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By John A. Ruppert, John E. Conley

LIGHTWEIGHT aggregates have been in use for many years in the United States but are now receiving more and more attention by manufacturers and users of concrete shapes. These shapes comprise building blocks, special forms, such as door sills, lintels, floor slabs, and beams. Lightweight aggregate also is adapted for monolithic construction. The increased building activity since termination of the war, together with the widespread shortage of cinders resulting from a general trend toward the use of oil and pulverized-coal fuels, has aggravated the situation. In some localities? new producers of lightweight aggregates have been stimulated to increased efforts to supply the demand. In addition, various estab- lishments of the United States Government have recently given attention to this problem. The National Bureau of Standards, in the Commerce Department, and the Bureau of Reclamation, in the Interior Department, have completed a series of tests on concretes made from some of the available commercial aggregates in order to evaluate their qualities. The tests have been made to focus attention on the desirable properties of good aggregates. This work was done at the request of the Technical Office of the National Housing Agency and Housing and Home Finance Agency. Some time previously, the former office had conducted a survey of the locations where lightweight aggregates are produced.' A study of this information discloses that the producing centers are widespread and that certain areas, notably the region east of the Mississippi River and especially the southeastern states in the sections along the Atlantic Coast, have only a limited number of such plants. The situation has been alleviated to some extent with new plants having been erected near Richmond, Va., and Lansford, Pa. Experiment Stations of the Federal Bureau of Mines at Tuscaloosa, Ala., Norris, Tenn., and College Park, Md., have investigated types and sources of potential raw materials such as clays, shales, and slates, as well as methods and procedures for utilizing these materials for their conversion into aggregates, and have published the data as a Bureau of Mines report.' Structural Uses of Lightweight Aggregates: Production of masonry blocks in the United States has averaged close to a billion units a year for the past three years, and of these it is estimated that more than 40 pct consisted of the lightweight type. It is anticipated that the future will witness an increase in this percentage in view of the superior insulating properties, decrease in dead weight, and ease of handling, transporting, and laying units of this type. Lightweight aggregates are used extensively in multistoried buildings in which the weight of the walls and floors is carried by a structural steel framework. The substitution of a lightweight concrete for normal concrete in a building of this type has brought about in many instances some or all of the following advantages:

Jan 1, 1951

By Almon F. Robertson

This is one of a series of reports describing investigations made within the Missouri River Basin in Montana by mining engineers of the Bureau of Mines, Minerals Division, Region II. The primary purpose of these investigations is to provide basic information to agencies of the Department of the Interior and other agencies concerned with the planning of power and other water developments in the Missouri River Basin. This report contains only such factual data as have been authorized for public distribution. Special precautions have been taken not to reveal any information or data considered to be confidential. The field investigations for this report were made during the fall of 1948 and the summer of 1949. Virtually all of the known metallic mineral deposits and some nonmetallic (industrial) mineral deposits within Judith Basin County were investigated. Most of the mines and prospects have been inactive for many years; most of the old underground mine workings now are inaccessible or only partly accessible. Consequently, much of the information on many of the mines and prospects necessarily has been obtained from available U. S. Government and State publications and from owners and local residents.

Jan 1, 1951

By M. S. Fotheringham

Recognition of the Growing Importance of Iron and Steel Few Canadians have yet become aware that Canada's vast iron ore resources, the greater part of which is only now beginning to be developed, will inevitably have a profound effect on the entire Canadian economy, benefitting in some measure the lives of all Canadians. The great iron mining developments of Ontario, Newfoundland, Quebec, and Labrador are destined to make Canada one of the world's major producers and exporters of this material, on which our industrial civilization is?based. These developments will create new employment, new communities, new transportation facilities, and new investment opportunities. Iron ore is the foundation and the keystone of modern mechanized civilization. The most prosperous nations of the world are the highest per capita consumers of iron and steel, and in these countries the per capita consumption is increasing steadily despite the advent of light metals, plastics, and other competitive materials. Three-quarters of the human race have too little steel -and consequently too little mechanization -to provide for themselves the necessities and comforts of civilized living. Progressively they will demand, and acquire, the machines, the transportation and communication facilities now lacking, and they will win them by making greater use of the world's iron resources. It is the good fortune of this generation that Canada's 'iron age' is just getting well under way.

Jan 1, 1951

By E. J. Burrough

MR. J. J. McIntyre (International Coal & Coke Company, Ltd., and McGi1livray Creek Coal & Coke Company, Ltd., Coleman, Alta): Mr. Burrough's excellent paper, Metallurgical Coals of the Crowsnest Area, seems especially timely now, when the need for developing iron industries in the west, as well as in the east, is receiving so much attention. His -thorough review of the 'coking' industry is an especially valuable contribution, along with which the following brief remarks on coking in the Crowsnest Pass area of British Columbia and Alberta may be in order. When the Crowsnest Pass line of the Canadian Pacific railway was built there were great expectations for the non-ferrous metal industry; quite a number of smelter's were al-ready in operation in British Columbia and the northwestern United States, and further expansion was confidently expected. The suitability of the medium-volatile coking coals of the Pass for making metallurgical coke had been recognized from the time the fields were first explored. By the time the mines were fairly well developed there was already a market to war-rant the building of coking plants, and a common belief that expansion of the market would require a large coking industry. The first coke production was from plants built by the Crowsnest Pass Coal Company, Ltd., at Fernie, B.C. in 1903, and the International Coal and Coke Company, Ltd., at Coleman, Alberta. These plants were followed by others built by the Crowsnest Pass Coal Company, at Michel, B.C., by West Canadian Collieries, Ltd., at Lille, Alberta, and by Leitch Collieries, Ltd., at Passburg Alberta, and by a plant at Hosmer, B.C.

Jan 1, 1951

By William B. Stephenson

The paper describes efficient and effective methods of automatically controlling sand pump installations. Particular reference is made to liquid-level controls actuating variable speed pump-driving units. Included is a discussion of various combinations of equipment, with schematic drawings. HERETOFORE many sand pump installations in the mining and metallurgical field involved guesswork as to the size of the pump and then simply direct-connecting it to a constant speed motor which was often large enough to do twice the work required. Considerable thought was given to mill location in an effort to avoid as much pumping as possible. Hillside design of mills with gravity flow of tailing was much to be desired. Power costs were low, construction was relatively cheap, and labor in many places meant nothing in comparison to the values derived from the ores being treated. Today most of these conditions are reversed. Ores are becoming more complex with lower values per ton of ore treated. Power is more expensive, construction is higher, and labor definitely takes a very important place in the profit and loss statement. Each piece of equipment incorporated in the design of a new mill is selected to provide highest efficiency based on careful metallurgical analysis of the ore to be treated both in good and poor markets. Each is designed with its flexibility in mind and with provision for adjustments in its performance to meet actual conditions in the operation of the mill. Sand pumps have taken an important position in mill design. Operators the world over are relying more and more on the performance of a sand pump in the efficient operating of their plant. Many ordinary jobs are being done today with pumps driven through adjustable pitch diameter V belt drives in order that changes in pump speed can be made easily to meet actual operating conditions. Operating costs have long since proved the folly of operating a pump at too high a speed for the volume and head to be overcome. Metallurgical results have shown the benefits derived from a smooth flow as contrasted with a surging flow from an uncontrolled pump. Construction costs have risen to such an extent that surge bins and other means formerly employed must be omitted from today's flowsheet. Several installations of considerable size and involving the use of automatic pump speed control have proved the adaptability of such controls since they were placed in service in recent years. In the following presentation each system discussed and illustrated schematically has been installed in one or more instances and has proved itself reliable and definitely economical from the standpoint of capital investment, operation and maintenance. Variable Volume-Head Speed Control: Probably the most popular, effective and efficient automatic control setup for sand pumping installations is the one shown schematically in fig. 1. Commonly used

Jan 1, 1951

Jan 1, 1951

By H. H. Hausner, H. S. Kalish

IN recent years zirconium and beryllium have become of great interest because of their special properties. Zirconium is known for its remarkable ability to absorb the gases oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, has extensive use as a getter in electron tubes and has indeed become the primary metal in the manufacture of photoflash bulbs. Beryllium is of interest because it is light metal and as such could supplement aluminum and magnesium in light metal applications. The late development of zirconium ductile at room temperature produced by both the iodide and calcium reduction methods has stimulated frequent articles on this metal in the recent literature. Beryllium is so closely akin to zirconium crystall-ographically that some investigators are of the opinion that beryllium should be ductile at room temperature if it were pure enough. The crystallographic relationship of beryllium and zirconium, the interest created in Be-Zr alloys where the zirconium is believed to function as a remover of solid solution gas in beryllium and thus increase the ductility of the beryllium rich alloy, and the amenability of these metals to powder metallurgy methods stimulated this approach to an investigation of the system Be-Zr. Preliminary work showed that a zirconium compact melted when pressed in contact with a beryllium compact and sintered at 1250°C, without any apparent final bond between the two. A search of the literature revealed nothing pertinent about the Zr-Be system or about any zirconium - beryllium alloys. In 1936 Misch³ vaguely identified the compound ZrBe2 and reported that it has a deformed cubic structure. Two patents," , were issued to Mach-lett Laboratories in 1943 and in 1946 regarding the addition of small amounts of zirconium to beryllium in order to improve the ductility of beryllium so that it may better be used for X ray windows. In considering the alloy formation of beryllium with other metals Raynor thought it unlikely that zirconium would have any solid solubility in beryllium. From this indefinite information nothing could be ascertained about the possible use of Zr-Be alloys or the use of these metals intimately. A brief preliminary study of the system Zr-Be by powder metallurgy methods was undertaken to provide regions for more intense studies of Zr-Be alloys and as a guide to a formal phase diagram determination. The investigation described in the following pages was completed in less than three weeks. The usefulness of this rapid method to facilitate phase diagram studies and new alloy investigations will be shown. Materials and Procedure Zirconium powder was produced from crystal bar stock of high purity supplied by Foote Mineral Co. The crystal bar was converted to hydride at 730°C, crushed, and the hydride decomposed in purified argon at 850°C. 60 pct of the powder passed through a 325 mesh screen, 40 pct of the powder was —140 mesh, +325 mesh and the average particle size of the total was 8 to 12 microns. The beryllium powder was used as re-

Jan 1, 1951

By C. S. Smith, Chih-Chung Wang

TURNBULL and his collaborators1,2 have developed the theory of homogeneous nucleation as applied, inter alia, to solidification of liquid metals. Vonnegut³ and Turnbull4 have shown that if a liquid metal is subdivided into small droplets a vast majority of them will undercool very considerably before solidification, generally to as low as about 0.8 of the freezing temperature on the absolute scale. The nuclei effective at small degrees of supercooling in bulk metal seem to be internal or surface heterogeneities, relatively small in number. If the metal is subdivided, those droplets that happen to contain such nuclei will solidify at a temperature not greatly below the true freezing point, but only a small part of the whole volume will be affected and the majority of the drops will under-cool to the much lower temperature at which homo- geneous nucleation occurs as a result of fluctuations. It occurred to one of the authors that an appropriate subdivision to give effective freedom from random nuclei is produced during the solidification of many alloys that contain a minor amount of a phase of low melting point, and that one might then expect marked undercooling of the distributed phase. Experimental: The alloys selected for initial study were copper with minor amounts of lead and bismuth, and aluminum with tin. In all these alloys, the major component freezes at a temperature not much below that of the pure metal, and there is little further change in constitution on cooling until the lower melting point constituent freezes in an almost pure state. Cooling curves were taken using the controlled heat flow method permitting approximate specific heats to be obtained. Chromel-alumel thermocouples were used, with the standard emf tables, since extreme precision was not needed. The crucible (3/4 in. id, 5/16 in. wall) was made of B & W K-20 insulating brick. It held about 10 cc of the alloy being investigated. The cooling rate was 2.5" to 2.9°C per min under a controlled temperature difference of 20°. Approximate specific heats were computed from the inverse rate curves together with data from a blank run and from a standard run with a copper cylinder of known heat capacity. The alloys for investigation were made from high-purity metals (99.99+pct) and cast into graphite molds. The castings were machined to fit the crucible and to provide a hole for the inner thermocouple. Cooling curves were taken after heating to a temperature about 50" above the melting point of the minor, lower melting-point, constituent. Results The lead phase in an alloy of copper with 5 pct lead did not undercool more than 3" below the melting point of lead (327°C) either as cast or after annealing to produce a new dispersion of the liquid phase. A copper-zinc-lead alloy with 23.75 pct zinc and 5 pct lead undercooled more but showed no thermal effect below 319°C. A cast alloy of copper with 5 pct bismuth undercooled to 249°C (M.P. bismuth 27l °C), but once solidification started it was completed at the same temperature. This was anticipated, since the bismuth forms a nearly continuous phase between the grains of copper, and a solid crystal nucleated anywhere would rapidly* con- sume the entire network of liquid, unless the physical continuity of the liquid were broken through volume changes, inadequate fluidity, or gas evolution. Similar arguments apply in the case of copper-lead alloys, where the lead-rich liquid forms a network along grain edges, though not grain faces. In both cases there would be a few isolated particles

Jan 1, 1951

COMPARED with the equipment used in most industrial processes, the open-hearth furnace has a relatively short life. The most important quality of an open-hearth refractory, therefore, is its rate of failure. This discussion of the physics and chemistry of the individual refractory materials will keep upper- most the question "Why, how, and where does it fail?" CAUSES OF FAILURE The principal causes of failure of open-hearth refractories are, in their order of importance: 1.Reaction with iron oxides. 2. Reaction with slag. 3. Flow and failure under load. 4. Melting. 5. Spalling. 6. Mechanical breakage. Reaction with Iron Oxides and Slag. Reaction with iron oxides and slag is by far the most important cause of failure. Liquid iron oxide comes near to being the "universal solvent" sought for by the alchemists. Among the materials commonly used in the open-hearth furnace, magnesia has the greatest resistance to this liquid and fireclay the least. The relations of iron and oxygen at high temperatures are illustrated in Fig 14-18. The liquid iron oxide that forms wherever iron is in contact with air or combustion gases cannot be given a definite formula. The percentage of oxygen at steelmaking temperatures may range from 21 to 28 (iron 79 to 72), depending upon the temperature and the oxygen pressure and also upon whether or not the liquid is in equilibrium with metallic iron. Oxide mixtures exist not only in the solid and liquid phases but also in the vapor phase, for metallic iron and its oxides have

Jan 1, 1951

By M. Orchin

THIS PAPER is concerned with two aspects of the behavior of coal: (1) Dispersion by solvents atmospheric pressure and high temperature and (2) the destruction and regeneration of the coking properties of coal. Several pure polycyclic compounds and a coal-tar fraction were found to extract 95 percent of the organic material of a bituminous coal. About 20 percent of the extract was soluble in benzene, and this fraction contained the ?coking principle? of the coal. From an extensive chemical spectroscopic, and x-ray study of the benzene-soluble material, some conclusions could be drawn concerning the composition and structure of this fraction of coal. A possible commercial application of the extraction technique is in the preparation of low-ash carbonaceous material for the manufacture of electrode carbon.

Jan 1, 1951

By J. G. Kura, P. D. Frost, L. W. Eastwood

THE preparation and general properties of mag-nesium-lithium base alloys have been described in earlier papers.l,2 Lithium forms solid solutions with pure magnesium, lowers its density, and improves its formability. The improved isotropy and better formability of these alloys are attributed to the ability of lithium to convert the magnesium lattice from hexagonal (alpha phase) to body-centered-cubic (beta phase) structure. This change in structure is, however, accompanied by some limitations which make it difficult, if not impossible, to combine all the desirable properties in one composition. The most important of these limitations is the tendency of the high-strength alloys to overage and lose strength at temperatures of the order of 150" to 200°F. A study was made of the effects of composition and heat treatment on the age-hardening character- istics of the alloys. Stability of properties was determined by hardness and tensile testing of the alloys at room temperature after various periods of exposure to elevated temperatures. Precipitation-hardening curves are shown for a number of magnesium-lithium-zinc alloys in fig. 1. All the alloys were solution treated at 700°F and aged at 200°F. The reason for using the drastic quench, toluene at —105°F, was to reduce the rapid precipitation of the hardening phase which takes place at room temperature. Previous experience has shown that a hardness of about 90 to 95 Rockwell E is indicative of yield strengths in the range of 35,000 to 40,000 psi. This is a desirable strength level for magnesium-lithium base alloys with specific gravities of the order of 1.65 or less. Although the hardness level is raised by large zinc contents, a corresponding decrease in the cold formability of these alloys occurs with increasing zinc content. Thus, alloys containing up to about 10 pct Zn and having hardnesses of the order of 70 to 75 Rockwell E may be bent over a very small radius; however, the 16 pct Zn alloy requires a bend radius of more than 8T. The hardness relationships illustrated in fig. 1 can be explained by the partial phase diagram shown in fig. 2. The zinc-free magnesium-lithium alloys are entirely body-centered cubic (100 pct beta phase) when the lithium content of the binary is 10.3 pct or higher. When zinc is added, the boundary between the beta and alpha-plus-beta fields at 700°F is shifted to lower lithium contents. In addition, the solubility of zinc at 700°F decreases with decreasing lithium content. It is shown by a study of micro-structures that the limit of solid solubility of zinc in the 6Mg/Li* matrix at 700°F is about 19 pct. It is believed from a study of the aging curves that this limit is about 2 to 3 pct at 200°F. Zinc additions up to about 2 pct increase the hardness and strength of the magnesium-lithium base solid solution. Larger additions of zinc effect further hardness increases, but precipitate during prolonged aging at 200°F. Alloys having 14 to 20 pct Zn precipitation harden extremely rapidly during quenching, even when quenched in toluene at —105° F. The high-zinc alloys overage at 200°F but are capable of maintaining reasonably high hardnesses for periods up to 1000 hr.

Jan 1, 1951

By T&apos Ke, ing-sui

THE subject of recrystallization and grain growth has been much studied and the literature on this subject is numerous. Such studies have been mostly carried out by metallographic examination of X ray methods. Since recrystallization and grain growth involve elementary atomic processes, their mechanism can best be elucidated by a study of some properties which can be readily traced back in terms of such atomic processes. Prior to a detailed quantitative study, however, it is necessary to explore first the possibility and practicability of utilizing any particular property for obtaining the desired information. We have pointed out in a preceding article' that the internal friction of cold-worked metals is extremely high during recrystallization and it drops abru~tlv once the recrystallization is complete. ~reviois work has also shown that the viscosity of grain boundaries in a recrystallized specimen at a given temperature is raised by grain growth.' It seems thus that the measurements of internal friction may furnish a useful tool for the study of the mechanism of recrystallization and grain growth in terms of elementary atomic processes. The purpose of this paper is to report results of a study along this line. We will demonstrate that the internal friction method does give results in agreement with those furnished by conventional metallographic examinations. Once such a correlation has been established, we will be in a position to take further steps to achieve new information which cannot be achieved by conventional methods. The measurements of internal friction were made using apparatus and procedures similar to those used in the preceding article. All the measurements were made under such a small stress level that the internal friction is independent of stress level. The frequency of vibration is, unless mentioned otherwise, about one cycle per second in all cases. Internal Friction and Recrystallization Complete Recrystallization Temperature: Fig. 1 shows the internal friction curve during annealing of a few metals: aluminum, alpha brass and iron. These curves were determined in the following manner. In the curve for aluminum, internal friction measurements were performed upon. 99.991 aluminum subjected to 95 pct reduction area. The internal friction was first measured at room temperature. The specimen was then annealed at 50°C

Jan 1, 1951

By E. O. Wagner, V. F. Parry

This paper summarizes investigations during 1949 on three pilot plants for drying low-rank fine coal by entrapment in hot gases. Detailed operating results on processing seven coals having moisture ranging from 24 to 62 pet, formulas and data for calculating performance of large units, and general conclusions on the problem of drying fine coal are presented. THIS paper presents a summary of investigations by the Coal Branch of the Bureau of Mines during 1949 on the removal of internal moisture from low-rank coals by processing them in the entrained and fluidized state. A paper on this subject, giving a summary of the early work, was presented at the 1949 AIME annual meeting1 and gave a the- oretical discussion of the time and heat required to dry various sizes of low-rank coal. The investigations on two pilot plants were presented in the foregoing paper. During 1949, three additional pilot plants were built to study phases of the drying problem and to investigate different techniques of handling fine coal in the entrained and fluidized state. The present paper gives operating data on the new units and presents detailed data on the drying of seven coals having bed moisture ranging from 62 to 24 pct. The problem of removing surface moisture from fine coal is principally one of heat exchange and dispersion of the coal particles so that heat can reach the liquid moisture to permit evaporation, and it does not involve the factors of size and time of contact to any great extent. If enough heat can reach the surface of the particles at temperatures higher than 250°F, moisture evaporates almost instantly, and the factors of time and size are of secondary importance compared with the factors of heat balance and dispersion of the coal. Therefore, it does not appear to be necessary to employ a fluidized bed when removing surface moisture, and the most efficient process would be one in which the coal particles are entrained in a hot gas stream of optimum temperature traveling at a velocity that causes the particles to disperse into a low-density phase. When low-rank coals are dried, the fluidized bed is necessary to provide control of time of contact. This is done by adjusting the superficial velocity which controls the density or dispersion of the particles. The density of beds having fluidized properties suitable for drying low-rank coals appears to range from about 5 up to about 15 lb per cu ft. When the density is below 5 lb per cu ft, which represents a low-density phase, optimum conditions for removal of surface moisture should be found, and this requires superficial velocities of about 15 fps. The problem of removing bed moisture from low-rank coals involves consideration of size of coal, temperature, mass flow, heat balance, pressure, time of contact, and method of dispersing the coal in the heating mediums. The experimental work presented here gives data on these factors. Coal sizes up to 1/2 in. x 0 were dried with hot gases having initial temperatures ranging from 1900° to 2400°F. Coal

Jan 1, 1951

By T. B. Williams

A SEARCH of the records indicates that evidences of accumulations of petroleum and natural gas within the boundaries of British Columbia were discovered at approximately the same time as were those of Alberta. They probably would have been developed as soon bad it not been for the fact that they are in such uninhabited parts of the Province. Even today, the seeps of the Flathead area, and the later discovered extensive seeps of the Peace River area, have been seen by very few people. From the geological evidence, there is reason for believing that British Columbia soon will be a petroleum producing Province. Fifty-eight operators, both companies and individuals, are now backing the money and the effort which they have invested with us, for the most part within the last three years, in a belief that this is so. The promulgation of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act in 1947 marked the beginning of a new phase with regard to the exploration and the development of our petroleum and natural gas resources. Since August 15th, 1947, the date on which the Act came into force, the area under exploration bas increased from a few thousand acres, held by lease under the Goal and Petroleum Act, 1986, to 10,460,115 acres, including all active permits, licences, and leases. In addition there are 192,720 acres under application, bringing the total under issue and application to 10,652,835 acres. The total area is comprised of 105 permits, 20 licences, and 26 leases under the 1986 Act. The permits and licences, which ?represent active exploration and development, are held by a total of 82 companies and 26 individuals.

Jan 1, 1951

PRESIDENT Willis McGerald Peirce New York City, N Y PAST PRESIDENTS D H McLaughhn, San Francisco, Calif L E Young', Pittsburgh, Pa VICE-PRESIDENTS A. B. Kinzell, New York, N Y H. W Thomas Ray, Arizona Philip Kraft, New York, N Y J L Gillsan Wilmington, Del M. L Haider, Toronto, Ont , Canada VICE-PRESIDENT and TREASURER Andrew Fletcher, New York, N Y

Jan 1, 1951

By S. J. Pearce

The Bureau of Mines has prepared, as circumstances have dictated, a series of Schedules setting forth the minimum requirements that various types of equipment should meet to be considered safe and satisfactory for use in certain hazardous or unhealthful conditions. These Schedules cover a wide variety of devices ranging from explosives to electrically operated mine locomotives. This paper deals with those Bureau of Mines Schedules under which respiratory protective devices are tested and approved, and its purpose is to explain the function and operation of these Schedules. Provisions have been made for testing and approval of the following types of respiratory protective devices: Self-contained breathing apparatus,2/ supplied-air respirators,3/ gas masks,4/ dispersoid respirators,5/ and chemical cartridge respirators.6 These devices are tested at the Central Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh, Pa. Self-contained breathing apparatus is tested by the Safety Branch, and the other types of respirators are tested by the Health Branch.

Jan 1, 1951

By N. W. Hendry

ABSTRACT Exploration by geophysical methods and diamond drilling of an occurrence of chrysotile asbestos, located ten miles east of Matheson, Ontario, was commenced on March 25th, 1949, by the Canadian Johns-Manville Company, Limited. The asbestos is associated with a narrow sill-like body of basic and ultrabasic rocks which strikes northwesterly across portions of Munro and Beatty townships. To date, asbestos zones of commercial interest, many hundreds of feet in length, width, and depth, have been outlined by diamond drilling along a 2-mile length of serpentine. The fractures occupied by the asbestos veins are closely associated with the regional faulting in the area. The mining of the first occurrence, or A orebody, will be by open-pit methods. Milling will commence at a rate of 50 tons an hour. INTRODUCTION OCCURRENCES of chrysotile asbestos in Munro township have been known at least since 1914 and references to them appear in reports published by the Ontario Department of Mines in 1915 (1) and 1919 (2). J. G. Ross (3) in his excellent publication on Chrysotile Asbestos in Canada, mentions an occurrence in Munro township. The area was first mapped in detail by J. Satterly, of the Ontario Department of Mines, in 1944, and brief mention is made of chrysotile asbestos in Satterly's preliminary report (4), which was published the following year.

Jan 1, 1951

By Robert F. Mehl

THIS essay is an attempt to present the elementary facts and ideas concerning the growth of crystals, especially of metals. Freezing, like all heterogeneous processes, is a process of nucleation and growth; it manifests itself in metallurgy primarily in the freezing of ingots. The preceding paper in this volume discusses nucleation; the paper to follow describes ingot solidification. The present paper will treat of the growth of nuclei to large crystals, embracing a long series of phenomena, many of which are familiar to metallurgists.† Crystal growth, it will be immediately noted, occurs not only in the freezing of metals, but in the freezing of all substances; and it is a prominent and familiar phenomenon in crystallization from solutions, aqueous or otherwise, and in crystallization from the vapor phase. It will be necessary to include such systems in this discussion, for so much of value to metallurgists has been learned from their study. Apart from this, so far as metals are concerned, it will be simpler to limit the discussion to the freezing of pure metals and of solid solutions. Other types of freezing-eutectic, peritectic, etc.-will be excluded, though they have much of interest and of importance. BASIC MECHANISM OF FREEZING Ideally, nucleation and growth processes can best be considered from the point of view of isothermal reaction and upon the assumption of random nucleation. In. such an ideal case, nuclei form at random, and at a characteristic rate either constant or changing with time, and grow to spherulites at a characteristic rate, constant or changing with time, Fig. I.. On the simplest assumption, the reaction rate-in this case the rate of freezing-is a resultant of these two component rates. The reaction rate equation may be written in terms of these two component rates. The formation of pearlite from austenite closely approaches this ideal case. The ideal case forms a very useful point of departure in considering real cases. Various factors of reality produce deviations from this assumed ideality. In freezing, the isotropic medium, the melt, passes to the anisotropic solid, the crystal. Crystals are lattices of atoms, and the unit cell is often referred to as a crystal unit. Rosenhain, many years ago, represented the nucleation and growth process on freezing in the manner shown in Fig. 2, feeling, intuitively, that there must be some crystal unit in crystal growth. It now appears that this may be true, though his picture requires much elaboration. The greatest deviation from ideality lies in the nonisothermal nature of the freezing process in metals. To approach this properly it should be recalled that many nonmetallic substances freeze slowly. Tammann, to whom we owe the classic approach, studied complex organic materials in which (as in the case of eutectoid steels at high

Jan 1, 1951

By R. Schuhmann

Available thermodynamic data applicable to copper smelting systems are collected and tabulated, and the important gaps are pointed out. A few examples are given of estimations which can be made from the available data. An experimental research program is proposed to supply the thermodynamic data that appear most essential to better quantitative understanding of the chemistry of copper smelting. The proposed program is designed also to shed specific light on the practical problems of slag losses and magnetite behavior. OPPER smelting, from flotation concentrates to V-/ blister copper, is conspicuous among the large scale chemical processes which are conducted with only relatively incomplete knowledge of the physical chemistry involved. For example, no common metallurgy text explains adequately why copper enters the matte phase while iron enters only to the extent that sulphur is left over after satisfying the copper. Explaining this important phenomenon as a manifestation of the greater affinity of sulphur for copper than for iron is unsound because the affinities of copper and iron for sulphur are about the same at smelting temperatures. As will be shown, other affinities are really decisive in the relatively clear-cut separation of copper in the matte. In contrast, thermodynamic studies have contributed much to our understanding of copper refining, zinc oxide reduction, magnesium production, steelmaking, etc. For each of these processes, the important reactions are clearly recognized, and fair to good quantitative values of the free-energy changes and equilibrium constants are available. Such data have proved to be of constantly increasing practical value in process development and improvement. Work in other fields has furnished much thermodynamic data applicable to copper smelting systems. In fact, several promising starts have been made in applying such data to specific smelting problems. Kelleyl made an appraisal of the possibilities of recovering elementary sulphur from low grade matte. His calculations and compilations of thermodynamic data have represented the starting point for much of the work in this field, including the present survey. Huang and Hayward2 nd Aksoy3 used thermodynamic methods in the study of copper losses in reverberatory slags. Peretti4 used thermodynamic data in explaining the chemistry of converting. The recent publications of Darken and Gurry"." and of Darken,' dealing with the iron-oxygen and iron-silicon-oxygen systems, respectively, present equilibrium data that are applicable to copper smelting systems. Also additional data were reported recently on the affinity of sulphur for copper, manganese, and iron8 and on the sulphur pressures of iron-sulphur melts." The survey presented in this paper was made as the basis for planning an experimental program on the thermodynamics of copper smelting. Few researches on the chemistry of copper smelting have been reported in recent years, so that a reappraisal and coordination of old and new data are essential if further work is to take the directions of maximum value. The experimental program is now in progress, and the plan of attack is outlined at the end of this paper. Progressive Oxidation and Desulphurization of Copper-bearing Liquid Phases: The chemical activities of sulphur and oxygen are two of the most important thermodynamic yardsticks to be applied to copper smelting processes. Virtually the entire smelting and refining sequence involves a series of systems characterized by decreasing sulphur activity and increasing oxygen activity. In this section, therefore, an attempt is made to define and explain these activities in terms of equilibrium partial pressures of SO2, s2, and O,. Also, estimates of these quantities are presented, the estimates being based largely on calculations presented in a later section of this paper. The sequence of steps from raw flotation concentrate to fully oxidized copper ready for poling involves progressive and controlled oxidation. Iron is oxidized and enters the slag. Sulphur is oxidized and leaves in the gas. Table I summarizes several important features of this oxidation and desulphurization sequence, starting at the beginning of the matte blow in the converter. The top line gives in order the principal smelting and refining stages up to fully oxidized copper, plus the additional step, not used commercially, of oxidizing all the way to Cu,O. In the second line are shown the principal copper-bearing liquid phases which characterize the process. Through most of the sequence the copper

Jan 1, 1951

By A. R. Kaufman, P. Gordon

THE large-scale manufacture and use of uranium in conjunction with the atomic energy development during the war led to a need for knowing the equilibrium diagrams of uranium with various other metals. The alloys of uranium with aluminum and with iron were among the first that were studied for this purpose. Much of the work was done in the manner of a survey since it was necessary to determine the important features of the phase diagrams rather than to obtain completely detailed results. For this reason no attempt was made to locate exactly such features as liquidus lines, solid solubility limits and compound and eutectic compositions. It is believed, however, that there are no great inaccuracies in the diagrams reported here and that no important points were overlooked. Earlier work on alloys of uranium with aluminum and iron is almost nonexistent and in each case is considered to have been of little value by M. Hansen. It is interesting to note, however, that the compound UAl3 was first reported in 1902 by L. Guillet. Experimental Procedure Materials: The uranium used for making most of the aluminum alloys was obtained from material prepared by Metal Hydrides, Inc., and melted in vacuum at M.I.T. Because of the lack of an adequate supply of metal, it was necessary to use material from several different batches and hence it is impossible to state an exact analysis. However, a few results indicated about 0.01 to 0.03 pct iron and probably about 0.03 to 0.05 pct carbon. Toward the end of the work a small amount of metal was obtained from Brown University and from Iowa State College and this was used in determining the transformations in pure metal and in some dilute alloys. All of the aluminum used in this investigation came from a supply of high purity metal (greater than 99.9 pct aluminum) which was obtained through the courtesy of Dr. Mehl of the Carnegie Institute of Technology. The uranium used for making the alloys with iron was produced by the bomb reduction process which has been described by J. Chipman.² This metal, after vacuum melting, contained about 99.9 pct uranium by weight with carbon and iron as the chief impurities. Electrolytic iron containing about 0.012 pct carbon, 0.020 pct nickel and 0.009 pct copper was used in making the melts. Melting Equipment: The melting of the alloys went through a stage of development which culminated in the use of beryllia or beryllia-lined crucibles and in the use of high frequency heating in either vacuum or in an atmosphere of argon. It was found that uranium at a few hundred degrees above its melting point would pick up aluminum and to a lesser extent silicon from an alundum thimble while aluminum above 1000°C would extract silicon from the impure alundum. No reaction of either metal with beryllia was noted at temperatures as high as 1800°C. The distillation of aluminum from the aluminum-rich alloys was quite troublesome at temperatures above about 1300°C and was only partially avoided by the use of argon instead of vacuum. Melting in resistance furnaces,

Jan 1, 1951