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By H. E. Brauer

PART I INTRODUCTION Among the zinc base alloys used for casting in metal moulds, particularly die casting, those alloys containing aluminum usually together with copper, are probably the most widely used. The reason lies in their desirable mechanical properties and the fluidity and absence of hot shortness which facilitate casting. Objection to the use of these alloys may bee raised on account of the rather frequent instances of failure of a type variously described as disintegration, exfoliation and intercrystalline corrosion. In all cases which have come to our knowledge where the conditions of service were known, failure has occurred upon exposure to moisture and heat varying from a hot moist atmosphere to high pressure steam. Moreover, the alloys described in all such cases contain impurities or alloying metals which the present authors have found to have enormous accelerating effects on intercrystalline oxidation in zinc-aluminum alloys. Thus Williams1 experimented with an alloy containing a large percentage of tin exposed in Cuba. Bauer2 reports failure of a boiler plug containing over 1 per cent. of impurities, doubtless lead for the most part, and Rawdon's3 examinations were made on an alloy containing 0.4 per cent. lead also exposed to the Tropics. No thorough investigation of the nature and cause of this type of failure has been made heretofore, so far as the authors are aware, although Rawdon correctly classified it as internal oxidation. We have, therefore, carried out this investigation in order to determine the exact nature of this phenomenon and the effect of other metals present as impurities or intentional additions in accelerating or-retarding it. In the appendix we include a considerable amount of data which may be valuable in selecting an alloy combining good physical properties with high resistance to oxidation.

Jan 8, 1922

By AIME AIME

ON Thursday, Oct. 9, oil men from far and wide gathered at Beaumont, Texas to participate in a three-day celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the completion of the famous Lucas gusher well at Spindletop field just south of Beaumont, and to pay tribute to Anthony F. Lucas, for whom the Lucas Medal of the A.I.M.E. is named. In the afternoon the gathered host drove to the site of the discovery well to dedicate a 58-ft. granite monu¬ment erected on the spot where the original derrick stood. Representatives of the A.I.M.E. took a prominent part in the dedication ceremonies, giving the two principal addresses of the afternoon's program. Everette DeGolyer, past President, paid a personal tribute to Capt. Lucas, as a pioneer producer, an engineer, and a friend and well wisher of all young engineers. He gave a splendid picture of the useful and full life of Capt. Lucas who always took a great interest in the activities of the Petroleum Division of the Institute, from its inception to the time of his death.

Jan 1, 1941

"The Washoe Smelter is situated about two miles east of the City of Anaconda. The smelter site includes about 240 acres and peculiarly adapts itself in topography to the efficient handling of material. By reason of its being on a hill side it is possible to make the level of delivery of the product of one building the level of the charge floor of the next succeeding one.THE ORES: The ore treated comes principally from the Butte district and is hauled by the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific railway, a distance of twenty-eight miles, in trains of fifty 50-ton bottom-dump cars to the railroad yards at East Anaconda. At this point these trains are• split up according to their destination,—that is, as to whether they go to the concentrator and sampling mill ore bins, or to the storage bins. In each case they are made up into trains of eight or sixteen cars, according to the size of engine to be used, and are carefully weighed before delivery to their respective bills.Some idea of the magnitude of the works may be obtained from the following figures:Amount of ore that can be treated in 24 hours…12,000 tonsLime rock from adjacent quarries…2,300 tonsCoke used…500 tonsCoal for reverberatory use…500 tonsCoal for power use…50 tonsWater, per minute, 35,000 gallons.Men employed in and around Anaconda, 3,000. Monthly payroll for above, $300,000.00."

Jan 1, 1913

By AIME AIME

THE 130th Meeting of the Institute was held in Birmingham on Oct. 13 to 15, with visits to other mines and districts before and after. The last visit of the Institute to Birmingham was made in 1888, thirty-six years ago, and vast development has been made in' the district since then. With proverbial southern hospitality compounding over this period of years the welcome given to the Institute was such that .it is difficult to express properly the gratification and appreciation of the visiting members and the officers of the Institute. The Birmingham News in an editorial said: Birmingham is duly appreciative of the presence of these gentlemen, not because they are all distinguished in their great services in the mining and metallurgical world, but for the further reason that our interests are very largely wrapped up in their deliberations. Birmingham is one of the great industrial centers of America. Their discussions are of vital concern to all of us.

Jan 1, 1924

By Paul A. Beck

IN several recent investigations1 ' considerable evidence was accumulated to show the predominance in various face-centered cubic metals of a certain relative orientation, corresponding to a rotation of 30" to, 40" around a [111] axis, between a matrix with a strong single orientation texture and grains growing in this matrix." This relative orientation was found to occur both in recrystallization and in coarsening, "secondary recrystallization", so that one is inclined to look for an explanation applicable in both cases. The abundance of growing grains in the described orientations proves that suitable "nuclei" are present in the matrix material and that they have the capacity to grow. The scarcity of growing grains in other orientations may be explained in one 'of two ways. Either the number of nuclei or the rate of growth must decrease strongly for orientations deviating from that predominating among the growing grains, Fig. 1. Both the "oriented nucleation" and the "oriented growth" theory found support in the literature. Because the frequency of nuclei as a function of orientation is in most instances not amenable to direct experimental investigation, a definitive decision is difficult to achieve. However, it is now known with great certainty that the rate of boundary migration is strongly dependent on the relative orientation of the two grains meeting at the boundary and that the orientation favored by high boundary mobility closely corresponds to that predominating in most cases of recrystallization and coarsening. Thus, it was found that, in general, the mobility is very low for boundaries between grains of nearly identical orientation, or for coherent twin boundaries. On the other hand, the boundaries between two grains of a relative orientation correspending to a [1111 rotation of 30" to 40" have the highest mobility in face-centered cubic metals. If a large variety of nucleus orientations are produced grow- by means of a highly inhomogeneous local deformation, nuclei close to the above orientation are found to grow fastest.z4 In view of this evidence and of the fact that the preferred orientation relationship is the same in recrystallization and in coarsening, the oriented growth theory appears by far the more promising one. Since the origin of nuclei in primary recrystallization is certainly different from that in coarsening, the occurrence of the same orientation relationship in the two processes would be difficult to explain on the basis of oriented nucleation. other advantages of the oriented growth theory are its capability of accounting for the often observed sharpening of the texture in coarsening, and its suitability for explaining the role in the formation of the ''cube texture,, of the most important variables, such as the degree of rolling, the penultimate grain size, and the time and temperature of the last anneal: No similarly consistent explanation of all these effects has ever been offered in terms of oriented nucleation. An important problem in connection with the oriented growth theory is the following: In the ce-c entered system there are four [111] axes and

Jan 1, 1952

By R. A. RAGATZ

THE preparation of specimens for microscopic examination from metal articles of relatively large cross-section offers no particular difficulty. It often happens, however, that articles submitted for examination are so thin that specimens satisfactory for microscopic examination can not be successfully pre- pared by the methods commonly employed when working with larger articles. Ordinarily, the preparation of metallographic specimens involves the following operations : (1) cutting the small specimens to be examined out of the larger mass of metal, (2) cleaning and electroplating, (3) mounting to furnish support during the grinding and polishing operations, (4) grinding and polishing to produce a scratch-free surface, (5) etching and drying. All of these operations must be carried out in such a manner that when the specimen is finally examined under the microscope, the structure seen is a true and well-defined representation of the structure that the larger mass of metal possesses at the place where the small specimen was removed. It is important that the deformation involved in cutting out the specimen be as slight as possible, in order that the subsequent grinding and polishing operations will completely eliminate the cold- working effects in the vicinity of the cuts. It is also important that the specimen never be allowed to attain a temperature high enough to alter its structure; the maximum permissible depends on the metal being handled. With some metals, zinc for example, consider- able care must be taken to avoid heating; with other metals, annealed steel -for example, no particular pre- cautions need be observed because there is no tendency for structural change to occur at relatively low temperatures.

Jan 1, 1929

By R. Scot Clark

The reactively sputtered silicon dioxide capacitor -was developed for use in the monolithic integrated circuit, thereby requiring the capacitor to be fabricated on an oxidized silicon slice. The silicon dioxide film is formed by reactively sputtering silicon in a 50 pct Ar-50 pct 0, atmosphere and the physical properties are indistinguishable from silica. A practical upper limit of capacitance per unit area of 0.25 pf per sq mil is reached with the capacitors fabricated from the Si0, film. Methods shown to enhance this value are double stacking the thin-film capacitors and addition of aluminum to the silicon cathode during sputtering to form an aluminosilicate dielectric. A major contribution to the field of diffused integrated circuits would be the addition of auxiliary passive devices for replacement of diffused passive devices which are currently being fabricated for many integrated circuits. This accomplishment would increase the flexibility of the diffusion process in order to concentrate more on transistor parameters rather than on fabricating diffused resistors and capacitors. To pursue this technique, a thin-film SiOz capacitor was developed which has _ proven applicable to many integrated circuits. Although the SiOl capacitor has an application, the major deterrent from extending the integrated circuit into many useful areas such as low-frequency linear application is the low dielectric constant of SiO, and the low usable capacitance in an integrated circuit. This paper will cover the sputtering techniques used for forming the SiO, film, the physical and electrical properties of sputtered SiO,, and yield information concerning the application of these capacitors to integrated circuits. REACTIVE SPUTTERING Reactive sputtering is simply the sputtering of a metal or semiconductor in glow discharge in the presence of a reactive gas. The material to be sputtered is seen in Fig. 1 as the cathode of the system and is bombarded with positively charged ions of the ambient gas. In this investigation, the ambient gas is composed of 50 pct Ar and 50 pct O2 at a pressure of approximately 2.5 X l0-' Torr. The ions are accelerated toward the cathode in the cathode dark space by the electric field and upon striking the cathode effect a momentum energy transfer to the surface atoms. The transferred energy is sufficient to dislodge a surface atom or atoms and these particles diffuse through the glow discharge to the collector or anode. Several mechanisms of oxidation in the reaction chamber can be considered during reactive sputtering. 1) The surface of the cathode is oxidized and the oxide is subsequently sputtered. 2) Oxidation and sputtering occur simultaneously. 3) Sputtering of the cathode material is followed

Jan 1, 1965

By N. Cabrera

IN a recent paper Kuczynski' studied the rate at which the crack between a metallic plane and a spherical particle of the same material is filled up gradually when heated at temperatures near the melting point. If x is the radius of contact between plane and sphere (fig. I), Kuczynski shows experimentally that x5 = At [1] where t is the time. Assuming that the mechanism of transport of matter is the volume diffusion of vacant lattice sites, he is also able to prove Eq 1 theoretically. The constant A contains as a factor the self-diffusion coefficient of the metal and he shows that the values for this coefficient deduced from his experiments yield the same activation energy as that calculated by other methods, which is a confirmation of this point of view. Kuczynski has also considered theoretically the law of growth of x which would be expected if surface diffusion were the important mechanism. He suggests that x should then obey a law of the form x7 = At, and claims to be able to decide the mechanism involved from the observed law of growth., The purpose of this note is to prove this incorrect. On the contrary, when the mechanism is surface diffusion Eq 1 is also obeyed, but with a different constant A. Following Kuczynski, we suppose the bottom of the crack (surface A A) to have an average radius of curvature p. As a result of this curvature the concentration of adsorbed atoms in this surface, n(p) per cm2, will be smaller, and the concentration of vacant lattice sites in the neighborhood, N(p) per cm3, will be larger than the corresponding concentrations, n(w) and N(w), for a flat surface. For all practical cases we can write Thomson's formula in the form n(co)— n(P) N(P)—N(cc) _ 2a-a" n(oo) JV(co) kTp [2] where u is the surface energy of the metal and a the interatomic distance. 1. Let us now consider the mechanism of surface diffusion. We suppose the concentration of ad-

Jan 1, 1951

By J. A. Retty

HOLLINGER CONSOLIDATED GOLD MINES LTD., through two subsidiary companies, has the exclusive right to prospect in two contiguous areas in central Labrador. This paper presents the results of the mineral exploration that has been conducted in these areas to date. One of the subsidiaries of Hollinger. the Labrador Mining and Exploration Co. Ltd., under an agreement with the Newfoundland Commission of Government, holds an area of approximately 20,000 sq.mi., which comprises the western portion of Newfoundland-Labrador and includes the upper basins of the Hamilton and Naskaupi Rivers. (The main area of the deposits so far discovered may be located on a map at about 67° west longitude and 55° north latitude.) The other subsidiary of Hollinger, Hollinger North Shore Exploration Co. Ltd., has licensed from the Province of Quebec an area of approximately 3900 sq.mi. lying directly north of the Newfoundland-controlled area at the headwaters of the George, Whale, and Swampy Bay Rivers. The M. A. Hanna Co., large iron-ore operators of the Lake Superior region, are participating in the project. With the exception of the years 1940 and 1941, field work has been conducted in the Newfoundland area since 1936, and in the Quebec area since 1939. Hollinger assumed the management in 1942. The field base is at Hollinger Lake, some 300 miles north of the tidewater base at Seven Islands, Quebec, which, in turn, is just west of the mouth of the Moisie River, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Air transportation is used exclusively to service the operation.

Jan 1, 1945

By J. G. Baragwanath

CUBA'S lateritic iron ores, occurring on the northern coast of that island, though known to the Spaniards. did not receive any general attention until the close of the Spanish-American War. Preliminary studies of these deposits at that time indicated that the limonite contained small percentages of nickel and chrome, and it ryas subsequently discovered that although the average nickel content was only approximately 0.6 per certain limited areas of ore were suffiniently high in nickel to be considered commercial provided a suitable process fur its recovery could be developed. Early in 1937, Pardners Mines Corp. began a series of investigations which led to the development of such a process. Coincidentally, this company acquired option' on certain properties in the Levisa Bay and Moa Bay regions and conducted a systematic campaign of exploration by test pits and hand-auger holes in the course of which an aggregate of 90.000.000 tons of ore was developed in eight deposits.

Jan 1, 1945

By Nicholas J. Grant, Olaf Troili, John Chipman

IN recent studies of the factors which affect the rate of desulphurization and its equilibrium, it became apparent that certain concurrent reactions were operative which had a significant effect on desulphurization. This is emphasized in the experiments of Hatch and Chipman1 and of Grant, Kalling, and Chipman' by the slow approach to a final state of equilibrium which is in marked contrast to the initial rapid transfer of sulphur from metal to slag. Since the removal of sulphur is of such profound importance in iron and steelmaking, it appeared necessary to investigate the reactions responsible for this behavior. It is now known that the presence of iron oxide in the slag interferes seriously with the principal reaction of blast-furnace desulphurization: CaO (slag) +-S + C - CaS (slag) + CO [l] The interfering reaction is most simply expressed as: CaS (slag) + 0 = CaO (slag) +-S 121 and a small concentration of oxygen (or FeO) is sufficient to hold a considerable amount of sulphur in the metal. It has been shown by Grant, Kalling, and Chipman2 that the addition of MnO to blast-furnace slag slows the removal of sulphur from the metal. This effect overshadows the contribution of MnO to basicity and is ascribed to its oxidizing power. It will be shown in this paper that SiO, also has sufficient oxidizing power to interfere with blastfurnace desulphurization. This is, of course, only one of its several effects. Primarily it is an acid and therefore reduces the concentration of excess lime. But when silicon is reduced to the metal the oxygen to which it was previously bonded becomes in part available for reaction 2. The proof of this statement is found in the following experiments. Experimental Procedure and Results Utilizing the same procedure and apparatus described by Grant, Kalling, and Chipman' five additional heats were made using slags IV and 11, the starting compositions of which were: slag IV—40 CaO, 10 MgO, 35 SiO,, 15 A1,0,; and slag 11—50 CaO, 10 MgO, 25 SiO,, 15 Al3O3. An important difference between these heats and those previously reported was that silicon to the extent of 1 to 4 pct was added to the present heats whereas the starting silicon content was formerly about 0.2 pct. Table I shows the slag and metal analyses for heats 82 to 87, and Table I1 shows the silicon addi- tions made to the charge. These additions are based on 400 g of metal and 400 g of slag. All heats had 1.65 400pct S charged before the cold slagadditions. The temperature was maintained at 1525°C. Rate of SiO, Reduction: Fig. 1 shows the silicon content of the metal in contact with slag IV at 1525°C as a function of time. Heat 70 from the work of Grant, afunctionKalling,of and Chipman is included as the lowest starting silicon. It will be noted that eeven with 4 pct Si in the starting metal, there is an increase in silicon content with time. Heat 84 is apparently approaching silicon equilibrium very slowly. Heats 70 and 82 with very much lower slowly.starting silicon show a more rapid initial rise in startingsilicon content but do not reach equilibrium during a long holding period. Fig. 2 shows 3 different initial silicon contents for Fig.2shows3differentheats 73 (from Grant, Kalling, and Chipman) 86 and 87, in contact with slag II, the most basic slag. Heat 73 is increasing in silicon with time, whereas heat 87 with an initial silicon content of 3.7 pct shows a decrease with time. Heat 86 shows a very close approach to equilibrium. The rate of transfer of silicon from slag to equilibrium.metal is very slow in all of those heats, even those which are initially far from equilibrium. ____

Jan 1, 1952

By L. O. Howard

THERE are three active mines in the Chewelah-Colville district, the United Silver Copper near Chewelah, and the Old Dominion and the Chloride Queen near Colville. The Admiral near Valley is also doing development work. The Chewelah district is in the south central part of Stevens County in the Colville Valley. Chewelah, a thriving town of 1600 people, and the scene of operations of the Northwest Magnesite Co., is about the center of the district. It is situated in a farming community on the Spokane-Nelson branch of the Great Northern railway, about 65 miles north of Spokane. Only two or three of the mines in the district have been extensively developed, although many have been prospected. The general elevation of the valley, is about 1600 or 1700 ft., that of the mountain ranges on each side about 3000 to 4000 ft., with gentle slopes and rounded glaciated tops. Prospecting is often difficult because of much glacial debris.

Jan 1, 1925

CALAMINE is one of the semiminerals that have great similarity to the metals. It is a very heavy mineral earth of a yellowish color. It is found in Germany near the lead mines and in Italy in a mountain between Milan and Como. It is also found, as I have heard, in other places, as at Fosini in the territory of Siena. I believe that it is almost certain that some exists there because there are many other kinds of minerals there- about, although none is mined there in these times. But this does not mean that it could not be mined or that there is not some there that is real. Someone says that he med to melt what he could find with copper [36v]

Jan 1, 1942

By Dorsey Hager

THE information given in the accompanying table is submitted as evidence confirming the application of the anticlinal theory and the value of geology in the Kansas and Oklahoma oil fields. The term anticline has been used to define a particular type of arched fold. The anticlinal theory of oil accumulation should, however, be broadened to include any structural fold of an arched type even if not a distinct anticline. A terrace may very properly come under the heading of the anticlinal theory of accumulation, as the folding is closely related to that of the anticline; in fact, in many cases is an arrested anticline, though not completely closed in all directions. Stratigraphic forms due to lensing or irregular cementation of the sands certainly cannot be considered to fall within the anticlinal theory, though the laws of accumulation may be similar. A dome is similar to an anticline and belongs to the same class. A dome is broader in proportion to its length than an anticline. Many anticlines undulate along their axes to form domes. The anticlinal theory in this discussion will then be applied to anticlines, domes and terraces. In the following list, the writer has tabulated the main oil fields of Oklahoma, and a few recently discovered fields in Kansas. The fields discovered within the past 4 years are listed with the date of their discovery. Under "How found," the writer puts "Wildcat" where a geologist has not been employed, "Geology" where it has been used, and "?" where there is doubt. In some places the geologists have claimed pools that may rightly belong to them, but their claims have been questioned, so that they belong in an unsettled category.

Jan 2, 1917

Aamot, Olav Crone, (M'29) Chem. Engr., Elektro¬kemisk, Raadhusgt, 23; Oslo, Norway. Abadilla. Quirico A., (M'33) Min. Engr., Dir., Bureau of Mines, Manila, P. I. Abbott, Agatin T., ( J'40) Asst. Geol., Trench Mine, Patagonia, Ariz. Abbott, Clarence E., (M'04) Civil Engr., V.P., Tennessee Coal Iron & R. R. Co.. 159'3 Brown Marx Bldg.. Birmingham, Ala. Abel, Raymond L., (M'28) Chem. Engr., Chief of Inspection Div., Pittsburgh Chem. Warfare Pro¬curement Dist., American Batik Bldg., Pitts¬burgh. Pa. Abel, Walter D., (M'32) Min. Engr.. Div. of Cor¬porations, State of Calif.. 403 California State Bldg., Los Angeles, Calif. Abele. Louis T., (M'31) 4800 Patterson Ave.. Richmond, Va. Abell, Leo M., (M'311 Research Met., Mount Mor¬gan Ltd., Mount Morgan, Queensland, Australia. Abenius, Hakan V., (M'37) c/o Falu Gruva, Falun, Sweden. Abernathy. G. E., (M '33S) Geol., Kansas State Geol. Survey. Pittsburg, Kan. Abernathy, Jack. H.. (M'40) Chief Engr., Sunray Oil Co.. Philtower B1dg., Tulsa. Okla. Ahorn, Robert H., (M'19) Asst. Met., Research Lab., U. S. Steel Corp., Lincoln Highway, Kearny, N. J. Abraham, A. W., (M'30) Petr. Engr., Richfield Oil Corp., 555 S. Flower St., Los Angeles. Calif. Abramowitz, William L., (J'40) Chem., National Oil Products Co., Harrison, N. J. Abrams, Charles Jackson, (M'36) Gen'l Supt., Climax Molybdenum Co.; Climax, Colo. Abstein, Henry T., (M'27) Yellow Pine, Idaho. Ackerman, D. E., (M'35) McKinsey & Co., 2 Wall St., New York, N. Y. Ackerman. E. Dumont, (A'3S) Petr. Geol.. Dist. Geol., Quiriquire' Dist., Standard Oil Co. of Venezuela, Caripito, Venezuela.

Jan 1, 1941

By E. H. Rose

IN the realm of ore dressing the most pregnant feat of all time was announced in 1945: the winning of the mineral raw materials which made the harnessing of atomic energy possible. Lost in the stupendous implications of the end result, in the two billion dollar hugeness of the project, and in the famous names attached thereto, the fact that crude uranium ores had to be concentrated received relatively little notice in the press. Only the final link in the concentrating chain was publicized-ether extraction of uranyl nitrate, developed by Hoffman and carried on by the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, or methods developed by the Ames group under Spedding. Some of the earlier links represented less glamorous but equally difficult and exacting research. One may only speak a word of admiration for those who worked hard, accomplished much, and said nothing. The universal lament for most of the year was "man shortage." A group of Canadian engineers expressed it as "being so short of labor that no labor was available to develop laborsaving devices." . Despite this, an outstanding amount of mineral-dressing progress was made in 1945. Necessity allowed no alternative. The insatiable demand of war for minerals forced the exploitation of lower and lower grade ores, and of others not before considered of commercial character or use, requiring the mineral dresser to fight for and win new bridgeheads on the home front.

Jan 1, 1946

By Jei Y. Choi, Paul G. Shewmon

The surface self-diffusion coefficient of copper (D,) has been measured between 847° and 1069 "C for six different orientations. These were the(111), (110, (100, and three higher index surfaces. The activation energy for Ds (designated Q s) was found to be about 49 kcal per mol for all six surfaces, and Do about 2 x 104 sq cm per sec. At any temperature Ds varied by no more than a factor of three over these orientations. It is shown that, if the free energy of a surface atom is uniquely determined by its number of nearest neighbors, it follows from the Principle of microscopic reversibility that Qs should have the same value for all surface orientations, and Ds should vary little with orientation. This model also suggests that for clean fee metals Qs ~ 2/3 AH, (heat of vaporization). This is true for copper. ALTHOUGH it has been appreciated for several decades that atoms can diffuse more rapidly on a surface than through the bulk of a crystal, it has only been in the last few years that reliable values of the surface self-diffusion coefficient (Ds) have become available. Tracer studies of Ds had been attempted prior to this period, but when a tracer is placed on a surface, an ever increasing fraction of it is drained off into the lattice. The correction for this loss involves a very difficult, and as yet unperformed calculation. Those who have worked with tracers have not corrected for this loss.1, 2 Thus their results indicate that Ds is greater than the self-diffusion coefficient in the lattice (Dl), but it has not been established that they give quantitative data on Ds. A procedure which avoids the problem of tracer loss is to study the rate of mass-transfer under the effect of surface tension. If the surface asperity being studied is very small, the mass transfer occurs entirely by surface diffusion. The kinetics at which a grain boundary groove forms on an initially plane surface is a well-studied case of this type. The smoothing of a slight scratch in an otherwise flat surface is another procedure that has been studied. If these grooves are up to 20 to 30 µ in width, the dominant mechanism for mass transfer is surface diffusion (at least in the case of metals with low vapor pressures), and the widths can easily be measured with an interference microscope. Of these two, mass-transfer techniques only in the case of grain boundary grooving has a rigorous mathematical treatment been given. This was done by Mullins.3,4 His analysis predicted that in the case of copper in an atmosphere of an inert gas, surface diffusion should be the dominant transport mechanism. This analysis gave an equation for the groove profile and predicted that the width of the groove would increase as (time)1/4. Mullins and Shewmon showed that both of these predictions agreed with experiments.5 Thus the validity of the values of Ds given by this procedure seems to be well established. Gjostein has used copper bicrystals and the grain boundary grooving technique to determine Ds and the activation energy for surface selfdiffusion (9,) in the [001] direction on surfaces ranging between the (100) and (110) planes.= He reported that Qs = 41 kcal per mole and Do = 6.5 x 102 sq cm per sec for all orientations studied. Since the results did not change with the dew-point of the dry hydrogen atmosphere or the type of refractory tube used, he concluded that the surfaces were clean, or at least that the results were not influenced by any impurities chemisorbed from the atmosphere. The work reported here reproduces and extends Gjostein's study in that D s and Q s were determined for copper over a wider range of orientations. To study the effects of impurities, two purities of copper were used as well as cathodic etching to remove any possible electropolishing film. Gjostein postulated that the diffusing atoms on a surface near a low index plane are the few atoms which are adsorbed on the smooth region between ledges or steps in the surface. A more rigorous derivation of the equation relating Ds to the concentration and jump frequency of these adsorbed atoms is given here. Using this treatment, our empirical observation that Q s and D s are essentially the same for all surface orientations can be shown to follow from the assumption that the free energy of a surface atom is uniquely determined by its number of nearest neighbors. The studies of D s using the scratch technique have been carried out by Blakely and Mukura on nickel,' and by Geguzin and Oveharenko on copper. The latter study using copper gives values of D s roughly

Jan 1, 1962

By AIME AIME

A SIDE from the technical sessions held as noted elsewhere, the chairman of the various sub-committees of the Mining Methods Committee, together with a few other specialists, were invited to a conference with President Bradley, which was held on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 20. The general plan of a comprehensive series of comparable papers descriptive of mining practice in various parts of the country, launched by this committee some seven years ago having been adopted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, the feeling was general that the Committee could safely 1eave.that part of its work in these capable hands and turn its attention to other matters. The plans of the Bureau were presented as below by Charles William Wright of the Bureau.

Jan 1, 1929

By Sheldon P. Wirnpfen

AN extensive study of German underground manufacturing experience is being undertaken by the Air Materiel Command. Headquarters officials consider completely underground facilities one of the most effective means of protecting aircraft production against air attacks of the strength and type employed in World War II. Advantages accruing to underground manufacturing installations other than protection are, perhaps, a smaller maintenance problem and the possibility of using gravity flow on some production lines. Offsetting these advantages are the high cost of construction, problems of ventilation, and poor acoustics. Excavation costs might well be less than the cost of enclosing the same area on the surface, as new and better methods of rock drilling and transportation are developed. Certainly the amount of building materials used would be far less than in constructing a surface plant of the same dimensions. A fewer number of skilled workers would be required to perform the labor of excavation. Underground construction would

Jan 1, 1947

By D. S. Cahn, D. W. Fuerstenau

Specimens of glass, plexiglass, and naturally occurring minerals were irradiated by a 15-joule ruby laser pulse to determine criteria for the fracture of nonmetallic solids by internal thermal stresses. Fracture did not occur in those specimens with either a very high or very low internal absorptance or with a high spectral reflectance. If significant amounts of melting and vaporization do not occur at the surface of irradiation, the specimen will fracture if a derived 11fracture stress" exceeds the ultimate tensile strength of the specimen. The purpose of this investigation was to determine criteria for the fracture of nonmetallic solids by internal thermal stresses which are caused by absorption of laser irradiation. A laser produces a very short pulse of light which has a high energy density distributed over a very narrow part of the visible spectrum. The laser system used in this investigation had an energy output of 15 0 joules at a wavelength of 6940 A. Fracture in a non-metallic solid, then, would be caused by the absorption of light energy by that solid, and subsequent conversion of this energy to heat or mechanical energy. Fracture is caused by internal stresses that result from rapidly imposed nonequilibrium thermal gradients. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS FOR FRACTURE BY LASER IRRADIATION For this analysis, the laser beam is assumed to be circular and centered on the junction of the major and minor axes of a rectangular specimen. The laser beam forms a cylinder of radius rb extending through the specimen width. The beam cylinder may be then thought of as a heated mass constrained by a surrounding unheated mass. The instantaneously heated cylinder will at-

Jan 1, 1968