Search Documents

By P. Lelong, P. Lacombe, J. Herenguel

IN previous studies on the effect of orientation on the rate of anodic oxidation of A1-3 pct Mg mono-crystals of high purity, certain anomalies were observed on the cold-worked metal. These anomalies were shown to correspond to regions of changed orientation within the grains resulting from plastic deformation.' In fact, they are deformation bands revealed by differences in rate of oxidation and produced by more or less continuous bending of the lattice about a [Ill] axis common to the original crystal and the band.2,3 Preliminary observations made after relatively large degrees of cold working revealed an approximate twin relationship between the bands and the surrounding crystal. Fig. 1 shows the etch figures formed on such a band and on the original monocrystal after a 67 pct rolling reduction. It is evidently not a true twinning, since there is a broad transition zone between the two systems, however the two extreme orientations are nearly in a twin relationship. It was decided to investigate these preliminary observations by progressive rolling-reductions on monocrystals of varied initial orientation. From these studies, which form the subject of the present article, it became apparent that the initial observation of an approximate twin relation between the bands and the monocrystal was simply a special case. Our experiments show that deformation in rolling proceeds by a mechanism analogous to those which have already been observed in the simpler cases of tension and compression. Micrography—in particular, the formation of etch figures—has been applied to the quantitative study of these orientations. In addition, observations have been made of slip lines, of thin oxide films yielding interference colors, of thick films in polarized light, and of etchants giving "engraving." These micrographic methods for studying orientation have established the orientation relationship without any ambiguity, whereas X-ray methods would have given only a statistical result because we were often dealing with thin bands (2 to 100 microns) and even narrower connecting zones covering a maximum of 20 microns. Specimen Preparation and Methods The Al-3 pct Mg alloy was prepared from 99.95 pct A1 and is of the type used industrially in France for brilliant anodized finishes under the name of Brillalumag. This material combines the normal commercial properties with an enduring brilliance due to the protection of a thick, but perfectly transparent, film of alumina.' The monocrystals were prepared by the method of critical deformation followed by prolonged annealing. Great care was taken to insure perfect homogeneity of composition, to eliminate included crystals,6,7 and to avoid the formation of undulations during oxidation. The critical deformation for this alloy is about 1.2 pct (1-l0/10x100) and the subsequent annealing was for one week at 500 °C after gradual increase of temperature (35°C per hr). The crystals thus prepared had a section of 10x5 mm and a length of 20 to 40 mm. Each of these crystals was polished electrolytically and etched for the formation of etch-figures with the classical reagent.' The orientation was then calculated from their angles, as measured with a goniometer microscope.

Jan 1, 1954

By E. T. Turkdogan, P. Grieveson

Molten silver is equilibrated with silicon nitride at 1400°C in nitrogen + hydrogen gas mixtures, and from the solubility data the activity coefficient of silicon is found to be 1.76 at silicon concentrations below 1 pct. Using this value, and that available from the silicon cmbide solubility measurements, together with those derived from the phase equilibrium diagvam, the activities of silver and silicon are estimated for the entire composition range. The main feature of the activity data is that there is a pronounced positive deviation from ideality. The activity of silver in molten silver containing up to 5 pct Si was determined by Schadel, Derge, and Birchenall1 by measuring the vapor pressure of pure silver and of the alloy over a temperature range of 850º to 1050°C. They deduced from their results that there is a positive deviation from Raoult's law and that the activity coefficient of silver increases with decreasing temperature. However, as pointed out by Kubaschewski and Catterall,2 their activity coefficients are much too high, giving silver activities greater than unity. At a later date McCabe and Birchenal13 showed that the previous vapor pressure data on silver4 were high by a factor of about 1.3; presumably a similar error must have occurred with the vapor pressure measurements on the Ag-Si alloys. The activities of silicon and silver calculated by tager' from the phase diagram and by Gibbs-Duhem integration, respectively, show a positive deviation from Raoult's law for silicon activity and positive and negative deviations for the silver activity. According to these computations, at infinite dilution of silicon ygi = 1.12 at 1420°C. d'Entremont and chipman6 measured the solubility of silicon carbide in molten silver at unit carbon activity; the equilibrium silicon content is found to be Nsi = 0.017 ± 0.002 atom fraction for 1420°C. Using the data of Grieveson and Alcock7 for the free energy of formation of silicon carbide from pure silicon and graphite, the activity of silicon for unit activity of carbon and of silicon carbide is asi = 0.0308 at 1420°c; therefore for the above solubility data on silver, YSi = 1.81, which is somewhat higher than that given by Hager. Use is often made of silver alloys in the measurements of activities of solutes in metals where silver has a very low solubility; in fact, Ag-Si and Ag-A1 alloys have been used in the past for such purposes. In an attempt to gain more thermodynamic data on molten Ag-Si alloys, measurements have been made in the present study on the solubility of silicon nitride in molten silver; the results on these solubilities are given in this paper together with a detailed discussion of activities of silver and silicon. SOLUBILITY OF SILICON NITRIDE The standard free energy of formation of silicon nitride is known with a reasonably high degree of accuracy. According to the measurements made by Hincke and Brantle8 and by Pehlke and Elliott,' the following are the free energy data for the standard states of solid Si3N4, liquid silicon, and Nz at 1 atm pressure:

Jan 1, 1963

By K. D. Hester, A. W. Fletcher

A nickel-copper sulphide concentrate was treated in a pilot plant at Warren Spring Laboratory during 1961, by a hydrometallurgical roast-leach-solvent extraction process devised to cleanly separate the metal values and produce acid sulphate liquors containing the metals. It is shown that 86 pct of the nickel and 95 pct of the copper could be leached from the calcine, after a sulphatizing roast on finely ground flotation concentrate. Iron was removed from the leach liquor by limestone neutralization with a small loss of values. Copper and nickel were separated by solvent extraction with naphthenic acid in kerosene after partial neutralization of the iron-free liquors with ammonium hydroxide. Hydrogen sulphide and chlorine were used to remove zinc (and residual copper) and cobalt impurities respectively. The recovery of pure copper and pure nickel, by electrowinning, from the acidic solvent extract strip liquors finally produced, appears technically feasible. An economic analysis of production costs shows that small, geographically isolated, nickel-copper sulphide deposits cannot usually be worked profitably by established processes. The requirements for profitable operation on a comparatively small scale could possibly be met by a flotation-roast-leach process. Two difficulties, obtaining satisfactory extraction of nickel from a sulphide concentrate and separating the copper and nickel in solution, have prevented the previous use of this method. A solution to the first problem, dissolution of the nickel, was described in a recent paper by Thornhill.1 It was shown in this paper that copper and nickel in a flotation concentrate could be oxidized to water soluble sulphates by roasting in a fluidized bed with added salt cake. Workers at the Warren Spring Laboratory have shown that the separation of copper and nickel can be accomplished by solvent extraction using a relatively inexpensive carboxylic acid, naphthenic acid. Moreover, the mineral acid required to strip values from the loaded solvent could be produced, and the metals recovered, by electrowinning; thus the latter section of the process was regenerative. The removal of iron from the leach liquor and the elimination of impurities such as zinc and cobalt before nickel electrowinning would be necessary to complete the flowsheet. The process under investigation could therefore be summarized (Fig. 1) as follows: 1) Flotation to produce a bulk sulphide concentrate. 2) Fluidized bed roasting to sulphate the nickel and copper minerals. 3) Leaching of roaster calcine to extract soluble nickel and copper. 4) Precipitation of iron from the separated leach liquor by air oxidation after the adjustment of pH and temperature. 5) Recovery of copper from the iron-free Liquor by pH adjustment and liquid-liquid extraction. 6) Purification of the copper raffinate by removing zinc and residual copper as insoluble sulphides and cobalt as cobaltic hydroxide. 7) Recovery of nickel from the purified liquor by pH adjustment and liquid-liquid extraction. Laboratory and pilot plant studies detailed below, were carried out at the Warren Spring Laboratory, to test the feasibility of each one of the unit processes and to obtain preliminary plant design data. FLOTATION The ore was an altered basic rock containing concentrations of magmatic sulphides.

Jan 1, 1964

By A. Vignes, J. P. Sabatier

A study of ternary diffusion at 1315°C in the Fe-Co-Ni system covering the entire ternary phase diagram has been carried out. Experimental values of the four interdiffusion coefficients DFeNico,DFeCoCo, DFeCoNi were computed at 33 points of the ternary diagram. The limiting values of these coefficients on the three sides of the ternary diizgram have also been determined. This set of data is presented as a contour map on the ternary isotherm for each of the four coefficients. Assuming that the Fe-Co-Ni system can be considered as ideal, the phenomenological coefficients Lk ij (with k = Fe) have been computed and the Onsager reciprocal relutions verified. It is shown that, in the Fe-Co-Ni system, the diffusion process can also be described by only two interdiffusion coefficients DFeFe and DCoNiFe, the second cross diffusion coefficient DCoFeNi being equal to zero and the second direct difusion coefficient being given by The values of the cross interdiffusion coefficients and of the Onsager coefficients are explained in terms of atomic mobilities of the three components with the help of a kinetic calculation due to Lane and Kirkaldy.8 It is shown that all the results are explained if the tracer difusion coefficients of the three components are such that DFe > DNi ~ DCo in complete agreement with experimental data on the three binary systems. DIFFUSION in a ternary alloy system is basically and significantly different from diffusion in binary alloys. In binary diffusion, there is just one independent composition variable and only one coefficient Dij is needed to describe the interdiffusion process. In ternary diffusion, we must allow for cross interaction between two independent species, and four interdiffusion coefficients are necessary to describe the transport process. Kirkaldy et al.1,2 have determined interdiffusion coefficients in the systems, Cu-Mn-A1 and Zn-Cu-Al. Guy and Leroy4 have reported intrinsic diffusion coefficients for the r phase at 1300°C of Co-Ni-Cr alloys as a function of composition using the analysis of Philibert and Guy.3 Interdiffusion coefficients were measured at three different compositions at 850°C in the single phase copper-rich corner of the Cu-Zn-Mn system by Dayananda and race.5 Zie-bold and Ogilvie6 have determined interdiffusion coefficients in the single-phase field of the Cu-Ag-Au system at 725°C. Preliminary results on diffusion at 1136°C in the system Fe-Co-Ni have been reported.7 In this study, data are reported on a more complete determination of interdiffusion coefficients in the Fe-Co-Ni system in the entire ternary at 1315°C. There is complete solid solubility with the fcc structures at 1315ºC, and this system can be considered as nearly ideal. This approximation allows the computation of the Onsager phenomenological coefficients. These values can then be used to test a kinetic calculation of the Onsager L coefficients in ternary substitutional solid solutions due to Lane and Kirkaldy.8

Jan 1, 1970

By David Baker

A Discussion of the Paper of David Baker, read at the Lake Superior Meeting, September, 1904. (Washington Meeting, May, 1905.) MR. JOHN J. PORTER, Chicago Ill. (communication to the Secretary*) :-Mr. Baker's account of his experiences with stock-distribution has been particularly interesting to me, as it confirms the opinions which I had formed concerning the rapid failure of linings in several furnaces that have recently come to my notice. These furnaces, four -in number, are of modern construction, having been built or remodeled within the past two years, and are equipped with a well-known type of skip-hoist and double-bell charging-apparatus. In every case, a hot spot has developed within a few months after blowing-in, which has already compelled relining in two cases, and the probabilities are strongly against a long campaign in the other two. Since the hot spot in each case appeared in a position approximately opposite to the skip-hoist, and since the sizing, mentioned by Mr. Baker, is very apparent, it would seem as though there could be no doubt concerning the cause of the trouble. Nevertheless, there are some who cannot see it in that light; for the managers of two of these plants, at least, do not admit the existence of bad distribution, and have satisfied themselves by putting in cooling-plates, thickening the lining of the in-wall, and changing the brand of the fire-brick used for the construction of the walls. From observations of the clumping-action of the skip-hoist, and from subsequent inspection of the stock-distribution in the furnace itself, I arrived at the conclusion, some time ago, that no system of filling could be perfectly satisfactory where the stock is dumped into the hopper from one side, also that some

Mar 1, 1905

By Richard W. Lodge

In the crucible-method of assaying ores for silver a certain amount of litharge is essential to supply sufficient lead to collect the precious metals. The object of this paper is to point out that the use of a large excess of' litharge in the assay of some ores will give results for silver that are uneven as well as low. So far as I know, however, an excess of litharge does not affect the results obtained in the crucible-assay of ores for gold. The main reasons for using, in the crucible-assay, much more litharge than is required to givc the necessary lead button are: 1, its action as a flux; 2, its action as a desulphur-izer; and 3, its action as an oxidizer, especially on metals like copper and nickel, whereby they are forced into the slag as oxides and thus prevented from passing into the lead button. Hence, by the use of much litharge in the crucible-assay more ore call often be taken than in the scorification-process, and a lead button obtained which call possibly be cupelled at once or after a single scorification. The method is specially advantageous with an ore carrying much copper or similar impurity and poor in silver, when the assayer does not wish to resort to a wet-analysis for the determination of the silver. It is well known that some ores give better results when assayed by the scorification-method, while others give better results by the crucible-method. For several years I have noticed that, when much litharge was used with certain sulphide and arsenical ores, the results were considerably lower than when the scarification-method was used. This fact was more forcibly brought out in connection with certain work carried on this year by Messrs. H. A. Frame and

Jan 1, 1908

By Simon D. Strauss

Production and consumption of nonferrous metals in the United States during 1950 were at peak levels for the postwar period, as is shown in Tables I, II, and III. The trend of production was upward through most of the year. At the year end, with the possible exception of the Tri-State zinc-lead district, the large mining operations in the country were running at capacity. The absence of serious labor interruptions during the year was an important contributing factor in the increased out-put of metals, since in each of the previous postwar years there had been a number of major strikes which affected production adversely.

Jan 2, 1951

By Persifor Frazer

IT was my intention to have directed the attention of the members of the Institute to a complete series of rocks representing the older and middle formations represented in Pennsylvania, but time has been insufficient for the purpose, and I have been unable, in the first attempts to reduce the sections of those rocks, which I have brought with me to this meeting, to the requisite thinness necessary for exhibiting the peculiarities of their constituent minerals. The rocks represented here belong to the various horizons already mentioned, and include gneiss, ferruginous gneiss, chlorite slate, quartzites, and hydro-mica slates, limestones, dolomites, ferruginous conglomerates, quartz conglomerates, "Potomac marble" (nether member of the Mesozoic series), dolerites, and a syenite. The order in which these are named is, roughly, the order -of geographical position in a section line from southeast to northwest, commencing at the intersection of the Northern Central Railroad with the Maryland line, and ending a few miles from the town of York, and a short distance within the marginal outcrop of Mesozoic red sandstone. In such a geographical section all the rocks above mentioned would be encountered in the given order except syenite, about which a few words are to be said in a moment. (But this is far from representing the rocks in their geological sequence.) There is nothing of unusual interest to present to your notice in these slates and quartzites. The limestones were carefully searched under 450 diameters microscopic power, but they show no signs of organic remains. One section of a fine-grained Triassic sandstone contains a very beau¬tifully banded plate of quartz. But the objects of greatest interest at present are the specimens of trap. The more fine-grained and compact traps were collected from

Jan 1, 1875

By L. G. Huntley

The entire production of Colombia for 1927 was that from the Tropical Oil Co. concession. Production was approximately 14,000,000 bbl., of which 12,081,000 bbl. were exported from the Mamonal terminal of the Andian National Corp. near Cartagena. The balance represents that refined and used or marketed within Colombia. As production in 1926 was only 6,443,540 bbl., the increase has been more than 100 per cent. This is partly due to the looping of the pipe line from the concession to the coast, and the resultant increase in capacity to 50,000 bbl. per day, and also to increased domestic sales. The refinery at Barranca has been doubled in capacity, and it is understood is now handling 5000 bbl. of crude daily. This gives the producing field a potential outlet of 55,000 bbl. daily. The Tropical Oil Co. completed 82 wells in 1927, with one abandoned for drilling difficulties. The average daily initial production was 1136 bbl. per well. The largest well is reported to be No. 173 La Cira, rated as 5000 bbl. initial. Most of the wells were drilled on the Infantas and La Cira structures, the latter located en echelon to the northwest of the main Infantas anticline, and separated from it only by a low saddle. Drilling operations on the Llanos fold, also en echelon with Infantas but to the southeast, and at San Luis, bearing about the same relationship to the Umir Hills uplift, are still more or less in the exploratory stage. The four structures mentioned cover approximately 15,000 acres, on which there are at present 223 producing wells. Drilling has been better than 92 per cent. successful since starting operations on this concession. Allowing 15 acres per well, which is 50 per cent. more than good practice in the Mid-Continent fields, there is thus room for 1000 wclls, which at the recent rate is a 10-year drilling campaign. This does not take into consideration the known deeper oil zones, which have not been prospected, but which are uniformly petroliferous at their outcrops to the eastward. It is estimated that with the enlarged pipe line capacity, as well as increased domestic consumption, the production for this country will be about 20,000,000 bbl. for the current year of 1928. It is possible that

Jan 1, 1928

NOW continuing with the preparation of the moulds I say that it is necessary to give the greatest attention to the differences of the clays as well as to the differences of those things that you wish to mould; and to know that every concavity in the mould produces a convexity and every convexity a hollow following the shape of the original pattern that you have. The pattern should be a body of a harder mated than the thing [78] you wish to mould with and of a substance that is not swollen or disintegrated by moisture. Its archetype may be of marble, bronze, lead, or any other metal, or also of wood, wax, tallow, gypsum, sulphur, or other plaster compositions-in short, of whatever you may have or whatever succeeds best for you, depending on whether the works are large or small and easy or &cult to mould. If you wish to cast them in bronze, you must mould them with loam, covering them with it and then drying it. There are some things in which it is enough to form only one part, such as half- or bas-reliefs. These are easy if they have no undercuts. Some other patterns that are easily handled are formed in two halves, or in three or four pieces, if they are of a hard material. There are also moulds for large statues, which, if one desires to make them of bronze, are first made of wax according to the ordinary procedure. I have in mind to describe every one of these processes in their own place. There are like- wise some moulds that are difficult to make, like scenes on a plane to which figures in full relief are attached, or twisted ornaments or other detached things that cannot be withdrawn from the mould without break-

Jan 1, 1942

Alfred E. Hunt, Pittsburgh, Pa. (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Blue's statement (page 576) that, " owing to the presence of iron and other impurities, makers of aluminum. assert that native corundum is unsuited for the production of that metal," is somewhat incorrect, at least so far as it may refer to any objection made by the officials of the Pittsburgh Reduction Co. to the Canadian corundums. We recognize corundum as among the richest and purest of the ores of aluminum, and the material furnished from Canada would offer for us the advantage of a supply near to our works for the manufacture of aluminum at Niagara Falls. The real difficulty which we find in the use of corundum for this manufacture is the cost of the raw material as compared with that of native bauxites. In this item we include not only, the price of the corundum as it has been offered to us, but also the expense of grinding it to an impalpable powder, which must be done before it can be used directly in the manufacture of aluminum, and the cost of preliminary chemical treatment for purification—which latter operation, however, is also required for bauxite. I agree with Mr. Blue that the introduction of new and irnproved processes has greatly reduced, during the past ten years, the cost of manufacturing aluminum; but I am inclined to believe that any further improvements, facilitating the use of corundum for this purpose, would apply, in equal or greater degree, to the common clays (silicates of aluminum) which exist in all parts of the world, are more easily mined and handled, and are likely to be always cheaper per unit of aluminum than any corundum.

Jan 1, 1899

By E. H. Jr. Dix

OF all the alloying elements used in commercial aluminum alloys, copper stands out as by far the most important, and it is perhaps for this reason that the constitution of the aluminum-copper system has received the attention of a number of experimenters covering a period of approximately 20 years. It would be expected that during this time the equilibrium relations had been thoroughly and exactly worked out. In a general way this is true, but there is a surprising lack of agreement in the details of the high aluminum end of the diagram, particularly in regard to the solid solubility of copper in aluminum, which has been given variously as 2 per cent. to 5 per cent. at the eutectic temperature. The importance of this is much greater than might at first appear to one unfamiliar with modern commercial aluminum alloys. This is true because, with one exception, the susceptibility of the strong alloys to heat treatment depends, in part at least, upon the solid solubility relations of copper in aluminum. In 1919, Merica, Waltenberg, and Freeman1 published the first detailed information on these solubility relations. They found that the solubility of copper decreases with falling temperature from about 4 per cent. at 5.25° C. to about 1 per cent. at 300° C. and is apparently still diminishing at lower temperatures. In 1921 there was published a brief account of the results obtained in the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, England.2 This laboratory, however, reported that 5 per cent. of copper is soluble in aluminum at 540° C., and that this amount decreases to about 3 per cent. at 20° C.

Jan 2, 1926

By J. H. Smith, H. W. Paxton

ALTHOUGH many structural and kinetic investigations have been made for alloys of iron and nickel, only meager data exist from thermodynamic investigations. The purpose of this note is to estimate the free energy of the Fe-Ni solid solutions from thermodynamic data available for ternary alloys containing iron and nickel. The lack of a description of the thermodynamic behavior for the Fe-Ni system has required the structural and kinetic analyses of the system to assume some form of solution behavior, usually regular, e.g., the mar-tensite transformation analysis of Kaufman and Cohen, 1 consistent with the limited thermodynamic data. Indications that this system could exhibit ideal solution departures might have been suggested by the large deviations from additivity rules observed in the density and lattice-parameter measurements of Jette and Foote2 who interpreted this in terms of possible solute-solvent interactions. Later Turkdogan et al. 3 and more recently Ward and wright 4 found a minimum in the graphite solubility in liquid Fe-Ni solutions near the concentration of FeNi3 with deviations from linearity persisting at all concentrations. This was interpreted by Ward and wright4 to indicate negative heats of solution and was suggestive of short-range ordering. The infinitely dilute activity coefficient of carbon (?oC) was also observed by smith5 to pass through a maximum near the FeNi3 concentration in Fe-Ni solid solutions. Recent investigations of the liquid solutions over the entire concentration range by Zellars et a1.' and Speiser et a1.," using vapor-pressure determinations, revealed both negative departures from Raoult's law and a nonregular solution behavior. The solid alloys have been studied by Oriani 8 and Kubaschew-ski and von Goldbeck6 employing gaseous H2/H2O equilibria with Fe and FeO. Both investigations were in substantial agreement, indicating very small departures from ideality. However, Oriani observed the formation of Fe3O4 (instead of FeO) at XFe= 0.441 which severed the equilibrium and precluded experimental investigation of the nickel-rich alloys. Heat-capacity and heat-content measurements have been evaluated by Montgomery10 and found generally unsatisfactory for gleaning thermodynamic information. This is due to the unknown final states of the alloys caused by the interference of the martensite transformation on cooling iron-rich concentrations and superlattice formation, magnetic transformation, and the varied heat treatments used by investigators of nickel-rich concentrations. As an alternative to the experimental difficulties, indirect estimates of the solid-solution behavior have been made by Fleischer and Elliott11 and Smith et a1.12 From their measurements of the solubility of Fe-Ni alloys in liquid lead, Fleischer and Elliott calculated the nickel activity (aNi) (and integrated for aFe) by assuming: 1) liquid lead has no solubility in solid Fe-Ni alloys, 2) Henry's law is obeyed throughout the liquid lead-rich phase (0— 12 at. pct Nil, and 3) Henry's law constant is independent of relative iron and nickel concentrations. The estimate of Smith et a1.12 was obtained

Jan 1, 1964

By W. E. Showalter

This paper discusses some of the results of combstion-drive tests which were made in a test cell using a sand bed 10 in. in diameter x 10-ft long. The test method is illustrated and described. The relationship between the API gravity of the in situ oil and the amount of air required for combustion drive is discussed in detail. Other things constant, the air requirement for combustion drive increases as the APl gravity of the in situ oil decreases. If the test results apply to actual reservoirs, the lowest-priced oils may cost the most to recover by this method. Information is shown which indicates that the effect of pressure on the amount of hydrocarbon burned is not large. A method of predicting air requirements from the API gravity of the in situ oil is presented. INTRODUCTION Combustion drive is the term used to identify the process of interstitial or in situ burning as an oil recovery method. Part of the in situ oil is burned to generate the energy needed to produce the remainder of the oil. Combustion drive as an oil recovery mechanism remains an economic uncertainty in spite of all the work that has been done by the industry in both laboratory and field?-6 This paper will show some of the results of tests which were made in a test cell for the purpose of studying the nature of the combustion-drive process. It will present data which indicate that the API gravity of the in situ oil is a significant indicator of the amount of air required to drive a burning front through oil sand. Air requirement varies inversely as the API gravity of the in situ oil. EXPERIMENTAL The tests were performed in a cell which utilized a cylindrical sand section 10 in. in diameter x 10-ft long. The thin-walled metal pipe which held the sand was wound with twenty external electrical resistance heaters which, by means of an automatic controller, maintained adjacent sections of the wall of the pipe at temperatures equal to the temperatures of the contained sand. Each heater covered 6 linear in. of the pipe. By this means lateral heat loss from the sand section was minimized, thereby causing the sand section to simulate more closely a horizontal increment of a combustion-drive reservoir. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the test assembly. Thermocouples to measure the temperature in the sand were located every 6 in. along the length of the sand section. The pipe containing the sand was enclosed in a cell designed for an operating pressure of 500 psig. The inlet air pressure was controlled at the inlet, and the gas flow rate was controlled and measured at the outlet of the cell. The oil sand used for the tests was prepared by mixing first water and then oil with the noncon-solidated sand using a closed mixer similar to a cement mixer. Table 1 shows a screen analysis of the sand. Ninety percent of the sand was 100 mesh or finer. This sand was a mixture of 80 per cent No. 120 Nevada White Sand and 20 per cent Tennessee Hi-Fusion Moulding Sand No. 3. The Nevada sand was a clean silica sand. The Tennessee sand con-

By John T. Galey

The outstanding developments of the year in southwestern Pennsylvania were the establishment of the Summit Fayette County gas pool and the gas pool in Nicholson township, Fayette County, and Monongahela township, Greene County, as major producing areas, and the indication of four new shallow gas pools. Curtailment of drilling for shallow gas is expected to follow order M68 of the Office of Production Management. Gas completions were approximately 70 per cent higher, oil completions nearly 25 per cent lower, dry holes were unchanged and drilling wells as of Dec. 31, 1941, nearly loo per cent higher than last year. Shallow Development Oil.—Outside Butler County, only 11 producers were drilled, with a total initial of 221 bbl. The best of these was in a portion of Gilmore township, Greene County, which ordinarily produces gas. This well flowed 77 bbl. in 11 hr., along with about one million cubic feet of gas from the Fourth (U.Dev.) sand. Washington County had a 10.20 and a 25-bbl. well in Morris township and a 20-bbl. well in South Franklin township. These were all in the Fifth Sand. The price of oil to Jan. 27 was $1.80 per barrel, when a 15¢ increase was made. This was followed by a raise of 20¢ on Apr. 23, 15¢ on May 21, 20¢ on June 18 and 25¢ on Aug. 14. The last increase was canceled on Aug. 23 by the Office of Price Administration, which pegged southwestern Pennsylvania crude at $2.40 per barrel. Gas.—An almost doubled initial production of natural gas is the result of the large increase in number of wells drilled. The outstanding discovery of the year was in the vicinity of Armbrust, Hempfield township, Westmoreland County, where a well drilled to what at first was considered the Bayard sand, but what is now known to be the Fifth (U.Dev.) sand, at 2100 ft. found nearly 5 million cu. ft. of gas. Since this completion 14 wells have been finished, only one of which was dry, giving a combined total open flow of approximately 15 million cu. ft. The sand is 35 to 40 ft. thick and the saturation extends through most of that thickness. Rock pressure, which is 1040 lb. per sq. in., is abnormally high. An area of only about one square mile has been proven but some of the 24 new wells drilling as of Dec. 31 will no doubt extend it considerably. This development has taken place in an area heretofore considered to have had little prospect. There were three good wells in other parts of Westmoreland County. One well in Franklin township, which had 12 million cu. ft, of gas in the Fifth sand, was entirely surrounded by dry holes but is still pro- . ducing at a high rate. In Bell township a 1.6 million cu. ft. well was found in the Speechley (U.Dev.) sand and in Washington township the same sand produced 2.7 million cu. ft. with shut-in pressure of 970 Ib. at 2820 ft. This well is offset by two dry holes and one well with a capacity of only 10 M cubic feet.

Jan 1, 1942

By John T. Galey

The outstanding developments of the year in southwestern Pennsylvania were the establishment of the Summit Fayette County gas pool and the gas pool in Nicholson township, Fayette County, and Monongahela township, Greene County, as major producing areas, and the indication of four new shallow gas pools. Curtailment of drilling for shallow gas is expected to follow order M68 of the Office of Production Management. Gas completions were approximately 70 per cent higher, oil completions nearly 25 per cent lower, dry holes were unchanged and drilling wells as of Dec. 31, 1941, nearly loo per cent higher than last year. Shallow Development Oil.—Outside Butler County, only 11 producers were drilled, with a total initial of 221 bbl. The best of these was in a portion of Gilmore township, Greene County, which ordinarily produces gas. This well flowed 77 bbl. in 11 hr., along with about one million cubic feet of gas from the Fourth (U.Dev.) sand. Washington County had a 10.20 and a 25-bbl. well in Morris township and a 20-bbl. well in South Franklin township. These were all in the Fifth Sand. The price of oil to Jan. 27 was $1.80 per barrel, when a 15¢ increase was made. This was followed by a raise of 20¢ on Apr. 23, 15¢ on May 21, 20¢ on June 18 and 25¢ on Aug. 14. The last increase was canceled on Aug. 23 by the Office of Price Administration, which pegged southwestern Pennsylvania crude at $2.40 per barrel. Gas.—An almost doubled initial production of natural gas is the result of the large increase in number of wells drilled. The outstanding discovery of the year was in the vicinity of Armbrust, Hempfield township, Westmoreland County, where a well drilled to what at first was considered the Bayard sand, but what is now known to be the Fifth (U.Dev.) sand, at 2100 ft. found nearly 5 million cu. ft. of gas. Since this completion 14 wells have been finished, only one of which was dry, giving a combined total open flow of approximately 15 million cu. ft. The sand is 35 to 40 ft. thick and the saturation extends through most of that thickness. Rock pressure, which is 1040 lb. per sq. in., is abnormally high. An area of only about one square mile has been proven but some of the 24 new wells drilling as of Dec. 31 will no doubt extend it considerably. This development has taken place in an area heretofore considered to have had little prospect. There were three good wells in other parts of Westmoreland County. One well in Franklin township, which had 12 million cu. ft, of gas in the Fifth sand, was entirely surrounded by dry holes but is still pro- . ducing at a high rate. In Bell township a 1.6 million cu. ft. well was found in the Speechley (U.Dev.) sand and in Washington township the same sand produced 2.7 million cu. ft. with shut-in pressure of 970 Ib. at 2820 ft. This well is offset by two dry holes and one well with a capacity of only 10 M cubic feet.

Jan 1, 1942

By J. C. Kerkering, J. C. Franklin, T. O. Meyer, R. W. McKibbin

Abstract-A continuous survey of radon gas was made in two interconnecting stopes in a southwestern U. S. uranium mine to determine how the various phases of the mining cycle affected the radon concentration. The radon was monitored continuously with five detectors. One detector monitored the intake air, one the exhaust air, and three the stope air. The radon concentrations present during slushing, blasting, and exhaust fan shutoff were compared with concentrations on a nonwork day as a base level. Inside the stope, the radon concentration increased about 40% during slushing and 425% after blasting. Intake air radon increased 1600% and the stope air increased 550% while the surface exhaust fan was off.

Jan 6, 1978

Thomas T. Read, New york, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary *):—At the meetings of English technical societies it not infrequently happens that, during the discussion of a paper, someone will arise to say that although he highly appreciated the material presented, nevertheless he believed it would have been better if some other phase of the question had been more highly emphasized. Assuming that this form of discussion is permissible in the Institute, I should like to reiterate the point made by Prof. A. J. Moses that conclusive proof of the identity of the minerals in question is an essential feature of the study of ores in this way. This is also expressed by Paul Krusch in his recent valuable paper on the sulphide ores (in which he arrives at conclusions diametrically opposed to those of Mr. Graton), as follows: "The diagnostic properties of the various ore minerals are known to but a limited circle of investigators." Many earlier investigators began the study of ores beneath the microscope by reflected light, but discontinued their work, in most cases, because they were unwilling to undertake the great amount of preliminary work necessary to securely establish a basis for their inferences. It is evident that Messrs. Graton and Murdoch realize that the promised later paper on diagnostic characters will be the more important of the two, but the point should be emphasized to forestall a flood of literature from other investigators who may gain the impression that the brief survey of polished specimens is a vade mecum to incontrovertible conclusions as to any given ore deposit.

Jan 1, 1914

Discussion of the paper of Edward Keller, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 80, August, 1913, pp. 2093 to 2115. GEORGE L. HEATH, Hubbell, Mich.:-In the admirable paper quoted, is mentioned the date when the 5-g. assay was first proposed is a standard for refined metal. The author omitted, however, to mention a later paper,1 which contains a proposal for the use of a single " stock solution " of mixed acids, which has been adopted by the American Brass Co. and others. The suggestion is made that such a scheme would save time and manipulation with converter metal. Unless the low current of 0.5 ampere and the large excess of nitric acid, recommended by Mr. Keller, have been proved necessary to hold up antimony-and selenium, the use of the mixed solution which we have adopted will permit the use of 1 ampere of current per square decimeter of cathode surface, until the solutions have become colorless. At this point, we wash the covers and reduce to 0.5 ampere to prevent oxidation or contamination. The ordinary split electrodes have been used. With strong current, at least, the use of an excess of nitric acid tends to the neutralization of the solution before the end of the period, from the formation of too much ammonia., and this is detrimental. Antimony deposits more easily than arsenic, and tends to drag the latter dorm with it. There must, be some such explanation for the fact. that we have made hundreds of deposits of pure cathodes from Lake material containing no antimony, but as. high as 0.5 per cent. of arsenic. By placing an assay beaker in the Frary solenoid, or rotary device, a cathode deposit with less than 0.01 per cent. of impurity is easily obtained in one operation from 3 g. of whitneyite, carrying from 7 to 10 per cent. of arsenic. In such a case, it is necessary to test several times for end point and remove the plate as soon as no brown tint appears (at once) when hydrogen sulphide water is added to the test portion on the spot plate. Edward Keller's proportion,, of solvent figure out as 14 cc. of strong nitric to 11.4 cc. of sulphuric acid (1.84).

Jan 11, 1913

By B. R. Palmer, M. C. Fuerstenau

Oxide and silicates respond to flotation with a large number of anionic collectors. These include carboxylates (fatty acids), sulfonates, alkyl sulfates, and certain chelating agents. In contrast to sulfide mineral flotation, relatively long-chained collectors (generally longer than 10 carbons) are required to effect flotation of this group of minerals. The structural formulas of these various anionic collectors are presented in Table 1. Formulas and solubilities of various fatty acids are presented in Table 2. These solubilities are those of the dissolved and undissociated species of the acid, e.g. oleic acid, HOl(aq). Of the compounds listed, oleic acid and abietic acid, which IS a major constituent of talloel, are used most commonly in commercial applications. The usage of these two collectors is related to cost and effectiveness. In addition to their high molecular weights, oleic acid contains a double bond in its hydrocarbon chain, while abietic acid is comprised of aromatic rings containing double bonds. The presence of double bonds increases solubility significantly over that of saturated homologues. Stability of metal-collectors assumes a most significant role in these systems, and the solubility products of various metal carboxylates and sulfonates are listed in Tables 3, 4 and 5. In addition to these properties, strength of the acids of these various anionic collectors is also important. The carboxylic and hydroxamic acids are weak acids whereas sulfonic and alkyl sulfuric acids are strong acids. All of the carboxylic acids fall in the range of pK = 4.7 ± 0.5 ([2]); the pK of hydroxamic acid is around 9 ([3]); and the pK of sulfonic acid is about 1.5 ([4]).

Jan 1, 1976