Search Documents

By H. W. Straley

Some ten years ago the writer1 made a survey of college catalogues to determine what sort of training geologists were receiving in basic sciences. In the light of this compilation and subsequent experience, he made the statement at the 1939 meeting of the Institute that apparently only in schools offering a curriculum in geological engineering or in the geological option of mining engineering curricula could geologists hope to receive the training advocated by Hubbeet.2 In the former study, schools of engineering were excluded because the preparation was known beforehand. The present study aims to consider engineering schools in an effort to determine not only what basic studies are required but what use is made of them in geological courses of the third and fourth years. The present study combined the method of consulting catalogues with a questionnaire. Letters were mailed to officials responsible for supervision of mineral industries curricula requesting information On' (I) the extent to which the engineering preparation of the first two years is actually used in the work of the last two; (2) the extent to which the engineering of the last two years is used in courses in geological engineering or geology; and (3) whether geologists or geological engineers teach descriptively or analytically. Both methods of securing information are open to criticism; the former on the basis of the incomplete information supplied by university catalogues concerning prerequisites and curricula and the latter on the ground that the questions may be phrased poorly or given insufficient consideration by replying officials. Fifty-six questionnaires were mailed and 39 (70 per cent) replies were received. Of the replies, 6 (11.3 per cent) were from colleges of liberal arts unconnected with engineering schools, 11 (20 per cent) were from schools having curricula in geological engineering and 22 (39 per cent) were from departments of mining engineering. The number of replies and their distribution were satisfactory in spite of the receipt of only six from liberal arts colleges. It should be understood that the universities of which the catalogues were examined were not necessarily the same in both compilations. No departments that are admittedly or known to be acting solely as service departments were recorded in the second study. Table I shows that all professional schools require mathematics through calculus, whereas only 7 per cent of the liberal arts curricula expect the same level of preparation; only 73 per cent require trigonometry and 40 per cent college "algebra. The proportion of geological engineering curricula requiring differential equations is higher than mining. All of the engineering schools require general and analytical chemistry, whereas only 77 per cent of liberal arts curricula require general and 18 per cent analytical. Twenty-two per cent of the mining and 40 per cent of the geological engineering

Jan 1, 1946

By Herman Garlichs

The development of the extensive Southeast Missouri deposits greatly preceded that of the Iowa and Wisconsin deposits. It began about 1720 at Mine La Motte and other localities, and has continued uninterruptedly to the present time. It is estimated that this district produced about 184,000 tons of lead in the year 1916, having a value of approximately $25,000,000. This is a new high record. The Southwest Missouri orebodies were hardly known before 1845 and were not extensively developed until 1870. Lead production in Southwest Missouri for 1916 was 38,788 tons. Oklahoma produced 14,399 tons and Kansas 2,345 tons, making a total for Southwest Missouri, and the adjoining districts in Oklahoma and Kansas, of 55,532 tons of lead. The first metallurgists in Missouri were the Indian and the hunter. The early settler learned to procure his bullets either by melting ore in his camp fire or by throwing pieces of galena on an old stump and depending on the usual roasting and reaction method to obtain the metal. A little more refined method was to arrange two flat stones in the form of a, V. Wood and galena were placed in the furnace and ignited.. As heat developed, some of the metal was extracted and molded into bullets. The next step in utilizing the lead ores was the log hearth. All lead in Missouri was smelted in this crude affair before 1820. It was built on sloping ground, and consisted of a hearth of stone, surrounded on the front and two sides by a stone wall. The wall was 7 it. high in front. The top and rear end were left open and in front an arch or opening was made, forming the eye of the furnace. In front of this a pit was dug in the ground, to receive the molten metal. Large logs were rolled in at the back and made to rest upon ledges formed inside, to raise them from the hearth and to give a draft. These logs filled the entire width of the furnace. Small split logs were then set up around the two sides and the front, and the ore was piled on until the furnace was full. Finally, the mass was covered with logs and fuel until the ore was completely surrounded. A gentle heat was started, which was raised very gradually. After 12 hr. the heat was increased and continued for 12 hr. more, 24 hr. being required for each smelting. The furnace treated about 5,000 lb. per 24 hr. and the ore yielded about 50 per cent. of its metallic lead. A considerable quantity of the ore was not desulphurized, and fell between

Jan 1, 1918

By G. S. Cole, G. F. Bolling

ThE exact type of fluid flow which occurs in a solidifying ingot is important in determining subsequent grain structure. This has been shown in studies of natural Convection" and of forced stirring or other disturbances of the melt."16 We shall explicitly argue that a complement to the existing natural flow in an ingot should be more effective than other types of flow in promoting the columnar-to-equiaxed transition. The ultimate effects of fluid flow upon structure is one of the topics of solidification that we have investigated in the alloy system Pb-Sb, under conditions simulating casting. In Fig. 1, the essential features of a bidirectional growth apparatus are shown; horizontal freezing from water-cooled faces within a low-thermal-conductivity lavite boat is a reasonable simulation of an ingot section. Details such as the furnace and thermocouples are omitted in order to show the location of four permanent. magnets, each with a pole separation of 21 in. providing a central field of about 1000 Gauss. When coupled with a dc current imposed through appropriate connections made at the cooled faces, a flow of fluid is produced as shown schematically. This technique described by Pfann and ~orsi" is ideal for our purpose since the flow indicated is the same as that we observe to occur naturally in this system. Components of 99.999 pct purity were used for study and all due precautions were taken in alloy preparation to avoid contaminants. Sections of the specimens were taken to ensure results representative of the interior as well as the surface of specimens. All proportions of equiaxed and columnar regions were measured by tracing the etched grain structures onto graph paper and simply counting squares. Four alloys were examined at superheats of 40" * 5°C and 100" * 9°C. Preliminary tests had shown that no appreciable enhancement of structure was obtained with magnetic field alone, so that this condition is not reported; it should nevertheless be noted that other configurations of magnetic field will reduce convection and thus enhance columnar growth.'8 For the tests reported the magnetic field was applied to a specimen by bringing the four preassembled magnets to a position 2 mm from an outer tube immediately after the ingot was poured. The dc current of 30 amps passed through the sample throughout the entire solidification cycle, resulting in a power dissipation of 9 w per sq cm of interface. This may be compared to the evolution of latent heat of approximately 18 w per sq cm. Table I contains the results of this experiment in terms of the total area ratio, equiaxed/columnar grains, as a function of the field interactions, solute concentrations, and superheats employed. The total structure of the ingot is seen to be most influenced when both the field and current are applied simultaneously; when current acts separately, little effect may be noted in spite of the heat supplied. In addition, the change in structure from the no field-no current case to the field-current condition is more pronounced at the higher superheat, and the higher the concentration of antimony. An example of the grain refinement, as well as the increased equiaxed zone, is shown in Fig. 2. It is now important to prove that there is indeed an increase in fluid flow due to the presence of the field-current interaction; this is done by temperature measurements in the liquid metal. Let us consider a bidirectional casting in which heat is applied to and removed from the system, in such a way that rate of solidification is zero.* When a sensitive thermocouple

Jan 1, 1967

By C. S. Roberts

THE advent of a sensitive X-ray method of analysis recently has allowed the determination of retained austenite in amounts as low as 0.3 pct.' As a result this phase has been found in quenched low carbon steels where its presence has not been generally suspected. In the course of a study of the tempering process,' retained austenite determinations were made by the X-ray method on a series of high purity Fe-C alloys and plain carbon steels. The chemical analyses of these materials and details of the hardening procedure are given in Table I. Results were obtained after quenching to 72°F (22°C) and — 321 °F (—196°C). Austenitizing temperatures were between 100" and 150°F above A, or Acm. All proeutec-toid cementite or ferrite was in solution. The combination of the results with those of Averbach, Castleman, and Cohen,' and earlier results of Esser

Jan 1, 1954

By B. M. Larsen, T. E. Brower

For some years we have been carrying on a rather comprehensive investigation of the occurrence of oxygen in liquid open-hearth steel. This investigation was interrupted by the war emergency and is therefore incomplete, with many questions still answered only partially, if at all; yet it seemed worth while to present a report of progress on this difficult field of research, if for no other reason than to promote discussion and further investigation of this important problem. The significance of such studies depends in large measure upon the accuracy of measurements of oxygen content in liquid steel while it is still in the furnace or as it flows into the ladle, or thence into the mold and there is, as we shall show, good reason for believing that the main source of uncertainty is in the sampling, not in the analytical method as such. The difficulty arises from the fact that any method of sampling is of itself apt to alter the amount of oxygen in solution in the liquid steel, because this oxygen is in a readily reactive condition. On the one hand, being usually present at a concentration appreciably in excess of that corresponding to equilibrium with the carbon then present, it may decrease rapidly in percentage by reaction with carbon and evolution of CO, especially if the liquid metal is in any way shaken or brought in contact with a cooler solid surface. On the other hand, it may increase rapidly by ab- sorption of oxygen from a slag, a furnace atmosphere, or from air. These circumstances, which are inherent in the problem, as well as our conclusion that, despite the considerable amount of careful work already done, there is still no method of sampling liquid steel acceptable as an unquestioned standard, ed us to undertake systematic comparisons of oxygen content of large numbers of samples taken: (I) by a single method at different positions and levels in the bath; (2) at the same place by different sampling methods; and (3) from bath, tapping stream and pouring stream. The different sampling methods yield somewhat different values and there is as yet no way to tell with certainty which is the most accurate. But the general reproducibility and consistency of the results give us some confidence in certain inferences we draw from them: namely, that the "spoon" method of sampling, properly carried out, gives somewhat more consistent results than the "bomb" method, as it has usually been practiced; that, in the bomb method, an aluminum cap is preferable to a steel cap; that the oxygen content of liquid steel in a finished heat is substantially the same all over the bath at the same level, and tends to decrease at lower levels further from the slag interface; also that it tends to decrease, and to decrease erratically, from furnace bath to tapping stream entering the ladle. Accordingly it seemed desirable to report these observations in detail as a first step, so that the reader may judge their significance as a contribution towards solution of the main problem, which is to find a means of pre-2

Jan 1, 1945

Jan 1, 1941

By F. O. Willhofft

The symposium on mine safety held in connection with the annual meeting of the Institute three years ago, it. was pointed out that "at present no convenient, reliable, accurate means for determining the gas content of mine air is available, for use by the ordinary mine man." In a letter addressed to Coal Age and published on Feb. 25, 1925, Thomas T. Read, then Director of the Safety Service of the Bureau of Mines, stated: "It is to be hoped that sometime in the near future some-one will invent a reliable methane indicator that is con-venient to, use and will permit the keeping of all flames of every character out of bituminous mines, through doing away with the safety lamp." The Martienssen methane detector, which has re-cently received the official approval of the Bureau of Mines, is intended to. meet the demand for such an in-strument as expressed at that meeting and on many other occasions. The characteristics which qualify it for the task are the following: (1) simplicity; (2) small bulk and light weight; (3) ruggedness; (4) accuracy sufficient for the requirements; (5) safety; and (6) dependability. The principle on which the working of the instrument is based may best be explained by giving a brief out-line of the various stages of development through which the inventor, Professor Martienssen of the University of Kiel, Germany, advanced to the final solution of the problem which he had undertaken to solve.

Jan 2, 1928

By E. P. Chapman

In May 1957 a diamond drill hole intersected 40 ft of magnetite and chalcopyrite assaying 2.55% copper and 51.6% iron on the claims of Craigmont Mines Ltd. near Merritt, southern British Columbia. The subsequent drilling indicated the presence of a multi-million ton orebody averaging over 2% copper and 18% iron, the latter present for the most part as magnetite and specular hematite in approximately equal proportions. This orebody, although under shallow cover at its eastern extremity, did not come to the surface and the early drilling was done on the basis of strong coinciding magnetic and geochemical anomalies. After 4 ½ years of intensive exploration and development the property was put into production in September 1961. The new ultramodern concentrator has a design capacity of 4000 tpd but is consistently treating well over this amount. Production is currently coming from that portion of the deposit which is amenable to open-pit mining methods. By mid-1958 information regarding the importance of the Craigmont find became fairly wide- spread, and exploration in the Merritt area was greatly intensified. Numerous magnetic and geochemical anomalies have been tested by drilling with notable lack of success. Detailed geological studies of the deposit and of the area have been made by Government agencies and by private companies and such studies are continuing. Many types of geophysical methods have been employed over the Craigmont deposit in an effort to develop knowledge which would assist in the search for similar mineral concentrations in the environment in which it occurs. This paper will discuss the results of the various geophysical surveys in relation to geological conditions and ore outlines insofar as they are now known.

Jan 7, 1962

By L. L. Gray, D. W. Reed, F. Morgan

A flowMeter has been developed at Gulf Research and Development Co. and tested in the field for measuring the flow of gas in well bores. It has been used in a study of the injection capacity of different horizons in gas injection wells in Oklahoma. The flow sensitive element of the meter is a semi-conductor having a very high temperature coefficient of resistance. Advantages possessed by this meter are the result of that property and the high specific resistance of the element. The instrument possesses a sensitivity considerably higher than any reported previously. In the application described here the element is heated to a temperature considerably above ambient by an electric current, which is supplied by a voltage source at the surface. When fluid flows through the meter the rate of dissipation of heat is increased and the temperature of the element decreases. Because of the negative temperature characteristics of the resistance element such a decrease of temperature will be accompanied by an increase of resistance which, under flow conditions ordinarily found in wells, is of such a magnitude that it can be directly measured or recorded in terms of a change in voltage at the surface. In practice, rate of flow is measured in terms of the drop in voltage in the resistance element. All the metering and control apparatus remains at the surface while the thermal element is lowered into the well on a single conductor cable, consisting of an insulated wire and sheath. The meter is calibrated by passing known quantities of gas through it either at the surface or in the hole at a point immediately above the region in which gas is lost to the formation. In case calibration is made at the surface, the ambient temperature in the hole may readily be obtained by a second resistance element which is operated at a current so low that effectively no heating occurs. The instrument has been adapted to con-tinuous recording, but the velocity of the meter relative to that of the gas must be low unless corrections are made. Curves giving data obtained in actual field tests are shown' The meter can also be used to determine the distribution of flow capacity in a gas producing well. A differential form of the meter has been designed and built in which the local flow or injection capacity of the formation is obtained directly. Introduction When fluid is injected into a well in a secondary recovery or pressure-maintenance operation the question of its most effective use invariably arises. Although the core log, when available, will show the regions of good permeability and oil saturation, there is normally no assurance that the fluid actually enters the formation in zones where injection is deemed desirable. In view of the uncertainties involved in such programs, it is generally conceded that measurements of permeability for a formation in place are more significant than those obtained by the core-sampling technique. A subsurface meter has been developed at the Gulf Research and Development Co. for measuring flow of fluids at different horizons in a well bore, and field tests have been made on the instrument in Cooperation with the Tulsa Division of the Gulf Oil Corp. In this paper the meter is de-

Jan 1, 1948

By F. Morgan, L. L. Gray, D. W. Reed

A flowMeter has been developed at Gulf Research and Development Co. and tested in the field for measuring the flow of gas in well bores. It has been used in a study of the injection capacity of different horizons in gas injection wells in Oklahoma. The flow sensitive element of the meter is a semi-conductor having a very high temperature coefficient of resistance. Advantages possessed by this meter are the result of that property and the high specific resistance of the element. The instrument possesses a sensitivity considerably higher than any reported previously. In the application described here the element is heated to a temperature considerably above ambient by an electric current, which is supplied by a voltage source at the surface. When fluid flows through the meter the rate of dissipation of heat is increased and the temperature of the element decreases. Because of the negative temperature characteristics of the resistance element such a decrease of temperature will be accompanied by an increase of resistance which, under flow conditions ordinarily found in wells, is of such a magnitude that it can be directly measured or recorded in terms of a change in voltage at the surface. In practice, rate of flow is measured in terms of the drop in voltage in the resistance element. All the metering and control apparatus remains at the surface while the thermal element is lowered into the well on a single conductor cable, consisting of an insulated wire and sheath. The meter is calibrated by passing known quantities of gas through it either at the surface or in the hole at a point immediately above the region in which gas is lost to the formation. In case calibration is made at the surface, the ambient temperature in the hole may readily be obtained by a second resistance element which is operated at a current so low that effectively no heating occurs. The instrument has been adapted to con-tinuous recording, but the velocity of the meter relative to that of the gas must be low unless corrections are made. Curves giving data obtained in actual field tests are shown' The meter can also be used to determine the distribution of flow capacity in a gas producing well. A differential form of the meter has been designed and built in which the local flow or injection capacity of the formation is obtained directly. Introduction When fluid is injected into a well in a secondary recovery or pressure-maintenance operation the question of its most effective use invariably arises. Although the core log, when available, will show the regions of good permeability and oil saturation, there is normally no assurance that the fluid actually enters the formation in zones where injection is deemed desirable. In view of the uncertainties involved in such programs, it is generally conceded that measurements of permeability for a formation in place are more significant than those obtained by the core-sampling technique. A subsurface meter has been developed at the Gulf Research and Development Co. for measuring flow of fluids at different horizons in a well bore, and field tests have been made on the instrument in Cooperation with the Tulsa Division of the Gulf Oil Corp. In this paper the meter is de-

Jan 1, 1948

By G. S. Hume

RECENT developments in the Turner Valley gas and oil field, 40 mi. southwest of Calgary, Alberta, have indicated a large producing crude-oil area. Drilling be¬gan in Turner Valley in 1913 but no major developments took place until the fall of 1924, when Royalite No. 4 well at a depth of 3740 ft. in the upper part of the Paleozoic (Mississippian) limestone obtained a production - of 20,000 M cu. ft. of gas with a content of about one imperial gallon of naphtha (73° A.P.I.) per M cu. ft. This well produced as much as 600 bbl. of naphtha per day, and until abandonment in 1934 produced 911,313 bbl., which together with the gas sold was valued at about $5,000.000.

Jan 1, 1937

By R. H. Jacoby, V. J. Berry, R. C. Koeller

The experimental phase behavior of several field gas-condensate systems, one field volatile oil system, and a series of synthetic systems having gas-oil ratios from 2,000 to 20,000 scf/bbl stock tank oil was measured. The data were used to calculate the depletion performance of the field systems at their respective reservoir temperatures and of the synthetic systems at various temperatures. The results of the performance calculations were used to prepare correlations of total stock tank oil and separator gas in-place, and the amount of each recovered by primary depletion. Data needed to use the correlations are initial gas-oil ratio, initial tank oil gravity, reservoir temperature and reservoir pressure. The correlations presented should be useful for estiinating recovery from reservoirs producing volatile oils or rich gas condensates having gas-oil ratios from about 2,000 to 30,000 scf/bbl of stock tank oil. INTRODUCTION Prediction of depletion performance for gas-condensate reservoirs usually requires extensive laboratory work or lengthy phase-behavior calculations. For many small gas-condensate bearing zones the expense of such work is often not justified. Furthermore, where large holdings are involved, it is useful to have estimates of future oil and gas production in advance of the results of a laboratory analysis, even if such work is ultimately planned. For these reasons, it would be of value to have a method for rapidly estimating the depletion performance of gas-condensate reservoirs from the type of field data usually available. Few data on the reservoir depletion performance are available for the purpose of developing correlations. The increasing number of gas-condensate discoveries and the advent of high-speed computers have stimulated the development of methods for predicting performance. Such calculated performance data have been shown to be reliable and are becoming accepted as a basis for reserve estimates and for engineering studies. It therefore seems satisfactory to use results of performance predictions themselves for the purpose of developing the desired correlations. Such an approach is described in this paper. Several rich natural gas-condensate systems (gas-oil ratios of from about 3,600 to 60,000 scf/bbl) and one natural volatile oil system were studied (2,363 scf/bbl). In addition, to provide a more systematic basis for correlating purposes, a series of related, synthetic reservoir fluid mixtures was also studied (GOR's from about 2,000 to 25,000 scf/bbl). The purpose of this paper is to show how the recovery of oil and gas by primary depletion may be estimated from surface gas-oil ratio, reservoir temperature and pressure, and tank oil gravity. procedure Experiments Companion samples of gas and oil were collected from the high pressure separators in nine different fields at the time of their discovery. These samples were each recombined in accordance with the respective producing GOR to reproduce the reservoir fluids. Eight of these fluids, designated F-2 through F-9, were rich gas-condensate systems at the respective reser-

Jan 1, 1935

By D. A. Farmen

INTRODUCTION In early 1978, engineering personnel at The Carter Mining Company began using photogrammetry coupled with a computer modeling technique to aid in mine planning efforts. The decision to develop this approach was based on the following needs: 1. A method to accurately capture excavated quantities for reporting purposes, 2. A method to produce accurate up-to-date maps for planning purposes, and 3. A computer-based mine-planning technique that would be compatible with techniques used in the past. The system developed utilizes a photogrammetric contractor to provide thousands of aerially-surveyed data points for input into the computer system. Each month the Rawhide and Caballo mines are flown by the photogrammetric contractor. The terrain of the active pit area is digitized and punched out on computer cards. This information is read into The Carter Mining Company's computer facilities, and an updated two-dimensional topographic grid model of the pit is generated. This surface is used to generate quantities moved during the month, to update isopachs, and to update quantities contained in fixed block progression polygons used for forecasting purposes. The system has greatly reduced the amount of manhours spent in field surveying and provides a useful tool for expeditiously evaluating many different forecast cases. It also provides the

Jan 1, 1983

By G. E. Murray

Lead blast-furnace work at Trail is unique in that this is the only plant in the world where blast-furnace smelting on a large scale for both lead and zinc recovery is carried on under one management. On this account the factors that determine economic practice differ from those of other lead smelters. In addition to this different metallurgical outlook, a great deal of structural investigation has been carried on, which has resulted in the development of a furnace which should prove of interest to all who are faced with similar problems. This description may be conveniently divided into various heads as follows: (1) General—make-up of charge, etc.; (2) structural—(a) hoods and charging methods, (b) shaft construction, (c) crucible construction; (3) handling slag; (4) handling bullion; (5) metallurgy. The Charge The Trail plant is an old one, on a congested site. As with most old plants, this limits the method of charge preparation. In general, lead metallurgists will agree that sinter when it reaches the blast furnace should contain as small an amount as possible of actual fines. There would be some difference of opinion as to the maximum size as well as of the minimum required, but to obtain the optimum condition some form of screening is indicated. This screening should take place immediately before the blast furnace if possible, and because sinter deteriorates in storage there should be as little as possible. There should also be the minimum amount of handling between the sinter machines and the furnaces. Unfortunately, at Trail the sinter must be handled considerably before it is charged to the furnace, and no feasible scheme of screening has yet been devised. Trail practice, then, demands that the sinter be a strong one physically. Dependent upon the amount of lead in it, it has been found advantageous to incorporate granulated slag into the final sinter, the amount varying inversely as the lead content. The addition of this slag makes a harder sinter, which arrives at the blast furnace in a better condition, but it entails some lack of efficiency, because desulphuriza-tion is not so rapid nor so complete.

Jan 1, 1937

By A. Totani, S. Nakajima, H. Okazaki

The phase diagram for the SnTe-SnSe system has been studied in the temperature range from 300° to 900°C by differential thermal and quenching techniques. The X-ray measurements were made on quenched specimens. High-temperature diffraction was also made to study the phase transition in SnSe. The system is proved to be of a eutectic type in which no intermetallic compound exists. The eutectic point is at the composition SnTeo.55 Seo.45. the eutectic temperature being 755°C. Solid solubility limits are SnTeo.6Seo.r and SnT eo. 3s Seo.6s at the eutectic temperature, and change almost linearly to SnTeo.aaSeo.lz and SnTeo.18 Seo.az as temperature decreases to 300°C. It was shown that the SnSe phase has a phase transition of the second order at about 540°C and that the transition temperature decreases with increase of the SnTe content. THERMOELECTRIC properties of tin telluride (SnTe) and tin selenide (SnSe) have been studied extensively in recent years. The variation of physical properties with composition could be of interest if these compounds form an appreciable crystalline solution. The purpose of present investigation is to confirm the formation of crystalline solution or intermetallic compound, if any, and to establish the phase diagram for this system. The crystal structure of SnTe is NaCl type with a cubic unit cell1 (a = 6.313A). The crystal of SnSe having an orthorh2mbic unit cellz (a = 11.496, b = 4.1510, and c = 4.4437A) is isomorphous with tin sulfide (SnS) which has a distorted sodium chloride structure. It has been known that SnSe has a phase at at 540°C; the transition has been assumed to be of the second order. As far as we know, only two studies on the SnTe-SnSe pseudobinary system have been reported. The conclusion obtained in these papers is that, in the composition regions near SnTe and SnSe, the system forms a crystalline solution of the SnTe structure and the SnSe structure, respectively, and that, in the intermediate region, both phases coexist. However, neither the variation of the solid solubility vs the temperature nor the liquidus and solidus were investigated. Hence present writers have attempted to determine the phase diagram of the system by differential thermal analysis (D.T.A.) and X-ray diffraction. EXPERIMENTAL Sample Preparation. Starting materials, SnTe and SnSe, were prepared by the direct fusion of commercially available high-purity (99.999 pct) elements. Stoichiometric amounts of each couple Sn-Te or Sn-Se were weighed into a clear fused silica ampule. After evacuation to a pressure below 10-3 mm Hg, the am- pule was sealed, and annealed at 900°C for 5 hr. The melt was quenched in water. X-ray analysis confirmed the formation of a single phase of SnTe or SnSe. The other samples, SnTel-,Sex were synthesized from these SnTe and SnSe by mixing them in the required ratio, followed by annealing at 900°C and quenching. These samples were used directly for D.T.A. For X-ray measurements, samples were annealed at 700°, 600°, or 500°C for 100 hr or at 300°C for 150 hr, and then quenched in water. It was found that the lattice constants of the SnTe phase annealed for 150 hr at temperatures above 500°C did not differ from those annealed for 100 hr at the same temperatures. However the X-ray phase analysis showed that at 300°C the annealing for 150 hr was necessary to attain a true equilibrium state. D.T.A. The solid-liquid equilibrium temperature was determined from D.T.A. measurements. The sample was sealed in an evacuated silica tube and molybdenum powders sealed in an another tube were used as a reference material. The sample and the reference tube were placed in a nickel block and were heated from room temperature to 900°C at a rate of 3°C per min and then cooled down at the same rate to 600°C. Thermocouples for these measurements were Pt-Pt. Rh (10 pct) and the error of temperature measurements was within + l0C. D.T.A. curves were obtained on a two-pen recorder and an automatic controller (PID type) was used for the program of heating and cooling. When temperature reaches the solidus from the low-temperature side, there appears an endothermic peak. The solidus temperature was determined by extrapolation of the straight portion of the starting flank of this peak to the base line. In a similar way, the liquidus temperature was determined from an exothermic peak on D.T.A. cooling curve. In the case of supercooling, if any, its degree can be estimated from the magnitude of the abrupt temperature rise. X-Ray . X-ray powder patterns were taken by a diffractometer using CuK, radiation. Since the SnSe crystal is cleaved easily, the powders become flaky when SnSe-rich samples are ground in an agate

Jan 1, 1969

By William J. Robinson

What is the cummulative rate of recovery of copper from a sulfide leach dump? The technical answers to this frequently asked question may vary from "I don't know" to "quite good" from people of the same company. Management also poses this question because it plays a vital role in planning future production. The answer is difficult because of the many variables between different operations such as physical construction of the dump, topography of the original site, characteristics of dump material, mineralization and water application. Each of these factors and others have a bearing on the rate of recovery. Anaconda's method of water distribution at Butte is unique in that each dump is drilled to allow physical injection of water into the dump. The injection holes are drilled vertically on 25 ft centers from the surface of the dump. Normally, the holes are drilled 40 ft deep and cased with 4-in. PVC perforated pipe. The pipe is perforated at one-foot intervals with four 1/2 in. diam holes at 90" spacing on the pipe circumference.

Jan 9, 1972

By G. M. Ritcey

Continuous contacting equipment for solvent extraction can be divided into two major areas, according to whether their mode of operation is stagewise or differential (Figure 1). Mixer settlers and the recent Kenics and Sulzer mixers typify the stagewise contactors. In these counter- current contactors, the aqueous and the organic phase are mixed and then separated in a large settling area before the next stage of mixing. Countercurrent differential contact- ors, such as centrifuges and various types of columns, are more compact in that they require less ground area than mixer settlers. [ ] Contactors, in addition to being either stagewise or differential, can be further subdivided into non-agitated and agitated depending on the method used for mixing the phases and producing the countercurrent flow. The simplest contactors such as spray, packed, or perforated plate columns achieve both the mixing and countercurrent flow by means of the gravity difference between the two phases. In agitated contactors such as the Scheibel, Reciprocating Plate, and Sieve-Plate Pulse, mechanical agitation is introduced but gravity differences still produce countercurrent flow. To conserve plant space, and for large throughput with short contact time, centrifugal contactors are used where possible. The reader can refer to reviews on the subject (1-11).

Jan 1, 1978

By C. H. Mathewson, A. U. Seybolt

As is well known, many questions affecting the properties and uses of a metal cannot be answered without careful consideration of the state of purity realized in the various operations of preparation, refining, or special treatment that have brought the product to its final state. The occurrellce of an impurity in minute quantity offers no guarantee that its effect will be inconsiderable because dissolved substances often modify the properties of a metal quite out of proportion to their concentration. In such cases the determination of solid solubility must be accepted as a problem of considerable difficulty, requiring the use of especially purified materials and methods not ordinarily used in the metallurgical laboratory. This aspect of the equilibrium between metals and their oxides is especially important and a search for fundamental data reveals little except conflicting opinion even concerning the systems of common occurrence and interest. Rhines and Mathewson1 in 1934 studied the solubility of oxygen in solid copper by annealing to equilibrium in air and gave reasons for the failure of other methods, notably the ordinary procedure of heat-treatment followed by microscopic examination, to yield reliable results. In this paper, a similar study has been made of the solubility of oxygen in cobalt. The simple theory of this method is outlined below. Conditions of Equilibrium between a Metal and Dissolved Oxide at Different Temperatures and Pressures The general conditions of equilibrium in any system are conveniently summarized in a projection of the triple curves of the P, T, X space

Jan 1, 1935

By A. U. Seybolt, C. H. Mathewson

As is well known, many questions affecting the properties and uses of a metal cannot be answered without careful consideration of the state of purity realized in the various operations of preparation, refining, or special treatment that have brought the product to its final state. The occurrellce of an impurity in minute quantity offers no guarantee that its effect will be inconsiderable because dissolved substances often modify the properties of a metal quite out of proportion to their concentration. In such cases the determination of solid solubility must be accepted as a problem of considerable difficulty, requiring the use of especially purified materials and methods not ordinarily used in the metallurgical laboratory. This aspect of the equilibrium between metals and their oxides is especially important and a search for fundamental data reveals little except conflicting opinion even concerning the systems of common occurrence and interest. Rhines and Mathewson1 in 1934 studied the solubility of oxygen in solid copper by annealing to equilibrium in air and gave reasons for the failure of other methods, notably the ordinary procedure of heat-treatment followed by microscopic examination, to yield reliable results. In this paper, a similar study has been made of the solubility of oxygen in cobalt. The simple theory of this method is outlined below. Conditions of Equilibrium between a Metal and Dissolved Oxide at Different Temperatures and Pressures The general conditions of equilibrium in any system are conveniently summarized in a projection of the triple curves of the P, T, X space

Jan 1, 1935