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By Albert S. Trube

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the definition of compressibility and to present a uniform basis upon which instantaneous compressibilities of liquids and gases can be compared. The equations gaverning the instantaneous compressibilities of imperfect gases are derived and the concept of pseudo-reduced compressibility is introduced. Part of the data presented by Brown, Katz et a1 on compressibility factors for natural gases has been rearranged. A graph of pseudo-reduced compressibility vs pseudo-reduced pressure for various pseudo-reduced temperatures is presented. The need for additional work in relating the compressibilities of liquids and gases is discussed. This information should be of value to reservoir engineers in making non-steady state performance calculations in gas reservoirs. It should be of further use irz pointing the direction for additional research in the nature of liquid and gas compressibilities. INTRODUCTION With the increasing use of steady and non-steady state well and reservoir data, there is a corresponding increase in the importance of the various factors entering into such calculations. Increasing emphasis is being placed on the necessity for obtaining reasonably accurate estimates of the physical properties of the reservoir fluids well in advance of the more accurate laboratory data. One such factor is the isothermal coefficient of expansion of the media which are transmitting and attenuating the non-steady state pressure waves. The average isothermal coefficient of expansion, or "compressibility" is a complex function controlled by the physical properties of the formation and the fluids contained therein. The isothermal expansion coefficients for reservoir gases are usually quite variable, in many cases being highly-pressure sensitive. The coefficients for reservoir liquids tend to be pressure sensitive, but not nearly so much as reservoir gases. The coefficients for solids, usually expressed in terms of a "modulus of elasticity" are relatively insensitive to pressure variations within their elastic limits. For this reason, and also because many previous applications have been limited to rel- atively small pressure ranges, there has been a tendency to ignore the variable nature of isothermal expansion coefficients and treat them as constants. Also, the term "compressibility" by which these coefficients are generally designated is commonly confused with a similar term, z, used to define the deviation of an imperfect natural gas from the perfect gas laws. A clear distinction should be made at the outset between the term "compressibility", which is an isothermal coefficient of expansion of a substance, and the term "compressibility factor", z, which refers to the deviation of a gas from the perfect gas laws. Although the scope of this paper is limited to the compressibility of single phase natural gases, it is definitely related to the problem of accurately estimating the compressibilities of single phase hydrocarbon reservoir liquids, which will form the basis of a future presentation. BASIC PRINCIPLES The coefficient of isothermal compressibility of a substance, c, is usually determined from pressure-volume or pressure-length -measurements depending upon whether the substance is single phase gas, liquid, or solid. A convenient method for making such estimates for a finite change in pressure and volume at constant temperature is to use the well known equation V1-V2/V1 (p2 - p1) .....(1) Eq. 1 is negative because the volume of a confined substance decreases as the pressure is increased. In this case V1 > V2 and p2 > p1. This equation is useful in approximating the compressibilities of single phase gases and liquids undergoing small pressure changes. It is evident, however, that this equation is almost identical with the determination of Young's modulus of elasticity for solids. If the assumption is made that change in length is directly proportional to change in volume, as would very nearly be the case for a steel rod in tension within its elastic limit, then E5=-L1 (p2 - p1)/L1 - L2 .......(2) in which E. is the isothermal expansion coefficient, or Young's modulus of elasticity, for a solid. And further, for this special case L1 (p2 - p1)/L1 - L2 .......(3)

Jan 1, 1958

By David L. Holt

It is well-established that hydrostatic pressure distribution is hardly achieved during uniaxial compaction of powders. All the previous investigations1-4 give consistent results and this variation is attributed to the die-wall friction. The conclusions are based on measurements of the density of very small portions of the compact. Although the analysis of the density or the strain distribution in the compact is very helpful in obtaining information about the stress distribution within a powder compact, it does not describe the problem from a more fundamental point of view. The densification in metal powder compacts takes place chiefly by plastic deformation (ignoring particle rearrangement) at the points of contact of the powder particles. The onset of yielding and subsequent growth of the contact areas (for spherical powders) take place fixed by a constant stress equal to three times the yield stress in tension or compression,5-7 assuming little or no work hardening. Therefore, by deforming spherical powders in the die and measuring the contact areas on each particle, the load at each contact point can be determined. In the present investigation, this was done by hot-pressing uniform spheres of lead, K-Monel, and sapphire. The details of the experiment have been described elsewhere.' The spheres were studied for the size and the number of contact points on each particle using a specially designed goniometer. It was found that the deformed faces that were approximately normal to the direction of pressing were about 2.2 times larger than those parallel to the direction of pressing. Fig. 1 shows the typical deformed sphere. A detailed study showed that the mean value of the contact areas on each sphere was within 5 pct for all the spheres in the die (ignoring those touching the die walls and the top and bottom of the die).' The spheres touching the die walls and the top and bottom of the die were found to have larger contact areas (8 to 10 pct) which indicates higher pressures in these regions of the compact and thus higher compact densities in these regions. These results show that density distribution calculated from such an experiment will give results consistent with the previous investigators. It is concluded, therefore, that the pressure distribution in the die is better understood by studying contact areas on each particle. 'R. Kamm, M. A. Steinberg, and J. Wulff: Trans. TMS-AIME, 1947, vol. 171, p. 439. 'Pol Duwez and Leo Zwell: I. Metals, 1949, vol. 1, p. 137. 'G. C. Kucynski and I. Zaplatynskyj: Trans. TMS-AIIME, 1956, vol. 206, p. 215. 'R. P. Seelig and J. Wulff: Trans. TMS-AIME, 1946, vol. 166, p. 492. 'H. Hencky: Z. Angew. Math. Mech., 1923, vol. 3, p. 241. "J. Ishlinsky: I. Appl. Math. Mech. USSR, 1944, vol. 8, p. 233. 'D. Tabor: Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), Ser. A, 1948, vol. 192, p. 247. 'Ashok K. Kakar and A. C. D. Chaklader: 1. Appl. Phys., 1967, vol. 38, p. 3223. Superplasticity in 60Zn-40Al David L. Holt THE occurrence of superplasticity in Al-Zn alloys is of interest because of its possible industrial exploitation.' The eutectoid composition (78Zn-22A1) has been the most extensively studied;'-= neck resistant flow and high strain rate sensitivity of flow stress (characteristic of superplasticity) are associated with a micron-size grain conferred on the alloy by an homo-genization and quench.5'6 Compositions away from the eutectoid have received comparatively little attention, especially from the viewpoint of relating the structural

Jan 1, 1969

By P. R. Celmer, Leonard R. Weisberg

THE principle of fractional crystallization has been successfully used to prepare high-purity (99.999 pct) Ga. Hoffman and Scribnerl removed single crystals of gallium solidifying in a gallium melt, while Zimmerman2 grew single crystals from the melt by the Kyropolous technique. In contrast, attempts at purifying gallium by zone refining have been less successful. ichards, reported that despite the passage of 40 zones through a gallium ingot, there still remained 5 to 70 ppm each of Cu, Fe, Ca, Mg, Si, Al, and Ag. Previously, Detwiler and Fox4 detected only one impurity, Pb, segregating in zone-refined ingots. These surprising results prompted an investigation of the factors controlling impurity segregation in gallium. Possible reasons for this were insufficient diffusion of impurities in the melt; recontamination of the melt by its oxide film which is not affected by the passage of the zone; reaction of gallium with the boat; sudden freezing of gallium following supercooling, especially since gallium easily supercools to and trapping of impurities at grain boundaries. Impurity segregation tests were carried out by directionally freezing gallium using the Bridgman rnethd, modified in that the molten gallium is lowered out of a furnace into a slush of dry ice and trichloroethylene, thus minimizing supercooling. Since the gallium is contained vertically, the oxide film is in contact only with the tail end of the melt. It was found that Teflon makes an excellent crucible for gallium since it is quite pure, non-reactive, translucent, flexible, machinable, and is not wet by gallium. The gallium crystals could be grown at various speeds, and the melt could be vigorously stirred by a Teflon rod moving through the gallium in a vertical reciprocating fashion. Single crystals could be grown by placing a solid Teflon plug at the bottom of the melt drilled out in such a way to cause the solidifying gallium to follow a winding path. Thus, even if many crystals are originally nucleated, only one grain will predominate. The grain structure of the gallium crystals was revealed by an etchant composed of equal volumes of HC1, HNO3 and HF, diluted with water to half strength. Emission spectrographic analyses were carried out on samples removed from the front and tail ends of the resulting gallium ingots. Typical results of this study are summarized in Table I. The rate of freezing in all three cases was about 1 in. per hr. It can be seen that even though stirring of the melt does help, it is even more important to grow a single crystal of Ga in order to obtain good segregation of impurities. The effect of crys-tallinity on the segregation of impurities was previously observed6 in the directional freezing of germanium; however, in this case, the effect was much less pronounced. This dependence of impurity segregation on the crystalline perfection of Ga may be related to its thermal conductivity which is the most anisotropic of all metals.7 The anisotropic thermal conductivity can cause the solid-liquid interface to be nonuniform, thus leading to trapping of impurities during freeing, and therefore reduced segregation. In conclusion, it is indicated that zone refining of gallium would be more successful if seeding and similar precautions are taken to insure single crystal growth. The authors are indebted to Mr. H. H. Whitaker for the spectrographic analyses and to Drs. B. Abeles and F. D. Rosi for helpful advice and encouragement throughout the course of this work. This research was supported by the Electronics Research Directorate, Air Research and Development Command, under Contract No. AF33(616)-5029. REFERENCES 'J. 1. IToffmon and B. T. Scribrer: I. Research h'atl. Bur. Standards, 1935, "01. 15, p. 205. 'W. Zirnmerman: Science, 1954, vol. 119, p. 41. %J. L. Richards: Nature, 1956, vol. 117, p. 182. 'D. P. Detwiler and W. M. Fox: I. Metals, 1955, "01. 7, p. 205. 5P. W. Bridgman, Proc. Am. ilcod. Sci., 1925, vul. 60, pp. 305,385,423. "S. L1. Christian: private c ommuni cation. 'K. W. Powell: roy. Sac., 1951, vol. 209, p. 525. 'W. G. Pfann: Zone Re fining, p. 20. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, L058.

Jan 1, 1962

By I. J. Jansen

Introduction The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (PL 95-87) lays a new challenge before the surface mining industry by requiring that prime farmlands must be reclaimed to equivalent or higher levels of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area (section 510d). We must now evaluate the situation and plan a mining and reclamation program that will achieve that objective. We must recognize that soil and land needs vary with intended land use and climatic setting. Also, various site conditions determine the potential for constructing a productive soil and the best procedures to accomplish that end. It is necessary to plan the land reconstruction program on a site by site basis in order to achieve the best results. Discussion The Prime Land Concept Terms like prime agricultural land have been used loosely for many years to refer to lands that are highly productive and well suited to agricultural use. The concept of what qualified as prime land varied considerably from one geographic area to another and from one person to another. The term prime farmland, as used in PL 95-87, has recently been defined quite

Jan 1, 1982

By AIME AIME

S ULFURIC acid made in the United States during the last four years has averaged approximately 7,000,000 tons of 50" B6 acid a year. This is double the production of the year 1913. About 66 per cent of the acid is made from sulfur, 16 per cent from pyrite, 13 per cent at copper, lead, and zinc smelters, and the remainder from miscellaneous sources it her the chamber process or the contact process, (at some plants both) is used. In 1923, the contact process accounted for nearly 30 per cent of all the sulfuric acid made in this country and since then it has been increasingly employed. It was first introduced here in 1898, and has always .proved less expensive than the chamber process for the manufacture of .acid of high concentration and purity, but the latter produces acid of low strength suitable for many industries.

Jan 1, 1929

By O. Jay Myers

THE war effort has furnished the necessary impetus for better magnesium foundry practice. Four or five years ago, there were but a few formulas in general use for cores and mixtures for magnesium castings. Certain sands, binders, and inhibitors were specified and the proportions of these materials in each mixture were maintained between very narrow limits. As more and more war industries entered the field, much research was carried out and methods and practices were improved. Magnesium founding is still in a state of flux; therefore it is not uncommon to find one foundry spraying inhibitors on its cores, and another foundry using sand mixtures with incorporated protective agents. The basic core or dry-sand mold mixture for magnesium in use today is compounded with sand, core oil or resin binder, cereal, and moisture. Core oil or resin binder are added for baked strength while the cereal binder and moisture are for green strength. The normal mixtures (based on the weight of the sand) contain from 0.5 to 1.5 per cent of both cereal binder and core oil, and the moisture content varies between 1.5 and 5 per cent. The ratio of core oil to cereal binder varies from 60:40 to 40:60, while the correct amount of moisture depends upon the method of coremaking. PROTECTIVE AGENTS In all magnesium practice, protective agents are used in conjunction with the core and molding sands to prevent oxidation of the metal. The use of these inhibitors is not novel, but publications covering this field are not entirely adequate. Beck1 says Magnesium alloys decompose water to form magnesium oxide, hydrogen being liberated in the process (Mg + H20 -+ H21 + MgO). This reaction results in the blackening of the skin and the appearance of areas of porosity on the casting surface, the cavities of which are filled with a grey oxide powder (these are termed `burns'). Although sand cores for magnesium castings are thoroughly dried during the baking cycle, burning will take place on the castings unless the metal is protected properly. This type of burning is more difficult to define than the "water-magnesium" reaction cited by Beck. A possible explanation may lie in the following equation: 2Mg + 02 -s 2MgO Here, the source of the oxygen is not water, but the air in the mold cavity, together with the chemically combined oxygen in the core-binding media. Generally, two methods are used to prevent this reaction from taking place.

Jan 1, 1945

By Warren W. Jamar, Philip D. Pearson

IN recent years, there have been many changes in mining operations in the Lake Superior district. To follow these trends on the Menominee Range of Michigan, information has been assembled from all of the iron informatior]mining operations in the area. There are 15 operating underground mines in the Iron River-Crystal Falls area of the Menominee Range. Within the past two years, two idle properties were reopened pasttwoyears,and are now producing, and a third and fourth are being reopened. Also, there are two siliceous openpits operated by independent companies outside this immediate area. Six companies operate the underground mines, employing some 1850 employees. Table I shows pertinent facts about these properties. During 1949, the largest mine in Iron County shipped 571,287 tons, and one of the newer mines shipped 39,378 tons, with a range total to 3,535,-373 tons. Since the Menominee Range was opened in the 1870's, the mines in Iron County have shipped 85,890,922 tons. From an operator's viewpoint rather than a geologist's, the ore is' classified as semi-hard, composed of hematite and limonite. It is not as soft as the ores of the Marquette Range nor is it as hard as the hard ores of the Marquette and Vermillion Ranges. The ore bodies have slate hanging walls and slate footwalls. In most cases the hanging walls and footwalls are soft and high in sulphur. The sulphur comes from pyrite, and these slates will ignite when piled more than 6 to 8 ft high. Ore is mined on this range by: 1—Sub-level stop-ing; 2—Shrinkage stoping; 3—Sub-level caving; 4— Block caving; 5—Top slicing. The predominance of these methods is in the order named. Underground drilling is important in the mining cycle. Some changes made and trends toward future changes fall into four categories: Drill bits, drill steel, drill machines, and compressed air pressures. Several types of bits have been tried and are in use. They include the detachable tungsten carbide, insert bit; the intraset steel bit, which is a conventional steel rod with tungsten carbide insert; the one-use bit; and the multiple-use bit. For many years, detachable multiple-use bits have been standard. In tests conducted recently to im- prove drilling efficiency, this bit was used as the basis for comparison. Under existing conditions, a multiple-use bit can be resharpened about three times before it is discarded. A thorough test of 2-in. tungsten carbide threaded bits was conducted under various ground conditions. 1—The drilled footage ranged from 48 to 600 ft per bit; averaging 357 ft per bit. Under these same conditions, a multiple-use bit ranged from 8 to 80 ft per bit. 2—The bit cost was greater for the insert bit in each case. 3—The average drilling speed for the insert bit was 12 in. in 62 sec and for the multiple-use bit was 12 in. in 64 sec. In a second test, 2V4 -in. tungsten carbide bits with the large 1 3/16-in. thread were used in moderately soft ground on a 152-lb drifting drill on a long feed jumbo. 1—The drilled footage ranged from 450 to 5000 ft per bit, averaging 1810 ft per bit. Under these same conditions, a multiple-use bit averaged 64 ft per bit. 2—The bit cost was reduced by the use of the insert bit. 3—No increase in drilling speed was recorded. 4—Minimum footage obtained was caused by thread failure. To improve the thread life, thread size on the rod was increased and the bit was attached to the rod with a pipe wrench. After this, bits failed in equal proportions because of cracked skirts, broken inserts, and gage loss. Tungsten carbide bits are now used in the operation where this second test was conducted because labor costs were lowered as a result of reducing the number of bits being changed by the miners. At the same operation and under the same conditions as the second test, 1Y4-in. insert bits with standard 1-in. threads were used. These bits did not drill much more than 300 ft before thread failure and were then welded to the rods and used until total failure. Sometimes this footage was considerable, sometimes it was not. Chisel-type 2%-in. insert bits were

Jan 1, 1952

By Sidney W. Poole

THE control of deoxidation, together with other factors involved in electric-furnace melting practice, to consistently produce heats of high-quality alloy steel to stringent specifications as to nonmetallic inclusion content is a problem of considerable magnitude. Steel melting as an industrial process is subject to many variables that can influence the quality of the product made. In order to modify the size, amount and distribution of inclusions and to promote their elimination, deoxidation, among other practices, plays a major part. The primary purpose of deoxidation in the production of electric-furnace alloy steels is the removal of dissolved oxygen present as FeO in the bath, which is produced as a result of prior oxidizing conditions. The elements usually added to effect this removal of soluble oxygen are those that will, upon addition, cause the formation of an oxide compound insoluble in the molten steel bath as silica, alumina or silicate combinations.

Jan 1, 1947

By E. F. Sumner, C. K. Eilerts

A partial differential equation was developed and programmed to compute the cumulation and flow of the liquid phase of a gas-condensate fluid. It was found that such cumulation near the wellbore may attain saturations permitting liquid flow within periods of the order of 1 day. The radius at which this saturation obtains advances toward the external reservoir boundary with continued recovery, although it may move only 2 to 5 percent of that distance during the productive life of the well. This relatively high saturation can cause a serious dimunition in delivery capacity. The pressure dilferential required for flow of gas through a formation with such saturation may be as much as three times greater than the corresponding differential in a formation where saturation is less than 2 percent. Because of the radial geometry, total reservoir pressure differential required for flow with a zone of relatively high liquid saturation about the well was indicated to be two to three times greater than without the saturation. INTRODUCTION A computing program developed by the authors 1 to integrate the partial differential equation for transient radial flow of gas-condensate fluids required a prevalued function, W(Po) = kD(p0)/M(p0)z0(Po).......(1) related to cumulation of condensate in pores of the reservoir as pressure declines. Methods were available for relating mobility to saturation, saturation to liquid-vapor volume ratio, liquid-vapor volume ratio to pressure and, hence, mobility to pressure to obtain W(pD). However, certain assumptions had to be made in advance of program execution concerning movement of the liquid phase and change in radial distribution of liquid saturation as recovery progressed. Because reservoir fluid mobility and related pressure gradients are markedly dependent on liquid saturation, it was desirable to eliminate the necessity for these assumptions and in this respect improve the reliability of a result obtained by integration. Experimental research was begun to determine the relationship of variables that control the reservoir flow of low liquid-vapor ratio fluids. With the porous medium partly saturated, permeability to a two-phase flowing fluid could not be measured because the viscosity was unknown. Viscosity could not be measured without knowing permeability of the liquid-containing medium; but mobility, the ratio of permeability to viscosity, was measurable. This property, and liquid-vapor volume ratio of the flowing phases, have values determined by nature of the fluid and porous medium and, in addition, were found to be pressure, velocity and saturation dependent. A program developed by Kniazeff and Naville 2 for computing multicom-ponent, two-phase flow used polynomials to represent saturation dependence of permeabilities for gas and for liquid phases, and an effluent viscosity constant under reservoir conditions. The authors developed a program based on a partial differential equation of similar mass balance origin but designed to represent distribution of an unlimited number of components between gas and liquid phases utilizing the experimental information available as to variable dependence. Attention was given to liquid-vapor volume ratio of the flowing phases, a property which is essential as a liquid saturation boundary condition. A program for computing implicitly saturation increase at uniform intervals along the drainage radius was combined with an existing program for calculating pressures, and the two were used alternately in an iterative solution for both saturations and pressures. The function W(pD) needed for calculating pressures was replaced by the ratio of mobility to compressibility factor. BASIC EQUATIONS The partial differential equation for calculating

By Denis G. Maxwell

INTRODUCTION It is my intention in this paper to deal with gold, uranium, diamonds, platinum, manganese, chrome, vanadium and heavy mineral sands. These are the most important strategic minerals produced by the Republic of South Africa which are not covered in other sessions of this program. In each case I have high- lighted the statistics and peculiar advantages which combine to make South Africa a vital source of these minerals. Before proceeding to give individual attention to these minerals I believe it would be useful to define what I mean by 'strategic'. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines strategic in the context of materials as 'essential for war'. However it is commonly used in a much broader sense than this (often, in fact, very loosely) and I prefer to define it as 'concerned with the acquisition and maintenance of power, whether economic, political or military.' A VITAL SOURCE In dealing with the individual minerals I have quoted statistics which are contained in Tables 1, 2 and 3. Table 1 clearly shows the absolute size of the South African mineral industry. However, it can also be used to demonstrate the importance of the industry to the South African economy if compared with the GNP in 1980 of about R60 billion. Table 4 illustrates clearly how important South Africa is as a supplier of these minerals to most of the important industrialized countries of the Western World. Gold If anyone had any doubts about the inclusion of gold in a list of strategic minerals I am sure that the above definition of 'strategic' will convince them that it certainly belongs there. Similarly no one is likely to have any doubt about the fact that South Africa is a vital source of supply. Tables 2 and 3 show that in 1980 we had 51% of the world's reserves and accounted for 55% of world production. The figures for the Western World are considerably higher. The only other major producer, of course, is Russia, with small but significant production in the Pacific Rim area coming from Australia, Canada, Latin America, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and the U.S. All South African mine gold production is shipped in bullion form containing about 88% gold and 9% silver to the Rand Refinery which is a modern refinery with large scale units capable of refining half a ton of bullion at a time. The Refinery is equipped to produce standard 'good delivery' gold as well as 9999 gold and 999 silver. The Refinery also produces the 22 karat blanks which are, used by the South African Mint to produce Kruger Rands. It goes without saying that the South African gold mining industry leads the world in all aspects of deep-level, narrow-reef mining technology. The industry's metallurgists, too, have a record of tenacious and continuing efforts to improve extraction to the level of the present finely honed efficient process used on all the modern mines. Uranium In 1980 South Africa had 14% of the uranium reserves of the Western World and accounted for 14% of production. In view of the paucity of data I am not in a position to estimate figures for the total world. All the other major sources of uranium in the Western World are situated around the Pacific Rim, with the U.S. and Canada already being major suppliers and accounting for 38% and 17% of Western World production in 1980. Australian production at the time was small but they have very large reserves and production is already rising rapidly. The U.S., Canada and Australia account respectively for 22%, 19% and 29% of the uranium reserves of the Western World. South Africa has been a major producer continuously for 30 years. Nearly all the uranium produced, amounting to about 115 000 tons up to the end of 1981, was a by-product or co-product of gold extraction. During that time the industry has frequently led the world in technological innovation, and has established a reputation as a reliable producer of a consistent, high-grade product. In the latter respect, it is helped by the fact that production is marketed by one company, Nuclear Fuels Corporation, which also blends, dries and calcines the product from the individual mines and samples and assays it before shipping. Diamonds Diamonds are the rock on which the South African mineral industry is founded. The discovery of diamonds in 1866 gave rise to the first major mineral industry in the country and the profits from diamond mining helped to finance the gold mining industry 20 years later. Although now overshadowed by gold, diamonds are still very important in the overall picture of mineral production and exports, as can be seen in Table 1. There are really three separate diamond markets - gem, natural industrial, and synthetic - and, to be meaningful, statistics should be provided separately. Unfortunately separate figures are not available. The figures in Tables 2 and 3 show that, for gem and natural industrial together, South Africa ranks third in the world in production and second in reserves. South Africa is a major producer of synthetics and probably ranks second in the world after the U.S. Recently, of course, Australia was the scene of a major diamond discovery and will soon become the only

Jan 1, 1982

By Stanly A. Easton

SEVEN years ago there was installed in the hospital of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co. at Kellogg, Idaho, an ultra-violet ray quartz lamp, the standard equipment which is found everywhere in the offices of physicians and among usual hospital equipment. The use of this lamp was con- fined largely to treatment of pathological cases, still treatment of under-nourished children, run-down anemic people, both men and women, and, as a general tonic, was part of the routine hospital procedure. At the latitude of the Ceur d'Alene district and especially because of the position of the towns in deep canyons, with much overcast and cloudy weather, sunshine is not plentiful at any time of the year; for many of the winter months there is scarcely any. Underground workers, particularly during the winter, have little sun- shine; it is not unusual to have none at all for weeks at a time. Treatment by the ultra-violet ray lamp in the hospital has resulted in many extraordinary benefits but the use of the lamp is expensive and limited. Some weeks ago attention was directed to the automatic solarium equipment of the Burdick Corporation. The doctors strongly recommended the increased use of the ultra-violet lamp for its curative powers and tonic effects, urging that it be made accessible to all employees. Real interest was . . also displayed by employees with the possibility of securing ultra-violet ray treatment for themselves and families under better conditions than it was possible to have by the limited use of the lamp at the hospital. This resulted in the installation of the so-called sun room or automatic solarium as an adjunct to the mine change-house. An annex was built to the change-house, with dressing rooms for women, children and men from other departments, and the outfit put into use on Sept. 5, 1929. The installation consists of an escalator, or

Jan 1, 1929

By T. S. Lundy, J. I. Federer

A graphical method has been developed and tested for separating the effects of grain boundary and lattice diffusion in polycrystalline materials. The method is based on the assumptions that for unidirectional diffusion from a plane source of radioactive material, the penetration of activity far into the specimen from the source is due solely to grain-boundary effects, and 2) pure grain-boundary penetration is described by a linear plot of log activity vs the perpendicular distance x from the source. The former is based on the fact that at any temperature the grain-boundary diffusion coefficient is always very large relative to the lattice diffusion coefficient; and the latter is based on the derivation of Fisher.1 Using these criteria along with appropriate penetration data (in this case, data for the diffusion of Cb95 in pressed and sintered UO2) one first plots the data as log activity vs x2 and as log activity vs x, as shown by curves 1 and 2, respectively, in Fig. 1. A tangent line to curve 2 for large x (curve 3) is then transferred to the x2 plot as curve 4. The subtraction of curve 4 from curve 1 yields curve 5 which represents only lattice diffusion and may therefore be related to the diffusion coefficient by using the appropriate solution to Fick's second law. It should be noted that the method has inherent inaccuracies for small and large values of x2 and only the subtraction at intermediate values can be used. For the illustrated specimen the calculated diffusion coefficient is 3.4 X 10-11 sq cm per sec at1445°C while data using a single crystal of UO2 at the same temperature yielded a value of 2.9 x 10-11 sq cm per sec.2 The same method of subtracting grain-boundary diffusion effects to obtain lattice diffusion coefficients has been successfully used to determine self-diffusion coefficients of Th230 in polycrystalline thoria.

Jan 1, 1962

By E. M. Norris

In the summer of 1917 it was decided to fireproof the main tramway hoisting shaft of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Butte, Mont. The shaft has three hoisting compartments and one pump compartment; it is timbered with 12 by 12-in. (30.5 by 30.5-cm.) fir timber, and is 2475 ft. (754 m.) deep. Subsidence and displacement of the surrounding country rock had produced exceedingly heavy ground, and had carried the shaft out of line, in several places, by as much as 2 ft. (0.6 m.) displacement. Constant repairing and realigning of the timbers had been necessary in order to maintain clearance for the cages. The most feasible method of fireproofing, therefore, seemed to be to cover the timbers with a coat of concrete applied with the cement gun. The cement gun, which is operated by compressed air at ordinary mine pressures, feeds a mixture of sand and cement through a hose to a nozzle having a water connection. The mortar in fluid form is thus sprayed upon the prepared surface in thin layers, which can be built up to any desired thickness. The cement gun can be set up at any convenient point; satisfactory results have been obtained with the nozzle a distance of 500 ft. (152 m.) from the gun. The shaft was thoroughly overhauled and the timbers put in the best possible state of repair. Between the 1000 and the 1400 levels, much loose ground lay against the shaft timbers on the north side; this was breast-boarded back and a 30-in. (76-cm.) reinforced-concrete retaining wall was erected, leaving a space of 12 in. (30.5 cm.) outside the shaft timbers to allow for future movements of the ground. For convenience in handling men and materials; it was arranged to concrete the auxiliary hoisting-cage compartment and the pump compartment first, using the cages of the main hoist to serve the cementing crews. The auxiliary cage was then available while the remainder of the shaft was being concreted.

Jan 3, 1918

By AIME AIME

IN nonmetallic circles, probably no one is better known than Oliver Bowles, another of Canada's notable gifts to the American mining industry. The University of Toronto granted him B.A. and M.A. degrees in geology and mineralogy after he worked his way through that institution. He then spent some time in northern Ontario, and came to the States where he taught petrography and mineralogy at the state universities of Michigan and Minnesota from 1909 to 1914. Since then he has been with the U. S. Bureau of Mines, being honored with a Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1922. Since coming with the Bureau, the nonmctallics have been his field-particularly stone, slate, lime, cement, and

Jan 1, 1936

By Robert Steinitz

SOFT iron parts for magnetic applications, particularly pole shoes, constitute a major portion of the ferrous products of powder metallurgy. The residual pores in pressed and sintered parts reduce values such as the magnetic permeability but service experience extended over a number [ ] of years has proven beyond doubt that in many instances the lower density of powder parts is not prohibitive to their use m replacement of machined magnetic parts The. magnetic requirements for pole shoes particularly the permeability, vary within wide limits, especially with the relative size of the air gap in the finished assembly. The overall permeability of an assembly, µ, is given by the formula [ ] where µm is the permeability of the core material, l the total length of the magnetic path, and a the length of the air gap. Fig 1 shows the variation of the overall permeability with the permeability of the core material, calculated according to Eq I for an air gap of 1 pct of the total length of the magnetic circuit. It is readily recognized that to use core materials hav-

Jan 1, 1948

By Robert C. Edmiston

The measurement of temperatures in exploratory drill holes yields information on regional and local geothermal gradients and mean surface temperatures. This data may be beneficial to the mining geologist interested in the occurrence and oxidation of metallic sulfide minerals or to the mining engineer interested in subsurface temperatures or water movement. Additionally, the estimation of mean surface temperatures by the projection of thermal gradients to the ground surface provides data on which to evaluate infrared imagery as an exploration tool. Temperature measurements in 30 diamond drill holes in the Silver Bell mining district of Arizona show that a regional geothermal gradient of 2.45°C per 100 m increases to 3.03°C per 100 m near the ground surface. It is also found that an anomaly in the mean annual surface temperature of 0.5°C is associated with the shallow occurrence of disseminated sulfides. Changes in the geothermal gradient due to topography, water circulation, and formation changes also occur.

Jan 1, 1976

By E. S. Machlin

The possibility that formation of voids under creep-rupture conditions may take place by the condensation of vacancies has been investigated theoretically. It has been concluded that nucleation of voids under creep-rupture conditions by vacancy condensation is highly improbable. However, growth of pre-existant voids by vacancy condensation is probable. A number of predictions made in this theory have been verified by the data. It has been predicted and checked that the product of rupture life and steady-state creep rate for preannealed metals and single phase alloys is an approximately invariant quantity, independent of stress, temperature, and atomic number for a given type structure. The direction of the effect of cold work on this product has been predicted and found in agreement with experiment. A number of experiments to evaluate the vacancy condensation mechanism further are described. SEVERAL papers have appeared recently which speculate on the origin of voids formed at grain boundaries under stress.' ' The object of this paper is to examine quantitatively the proposition that the voids produced in a creep test are a result of vacancy condensation. A result of this paper is a theory of creep-rupture. Void Nucleation Application of standard nucleation theory" to the problem of void nucleation leads to the following conclusions: 1—Homogeneous nucleation of voids requires a supersaturation ratio (concentration of vacancies in supersaturated to that in saturated solution) of 400 for a reasonable surface energy of 1000 erg per cm-and 1.4 for the improbably low surface energy of 10 erg per cm. 2—Heterogeneous nucleation of voids at plane interfaces between two phases requires a supersaturation ratio of 2.5 for a typical contact angle of 145 3-—Void nucleation about a solid particle may be accomplished at a supersaturation ratio of 1.17 for a typical value of work of adhesion? of 60 erg per The work of adhesion is the surface work 10 replace two solid-vauor surfaces by a solid-solid interface. enr ' between an oxide and a metal in the presence of a surface active element such as sulphur. Estimates of the supersaturation ratio at which voids are produced in diffusion experiments yield a maximum of 1.01. Inasmuch as the foregoing mechanisms of void nucleation probably will not operate at this level—too low a surface energy is required—the investigatol. is led to the conclusion that voids must already exist. That is, nucleation of voids probably does not occur. Rather, existing submicroscopic voids grow out to visible size. Already existing voids might be produced during solidification or working. Supercritical sized parlicles which contain cracks may act as heterogeneous void nuclei. Gas pockets may act as void nuclei. Experiments are desired to determine the nature of the heterogeneous void nuclei which grow out to voids in both diffusion and creep experiments. Void Growth Void growth might occur in at least two possible ways, depending upon whether the already existing void nuclei are at grain boundaries or within the grains. In the case of a spherical void far from a crystal boundary, vacancies are generated during creep as a consequence of the migration of suitable dislocation jogs' and are also annihilated at sinks. Under these conditions, a steady-state concentration of vacancies is built up in the crystal, defined by the condition that for any differential volume the rate of generation of vacancies in that volume equals the rate of annihilation of those vacancies." This equality would lead to the development of a gradient of vacancy concentration radially outward from the void surface up to a radius where the vacancy lifetime becomes equal for all directions of vacancy migration. The distance over which this vacancy concentration gradient extends equals about 2vD,T* where D, is the vacancy diffusivity and T:' the vacancy lifetime in a crystal outside the gradient in a zone of constant vacancy concentration. The vacancies generated in the region over which the gradient exists will annihilate more often at the void than elsewhere. Approximately a little over one-half the vacancies generated in the gradient zone will annihilate at the void. Hence, the growth rate of the void is given by on where R is the radius of void in centimeters, is the atomic volume, and R is the rate of generation of vacancies, number per centimeter" per second. R D and T* may be estimated in terms of other physical parameters." In particular, R = n.j e/b [3] where n is the average number of vacancy produc-

Jan 1, 1957

By John Hall

THE recently announced run of three years, nine months and eleven days made by a. crucible steel melting furnace of the Columbia Tool Steel Co., which is claimed as a. world's record, brings forcibly to our attention the great improvements that have been made in the design, construction and operation of the Siemen's regenerative crucible- melting furnace since its introduction in this country. Credit for this advance should be given to the furnace designer, the manufacturer of refractories, and the operators of the furnaces, whose persistent efforts and intelligent co-operation in attacking the problem have resulted so satisfactorily. There are three factors that determine the life of a crucible furnace, or any other furnace for that matter : Design, nature of refractories and conditions of operation; (including the nature of steel melted) and to some extent these factors are interdependent. Thus, for instance, if a crucible furnace is to lie operated single turn and allowed to cool off considerably at night, in order to save fuel, the use of clay-brick melting holes may be advisable, since silica brick is not well adapted to endure rep eated heating and cooling. But the total life of a clay-brick melting hole is necessarily short. Again, if local conditions such as danger of flood make necessary the building of the furnace largely above ground, so that the radiation of beat is promoted, the cooling down of the furnace over the week ends, when no steel is melted, will be considerable-and the contraction of the furnace that results tends to wrack it to pieces. The character of the metal being melted affects the life of the furnace to a great extent. Low-carbon steels and steels made from iron and charcoal require higher temperatures and much longer melting tune than high-carbon steel or steel made largely from scrap; the life of the furnace will be shorter, and the number of heats melted will be much less, when such materials are melted.

Jan 9, 1913

By Clarence O. Babcock

Model pillars of limestone, marble, sandstone, and granite, with length-to-diameter (LID) ratios of 3, 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 (0.286 for granite), were broken in axial compression to determine to what extent an increase in end constraint increased compressive strength. Radial end constraints of 13 to 23% of the average axial stress in the pillar, produced by solid steel rings bonded with epoxy to the ends of dogbone-shaped specimens, increased compressive strength somewhat above that of cylindrical pillars without ring constraint. However, when the results were compared with those obtained by other investigators for straight specimens of several rock types taken collectively, with LID ratios greater than 0.5, the resulting strengths were not significantly different. Thus, the amount of end constraint produced by the solid steel rings was about the same as that produced by the friction from the steel end plates. In other tests, a radial prestress of 3000 or 5000 psi was applied prior to axial loading by adjustable hardened steel rings to increase the constraint above that obtained for the solid rings. The average radial constraint stress, expressed as a percentage of the average axial pillar stress at failure for the 3000 psi prestress, was 54.3% for limestone, 40.3% for marble, 44.7% for sandstone, and 23.4% for granite. The average radial constraint stress, expressed as a percentage of the average axial pillar stress at failure for the 5000 psi prestress, was 74.2% for limestone, 51.2% for marble, 61.6% for sandstone, and 29.7% for granite. These constraints increased the compressive strength significantly above the strength of straight specimens and solid-ring constrained specimens. These results suggest that large horizontal stresses in orebodies mined by the room-and-pillar method should increase the strength of the pillars and allow an increase in ore recovery by a reduction of pillar size when major structural defects are absent. One important objective of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) mining research program is the rational design of mining systems. In the design of room-and-pillar mining operations, pillar strength is a fundamental variable. It is customary to estimate this strength from uniaxial compression tests of rock samples and to correct this value for the length-to-diameter (LID) ratio of the in-situ pillar. This method of estimating pillar strength corrects for pillar shape but does not consider the effect of a large horizontal in-situ stress field that sometimes exists in underground formations. The purpose of the work covered in this report was to determine to what extent the compressive strengths of model pillars of relatively brittle rock loaded in axial compression were affected by lateral end constraint. In previous work, Obert l used solid steel rings bonded to the ends of dogbone-shaped specimens to study the creep behavior of three quasi-plastic rocks -salt, trona, and potash ore - during a test period of 1000 hr. These rings provided radial constraint during the loading cycle of 20 to 50% of the axial stress for specimens with LID ratios of 2, 0.5, and 0.25. He concluded that (1) "for a quasi-plastic material the end constraint strongly affects the specimen strength, and (2) as D/L increases (length-to-diameter decreases), the specimens lose their brittle characteristics and tend to flow rather than fracture." He also concluded that model pillars constrained by rings were better for use in predicting the strength of mine pillars than either cylindrical or prismatic specimens. This conclusion appears to be valid where mine pillars, roof, and floor are a single structural element. In the present study, 460 specimens of four relatively brittle rocks — limestone, marble, sandstone, and granite - were tested to failure. The study consisted of two parts: (1) the effect on the compressive strength of end constraint produced during the axial loading cycle by solid steel rings bonded with epoxy to the ends of the specimens, and (2) the effect on the compressive strength of increased end constraint produced in part by a prestress applied prior to axial loading and in part by lateral expansion of the specimen during the loading cycle. The first part of this study was reported in some detail earlier.2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE AND EQUIPMENT Model rock pillars of the sizes and shapes shown in Fig. 1 were broken in axial compression when the ends were constrained as shown in Fig. 2. he straight specimens were broken without ring constraint. The specimens of dogbone shape were broken with (1) solid

Jan 1, 1970

By M. Cohen, R. T. Howard

The purpose of this paper is to direct attention to the lower part of the austenite transformation diagram, or TTT curves, where considerable uncertainty still exists as to the blending of the bainite and martensite reactions. The dissimilarities between these two low temperature transforrnations have been summarized recently by Troiano and Greninger.' Of particular importance to the present work is the fact that martensite formation, unlike bainite formation, is not suppressed by the fastest quenching rates attainable. However, most of the investigations in this direction have been concerned primarily with the start of the martensite transformation (Mg) during cooling, rather than with the quantitative aspects of the subsequent reaction on either further cooling or isothermal holding. Several years ago, Cohen2 suggested a form of transformation diagram which reconciled, at least schematically, the isothermal characteristics of the bainite transformation with the insuppressible nature of the martensite transformation. In essence, the diagram consisted of a family of horizontal lines (representing the progress of the austenite-martensite reaction during quenching) which were interrupted in point of time by the bainite family of C-curves extending down from higher temperatures. This picture received later support by metal-lographic3 and dilatometric4,5 studies, but the techniques employed were not sufficiently critical to substantiate some of the details. Elmendorf6 and Grange and Stewardi have shown that the Greninger-Troiano metallographic technique8 may be used not only for M, determinations, but for studying the course of further austenite decomposition. In fact, the latter investigators have observed the amount of martensite formed as a function of temperature below M, in fourteen commercial steels. In the present paper, the Greninger-Troiano technique has been combined with the lineal method of Howard and Cohen9 to provide a unique, quantitative treatment of the austenite-martensite reaction. Furthermore, isothermal transformations have been similarly measured on holding at temperatures above and below M., thus permitting a fairly detailed presentation of the lower part of the conventional austenite transformation diagram. Experimental Details Materials The steels, listed in Table I, were selected for study because they exhibit a satisfactory range of M. temperatures and have not received as much attention as the lower carbon grades. They were prepared as 30 lb induction furnace heats in the laboratories of the Vanadium-Alloys

Jan 1, 1949