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By R. W. Metsger

The metamorphic zinc-iron-manganese ore in the Grenvillian rocks of the Reading Prong m Sussex County, N.J. is unique. The singularity of its mineral composition and associations has fueled controversy among economic geologists and mineralogists for more than a hundred years. The silicate-oxide ore, in two synformal concentrations has been mined since about 1838. The Franklin mine was depleted in 1954, while the one at Sterling Hill is still producing. Although the two mines are perhaps best known for their almost three hundred mineral species and have been a mecca for collectors, they -- as importantly -- have provided a window through which to observe more than a billion years of geologic history. When pieced together, studies reveal a sequence of probable sedimentary deposition, intense folding, pseudo- viscous flow with attendant negative diapirism, uplifting, erosion, karstification, hydrothermal alteration, burial, faulting, igneous intrusion, uplift , saprolitization, and glaciation.

Jan 1, 1985

By Arnulf Muan, Hobart M. Kraner

Ferromanganese alloys react with aluminu-silica brick in blast furnace hearths and cause the formation of new phases with low refractoriness and consequent failure of the refractory lining. The nature of these reactions is explained on the basis of petrographic observations, thermodynamic data, and Phase equilibrium considerations. Animproued hearth design resulted from these findings. The production of ferromanganese in blast furnaces presents many problems which are not encountered in the production of iron in the same furnaces. One of the most serious of these problems is the rapid failure of refractories caused by their reaction with the ferromanganese metal. The present paper describes such a "hearth attack", its symptoms, causes, and cure. Following an introductory discussion of operating practice in ferromanganese blast furnaces, results are presented of a petrographic examination of samples from a furnace which had to be shut down because of refractory failure. The causes of this failure are then analyzed on the basis of petrographic observations combined with thermodynamic and phase equilibrium data available in the literature. The latter type of data were subsequently used as a guide in recommending improvements in hearth designs which have since proven themselves successful in practical operations. I) FERROMANGANESE BLAST FURNACE PRACTICE It is considered good practice to blow in a furnace on iron and operate it in this way for a period of time preliminary to producing ferrornanganese. During this time, iron generally penetrates the bottom refractories six or more feet below the original working surface of the hearth. Not only does this metal pervade the joints to these depths, but the pores of the refractories are usually also filled by molten iron. The high throughput of the iron furnace provides ample heat to maintain a high temperature in the hearth refractories. This, together with a high ferrostatic pressure, causes porous clay brick of the hearth to shrink. During subsequent use of such a furnace in ferromanganese production, the iron in the pores of hearth brick if; replaced to some extent by ferromanganese. The replacement is usually not complete. This is probably due to the lower metal throughput and lower prevailing temperatures resulting from this in the brick of the hearth bottom. When the ferrornanganese furnace is banked—or when the temperature in the furnace falls due to a furnace delay—-manganese oxidizes even though the atmosphere is largely CO. Considerable expansion accompanies this oxidation of manganese from metal to oxide. The hearth refractories are then subjected to the disintegrating forces of the volume expansion. These forces may in extreme cases be large enough to lift the furnace off its mantle supports as was described in a previous paper.' When cooling takes place slowly, however, and the temperature remains at a fairly high level, the refractories undergo fluxing action by the MnO. This latter reaction and the reduction of SiO2 of the clay brick is the general subject of the present paper. The observations to be described herein were made on a ferromanganese furnace located at the Johnstown plant of Bethlehem Steel Co. The furnace was lined entirely with clay refractories and had operated on iron for 266 days and on ferromanganese for 96 days prior to being taken off because of a hearth wall failure. II) PETROGRAPHIC EXAMINATION AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS The photograph reproduced in Fig. 1 shws a cross section of the upper part of an 18 by 9 by 4-1/2 in. bottom block removed from the blast furnace. This brick came from a depth of approximately 6 ft below the original working face of the bottom. It will be noted that the 4-1/2 in. dimension is almost the same as when the brick entered the furnace. Three characteristically different zones marked I, II, and III on the print of Fig. 1 are apparent. Results of chemical analyses of the original brick and samples from each of these zones are listed in Table I. Petrographically the various zones were characterized as follows: The central zone marked I was essentially un-reacted brick. The microstructure consisted of fine needles of mullite, and the pores in this entire area were filled with iron. This is characteristic of

Jan 1, 1962

By J. Winlock

To have been chosen by you to give the Howe Memorial Lecture is the greatest honor I have ever had and I should like to have you know that I appreciate it deeply. Many years ago I had the privilege and the pleasure of working with Professor Howe in the private laboratory which he had established in his home at Bedford Hills, New York. Without doubt he was one of the world's greatest metallurgists and so you can imagine what a difficult task it has been for me to live up to his teachings. Every morning Professor Howe would outline the work he wanted done and the recollections of those conferences are clear to me to this day. Sometimes he would ask me to ride in his automobile and the chauffeur had full instructions to go no more than fifteen miles an hour. If he did so, Professor Howe was sure to rap upon the man's shoulder with his cane. I assure you, however, Professor Howe's thinking was not at that rate. His homely advice, his patience and his perfect control of the English language still impress me. Many times I heard him dictate a complicated paper on metallurgy and never find it necessary to change a single word. There are no better words to describe the character of Professor Howe, in my opinion, than those used by Professor Sauveur when he presented the John Fritz Medal to him in 1917: "Lover of justice and humanity Public servant and public benefactor, Master of the English Language, Loyal and devoted friend, Untiring and unselfish worker in an important field of science." I hope you will bear with me with the same patience and understanding which he used to give to me. The peculiar behavior of steel at the yield point has long been known and has been the subject of much research, both in this country and abroad.',' Many theories, including some of mine and my colleagues, have been suggested, but none of them, in our opinion, fully explains to our satisfaction why the phenomena occur. Of particular importance has been the work of Nadai,3 Siebel and Pomp,' Sachs and Fiek,5 Rawdon,0 Kenyon and Burns,' Gensamer," Gensamer and Meh1,0 Davenport and Bain,'" Fell," Deutler,12 Brinkman,13 MacGregor,14 Hollomon,15 Cot-trell,16 and Palm." The question of what is occurring during this singular behavior is not only of interest from an academic point of view, but is of great practical importance for at least two reasons: 1—The highly localized plastic flow which occurs during the deep drawing of light-gage steel gives rise to surface markings which seriously mar its appearance, Fig. 1. If the forces causing the deformation are primarily tensile forces, these surface markings occur as depressions in the surface. Whereas, if the forces causing the deformation are primarily compressive, irregular lines of elevations occur. These surface markings are known as Luder's lines, Hartmann lines, the Piobert affect, and, in the shop, as "stretcher strains." 2—The steel is in the most suitable condition for deep drawing after the yield point phenomena have been removed. When this is done, the steel may be deep drawn more easily and to a greater extent.' It should be mentioned that steel is not the only metal which shows this peculiar behavior at the yield point. Stretcher strains occur, also, during the deformation of some copper-nickel-zinc alloys." The purpose of this paper is not an attempt to describe what causes the steel to behave in this peculiar manner, but an attempt: l—to describe what is taking place at the yield point; and 2—to show the influence of the rate of deformation on the tensile properties of some plain carbon steels. As is well-known, there are two methods of deforming a metal in tension: 1—by actually hanging an increasing amount of dead weight on the metal; or 2—by deforming the metal at some given rate or rates by means of oil pressure cylinders, screws, etc. With the first method, the load is always present and, clearly, no drop in load can ever occur while the steel is deforming. With the second method, the registered load is the resistance of the steel to the deformation being imposed upon it. The second method is the one most widely used, and is the one referred to throughout this paper. In order to describe clearly what is occurring at the yield point in steel, it will help, I believe, if a description is first given of what occurs when alumi-

Jan 1, 1954

By F. A. Crossley

The titanium-rich end of the Ti-A1 system has been investigated up to 35 at. pct A1 (23 wt pet). One conzpound Ti3Al was found to occur between primary a and TiAl. It is ordered hcp with DO19 structure, it has virtually no solid-solubility range, and it has a closed maximum at about 875°C. OIL either side of the compound are a +Ti3Al two-phase fields. The limiting a1uminum solubility in primary a at the titanium-rich end is indicated to be 7.5 at. pct A1 (4.4 wt pet) at 550°C and about 6.8 at. pct Al fl wt pct) at 500°C. Quenching alloys from above the a + Ti3Al two-phase field produces the following structures with respect to alloy composition: Up to 13 at. pct A1 (7.8 wt pet), a solid solution; from 15 to 18 at. pct A1 (9 to 11 wt pct), shear transformation product or martensite; from 19 to approximately 30 at. pct (11 to 19 wt pet), submicro-scopic coherent Ti3Al in an a malvix. The twin hcp phase fields reported in the literature are the result of nonequilibrium corzdztions. Ti-A1 alloys, once partitioned by dwelling- in the a + ß phase field during either hot working or heat treatment, are extremely difjicult to homogenize at temperatures below 1000°C. Such partitioned alloys exhibit the characteristics or symptoms of two-phase materials, and may be said to suffer the "twin-phase syndrome". THE earliest investigations of the Ti-A1 system by Ogden et al.1 and Bumps et al.2 reported wide solubility of the primary solid solutions. Aluminum was reported soluble in the low-temperature allomorph to the extent of 37 at. pct (25 wt pct), and the first intermediate phase was reportedly TiA1. Somewhat later Kornilov et al.3 reported a similar diagram with phase boundaries displaced towards lower aluminum contents and higher temperatures. Beginning about this time (1956) reports in the literature made it very clear that one or more intermediate phases occurred at lower aluminum contents than TiAl.4-17 These reports included five major investigations of the titanium-rich end of the Ti-A1 diagram.4,12,14,16,17 Three of these diagrams show two two-phase fields below 37 at. pct Al, while two of them show a single two-phase field. The existence of the phase Ti3A1 is firmly established and is included in each of the diagrams, except one—that of Sato and Huang.12 The new phases are reportedly hcp and differ from primary a only slightly when disordered, and when ordered the "a" parameter is approximately one,4,12,15 two, 6-10,13,14 or four14 times that for primary a. Beyond this, however, the diagrams are remarkable for their lack of agreement. Two tacit assumptions are usually made in phase-diagram determinations of metal systems. These are: 1) equilibrium anneals bring the alloy to equilibrium or to indistinguishable closeness to it, and 2) equilibrium conditions established at elevated temperatures are either "frozen" by rapid quenching for evaluation at room temperature, or quench-transformation products are recognized as such. In the current investigation evidence was obtained that over substantial composition ranges neither of these two conditions was met in any of the more recent major investigations. I) MATERIALS, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES The alloys of this investigation were prepared by nonc on sum able electrode arc melting. Materials used in the preparation of the alloys are summarized in Table I. The investigative tools employed were: optical and electron microscopy, differential thermal analysis (DTA), disatometry, X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, and resistometry. Alloys for microscopic and X-ray investigations were prepared as 15-g melts. Alloys containing from 7 through 11 at. pct A1 were hot-rolled out of a furnace at 900°C, from 12 through 15 at. pct out of a furnace at 1000°C, and from 16 through 18 at. pct out of a furnace at 1125°C. Alloys containing more than 18 at. pct A1 could not be hot-rolled. The ingots were covered with Markal coating prior to hot rolling to minimize atmospheric contamination. After hot rolling, alloys containing up to 15 at. pct A1 were ground and pickled to remove 7 mils from each surface; alloys containing 16 and 18 at. pct A1 were skinned to a

Jan 1, 1967

By P. Barnes

Several interesting and important considerations may be based upon an analysis of the cost of producing Bessemer rails, and the facts thus set forth may be much more clearly emphasized by re ducing each item of cost to its own fractional proportion of the sum total in each branch of the manufacture. The estimate given below is not absolutely complete in minute ness of detail, but it may be fairly taken as a basis for the suggestions to be noted : Perhaps the most striking comments that can be made upon this statement are those arising from a consideration of some of the smaller items, and even the least of these quite loses its insignificance when its proportion of the whole is expressed in actual money, as for the work of a year, or even for a single day. Thus, if the item as be considered, the importance can be clearly

By H. L. Gilbert, C. Travis Anderson, W. J. Kroll

IN a previous paper,1 the use of a split graphite tube resistor as a heater element for high-temperature furnaces has been described. The principal advantages of this type of construction are: I. The quadruple resistance or voltage compared with the top-bottom clamp resistor furnace. 2. Free expansion of the resistor. 3. The ease of protection from oxidation by air. 4. The firmness by which it may be held in the compact split clamp. This construction appeared to be well adapted for the fusion of high melting metals which require fusion in a vacuum. Zirconium metal had previously been melted at the Albany Laboratory of the Bureau of Mines in a vacuum arc furnace on a water-cooled plate, using a movable tungsten top electrode.2 When larger furnace capacities were desired, this type of construction proved to have its limitations as the largest tungsten rods available were about 7/8in. in diameter. The supply of direct current of high amperage for producing the . desired arc characteristics was also not available. Considerable difficulty was also found in compensating the atmospheric pressure on the flexible tubing of the movable electrode, at the same time keeping its movement sufficiently free to enable the striking of an arc on any part of the metal briquet. Among the various materials used for the electrodes in conducting experiments in the vacuum arc furnace was graphite. It was found that zirconium fused in a graphite cup with a carbon arc was contaminated to only 0.2 pct carbon. It was therefore decided to melt zirconium directly in graphite crucibles. A high-frequency furnace was first used in the attempt to melt the zirconium in graphite crucibles. The high-frequency heating coil was placed outside a silica tube which was evacuated by means of an oil diffusion pump backed up by a mechanical pump. The graphite crucible was thoroughly degassed at 1900°C before use. Considerable difficulty was experienced in operating at such temperatures in vacuo because, as shown by Zintl,3 carbon vapor formed and reacted with silica according to the reaction: Si02 + C = SiO + CO. The silicon monoxide which is volatile at these high temperatures reacted with the zirconium, thereby contaminating it with silicon and oxygen. The presence of carbon monoxide was detected by means of a gas discharge tube placed in the vacuum system as indicated by the pale blue glow of the tube as soon as carbon vapor started to react with the hot silica. The reaction between the carbon vapor and hot silica was avoided by the use of split cylindrical molybdenum shields which were inserted between the graphite crucible

Jan 1, 1948

By J. M. Blank, V. A. Russell

When the nucleation of silicon on a sapphire substrate is accomplished by gradually decreasing the substrate temperature while subjecting it to a constant impingement rate of hydrogen and silicon tetrachloride, the resulting deposit is characterized by widely separated islands of silicon scattered over an "open sea" of sapphire. Analysis shows that nucleation takes place mainly on sites of large adsorption energy, about 85 kcal per mole, and small surface concentration, about 108 cm-2. Crystal growth proceeds rapidly on these nuclei and results in enough depletion of Sicl4 from the ambient gas to suppress further nucleation. The technological importance of single-crystal films on dielectric substrates has prompted considerable work on the deposition of silicon on sapphire. This paper is concerned with the deposition of silicon, by the reduction of silicon tetrachloride with hydrogen, onto heated sapphire substrates. The apparatus consisted of a temperature-controlled container for the silicon tetrachloride along with gas lines and flow meters necessary to convey a hydrogen-silicon tetrachloride mixture to a reaction chamber constructed of quartz tubing. Heat for the substrate was provided by means of an inductively heated graphite susceptor. The observations pertinent to the present discussion were made with an American Optical Co. high-temperature microscope which allowed us to make motion pictures of the deposition process at a magnification of approximately 50 times. Two main categories of experiments were carried out: one on determination of critical condensation temperatures and the other on the deposition of epitaxial silicon films on the sapphire substrates. Critical condensation temperatures were determined in the traditional way by raising the substrate temperature well above that at which condensation could be expected at the impingement rates being studied and then gradually lowering the temperature until the condensation of the first silicon was observed. This was done initially with ellipsometry-type detection but it was soon discovered that the deposits were occurring as widely separated islands and groups of islands scattered over an "open sea" of sapphire. We have called these archipelago formations. They were most easily detected by optical microscopy. Data gathered from experiments of this type have been collected in Table I. Motion pictures of the formation of archipelago patterns show that the nucleation period lasts about 10 sec if the substrate temperature and impingement rate are kept constant. Essentially all of the nuclei are formed in a few seconds and all subsequent silicon deposition merely adds to the size of the established nuclei. After an archipelago formation has matured at a given substrate temperature and impingement rate, it is very difficult to stimulate any further nucleation in the open space between islands. Lowering the substrate temperature will occasionally stimulate nucleation but increasing the impingement rate hardly ever produces any more new nuclei. It should also be emphasized that the nucleation rates appear to be very small, about 104 cm-2 sec-1. They will receive special attention in the analysis section. Another series of experiments was performed employing a systematic variation of substrate temperatures and impingement rates approximating those expected to produce epitaxy. Sapphire substrates with surfaces normal to the 2233 direction were used. In contrast to the procedure that produces archipelago patterns, these films were deposited by raising the substrate temperature to a desired value at which time the silicon tetrachloride and hydrogen flow was begun. Of course, these depositions produced mainly films that were continuous. After removal from the deposition chamber, the substrate and silicon film were examined microscopically to determine the nature of the deposit and by X-ray diffraction to determine the extent to which a single-crystal film had been achieved. Results of these experiments are summarized in Table 11. Of interest for the present analysis is the fact that epitaxy appears to be confined to a fairly narrow temperature range between about 1050" and 1150°C. This also will be discussed in the analysis section. ANALYSIS In this section we shall apply nucleation theory to the data presented above with the objective of testing

Jan 1, 1967

By Eugene Guccione

"All engineering societies should encourage and motivate their members to take part in public affairs. And engineers, in turn, should learn to translate their technical knowledge in a language which politicians can understand," stated James Boyd last month as he received the Hoover Medal, which is awarded annually by four engineering societies-AIME, IEEE, ASME, and ASCE-to an engineer who has rendered important public service. James Boyd is no ordinary engineer (see box). A few weeks ago, Dr. Boyd took time out of his busy schedule to stop at MINING ENGINEERING'S editorial office for the following exclusive interview.

Jan 1, 1976

By Ralph Hultgren

IN solid solutions atoms of differing sizes occupy the same crystalline lattice, requiring that some of them be compressed and others expanded. The energy involved has been called misfit strain energy and is an important concept of crystal chemistry. If the atomic sizes and elastic constants of interatomic bonds are known, the misfit energy may be calculated,' provided certain simplifying assumptions are allowable. Usually, isotropic crystals are assumed and interatomic distances are taken to be the statistical average determined from X-ray diffraction. Such calculations yield values of the misfit energy of the order of 1 or 2 kcal per atom in alloys such as Au-Cu at compositions of 50 atomic pct. However, evidence has accumulated in recent times that atoms change their sizes with composition of alloys, implying electronic rearrangement of the bonds. The size changes have been found particularly by application of the X-ray method developed by Warren, Averbach, and Roberts.' Thus, Averbach, Flinn, and Cohen3 determined radii in Au-Cu alloys. Oriani4 showed that these new radii led to a calculated misfit energy in disordered AuCu, which was decreased from the values calculated by the usual theory more than twenty-fold, to only 80 cal per g atom. Thermodynamic calculations from the phase diagram5 also show misfit energy to be no more than a few hundred calories per g atom in this alloy. The question of what electronic rearrangements are possible therefore becomes compelling in estimating misfit energy. In the following pages the results of certain calculations on the AuCu tetragonal superlattice are submitted. Conclusions drawn from these should be applicable in large degree to disordered solid solutions. As in all ordered states, bonding distances in the superlattice are individually known, rather than being merely average distances as found from lattice constants of disordered states. Moreover, only the Au-Au and Cu-Cu distances are strained; the elastic constants of these are known in the elementary state. In the usual calculation it is necessary to assume elastic constants for Au-Cu bonds. Misfit energy has thus been calculable without the need of many simplifying assumptions usually made. It is still assumed that equilibrium bond lengths and elastic properties of the bonds are the same in the alloy as in the pure metals. As previously discussed, this is probably not correct. Also assumed is that the bonds are not affected by strain of neighboring bonds. A calculation of Young's modulus from compressibility data shows this to be far from true; extensive electronic rearrangements take place. It would seem that misfit energy cannot be calculated from elasticity data for the elements. The usual methods may, however, give an upper limit which is often much higher than the true value. The question of electronic rearrangement is, of course, a complex one. Pauling's theory gives a simple, approximate treatment of the relation between type of bond and bond distance. This has been applied with some success to the Au-Cu system, as will be shown in a later section. Misfit Energy in Au-Cu Alloys Hume-Rothery and Raynor6 discuss the Au-CU system as a type example of strain energy. The gold atom is 12.8 pct larger in diameter than the copper atom, near the size factor limit beyond which solid solubility is severely restricted. They therefore consider the misfit energy to be large, a conclusion for which they believe they find evidence in the phase diagram. Gold and copper are completely miscible in the solid state, but the alloy has a minimum melting point at an intermediate composition. From this Hume-Rothery and Raynor conclude that the strain energy is nearly large enough to prevent miscibility; the phase diagram tends toward a eutec-tic type. In Ag-Cu, which has almost identical size relationships, solid miscibility is quite limited; whereas in Au-Ag, where atomic sizes are nearly the same, there is complete miscibility without a minimum in the melting point. From their arguments the heat of formation of Au-Cu would be expected to be endothermic or only slightly exothermic, that of Ag-Cu to be endothermic, and that of Au-Ag to be exothermic. Deviations, from Ve-gard's law of additivity of atomic radii support these conclusions, since Au-Cu and Ag-Cu both have pronounced positive deviations, and Au-Ag has a negative deviation. Nevertheless, Au-Cu alloys form exothermically; indeed, considerably more exothermically than Au-Ag, Table I. Hence, strain energy must be much less important in this case than Hume-Rothery and Raynor have supposed.

Jan 1, 1958

By R. H. Sweetser

There are so many conditions affecting blast-furnace results that it is hard to get satisfactory comparative data on the working of two furnaces, and much more difficult to get comparable results from the use of two entirely different fuels. The several advantages of charcoal over coke as a blast-furnace fuel have doubtless been apparent to many managers; but probably the conditions for comparative tests of the two were never so favorable as during the year 1905, at the works of the Algoma Steel Co., Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, which comprise two modern blast-furnaces, well equipped, though of comparat.ively small capacity. For four consecutive months one of these furnaces was run with charcoal and the other with coke. Then the charcoal-furnace ran for a while with part charcoal and part coke; and, still later, with coke only. The ore-mixtures were

Jan 1, 1909

By Josiah Royce

To evaluate chemically the sample of rock obtained by diamond drilling, it has long been recognized that the analyses of the two components of the sample, core and sludge, must be given appropriate influence in computing the average analysis of any unit of depth. The purpose of this investigation is to set forth what means are available for apportioning the effect of core and sludge on the final analysis, what variables affect the problem, and what combination of applied mathematics will closest approximate the truth under each condition as these variables proceed within their limitations. A drill hole is bored in iron ore exploration principally to test variations in rock composition with depth and is usually directed as nearly normal to the bedding of a horizon to be tested as possible. This practice has a tendency to minimize variation in composition laterally which in any event is not likely to be great. It is obvious that the opportunity for change in analysis of a particular rock is not statistically as great radially in a diamond drill hole where the distance in which such a change may occur is from 0.719 in. (EX bit) to 1.469 in. (NX bit) as there would be longitudinally even in a' run as short as 5 ft. Variations in composition of bedded or layered rocks are usually greater normal to the bedding than parallel thereto. Even in massive rocks, like porphyries, variations are functions of distance. Hence. in either case, variations along the hole are of greater effect than across it. Let us examine Fig 1 briefly to observe a cross section of a unit of depth of a typical diamond drill hole. If we neglect radial change in chemical composition, which we have seen is small compared to lengthwise variation, we can see that if core recovery was 100 pct, the core and its surrounding area, which would be recovered as cuttings (assuming 100 pct sludge recovery), must analyze the same if the sampling is perfect. This is the foundation of this paper, namely, that if core recovery is complete we may assume that the core constitutes as nearly as possible a perfect sample of the ground drilled. Now let us pass to the methods of weighting core and sludge in the final analysis and then develop each in turn. One might employ core analyses only, sludge analyses only, or apportion the influence of each by one of several methods. The most common apportionment is by direct proportion to relative theoretical vol- ' ume occupied by each component in the cylinder hollowed out by the drill, known as the Longyear formula. Another logical treatment would be to consider core and sludge in the final analysis according to the weight of each recovered. This procedure was elaborately set forth and refined by R. S. Moeh1man.l Then to be sure that we have embraced all the possibilities, we must admit that some other method or methods may be devised empirically or by mathematical maneuvers. Should a drill machine be capable of recovering 100 pct of the core in all types of rock, certainly core alone need be analyzed and no complicated mathematics are required; but although some companies have had fair success in obtaining high percentages of core in certain homogeneous ores on the Mar-quette Range, their same methods have proved disappointing on the Menominee, Cuyuna, and Gogebic Ranges where the iron formation often varies widely from flinty chert beds interstratified with soft hematite to wholly leached ore material composed of an unpredictable mixture of hematite and limonite with occasional zones of sugary, recrystallized chert. In spite of numerous mechanical improvements in core barrels, few drilling programs can count on complete core recovery. The sludge alone might be analyzed but for practical reasons this is inadvisable when core is obtained due to the numerous opportunities for contaminating or losing portions of the cuttings. The Longyear formula involves a weighting of the core and sludge in proportion to the theoretical volume of each, that is, where the volume of the core recovered is one-third of the total cubic volume of the cylindrical hole made by the drill, the analysis of the core is given one-third of the weight in the final analysis. This approach to

Jan 1, 1950

By Percy A. Robbins

The central power-station of the De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., was designed and built under my supervision about five years ago. Since no detailed description of this plant has ever appeared, it may possess sufficient interest to arrant its publication, even at this late date. Although some additions may have been made to the plant, the following account, prepared from my notes, and accurate up to May, 1905 (at which time I severed my connection with the De Beers Company), will, I think, be found substantially correct. Certain local conditions governing the design of this plant should be stated first. IT. General Considerations. The climate is hot and dry. The region around Kimberley is arid and water is very scarce. The supply obtained from the mines contains so much material in solution that it is unfit for use in boilers or condensers (although tests recently made with a water-softening plant, built by Hans Reisert, of Germany, would indicate that water thus treated is suitable for boilers). And the amount of water required for concentrating about 30,000 tons of ore per day is so large that the question of adequate water-supply for this power-station had to be carefully considered. The rainy season extends from December to April, and the rainfall averages about 15 in. per year. Droughts are frequent; and in some years there is scarcely any rain at all.

Jan 1, 1909

By C. M. Schwerin

It is often necessary to calculate the size of a hoisting-plant required to raise a given quantity of material, either as a preliminary to the detail design of the machinery, or to decide whether machinery on hand or offered by a manufacturer is adapted to the work to be done. The first element of the problem to be determined is the load to be raised. In a mine that is already developed, this is limited by the size of car that can be hoisted out of the mine and that will pass through the underground gangways. If these place no limits on the design, the size of the load will depend on the output desired per day, and on the number of hoists that call be made per day. The latter are fixed by the time required per hoist and the number of hours available for hoisting, after deducting from the working-day the time required for raising and lowering men, sending down supplies, and for the many small delays in handling cars. It must also be decided whether the hoisting is to be done in one shift or in all of them.

Jan 1, 1903

By William Y. Warren

Messrs. Thomas & Cross, having leased from the Akron Cement Company from twelve to fifteen acres of abandoned cement-tunnels and chambers, for the purpose of propagating mushrooms for the market, commenced operations about a year ago, and are now beginning to furnish mushrooms in quantities to the local markets of Buffalo and Rochester. The quarries, or, more properly, the mines, of the Cement Company are located at Akron, Erie County, PIT. Y. The cement-rock occurs in a stratum about 71/2 to 8 feet in thickness, which is overlain by from 1.5 to 25 feet of limestone and flint-rock. There is a gentle rise from the opening of the tunnel inwards, giving a natural drainage and leaving the chambers comparatively dry. The roof is good and is supported by pillars and heavy timbers. The mushroom-beds are located about 300 feet from the opening of the tunnel, and are made in the form of mounds about 3 feet by 12 feet, at the base, and 24 feet high, giving to the chambers the appearance of a subterranean graveyard. Many experiments have been made to determine the best form for the beds, and the mound

Jan 1, 1889

By Larry D. Patts

Section 317(e) of the Federal Coal Mine Health & Safety Act of 1969 directed the Secretary of the Interior to prepare standards under which all working places in a mine shall be illuminated by permissible lighting while persons are working in such places. Section 317(e) further provides that such working places shall be illuminated within 18 months after such standards are promulgated. In accordance with this section of the Act, there was published in the Federal Register for December 31, 1970, a notice of proposed rulemaking which prescribed the illumination to be provided in the working places of underground coal mines. In light of written comments, suggestions, and objections to this proposed rulemaking, the proposed standards were withdrawn and reproposed in the Federal Register for Wednesday, October 27, 1971. In light of further comments, suggestions, and objections, a public hearing was held on April 4, 1974, and standards were again reproposed and published in the Federal Register for April 1, 1976. Promulgation of the final lighting-standards &k place on October 1, 1976, which means that the underground coal mining, industry must comply with face illumination requirements by April 1, 1978.

Jan 3, 1978

By D. C. Jillson

WORK in recent years1-' has indicated a complexity of the processes of deformation of metal crystals not previously appreciated and not fully accounted for by any hypothesis so far advanced. Furthermore, the nature and mechanism of formation of nuclei of recrystallization have not been determined precisely. The deformation of single crystals of zinc has been studied frequently, but the purity of the zinc and the perfection of the specimens sometimes have been given little consideration. Methods have been developed recently that readily yield zinc single-crystal specimens of high quality.5 In the present work, such specimens were deformed in various ways under various conditions, and deformed specimens were annealed to obtain information regarding recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth. The paper attempts to correlate and evaluate previous data, as well as to present new data, in order to determine areas in which more detailed work might be done most profitably. Tests at temperatures from the freezing point (419.46°C) to room temperature revealed glide only on basal planes in a close-packed direction (100)*, as reported by Mark, Polanyi, and Schmid6 and others. Markings probably similar to those observed by Kolesnikov7 and Boas and Schmid8 were noted in specimens stretched at elevated temperatures, but it seemed clear that these were not caused by prismatic or pyramidal slip (see second paragraph of section on Phenomena Involving Bending of the Basal Plane). Twinning Twinning on the octahedral plane of a face-centered cubic metal has been pictured as a process of simple homogeneous shearing along that plane in a [112] direction. It was recognized by Mathewson and Phillipsv and others""" that the (102) twinning of zinc required a somewhat more complex mechanism and might be considered as a homogeneous shearing of (102) planes in a [211] direction plus slight adjustments of atoms to positions of greater stability or lower energy, or as a single movement of each of the atoms in the same sense into the final positions. Gough and Cox" modified Mathewson's mechanism to obtain a more stable lattice configuration, but it is not clear that they succeeded, and their mechanism requires movement of some of the atoms in a sense opposite to that of the overall twinning movement. They also suggested that twinning may occur as a result of previous basal slip. This conclusion was based on the observation that twinning caused by alternating torsion was clearest and most profuse at positions for maximum basal slip rather than for maximum stress on (102) planes in the close-packed direction (not the twinning direction), and no mechanism was described. It might be wondered whether resolution of stresses on the twinning plane in the twinning direction would have afforded a simpler explanation. If twinning is essentially a simple homogeneous shearing along the twinning plane, it would seem that twins should grow by a smooth, continuous mechanism, and, indeed, that a simple reversal of stresses should reverse the shearing and de-twin the crystal. Cylindrical tablets 1/8 to 1/4 in. thick were cleaved from singlle-crystal specimens and were squeezed, perpendicular to a second-order prism plane, to give a tensile stress perpendicular to a first-order prism plane. A "click" was heard and a thin, needle-like twin appeared on the basal cleavage face. If squeezing was continued smoothly, the twin, viewed at magnifications up to X500, grew smoothly and quietly (fig. 1). X-ray examination verified that the twinning was of the (102) type. Rotating the compression axis 90" to reverse the stress then caused a smooth, continuous shrinkage and ultimate disappearance of the twin (fig. 2). The squeezing also caused a rumpling of the basal

Jan 1, 1951

By L. D. Lash, J. R. Ross

Discovery of scandium in the Vitro solvent extraction plant for uranium led to commercial recovery of the byproduct. Micro amounts of scandium were extracted with uranium by dodecyl phosphoric acid, but failed to follow ura-niuminto the hydrochloric acid strip solution and were eventually concentrated in the organic extractant. A fluoride strip system was developed to recover scandium from the solvent in concentrated form. High purity scandium oxide was then prepared in multi-pound lots by chemical separation techniques. The plant recovery operation, final product purification, and analytical procedures are described. Scandium is a pseudo-rare earth which is truly rare and expensive. It has special properties which may make it desirable even at the present price of $2750 per lb. Recently the price was lowered from $5000 per Ib which had prevailed since 1952, and it is anticipated that usage will be stimulated because of the lowered price. This metallic element is distributed widely in trace amounts in the rocks of the earth's crust. In addition to micro-amounts found in most uranium ores, concentrations of 50 to 100 ppm have been found in Colorado ferberite ore, lateritic nickel ore, heavy sandstone from Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, and various zircon sands and monazites from the western part of the U. S. Scandium has been found as an essential constituent of very few minerals, the most important being thortveitite, a scandium silicate. At the present time, this mineral commands a price more than twice that of gold. Chemically, scandium is in group 3A of the periodic table. It is closely associated with yttrium and the rare earths which it strongly resembles in its reactions. It has a valence of three and will form an insoluble hydroxide, fluoride, or oxalate under proper conditions, similar to the rare earths. Eight years before its discovery, scandium was predicted by Mendeleef who ascribed his eka-boron with properties nearly identical to the actual properties of scandium. Its position as the element with Atomic No. 21 and Atomic Weight 44.96 places it between calcium and titanium in Period 4 of the chart. The successful commercial application of scandium must depend on unique properties to justify use of this high cost substance. Greater consumption would allow additional price reductions, but scan- dium will remain a relatively high-priced commodity because of its inherent scarcity. Research reportedly has been oriented toward use of scandium as an agent to achieve high-temperature, low-density alloys with magnesium and tantalum.' Also, the U.S. Air Force sponsored a project for production of research amounts of pure scandium metal.' The oxide has been used experimentally in electronics, ceramics, and metallurgy. The various aspects of scandium are well covered in recent publications.s-5 CONCENTRATE RECOVERY Small amounts of scandium exist in uranium ores and are dissolved during an acid leach yielding up to 0.001 gpl Sc2O9. When Vitro converted their uranium plant from phosphate precipitation to solvent extraction: scandium was found to follow the uranium into the dodecyl phosphoric acid solvent (DDPA). However, scandium did not strip with uranium from the DDPA in hydrochloric acid, but remained in the solvent. Therefore, a concentration of scandium built up in the organic phase. Residues from the solvent were spectrographed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and found to contain scandium. As a result of this discovery, provisions were made in the plant for recovery of scandium-bearing concentrates. Solvent extraction of uranium was added to a conventional acid leach process in a typical installation? The ore was crushed and ground, and then leached with dilute sulfuric acid. Addition of an oxidant such as sodium chlorate insured conversion of uranium minerals to a soluble form. At this point, the slurry was chemically reduced by a sulfide, such as sodium hydrosulfide, to remove substances such as ferric iron and molybdenum which were partially extracted by the solvent. The solids-liquid separation was accomplished by a four-stage counter cur rent decantation (CCD) thickener circuit. The uranium was extracted from pregnant liquor with 0.1M DDPA in kerosene and stripped with ION

Jan 1, 1961

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 Ralph L. Erickson

The discovery of a Carlin-type gold deposit at Cortez, Nevada, in 1966 can be attributed directly to the use of geochemical exploration techniques. Most mineral deposits owe their discovery to geologic concepts, geologic analysis, and luck, but at Cortez, geochemistry as an exploration tool played the clearly dominant role in discovery. Of course, the economic significance of the discovery had to be determined by exploration and development drilling. The story of the discovery began in 1959 when field work was initiated on a new project, "Geochemical Halos Utah and Nevada," by R.L. Erickson and A. P. Marranzino for the US Geological Survey. The Cortez district was selected for geochemical work because it was an area with good geologic control where we could address the problem of how to prospect in barren outcrops for concealed ore deposits in potentially favorable structures (buried thrust zones) or favorable host rocks in the subsurface. Geologic mapping of the Cortez 15-min quadrangle, just being completed by Gilluly and Masursky (1965), showed that the quadrangle contained excellent exposures of both the upper and lower plates of the Roberts Mountains thrust fault, a major structural feature of north-central Nevada. Roberts (1960) had noted that a number of mining districts were associated with windows in the thrust. In 1959, Erickson and Marranzino did some reconnaissance rock sampling and spring-water sampling in the siliceous clastic rocks of the upper plate of the thrust. Results of this reconnaissance prompted a full-scale sampling program in 1960 in the upper plate rocks on the west flank of the Cortez window. Results of the investigation showed that anomalously high concentrations of metals occur in the upper plate rocks, and further, that the distribution of metals is fault controlled and shows a pronounced zoning pattern (central copper zone; intermediate zinc, copper, and lead zone; and outer arsenic zone). The anomalies were interpreted as primary leakage halos that originated from metal occurrences in the thrust zone or in carbonate rocks below the thrust and moved upward along normal faults that cut both upper and lower plate rocks. Erickson gave a talk about these anomalies in the summer of 1961 to the local AIME Section in Reno, Nevada; two short reports were published that year-" Geochemical Anomalies in the Upper Plate of the Roberts Thrust Near Cortez, Nevada" (Erickson et al., 1961) and "Hydrogeochemical Anomalies in Four Mile Canyon Near Cortez, Nevada" (Erickson and Marranzino, 1961). These releases prompted blanket staking in the area by several small companies. In 1963, geologic and geochemical mapping were started by the USGS in the lower plate carbonate rocks of the Cortez window west of the quartz monzonite stock at Mount Tenabo and north of the old townsite of Cortez. The results of the work showed anomalously high concentrations of arsenic, antimony, and tungsten in jasperoid, fracture filling, and shear zones in Silurian and Devonian carbonate rocks. The anomalous area was about 1.6 km (I mile) long and 300 m (1000 ft) wide. A brief report, "Geochemical Anomalies in the Lower Plate of the Roberts Thrust Near Cortez, Nevada" (Erickson et al., 1964a), was published in 1964. During this same time period, 1959-1964, several exploration or mining companies were active in the general area (chiefly mapping geology and acquiring property). In 1964, American Exploration and Mining Company (Amex) concluded that the entire Cortez district was worthy of an extensive exploration effort involving drilling as well as geologic, geophysical, and geochemical studies. To carry out the program, Amex formed a joint venture group with the Bunker Hill Company, Vernon Taylor, Jr., and Webb Resources. Their early efforts were directed to the upper plate rocks and to the lower levels of the old Cortez silver mine. The group also drilled some shallow rotary assessment holes adjacent to the area of the arsenic, antimony, tungsten anomaly in lower plate carbonate rocks described in Erickson et al. (1964a). Assay results from these holes offered little or no encouragement to the joint venture group. Splits of these drill samples were made available to the USGS. In order to enhance any metal content present in these rocks and to determine the mineral residence of any metals detected, heavy-mineral concentrates of each 3-m (10-ft) sam-

Jan 1, 1985

By Edward B. Durham

At the Richmond mecting in February, 1901, I presented for discussion the proposed rail-specifications of Committee No. 1 of the American Section of the International Association for Testing Materials, with a review of their work, and other matters relating to the heat-treatment and chemical composition of steel (Trans., xxxi., 455). In order to bring out the views of our members on the important points referred to, I offered for discussion the following questions and comments (trans., xxxi., 972): " 1. The advantages to be gained by using more metal in the flanges and web of the heavier sections of rails.

Jan 1, 1903