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By Arthur Notman

YEAR ago, the Committee on Mineral Economics ventured to predict a more realistic attitude by the public toward the folly of seeking to have more by making less under the guidance of the Blue Eagle. A unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the United States has now laid that embattled bird to rest. De rnortuis nil nisi bonum. In spite of dire predictions of disaster to follow its early demise, the metal industries and many others have improved substantially. One could name many indications of that improvement, and on the strength of stock-market activities might assume

Jan 1, 1936

By C. D. King

DURING the 30-year period spanned by these annual Howe Memorial presentations, many lecturers could proudly claim a kinship either as a student or an associate of the man whose memory we honor. Although it has been my good fortune to have attended many of these annual lectures, it was not my privilege to have known Henry Marion Howe personally. However, his great repute as teacher and scientist was known to all undergraduates of my day and the later years have enhanced my appreciation of his wisdom and foresight. Those who knew him well have said he derived particular pleasure from speculations on the future world of metallurgy. For this reason, I feel that perhaps he would not be unsympathetic to a lecture in his honor which departs from the highly instructive scientific presentations made in the past by so many able Howe Memorial lecturers, and which is concerned more with the practical phases of various steelmak-ing processes and some speculations on their future form and relative importance. The word "revolutionary" is frequently applied to each seemingly important improvement in the production of steel ingots, but in retrospect these changes, impressive as they appear at the time, are merely steps of progress. In the hundred years from the inception of tonnage steelmaking, only three processes can be truly classified as revolutionary. They are the pneumatic process, known in this country as the bessemer process; the reverberatory method called the open hearth process; and, the electric furnace process. There have been many variations and combinations of the three fundamental methods, but they remain truly the only revolutionary methods in steelmaking since its early history. Everything else has been evolutionary, in effect. doing the same things that we have done in the past but doing them better, correcting our errors through experience, and slowly but inevitably reaching a higher state of accomplishment. It has often been said that coming events cast their shadows before, and the production of steel ingots is no exception. As a result of the unrelenting demands of World War I1 and the years that followed, truly impressive progress has been made in steel ingot production. The incessant pressure for immediate results during this period required the employment of initiative and daring, as in few past decades, and many developments were brought to fruition. Of equal importance is the possible effect on future steelmaking methods of the many ideas initiated but still in formative stages. Fig. 1 portrays ingot production in the United States by the three fundamental processes over a period of 75 years and is interesting because it poses some questions as to future trends. The early ascendancy of the bessemer, its replacement in importance by the open hearth process, the amazing growth of the latter, and the recent challenge of the electric furnace are evident from the chart. Management is fully aware of these changes, but is even more interested in the future trends. Our concepts of the relative importance of the more recent developments and their possible effect on future processes may perhaps be best exemplified by a specific, hypothetical problem. Let us assume management is contemplating a new ingot producing plant with an output of 100,000 net tons per month, located in an area where some purchased scrap may be obtained but where by far the largest component will be own-produced blast furnace iron. Management requires a process or combination of processes which will yield highly uniform quality characteristics in the ingot form, and represent the soundest selection in investment and operating cost. Under these conditions, the obvious selection for the past four decades has been the open hearth process but, in view of more recent developments, management may believe that it is no longer permissible to disregard other possibilities with impunity. Accordingly, to be assured of the best possible selection, they request that you review not only the possibilities of utilizing the conventional open hearth, duplex, bessemer, and electric furnace methods, but also the more recent developments, such as the turbo-hearth, the Linz-Donawitz method, the Perrin modifications, and other possibilities. With this background, one might then appraise the relative importance of these methods to meet a specific need, and concurrently speculate on the forms that future ingot processes will assume and the relative importance of these processes.

Jan 1, 1955

By R. S. Moehlman

IN recent years, exploration and development by diamond drilling has become a popular attack on the problem of finding new ore shoots and developing extensions of known shoots. Diamond drilling has been used in recent years in extensive sampling of disseminated copper deposits, in preference to churn drilling. At the Harvard gold mine, near Jamestown, California, Philip R. Bradley, Jr., general superintendent, reports that: "The Harvard work was a singular example of the reliance that can be placed on diamond drilling in evaluating an ore body." Drilling at the Harvard mine will be discussed in a subsequent section of the paper. So popular has diamond drilling become, indeed, that many who have had slight experience with drilling are inclined to regard it as a cheap cure-all. This paper proposes to show some of the limitations on the application of drilling and some of the steps that should be followed in drilling programs to obtain reliable results. COST OF DRILLING Drilling has the advantage, over shaft sinking and drifting, of lower cost and greater speed. As compared with churn drilling, the advantage of bringing up a coherent sample instead of fine cuttings for a sample is obvious. Diamond drilling is generally more expensive, however, and more engineering effort is required in combining the average of core and sludge samples. Exploration of drift walls by hammer drills to a depth of less than 50 ft. is generally cheaper than diamond drilling, but beyond this depth the diamond drill is cheaper and more efficient. The principal factor in determining cost of drilling is the character of the ground drilled. Broken ground with many fissures is most expensive to drill. Hard ground is less of a problem with diamond drills than with ordinary machine drills. Hardness or softness affects only the speed of drilling. Caving, easily washed, sandy or clayey ground requires continual cementing and casing, which is the greatest cost problem. Thus, soft, incompetent ground is more costly to drill than hard, massive ground. Cost of drilling per foot in good to fair ground varies from less than $1 per foot, achieved in some districts in Ontario, the Mother Lode, and Missouri, to $5 per foot in many western states. In bad drilling ground, costs may range from $5 to $15 or more per foot, thus approaching the cost of drifting. Other factors that increase the cost per foot are: I. Short total length of hole drilled, so that the cost of moving in crews and equipment must be spread over a relatively few feet. 2. Cost of drilling per foot increases with depth beyond about 500 ft., as more time is consumed in pulling rods. 3. Cost of preparing drilling stations, getting air underground to stations, etc. 4. Inaccessibility and lack of water on the job make for higher costs.

Jan 1, 1946

By Walter Renton Ingalls

IN SEVERAL papers and addresses during the past two years, I have dwelled upon some of the economic consequences of the war. The fundamental thought that I have sought to convey is that the world became immensely poorer by the war, not only in material wealth and population, but also in the psychology and morale of the people. I do not see how there can be any intelligent dissent from that statement. All the ideas of post-war prosperity were manifestly fallacious, manifestly fallacious from the outset. If there had been any truth in them it would have followed logically that a great war, with all its destruction of wealth, health and life would be a good thing. Therefore, let us have a great war every ten years or so. Such an idea would be both monstrous and absurd. Assuming then the acceptance of my premise, I have tried to show that the losses by the war could be made good in a short time, i.e., in a relatively short time, only by doing things a great deal better than formerly, and that the accomplishment of such a result called for greater transparency in industry, for industrial cooperation, for thinking in terms of industries as a whole, and for the greater exercise of engineering functions. All of this introduced, of course, the position and psychology of labor. I say frankly that I do not look for labor to contribute any constructive thought to the upbuilding. I neither expect it nor hope for it. This is a pity, for it could do so much for its own economic advancement if it would. However, it never has done so, but rather has benefited only from the exercise of the talents of the few, and the main hope now is to bring it into a passive state, dispelling the resistive fallacies that developed during the war. Let us briefly examine the nature of these.

Jan 1, 1921

By R. W. Guard, W. R. Hibbard

As part of a program to determine the deformation characteristics of pure metals, the tensile creep properties of high purity aluminum (99.994 pct Al) have been determined using a constant stress loading. The effects of prior annealing temperature, stress, and temperature were studied. These data have been examined on the basis of present-day theories. None of the methods was found to give an accurate representation of the data over all conditions studied. The structures of several specimens after creep were examined by optical and X-ray metallography. Marked changes in the grain size were found and it was substantiated that the magnitude of these changes was greatly influenced by the applied stress (or creep strain). The changes in fiber texture which occur on creep deformation are shown to be consistent with those observed on deformation at lower temperatures. UNDERSTANDING the properties of new mate-*-J rials under different experimental conditions must be based on considerable knowledge of the mechanisms involved in plastic flow and how to control them. Tension and creep tests have been carried out on a number of pure metals in order to document their deformation characteristics. It is hoped that a comparison of these data with theory will indicate those areas where work on mechanisms and their relation to metallurgical variables may be most fruitful. Since aluminum has often been used for studying the qualitative aspects of creep behavior, it was chosen for detailed study. The effects of annealing temperature, stress, and test temperature on the constant stress creep behavior were studied. Although most of the tests were made above one half the absolute melting temperature, a few tests were made at lower temperatures to give qualitative comparisons. Some specimens were examined metallo-graphically and by X-ray diffraction techniques after creep. Since only a limited number of specimens could be made from the available material, no effort was made to study detailed changes in sub-grain structure or other metallographic features. Servi and Grant3 nd Dushman et al.' have previously published studies of high temperature creep of high purity aluminum. In both cases, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the minimum creep rate.

Jan 1, 1957

Discussions of the paper of Mr. Gayley read by title at the Lake Superior hieeting, but first presented at the New York meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, October, 1904 (see p. 746). With the exception of Mr. Pourcel's discussion (p. 1038), these papers are here published under a mutual agreement between the Councils of the two Institutes, and will also be found, with others, in the Journal of the Iron and Steel In-slitute for the pear 1904, Mr. E. Windsor Richards, Past-President,' said that in 1799 Mr. Dawson, of Low Moor, read a paper before a scientific society in York pointing out the great diff'erence in the moisture of the air going into the blast-furnace in the hot months of the year and in the winter months. A cold blast-furnace was a very sensitive instrument, and showed this very clearly, for in June, July and August the furnace did not drive so well; it did not make the quality of iron and required more fuel; so that Mr. Gayley was on the right road to effect an enormous improvement in this direction. He considered that Mr. Gayley was on the way to great success, and hoped that the apparatus would not be a very expensive one. He supposed it mas too early for Mr. Gayley to let them know what the saviug was

Jan 1, 1905

By M. A. Steinberg, J. Wulff, R. Kamm

In a previous paper1 from this laboratory, the development of a lead grid method for exploring the distribution of strain and density within metal powder compacts was described. In that work thin lead foil with rectangular holes cut at regular intervals was inserted with the powder fill, the arrangement pressed and then radiographed to permit measurement of the deformation of the lead grid. Densities at each grid element obtained in this manner were plotted as a function of the die dimensions. From such plots it was found that the densest part of a compact pressed from one side (the top) is at the top outer region and the least dense at the bottom outer region of the specimen. The axial density maximum occurs more often nearer the bottom than at the top. As a result of such exploratory measurements, it appeared reasonable to conclude that variations in density could be attributed in the main to die wall friction. Thus compacts of large diameter appeared relatively uniform in density except where the die fill had been uneven. Finally it was found that lubrication of the finely finished die cavity contributed more to magnitude and uniformity of density within the compact than interparticle lubrication. Since publication of the above results, it was found that circular-hole grids could be more accurately made and, when deformed within the powder, more readily measured and analyzed. Much of the former work was repeated and new results which include the effect of lubrication, compact height, pressure, speed of pressing and vacuum pressing are reported in the present paper. Circular-hole Grids and Analyses OF Radiographs Commercial lead sheet 0.008 in. in thickness was used in all the work reported. The 0.0938-in. diam holes were punched in the sheet on 1/8-in. centers to an accuracy of 0.001 in. The finished grid used contained eight or more holes in a row and from I to 24 rows. The lead sheet was clamped between two pairs of brass strips bolted to a small milling machine table which was itself bolted to a bench in correct position near a vise which held the punch. Travel of the lead grid in two dimensions was controlled by two steel lead screws calibrated in 0.001-in. divisions. A stripper plate was used on the punch to avoid distortion of the lead foil. A high carbon-high chromium (chrocar) one-piece steel die was used throughout the work. The die cavity was 1.125 in. in diam and the clearance between plungers and die wall was 0.001 in. The die was also used for pressing from both ends with two long plungers. Finally, lapping of die and plungers gave a surface whose rms value On an Abbot profilometer was 5 micro-in. The die walls and plungers were, except where otherwise noted, lubricated with a stearic acid suspension in benzene. This was put on in multiple layers and allowed to dry before filling the die.

Jan 1, 1949

By A. C. Fieldner

THE COMMITTEE on Correlation of Research held two meetings in 1931. The first was a luncheon meeting on Feb. 19, at the Engineers Club, New York, attended by eight members and four guests-William H. Bassett, past-president of the Institute; Robert E. Tally, president; H. Foster Bain, secretary; and Alfred D. Flinn, director of the Engineering Foundation. Mr. Bassett gave a short resume of the circumstances leading to the formation of the Committee and expressed his opinion that the objectives as expressed by the Committee in its first annual report were in accordance with the ideas of the Institute officials. Mr. Tally stressed the great importance of research in the mining and metallurgical industries and stated that lie believed the Institute should encourage and promote research, and that this Committee could do a great deal to foster such work in the Institute. Mr. Bain pointed out that this Committee was appointed with a view to correlating and fostering research work. in the field of the Institute's activities. This could be done in various ways, as by encouraging the divisions and committees of the Institute to hold group meetings on research, by forming research subcommittees in the Institute divisions, and by bringing together research interest in. certain projects and the fund or organization that is equipped to carry out the project.

Jan 1, 1932

By T. S. Fuller

The work of D. J. McAdam, Jr.1,2 at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Md., on what has been called by him "corrosion-fatigue" has focussed the attention of the engineering profession in general, and of those interested especially in the study of corrosion in particular, on the importance of making tests which will indicate as nearly as possible what can be expected from a given material in service. Pitting is unquestionably the chief agent operating so tremendously to reduce fatigue limits, but in the light of previous work3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 it is fair to assume that absorbed hydrogen resulting from the action of the corroding medium upon steel may, under certain conditions, have a perceptible influence. The experiments described in this paper deal more precisely with stressless corrosion, or "prior-corrosion fatigue,"9 and have been carried out to test such an assumption, to segregate, if possible, the effect of pitting from that of absorbed hydrogen, and although very preliminary in nature they indicate results which are striking.

Jan 1, 1929

By T. S. Fuller

The work of D. J. McAdam, Jr.1,2 at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Md., on what has been called by him "corrosion-fatigue" has focussed the attention of the engineering profession in general, and of those interested especially in the study of corrosion in particular, on the importance of making tests which will indicate as nearly as possible what can be expected from a given material in service. Pitting is unquestionably the chief agent operating so tremendously to reduce fatigue limits, but in the light of previous work3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 it is fair to assume that absorbed hydrogen resulting from the action of the corroding medium upon steel may, under certain conditions, have a perceptible influence. The experiments described in this paper deal more precisely with stressless corrosion, or "prior-corrosion fatigue,"9 and have been carried out to test such an assumption, to segregate, if possible, the effect of pitting from that of absorbed hydrogen, and although very preliminary in nature they indicate results which are striking.

Jan 1, 1929

By A. S. Appleton, M. B. Bever, G. E. Dieter

A gold-silver alloy was deformed by explosive loading at shock pressures up to 510 kbars. The stored energy and hardness increased over the whole range of pressures; the largest rates of increase were observed between 120 and 150 kbars. In this range, markings rkavacteristic of defornation twins first appeared; higher pressures produced markings in all grains. These effects are compared with those of conventional deformation processes and are discussed in relation to probable structural changes. In recent years, increasing efforts have been devoted to the investigation of the effects produced in metals by the passage of high-intensity shock waves of explosive origin. By properly utilizing the energy released by the detonation of a high explosive, it is possible to generate pressure pulses of the order of 500 kbars and higher. (One kbar equals l0 9 dynes per sq cm or approximately 1000 atm.) The passage of a shock wave through a metal occurs at pressures which are very much greater than the yield strength. As the shock front passes a point in the metal, the pressure rises almost instantaneously, and continues to act at the point for a few microseconds. Thus, metals subjected to explosive shock loading experience a nearly instantaneous increase in pressure, and a subsequent release of pressure, which is almost as rapid. Under these conditions mechanical twinning and shear transformations occur readily. smith1 has investigated the metallurgical changes in copper and iron resulting from exposure to explosive shock waves. He found an appreciable increase in hardness in both metals. In copper, a hardness greater than that resulting from 95 pct reduction in thickness by rolling was obtained, yet in the explosive deformation, the thickness of the specimen decreased only a few percent. After explosive loading, the micro-structure of copper showed markings characteristic of mechanical twins. The amount of stored energy resulting from explosive loading is of interest. Measurements of the stored energy of cold work as a function of strain, temperature, strain rate, and composition have been made with gold-silyer alloys deforyed by rolling, orthogonal cutting,3 drilling,4 filing, wire drawing, and torsion. The investigation reported here was also carried out with a gold-silver alloy and its results can be compared with those for the deformation of this alloy by more conventional methods. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES An alloy containing 82.6 wt pct Au and 17.4 pct Ag was purchased in several batches from Handy and Harman Co., New York, as annealed rod 1/4 in. dim. The rod was cold-rolled to a sheet approximately

Jan 1, 1962

By W. C. Hagel, H. J. Beattie

Phases present at 2200° and 1500°F (1204° and 816°C) were identified in sixty wrought developmental austenitic alloys possessing wide compositional variations. The bases were iron-, cobalt-, and nickel-rich as well as a base with equal parts of each. There are only two structure types previously not found in similar alloys, viz .-the Co3 W and the Fe3Al types. A molybdenum-rich monocarbide decorates dislocations with unusual clarity. Other results provide correlations between alloy composition and phas e precipitation. Grouping intermetal -lic phases into three general classes : I) geometrically close-packed, 2) topologically close-packed, and 3) bcc derivatives, the nickel base prefers the first, the iron base the second, and the cobalt base the third—each base tending to shun the other two classes. Thus, a crystal-chemistry effect previously noted by Laves and Wallbaum can he expanded for these Group VIII elemental bases. There appear to he no quaternary or higher -order structure types requiring more than three atomic species. AFTER studying aging reactions in many diverse commercial austenitic alloys1-4 as a function of detailed time-temperature variations in heat treatment, it became apparent that matrix composition influenced structure types and morphologies to a large extent. These tendencies were related4 to a crystal-chemistry effect uncovered by Laves and Wallbaum.5,6 We have now directed our efforts to exploration of the whole ternary field, covering the standard base elements—iron, cobalt. and nickel— with 10 to 20 pct Cr and moderate amounts, up to 10 pct, of the usual alloy additions. Solutioning and aging treatments were held constant with major emphasis on X-ray identification of microconstituents. The possible existence of exceptions to the Laves-Wallbaum effect, or any new phases, was sought. Phases appearing in austenitic alloys can be classified as geometrically close-packed (gcp), octahedral or nonoctahedral interstitial compounds, topologically close-packed (tcp), semicarbides, and bcc derivatives. Crystal structures of the first four classifications can be visualized as a dense packing of semirigid spheres of different sizes, while the bcc derivatives represent a less efficient packing of spheres. The Laves-Wallbaum effect involves the gcp and tcp phases. Gcp phases possess both tetrahedral and large octahedral interstices; examples are Ni3Ti(n), NiSAl(y'), Co3W(E), and other ordered AB3 compounds where B atoms are smaller than A. Their precipitation is primarily intragranular, presumably coherent with an austenitic matrix, and a chief source of strengthening. Most octahedral interstitial compounds (e.g., CbC, Tic, TiN, Mo2C) have a gcp lattice of large metal atoms which accommodate small carbon or nitrogen atoms in the octahedral interstices. The compound Ti2SC, previously designated Y phase or T phase, can, with some reservation due to its partial co-valency, be placed in this category.7 The nonoctahedral interstitials (e.g., M7C3, Fe3C) represent close-packings of spheres in structures that provide larger triangular-prism interstices for carbon, since the octahedral interstices formed by chromium and iron atoms are too small. Tcp phases possess only tetrahedral interstices; examples are Laves (Fe2Ti, Fe2Cb, Fe2W...AB2), p(Fe7MO6, Co7W8.... A8B7), and (FeCr, Co2Cr3)

Jan 1, 1965

By John M. Tinsley, Calvin D. Saunders, H. K. van Poollen

In the past few years much con-sideration has been given to the evaluation of the effect of hydraulic fracturing on the productivity of wells. Generally, these studies included the evaluation of fracturing materials, fracture extension and formation damage due to the use of various fracturing fluids. Only little consideration has been given to the characteristics, and in particular the flow capacity, of the fracture itself and its effect on well productivity. This paper presents the results of laboratory investigations pointed toward fie evaluation of the efficiency of various fracrures with special emphasis on the flow capacity of these fractures. Data presented in this paper are the results of both an electrical model study and physical testing. Under consideration are (I) effect of overflush, (2) premature production of well after treatment, (3) "tailing-in" with coarse sand near the end of the treatment, (4) effect of propping agent size and concentration, (5) reduction in effective frac-ture permeability caused by formation caused by formation fines, silt and clays, and (6) effect of various fluids on formation strength and competency. The results of this investigation indicate that the flow capacity of a fracture is affected by any or all of the various parameters mentioned above. The authors believe that a better understanding arid utilization of these factors should result in more efficient formation fracturing. INTRODUCTION Hydraulic fracturing has become almost a standard practice of many companies for stimulating production from old and new wells. Although most companies utilize this service, techniques of application vary widely between companies and areas. Probably too often when a well in an area responds favorably to a particular technique all future wells in the same area are treated in a similar manner. Possibly a modification of the technique would result in a further production increase. Variables, of which many are extremely difficult to evaluate from field results, hamper the selection of procedure changes. Attempts are being made by a number of organizations to analyze statistically treating techniques from production data. This is a very worthy and necessary approach but very possibly laboratory investigations may aid in evaluating some of the variables which tend to affect the results of a fracturing treatment. Some of the factors cannot be studied from practical field experience and only laboratory tests can show the possibilities which might exist. One of the factors which appears to be of major concern today is the flow capacity of the created fracture and how it can be changed. Papers on this general subject have been primarily concerned with the size of propping agent and the extent of fracture. Papers have also been written on the possible permeability damage to formations by fracturing fluids. In addition, it might be possible that another type of flow restriction is prevalent. This would be a restriction of flow through a sand-packed frac- ture caused by foreign materials integrating within the propping agent. This paper presents preliminary data obtained in an attempt to evaluate the effect of some factors affecting flow through sand-packed fractures. No attempt is being made to offer a fracturing technique adaptable to all areas and conditions, but to furnish data tending to show the possible effects which might be caused by variations in procedures and materials. PROPPING AGENT PERMEABLLITIES A hydraulically induced fracture containing sand as a propping agent may theoretically be classified as a packed-sand system. The flow of fluids through such packed systems has been the subject of much research. Although there have been numerous methods proposed for the evaluation of such systems, most writers agree on the general properties affecting their flow capacity or permeability. These properties include porosity, particle size, sphericity and the roughness of the particle. In some methods of evaluation . the particle size and sphericity terms are combined to produce an equation which is a function of the surface area of the particles. In this study the permeability of various fracturing sands was both measured and calculated. The apparatus for the permeability measurements consisted of a 52-in. Lucite tube with a 2.5-in. ID. A screen and drain plug were fitted in the bottom of this tube to retain and hold the sand in place while allowing fluid flow. Two pressure taps consisting of thin, highly perforated

By H. A. Baumann

Experimental data are presented showing the influence of size consist and firing rate upon the performance of bituminous coal-fired, single-retort, industrial underfeed stokers. Size segregation, degradation, and distributor data are also included. The conclusion is reached that size consist of the fuel as fired, is a critical factor in its performance on this class of equipment.

Jan 1, 1950

By H. M. Howe, E. C. Groesbeck

That the quiescence of a liquid while it is solidifying should favor the formation of columnar crystals, normal of the cooling surface, is seen readily on considering the mechanism of solidification. First, each particle of any composite liquid, whether it be an aqueous solution or a molten metal, in solidifying splits up into two parts, different in composition and hence in fusibility. One part is infusible at the existing temperature, and hence solidifies, and in general attaches itself to the inclosing walls of metal which have already solidified; A, Fig. 1. The other part is fusible at the existing temperature and hence remains molten. In the case of carbon steel, the part of each drop which actually solidifies is poorer in carbon than the drop itself was before it began to solidify, and this impoverishment of the solidifying half-drop enriches the other half-drop in carbon, and thus makes it unfreezable at the existing tern- By this mechanism there arises during solidification a "littoral" or shore layer of liquid B, Fig. 1, bathing the already solidified walls, and more fusible than either those walls or the great remaining central mass of liquid or " deep sea " C, from which it separates them. It is essential that we grasp clearly this conception of a fusible littoral molten layer coating the already solidified walls and separating them from the deep sea. Meanwhile heat is flowing rapidly outward through these walls, its escape cooling them, so that if any given particle of the deep sea metal could get past this littoral layer and come into contact with the solid walls, it would in turn solidify, and like its predecessors would split up in solidifying into a less fusible half-drop which would attach itself to those . walls and a more fusible one which would remain molten. Thus we see

Jan 1, 1920

By Paul M. Tyler, Carle R. Hayward

DOES it pay to do really good work? Quite likely the practical millman will answer that it does not. The preparation of ores for market is primarily a business enterprise, and by and large the individual operator does not bother his head about squandering our national resources or making easier the job of the smelterman. Having accepted such ore as he may get fro111 the mine, his job is to make the best possible showing with his mill fro111 the standpoint of financial return. His success is measured in dollars and cents, and he has no rightful reason to expect more than scant acknowledgment of any other achievements from the stock- holders of his company who in the last analysis are his employers.

Jan 1, 1936

By Stanley Lefond

Industrial Minerals, often called the Cinderella Minerals or the Building Blocks of industry continued their growth patterns through 1973, although profits were slightly lower due to the cost-price squeeze. Most of the individual reports which follow indicate growth rates of 3-15%. Surprisingly such commodities as sulfur held firm in spite of the over supply in the Canadian gas fields; cement was in short supply while the asbestos industry reported a worldwide shortage of group 4 and 5 fibers. Talc and perlite production set new records. In synopsis, 1973 was a productive year for industrial minerals. However 1974 onward appears to be one of contradiction. The unsettled conditions of world economics, the energy shortage, compounded by the Arabs oil embargo have created great problems for all industries. The high energy consuming segments of the Industrial Minerals field will be under intense pressures. On the other hand limestone, lime and perhaps trona, nahcolite might be consumed in ever increasing tonnages in SO2 removal systems connected with smelters and coal-fired power stations. The effects of the proposed changes in the staking, claiming and exploitation of federal lands by the BLM may also have serious repercussions not only to the industrial minerals field but to the entire mining industry. 1974-1975 will certainly be ear-marked as a year of frustrations and difficult decisions.

Jan 2, 1974

By M. Cohen

THERE seems to be a natural urge for the human mind to wonder about the beginning of things. When an explosion occurs, we immediately inquire "what set it off?" If a person contracts a disease, we are likely to ask "how did it happen?" On a much loftier plane, when we reflect about the universe, there is the inevitable question "what, or rather Who, started it all?" In principle, these varied queries have at least one attribute in common: they are attempts, whether earnest or casual, to search out the origin of events in nature. Accordingly, they involve not only scientific, but philosophical and even re1igious matters of deep concern. It is evident that, in a broad sense, the phenomenon of nucleation is enmeshed in this enticing concept of "the beginning", but we must extract the scientific component of the problem for our present purposes. Nucleation, as in the case of phase transformations, is best regarded from the standpoint of kinetics. There are then two main steps, which may come in either order: (a) Experimentally, one attempts to measure the frequency with which transformation centers spring into existence; and (b) theoretically, one seeks a model that will account for this observed birth-rate. Temperature, composition, strain, and prior history are some of the important variables that must be considered both experimentally and theoretically when dealing with nucleation in the solid state. Such interaction of theory and observation is an integral part of science in general, but it is particularly significant in the nucleation problem because the very beginning of a phenomenon invariably occurs on too localized a scale in both space and time to be detected with available techniques. Thus, there is little hope of making direct measurements on the nucleus during its birth or to ascertain the exact nature of the process; one can only infer the details of nucleation from the model whose predicted behavior seems to harmonize best with the measured rate of nucleation and its dependence on known parameters. In the field of solid-state nucleation, both theory and experiment call for much ingenuity, but somehow the conceptual schemes have spawned faster than they can be tested by observation. This is not to say that there are many basically new ideas in modern nucleation theory; rather, as we shall see, it is because the required fine-scale measurements are of immense technical difficulty. Quite likely, some of the nucleation models existent today have survived only because of the latitude permitted by meager data. There is great need to bring theory and experiment into better balance in this important area of physical metallurgy. Although one can

Jan 1, 1959

By E. C. Truesdale

A FEW years ago H. M. Cyr, working in the Research Laboratories of The New Jersey Zinc Co., produced a few pounds of zinc1 of such purity that no other elements were detected in it by spectrographic analysis, using the facilities then available. This zinc contained less than one ten-thousandth of one per cent of metallic impurities.2 During the decade that followed upon the laboratory production of this "spectro-graphically pure" zinc, commercial developments brought about the production of large tonnages of zinc of purity exceeding 99.99 per cent, and today zinc of 99.999 per cent purity is produced and marketed as "chemically pure" zinc. Typical analyses of present supplies of high-purity zinc are given in Table 1. TABLE 1.-Typical Analyses Percentage by Weight Sum of Zinc Pb, Fe, Pb Fe Cd Al Cd Special High Grades 0.007b 0.005b 0.0056 none 0.0106 C.P. (chemically pure) <0.0002 0.0005° 0.000052 S.P. (spectrographically pure).. <0.0002d <0.00005d a A.S.T.M. Standard Specification for Special High Grade Slab Zinc (A.S.T.M. Designation: B 6-37). b Maximum. c Fe chemically determined. Pb and Cd are spectrographically determined. d Differences between composition of C.P. and S.P. zinc are discussed later in this paper. The availability of commercial tonnages of special high-grade zinc has been the basis for the development of the zinc-base die-casting alloy industry which, in the year 1936, consumed one-eighth of the zinc used in the United States for all purposes. This and the C.P. and S.P. grades have given impetus to scientific investigations into the properties of pure

Jan 1, 1939

By I. R. Taylor

Union Carbide has recently developed two open- pit vanadium mines in the Wilson Srpings area of central Arkansas about five miles southeast of Hot Springs. The ores from these mines, together with those from a larger vanadium deposit at nearby Magnet Cove, are processed at a new 1600- tpd plant built by the company in the immediate vicinity (Fig. 1). The Wilson Springs vanadium deposits are associated with the Potash Sulfur Springs intrusive, a circular igneous complex which is exposed over an area that is somewhat less than a mile in diameter.1 The complex has a crude ring structure similar to that of the larger Magnet Cove instrusive six miles to the east.2

Jan 4, 1969