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By John L. Lamont, Walter Crafts

SELECTION of an alloy steel for a heat-treated article has been facilitated by methods for the calculation of hardenability,1 as-quenched hardness,2,3 and tempered tensile strength.4 Ductility and toughness may also be estimated if the steel is completely hardened on quenching,5,6 and the present study was carried out in order to develop a basis for estimating the Izod impact strength of partially hardened steel. The investigation was directed toward the prediction of Izod impact strength in steels of normal commercial quality without consideration of special compositions or heat-treatments that might produce abnormal brittleness. It was found that Izod impact strength of alloy steel is controlled by hardness, degree of hardening on quenching, and grain size. In fine-grained steels the impact strength for any given degree of hardening is inversely proportional to the tempered Rockwell C hardness, and the relation of impact strength to hardness is lowered by incomplete hardening. Calculation of the tensile strength and impact strength of heat-treating steels has shown that, except at very high strengths, tensile strength is raised by alloys without loss of impact strength whereas the tensile strength gained by higher carbon contents tends to be accompanied by a disproportionate loss of toughness. Plain carbon steels give relatively low and unpredictable impact strength. The calculation is sufficiently accurate to be helpful in the selection of alloy steel, and common grades of alloy steel have been evaluated with respect to combinations of tensile strength and impact strength attainable after heat-treatment in sections from I to 4 in. in diameter. PROCEDURE The study of the relation of hardness to impact strength was based on test data derived from 24 heats from four producers. The steels included the following SAE and AISI compositions: 1020, 1o30, 1040, 1340, 3310, 3316, 4320, 4330, 4340, 8620, 8630, 8640, 8720, 8730, 8740, 9310, 9317, 9440, 9917 and three high-alloy chromium-nickel-molybdenum steels. As far as is known, the steels tested were of normal commercial quality. They were supplied in 4-in. sections, which were forged to smaller sizes, prenormalized, and machined to final dimensions. Heat-treatment was carried out by heating to the usual austenitizing temperature for the grade of steel, holding for one hour per inch of thickness and quenching in still oil at room temperature. Previous work had indicated that this quenching treatment approximates a severity of H = 0.35. The bars were tempered as follows: ½ in., I in., and I 5/8 in., 2 hr; 2 ½ in., 3 hr; 4 in., 5 hr. All bars were air-cooled from the tempering tem-

Jan 1, 1947

By J. O. Lewis

The operation of gas-condensate fields is comparatively new and involves physical principles with which the industry was not prcviously familiar. It has been necessary to devise methods for testing gas-condensate wells and to correlate laboratory and field data. In this paper new methods are advanced for interpreting well G.P.M.† tests whereby dilution by dry gas can be estimated and information supplied on revaporization of condensates by dry gas. Inaccuracies in well test data are discussed. Changes in flow rates can cause changes in the G.P.M. of the effluent and it may take some time for a well to become stabilized after an important change in flow rate. Retrograde tests as usually conducted cannot be directly compared with field G.P.M. data, because the retrograde tests usually include solution gas in the condensates, which are reported On the cumulative basis whereas field data (G.P.M.) usually report pentaneS PlUS on a rate or instantaneous basis. Introduction Though long known to physicists, the phenomena Of retrograde condensation became known to the oil and gas industry Only in recent years, when deeper drilling disclosed that the behavior of vapors under changing pressures was different in high-pressure reservoirs than under the low-pressure operations with which the industry was familiar. These deep, high-pressure reservoirs in which condensation and vaporization behaved inversely to the accustomed manner became known as "gas-distillate," or preferably "gas-condensate" fields. Partly to prevent precipitation and retention of liquids in the reservoir, but still more to prevent the waste of residue gas, the operation known as "recycling," or preferably "cycling," was instituted, in which the residue gas is reinjected into the reservoir, thus maintaining pressure and driving the wet gas to the producing wells. For lack of field experience to serve as a guide, the industry had to assume that theory and laboratory experiments could accurately forecast retrograde behaviors in operating these gas-condensate fields, but it is obvious that these assumptions should be checked at the first opportunities against actual field experience. To make such checks, it is necessary to accumulate a large quantity of reliable field data, but experience has shown that it is difficult to obtain reliable field data and that the laboratory data as usually presented are not in directly comparable form. The problems of correlation involve the complex phase behavior on the one hand, and a knowledge of field data and a visualization of underground conditions on the other hand. This paper is an approach from field experience, The purposes of this article are to discuss the sources of uncertainty in the data and to present methods of analyzing, interpreting and correlating laboratory and field data. Data mostly from lower Gulf Coast fields are presented, from which some conclusions can be derived, but better data from more sources than those available to the writer will be required before satisfactory answers to many questions can be obtained. This paper is presented to stimulate the analysis and publication of data from other fields, the reexamination of field and laboratory methods, and the taking of more complete and reliable field tests. For these purposes, the writer presents some speculations that otherwise would not be appropriate.

Jan 1, 1947

By Clarence Zener

Contents Page General Principles................................................................. 551 Equilibrium Diagrams......................................................... 551 Nucleation................................................................... 553 Kinetics of Phase-boundary Propagation......................................... 553 Kinetics of Growth of New Phase............................................... 556 Spheroidization............................................................... 560 Pure Iron-carbon System........................................................... 561 Formation of Pearlite.......................................................... 561 Interlamellar Spacing........................................................ 562 Pearlite C-curve............................................................. 563 Bainite Formation............................................................. 565 Formation of Martensite....................................................... 570 Loss of Tetragonality of Martensite.............................................. 570 Effect of Alloys upon Decomposition of Austenite..................................... 572 Pearlite...................................................................... 572 Bainite and Martensite......................................................... 574 Time-temperature-transformation Curves............................................. 576 Appendix A............................................................. ......... 579 Appendix B....................................................................... 580 Appendix C....................................................................... 580 The present investigation started in an attempt to understand certain details of the decomposition of austenite, and of the effect of alloying elements thereon. As the investigation proceeded it became apparent that not only these details, but all the general features of austenite decomposition, could be understood in terms of fundamental physical principles. Since the direct applicability of these physical principles has not been previously recognized, it was decided to incorporate the original results of the investigation into a review of the general subject of the kinetics of austenite decomposition. This review constitutes the present article. An extended summary of the results is given on pages 576 to 579. This article, which deals with the kinetics of phase transformations, may appropriately be considered as a sequel to two recent articles1,2 from this laboratory on the equilibrium relations in medium alloy steels.

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1947

By James T. Kemp

Some interesting and, to American eyes, rather unusual processes for refining impure aluminum derived from scraps were found by American and British investigators who went into Germany in 1945 for the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What was found was recorded in a series of reports (see page ), many of which have been released for general reading. This paper gathers under one title and summarizes the German work in refining light metal scrap. Reference must be made to the original reports for greater detail. Basically, the occasion and stimulus for the German developments in treating light metal scrap were hard necessity. Germany needed the metal for a rapacious war industry. Adequate supplies of new aluminum from reduction works were not assured. Great quantities of airplane and other light metal war scraps were forecast. It was evident that the scrap metal would have to be reabsorbed by the producing industry and would have to be kept of good quality. The normal current production of manufacturing scrap was being and could be consumed as generated. It offered no technical problem. The mixed scraps, especially those arising from crashed and decommissioned airplanes, however, presented problems of another kind. Airplane Scrap The recovery of usable aluminum alloy from the mixed assemblies that made up the piles of airplane scrap was attacked in different ways by different groups and with differing degrees of success. Three procedures actually were used on a commercial scale, one was in pilot-plant stage and another had come to a halt in the laboratory a year before Germany collapsed. Four of these five processes actually involved "refining"; that is, some measure of purification of the metal after melting. Sorting and Separation on a Sloping Hearth The simplest procedure for utilizing airplane scrap involved no refining in the strict sense of the word. This was the practice adopted by two representative plants visited by the author, the Leipziger Leichtmetalle Werke, Rackwitz, Saxony, and the Vereinigte Leichtmetalle Werke, Hanover. These firms did essentially the same thing that was done in England but not with equal success, to judge by their shorter experience, the smaller tonnage handled and by the number and quality of alloys produced. The two German firms named rough-sorted scraps by their easily recognizable alloys, essentially by part and shape. They used hand labor to chop and hack and tear apart. The easily separated heavy metal and nonmetallic scraps were discarded as they were found. Steel and the higher-melting-point metal parts riveted to aluminum or built into

Jan 1, 1947

By H. W. Graham

AS these annual occasions in honor of Henry Marion Howe continue through the years, there is progressively less likelihood that the lecturer will have had personal knowledge of Dr. Howe. The present speaker is one of those who unfortunately had no opportunity to come under the inspiring presence of this great metallurgist. A review of Howe's work shows it to cover a comprehensive range of interests and to evidence an impressive richness of detail. Not only was Howe at home in the laboratory, but he was familiar with the processes of iron and steel making and had a real understanding of them writings include much that is descriptive of processes with a wealth of material that is becoming of increasing historical value. He recorded his studies of the theoretical aspects of processes and published at least two process classifications, one in 1890 that was lengthy and somewhat theoretical, and a second in 1906 that was more of a practical listing. Wide as Howe's field of interest was, it is significant of the circumstances of his time that he gave little consideration to raw materials or to their effect on iron and steel making processes. In 1933, Waterhouse, Howe lecturer for that year, presented a descriptive summary of the major steelmaking processes, and in 1946 Joseph discussed the blast furnace process. Otherwise Howe lectures have not dealt with processes as major subjects. In today's lecture, with no effort to describe the mechanical arrangements of iron and steel making facilities, it is proposed to examine the essential technological elements of the processes, to explore the inter-relation of these elements, and particularly to seek recognition and understanding of those factors which determine why certain processes are or are not used. The discussion of this lecture will deal with the major well-known large tonnage processes, with only such attention to processes of minor tonnage and special character as may be warranted for explanation by contrast. Subject to the errors of generalization and the short- comings of condensation involved in presentation limited to a single hour, it is proposed to examine broadly but intensively those operations which convert raw materials into steel. It is an innovation for a Howe lecturer to discuss the raw materials of the iron and steel industry, but the changing circumstances of passing years intensify the influence of raw materials on processes and require the metallurgist to be alert for the process adjustments that may become advisable or mandatory. For a half century the metallurgical processing of iron and steel has followed a surprisingly straight path, but this does not necessarily mean that there are no curves in the road ahead. Ages ago primitive man came to know iron in its metallic form, not only by the

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1947

By J. Gardner Brooks, Sidney Sigel, Irvin R. Kramer

In 1942 Grossmannl proposed that the hardenability of a steel may be calculated from its chemical composition by considering the base hardenability associated with its carbon content and grain size and multiplying this base by factors for each element present. Since Grossmann's original publication, several investigaton2-6 have reexamined the multiplying factors for the individual elements and in general have found that the multiplying principle is valid. However, some of the individual factor curves developed have been in poor agreement. Inasmuch as the carbon-factor curve obtained by Grossmann was dependent Lipon the factors for all the other alloying elements present in the steel, it logically followed that his results were in need of correction in the light of the new data available for manganese, silicon, and the other alloying elements. Furthermore, in order to avoid the possibility that errors in the manganese, silicon, or other curves might influence the carbon-factor curve, investigation of iron-carbon alloys containing little or no manganese and silicon was necessary. That the effect of carbon on hardenability was greater than indicated by Grossmann is shown by a comparison of the diameters of completely hardened rounds of iron-carbon alloys with the ideal critical diameter calculated from Grossmann's factors. These alloys have a greater hardenability in a finite quench than predicted by Grossmann's factors for an infinite quench (Table I). Among the other important variables that were in need of further investigation were the effect of deoxidation practice on the grain-size correction curves and the effect of stable carbide-forming elements on the depth of hardening. Most Of the work by Kramer, Hafner, and Toleman4 was done on silicon-killed steels. It was not known whether Gross-mann's grain-size correction curves, determined on aluminum-killed steels, was valid when applied to steels with different deoxidation practice. More data on the

Jan 1, 1947

By Clarence Zener

The heat-treatment of steels will not pass from the stage of an art into that of a science until the mechanism of the phase transformations associated therewith is thoroughly understood. Such an understanding will involve two distinct types of inquiry: (I) the direction of the transformation, (2) the speed of the transformation. The first type of inquiry, which involves only the equilibrium relations between the various phases in steel, is the subject of the present and of a succeeding article; the second type, which involves the kinetics of transformations, will be the subject of a later article. In order that a theory of equilibrium relations may give useful information, certain experimental data must be put into the theory. It is customary for these data to be of a thermal nature. In the system discussed herein—steel—such thermal data are very scarce. In medium-alloy steels another type of data might possibly be used. In these steels the concentration of solute is so low that it may be possible to use the approximation of dilute solutions, an approximation that leads to linear relationships. The unknown functions, or constants, may then be determined in some cases from the binary iron-alloy system and in other cases from the ternary iron-carbon-alloy system. From the functions, or constants, so determined may then be computed the equilibrium relations in more complex medium-alloy steels. In the present article this second approach is used, the necessary experimental data 'being obtained from the simple binary and ternary equilibrium diagrams. Fundamental Equations In this article are derived the equilibrium relations between the gamma, alpha and cementite phases. In these three phases all important alloying elements except carbon form substitutional solutions, each alloying atom occupying a potential site for an iron atom. Carbon, on the other hand, forms an interstitial solution. In the face-centered cubic gamma phase, the interstitial positions are at the center of the unit cube and at the centers of the cube edges. There are therefore four interstitial positions per unit cell, or one per iron atom. In the body-centered cubic alpha phase, the interstitial positions are probably at the face centers, and also at the centers of the edges, which are crystallographically equivalent to the face centers. There are therefore six interstitial positions per unit cube, or three per iron atom. In cementite, (Fe, Alloy)3C, the carbon atoms may. be regarded as filling all the lattice positions of a given type. The introduction of the fundamental the of equilibrium has presented the author with a quandary. These equations are formally so similar to other equations that have been derived1,2 for related systems that they may appear to some readers

Jan 1, 1947

By Robert T. Howard, Morris Cohen

IT has long been realized among metallurgists that a fast, reliable method for the quantitative determination of the percentage of microconstituents in an alloy would be of great benefit in studies of equilibrium and transformation in the solid state. For example, Polushkin1 has shown that the compositions of two coexisting phases in a a binary system at a given temperature may be calculated very simply with the aid of two alloys lying in the two-phase field if the relative amounts of the two phases in each alloy can be determined. Recently, Grange and Stewart2 have traced the course of the austenite-martensite reaction in a series of commercial steels by making visual estimates of the percentage of martensite formed as a function of cooling temperature. The correlation of mechanical properties with structure, a subject of wide-spread current interest, is likewise dependent upon quantitative microanalysis.3 Yet, there are very few investigations described in the metallurgical literature, wherein methods of quantitative microscopy are employed. Usually, the relative amounts of the microconstituents are estimated in a qualitative or semiquantitative way. The authors were faced with this problem some time ago in studying the kinetics of austenite decomposition. Several aspects of, this research could not be treated satisfactorily by other quantitative tools, such as specific volume,4 magnetic,5 dilatometric,6 electrical resistance7 or x-ray measurements.8 It became necessary to find an impersonal quantitative method that could be applied to microstructures. Fortunately, it was noted that geologists and petrographers had coped with quantitative microscopy to a considerable degree in their attempts to evaluate the mineral contents of rocks. A number of excellent articles were found on this subject, and since they appear to be unknown generally to many metallurgists, the first part of the present paper is concerned with a review of the literature in some detail. With this survey as a background, the authors have adapted the so-called methods of point-counting and lineal analysis to metallography, as described in the second part of the paper. Austenite-martensite structures were selected for illustration not only because they are important in many ways, but because such fine intermixtures are notoriously difficult to estimate visually. LITERATURE SURVEY Perhaps the earliest work on quantitative microscopic analysis goes back to Delesse9 (1848) who proved mathemati-

Jan 1, 1947

TABLE OF CONTENTS:Introduction.Chemical Composition-lignitic coal-earthy coal-pollen coal-fern coal-nature of ash in the several coal types.Carbonization Tests.Air Drying of the Coal Types-rate of drying in the coal face-relative rates of diffusion-differential slacking of coal types-rate of oxygen absorption.Origin of the Coal Types-colour difference-cause of different rates of diffusion.Practical Significance.Summary.Acknowledgments.The Yallourn brown coal seam, where exposed in the Yallourn Open Cut, and the Latrobe brown coal seam, where exposed in the Yallourn North Open Cut, are both distinctly bedded. Close inspection shows that both seams consist of beds of coal from 1 to 10 ft. thick, which on drying out develop differences in colour and in their, shrinkage crack patterns. Tliese differences become apparent in the...

Jan 1, 1947

By John D. Morgan, Sylvain J. Pirson

AN instantaneous and continuous analysis of a mineral suspension should be of great value in controlling various mineral preparation processes. Described herein is a method of analysis based on the use of high-frequency alternating current, which, under certain restrictive conditions, could be of use. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS In a suspension of conductive minerals, the electrical effect primarily responsible for the variations in electric conductivity is the capacitance. In Fig Ia, let an alternating voltage E be applied across two electrodes F and F', between which are two rows (S and T) of mineral particles, all of approximately the same size, immersed in a fluid. Let the number of rows of particles between the electrodes be R and the number of particles in each row be N. If A is the area of a particle, D is the distance separating two particles, and K is a constant depending on the fluid, the capacity, Co, of the particle system will be given by: [KRA C0 ND] Referring now to Fig Ib, let R, the number of rows, be held constant, but let N, the number of particles in each row (S and T), be increased X-fold. The capacity, C1, of [ ]

Jan 1, 1947

By E. R. Hughes

Introduction Situated 182 miles east of Vancouver, on the Kettle Valley branch of the Canadian Pacific railway, the Princeton coal field is readily accessible to the Coast markets. The area covers approximately forty square miles and present indications are that the deposits should contain at least 300,000,000 tons of coal. Comparatively little development has yet taken place in this coal field. Since the commencement of recorded output, the collieries operating in this area have produced 1,640,518 tons of coal. The coal field proper includes only the Tertiary deposits adjacent to the town of Princeton and does not include the Coalmont or Nicola deposits. Production has never been on a large scale. The largest annual output from any property was 81, 780 long tons mined at the Granby colliery in 1940. Coal output was first recorded in 1909 and since that time fifteen properties are reported to have either mined coal or to have done prospecting or development work; of these, only two are presently active. However, none of the properties now inactive were closed because their coal resources were exhausted. The accompanying key map shows the extent of the Princeton coal field, and the location of the coal mines and prospects in this field General Geology The Princeton field is underlain by rocks of Oligocene age and is one of the series of more or less isolated Tertiary lake basins in which coal, or lignite, has been found in the interior of British Columbia. Resting on the Nicola group rocks of Triassic age, the Princeton sedimentaries consist of sandstones, conglomerates, shales, bentonite, bentonitic clays, and several seams of coal. Tertiary volcanics occur both above and below the stratified rocks and in places they have been thrust through the overlying measures. In some areas, the coal has been burned to a red ash as the result of vulcanism, while in other parts some of the moisture has been driven from the coal, thus improving the grade. The field can best be described by dividing it into two areas: the Southern area, lying to the south of the town of Princeton, where most of the mining has been done; and the Northern area, to the north of Princeton, where very little development has taken place.

Jan 1, 1947

By E. A. Gulbransen, W. S. Wysong

THE behavior of molybdenum and its surface oxides in oxidizing and reducing gas atmospheres and in high vacua at elevated temperatures is a question of scientific and technical importance The use of molybdenum as a metal or as an important component in alloys in oxidizing atmospheres at elevated temperatures has been limited because of the unprotective nature of its oxide film and the volatility of this oxide at moderate temperatures. This communication will present results of a vacuum microbalance study 1,2 of the following problems. (11) the oxidation kinetics in the temperature range of 250° to 450°C; (2) the reduction with pure hydrogen of thin oxide films formed on molybdenum; (3) the volatility of the thin oxide films, and (4) the vacuum oxidation of molybdenum at high temperatures. Molybdenum is an interesting metal to study for the following reasons: (I) although the oxide-to-metal-volume ratio is greater than one, the metal is not considered protective; (2) the metal oxidizes readily at temperatures of 250°C and higher; (3) the oxides of the metal are reduced at temperatures as low as 500°C by pure hydrogen; (4) the oxide MoO3 melts at 795°C; and (5) the oxides of molybdenum are volatile at moderate temperatures. The following variables are studied in the oxidation kinetics. time, temperature, pressure, surface preparation, surface area, concentration of inert gas in the lattice, cycling procedures in temperature, vacuum effect and high temperature vacuum oxidation The general interpretation of many of these factors has been previously discussed. LITERATURE The oxidation of molybdenum has not been studied critically. Although" many studies have probably been made on the kinetics of the oxidation process, none has been reported in the literature available to us. The crystal structures found in the oxidation of molybdenum have been studied by Hickman and Culbransen 4 Their results showed that MoO2 is the oxide which is stable in contact with the metallic subgtrate throughout the temperature range 300 to 700°C. As the film thickens in the low temperature range, MoO3 becomes predominant on the surface. Above 400°C, Mo03 is no longer observed, Mo02 being the only oxide found. Hagg and Magneli5 have shown from an X ray study that the a-phase, orthorhombic MoO3 is stable up to 1050°C. Two other phases, ß and ß', with compositions close to Mo02 90 are also obtained The formula for the ß phase is not given but that of the ß' phase is defined as Mo9026. The ß' phase is found to be built upon a monoclinic unit cell. A -?-phase is isolated from a preparation M00275 heated for 17 hrs at 670°C. This phase is

Jan 1, 1947

By W. B. Mather

THE object of this paper is to record and interpret data collected during the examination of over 250 barite deposits in the Central Mineral District of Missouri. [ ] In the course of this study, the origin of the deposits, which the author believes to be hydrothermal, has been given particular attention. Economic barite deposits occur in two main areas in Missouri: (I) in the Washington County District of Southeast Missouri, from which over go pct of the state's production is derived; and (2) in the Central Mineral District, which includes portions of 15 counties in Central Missouri (Fig I). Barite in the smaller Washington County District is mined from widespread low grade, relatively shallow residual deposits, whereas in the Central District, it is mined

Jan 1, 1947

By Bever M. B., Floe Carl F., Hung Liang

Data on the solubility of hydrogen in iron-silicon alloys are of practical interest, as hydrogen causes gas unsoundness and embrittlement in iron and steel and is also a factor in the metallurgy of cast iron. Zapffe and Simsl have recently demonstrated that in deoxidized iron and steel castings gassiness and bleeding are primarily functions of the hydrogen content of the liquid metal. These authors also suggested convincingly that ordinary melting and casting practice provides several sources of hydrogen for absorption by the metal. Norbury and Morgan2 and Boyles3 have shown that dissolved hydrogen affects the graphitization of cast iron. Schneble and Chipman4 included in a study of the effects of superheating on the properties of cast iron an investigation of the part played by hydrogen. Schwartz, Guiler and Barnett5 investigated the significance of hydrogen in the metallurgy of malleable cast iron. A complete interpretation of investigations of this kind calls for equilibrium values of the solubility of hydrogen in the liquid and solid phases. From the theoretical standpoint, the solubility of gases, especially hydrogen, may reveal some aspects of the nature of liquid metallic solutions. This was implied in the early work of Sieverts6 on the effect of alloying additions on the solubility of hydrogen in copper. Recent work by Bever and Floe7 has shown that in liquid copper-tin alloys the solubility of hydrogen changes abruptly at the composition of the intermetallic compound Cu3Sn. It is of considerable interest to determine whether liquid alloys of iron also have compositions at which the solubility of hydrogen exhibits a discontinuous or otherwise unique behavior. Among the various alloys of iron the iron-silicon system is important because of the presence of silicon in various structural alloy steels, transformer sheets, cast irons and special acid-resisting castings. The various grades of ferrosilicon, finally, cover almost the entire remainder of the composition range. Published information on the solubility of hydrogen in iron-silicon alloys is meager. The first values for pure liquid iron were reported in 1910-191 1 sieverts and Krumbhaar8 and by sieverts.9 They found that 100 grams of iron absorbs 28 c.c. of hydrogen at 1550°C and One atmosphere pressure, and 31 C.C. at 1650°C. In 1938 Sieverts, Zapf and Moritz10 published a value of 26.3 C.C. at 1550°C. Data on the solubility of hydrogen in liquid iron-silicon alloys and in liquid silicon are not available. Martin1' investigated

Jan 1, 1947

By Norman Weiss

MOST papers on xanthate have dealt with principles rather than practice. On the assumption that many millmen are interested in knowing where and in what manner the xanthates are being used in mills other than their own, this paper will summarize the results of a recent survey of North American plants. A brief background story and a description of the xanthates will be followed with the results of that survey; then a few observations will be made on storage, feeding, and ore testing. The first xanthate was made in 1822 by Zeise of the University of Copenhagen. With commendable scientific detachment (or perhaps a bad cold) Zeise ignored a more pervading quality of the substance and named it for its color, after the Greek word "xanthos," meaning yellow. During the first 80 years of its recorded existence xanthate found use only in.small quantity as an insecticide; after the turn of the century there was some further demand for it in the vulcanization of rubber. It was not until 1922, by coincidence the centennial of Zeise's discovery, that C. H. Keller of San Francisco, seeking sulphidizing agents, recalled xanthate in connection with his experience years earlier when he had seen this material used in Europe to combat grape phylloxera. His successful tests with the new flotation reagent culminated in the basic xanthate patent (U. S. 1,554,216) in 1925. In the minds of many metallurgists the introduction of xanthate as a flotation reagent is identified with the beginnings of alkaline circuits, the first use of chemical collectors, and the beginning of selective flotation. Actually, these preceded xanthatc by a number of years. The alkaline circuit in lead-zinc flotation was introduced by Lyster as early as 1912. In 1922 Sheridann and Griswold made their momentous discovery (Timber Butte) that alkali cyanides and zinc sulphate effectively inhibited the flotation of pyrite and sphalerite in pulps made alkaline with sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. The use of lime to retard pyrite in copper flotation began within two years after Ralston directed attention to its possibilities in 1917. These were the beginnings of modern selective flotation, which was practiced successfully on copper-iron ores at Nacozari in 1922, and at Inspiration, Cananea, and others only shortly afterward. In the lead-zinc mills, selective flotation was of even greater economic importance at that time. The Sunnyside plant of U. S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co. used the process earlier than 1920, and Consolidated, Timber Butte, and others soon followed. As a chemical collector xanthate was relatively a latecomer, for the Corliss patent of 1917 covered the first of these, alpha-naphthylamine, and the Perkins patent of 1918 the second, thiocarbanilid. Both of these were in extensive use before Keller's xanthate made its commercial debut in 1923. There is general agreement, nonetheless, that the introduction of xanthate was

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1947