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By Harlowe Hardinge

AN extensive recent trip throughout the mining districts of the Southwest, Central West, an Northwest,' reveals a numbes of interesting conditions that have influenced operators, in both large and small mills, to modify their flow sheets insofar as they pertain to crushing and grinding. The changes made and planned for the future should be of interest. It is interesting to note when traveling through the country, how ideas change and practice is modified, and it is rather amusing to see how milling methods seem to run, more or less, in cycles. New ideas and developments are brought about which run through the industry and are taken up by many of the best and most well informed operators. Some of them will change, sooner or later, back to their old practice; for, like everything .else, what will work well in one place will not necessarily be suited to another. On the other hand, it is often difficult to establish. other practices known to be of value, owing to the natural resistance to make a change, but on the whole, the western mill men seem to be more alive to possible benefits of various modifications than any other engineers with whom I have come in contact in all parts of the world. Mill men in other parts of the world always keep in con- tact with what is being done in the western part of the United States, but it does not necessarily follow that those in the western part of the United States are always right. Some of these changes that have been made and afterward abandoned will be referred to later.

Jan 1, 1929

By B. F. Tillson

ALTHOUGH most accidents occur through the A carelessness or misfortune of the workmen; that is no reason why we should not take all physical precautions practicable. The best way to approach the problem of mine safety is to acquire a personal feeling of responsibility for the accident and then plan how it might have been prevented had we known that it was to occur. A statistical analysis of the physical conditions contributory to accidents will give an indication of some of the methods or mechanisms that should be revised or safeguarded. The handling of rock or ore is a common source of minor injuries. Freedom from accident when mucking largely depends on the skill and care of the workman; this also is true, to a certain degree, to loading cars from chutes, but much can be done in the layout of chutes and their equipment to provide equal safety with less skill. Permanent stagings, or rigid units that may be easily assembled, should be provided so that the men handling the chute boards or gates and barring the jammed chunks will have a convenient safe footing for their operations. A stance to the side of the chute mouth is to one in front, because a man will not be liable to be struck by flying lumps or his bar, should it he caught in the mass, yet in many mines the workmen face the chute when loading a car. Fig. 1 shows the operation of a plank chute having special latches which support the chute boards in such manner that they may be conveniently dropped into place to stop the flow of ore.

Jan 1, 1926

By P. B. Liebermann

1. Haulage Tests on Coal-mine Cars THE haulage of coal from the face to the tipple is an important enough link in the production of coal to deserve its full share of study and care. In order to obtain a better understanding of mine haulage conditions, a series of tests and investigations has been made which promises to hasten the improvement of present conditions. For hauling coal through the mine and on the surface, locomotives are required, the size and power consumption of which depend on the resistance to motion offered by the mine cars. This resistance is principally caused by gravity and hearing friction. The effect of gravity can be reduced to a minimum by a suitable layout of the haulageways; that is, by arranging the grades in favor of the loaded trips, and by fixing the percentage of grade to that value which gives the lowest power consumption for loaded and empty trains. The bearing friction, which is considerably greater than is generally realized, can be easily reduced to a negligible quantity by the installation of a suitable anti-friction bearing that will stand the rough use and abuse of coal-mine service. The present investigation will deal with flexible roller bearings in comparison with ordinary plain bearings.

Jan 7, 1917

By William H. Pettee

A few weeks ago the Institute lost, by death, from its list of members one who in recent years, by frequent attendance at meetings, by the preparation of papers, and in many other ways, had shown a warm interest in Institute affairs; who had an extensive acquaintance among his fellow-members, and whose memory it is fitting to perpetuate by a permanent record in the volumes of our Transactions. Dr. Byron William Cheever, acting Professor of Metallurgy in the University of Michigan, died at his home in Ann Arbor, on the 6th of March, 1888. He was born September 17th, 1841, in Ellisburg, Jefferson County, New York. In 1844, the family moved to Geneva, Illinois, and thence, in 1857, to Dundee, Michigan. Two years later, a third removal was made to Ann Arbor to take advantage of the educational facilities there offered; and in 1859 the subject of this sketch, with his two brothers, entered the University of Michigan. In 1863, he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After a year or two of business life, he entered the medical department of the University, and graduated as Doctor of Medicine in 1867. A taste for scientific work had been developed in him in early life; and, even while carrying on undergraduate and medical studies, his proficiency in chemistry found recognition in his occasional employment as assistant in the University laboratory. The interval between the close of his course in Arts and the commencement of his course in Medicine was also devoted to chemical work, partly in the city of Philadelphia, and partly in the West Indies, where he was employed in the service of a commercial company engaged in the guano trade. Dr. Cheever never took up regular practice as a physician. After receiving his medical diploma he went again to Philadelphia, and for about two years was employed as an analytical and consulting chemist in that city. A favorable opportunity occurring for work in the Rocky Mountain mining region, he left Philadelphia and

Jan 1, 1888

The following record of the important responsibilities already shouldered by Dr. Ricketts will give some indication of the trust and confidence reposed in him by his colleagues. The Institute is to be congratulated that a man who is already so much engaged should be willing to assume the further responsibility of guiding the Institute's Ship of state during the ensuing year. Louis Davidson Ricketts, who is brother of Professor Palmer or Chamberlaine Ricketts, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was born at Elkton, Md., Dec. 19. 1859, was graduated from Princeton University in 1881 with the degree, Bachelor of Science, chosen a Fellow in Chemistry and W. S. Ward Fellow in Economic Geology, and after two years' study given the degree Doctor of Science. Following the completion of Iris work at Princeton, Dr. Ricketts went to Colorado and started to work as a mine surveyor. For the 15 years following, his time was chiefly occupied in reconnaissance work, geological work and mine examination. From 1887 to 1890 Dr. Ricketts was Geologist for Wyoming, and at, the end of that period transferred his operations to the Southwest. where he has since been steadily engaged in large mining projects. He was identified with the acquisition of the property now owned by the Moctezuma Copper Co., a , subsidiary of Phelps, Dodge & Co., at Nacozari, Sonora, Mex. From 1899 to 1901 he was General Manager of the property and during his administration the concentrator and reduction works were completed and the mines put on a dividend-paying basis

Jan 3, 1916

By Henry S. Drinker

(Canal Zone Meeting, November, 1910.) FEW men reach middle life without having had the experience of failure in one or more undertakings; and most of us can look back with gratitude to help or advice given us by friends at critical periods of our lives. If, as men, we ask and take the benefit of such aid, why should we expect our sons to be stronger? A parent can make no greater mistake than to send a boy, however steady and intelligent he may be, off' to school or college, and expect the boy always to cope successfully with all the new conditions and new difficulties that may confront him. This is undoubtedly more the case with a freshman, in his first year at college, than in later years, or than it is with a boy at day- or boarding-school, where the boy receives a greater degree of care and oversight than can be given to the young man entering college; of all periods in life, the youth in his freshman year-fresh from the overshadowing care of home and school-may need judicious advice and timely aid. The change from the restraint of home and school to the freedom of college life is sudden and marked, and it is in this the first year of the boy or young man of 17, 18, or 19 years of age, that some tactful, judicious aid should be near him in his work and course. Some boys go to college so well prepared that they become careless and finally fall behind in their work from over-confidence. Others meet trouble from ambitiously trying to do more than their previous preparation, or physical or mental strength, can sustain. Others fall behind from illness-from injuries-from natural inability to grasp at first, without more aid than comes to them in the regular course of instruction, the higher mathematics-or mayhap the modern languages, or other subjects presented by the advanced curriculum of the present day. When a boy or youth begins to

Jan 1, 1911

On Apr. 21, the Victory Liberty Loan was offered to the public. This Loan is made necessary by the expenditures incident to closing of the war. As in preceding Liberty Loans, an intensive campaign is being conducted, and this Committee is to obtain and record subscriptions from the Industry of which you are a part. I am sure you feel as I do in wishing the Mining Committee to make as good a showing as possible. By placing or recording your subscription through us will help your Committee to make its proper showing, and, as heretofore, your transaction can he carried out with any bank or trust company you may prefer to designate. Payment may be made in full or in six instalments. In either case, 10 per cent. will be required on or before May 10. Subscription blanks will be mailed to you as soon as available. CHARLES HAYDEN, Chairman.

Jan 5, 1919

By M. R. Geer Olds, H. F. Yancey

THE increase in the number of coal-cleaning plants employing dense-medium processes occurring since 1946 is especially interesting when viewed historically. Both sand and magnetite were introduced as material for heavy mediums at about the same time, sand in the Chance process in 1921 and magnetite in the Conklin process in 1922, but from that point on their records diverge. The Chance process enjoyed a steady growth from its inception, whereas no additional magnetite plants were built in the United States for over 20 years. Then, following the close of the World War 11, magnetite was again introduced, this time with marked success. During the following years some 47 plants employing magnetite medium were built. This rapid growth of dense-medium cleaning has been concurrent with widespread adoption of full-seam mining on one hand and a return to a more competitive market on the other. At a time when changing mining practice has provided cleaning plants with dirtier coal and changing market conditions have simultaneously demanded a cleaner product, the industry has through necessity turned to improved preparation. The inherently greater sharpness with which dense-medium processes can separate coal from impurity is thus helping to hold the line against ever-increasing mining costs and at the same time assisting materially in retaining badly needed markets. Although dense-medium cleaning unquestionably offers a distinct advantage when the washing problem is difficult, other methods can provide almost equally high efficiency when the coal is easy to wash. Moreover, fine coal cannot yet be treated by heavy medium in a proved process, although the Driessen cyclone is in the pilot-plant stage. Most of the present types of dense-medium equipment have been in use only a few years, and the dearth of information in the literature concerning their performance characteristics is entirely understandable, Nevertheless this information is necessary if the process is to be intelligently applied to individual cleaning problems. Without data on the efficiency of a process in a particular type of separation, it is difficult to assess the advantage to be expected from it. Similarly, the role of particle size in heavy-medium separation is important in some cases, yet there is little published information on this aspect. To mention only one more of the numerous points on which essential information is lacking, the bearing of medium characteristics on performance has been discussed only in qualitative terms. It was with the hope of providing information on some of these points that the Bureau of Mines built a dense-medium pilot plant for cleaning coal at its Northwest Experiment Station in Seattle in 1950. The plant has been operated continuously since that time, and over 50 runs have been made on 7 coals exhibiting a wide range of washability characteristics. An idea of the magnitude of this work will be gained from the fact that examination of the plant products has involved some 600 float-and-sink separations and about 2500 ash determinations. A laboratory pilot plant is especially well adapted to investigate many aspects of performance because close control over test conditions can be exercised and because a large number of tests can be made rapidly. On the other hand, factors such as consumption of medium and other cost items can be investigated satisfactorily only in a commercial plant. Actually, the two forms of investigation should be complementary, with the laboratory work pointing the way for confirming tests in commercial units. Pilot Plant The dense-medium pilot plant employed for this work comprises a 24x30-in. drum-type separating vessel, a 12-in. densifier, a 12-in. magnetic separator, a 26-in. x 9-ft vibrating screen, and the necessary pumps and conveyors for handling materials. Arrangement of these units corresponds with the flowsheet used in most commercial plants, except that a thickener is not provided for the feed to the magnetic separator. Coal and refuse discharge from the separating drum to the vibrator, which is divided longitudinally down the center. Medium draining through the first 3 ft of the screen is recirculated directly to the drum. Sprays on the middle 3 ft of the screen rinse medium from the products, and the last 3-ft section is for dewatering. Dilute medium from the rinsing and dewatering sections is pumped to the magnetic separator, where magnetic solids are recovered. These are pumped to the densifier, from which they return to the medium-drainage sump by gravity through a demagnetizing coil. The drum-type separating vessel is a scale model of a commercial unit. Feed enters axially at one end of the drum just below the surface of the bath, and float material overflows through a circular opening at the other end. Particles sinking to the bottom of the bath are picked up by lifting flights bolted to the inner wall of the drum, elevated out of the bath, and sluiced to the vibrating screen. Baffles suspended in the bath prevent float material from entering the sink-lifting flights. About 8 gpm of medium is used to sluice the feed into the drum. An additional 15 to 24 gpm, depending upon operating conditions, is added through two pipes dipping into the bath behind the baffle on the side where the sink-lifting flights enter the bath. The bath available for separation is 2 ft long and 13 in. wide, giving an area of 2.08 sq ft. Depth of bath from the surface to the top of the sink-lifting flights, measured vertically below the axis, is 6 in.

Jan 1, 1954

By H. M. St. John

MAINTAINING a satisfactory structure in brass and bronze castings has always been a foundry problem of great practical importance. While metallurgists and scientific investigators have not entirely ignored this matter, it has received less of their attention than has been given to iron, steel and the wrought copper and aluminum alloys. Investigation in this field has probably been discouraged to some extent by the complicated nature of the alloys involved. Hundreds of alloys are in more or less common use, most of them containing copper, zinc, lead and tin in-widely varying proportions. They also contain appreciable percentages of iron and antimony as impurities, and often phosphorus, which has been added as a deoxidizer and fluidifier. Small amounts of sulfur are usually present. It is not uncommon to find nickel, sometimes in rather substantial quantities. Traces of other metals are frequently present. So complicated and variable a mixture obviously offers difficulties in. any investigation of the various factors that influence the structure and other properties of the casting.

Jan 1, 1930

By J. E. Warren, J. H. Hartsock

An asymptotic solution to the equation that describes the flow of a slightly compressible fluid in an infinite porous medium has been used to estimate the interaction between two adjacent wells producing from a common reservoir. A direct method for approximating the interference time defined by Stevens and Thodosl has been suggested. An alternative definition for the time of interference, based on the minimum pressure change in the interference region, has been proposed; also, a direct method of determination has been prescribed. Examples have been employed to illustrate the use of both methods.

By L. L. Wyman

THE exact nature of the changes that take place in the iron-nickel alloys, giving rise to the interesting and useful expansion alloys in the Invar range, has yet to be fully understood. Similarly, the ternary iron-nickel-cobalt alloys, which also possess such commercially useful expansion characteristics, 1,2 are concerned with transformations that appear to be identical with those found in the parent iron-nickel alloys. The investigations on iron-nickel alloys in the range 26 to 29 per cent Ni have been reported by several authors" wherein it is shown that there are factors other than temperature, such as stress and grain size, which play an important part in determining the temperature at which the low-temperature transformation takes place. It will be shown in this paper that the ternary iron-nickel-cobalt alloys having nickel contents comparable to the alloys mentioned above behave in a parallel manner. The alloys in the range of 26 to 31 per cent Ni and 16 to 21 per cent Co have a coefficient of expansion of about 4.0 X 10-1 per degree Centi-grade, and the alloys in this range of composition find considerable application in making glass-to-metal seals, because these expansion properties so well match commercial glasses. The behavior of these alloys is not a simple matter, for it has been observed in alloys of 28.5 per cent Ni and 18.5 Co that severe working can cause the appearance of a second phase having a needlelike structure similar to the martensite structure in carbon steels. Fig. 1 shows the change brought about in an alloy of this composition when a strip of this material was cut with tin shears. This second phase has been identified as the body-centered cubic alpha phase, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe the results of some of the preliminary investigations in the study of the changes involved in these alloys.

Jan 1, 1939

By ANDREW McVILLIAM, WILLIAM H. HATFIELD

AT the 1902 May meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, the, authors presented a paper on " The Elimination of Silicon in The Acid Open-Hearth," wherein they recorded a few typical examples of certain Siemens charges out of a very large number specially watched for the purposes of that research. The main deductions drawn from those experiments have been accepted in all the intelligent criticism during or after the discussion on the paper. One opinion, however, was rigidly held by all who mentioned the matter, with the single exception, perhaps, of Mr. Lange, and that was the necessity for the attainment and the maintenance of an abnormally high temperature in order that the percentage of silicon in the metallic bath might increase, or that an unusually large proportion of silicon might be retained in the metal. The original decision was ar-rived at on the results of scores of trials, and has since been the subject of frequent experiment. The authors still retain their opinion that although, naturally, a higher temperature will accelerate the (probable) action between the carbon of the steel and the excess silica of the slag, they then fairly proved, and have now abundantly confirmed the fact, that around the temperatures occurring in Siemens steel-making practice the chemical composition of the slag, particularly with regard to its acidity, is the factor which determines whether the percentage of silicon in the molten steel shall increase or decrease. In the discussion in 1902 Mr. Saniter called attention to Mr. H. H. Campbell's work, and in the reply the authors also mentioned that of Messrs. Winder and Brunton of 1892, the two

Mar 1, 1905

By AIME AIME

THE 1941 fall meeting of the Iron and Steel and the Institute- of Metal, Division held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia, during the first three days (Oct. 20-22) of the National Metal Congress was well attended as usual, and the seven technical sessions and the joint round table on order-disorder transformations were this year of considerably more than routine interest. Despite unseasonably warm weather, a scarcity of hotels (there were rumors, apparently well-founded, that , some of the metal man attending the Congress had to stay in tourist camp), and a multiplicity of technical and other ions of the co-operating societies that gave the Congress this year the general air of a three-ring circus the A.I.M.E. sessions attracted audiences that ragged from seventy or eighty up to 350

Jan 1, 1941

By W. L. Zeigler

DURING the middle 1880s, shortly after the discovery of silver-lead ores in the Coeur d'Alene district of northern Idaho, it became apparent that concentration of the ores would be necessary to obtain a profitable product. Too much siliceous material was present for direct smelting, and the majority of the ores found at depth were too low in metallic content for economic smelting processes at the time. As the ores occurred in quartzite shear zones with siderite and quartz gangue, a large quantity of waste material was present in all the mines. As the galena was not finely disseminated, this made possible relatively good extraction of the argentiferous galena by coarse concentration. The first concentrators consisted mainly of coarse crushing, screening and jigging, principally by Harz jigs, the slimes being treated on buddies. Later Wilfley tables took the place of sand jigs and vanners superseded the buddies. Because of the marketing conditions, no attempt was made until 1900 to effect a recovery on the zinc minerals present, which were found associated in varying amounts with the galena. All through this period, the greater part of the production was obtained from mines containing ore assaying high in lead and low in zinc. Parts of some ore bodies would be reversed in this respect, so that ores high in zinc were left intact. During the decade after 1910, several important mines, The Success and The Interstate Callahan, containing ores high in zinc, were put into operation and were a material aid in the needed zinc production during World War I. Gravity concentration by jigs and tables was used during this period, with bulk flotation increasing in popularity for the treatment of the fine material that had already been treated by ordinary slime concentrating machinery. No extra fine grinding for flotation concentration was thought profitable at the time. TAILINGS DISCHARGED INTO STREAMS From the start of mining and milling operations in this district until 1904, no attempt was made by the various mills in the upper district to impound or stack their tailings. They discharged them directly into the adjacent creeks or streams, to be carried away by high water. The Bunker Hill and Sullivan and the Last Chance mines, both in the relatively flat valley of the district, stacked huge piles of the coarse jig tailings on the near-by river bottom. Rain and snowfall are heavy in the Coeur d'Alene district, as it is on the heavily timbered Pacific slope of the Bitter Root Mountains. A heavy runoff occurs every spring and there is an occasional flood of disastrous proportions when warm "Chinook" winds accompanied by rain

Jan 1, 1947

By H. H. Stout

In the early fall of 1925, the writer was conducting, in the Ledoux and Co. laboratory, New York, experiments directed toward ascertaining the effect on its impurity content when cathode copper was subjected to a current of various gases at an elevated temperature below the melting point. The apparatus consisted of a vertical I-in. dia. silica tube about 12 in. long, heated on the outside. The cathodes were broken to pass 3/8-in. mesh, and a current of various different gases was passed up through a 4-in. long column of these loose cathode particles in the vertical tube furnace. Temperature was maintained to 1500º to 1600ºF. and the gas treatments lasted from 3 to 6 hr. The writer observed that whenever reducing gas (H2 or CO) was used, these cathode particles stuck together at points of contact with each other. The cohesion was so marked and tenacious that an examination was made of the fractured surfaces, when cathode particles were broken from the cluster. Crystal growth was always found to have taken place across the surfaces where separate particles were in contact, but only after all oxides, sulphates, etc., had been completely removed. The idea of a possible new process was then conceived and was disclosed to A. M. Smoot (V. P. Ledoux and Co.) with intent to obtain his views. The first conception as given Smoot was "to gas-clean broken cathodes, put them in an extrusion press, solidify and extrude them at around 1500ºF." Smoot's reaction, after a few moments considera- tion, was, "It looks perfectly all right to me.'' The writer and his assistants, W. H. Osborn and H. H. Stout, Jr., after conferring as to ways and means, decided to go ahead with preliminary laboratory experiments, which, it was thought, would move the new process from the possible to the probable. This program followed a course indicated by three basic considerations: 1. Since brittle cathodes were often unintentionally produced, it seemed probable that the laws controlling this type of deposition could be ascertained. 2. We had already proved the gas-cleaning feature. 3. There remained to prove: whether a sound, homogeneous metal billet could be produced with crystal growth established over the entire surface of each individual particle in the billet; and, if so, what would be the physical properties? Osborn arranged with Columbia University for conducting experiments in its research laboratory to prove or disprove the third item; Columbia assigned C. A. Phillipi, Jr. to assist in the project. A press with a cylinder 2 in. high and of I-in. dia. was used. It was surrouilded and heated by a resistance coil 01 Nichrome wire. Broken tough cathodes were used. Experimental Procedure The first run took place March 18, 1926. The resistance wire gave out when temperature of 1000ºF. was obtained. Pressure was immediately applied: perceptible ram movement stopped when 39,000 lb. per sq. in. on the copper was reached, with a maxi-

Jan 1, 1941

By Henry Mackay

THE interesting paper recently submitted by Messrs. Tobelmann and Potter' shows that chemical problems have developed which are of great interest in this new and important branch of metallurgy. Those who realize what a process of this kind really involves will agree that it deserves a better name than "leaching process." The word leaching conveys the idea that the copper is simply leached out of the ore with acid and then precipitated on iron; the chemistry of such a process would be of little interest. As, however, during the first year's operation of this plant 24,400,532 lb. (11,067,837 kg.) or about two-thirds of the produce, was electrolytic copper, while 7,992,033 lb., or about one-third, was cement copper, it would seem more appropriate to term the process electrochemical. It further appears, from the particulars given, that efforts have been made to have the entire production in the form of electrolytic copper. -This could be done if the chemistry of the problem were kept in balance, so that it would not be necessary to discard any solutions that carried copper and acid of commercial value. A process, such as that under consideration, in which the copper is precipitated from solution by electrolysis, the solvent being at the same time regenerated, is one that requires special chemical and electrochemical knowledge and experience if all the -copper in solution that has been extracted from the ore is to be successfully and economically produced as electrolytic copper. The object of this paper is to discuss, from the practical and theoretical standpoints, the chemical and electrochemical problems involved in the working of a process of this kind, and' which must be solved to keep it in chemical and electrochemical equilibrium. In such a process, if the chemical balance is maintained, a solution can be used alternately as a

Jan 9, 1919

By Robert Archer

THE proper material of construction for a given purpose is that material which meets the requirements satisfactorily at the lowest ultimate cost. It is consistent with this principle that most aluminum castings are made of an alloy containing about 8 per cent. copper. This alloy possesses mechanical properties satisfactory for general engineering purposes together with manufacturing characteristics leading to the production of finished castings at low cost. It is to the aluminum industry what gray iron is to the iron and steel industry. Just as some services require "semi-steel," malleable castings or steel castings instead of gray iron, there is a certain and growing demand for aluminum castings of superior strength or ductility, or both. Since the beginning of the industry producers and others have sought to develop alloys or processes by which such castings could be made. Out of these efforts have emerged many alloy compositions and special processes, of which only a few have had sufficient merit to survive. It is the purpose of this paper to describe those which seem to the authors to offer the greatest promise for the production on a commercial scale of aluminum castings of superior mechanical properties, with special reference to heat-treated castings. The suitability of an alloy or process for actual manufacture is affected by so many factors that the problem of appraisal is not a simple one. Since this is such an important part of the whole subject it is proposed to discuss briefly some of the requirements. The final verdict is of course the result of commercial trial and experience. It will therefore, perhaps, be profitable to employ a somewhat historical method of treatment in discussing the subject of alloy development.

Jan 9, 1926

By AIME AIME

DURING my senior year at college a professor said to his class that a student who failed to obtain a passing grade in that certain subject could not graduate with his class and that his diploma would be withheld until the failure had been removed. In that way for four years a diploma had been made to appear to us as the objective in attending college. We grew up to think that a diploma was the means of providing employment; consequently, a diploma could not be jeopardized and, heeding the professor's remarks, we resolved to put forth special efforts and make good. During one of our class periods this same professor digressed briefly from his prepared lecture in metallurgy and advised the boys to join a national technical society. He spoke with earnestness and sincerity. After class we students discussed those remarks. We concluded that the professor had not convinced us. We were already members of technical societies at school and saw no need of joining another. In fact, even up to that moment a society had never indicated to any of us that joining it had any relation to landing a job, and we were fully aware that joining another society meant paying out more money, for fees and dues, which money we then needed to buy food, clothes, and perhaps a new slide rule. Furthermore, we knew that joining a society was not part of the curriculum and, therefore, the diploma could not be withheld if we did not follow the advice. Our conclusion was that we would not join but would concentrate on our work that assured getting our diplomas.

Jan 1, 1936

By P. Niessen, W. C. Winegard, C. J. Beingessner

DURING the last 10 years, several grain-growth studies have been made using zone-refined metals with controlled amounts of solute to elucidate the interaction of solute with moving boundaries. In all these studies, it was more or less implicitly assumed that the alloys used were, after recrystallization and grain growth, homogeneous within the grains with respect to solute and lattice defects. This note deals with observations made on microstructures originating from solidification of dilute alloys and from grain growth. Briefly, the experimental procedure used in these studies was the following: zone-refined cadmium and master alloys were melted and cast in Pyrex under vacuum to produce bars 14 mm in diam and about 150 mm long. These bars were cut into 8-mm-thick slices which were mechanically and chemically polished. The specimens were then deformed 30 pct in compression and given a 1-week anneal at 260°C in argon. After this anneal, a second deformation produced completely recrystallized samples 4 mm thick. The time-temperature controlled anneals were carried out in a bath of silicone oil. After the grain-growth anneal, the specimens were polished in Gil-man's' solution (33 g CrOs, 6 g NazSO, in 100 ml of water). Several etches were used depending on the alloy investigated, but mostly a mixture of concentrated HC1 and HNOj (98:2 vol) was employed. In all the alloys examined, the ease with which substructures could be revealed depended strongly on the crystallographic orientation of the surfaces of the grains. However, very frequently the microstructures to be discussed here etched up over broad areas comprising several grains. Fig. 1 is a micrograph of a Cd-0.05 at. pct Mg alloy annealed for 100 sec at 270°C. Different substructures are seen in this photograph. A denotes the now existing grain boundaries. The well-defined lines and points marked B are the remains of a solidification substructure. The lines are boundaries between cell colonies, and the points are nodes located on regular two-dimensional cells. This cellular structure has the same appearance as that found by weinberg2 for rapidly quenched Zn-Au alloys. The "ghost boundaries", marked C, are very similar in appearance to a grain boundary array in a polycrystalline sample. Repeated polishing and etching showed that all the substructures observed were three-dimensional. To date, the ghost boundaries have been clearly observed in all samples containing 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, and 1 at. pct Mg, and in samples containing 0.01 at. pct Zn. Attempts to outline these ghost boundaries in cadmium alloys containing 0.01 at. pct Ag and Au were only partially successful. In these alloys, parallel lines, having a resemblance to the ghost boundaries in the Cd-Mg and Cd-Zn alloys, were observed, but it was not possible to obtain complete arrays of ghost boundaries which extended over several grains. It is possible that a different etch than that presently employed would reveal the ghost boundaries in the Cd-Au and Cd-Ag alloys as clearly as in the Cd-Zn and Cd-Mg alloys. A close examination of the ghost structure showed that it consisted of linear etch-pit arrays, Fig. 2. The ghost boundaries were resolvable even in grains which showed over-all faceting due to the etching, as seen in the corner of Fig. 2. The general appearance of the ghost structure suggests that it originated during grain growth. This is supported by the observation that the mesh width in the ghost-boundary array generally increased with increasing final grain size. To test whether the ghost structure was formed during the long homogenizing anneal or during the grain-growth anneal, some as-cast samples were deformed and given a grain-growth anneal. This anneal was terminated by air cooling or

Jan 1, 1967