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By John Eash

DURING recent years nickel has had an increasingly important role as an alloying element in the copper-tin bronzes. Nickel additions not only produce better casting alloys but also make alloys whose properties can be varied by precipitation hardening; thus leading to increased commercial application of copper-nickel-tin alloys. Recent investigations have indicated a decrease in the solubility of tin in the alpha phase as the annealing temperature is lowered and as the nickel content is increased within certain limits. A further change caused by the nickel additions is produced in the excess phase of the copper-tin bronzes. The alpha plus delta eutectoid is replaced by a clear precipitated constituent in the alloys containing up to 15 per cent tin and not less than 1 per cent nickel. This paper has a dual purpose. The first is to present a new determination of the alpha-phase boundary in alloys containing from 0 to 20 per cent nickel, together with the liquidus and solidus temperatures above that field. The second purpose is to give the equilibrium conditions existing in alloys exceeding the alpha phase containing up to 31 per cent tin and 5 per cent nickel, so that the disappearance of the alpha plus delta eutectoid constituent may be explained. After considering the earlier investigations of the related alloy systems and the experimental procedure used in this investigation, the alloys will be discussed in groups as separate quasibinary systems containing constant amounts of nickel. The systems considered contain 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 20 per cent nickel. The straight copper-tin system was reinvestigated in order to establish a foundation on which to build the remaining material. The 1 per cent nickel alloys studied give the relations existing in the region of the eutectoid transformation between the copper-tin system and the 2 per cent nickel copper-tin system which has been investigated in detail. The thorough examination of the latter system was made since 2 per cent of nickel is representative of the commercial additions to the cast bronzes and also because it is sufficient to produce

Jan 1, 1932

Jan 1, 1923

Jan 1, 1923

By C. E. Sims, C. A. Zapffe

MANY hundreds of publications have appeared during the past 78 years that treat the subject of hydrogen in iron and steel,105 but conclusions regarding the functions of hydrogen in causing some important defects in steel are still unsatisfactory to many; and other hydrogen-caused phenomena yet remain to be identified with this gas. The most widely discussed of these defects is hydrogen embrittlement, but the conception, perhaps the popular one, that embrittlement is due to hydride formation does not conform to the known facts.104 The true identity of hydrogen embrittlement seems instead to lie in a mosaic nature of metal crystals, which is a concept not yet accepted by most metallurgists. A study of hydrogen embrittlement therefore provides new viewpoints in regard to the crystalline substructure of steel. A second widely discussed hydrogen-caused defect is the "flake" or "shatter crack." Although it is generally agreed that the presence of hydrogen is a prerequisite for their appearance, it is also realized that internal stress plays a decisive part. The relationship of hydrogen to internal stress has not been explained very clearly; nor is it always clear what the relationship is between a "flake" and a "snowflake," or between a "fish eye" and a "shatter crack." More importantly, the relationships among hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen-caused fissures such as "flakes" and the ultramicroscopic structure of steel have scarcely been recognized. The present investigation attempts to provide an explanation for the embrittlement of steel by hydrogen by showing cause for accepting the "block" concept of metal crystals, and then to show how the numerous hydrogen-caused defects are interrelated in the light of this concept. EVIDENCE OF SUBSTRUCTURE IN METAL CRYSTALS It appears that the concept of a crystal as an aggregate of smaller multi-atom units must be accepted in some form if the behavior of metals is to be understood. The abundant literature on the evidence of an ultramicroscopic "mosaic" structure in metals and other crystalline substances suggests that the physicist has provided the metallurgist with an invaluable new insight. The exact picturization that any one physicist provides may be open to question, but the fact that there is some such fundamental substructure seems undeniable. The present work makes no pretense of comprehensively treating the imperfection structure theories. Nor will conclusions be drawn here regarding the exact nature of the substructure of crystals. However, the acceptance of some imperfection theory of fundamental attributes seems so necessary to an understanding of the behavior of hydrogen in steel that the following brief

Jan 1, 1941

By J. T. Eash, E. M. Wise

In a previous communication1 the improvement in slrength, harden-ability and color, occasioned by replacing gold in a typical gold-silver-copper alloy by various amounts of platinum, or palladium, was discussed. In the present paper the results of further studies upon the constitution and the nature of the hardening transformation in these alloys are presented. This research may be summarized as follows: 1. The liquidus and solidus have been determined for the alloys of the palladium and platinum series. Cooling curves were utilized for determining the liquidus of the palladium alloys but this method proved unsuitable for the platinum alloys so that a novel quenching method was utilized for the latter. Both the liquidus and solidus of the palladium alloys increase steadily with the palladium content. The liquidus of the platinum alloys increases rapidly with the platinum content, while the solidus temperature increases with the platinum content up to about 14 atomic per cent platinum, but suffers no further increase with additional increments of platinum up to 20 atomic per cent at least, owing to a peritectic reaction. 2. Palladium, and even more effectively platinum, reduces the rate of grain growth. Owing to this fact and to the increase in the solidus temperature, "overheating" does little or no damage to alloys containing reasonable quantities of these elements. This is confirmed both by tensile tests and metallographic examination. 3. The excess phase present in one of the high-platinum-content alloys has been isolated and chemically analyzed and was found to consist almost wholly of platinum, gold, and copper, evidently derived from the compound AuCu, by the partial replacement of gold by platinum. 4. The variation in the solubility of this platinum-content phase in the alpha solid solution with the temperature has been determined. This

Jan 1, 1933

By A. M. Gaudin

THIS paper presents, with the help of colored photomicrographs, the new method of mineral identification termed "selective iridescent filming." This method pertains to the field of determinative mineralogy, which it provides with tools for: (1) phase identification, (2) solid solution analysis. The method should be particularly useful in the applied fields of: (1) paragenesis of ore deposits, (2) mineral dressing, (3) mineral synthesis and study of phase equilibria.

Jan 1, 1938

By W. Crafts, J. L. Lamont

Secondary hardening in tempering has long been recognized as a typical characteristic of steels containing large amounts of carbide-forming alloys. These steels, when quenched and tempered, tend to soften somewhat after tempering at low temperatures, and to reharden at intermediate tempering temperatures before finally softening to low hardness. This behavior in tempering has been studied by many investigators, chiefly with respect to thc secondary hardening of high-speed steels. The initial softening has usually been ascribed to decomposition of martensite and growth of iron carbide particles. The secondary hardening has been explained by formation of fresh martensite from residual austenite, formation of very fine alloy carbide particles and by precipitation hardening of metallic compounds in the ferritic matrix. However, factors derived for the calculation of tempered hardness in low-alloy steels1 indicated only a tendency toward retarded softening rather than a discontinuous rehardening. A study was, therefore, made to determine whether fresh martensite from residual austenite and precipitation hardening are essential to rehardening and the degree to which tempered martensite could be rehardened by precipitation of alloy carbides. The mechanism of carbide rehardening was also investigated to determine the nature of the process. The causes of secondary hardening in high-speed steel have received serious consideration for about thirty years. Among the earlier workers Bain and Jeffries2 in 1923 recognized residual austenite as a significant factor, but in addition, emphasized the effect of the formation of alloy carbide particles of "critical" size. They conceived that freshly quenched martensite forms low-alloy iron carbide at low tempering temperatures; with further tempering the iron carbide is then modified by alloying elements that can diffuse most readily at intermediate temperatures (850°F); and that the iron carbides grow in size by coalescence so that the steel tends to lose hardness. At higher tempering temperatures carbide stability rather than alloy availability becomes the controlling influence and in high-speed steel "iron-tungsten carbide is the most stable one and forms to the elimination of the earlier formed carbides. . . . The iron-tungsten carbide particles reach approximately the size for critical dispersion after a short reheat at II00 F." This concept, the formation of alloy carbide nuclei, redissolving of the iron carbide, and diffusion of carbon to the alloy carbide, was restated for vanadium steel in 1932 by Houdremont, Bennek, and Schrader. Subsequent studies have confirmed that iron carbide changes to alloy carbide at 1000 to IIOOOF, but the mechanism of the process has received little consideration.

Jan 1, 1949

By Robert L. Kidd

ONE time or another placer mining attracts the attention of a large number of people, because of the possible low initial investment, low operating cost, and quick returns. Much has been said about sampling and operating placer deposits but many are still inclined to jump at a property without giving much, if any, consideration to proper sampling. This statement does not apply to experienced mining engineers but I am hoping that readers will tear out this article and pass it along where it will do the most good and thus help to preserve the reputation of legitimate mining. It would appear that some people have an ability to sink test pits in high-grade gravel that is positively uncanny. One pit showing high-grade values proves to some property owners and promoters that the entire property will do the same. This is

Jan 1, 1937

By L. L. Swift

AT the present time there are four base metals being used for automo-tive bearing alloys. Of course there are numerous variations in the amounts of alloying elements added to each base metal and nearly all of these alloys have the conventional, if not classical duplex structure; that is, they are composed of a hard constituent embedded in a soft matrix. The well-known theory is that the former will wear well, while the latter will be plastic enough to allow the bearing to be broken in and conform to the contours of the shaft. The requirements of the modern bearing have been most aptly described by W. M. Corse: In order to meet the engineering demands of today a good bearing metal must be able to carry the weight of the shaft and stand up under steady or suddenly applied loads, or even blows in some types of service. A certain amount of plasticity is desired to compensate for minute irregularities in the shaft or bearing surface, and to permit yielding, thereby avoiding dangerous stresses in bearing and shaft and pre-venting overheating and rapid wear of parts. Less plasticity is required in a bearing metal if the surfaces of bearings and journals are machined accurately, aligned, and kept in alignment. It is desirable, of course, that a bearing metal have a low coeffi-cient of friction. Under most operating conditions the friction depends on the unit pressure of the bearing, the speed, the temperature, and the properties of the lubricant. A good bearing metal must have a low rate of wear to reduce the necessity for frequent replacements, and adjustment of the bearings. It must wear more rapidly, however, than the journal or shaft running on it, because replacement of the journal or shaft is more difficult and costly than replacement of the bearing.1 The hardness of the bearing alloy is a property closely related to several of the foregoing. With a duplex microstructure, the measure-ment of hardness with any of the usual commercial devices means little. The Bierbaum method of measuring the hardness of the individual constituents was developed to fill this need.

Jan 1, 1938

By C. H. Mathewson

MICROSCOPIC rnetallography has been exploited quite well enough to bring about a very general understanding that the typical metal or alloy is composed of minute crystalline particles blended into a coherent microstructural mosaic. One does not have to be a specialist in metallography to realize that the properties of such an aggregate are essentially a summation in appropriate form of individual effects derived from the shape, size, placement or orientation and cohesive characteristics of the component particles. It is clearly of great importance to consider the various forms of discontinuity which may occur at the boundaries between these crystalline particles. When a number of particles each possessing the same orderly arrangement of atoms are brought together into a close-fitting system of purely haphazard contacts, not unlike a handful of snowflakes compacted into a snowball, the particles are said to possess random orientation. There are no generally accepted views concerning the arrangement of the atomis or the constitutional reaction between atoms where one crystal meets another, but these contact regions are characterized by strength rather than weakness and it is customary to require the presence of many rather than few boundaries in preparing metal for useful service. Under certain circumstances all of the particles in a metal may be nearly alike in orientation. Other general tendencies of orientation may be associated with particular forms of mechanical and thermal treatment. In contrast with these cases of fortuitous or statistical diversity of orientation, we often find adjacent particles united along a plane which possesses a grouping of atoms belonging equally well to both structures. This, of course, determines a fixed relationship between the two orientations and it is always possible to derive one from the other by some form of rotation or reflection prescribed by the symmetry of the crystal structure under consideration. Particles united in this manner are known as twin crystals although the term refers to the form of association rather than the number of individuals concerned.

By S. D. Strauss

The marketing of nonferrous metals and of the ores and concentrates from which these metals are recovered is a fascinating trade, international in character, sensitive to every change in the economic tide, and complex in its organization. Each individual metal has its own marketing mechanism; no two are exactly alike. The differences sometimes are a matter of tradition rather than of necessity, but usually they have developed because of the very nature of the problems of producing or consuming the individual metal. This description, because of limitations of space, can do no more than indicate the major aspects of the trade and touch lightly on the marketing structure of each metal. The dictionary states that a market is a "meeting of people for selling and buying." In the case of nonferrous metals this meeting may occur on a half-dozen different occasions between the time the ore has been first mined and the time the refined metal is available for use by industry; or it may not occur at all until after the metal itself has been rolled, drawn, stamped, cast, or forged into a useful semifabricated shape. To illustrate: A Chilean miner may sell his small ore production to a custom mill, which produces concentrates that are sold to an ore dealer, who finances shipments of the concentrate to a custom smelter, which buys them for conversion into blister, to be subsequently refined into electrolytic copper (sometimes by a refinery having no corporate ties with the custom smelter) and sold. Conversely, aluminum production is mostly by integrated concerns that mine bauxite, convert it to alumina, smelt that to produce aluminum, and then fabricate that into semifinished or even finished products before title to the material changes hands for the first time. Some nonferrous ores are not converted into metal at all but are sold by the miners or dealers directly to the ultimate consumers. A good example would be chrome ores used by the chemical industry. And of course a substantial part of the commerce in nonferrous metals is in scrap, which is the reconversion into useful form of metals that have long since been mined and smelted. Thus, one-third of all the lead used in the United

Jan 1, 1964

By Philip Bucky

THE general conception of a mine model is that of a three-dimensional object representing the mine workings, the orebody and the country rock of a particular property. Its chief uses have been to make it easier to understand the mine and to serve as a basis for the arguing of legal questions. Fayol endeavored to use mine models in a different way and to all students of subsidence "Fayol's dome theory" is of decided interest. We have more recently the suggestion of Young and Stoek of the University of Illinois, who1 suggest the use of models as a means of studying the problem. Prof. Henry Briggs, of the University of Edinburgh and Herriott Watt College, also makes use of models to determine the effects of bending at the edges of extensive workings.2 It is interesting to note that civil engineers are taking a decided interest in the application of models and the principles of dynamic similarity to the solution of their problems. The Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers for 1930 contain an elaborate article by Benjamin F. Groat,3 who says, in his opening remarks: "Every engineer should know and understand that a model constructed in accordance with Newton's theory of similarity is not only the means for reproducing the complexities of flow, or other mechanical action, on a small scale, but that models may be made the best means of designing works of great magnitude. In the present state of knowledge, a properly constructed and properly tested model will answer the difficult questions of hydrodynamics much more quickly and accurately than the most profound mathematical analyses." A study of P. W. Bridgman's book on Dimensional Analyses leads one to arrive at the same conclusion.

Jan 1, 1931

By Zay Jeffries

Page Introduction............................. 474 Nature of Experiments ........................ 476 Materials Used in Experiments..................... 476 Description of Samples........................ 476 Details of Tests and Apparatus .................... 486 Determination of Elongation...................... 488 Determination of Reduction of Area .................. 488 Results of Tests........................... 489 Quantity and Arrangement of Amorphous Phase............. 497 Properties of Amorphous and Crystalline Phases............. 501 Intercrystalline Fracture........................ 530 Trans-crystalline Fracture....................... 531 Rupture ............................... 535 Explanation of Beilby's Results..................... 536 Mechanical Properties of Copper Wires................. 537 Mechanical Properties of Tungsten Wires................ 542 Mechanical Properties of Iron Wire................... 546 Effect of Diameter of Wire on Mechanical Properties........... 554 General Considerations on Properties of Metals at Very Low Temperatures .. 556 General Considerations on Physical Properties of Complex Alloys...... 557 Summary.............................. 559 Discussion.............................. 562 Introduction DuRing the period 1914 to 1916. the writer observed many times that tungsten wire could be drawn hot until it became brittle but on cooling to room temperature it became ductile again. In searching the literature for parallel cases. it was found that Beilbyl had produced hard-drawn wires of gold. silver. and copper that showed less than 1 per cent.

Jan 1, 1919

By AIME AIME

DESPITE the meetings and discussions on over- production the situation still continues to grow worse instead of better. The demand for oil has dropped to 2,700,000 bbl. per day. On the other hand domestic production has risen to 2,700,000 bbl. with prospects of further increases, and if imports and natural gas-gasoline be added to this the current supply is about 3,100,000 bbl. per day. Though during the summer and early fall the demand may exceed this figure for a few months the prospects are that 'the average demand during 1929 will be at least 200,000 bbl. per day less than the present current supply, meaning additions to stocks over the year of about 75,000,000 bbl.

Jan 1, 1929

By R. B. Woodworth

INTRODUCTION IN the sinking of bore holes, there are but two fundamental operations -drilling and hoisting,-which determine in the main the character of drilling mechanism and structures. There are endless ramifications, however, in the execution of these fundamental operations, according to the purposes for which the bore holes are drilled, their maintenance after completion, the protection and convenience of workmen, etc. The three main lines of use for bore holes are in mineral exploration, the sinking of water and salt wells, and the exploitation of petroleum and natural gas. This paper has to do more especially with the last. Here again there are many divergences. Wells may be drilled by either the percussive, the hydraulic, or the abrasive method. Finally, each of these methods, as applied by drillers of diverse nationalities, has followed somewhat different lines of development. The American system of cable-tool drilling has perhaps had the widest application; the hydraulic rotary is also in extensive use; but the Canadian system, the Galician system, and the Russian free-fall system all have their points of recognized merit and are preferred by operators accustomed to their use. These differences in drilling procedure, which rest ultimately on essential variations in geological conditions, are reflected in the chilling structures as well as in the drilling mechanism. The purpose of the present paper is to record those stages in the development of the application of steel to the construction of drilling mechanism and structures with which the writer has been intimately associated, and to contribute to the history of the art of drilling other data acquired in the course of his personal investigations. It is necessarily limited by reason of space to American practice, with especial reference, therefore, to the cable-tool system and the hydraulic rotary method of drilling wells for oil and gas.

Jan 11, 1915

Jan 1, 1953

Jan 1, 1953

By B. S. Norris, Charles R. Austin

IN a recent paper the authors1 discussed the reactions to tempering of hypereutectoid steels quenched from 1000° C., as revealed by studies on changes in hardness, electrical resistivity, coercive force and metallographic characteristics. The data, which related specifically to tempering temperatures of 550°, 650° and 710° C., for varying periods up to 125 hr., permitted the following important conclusions: 1. The rate of softening of the steels at the temperatures examined differed markedly although the steels were of "similar" general chemical composition. 2. The temperature of maximum softening spread over a range from about 650° C. to the eutectoid inversion. 3. The divergence in behavior was ascribed, at least in part, to a profound difference in tendency to graphitization on annealing at subeutectoid temperatures. 4. The node of spheroidization of the cementite, as revealed by metallographic studies, also varied considerably in the different steels. The purpose of the present investigation is to pursue further the study of the difference in behavior of the steels on tempering over a wider range of temperature. To this end the following features have received particular attention: 1. Comparison of temperatures of maximum softening of the various steels when the quenched samples were tempered for 5 hr. and for 75 hr. followed by furnace cooling and by quenching in water. 2. Determination of the effect of quenching temperature, prior to tempering, on the rate of softening. Quenching temperatures of 1000° and 850° C. were used in the investigations. 3. Examination of the microstructures obtained with the various heat-treatments employed.

Jan 1, 1938

By GILBERT C. DAVIS

ANY thought of Morenci naturally includes its sister town of Clifton, its gateway to the outside world. Clifton, the country seat of Greenlee County, is the terminus of a branch line of the Southern Pacific railroad from Lordsburg, N.M. Carload freight incident to the Morenci operation moves from Clifton over Phelps Dodge?s standard-gauge industrial railroad. Private freight must be hauled by truck. These two communities fell far short of supplying adequate housing for the personnel concerned with the new operations so a new townsite, Stargo, was developed adjacent to Morenci. Here 234 housing units with garages have been built and twenty similar units have been erected near the reduction works.

Jan 1, 1942

By V.K. Zworykin

Throughout its development the science of electronics, like so many other branches of science and industry, has been indebted to the metallurgist. Metallurgy has provided the electronic engineer with conductors to furnish passage for electrons outside of his evacuated tubes: it has developed tungsten and tantalum wires for emitting electrons and various refractory metals and alloys suitable for electrodes, which receive them and guide them within the tube; finally it has supplied ferromagnetic materials both for shielding electronic apparatus from magnetic fields and for forming highly concentrated fields for deflecting electron . Today I hope to show you that electronics has not been altogether ungrateful for this assistance. More specifically, I wish to indicate the role that the electron microscope, a relatively recent product of electronic engineering, is playing even now in the study of metals. Every metallographer is aware that his standard metallographic microscope will not reveal structural detail involving separations smaller than a certain fraction —at the very best a tenth—of a micron. This limitation, he knows, is a consequence of the fact that the wave length of the light employed for forming the image has this order of magnitude. It is, thus, a property of all light microscopes. TO overcome it, a different imaging medium must be employed, The existence of such a medium became evident when it was demonstrated1 that electrons were affected by magnetic and electric fields with axial symmetry just as light is affected by glass lenses; these fields, or "electron lenses," curve the paths of electrons reaching them from an object located on the axis of symmetry in such a manner that, at some distance from the lens, a true image of the object is formed. Furthermore, although a wave length may . be ascribed to electron beams just as to light, this wave length is much shorter; for electrons accelerated through a difference of potential of 50 kilovolts, the wave length is only about one hundred-thousandth of that of visible light. Actually, the elcctron microscopes of today resolve detail one hundred times as fine as light microscopes; if the maximum useful magnification of the latter is taken to be a thousand, that of electron microscopes is one hundred thousand. The Electron Microscope Since electrons are readily scattered and absorbed by matter, specimens to be observed in the electron microscope must be prepared to be less than one micron in thickness; furthermore, the interior of the microscope must be carefully evacuated to prevent collisions between the clectrons and the molecules of the air. Finally, as already mentioned, the lenses are formed by axially symmetric magnetic or electric fields, and not by any material medium such as glass. Apart from these basic differences, the electron microscope closely

Jan 1, 1943