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By Edwin T. Wood

THE term blending as used herein refers to the mixing of ores assaying more than 0.20 pct U3O8 with low grade material assaying less than 0.20 pct U3O8. Such blending when properly understood and controlled will produce more total dollars of profit from many mining ventures. The question whether or not to blend is particularly vexing when an orebody is surrounded by an envelope of low grade material or separate tonnages of low grade exist which could be extracted coincident with the higher grade ores. Should any, all or part of this low grade be mined? If so, in what proportion and what is the limiting assay of the low grade material?

Jan 7, 1958

By AIME AIME

COUNCIL* PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. JAMES F. KEMP NEW YORK, N. Y (Term expires February, 1913.) VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL. S. B. CHRISTY BERKELEY, C; L.. R. V. NORRIS WILKES-BARRE, PA.. GARDNER F. WILLIAMS WASHINGTON, D. C.. (Term expires February, 1913.) KARL EILERS NEW YORK, N. Y.. WALDEMAR LINDGREN WASHINGTON; D. C.. BENJAMIN B. THAYER NEW YORK, N. Y. (Term expires February, 1914.)

Nov 1, 1912

By F. A. Forward, V. N. Mackiw

The paper relates to the laboratory and pilot plant studies that have been carried out by Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd., Metallurgical Research Div., in developing the ammonia pressure leach process for extracting copper, nickel, cobalt, and sulphur from high grade nickel concentrate produced from Lynn Lake ores, and describes in some detail the chemistry of the process. IT is well known'.' 2 that copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, ferrous iron, and a number of other metals combine with ammonia in aqueous solution to form complex ions of the form [Me(NH,)x]"+. The stability and solubility of these ions depend on the concentration of the metal ion in solution, on the amount of NH, present, and on the amount and type of anions present, e.g., OH-, C0;-, NO,, C1-, SO;-. If ammonia is partially or completely removed from such solutions, for example by boiling, the soluble ammines tend to decompose and the metals precipitate as basic salts. These properties of metal ammines have found practical application in the commercial recovery of copper, nickel, and cobalt from a variety of ores. In an operation formerly conducted at Kennecott"" the mill tailing containing 0.80 pct Cu as copper carbonate was leached by percolation with an ammonia-ammonium carbonate solution to dissolve the copper as the ammine. At Calumet and Hecla0-" With a mill tailing containing about 0.4 pct Cu as metallic copper, it has been found necessary to aerate the ammonia-ammonium carbonate leach solutions between stages to oxidize the solubilized copper. At Nicarol"-" where nickel and cobalt occur as oxides and silicates which are not soluble in ammonia, the ore is heated to decompose silicates and to selectively reduce the nickel and cobalt to metal, leaving the iron as Fe,O,, and is then leached with ammonia-ammonium carbonate solution accompanied by aeration to dissolve nickel and cobalt as ammines. In each of these leaching operations, the anion present is CO, and the metals can be precipitated from the leach solution as oxide (copper) or hydroxide and carbonate (nickel and cobalt) by boil- ing off NH, and C02 both of which are recycled to treat a subsequent ore charge. The products-—oxide, hydroxide, or carbonate—can be treated by conventional smelting, calcining, or electrolytic methods to convert them to refined metals. Thus the procedures mentioned utilize the properties of the ammines to extract copper, nickel, and cobalt from nonsulphide ores and separate them from the leach solutions. These processes have the advantage that they can be carried out in closed vessels at atmospheric pressure, that the leaching solutions are specific for the desired metals, that the metals can be recovered as relatively pure compounds by the boiling operation, and that the NH, and CO, can be recycled. Also, as the leach solutions after boiling and filtration are substantially free of metals, NH,, and CO,, they can be discarded, thus facilitating the control of the water balance in the leaching circuit. When, as is the case with Sherritt Gordon concentrates, sulphides are treated with ammonia solution in the presence of oxygen, the leach solution contains SO,--, and an entirely different set of conditions is encountered. The ammine sulphates (of nickel, for example) are more soluble than the carbonates and can be only partially decomposed by boiling. The SO, and NH, in the solutions can not be recovered by boiling. Thus, despite the more favorable leaching conditions resulting from high solubility of the ammine sulphates, the recovery of metals, NH,, and SO, from the solutions must be effected by other means. Sherritt Gordon Nickel Concentrate Treatment The Ni-Cu-Co flotation concentrate produced at Lynn Lake'" contains 12 to 16 pct Ni, 1 to 2 pct Cu, 0.2 to 0.5 pct Co, 33 to 40 pct Fe, 28 to 34 pct S, 8 to 20 pct insoluble, and less than 0.02 oz per ton precious metals. The nickel is present chiefly as pentlandite, the copper as chalcopyrite, and the iron as pyrrhotite and pyrite. Most of the cobalt is thought to be present in pentlandite, although it is known that a small amount occurs as Co-Ni-pyrite.

Jan 1, 1956

Sept. 3-8, AIME, Fall Meeting, Industrial Minerals, Minerals Beneficiation, Mining, Geology, & Geophysics, Iron and Steel, and Coal Div., Palmer House, Chicago. Sept. 3-13, AIME, Chicago Section, Centennial of Engineering, Chicago. Sept. 5-8, Engineers' Council for Professional Development, annual meeting, Hotel Sheraton, Chicago. Sept. 11-13, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Palmer House, Chicago, Ill. Sept. 13, Columbia Section, AIME, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, joint all-day meeting, Metaline Falls, Wash. Sept. 18, AIME, Utah Section, Newhouse Hotel, Salt Lake City. Sept. 20, Colorado Section, AIME, Denver. Andrew Fletcher, speaker. Sept. 22-25, American Mining Congress, Metal and Nonmetallic Mining Convention and Exposition, public auditorium, Denver. Sept. 23-25, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, symposium on mineral dressing, Royal School of Mines. London.

Jan 1, 1952

CONTENTS RUSSIA-R. C.-BECKSTROM 3 VENEZUELA-F. H. KAY 9 TRINIDAD-W. J. MlLLARD 20 RUMANIA-1. I. GARDESCU 26

Jan 1, 1932

[President MRS. REED W. HYDE 84 Mountain Ave. Summit, N. J. First Vice-President MRS. WILLIAM A. SCHEUCH 37 Trent St. Great Kills, S. I., N. Y. Second Vice-President MRS. RUSSELL B. PAUL 6 Brooklands Bronxville, N. Y. Third Vice-President MRS. JOHN C. BURTON 271 Fox Meadow Rd. Scarsdale, N. Y. Fourth Vice-President MRS. DANIEL C. JACKLING Redwood City R. F. D., Woodside, Calif.]

Jan 1, 1940

By d&apos, C. McCoul, C. Antonio, R. Krohn

MOST of the commercial colored gold alloys for jewelry applications are based on the Au-Ag-Cu-Zn system. Although work has been done on the constitution of the Au-Ag-Cu system.'-4 there are no reports in the literature on the effects of zinc additions in these alloys. We have metallographically determined the a =al + a2 transformation temperatures in 91/2- and 131/2-karat alloys in which varying amounts of zinc have been substituted for copper and silver. Samples were cast in the form of 1/2-in. round bars

Jan 1, 1970

By G. H. Kesler, C. E. Dryden, J. H. Oxley

Rates of heat- and mass-transfer from rods to recirculating air were determined within a one-quarter-scale model of a metals deposition bulb. The dependence of local and averaged rates of transfer upon outlet geometry, number of rods, position upon a rod, and airflow rate was established for flow patterns created by radial and tangential air inlets. The results are given a qualitative interpretation in terms of rates and distribution of metal deposition in a prototype deposition bulb. IT is well known that a number of metals can be prepared from volatile compounds containing them by causing dissociation of their compounds to occur at heated surfaces. Examples of such metals include silicon, titanium, zirconium, and aluminum, which can be prepared from their halides. While the ability to prepare high-purity metals by this technique is of importance in itself, the rate of deposition of metal also is important in considering the commercial potential of such a process. If the over-all process of deposition is broken down into separate steps of transport of materials to and from the heated deposition surface and establishment of chemical equilibrium at the surface, as was described in a recent paper,1 then since surface temperatures are usually high and surface equilibrium is attained very rapidly, the rate-controlling step can be considered as either that of transport of reactants to the surface or of transport of products other than deposited metal away from the surface. These two transport steps are related through the reaction stoichiometry. It can be shown1 that the rate and distribution of metal in such a transport-controlled process are determined by the over-all and local mass-transfer coefficients in conjunction with the equilibrium conversions at the hot surfaces. The rate relationship is: w = [KA(y a-y s)] B.E where the bracketed group is the rate of arrival of the reactant at the surface of area A as determined by the mole fraction driving force (y a - y s) and the convective transport constant K. The factor B is the weight fraction of metal in the reactant, and E is the equilibrium fractional conversion to metal. Numerical values of y, and y, are fixed by the vapor composition and the equilibrium compositim of reactant at the surface; and E can be determined by thermodynamic calculations or by experiment. However, values for the convective coefficient K are available generally only for systems of simple geometry, such as cross-flow past a rod or sphere or parallel flow past a flat plate or through a tube. Often it is necessary to work with systems of more complex geometry and in which the vapor flow may not be uniform or exactly parallel or perpendicular to the surface. It is possible, of course, to establish working correlations for these more complex systems by direct experiment; but the experiments usually are costly in both time and money. To circumvent this objection and to aid in arriving at an understanding of the relationships and interactions of the process variables, it is helpful to construct a model of the flow system in which air, water, or other convenient fluids can be substituted for the process vapors and with which mass-transfer measurements or analogous he at-transfer measurements can be made upon a simulated deposition surface. By this means, a large number of measurements can be made in a reasonable time, and the correlation of these results can be applied to the prototype system. Examples of the application of these techniques are to be found in the literature (e.g., Ref. 2). It is the purpose of this paper to illustrate these techniques by description of a model study which was done at Battelle Memorial Institute. The work to be described was of a preliminary nature; the investigation subsequently was extended to develop quantitative relationships among the significant dimensionless transport, geometric, and flow parameters. This more detailed study will be the subject of a future paper.

Jan 1, 1962

PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR D.C. JACKLING SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. PAST PRESIDENTS AND DIRECTORS NEW YORK, N. Y. R. C. ALLEN- CLEVELAND, OHIO VICE-PRESIDENT, TREASURER AND DIRECTOR KARL EILERS-* NEW YORK, N. Y. VICE-PRESIDENTS AND DIRECTORS HENRY KRUMB NEW YORK, N. Y. PAUL D. MERICA . NEW YORK, N. Y. H. G. MOULTON NEW YORK, N. Y. HARVEY S. MUDD Los ANGELES, CALIF. WILFRED SYKES CHICAGO, ILL.

Jan 1, 1938

By F. Brons, V. E. Marting

In the past, other authors.1, 2 have studied the influence of a skin effect on the productivity of a well. This skin effect, expressed by the skin factor S, is considered to be caused by a thin layer of impaired permeability immediately around the wellbore and extending vertically over the whole productive interval penetrated by the well. The skin factor S is defined as follows. Based on this, the impairment in productivity caused by a skin can be expressed by the fractional loss in productivity I, which is the loss in productivity divided by the total unimpaired productivity. For compressible flow in a stabilized well which drains a circular area of radius re, 1 is given by The present paper deals with a different kind of productivity impairment. Consider a well in which part of the productive formation is blocked off completely, either by incomplete penetration or by exclusion of parts of the productive zone by blank casing. In Fig. 1 (A, B and C), three examples are shown. Fig. 1(A) shows the situation where a well only partially penetrates the formation. This often is done to combat the actual or imagined danger of bottom-water coning. Fig. 1(B) shows a well producing from only the central portion of a productive interval. This type of completion is sometimes used where both water and gas coning are a problem. Although the case of a well producing through perforated casing cannot be treated in a manner similar to the previous two cases (where radial flow in the horizontal plane is assumed), Fig. 1(C) shows several intervals open to production and qualitatively describes this case (as will be discussed later). To study the loss in productivity in all these cases, two parameters are introduced which fully determine the impairment. The first is the penetration ratio "b," i.e., the total interval open to fluid entry divided by the total thickness of the productive zone. The second is the ratio hlrw. In this ratio, rw is the wellbore radius. The definition of h is more cumbersome. In Fig. 1(A), h is the thickness of the total productive interval. The streamline configuration for this case of partial penetration is basic to the other two cases considered (Views B and C of Fig. 1). It will be obvious from Fig. i (A) that the flow lines in the uppermost portion of the formation will be essentially horizontal, while those in the lower portion will curve upward toward the well. In Fig. 1(B), with only the middle portion of the zone open to production, the streamline configuration. of the upper half will be an exact mirror image of that in the lower half of the zone. Hence, for the case illustrated in Fig. 1(B), h is defined as one-half the total sand thickness. It follows, then, that in Fig. 1(C) h is one-half the distance between corresponding points in adjacent intervals. (In gun-perforated casing, h would be one-half the distance between perforations.) In a paper by Nisle4 and a paper given by the present authors5, the mathematical theory was developed for the cases under consideration. In the present publication, the emphasis is put on the results of these studies; consequently, the equations derived in Refs. 4 and 5 will be omitted, for the most part. The pressure drop p in a well producing from only a portion of the total formation thickness can, in analogy with Eq. 1, be expressed by Numerical solution of Eq. 5 by use of the IBM 650 leads to the following important conclusions. First, during a short period after starting production (usually on the order of a few minutes), the function p(b) is given by

By Ole Singstad

THE legislatures of New York and New Jersey, determined in 1919 that a vehicular tunnel should be built under the Hudson River. On July 1, 1919, an engineering staff was organized with the late Clifford M. Holland as chief engineer, and this staff was given a number of problems to solve, such as location, size, type of tunnel, method of construction, method of ventilation and cost. After a period of preliminary investigations and studies it was decided to build the tunnel at Canal St., New York, connecting 12th St., Jersey City. This is the center of the heaviest traffic across the Hudson River. It was also decided to build two tunnels-one for west-bound traffic and one for east-bound traffic-the tunnels to be of cast iron, built up of segments and bolted together, each tunnel to have a roadway 20 ft. wide and a clear heat room of 13 ft., 6 in. This is to provide for two lines of vehicles in each direction. The tunnels have an exterior diameter of 29 ft., 6 in. The interior lining is of concrete, the sidewalls tiled with a vitreous white tile and the roadways paved with granite block. The entrances and exits at both ends are separated by two blocks so as to reduce traffic congestion.

Jan 8, 1926

By P. Dayal, L. S. Darken

THE migration of carbon in austenite under the influence of an electric current has been observed qualitatively several times.14 Lebedev and Guterman5 recently have reported quantitative measurements; their method consisted of welding a low-carbon to a high-carbon wire, passing current, and later estimating the carbon distribution metal-lographically. We believe the method reported in this paper is superior in principle since electrolytic migration and ordinary diffusion are not necessarily coupled as in the weld method; also for the first time the extent of migration is determined by combustion analysis for carbon. A uniform tubular specimen (S.A.E. 1045 or 1095) was mounted as illustrated in the figures. the whole assembly being in an atmosphere of purified nitrogen. Direct current (129 to 226 amp at 0.65 to 1.0 v) served as source both of heat and of potential gradient for carbon migration. The duration of experiment was 7.5 to 12 hr, during which time the temperature was controlled (±10°C) manually. The experimental conditions are indicated in the first five columns of table I. With this experimental arrangement, the temperature initially has a maximum value at the central plane. Also, in this vicinity (by virtue of the symmetry), the carbon entering any volume element is equal in quantity to that leaving; the loss or accumulation of carbon occurs near the electrodes since the carbon moves uniformly near the center and is "frozen" at the cold ends. Hence, providing the time of experiment is not sufficiently long to seriously influence the conditions at the central plane, carbon crosses this plane only under the influence of the electrical potential gradient and not under the influence of temperature or concentration gradient. The amount of carbon which has crossed this plane was determined by combustion analysis of the two halves of the specimen. The results of these analyses are shown in the sixth and seventh columns of table I. It will be noted that substantial amounts of carbon migrated from the anode portion to the cathode portion (except at 920°C, which temperature was too low to exhibit the effect in the allotted time). In spite of precau-tions taken, considerable decarburization occurred as may be seen by comparing cols. 8 and 5. In three cases (indicated by asterisks in table I) the specimen was ground on one side, polished, and examined metallographically before analysis. One specimen was normalized and re-examined. Micrographs of selected areas in specimens 4 and 6 are shown in figs. 1 and 2, respectively. Evidence of carbon migration from the anode toward the cathode is quite apparent. Fig. 2 shows abundant graphite as well as cementite in a region near the cathode. The temperature of this zone is estimated at about 800°C. In fig. 1, particularly in the micrograph on the extreme right (the right side of which is of unaltered carbon content), there is evidence of slight depletion of carbon in the immediate vicinity of the cathode as contrasted to the general increase in carbon of the cathode half of the specimen. Although this may be attributed in part to decarbur-ization, it is believed that it is occasioned also by thermal diffusion—migration (of carbon) from a cool to a hot zone4—a phenomenon superimposed upon the electrical migration. Evidence of carbon migration was visible particu-larly during the course of the high-temperature,

Jan 1, 1951

Hunkered up against the spine of the Andes in a tight valley where natural refuge from avalanche hardly exists is the daring Rio Blanco project of Cerro Corp. The deposit here was found in 1904, but nature has foiled all previous attempts to open it. To an experienced mountaineer or a highway engineer with mountain experience, the avalanche hazard in the valley of the Blanco river would be immediately apparent. The collar shaft is at the head of the valley at an elevation of 3600 m and for 12 km down the valley there is no space on the floor for building very much; the dissected rock walls are roadways for avalanches and even a highway could not be maintained sufficiently passable. This is the proposition taken on by the Cerro Corp. Chilean National Decree #1699, passed on December 9, 1966, signified "Go" to the Compania Minera Andina, a company whose shares are held 70% by the Cerro Corp. and 30% by the government of Chile. The orebody, although only partially delineated, contains proven reserves of 120 million tons of ore averaging 1.58% Cu. When the operation comes on stream in the last quarter of 1970, it will be at the rate of 11,000 tpd. Annual production will be 65,000 tpy of recoverable copper in concentrates.

Jan 11, 1969

By W. H. Bassett

THE subject assigned is rather a broad one but it, is doubtless expected that it will be dealt with as applying to metals and alloys and not to the ob-taining of metals from their ores. The liberty will further be taken of confining the matter discussed to copper and some of the copper alloys. Everyone is familiar with copper, at least everyone who attends the meetings of the A. I. M. E., so no gen-eral description of the metal is necessary. There are still to be recognized two classes of copper and each of these has some sub-divisions. The two general classes are electrolytic and fire-refined copper. Since there is some misunderstanding about these materials, definitions are in order. Electrolytic is just what the name implies. It may and it should be very pure but with high current densi-ties or very impure anodes, or both, impurities such as antimony, tellurium and lead may be carried over to the, cathode. Any one of these, or a combination in which they occur, are alike fatal to good working quali-ties in the resulting metal. Of course, these metals are not supposed to be deposited with copper, but slimes containing them may be 'occluded. in the deposited cop-per or held in rough cathodes if not washed with suffi-cient thoroughness.

Jan 5, 1927

A. M. CANDY,* Pittsburgh, Pa.-According to the tables on page 532, the deposit obtained with Roebling cold-rolled steel, and Toucan electrodes contained considerably less carbon and manganese than the original electrodes; whereas very little carbon is lost in the case of the hot-rolled steel electrode. When using the hot-rolled steel electrodes, the metal apparently has a tendency, probably due to greater surface tension, to pass through the arc in larger particles than the other electrode materials. This affords greater protection against oxidation, and thereby prevents much loss of carbon. The larger globules tend to increase the arc fluctuations due to greater partial short-circuiting of the arc. Actual oscillographic records show that with the hot-rolled steel electrodes the current peaks were 70 per cent. above normal whereas the peaks for the other electrodes were only about 25 per cent. -above normal. Probably due to the larger globules, a greater proportion of slag in the electrode was carried into the weld. Some four or five test pieces made with the hot-rolled steel electrodes were all considerably below the tensile strength of the samples welded with the other electrodes. These facts indicate that an electrode may not be satisfactory even though of approximately the proper chemical composition. For example; the hot-rolled steel and Roebling electrodes are quite similar in chemical analysis.

Jan 4, 1919

By AIME AIME

SOMETIMES family backgrounds have a deep, if not direct, influence on a man's lifework. Dean Callen's paternal grandfather came from Wales and was a mine official in the Pennsylvania anthracite field: his maternal grandfather was a retail coal dealer. His father and uncle began their careers a. breaker boys but later completed their educational work and ended up in the professions. With that background, and with the slate region ( Pen Argyl, Pa.. July 1;. 1888) as his birthplace it is not strange that "Cope" Callen became a teacher of mining engineering. Graduating from Lehigh with an E.M. in 1909, lie taught there for two years while working for his master's degree. In 1911 he returned to teaching, going to the University of Illinois as instructor in mining engineering. In 1917, he was called to West Virginia University as head of the department of mining engineering and director of mining extension. The extension work was about dead. bus a new staff was built and the six-weeks' short course in coal mining was revamped into an attractive and efficient course which has grown in popularity with the years. Callen's work attracted the attention of the Federal Board for Vocational Education and in 1919 he was invited to serve that board as special agent for mining, taking a six-months' leave front the University.

Jan 1, 1944

By A. H. Geisler, J. H. Keeler

Preferred orientations in rolled and annealed titanium sheets were determined by the Geiger counter spectrometer X-ray diffraction technique. Five annealing textures dependent upon the temperature range of annealing were found, and in order of increasing annealing temperature pendent upon the temperature range are: 1—a deformation like texture, 2—a rotated inorder a-recrystallization temperature texture, 3-a retained u-recrysraIlization texture, on annealing at lower temperatures of the ß-region, 4—a transformation texture based on recrystallized a and predicted by the Burgers' relationship, and 5—a ,ß-cube texture. These results are examined in terms of current theories of recrystallization textures. UMEROUS investigators have described the tex- ture obtained by cold rolling the hexagonal metals, titanium, zirconium, and beryllium, which have c/a ratios less than that of ideal packing, 1.633. The basal planes are rotated out of the rolling plane, about the rolling direction, so that the basal poles are tilted toward the transverse direction as shown schematically in Fig. la. In all instances but one,' it was also reported that the [1010] direction was parallel to the rolling direction (see Fig. lb). Hot rolling has been reported as causing a similar tilt of the basal poles in the transverse direction (see Fig. la) and causing the [1010] direction also to be parallel to the rolling direction as shown schematically in Fig. lb. Annealing after deformation does not appreciably change the tilt of the basal poles in the transverse direction." Beryllium2-7 continues to have the [1010] direction in the rolling direction after annealing, and similar observations for titanium and zirconium' . have been reported for annealing at fairly low temperatures, again as in Fig. lb. At higher annealing temperatures, however, the recrystallized grains of titanium" and zirconium have an orientation such that the [1120] direction is approximately in the rolling direction, although the basal poles are still inclined in the transverse direction. Figs. la and lc show the resulting orientations schematically. This change in orientation has been described as a nominally ±30° rotation of the hexagonal crystallites about the basal poles of the cold rolled texture and is apparent from the results which are summarized in Table I for investigations with the X-ray diffraction technique employing film. The angles y, , and ß are indicated in Fig. 2 which represents the stereographic projection of (1070) poles for the mean orientation of a pole figure. Texture determinations for titanium using the Geiger counter spectrometer have provided similar results except that in some instances additional components of the texture were proposed, as shown by the summary of data in the upper half of Table 11. On the other hand, the spectrometer technique, when applied to zirconium,* has revealed a splitting Recently completed studies of the textures of annealed zirconium", show zirconium to possess textures very similar to those reported here for titanium. Therefore, much of this discussion will include zirconium by virtue of its close similarity to titanium in pref erred orientations. of the intense areas of the pole figure for samples annealed at 600°C. This splitting could be described by a 7" rotation of the tilt axis about the normal to the rolling plane. Such a splitting for the annealed texture relative to the cold rolled texture was not observed in other determinations for either zirconium or titanium using the less sensitive film X-ray methoe and makes the relationship between the two types of texture more complex than the simple rotation about the (0001) pole based on film work. The more precise investigations on zirconium permit the descriptions in the lower part of Table 11, which show that the texture depends quantitatively on the temperature of annealing. When zirconium is annealed at temperatures up to 400°C, the texture is similar to the cold rolled texture, while annealing in the range 500" to 900°C produces a texture which is only approximately described as [11%] in the rolling direction. More precisely described results for zirconium show that the two types of splitting ( 1—about an axis in the rolling plane through an angle given in the second column in Table II and 2—about the normal to the rolling plane through an angle given in the third column of Table 11) depend on annealing temperature. The [1120 is the rolling direction only when the annealing temperature is in the vicinity of 900°C

Jan 1, 1957

By Dorsey Hager

The possibility of oil and gas production in Alabama his been little considered as yet. Gas and some oil have been found in northwestern Alabama, near Birmingham, in the Pennsylvanian beds, but the oil and gas possibilities in the Cretaceous beds are not generally appreciated. The recent activity of oil companies in that State has attracted much attention, and in this paper the main structural and the general strati-graphic features are described. Four favorable areas are outlined. These contain folds of major interest. There are other favorable areas which have not been mapped-l Commercial pools discovered in this area would have the advantage of being near tidewater. Mobile, Ala., on the Gulf of Mexico, would be the logical site for refineries and shipping facilities. A pipe line could readily be laid to that city from the Hatchitigbee and the Jackson areas. The logical outlet for the Geneva and the Gordon areas would be Panama City, Ha., on the Gulf of Mexico. Topography The whole of the area under consideration lies in the Gulf coastal plain and slopes gently to the southwest and west. The elevations vary from 200 to 400 ft. (60 to 121 m.) above sea level. The streams have sunk their channels into this gently sloping plain, the main drainage flowing south or southwest into the Gulf of Mexico. Between the

Jan 1, 1918

By E. J. Rapperport, E. D. Levine

The boundaries of the (a +ß) field in the Al-Li system were determined between 150°and 550°C utilizing quantitative metallography and lattice-parameter measurements. The solubility of lithium in aluminum decreases from 12.0at. pct Li at 550°C to 5.5 at. pct Li at 150°C. P Al-Li is saturated with aluminum at 45.8 at. pct Li and has this boundary value constant over the temperature range 150°to 550°C. THE solid solubility of lithium in aluminum has been determined by several investigators, 1-6 but, as shown in Fig. 1, there is little agreement among the various determinations. The earliest investiga-tions'-' are suspect because of the use of impure materials. Although high-purity materials were employed in more recent work,4'5 the experimental techniques may have led to contamination of the specimens. Probably the best work has been that of Costas and Marshall,6 who obtained close agreement between results obtained by two independent phase-boundary techniques: electrical resistivity and mi-crohardness. No detailed studies of the solubility of aluminum in the bcc ß phase, Al-Li, have been reported. Cursory investigations1,2,6 have indicated only that the (a+ß) -p boundary lies between 40 and 50 at. pct Li and is relatively independent of temperature. The present work was undertaken in order to provide an independent check on Costas and Marshall's determination of the solubility of lithium in aluminum, to extend knowledge of this solubility limit to temperatures below 225°C, and to make an accurate determination of the solubility of aluminum in Al-Li. EXPEFUMENTAL Alloy Preparation. In view of the difficulties encountered in previous investigations of the A1-Li system, close attention was paid to the use of methods of alloy preparation and treatment that would minimize contamination. Aluminum sheet (99.99 + pct Al) was vacuum-induction melted in a beryllia crucible to remove hydrogen. Lithium (99.9 pct Li) was charged with pre-melted aluminum into a beryllia crucible, in a helium-filled drybox. The crucible was sealed in a Vycor tube and transferred from the drybox to an induction furnace. Melting of alloys was performed by induction heating in a helium atmosphere. Solidification was accomplished by means of a suction apparatus, shown in Fig. 2, in which the alloy was forced by changes of pressure into a 3/16-in. inside diam closed-end beryllia tube. This technique produced rapid solidification of a small portion of the melt, resulting in alloys with a high degree of homogeneity. Typical lithium distributions are presented in Table I. Transverse sections 1/8 in. long were cut from the alloy rods, and each section was split in half longitudinally. One half of each section was analyzed for lithium, and the opposing halves were employed for phase-boundary determinations. Lithium contents were determined by flame photometry with an accuracy of 1 pct of the amount of lithium present. Thermal Treatments. Homogenization and equilibration heat treatments were performed in electrical-resistance furnaces with temperatures controlled to ± 2OC. Calibrated chromel-alumel thermocouples were employed to measure temperature. Homogenization was performed in helium-filled l?yrex tubes for 1 hr at 565°C. The encapsulated specimens were then transferred directly to furnaces maintained at lower temperatures for equilibration. Equilibration times were 2 hr at 550°C, 8 hr at 450°C, 27 hr at 350°c, 90 hr at 250°c, and 285 hr at 150"~. These times were chosen on the basis of conditions employed by previous investigators. Alloys were quenched from the equilibration temperatures by breaking the capsules into a silicone oil bath. By performing all possible operations either in sealed capsules or in a helium-filled drybox, the specimens were given minimum exposure to the atmosphere. Quantitative Metallography. Metallography of Al-Li alloys is difficult because of the atmospheric reactivity of the ß phase. It was found possible, however, to prepare surfaces of good metallographic quality by preventing contact with moisture during preparation. Grinding through 4/0 paper was performed in the drybox. The specimens were then transferred under kerosene to the polishing wheel. Three polishing stages were employed: 25-p alundum with kerosene lubricant on billiard cloth, 1-µ diamond paste on Microcloth, and 1/4-p diamond paste on Microcloth. Between stages the samples were cleaned by rinsing in trichloroethylene and buffing

Jan 1, 1963

By O. F. Kammerer, W. E. Miller, D. H. Gurinsky, J. Sadofsky, J. R. Weeks

Zirconium and titanium inhibit solution mass transfer of steels by liquid bismuth, mercury, and lead. It is shown that in bismuth and mercury, these adsorb on the surface of the steels and subsequently react with nitrogen and possibly carbon from the steels to form inert, adherent surface layers of ZrN, TiN, or TiN + Tic. Data are presented which describe the condition under which thase deposits form. These inhibitors decrease the solution rate of iron into bismuth, and require a higher supersaturation for precipitation of iron from bismuth. USE of the low-melting heavy metals (bismuth, lead, mercury, and their alloys) as coolants has been limited because solution mass transfer of steels occurs in these liquids; i. e., iron dissolves in the hot sections of the heat transfer circuit and deposits in the colder sections. The rate of solution of iron and the temperature coefficient of solubility are sufficiently great to cause complete or partial stoppage by the deposition in the coldest section of a closed circuit in finite time, even though the actual solubilities are extremely low. In the development of the mercury vapor turbine by the General Electric Co., Nerad and his associates1 discovered that the addition of as little as 1 ppm Ti or Zr to magnesium-deoxidized mercury reduced the mass transfer of ferrous alloys by mercury to a negligible amount. Reid2 reported that titanium was detected chemically on the surface of steels contacted with this mercury alloy in amounts varying from 2.0 to 2.6 mg per sq in., the greatest amount being found in the hottest portion of the circuit. Reid stated that the titanium forms the intermetallic compound Fe2Ti by reaction with iron on the surface of the steels. This compound was presumed to be highly insoluble in mercury. More recently, El-gert and Egan3 have reported a greater than 100-fold reduction in the rate of mass transfer of a 5 pet Cr steel by liquid bismuth upon the addition of titanium (in excess of 50 ppm) and magnesium (350 ppm) in the liquid metal, during experiments performed in thermal convection loops* over the temperature differential 700° to 615° C. Also, Shep-ard and his associates' have reported that the addition of titanium to liquid bismuth and Pb-Bi eutec-tic produced a marked decrease in the rates of solution of both iron and chromium from type 410 steel capsules under static conditions. This inhibiting effect increased with repeated reuse of the capsules. Tests performed in this laboratory under carefully controlled conditions have shown that the addition of zirconium and magnesium, or titanium and magnesium, to liquid bismuth or lead greatly reduces the rate of mass transfer of chromium alloy steels and carbon steels in thermal convection loops with a maximum temperature of 550°C.5-9 The present paper will review the data obtained to date at this laboratory on the behavior of iron and steels in contact with liquid bismuth alloys containing titanium or zirconium, and will attempt to explain the role of the above additives in reducing solution mass transfer. Reaction between the Zirconium or Titanium Dissolved In Liquid Bismuth and an Iron or Steel Surface Reaction between Zirconium Dissolved in Bismuth and the Surface of Pure Iron-—A small pure iron crucible (analyzed by the supplier to contain 0.8 ppm N was contacted with bismuth containing approximately 0.1 pet Mg and varying amounts of a radioactive zirconium tracer. The crucible was then inverted at the temperature of contact. The thin residual layer of adherent bismuth was dissolved in cold, concentrated nitric acid. The crucible surface and the solidified bismuth were then analyzed for radioactive zirconium. An analysis of the activity loss on the crucible surface and the weight loss of the crucible during the nitric acid treatment showed that the acid treatment removed the zirconium that had originally been dissolved in the adherent bismuth, but not any zirconium that may have reacted with the crucible surface. The crucible was then pickled in warm aqua regia to remove all surface activity, hydrogen-fired at 600°C, and recontacted with a new liquid alloy. The results of the experiments contacted 1 hr at 450°C show, Fig. 1, a Langmuir-type adsorption with an adsorption free energy of approximately 17 keal per g atom Zr.5 This deposit was estimated to contain 1 atom of zirconium for each 7 to 8 iron atoms on the crucible surface, assuming a surface roughness factor of the pickled crucibles to be five. Increasing the temperature to 520°C caused consi-

Jan 1, 1959