated by various organizations. The release of these data would benefit the mining industry as a whole. Particularly valuable would be the details of drilling programs that have been tested by actual mining operations, as most of the available published material is unsupported by production records. The scope of this paper is limited to a few of the commonest problems of interpreting diamond-drill core and sludge samples and the deviation of holes. It does not include the description of routine operations performed by the drillers, nor the estimation of ore reserves. The methods of calculating reserves have been described 25,26,31,32.50,65 but more information is needed on the results shown by actual mining operations. CORE SAMPLING The accuracy of diamond-drill-hole sampling depends in large measure on the percentage of core recovery. As a general rule, the longer the run, the poorer is the recovery. Although the longer runs allow cheaper drilling costs, the determining factor should be the percentage of recovery desired. The problem is one of balancing accuracy against costs. Holes of larger diameter may show improved recovery, except as Joralemon* points out that there are some conditions in which small holes give better core recovery than large holes. This is particularly true, he says, in rocks like shattered quartzite, where larger core tends to break in angular fragments and grind up, while the diameter of smaller core is less than the distance between joint planes and grinding is not so serious. In a large measure the length of the sample run should depend on the type of deposit. Favorable drilling may allow uniform sample runs of 5 ft., 10 ft., or perhaps 20 ft. In veins or beds of relatively narrow widths and changing characteristics, however, the ore zone may be overrun and ground in a core barrel full of waste rock. Generally it is desirable to break the sample at a change in the rock or ore. Such a change, often indicated by a color change in the sludge water, should be a signal for the driller to make a "dry" block and to pull out that run regardless of the length. Such a procedure permits the segregation of waste from ore samples so

Jan 1, 1946

Electrowinning U.S. 4,066,520 - Recovery of copper from copper sulfide ore. Finely divided ore concentrate is leached with moderately strong sulfurous acid to solubilize copper ions, the leach solution treated with calcium sulfite to reduce the copper ion concentration by forming copper-precipitate solids therein, the solids filtered off, and and the filter cake dewatered to obtain a slurry of copper-precipitate solids amenable to direct electrowinning of copper therefrom using a described electrolysis apparatus which utilizes high current flow with a minimum of mechanical agitation. R. C. Emmett, Jr., J. K. Dicksa. B. C. Wojcik and F. A. Baczek, assigned to Envirotech Corp. Jan. 3, 1978. 14 pp. (204- 108). Filed: 9- 1-76 (7 19,867).

Jan 1, 1979

By R. J. Keene

The South Works high-tonnage billet caster was started in late March 1971, with the first heat being successfully cast to completion. Currently, over 31,500 tons per month are being produced. U. S. Steel designed and built this caster with the objective of producing quality-steel billets for critical bar, rod, and wire applications. The essential design parameters were based on studies conducted on the Research Laboratory's pilot caster, also located at South works. 1,2,3)* The caster is a four-strand, straight-mold machine that produces 7.5-inch- square billets at rates exceeding 300 tons per hour. An in-line-reduction mill reduces each strand to either 6-inch-, 5-inch-, or 4-inch-square billets.

Jan 1, 1972

The accompanying sketch shows the interesting position of Salt Lake City with reference to Western mining areas and justifies its title "The Center of Western Mining." In the last twenty years, the area embraced within a circle of 600 miles radius with Salt Lake City as its center has produced 79.87% of the gold, 91.9% of the Silver, 77.47% of the copper, 53.61% of the lead and 26.55% of the zinc produced in the United States, including Alaska. This area also contains the greatest coal deposits of the continent, some of the greatest oil deposits, great iron deposits and many other important mineral resources. The 600-mile circle contained 69% of the active operators of other than coal mines and 40% of the men employed in mines other than coal mines of the United States, including Alaska, for the four-year period ended with 1923.

Jan 1, 1925

By R. E. Ogilvie, A. R. Kaufmann, S. H. Gelles

The solid-solubility limits of iron in beryllium were determined between 850o and 1200oC by analysis of differential type multiphase diffusion couples, using an X-ray absorption technique. The maximum value of the solubility limit was found to be 0.92 ± 0.02 at. pct (5.46 wt pet) at the eutectic temperature 1225°C. The solubilities of nickel and beryllium were determined between 900°and 1200°C by the same technique and the maximum solubility was found to be 4.93 + 0.01 at. pct (25.2 wt pet) at the eutectoid temperature, 1065°C. A previously unreported high-temperature phase which decomposes eutectoidally at 1065 °C was found to exist in the beryllium-nickel system at a composition of approximately 8 at. pct Ni (36 wt pet) by diffision-couple analysis. The presence of this phase was confirmed by thermal analysis and metallo-graphic analysis of the structure resulting from the eutectoid decomposition. G. V. Raynor1 has treated the solid solubilities of some of the elements in beryllium on the basis of the "Hume-Rothery" rules2 which have been modified to include ionic size and ionic distortion effects. It was predicted that the solubility of iron and nickel in beryllium should be slightly less than that of copper. The lowering of the solubility, according to Raynor, is due to a more unfavorable relative valency effect and an ionic size effect. Kaufmann and corzine3 have compiled data on the solubilities of elements in beryllium and have discussed them in the light of the Raynor paper. These authors feel that, because the elements having the greatest solubility in beryllium systematically fall in the Group VIII and IB Columns of the periodic table, the electronic structure greatly influences the maximum solid solubility of elements in beryllium. The solubility of iron in beryllium was determined by Teitel and cohen4 as part of the study of the beryllium-iron phase diagram. The determination was carried out by X-ray and thermal analysis and according to the phase diagram presented, the maximum solubility of iron in beryllium is 0.41 at. pct (2.5 wt pct) at 1225oC. However, it is estimated that the uncertainty in the position of the a-beryllium primary solid-solution boundary is about 0.5 at. pct (3wtpct). Losana and Goria3 in studying the beryllium-nickel phase diagram, determined the solid solubility of nickel in beryllium by thermal analysis. They found the maximum solubility to be between 1.65 and 2.65 at. pct (10 to 15 wt pct) at 1240°C. This value decreased rapidly with decreasing temperature. In determining approximate ranges of solubilities for different elements in beryllium, Kaufmann, et al,8 reported a value of between 1.3 and 1.7 at. pct (7.9 to 10.1 wt pct) for the solubility of nickel in beryllium. The value was obtained by metallographic examination of quenched alloys and lattice-parameter measurements. However, the authors also noted a single-phase structure for a 1.7 at. pct Ni alloy (10 wt pct) on cooling from the liquid. This would indicate a higher solubility range than was reported. ~isch,' in his X-ray studies of beryllium-copper, beryllium-nickel, and beryllium-iron intermetallic compounds, reports the disappearance of a second phase (Ni,Be2) in the beryllium primary solid solution at approximately 4 at. pct (20 wt pct). THEORY The analysis of concentration gradients in diffusion couples has proven to be a useful tool in determining phase equilibria.8-14 In this particular study the diffusion couples were chosen to straddle the expected composition range of the phase boundary, then heat treated at a given temperature and the concentration gradient evaluated. The composition of the phase boundary for a given temperature appears at a point of discontinuity of the composition gradient. Examples of typical phase diagrams and the concentration gradients which should be found in such systems are shown in Fig. 1. In the present work, gradients of the form of Fig. l(c) were obtained in diffusion couples made of pure beryllium and two-phase alloys of beryllium with either iron or nickel. The composition at the point where the gradient becomes discontinuous, Cs, corresponds to the solubility limit of either iron or nickel in beryllium. The analysis of the concentration gradients was carried out by an X-ra absorption method developed and applied by Ogilvie and later used by Moll13 and Hilliard.l4 It depends on the fact that the absorption of X-rays by matter is determined by the concentration and type of the various atomic species present. The relationship for the intensity, I, of a monochro-

Jan 1, 1960

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

IN the last book I have explained the methods of delimiting- the meers along each kind of vein, and the duties of mine officials. In this book1 I will in like manner explain the principles of underground mining and the art of surveying. First then, I will proceed to deal with those matters which pertain to the former heading, since both the subject and methodical arrangement require it. And so I will describe first of all the digging of shafts, tunnels, and drifts on venae profundae; next I will discuss the good indications shown by canales2, by the materials which are dug out, and by the rocks ; then I will speak of the tools by which veins and rocks are broken down and excavated ; the method by which fire shatters the hard veins ; and further, of the machines with which water is drawn from the shafts and air is forced into deep shafts and long tunnels, for digging is impeded by the inrush of the former or the failure of the latter ; next I will deal with the two kinds of shafts, and with the making of them and of tunnels ; and finally, I will describe the method of mining venae dilatatae, venae cumulatae, and stringers.

Jan 1, 1950

By John D. Sullivan

MAJOR technical advances seldom occur in a single year, and this is especially true with aluminum and magnesium where marked improvements in metallurgical processes and products took place during the war years. Nevertheless, the light metals and alloys, particularly aluminum, are advancing in commercial importance and are finding their niche in industry. New applications during the year have resulted from a better over-all knowledge of properties, handling, etc., rather than from revolutionary new developments.

Jan 1, 1948

By W. C. Snow

The plant of the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia Limited, situated at Risdon on the estuary of the River Derwent, near Hobart, was designed and erected primarily to produce high-grade zinc from zinc concentrates produced by the mines of Broken Hill, N. S. W. Consequently the metallurgy of the process has been influenced in its development by the peculiar characteristics of the Broken Hill concentrate, which on treatment gives into solution relatively large amounts of cobalt, manganese and silica. The Risdon works (Fig. 1) produces high-grade electrolytic zinc, leaded electrolytic zinc, zinc dust, cadmium, sulphuric acid and superphosphate. This paper, however, is concerned only with the zinc plant and process. Roasting The roasting of raw concentrate is not a major feature of Risdon's process, and in this respect practice is unlike that of most zinc plants. The roasting is mostly done on the Australian mainland at centers where the sulphuric acid made from the roaster gases can be used for superphosphate manufacture. A small amount, approximately 40 tons per day, is roasted at Risdon, acid being manufactured from the gases. The amount that can be roasted there is limited by the acid requirements of the zinc plant and of the superphosphate plant. Roasting is not carried to completion at the mainland plants, and the product, known as preroast calcine, largely constitutes the raw material for the Risdon zinc plant. It contains about 6 per cent of sulphur as sulphide. Roasting is completed at Risdon for reasons that are set out later in this paper. The zinc plant proper is divided into four main divisions: (1) final roasting division, (2) leaching and purification division, (3) electrolytic division, (4) melting and casting division. There are two subsidiary divisions—the cadmium division and the preroast, acid and superphosphate division.

Jan 1, 1937

By E. W. Pehrson, J. W. Furness

THE method of presentation in the accompanying charts is based upon the well-known formula: production plus imports minus exports equals apparent consumption. Thus for each area for which data are shown there are two columns of equal height, one representing production plus imports, the other apparent consumption plus exports. Usually no account has been taken of increases or decreases in stocks. All columns and flow lines are drawn to a linear scale which is supplemented by figures showing the actual quantities represented. Owing to the small area occupied by the European countries on the world map it was impossible to show the details of the trade of the individual countries. All of Europe (except Russia), therefore, is shown as a single unit. However, statistics of production and consumption indicated elsewhere on the charts show the degree of self-sufficiency enjoyed by the major European powers.

Jan 1, 1936

By CHRIS A. HARTNAGEL

For the second consecutive year, the production of crude petroleum in New York has fallen below the 5,000,000-bbl. Mark that had prevailed previously since 1937. In 1945, the output totaled 4,658,000 bbl., a decrease of slightly more, than one per cent from the 1944 production. This total represents 2 per cent of the stripper-well production of the United States, which in turn is I 3 per cent of the total annual yield of the nation's petroleum.

Jan 1, 1946

By E. J. Wasp, N. T. Cowper, R. A. Davis, W. F. McDermott

On October 26, 1967, the world's first long distance iron ore slurry line was put into service by Savage River Mines. The commissioning of this $5 million installation climaxed three years of development, testing, and construction. The mine and concentrator are located approximately 30 miles from the town of Waratah in a rugged semi-mountainous terrain. The open pit mine will produce approximately 5 million long tons a year of crude ore, which is ground in autogenous mills, separated magnetically, thickened and prepared for the pipeline. The 53-mile pipeline transports the 2,250,000 tons of concentrate north to Port Latta. The Port Latta facilities include the receiving, storage and thickening equipment for the slurry as well as filtering, balling and pelletizing equipment to produce the 2,250,000 tons of high grade iron ore pellets. Five vertical shaft furnaces are used for pelletizing.

Jan 1, 1969

By Ogden Tweto

The classes of ore deposits in the mountain province of Colorado that have been the most productive in the past and that offer the greatest promise for the future are: (1) disseminated or stockwork molybdenum deposits associated with Tertiary stocks; (2) combination precious- and base-metal veins in Tertiary volcanic rocks; and (3) base-metal replacement deposits and veins in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. Veins in Precambrian rocks, including precious metal-bearing sulfide veins, gold-silver telluride veins, and tungsten veins, have been mined extensively in the past, but their aggregate output has been far subordinate to that of the groups named above, and the outlook for major output from them in the future is poor. Principal ore deposits of south-central Wyoming are sedimentary iron ores of Precambrian age and uranium deposits in Tertiary sedimentary rocks. Precambrian deposits of several kinds are scattered through the mountains of both states. The most promising of these, based on present indications, are vanadiferous titaniferous magnetite in southern Wyoming and southwestern Colorado and thorium-niobium rare-earth deposits associated with alkalic intrusive complexes in Colorado. Most of the mining districts of Colorado are in the Colorado mineral belt, a generally narrow but somewhat irregular belt that extends northeastward across the north-trending mountain ranges and the north-northwest trending geologic grain of the state. The belt is characterized by intrusive rocks of Laramide and younger age and by ore deposits, and it occupies environments ranging from Precambrian crystalline rocks through Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks to Tertiary volcanic rocks. Two ages of intrusion and ore deposition recently have been recognized in the mineral belt. One is Laramide (late Cretaceous and early Tertiary), and the other is Oligocene. As interpreted herein, the major replacement deposits and most of the sulfide vein deposits in Precambrian and sedimentary rocks are Laramide in age, and the molybdenum deposits, the tungsten and the gold telluride veins in Precambrian rocks, and the precious- and base-metal veins in volcanic rocks are Oligocene in age. In general, the Laramide deposits are mesothermal in aspect, and the Oligocene deposits are principally epithermal. The existence of two mineralization stages, in considerable part characterized by different suites of metals, has many applications in exploration.

Jan 1, 1968

The Industrial Minerals Division met jointly with the Materials and Equipment Division of the American Ceramic Society at State College, Pa, Sept 24-26 Headquarters were at the Nittany Lion Inn Thurs- day afternoon was devoted to a tour of inspection of the Bell Mine, American Lime and Stone Co , Bellefonte, Pa The party returned to State College for dinner and in the evening the Division's executive committee held a brief session There were four technical sessions Friday morning, Mining, afternoon, Beneficiation, Saturday morning, Industrial Minerals and Beneficiation There was an informal banquet at the Nittany Lion Inn Friday night with 93 present Edward Steidle was toastmaster Brief talks were made by President F C Flint and Secretary Ross Purdy, of the American Ceramic Society, Oliver Bowles, Chairman, Industrial Minerals Division, Adrian Morse, assistant to the president, Pennsylvania State College, and George Otis Smith, past president A I R'I E

Jan 1, 1937

By Herluf P. Nielsen, Robert I. Jaffee

IN recent years much attention has been given to high-melting alloy systems, It has been of interest in this respect to investigate the alloys of platinum and tungsten, which were known from the literature to have very high melting points up to about 50 pct tungsten, but about which little had been published on the high-tungsten side of the system. Powder metallurgical methods were used throughout this investigation for the preparation of the alloys, utilizing electrical sintering techniques such as are used for tungsten and molybdenum. In the course of the work it was found desirable to determine fusion temperatures of the alloys, and it was possible from these and other data to draw a tentative constitutional diagram (solidus, mostly) applicable to the high-temperature part of the system. No attempt was made to determine solid solubility vs. temperature data, nor to investigate the lower temperature transformations in the solid state. Data on the microstructure, hardness, and a note on oxidation resistance of the sintered alloys were obtained. PAST WORK Müller1 determined liquidus temperatures of platinum-rich alloys to 50 pct tungsten, using a radiation method employing a photoelectric cell, and found that the melting points increased progressively from 1771°C for platinum to 2350°C for the 50 pct alloy. Microscopic evidence by Müller that complete solid solutions exist to 50 pct tungsten was not checked by Kremer2 who, according to Vines and Wise,3 found that "although the 8 pct tungsten alloy was a solid solution, the 26 pct tungsten alloy contained a eutectic or an intermediate phase." Hultgren and jaffee4 using X ray methods found continuous solid solutions to at least 33.6 pct tungsten (35 at. pct) after annealing in vacuum for 6 days at 1000°C. Vines and Wise3 report work communicated to them by E. C. Rhodes on wrought alloys to 7 pct tungsten, which showed that tungsten hardened platinum extremely rapidly, and was one of the most potent hardeners of the binary additions to platinum. Considerable quantities of 4 pct tungsten platinum wire have been produced for grids in radar tubes and for aircraft spark plugs. Some of the alloy for the latter application is made by sintering, the remainder by smelting and casting. MATERIALS The platinum powder used in this work was kindly supplied by the research and Development Laboratory of the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., Newark, Ohio, It was prepared from scrap platinum. After dissolving in aqua regia and evaporating almost to dryness, the solution was worked up several times with concentrated HCI. the resultant platinic chloride was diluted considerably, and metallic zinc was added, which precipitated the platinum in a very finely divided form. After dissolving the

Jan 1, 1948

By Michael Tenenbaum

Selected characteristics of nonmetallic phases were determined in low-carbon sheet steels which had been produced by various refining; deoxidizing, and casting procedures. The results showed little influence of the refining process on the quantity, distribution, size, and character of the nonmetallic phases. The quantity of inclusions was governed by the deoxidation procedures. While the mode of casting influenced the internal structure and the pattern of inclusion distribution, it had little effect on the quantity of nonmetallics. The vast majority of inclusions were under 30 µ in diam, and there was little change in size distribution during hot and cold rolling. The composition and structure of the inclusions were expained an the basis of known equilibrium phase diagrams for the appropriate systems. Additional work is needed to explain some of the observations of this paper. HENRY Marion Howe's contributions to the metallurgical profession include his many writings, the wisdom that he imparted to his students, and the inspiration that he gave to the many scholars, teachers, and industrialists who knew him personally. It was Professor Howe's intimate colleague, Albert Sauveur,1 who, in the first Howe Memorial Lecture, could have been speaking for the metallurgist of our generation as well as his own when he wrote, "...how many of us on the point of going astray were called back to the right path by Howe's guiding torch?" More than a quarter of a century later, Francis Foley,2 one of the last in the Howe Lecture series who worked directly with the great man, delivered the ultimate tribute, "...truth, in its time is so hard to identify." While Professor Howe strove to be right, "he was content if he provoked the reader to take the next step along the path to greater knowledge." Like so many of my predecessors, I sought guidance for this lecture by referring to Professor Howe's two classic texts, Metallurgy of steel,3 and Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron: the former book interpreting the facts as he saw them near the start of his career, and the latter—published 26 years later—pointing to many fertile fields for metallurgical investigation. Those of us who harvest the fruits of Henry Marion Howe's contributions to the metallurgical profession now look with wonder at the tremendous legacy he has provided. It is rewarding to study his writings and to recognize the anticipation of such aspects of modern ferrous metallurgy as: 1) Direct reduction 2) Steelmaking reactions 3) The approaches and benefits of degassing 4) Solidification mechanisms 5) Habits and behavior of nonmetallic inclusions 6) Recrystallization phenomena 7) Slip and slip propagation 8) Dislocations 9) Discontinuous deformation 10) Microscopic and macroscopic segregation

Jan 1, 1970

By R. I. Jaffee, H. P. Nielsen

In recent years much attention has been given to high melting alloy systems. It has been of interest in this respect to investigate the alloys of platinum and tungsten, which were known from the literature to have very high melting points up to about 50 pct tungsten, but about which little had been published on the high-tungsten side of the system. Powder metallurgical methods were used throughout this investigation for the preparation of the alloys, utilizing electrical sintering techniques such as are used for tungsten and molybdenum. In the course of the work it was found desirable to determine fusion temperatures of the alloys, and it was possible from these and other data to draw a tentative constitutional diagram (solidus, mostly) applicable to the high-temperature part of the system. No attempt was made to determine solid solubility vs. temperature data, nor to investigate the lower temperature transformations in the solid state. Data on the microstructure, hardness, and a note on oxidation resistance of the sintered alloys were obtained. Past Work Miillerl determined liquidus temperatures of platinum-rich alloys to 50 pct tungsten, using a radiation method employing a photoelectric cell, and found that the melting points increased progressively from I771 C for platinum to 2350°C for the 50 pct alloy. Microscopic evidence by Miiller that complete solid solutions exist to 50 pct tungsten was not checked by Kremer2 who, according to Vines and Wise,3 found that "although the 8 pct tungsten alloy was a solid solution, the 26 pct tungsten alloy contained a eutectic or an intermediate phase." Hultgren and Jaffee4 using X ray methods found continuous solid solutions to at least 33.6 pct tungsten (35 at. pct) after annealing in vacuum for 6 days at I000 C. Vines and WiseS report work communicated to them by E. C. Rhodes on wrought alloys to 7 pct tungsten, which showed that tungsten hardened platinum extremely rapidly, and was one of the most potent hardeners of the binary additions to platinum. Considerable quantities of 4 pct tungsten platinum wire have been produced for grids in radar tubes and for aircraft spark plugs. Some of the alloy for the latter application is made by sintering, the remainder by smelting and casting. Materials The platinum powder used in this work was kindly supplied by the Research and Development Laboratory of the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., Newark, Ohio. It was prepared from scrap platinum. After dissolving in aqua regia and evaporating almost to dryness, the solution was worked up several times with concentrated HC1. The resultant platinic chloride was diluted considerably, and metallic zinc was added, which precipitated the platinum in a very finely divided form. After dissolving the

Jan 1, 1949

By F. W. Glaser

Iron-silicon alloys have had a great influence, in many ways, in modern industry. Silicon steels have been used almost exclusively for the construction of electrical machinery, but have also become an important material for structures which benefit by the high tensile and yield strengths of this material. In elaborating on the early history of work done on iron-silicon alloys, Greiner, Marsh and Stoughton1 went back as far as 1808, and pointed to Berzelius as the first producer of ferrosilicon. During the last twenty years some very important contributions in the form of studies of the iron-silicon system, as well as of the physical properties of these alloys, have been published. In consideration of the brit-tleness and poor machinability of alloys containing more than 5-6 pct Si, commercial interests have stimulated the research done on iron-silicon alloys, but mainly in the range of 0 to 6 pct Si. Yensen2 has shown the influence of im- purities, such as carbon, sulphur and phosphorus on the magnetic properties of 2, 4, and 6 pct Si alloys. Corson3 extended his investigation of physical properties to approximately 32 pct Si, and attributed the brittleness of the high-silicon material to the particular constitutional features of the alloys. Though mentioned earlier in the literature, the effect of nitrogen on crystal growth and magnetic permeability of iron-silicon alloys has been demonstrated recently by Morrill4 and Rostoker,5 respectively. In all the above quoted investigations, except that of Rostoker,5 sand or chill casting processes were employed for the preparation of samples. A major advantage of the powder metallurgy process is that it does away with time-consuming machining in many applications. The powder metal industry is always interested in pro- ducing a finished product employing a material which has presented considerably greater difficulties in manufacture by other methods. Steinit26 described preparation and testing of various Fe-Si alloys which were produced by the powder metallurgy process for the manufacture of armatures for small electric motors or generators. While Steinitz investigated alloys up to 6 pct Si, Rostoker5 went as high as 9 pct Si. The author7 previously discussed the diffusion of iron-silicon compacts containing 6 and 10 pct silicon. It is the object of this paper to study the progress of diffusion occurring in iron-silicon alloys by electrical resistivity measurements. All samples were prepared by pressing and sintering of compacts. Iron, silicon, and Fe-Si powders of various mesh size and compositions were employed to obtain test samples. It was assumed that complete diffusion had been obtained when the electrical resistivity reached a constant value characteristic for that particular alloy. To this end, electrical resistance measurements were used to follow the progress of alloying under various conditions.

Jan 1, 1950

By J. H. Swisher

ALUMINUM deoxidation equilibrium in liquid iron has been the subject of many investigations. Sawamura and Sano1 have written a critical survey of the literature on this subject and consider the data of Gokcen and chipman2 and of d'Entremont, Guernsey, and Chip-man3 to be most reliable. The present study was undertaken to check these data and extend the range of the experiments to lower temperature. The experiments consisted of equilibrating 5-lb Fe-Al melts with recrystallized alumina crucibles at 1580o + 10oC, and analyzing the solidified ingots for aluminum and oxygen. The electrolytic iron stock contained 100 ppm C, 20 ppm 0, and trace amounts of other elements.* The stock was induction-melted in an atmosphere of 5 pet H2 in argon to attain equilibrium between the melt and the crucible. The temperature was measured with a W, 3 pet Re/W, 26 pet Re thermocouple, and the equilibration time was about 4 hr. The results are plotted in Fig. 1 along with curves obtained from the data of d'Entremont et al.,3 for temperatures of 1740o and 1910°C. The present results can be seen to be consistent with the previously reported high-temperature data. The reaction under study is AI2O3 (s) = 2 Al (l) +3O [1] for which the deoxidation product is Kl =[% Al]2 [%O]3 [2] (Under the experimental conditions, Fe A12O4 is not expected to form.4) In Fig. 2, values of log Ki evaluated at 0.01 pet A1 are plotted against 1/T, using data obtained from all the investigations under consideration. The deoxidation product is plotted in Fig. 2 in lieu of the equilibrium constant (normally obtained by evaluating Ki as pet A1 — 0) because of the uncertainty involved in extrapolating to zero concentration. The difficulty in extrapolating the present data for 1580°C is apparent curvature in the log Ki vs pet Al plot. This curvature is perhaps due to the uncertainty in oxygen analysis for concentrations of 5 ppm and below. For the data of Gokeen and chipman,' the extrapolation is also difficult because of experimental scatter. The line drawn through the points plotted in Fig. 2 may be represented by the equation:

Jan 1, 1968

By Harry C. Gatos, Frank J. Bachner, Mario D. Banus

The portion of the Nb-Sn phase diagram between 75 and 79 at. pct Nb at temperatures near the liquidus has been investigated by melting alloys of known composition and examining the microstmc-tzlres resulting when these melts were quenched. The Nb-Sn samples were contained in magnesia sleeves, and were mounted in a high-pressure apparatus. It was shown that Nb3Sn me1ts by a peri-tectic decomposition and that the composition of the compound Nb3Sn at the peritectic horizontal lies between 77 and 78 at. pct Nb. Analysis of the phases present in the samples was accomplished by anodic staining techniques and an electron-microbeam analyzer. DURING the past several years a great deal of work has been devoted to the Nb-Sn system, and the bulk of this work has been primarily concerned with the intermetallic phase Nb3Sn. However, the melting characteristics of Nb3Sn have not been investigated because of the difficulty in maintaining known compositions due to tin losses by vaporization, and the added difficulty of containing Nb-Sn alloys without sample-container reaction at the high temperatures involved. This paper reports on the development of a technique for containing Nb-Sn alloys under pressure high enough to prevent tin losses at temperatures in excess of the liquidus. Using this technique, melts of known composition were made and a phase diagram near the liquidus is proposed based on the microstructures resulting when these melts were quenched. EXPERIMENTAL The Nb-Sn alloys weighing 0.7 g each were prepared in the form of cylinders. Niobium powder, -200, +325 mesh, and tin shavings with a minute amount of tin powder for a binder were mixed in the desired proportions and cold-pressed at 50,000 psi in a 0.150-in. die. This cylinder was then enclosed as shown in Fig. 1, and the entire arrangement mounted in a 2.6-in. pyrophyllite tetrahedron.' The desired temperatures (-2500°C) presented several problems in high-pressure container materials. Boron nitride, the usual sample holder, was found to react with niobium to form the nitride. However, MgO cans and plugs machined from refractory rods did not melt nor react with the sample. Thick tantalum contact disks were used to carry the large currents (~450 amps) to the graphite heater, since tantalum did not melt and had enough strength to prevent extrusion of the sample. It was further observed that the graphite heater and tantalum disks could not be in direct contact with the pyrophyllite because it melts and decomposes at these temperatures to kyanite and coesite (SiO2),2 the former reacting with graphite and the latter with tantalum to form the silicide. The use of a MgO outer sleeve

Jan 1, 1965