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By Norman R. Paterson

"Under certain conditions useful gravity information of a reconnaissance nature can be obtained with-out measuring elevations by spirit level surveys on the ground. Gravity surveys can become part of a practical exploration program where high cost and slow progress previously hindered their utility. The advantages of the new elevation procedures are realized mainly in remote areas, in areas where ground transportation is slow and difficult and on surveys where the station spacing is large in comparison with the distance of the average optimum level shot. To utilize the advantages, transportation by helicopter or light plane is usually necessary. Methods of obtaining elevation control without leveling include: barometric altimeter survey; photogram-metric -APR spot determinations; methods involving the measurement of gravity gradients. The accuracies of these methods have been tested and compared with the normal accuracy of level surveys. It is felt that each method has its place in reconnaissance gravity work, particularly in the open areas of Northern Canada."

Jan 1, 1960

By W. O. Philbrook, H. W. Hosking, N. B. Melcher

Rates and patterns of gas flow in an experimental blast furnace were investigated by measurements, at three levels, of gas compo-sitions and temperatures and by direct determination of gas transit time by a new method employing mercury vapor as a tracer. Infer-ences were drawn about localized reaction zones and the mechanism of the onset of' channeling. LACK of precise knowledge of the nature of gas movement in the blast furnace has always been an impediment to better understanding of the blastfurnace process as a whole. The effects upon operation of various types of charge distribution are very largely brought about by the modifications to gas flow which they occasion. Intelligent evaluation of these effects demands a better understanding of the factors influencing gas flow and the ways in which the flow pattern is altered by conditions existing in the stock column. The same knowledge is required before a fundamental approach can be made to the problem of establishing optimum lines for new furnaces. An experimental furnace is operated at the Bureau of Mines Central Experiment Station, Pittsburgh, Pa. Advantage was taken of experimental operation to conduct an investigation to develop and evaluate methods of study which could be applied later to industrial furnaces. The gas composition and temperature determinations were made as a preliminary study so far as gas flow was concerned but yielded significant information relating to other processes occurring within the furnace. The direct measurement of gas transit times by the mercury-vapor method constituted the major object of the investigation. Development of the mercury-vapor method was carried out while the data on gas composition and temperature were being collected. A complete description of the principle and development of the mercury-vapor method is beyond the scope of this paper but is available elsewhere. The results obtained and some consideration of the method's effectiveness and its potential value in the study of industrial problems will be treated here. DESCRIPTION OF FURNACE The general lines of the experimental blast furnace are shown in Fig. 1. The hearth diameter was 3 ft at the beginning of the investigation, and this was later enlarged to 3 ft 9 in. and finally to 4 ft to increase capacity. Tuyere to stockline height is 21 ft 4 in. The bosh depth is 3 ft 4 in. over which it opens to a width of 5 ft, and this diameter is carried up for 2 ft in a cylindrical section. The inwall batter of 1/2 in. per ft. is considerably less than in larger installations This may have influenced the movement of gaseous and solid materials. The furnace is inside a laboratory building and is charged from outside by a skip and hoist. Feeding into the first of three bell chambers, the stock is distributed by rotating the upper bell, the other two being used to obtain an effective gas seal. Three water-cooled tuyeres, with a nozzle dia-

Jan 1, 1960

Jan 1, 1960

By C. S. Smith

The solubility of tantalum at 1100°C is 0.025 pct in pure copper, 1.2 pct with 20 pct Ni, and 2.7 pct with -30 pct Ni. The solubility decreases with temperature, and the alloys are precipitation hardenable. A 79/20/1 Cu-Ni-Ta alloy reaches maximum hardness after aging at about 750°C and, if cold worked, does not recrystal-lize below that temperature. The alloys have good tensile properties at moderately elevated temperatures and, since they can be hot and cold worked nearly as easily as cupronickel, they are suggested for service at temperatures above the usual limits for copper alloys. MASSIVE tantalum dissolves extremely slowly in copper-rich alloys, and tantalum powder forms refractory surface layers which prevent its solution unless special precautions are taken. After many trials, an 80 pit recovery was consistently obtained by using a mixture of a finely divided tantalum powder with two or three times its volume of potassium tantalum fluoride (K2TaF1,-melting point about 750°C) poured in a slow stream directly on to the surface of the molten copper alloy, so that each particle would remain coated with flux and be immediately and individually wetted by the molten metal. A 50-50 nickel-tantalum alloy has a melting point of about 1400°C and small lumps of it slowly but satisfactorily dissolve in molten copper-nickel alloys as does commerical "ferro-tantalum." The high affinity of tantalum for carbon makes it necessary to avoid carbonaceous crucibles. COPPER-TANTALUM ALLOYS Castings with good shrinkage resulted when 0.1 pct Ta or more was added to copper melted under charcoal and cast in air. Copper in two-pound melts to which 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 pct Ta had been added retained residual amounts, by analysis, of 0.025, 0.023 and 0.026 pct, respectively. The solubility of tantalum in molten copper at about 1200 °C is therefore about 0.025 pct. The electrical conductivity of these three samples was 100.48, 100.00 and 100.20 pct IACS in the annealed condition, and 98.24, 97.98 and 98.08 in the cold-drawn condition. Wires 0.080 in. in diam withstood from thirteen to nineteen reversed bends after annealing for 30 min in hydrogen at 850°C and the metal was therefore completely deoxidized. The annealing temperature corresponding to 50 pct loss of work hardness in 1 hr in a strip cold rolled 77 pct reduction was 175C, compared to 230°C for equivalent undeoxidized material. It is unusual for a decrease of recrystallization temperature to result from an alloying addition, and the tantalum probably combines with and removes some minor impurity in the original copper that restrained its recrystalliza- tion. No difficulty whatever was encountered in hot or cold rolling or drawing these ingots, and were tantalum not so expensive it would make an excellent deoxidizer for copper. COPPER-NIcKEL-TANTALUM ALLOYS Studies were made of the solubility of tantalum in a large number of copper-rich alloys, but of these significant solubilities were found only in the case of an iron alloy (which, however, separated into two immiscible liquid layers) and alloys of copper and nickel, in which tantalum is freely soluble and which were found to have interesting properties. The latter alloys are the subject of U. S. Patent No. 2,430,306 (1947). They are not at present available commercially. The Ternary Constitution Diagram—The copper-rich corner of the constitution diagram was constructed on the basis of microscopic examination of samples of various composition and treatments. The alloys were hot rolled to 0.25 in. from castings 0.625 in. thick, then annealed for 1 hr at 1000°C, quenched, cold rolled to 0.10 in. and finally annealed for various periods of time at temperatures between 800" and 1100°C in a nonoxidizing atmosphere and quenched. When the solid-solubility limit had been transgressed, particles of a compound believed to be Ni2Ta*were

Jan 1, 1960

By R. H. Hiltz

Three titanium alloys, known to provide a mechanically unstable p structure after quenching, were selected as material for a study of the Origin and nature of stress-induced transformation. Data from hardness and tensile tests were used to study the initiation of marten site and the effect of the transfornation and transformation products on the mechanical properties of B titanium, particularly the stress-strain relationships. With the exception that the materials investigated showed a natural aging reaction in the P condition, their behavior is analogous to that of' stress-transforming stainless steels. The transformation starts after initial yielding and is essentially complete just prior to .maximum loading. Once initiated, the martensite itself is capable of propagating the transformation. The deforn-ing materials show low strength, high ductility, and a high strain-hardening exponent. In metallic systems which undergo a diffusionless transformation on cooling, it is possible to produce a similar transformatiorl by plastic deformation under special conditions. Dewez' in delineating Ms temperatures for the titanium-rich end of most titanium binary systems:, established the point of intersection of Ms with room temperature for those particular alloys. Alloy compositions which would quench to mechanically unstable p were established from these data. The first investigation into the possibility of stress-induced transformation occurring in titanium met with little success. It was concluded that such a transformation in titanium was possible only under very special conditions. Continued effort in this direction, however, showed certain Ti-Mo binaries to be highly susceptible to this phenomenon. This fact was utilized by Liu to study the habit planes of martensite and by Machlin and wenig5 to study the effects of stress and plastic deformation on the P to a prime transformation in titanium alloys. The first investigation of the mechanical properties of these alloys was conducted by Holden and his coworkers at Battelle Memorial Institute.' The potentiality of the alloys i3s sheet-forming material was recognized, and the data reappeared in a survey of this type of titanium material.? The initial optimism was tempered by the difficulties in obtaining homogeneous 2i-Mo alloys in commercial-size ingots. The increasing need for good sheet-forming material kept investigation in this direction active, resulting in the development of a commercial alloy of this type.' This study was undertaken to obtain a clearer picture of the mechanism of stress-induced transformation in titanium. MATERIALS AND TEST PROCEDURE Three alloys were selected for this investigation: one a Ti-Mo alloy; another a Ti-Cr-Mo alloy, known to deform martensitically; and the third, a Ti-V alloy with an Ms below room temperature and an Md above room temperature, but known to contain w phase in the quenched condition. The compositions of these alloys are given in Table I. These alloys were cast as 5-lb experimental ingots, employing skull melting. The ingots were hot-forged into 1-in.-round bars. Two 72-in.-thick slices were cut from each bar for hardness testing; the remainder was cut into 0.252-in. tensile blanks. The tensile blanks and one hardness disc from each bar were heated in salt to a temperature 100°F above the 0 transus, held 2/2 hr, and brine quenched. X-ray analysis showed the pieces to be 100 pct 8.* *Omega cannot be distinguished from p by the technique employed. Tensile blanks were machined to size after this treatment. TO prevent transformation due to machining stresses, the shoulders and gage length were ground. True stress-true strain curves were

Jan 1, 1960

By K. Winterton

The effect of a near-saturation unidirectional magnetic field was to decrease slightly the endurance life in Armco iron in the annealed condition. This is expected since the energy-absorbing mechanism associated with domain wall movemenfs is inhibited bv the strong field. THE factors determining failure under dynamic loading are not yet clearly recognized. One of the properties of a metal which might be thought to influence fatigue life is its damping capacity. Foppl1 conducted an alternating torsion test at a frequency of 700 cpm continuously for a period of 3 years, without the test piece breaking or showing any sign of deterioration after 1100 Million cycles of stress; the rate of dissipation of energy was sufficient to maintain the test piece at about 100°C above the ambient temperature. cazaud2 concludes from this, and others follow him, that ('the capacity for dissipation in the form of heat by internal damping is unlimited" and that therefore "damping is not directly related with fracture by fatigue." Future work may necessitate qualification of this rather uncompromising view. It is shown later that in all

Jan 1, 1960

By R. V. Higgins

In a recent report3/ the authors presented a rapid method of calculating, by means of a desk calculator, the future performance of oil reservoirs in which the motivating agent was gas. The accuracy of the method was tested by data obtained from an electronic computer. Because of the accuracy obtained for the limited number of calculations performed, considerable interest has been expressed in the electronic computer program used to obtain the comparative data by an analytical solution. Accordingly, the computer procedures for the analytical solution are presented in this report. In an earlier report, 4/ a reservoir appraisal procedure was published in which an iterative method was used. Many requests were received for the computer program used to obtain the values given in that paper. That program, with some modifications, also is presented in this report. The modifications are given because of the progress that his been made in computers, and because much of the program for the analytical solution is usable for the iterative procedure.

Jan 1, 1960

By L. W. Davies

A problem often encountered is the provision of materials which have impurity contents below a certain specified level. This problem is in some cases solved by making use of the segregation of the impurity with respect to the liquid and solid states of the material: an ingot of the material is subjected to directional solidification and the ends of the ingot. which are richer in solutes which respectively raise and lower the melting point of the solvent, are removed. An important extension of this process is the zone-refining process invented by pfann,' in which molten zones are passed successively along the length of an ingot and displace solutes towards the ends. Pfann's process is particularly appropriate in cases for which the segregation coefficient k does not differ greatly from unity, or when the impurity content must be kept extremely low (-=,6 atom fraction); it is widely used, particularly in the purification of materials for use in semiconductor electronic devices. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate theoretically the efficiency of the above refining processes; that is! we determine the most economic method of attaining a given yield of solvent of specified purity, taking into account the variables of the process. One variable of interest is the effective value of the segregation coefficient. which depends on the rate of movement of the liquid-solid interface and on the degree of stirring in the liquid; in addition to this, in the zone-refining process we are also interested in the choice of zone length for most efficient operation. A mathematical determination is made here of the lengths of successive molten zones which give, for an initially uniform distribution, the most efficient removal of a solute of arbitrary distribution coefficient. In order to be able to give a quantitative treatment of efficiency, we first define figures of merit applicable to a given distribution of solute. FIGURE OF MERIT Let an ingot of length L contain a distribution y(x) of solute: we confine our discussion to mono-tonic distributions, in order to avoid inconsistencies in the subsequent analysis. The first moments of the distribution about the origin and x = L are respectively L F = hy{x)dx [I] G = f(L -x)y(x)dx = YoL2-F, [21 where yoL is the total amount of solute present. We shall see that the quantities F and G are useful figures of merit for a discussion of the efficiency of zone-refining processes. In the first place, it is

Jan 1, 1960

By Oliver C. Fursman

This work was conducted to determine the feasibility of producing aluminum-silicon alloys in a pit-type, three-phase electric-arc furnace. Two carbon-lined furnaces were used in the tests. The power input ranged from 120 to 240 kw. in the small furnace and from 420 to 460 kw. in the large furnace. Energy consumption ranged from 5.3 to 11.5 kw.-hr. per pound of alloy produced and electrode consumption, from 240 to 510 pounds per ton of alloy produced. A wide range of crude aluminum-silicon alloys was produced by direct smelting of clays or similar aluminum silicate raw materials, using hogged fuel or wood chips as the major source of carbon in the furnace charge, and silicon of high grade was produced by smelting quartz. The aluminum content of the aluminum-silicon alloys ranged from 15 to 55 percent. Alloys produced from a white opaline-silicate clay were relatively free of iron, titanium, and other impurities. Those produced from western fire clays and kyanite, although richer in aluminum, contained considerable amounts of impurities. The purity of the alloys depended largely on the composition of the raw materials.

Jan 1, 1960

By John E. Riddell

This review is based on a questionnaire sent out to 24 Canadian exploration companies, known to be active in the mineral exploration field, concerning their practice in the use of applied geochemical techniques in Precambrian terrains. Of the companies questioned, 16 returned completed questionnaires and of these, ten companies stated that they had some experience in this type of work. Of the companies who did not answer or return the questionnaire in time I know that at least three have been quite heavily engaged in applied geochemical work in the glaciated Precambrian areas. I also know that these three companies have been reasonably successful in their ventures, so I feel the following figures and opinions are, if anything, on the pessimistic side. Before continuing with the paper I would like to express my personal thanks to the Chief Geologists, Geologists and Exploration Managers of the various companies who cooperated in making this review possible by answering the questionnaires and making available summaries of their work in the glaciated terrains. Of the companies who stated that they had no experience in geochemical prospecting in glaciated Precambrian areas it is interesting to note that only two have reported that they do not use applied geochemistry at all. Two companies have reported that they make use of applied geochemistry in New Brunswick in areas of-light glaciation. Their opinion is that it is a useful aid to other techniques in evaluating mineralized areas.

Jan 1, 1960

By R. E. Cech

Metallographic observations on hydrogen-reduced nickel oxide crystals suggest that nucleation of nickel occurs at structural singularities in the oxide. The fully reduced structure contains micron-diameter, worm-like voids occupying 40 to 50 pct of the volume. The crystallographic orientation relationships between nickel oxide and nickel resulting from oxide reduction are recorded and discussed. THE process of reduction of oxide to metal is one of considerable complexity involving a chemical reduction reaction, mass transport of reducing agent to the point of reaction and of reaction product away from it, and finally a transformation whereby metal atoms released from the oxide rearrange to form a stable reduced phase. In addition, nucleation of the reduced phase affects the overall reaction kinetics. Thus far only the thermodynamic aspect of reduction has received the attention warranted by the importance of

Jan 1, 1960

By Spooner H. W

The paper describes the search for mineral deposits in an area of 4,500 sq. miles of south-west Tasmania. The area is one of difficult access and the problem of speedy movement and maintenance of field parties was solved by the use of helicopters. The programme has followed a systematic pattern of the aerial photography of the exploration area with the preparation of photQmosaics and topographical base sheets from these mosaics. Geological maps were initially prepared by photogeological interpretation and making use where possible of pre-existing information. The maps produced were later checked by ground traverses. Geophysical maps were obtained by the use of airborne magnetic, electromagnetic and radiometric methods. Geophysical and geological anomalies were checked on the ground by a campaign using ground geophysical equipment in the former case and geological and geochemical work in both instances. Audio Frequency Magnetic and Induced Polarization techniques were used in an area which was covered by several hundred feet of Tertiary sediments.The campaign has reached the stage of the drilling of specific targets.INTRODUCTIONThis paper describes the activities of Lyell-E.Z. Explorations (L.E.E.), an organization which was formed in 1956 by the Mt. Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd. and the Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australasia Ltd. to explore for mineral deposits in an area of approximately 4,500 sq. miles in southwest and southern Tasmania. To provide the necessary personnel and equipment for this project the exploration resources of both Companies were pooled and augmented and a headquarters was established in Queenstown. The work was directed by a Committee of four made up of officials from both Companies; a review of this structure has recently been presented by Hall (1959).

Jan 1, 1960

By D. W. Fuerstenau

Recently R. J. Charles1 showed that comminution of brittle or semi-brittle materials in batch operations is described more appropriately by a variable energy relationship than by the specific relationships proposed by Rittinger,2 Kick,3 and Bond.' That is, the value of n in the empirical differential operation which applies to crushing and grinding (Eq. 1) is variable. Independently, Holmes' developed an identical generalized equaton for size reduction. The experimental data of Charles and Holmes show that the value of n is determined by the material and the comminuting machine and is constant for a given combination of these two conditions. The general objective of the present article is to extend the Charles-Holmes concepts to continuous ball milling. The specific objective is to analyze the operation of a vibratory ball mill dry-grinding chromite in a continuous open circuit and to develop an equation for the comminution of chromite in this mill. Basic Principles: In a batch mill the length of time during which the material is ground is a direct measure of the energy expended on the material, except possibly for exceedingly fine grinding. However, in a continuous operation, the fraction of the total expended energy which is useful for grinding will vary according to feed rate and amount of material in the mill. If the amount of material within a continuously operating vibratory mill is low enough so that only part of the expended energy is used for grinding, the extent of size reduction at constant power input must depend upon the length of time the material is retained within the mill, namely, upon retention time. The following analysis pertains to a continuous mill operating under these conditions. The empirical differential equation that applies to the comminution of brittle materials is:" dE = -Cdx/x" [1] where dE is an infinitesimal energy expenditure, C a constant, dx an infinitesimal size change, x the particle size, and n a constant. For continuous grinding in an open circuit at constant power input, P, Eq. 1 must be written as (dtr)P = -C dx/x" [la] where dt, is an infinitesimal time during which a particle of size x is in the mill, and C' is a constant. A ground product never consists of particles of single size but always comprises a distribution of sizes. In comminution, the expenditure of energy causes a lateral shift in the size distribution.', ' " The general objective of any engineering study of comminution is to correlate the magnitude of this size distribution shift with the energy expended, the ultimate aim being to cause the greatest shift with the least amount of expended energy. Although a number of criteria can be used to measure this shift, Schuhmann's size modulus has been found convenient.' Mathematically, the Schuhmann size distribution can be expressed as follows:" y = l00(x/k) [2] or in differential form: dy = [F- xa-' dx ] K, where y is percentage of material finer than size x, a is a constant that determines weight distribution among particles of various sizes, and k the size modulus that denotes the theoretically maximum-sized particle in any size distribution. By considering the energy required to reduce an element of weight of material, dy, from size x, to size x, the element of time during which the material must remain in the mill at at power will be (dt..).= J'-Cax!(dy) [3] Summing up all the elements of weight from zero to 100 for a product that conforms to the Schuhmann size distribution yields C C f Cdx,\( 100«x°-'dx\

Jan 1, 1960

By E. J. Ostrowski

The Bureau of Mines experimental blast furnace, Bruceton, Pa., was operated to determine the feasibility of replacing part of the burden coke requirements with solid fuels injected directly into the smelting zone. This report describes preliminary experiments and information resulting from such an interchange. These experiments were made on an all-sinter burden, using two parts sinter to one part fuel. Anthracite fines were injected intermittently into the smelting zone of the furnace by compressed air through auxiliary tuyeres. The interval between injection periods ranged from 5 to 15 minutes. A maximum of 28 percent of the stock column coke bur-den was replaced. This percentage replacement caused furnace malfunction, but the overall percentage of these experiments indicated that 20 to 24 percent of the coke requirements could be replaced in this way. The metallurgical coke consumption was decreased by as much as 377 pounds (25.3 percent) per ton of pig metal produced. Buckwheat anthracite No.4 was used in this experiment; however, such solids as bituminous coal or coke fines also could be used. The frequency as well as the quantity of solid fuel injected has a direct bearing on furnace performance.

Jan 1, 1960

By Joseph A. DeCarlo

The rapid growth of the organic chemical industry in the United States and abroad has focused attention on the future raw-material sources for this important industry. Chemical products are essential to modern civilization; and millions of tons of organic chemicals are used annually, ranging from basic raw materials to finished chemical products such as drugs, cosmetics, and soaps. Hundreds of chemical products are made directly or indirectly from coal, but in this report "coal chemicals" will be limited to crude tar, crud light oil, and ammonia recovered in the high-temperature carbonization of bituminous coal and the important principal products obtained by processing these materials. Specifically these include benzene} toluene, xylene, naphthalene, creosote oil, tar acid oil, pitch, and ammonium sulfate. Therefore the term "coal chemicals", wherever used in this report, includes only these products and does not include the secondary or intermediate products such as styrene, synthetic phenol, aniline, phthalic anhydride, or finished products made from these, such as synthetic rubber, plastics, and dyes. The United States leads the world in production and consumption of coal chemicals. In the past five years nearly one-fourth of the total output of coal-tar crudes in the world was produced in the United States. Consumption of some of the more important products derived from these crudes such as benzene, toluene, xylene, and naphthalene, however, ranged from about one-third to one-half of the world total because of imports and production of benzene, toluene, and xylene from petroleum. The synthetic organic chemical industry of the United States was established during World War I on chemical raw materials obtained by the high-temperature carbonization of bituminous coal but this source of supply currently furnishes less than 40 percent. More than 60 percent of the chemical raw materials used to produce organic and inorganic chemical is supplied by the petroleum industry and production of petrochemicals is rising rapidly.

Jan 1, 1960

By W. E. Robinson

Oil-shale kerogen was processed into oil and oil products before the first oil well was completed by Drake in 1859. However, because of economic and other advantages, natural petroleum has been the principal source of liquid fuels and lubricants since 1859 and is a convenient root of many [organic] chemicals in common use today. In recent years the difference has narrowed between the cost of producing liquid fuels from well petroleum and other sources. This narrowing of cost difference has resulted both from the increased cost of finding new sources of petroleum in the United States and the experimental demonstration of lowered costs for synthetic liquid fuels by the Federal Bureau of Mines and by industry. Available petroleum resources of this country are being reduced and eventually may be inadequate to meet the demand. Alternate means of assuring an adequate supply of liquid fuels for this country include the development of processes for utilizing other carbonaceous materials such as oil shale and coal.

Jan 1, 1960

By J. M. Toguri, K. Grjotheim

It is known 1,2 that the equilibrium between titanium metal, TiCl2 , and TiCl3, in a solvent of molten metal chlorides, is influenced both by the total amount of dissolved titanium and by the type of solvent. Assuming that the trivalent titanium forms the complex ion Ti111 Cl4, the equilibrium reaction may be expressed by the following equation, (Me) TiIII cl4+ 1/2 Ti = 3/2 TiII cl2+ (Me) Cl The ideal ionic equilibrium constant for this reaction is, Where the N's are the molar ionic fractions in the equilibrium melt, and (Me) the different types of cations present in the equilibrium mixture. The following thermodynamic relation is derived between Kand the concentration of cations in the equilibrium melt, mix The N"S are the equivalent ionic fractions, and so forth are constants corresponding to the standard changes in free energy for reactions in melts where only the cation indicated is present, and f (y1) is a function of the activity coefficients in the equilibrium mixture. When this term vanishes, a simplified linear relationship between In Kideal and the concentration is obtained. The simplified relationship has been applied with satisfactory results to the experimental data of Mellgren and pie,' and Kreye and Kellogg.2 MANY existing methods for the production of light metals involve the reduction of their respective metal halides in the presence of salt melts composed of alkali or alkaline earth chlorides. In such a solution phase, the light-metal halide may undergo stepwise reduction from a higher, to a lower valence, and finally to a zero valent state. In this connection, the disproportionation equilibrium is of great interest. In the case where the higher valence is three and the lower valence is two, the disproportionation equilibrium may be written as follows, 3 Me11 = 2 Me111 + Me [I] If this equilibrium occurs in a salt melt containing a large excess of alkali chlorides, a typical ionic melt is obtained. It is then possible to formulate the cation equilibrium: 2 Me+h' + Me = 3 Me++ [II] Reaction [11] is analogous to a cation exchange reaction. It has been shown thermodynamically that the equilibrium constant for such a reaction in 2

Jan 1, 1960

By S. R. Mitchell, M. C. Fuerstenau, A. M. Gaudin

The two principal attributes of a thickener pulp are its settling rate and the ultimate pulp density of the thickened mud. Testing for evaluation of thickening attributes of a pulp has usually been done batch-wise by placing the pulp in a one-liter glass graduated cylinder and noting the position of the boundary between clear liquor and mud as a function of time. Refinements in testing have included repulping a thickened mud to various dilutions and evaluating the settling rate on these various repulped muds. This is considered to make possible an estimate of the settling rate as a function of pulp density and therefore to pinpoint the slowest settling pulp which ought to be critical from the standpoint of thickener plant design. Finally, tests are sometimes made with model-size continuous thickeners of arbitrary size. In batch tests it is generally accepted that the behavior of a pulp is described by a curve such as the one shown in Fig. 1, in which the position of the boundary between clear liquor and mud (the mudline) is plotted against time. It has also been assumed that the initial settling rate (the slope of the line segment AB) is descriptive of the pulp and independent of the size and shape of the container. Where the settling rate is slower and clearly a function of time (portion CD of the settling curve), it has been assumed that the data are not of much use because of the intrusion of compacting phenomena. The next important datum is the height. PE, which is a measure of the so-called ultimate pulp density. This quantity is assumed to be characteristic of the pulp and independent of the container. When actual data are recorded, results are rarely exactly according to this theory and numerous deviations may be noted. For example, some pulps seem to require an appreciable delay before beginning to settle, as in line AF. This is spoken of as representing the need for an induction time for flocculation. It has seemed desirable to explore thickener data with a more sensitive charting tool than is afforded by the coordinates of Fig. 1. Instead of relating the position of the mudline to time, it has seemed desirable to relate the rate of descent of the mudline to time. This, in effect, amounts to charting the slope of the line in Fig. 1, or the derivative of its ordinates, against the same abscissas. Fig. 2 shows the new chart for the curve ABCDE of Fig. 1. When this new tool was applied to data obtained, for example, with sized clay pulps, astonishing differences appeared. Apparently the traditional tool conceals differences instead of revealing them, whereas the new method emphasizes them. It seems, also, that both charting methods have their uses. In this article attention is focused on the effects of pulp density and container height as they affect the settling behavior of flocculated suspensions of a sized kaolin. The thesis by M. C. Fuerstenau' gives more details than this summary, as well as some information about the effect of other variables. Sized fractions of kaolin were used, supplied through the courtesy of S. C. Lyons of the Georgia Kaolin Co. Large batches were made by agitation in a flotation machine and in a glass jar equipped with a mixer. The settling vessels were 2, 4, and 6-in. diam glass cylinders of various heights. Pulp Dilution: The effects of pulp dilution on sedimentation behavior are shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. Fig. 3 shows data on pulps ranging from 2.44 to 16.7 pct solids initial pulp density, flocculated with Separan and charted in the traditional manner. At least two of the lines appear nearly straight in their early sections, but neither of the others does. Each of the curves in this figure includes a region labeled

Jan 1, 1960

By J. Gurland

THE microstructure of sintered carbides consists of particles of metal carbides, such as WC and TiC, embedded in a metallic binder which is usually a cobalt—or nickel-rich solid solution. One of the important factors influencing the strength of the alloys is the degree of dispersion of the carbide particles in the binder matrix. While it is generally accepted

Jan 1, 1960

By J. Olaf Sund

"THE November issue of the Bulletin carried in it ""Origin of the New Bruns1viclc Gypsum Deposits"" by J. Olaf Sund. This paper was a digested account of a Master's thesis at the University of New Brunswick which was a very useful compendium of information of gyp-sum in New Brunswick. It was a warded the President' s Gold .Medal and the First Prize in the Graduates' Section of the Students' Essay Competition. The present writer presents his congratulations to the winner of the competition. At the same time he must comment on the use of certain terms and on certain conclusions presented in the paper.The term ""unconformable"" has been used in several places in the paper to describe the relationship of gypsum to anhydrite in various deposits in New Brunswick in a sense which is quite alien to the accepted meaning. It has long been known tl1at the gypsum at the surface or near the surface in deposits in the Atlantic Provinces has come from hydration of anhydrite by surface and ground waters. The gyp-sum must be looked upon then as an alteration or even a weathering product. It cannot in this sense be called ""unconformable"" and thus arguments using the word in the accepted sense are invalid."

Jan 1, 1960