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By Albert F. J. Bordeaux

Alluvial gold was first discovered in Guiana in 1852, in the sands of the Arataye river, by Paulino, a Braziliaii convict. During the following years, gold was found also in the rivers Orapu, CirubQ, etc. In 1873 the famous placers of the Sinnamary system were opened: Saint-Elie, Dieu-Merci, Adieu-Vat, and Couriege. This group of mines has produced nearly $10,000,000, according to official records, not including the gold that escaped the taxes. The discoverer was a mulatto named Vitalo. Except in a few rich spots, the gold was rather evenly distributed along the creeks. In one instance, gold was found in the red dirt from the slope of a hill, which, after transport to the creek, gave an amount of 150 kilograms. The placers of the Mana system, Enfin, Elysee, Pas-Trop-Tot, date from 1878, and their production has been about %g5,000,000. In 1888, the Awa placers, along the boundary bet.ween the French and Dutch Guianas, on the Maroni and its tributaries, were discovered. They have yielded $12,000,000. The only industrial company, the Dutch Guiana Freiich Minillg Co., produced in 15 years about 2,500 kg. of gold, worth $1,500,000. From 1893 dates the famous Carsewene discovery, in territory then in dispute between France and Brazil. A settlement was made recently in favor of Brazil, by arbitration of the Switzerland State Council. Carsewene is said to have produced about $18,000,000 in six years (1894-1900), but not even one-fourth of tho production went through French Quiana and

Jan 1, 1911

By H. N. Wolcott

AMONG the many cases of replacement of one mineral by another, that of quartz or silicates by pyrite, or even other sulphides, is not uncommon, but the reverse of this process does not appear to have been recorded, even if it has been observed. It, therefore, seemed to the writer that the case described below was worthy of record. FIG. I.-GROUND MASS OF CHALCOPYRITE (C) CONTAINING ROUNDED GRAINS OF PYRITE (P) SHOWING DIFFERENT DEGREES OF REPLACEMENT BY QUARTZ (Q), AND ALSO QUARTZ VEINLETS CUTTING THROUGH THE PYRITE. (PHOTOGRAPHED BY REFLECTED LIGHT.) The specimens described in this paper were obtained by R. B. Morton of Idaho Springs, Colo., from the Old Town Mine, in Russell Gulch, and are in the collection of Cornell University, where the writer studied them. In the rough, the specimens appeared to consist largely of chalcopy- rite, with some grains of tetrahedrite. The polished surface of some of

Jan 6, 1917

By Peter Stubbs

Mr. Agelopas is to be congratulated on a fine paper. Although the presentation was simple and concise, you will all appreciate that a great deal of hard work went into the development of this highly successful repair method. Earlier this year Bethlehem invited a group of our people to witness lug repairs at their Sparrow's Point plant. We have since made lug replacements on a trial basis using their method. The repaired moulds are now back in service. We will compare their performance with regular moulds and with moulds repaired by a technique developed by Dofasco weld shop personnel. I would like to explain briefly some of the various types of ingot mould repairs presently undertaken at Dofasco. The first problem will be familiar to most of you. The lower inside edge of a mould wall may be damaged by spalling, a runout or by the washing action of steel deflected from a badly worn stool cavity. We repair this type of damage by welding.

Jan 1, 1972

Jan 1, 1912

By G. D. Marshall, D. K. Sarin, V. E. Hampton

Ground support at the Thompson Mine emphasizes scaling, rock bolting and wire mesh screening on the backs and walls of all underground stoping and development areas and also full column grouted cable bolting in the bulk mining areas. This paper describes the equipment for the point anchored rock bolts as well as the full column cable bolts. Modifications in design and testing of all components and procedures has ensured a safe and efficient method of ground support for the mining conditions existing at the Thompson Mine.

Jan 1, 1983

By L. F. Mondolfo

An investigation of the relationship between properties of the elements and type of binary diagram formed was conducted. It was found that, for each type of equilibrium diagram, the factors for the size, valence, electronegativity, period, melting point, entropies of fusion, and sublimation calculated for each pair of elements cover a range of values. However, these factors show sufficient relationship to the equilibrium diagram so that the correlation of several of them can be used to predict the type of diagram formed, or at least limit the choice to only a few types. ThE goal of the metallurgist concerned with alloy development has always been to find a method that predicts the properties that can be obtained when a certain metal is added to another one. In most cases a qualitative predictiton of properties can be made if the equilibrium diagram is known. However, this means that for new metals the alloy development has to start with the experimental determination of the equilibrium diagrams. Because this determination is at least as complicated and time-consuming as the determination of the properties themselves, most alloy development has taken place by trial and error, and the study of the equilibrium diagrams has followed rather than preceded the creation of new alloys. Alloy structures and properties depend on the interaction between electrons and a complete knowledge of these interactions would permit prediction of structure and properties of alloys. Unfortunately direct measurement of these interactions is extremely difficult and somewhat doubtful and only properties that depend on them can be measured easily and with certainty. Study of the relationship between properties of the elements and equilibrium diagrams is not new. Besides the well known Hume-Rothery rule of the necessity of an atomic diameter fit within 15 pct for extensive miscibility in the solid, and the wide knowledge of the effect of such factors as size, electronegativity, electron-atom ratio on solid state features,"' work relating to liquid state and liquid-solid reactions can be found in the literature. Of particular interest is the work by Axon,3 who investigated the effect of size and melting point on a selected number of eutectic and monotectic dia-

Jan 1, 1962

By William F. Boericke

THERE was a time when the selection of fire brick was .left to the judgment of the head bricklayer of the plant, whose choice was not unaffected by a box of Christmas cigars from a friendly salesman. But the days are past when it was generally believed, with complacent philosophy, that bricks were bricks without much distinction, and should be bought on a price basis alone. Gone, too, is the belief that in certain types of industrial work the eventual failure of refractories was assured. Modern metallurgical practice, with its trend toward handling larger tonnages at higher temperatures, demands the use of refractories that cannot be supplied by random guess. The logical development is to inquire into the properties of the brick to be purchased, and this resolves itself into the use of specifications. In 1925, the General Refractories Co., with the active support and hearty cooperation of some of its larger customers, established a laboratory, at its Baltimore plant, for testing and research in refractories. This was the outgrowth of a growing appreciation of the value of research in the refractory field. Since then the work has become more involved' and the aims more ambitious, so that the present laboratory now employs a staff of 11 men working, under the direction of trained refractory technologists, on problems of research as well as the routine control of manufacture. It is believed s that `this type of laboratory is a comparative novelty among refractory manufacturing plants. It handles the testing and research work for all the 15 plants of the organization. Being at one of the works has the advantage of making it possible to carry on large scale plant tests on new products after the preliminary laboratory tests have been successfully completed.

Jan 1, 1929

By completing a double-track railroad cut-off, involving a large volume of cut and fill, in addition to a half-mile bridge spanning an important French river, engineers in the zone of the Services of Supply have opened up a route by means of which hours of valuable time are being saved in transporting men and materials to combat areas. Its most valuable feature is that it provides a means for by-passing a certain city where several, French railroad lines converge and where, consequently, congestion of traffic has been responsible for delayed train movements. To avoid a double-track turnout, which would have involved a cross-over cutting one of the French tracks, the two track connections of the cut-off are taken off from opposite sides of the French right-of-way. This involved running one of the new lines of the cut-off out from the main line track on a fill to a point where it could be brought back and over the French track on a steel girder bridge. Beyond this bridge the two tracks of the cut-off converge and straighten out in the standard type of double-track construction. The new cut-off is about 5 3/4 mi. (9 km.) long and has required 160,000 cu. yd. of cut (122,329 cu. m.) and 414,000 cu. yd. (316,527 cu. m.) of fill. In the biggest continuous fill a-yardage of 180,000 has been placed; the road-bed in this section-being-about 40-ft. (12 m.) above the original ground surface. The bridge portion of the cut-off, 2190 ft. (667.5 in.) long, is made up of ninety-nine 14-ft. (4.3 m.) timber spans and sixteen 50-ft. (15.3 m.) steel girder spans. This is the longest bridge which engineers of the American Expeditionary Forces have built in France. The timber spans are supported by pile trestle bents, while the longer steel girders rest on clusters of 43 piles. Two pile drivers of the steam-hammer type worked from each -end of the bridge toward the center of the river, while a drop hammer worked westward from the shore end. In this structure nearly two thousand piles 50 ft. or so in length had to be driven.

Jan 12, 1918

By Henry F. Hebley

This paper brings within the compass of one comparatively brief article a general description of the situation concerning the nation's water resources. It touches upon the phenomenal growth in the demand for water supply and emphasizes the problems facing the coal industry both with regard to acid mine water drainage discharged from active and abandoned mines and the suspended solids discharged to the stream system from wet coal preparation plants. IT must always be remembered, with regard to the problem of water-borne industrial wastes, that stream pollution from any cause is just one factor in the comprehensive problem of water supply in modern times. Industries nonexistent 25 years ago are now flourishing, and supplies of water piped to homes and apartments, as well as the greater number of plumbing fixtures per dwelling and per building, have created an ever growing demand on the country's water resources. Indication of this rapid growth in demand is shown in Table I, which is quoted from Abrams. of Texas increased 287% and the water consumption 7000 per cent." The domestic load varies greatly, depending on the extent of the available supply and the habits of the community. According to the report of the President's Water Resources Policy Commission' the United States Public Health Service reported a national average of 127 gal per capita per day, varying from 60 gal in communities of 500 persons to 140 or 150 gal in cities of 10,000 or over. Other critical areas may be cited to illustrate the inter-relation between new industrial processes and the demands for water in the area where the new enterprise is located. Powell and Wilson have pointed out that during World War 11, in the vicinity of Louisville, Ky., a rapid expansion of industry took place, consisting of numerous synthetic rubber plants. The demand for water increased from 37 million gal per day in 1937 to 62 million gal in 1943. These heavy requirements drew down the supply stored in the water-bearing aquifers to such an extent that urgent plans for recharging were considered. Similar situations have developed in the Los Angeles area and in the vicinity of Texas City. Warne4 has drawn attention to the situation in Los Angeles area, where in the West Basin the withdrawal of ground water in 1945 was 90,000 acre-ft, almost double the amount of the natural fresh water recharge. The draw down has been so severe that the level of the ground water is now below sea level, and sea water is invading the West Basin aquifers at rates up to 300 ft per year. In the Report of the Engineers Joint Council it is pointed out that in the area of Texas City the ground water table has been critically lowered. In 1930 the daily withdrawal from the water-bearing aquifer was 0.5 million gal. By 1945 the quantity withdrawn

Jan 1, 1954

By AIME AIME

THE 131st meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers was held in New York on Feb. 16 to 20, 1925, with the largest registration of any previous meeting, the total being 1320 compared to 1276 in 1924. The technical sessions were more largely attended and aroused more discussion than ever before. There were joint meetings with the Mining Section of the National Safety Council, under the auspices of the Industrial Relations Committee of the Institute and two very important lectures, the Howe Memorial Lecture, under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee, and the lecture by Dr. Carl Benedicks, of Sweden, on Corrosion, under the auspices of the Institute of Metals Division. The Petroleum Division conducted its annual Symposium on Oil which will be published later in book form. At the annual business meeting on Feb. 17, the following ticket was elected, and the reports of the President, Treasurer, and Secretary 'were presented:

Jan 1, 1925

By P. Breidt, E. S. Greiner

THIS note reports a determination of the melting point of germanium, and the liquidus of the Ge-Ga alloys; lattice constants of the a phase are given. The alloys were prepared by melting germanium (>20 ohm-cm resistivity) and gallium (99.6 pct) in evacuated silica tubes. The materials (50 to 70 g) were heated at 1000°C, held in the liquid state for about ¾ hr, and then cooled rapidly in the tubes. Points on the liquidus were obtained by thermal analysis which consisted of obtaining time-temperature data during heating and cooling the materials in high purity graphite crucibles and a helium at- mosphere. Temperatures were determined with a Pt—Pt-Rh thermocouple protected by a silica sheath. The couple was calibrated against a National Bureau of Standards calibrated couple and also against the freezing points of copper, silver, aluminum, and the 28.1 wt pct Cu, 71.9 wt pct Ag alloy eutectic. The samples for X-ray analysis were prepared by heating small pieces of the ingots in evacuated glass or quartz tubes at temperatures between 600" and 900°C for periods ranging from 2 hr to 22 days, periods deemed sufficient for equilibrium to be attained, followed by quenching in water. The heat-treated samples were ground to powder for X-ray analysis. The lattice constants of the germanium-rich phase (a) were determined with a baok-reflection focusing camera. The X-ray reflections (331 and 422 Cr Ka, 422 and 333 Cr KB) were corrected

Jan 1, 1956

By R. M. Brick

Segregation can occur only in cast alloys that solidify over a range of temperatures with a difference in composition of liquid and solid phases within this range (ignoring monotectic systems and chemical reactions as in rimming steels). Thus a pure binary eutectic alloy should show no segregation unless undercooling occurs for one of the solid constituents of the eutectic; e.g., chill-cast Al-I2 per cent Si alloys. The phasial condition implicitly described above—solidification over a range of temperatures with a compositional difference between solid and liquid—is found in nearly all solid solutions or combinations of solid solutions and eutec-tics, Metastable conditions of solidification of these types of alloys cause coring; i.e., a difference in composition between the center of a dendrite and its periphery. This composition gradient can be detected usually only by microscopic examination of etched structures; it is a "micro" effect. The gradient of more immediate industrial concern is that between the center of a cast section and the surface layers. This gross (macro) effect is usually deter-minable only by sampling of the casting at different points, with chemical analyses of each sample. If the compositional difference is of the same type as in coring, the first parts to freeze being enriched in higher-melting-point constituents, and vice versa, the effect is called normal segregation. When what is apparently the first part of the casting to solidify shows a higher concentration of low-melting-point constituents, the effect is called inverse segregation. These macro effects are quite separate from the micro effect, coring, yet the latter must be described first because it is an essential part of the picture. Coring Solid Solution, Ni-Cu The nickel-copper phase diagram is reproduced in Fig. Ia, in which the solid lines represent the equilibrium liquidus I, 3, 7 and solidus 2, 5, 8, and where the vertical I, 4: 8 represents a 55 per cent Cu alloy. Upon moderately rapid solidification, the first dendritic axes of composition 2 (see Fig. Ib) start to form at a temperature somewhat under I. Solidification continues by growth of the dendritic nuclei, but at temperature 4 the increment solidifying is of composition 5. The rapidity of this crystal growth prevents diffusion of nickel and copper atoms from adjusting the composition of the entire dendrite at 5, which it would be under equilibrium conditions. The average composition of a specific dendrite, or the entire solid phase, at temperature 4 might be that indicated

Jan 1, 1945

By AIME AIME

ABOUT one hundred were in attendance when Donald M. Liddell opened the session* on non-ferrous metallurgy at 2 p. m. on Tuesday. F. F. Col- cord was vice-chairman. For the first part of the session the chair was turned over to Frank G. Breyer, who introduced G. L. Spencer, Jr., to read his contribution (T.P. 378), "High Silica Retorts at the Rose Lake Smelter," which was an account of the method of manufacture of high-silica zinc retorts at the Rose Lake smelter, and of the service given by these retorts. The materials used are, by volume, 50 per cent clay, 25 per cent silica flour and 25 per cent grog. Written discussion of the paper by E. M. Johnson, W. R. In- galls and M. M. Neale was read by Mr. Breyer. Mr. Johnson explained that their practice in manufacture differed very little from Rose Lake practice, but that their retorts did not last as long, possibly because Eagle-Picher does not use a hydraulic retort press or sintered ore. He ascribes the longer life of silica re- torts to the fact that they do not bend under heat. Mr. Ingalls pointed out that silica retorts are no better as heat conductors than clay retorts, but that they do have a superior rigidity in the furnace. The character of the retorts does not affect the density of the charge. Mr. Neale gave the procedure in the manufacture and use of high-silica retorts at the Donora zinc works, not

Jan 1, 1931

By T. A. Rickard

MILLING is one of the metallurgical arts whereby the extraction of the largest possible proportion of the value in an ore is effected at the least possible expense. Stamp-milling* is that particular process in which a heavy body of iron is caused to fall upon the ore so as to disintegrate it and thereby induce a separation between what is valuable and what is worthless. The latter is usually less in specific gravity, and is therefore, by the further aid of water, removed from the former, which is then collected by the use of mercury. Several similes have been employed to describe this process. The stamp has been likened to a hammer of which the stem is the handle and the die the anvil. The ore upon which the stamp falls has been compared to a nut awaiting the descent of the hammer whose blow is to separate the valueless shell, the quartz, from the valuable kernel, the gold. When we begin to pursue our inquiries, however, we find that the analogy is just sufficiently true to emphasize the departures from it. The hammer falls, the anvil is fixed; so with the stamps and the mortar. The anvil is made of softer metal than the hammer; so also the die is often, and should be always, of steel or iron less hard and more tough than that of the shoe. The movement of the hammer and the drop of the stamp are both intermittent. In regard to their intermittent action, as in many other respects, stamp-mills arrange themselves under two types, which, though apparently contradictory, have both been evolved from a common original, and are united by a great variety of intermediate modifications. The slow speed and the high drop of the mills of Gilpin county Colorado, appear to have very little in common with the fast speed and short drop of those of the main gold belt of California; yet the practice of the one was largely derived from that of the other,

Jan 1, 1894

By A. J. Ardell, O. D. Sherby

The elevated-temperature steady-state creep behavior of polycrystalline a Zr was studied in vacuo under constant tensile stress. The experiments were conducted from 660° to 845°C over the stress range 870 to 5400 psi. The steady-state creep rate, is, of a Zr was found to be related to the applied stress, a, and temperature, T, by the equation where C is a constant. Two interpretations of the data are considered, each requiring different values of the parameters ß, Q, and . It is shown that this formula can be derived using Gilman's phenomeno logical equation relating dislocation velocity to the shear stress for the case where dislocation mobility is limited by the nucleation of kink motion. From the fundamental dependence of strain rate on dislocation velocity and the density of mobile dislocations, the factor exp(ßo) can be related to the stress dependence of the dislocation density, and Q to the energy of kink formation. The two interpretations considered are as follows: Case I—the parameters are adjusted so that the equation above describes the data over the entire range of stress and temperature, implying that creep is controlled exclusively by dislocation glide; Case IIthe parameters are adjusted to allow for the possibility that creep is diffusion-controlled at high stresses but glide-controlled at low stresses. For both cases the values of the parameters are within the spread permitted by the data. Factors favorable to the observation of the unusual stress -dependence of i, for a Zr are discussed and it is shown that the anomalously rapid rates of self-diffusion and the low modulus on the principal glide system are primarily responsible for the anomalous creep behavior. Metal-lograflhic observations are presented and discussed with reference to the overall creep behavior. PREVIOUS investigations of the creep behavior of a Zr have been conducted from room temperature to about 500C The results of these investigations are primarily of engineering significance because of the variety of conditions under which they were carried out, and the low testing temperatures employed. Little information is available concerning the fundamental nature of the elevated-temperature creep behavior of a Zr. This investigation of the creep behavior of a Zr above half the melting temperature (the melting temperature, T,, of a Zr is estimated to be about 1860"K was initiated because there are two significant anomalies of the physical properties of a Zr: a) the rate of self-diffusion in polycrystalline a Zr is anomalously rapid: b) both Young's modulus for polycrystalline a Zr and the shear modylus as-sociated with the prismatic slip system { 1010)( 1120) (the principal slip system in a Zr 7) have anomalously large temperature variations The importance of these quantities to the understanding of creep behavior has been demonstrated, and it was hoped that this investigation would provide a critical test of the predictions based upon the analysis of creep data for other pure metals. However, as the investigation progressed it became increasingly clear that the unusual creep behavior of a Zr could not be analyzed in a conventional manner. 1) EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES Two grades of zirconium, designated A and B, were used in this investigation. The analyses, as supplied by the vendors, are presented in Table I. Material A, with a nominal purity of 99.84 pct, was supplied by the Wah Chang Corp. in the form of cold-rolled sheet from which specimens were machined without further fabrication. Material B, with a nominal purity of 99.95 pct, was purchased from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. in the form of iodide crystal bar.

Jan 1, 1968

By A. Hellawell

Specitlrens of the Al-Ge eutectic alloy have been frozen unidivectionally at rates between 2.5 x 10-6 and 2.5 x 10-4 cm per sec and the structure examined by optical and X-ray methods. There is no epitaxial relationship between phases, the aluminum having random orientation and the germanium a preferred (011) fiber textuve. Lamellar colonies which are BINARY eutectic alloys occur between either silicon or germanium with the metals aluminum or silver. common in this alloy are constructed from axial and nonaxial (111) plates of germanium which are related by a variety of twin configurations. Irregular or globular regions of the microstructure are composed of continuous single crystals of each phase, the germanium being heavily twinned. There is limited solid solubility in these systems, and the eutectic phases all involve diamond cubic with fcc crystal structures. In the microstructures of these eutectic mixtures the silicon and germanium crystals exhibit an almost infinite variety of shapes which are notably sensitive to

Jan 1, 1968

By J. L. Wyatt

The electrical resistance of titanium as a function of purity and temperature was measured from —325" to 2800°F. Two points of inflection in the data plots were found, and an increase in resistance with increase in temperature above the transformation was observed. IN 1948 Greiner and Ellis' reported on the thermal and electrical properties of titanium, including a study of the effect of temperature on the electrical resistance. The materials used in the research were obtained from the United States Bureau of Mines, where powder metallurgy techniques were being employed for consolidation purposes. These authors found a decreasing resistance with increasing temperature above 1625°F, and concluded that the latter temperature represented the point of transformation from hexagonal close-packed to body-centered cubic structure on heating. They reported a specific resistivity value of 55x10-6 ohm-cm, and showed that dp/dt was positive, decreasing with increasing temperature above ambient. In one of his early texts Hume-Rothery2 mentioned that certain metals, including titanium, exhibited minima in plots of resistance vs temperature. He indicated that this occurred at 212°F. Reporting many years ago on the effect of temperature on the electrical resistance of zirconium, de Boer and Fast³ showed that phase transformation in this sister metal occurred over a range of temperatures, the extent varying with its purity. Graphs of resistance vs temperature, showing transformation effects over a range of several hundred degrees, were presented for relatively impure metal. In the latter case the resistance decreased with increasing temperature throughout the region of partial phase transformation, thereafter increasing as predicted for normal metals by modern theories of the solid state. Since the quality of metal used in previous studies was substandard compared with iodide-type titanium, and in view of the fact that there seemed to be some rather unusual observations in the reported literature, it was decided to undertake a more extensive study of the thermal effects using high purity titanium, and to include temperature ranges beyond those which had been studied in order to ascertain whether or not the characteristics of zirconium would be duplicated. Experimental Materials Materials used in this investigation included commercial quality titanium (Ti-75A produced by the Titanium Metals Corp. of America) in the form of ¼ in. diam rods, and high purity iodide titanium (produced by the Foote Mineral Co.) in the form of crystal bar of irregular size. The latter was cold-swaged into rod form and machined to the desired size. Lead wires to all specimens consisted of 18 gage Ti-75A. Chemical analyses of the stock materials are given in Table I. Experimental Procedures Specimens 2½ to 3 in. in length were prepared with diameters nominally 0.15 to 0.20 in. Two holes,

Jan 1, 1954

By N. H. Jensen

SINCE the sixties, Utah has been one of the leading metal mining states of the Union. During the last fifteen years its mines have supported the largest smelting center in the world. Its rank as a metal producing state is reflected by its 1924 production which had a value in excess of $65,000,000 making it the leading silver producing state, third in both copper and lead and sixth in gold production. During the past year, metallurgical developments for the recovery of zinc contained in lead ores has made rapid progress so that the future zinc output will be of substantial importance. The largest silver mines of the nation and the world's largest open cut copper mine are within its borders. Settlement of Utah started in 1847, with the advent of the "Mormons," and originally the area of the state was much greater than now. The first metal mining

Jan 1, 1925

By J. B. Austin

IN considering so complex a process as the smelting of iron in the blast furnace, there is obviously no single method of calculating efficiency that gives a complete appraisal of the performance of the furnace in all its several functions; such a comprehensive view as is required to evaluate producing ability and manufacturing costs for a given furnace is obtained only by considering a group of efficiencies, each of which measures the performance of the furnace from a specific point of view. For instance, there is the rate of consumption of coke per ton of iron produced, which is probably the most frequently considered, and is certainly one of the most important of the group; there is the efficiency of recovery of iron charged; and there is the efficiency of utilization of energy, both chemical and thermal, in some respects related to the former two yet in other ways independent of either. In each of these cases, the calculation can be made on the basis of the actual input of material or energy, or it may be based . upon a comparison with the minimum amount of material or energy that would be required by a "perfect" furnace; that is, an imaginary ideal furnace analogous to the perfect steam engine used in thermodynamic calculations, when this furnace is operating under optimum conditions. Moreover, the furnace itself can be considered either as an apparatus for smelting iron or, taking a somewhat less common point of view, as a gas producer yielding iron and slag as by-products. Some of these effi-ciencies are more useful than others, yet all are instructive; for a knowl-edge of them not only leads to good engineering practice from the standpoint of control but also discloses limits to possible improvement in performance and indicates the lines along which improvement is most likely to be profitable. Estimates of some of these efficiencies have appeared from time to time in the literature, but many of them are open to objection because they are based on data of uncertain accuracy or because they have been calculated without due regard to the thermo-dynamic principles involved. Moreover, so far as the author is aware, no general survey of the blast furnace comparing its performance in all the aspects mentioned has been made.

Jan 1, 1938

By D. S. Tomalin, D. F. Stein

The effect of reducing oxygen to low concentrations on the fracture of high-purity iron single crystals has been examined at 78° and 20°K. It is found that iron single crystals grown by the strain-anneal method usually contain a few occluded grain boundaries which may become embittled in the presence of oxygen, thereby nucleating cleavage fractures. High purity with respect to interstitial elements was found to inhibit twinning and evidence is presented for an orientation dependence of the resolved yield stress. Deformation occurred by slip rather than twinning at both temperatures of testing with elongations of as much as 9 pct at 20°K. THE fracture properties of iron single crystals have been observedl-3 to be a function of temperature, orientation, and purity. Allen, Hopkins, and McLennan1 demonstrated that at 78°K iron single crystals became increasingly brittle as the tensile axis approached the (001) pole of the stereographic unit triangle. Iron crystals with the tension axis near a (001) pole were completely brittle and orientations near the (011)-(111) boundary were very ductile, achieving a 100 pct reduction in area prior to fracture. Later work of Biggs and pratt2 and of Edmondson3 demonstrated that by reducing the carbon content of the single crystals the transition between brittle and ductile failure at 78°K could be shifted to orientations nearer the (001) pole. Ed-mondson went further and pointed out that any mechanism which tended to increase the yield strength of the iron (i.e., carbon addition, pre-strain) also increased the tendency for brittle behavior at 78°K. Thus by a reduction of carbon content Biggs and Pratt were able to obtain ductile behavior to within 20 deg of the (001) pole, and Ed-mondson was able to obtain ductile behavior to within 26 deg of the (001) pole. Edmondson's material had a total interstitial content (carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen) of approximately 60 ppm and, although Biggs and Pratt reported no analysis, indications were that their iron contained comparable impurities. Stein, Low, and seybolt4 purified iron single crystals to a total carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen content of approximately 20 ppm. They observed a lowering of the yield stress with this increased purity, and thus one might have expected an observation of increased ductility. Although they tested specimens of orientations which the previous workers had indicated should be ductile, the crystals failed at a 78°K in a brittle manner with little elongation. Stein noted,' however, that about 90 pet of the failures could be traced in origin to occluded grains. Allen et al.1 and Edmondson3 do not report examination of their cleavage surfaces, but Biggs and pratt2 reported that microscopic examination of the cleavage surfaces of many of their specimens revealed the presence of small occluded grains. Honda and cohen6 and Keh7 have also observed the initiation of fracture at occluded grains in iron single crystals. Therefore, the additional complication of occluded grains must be considered in studying the properties of iron single crystals and the origin of fractures determined if the ductility exhibited by the crystals is to be considered meaningful. Various investigators8-12 have studied the effects of impurities on grain boundaries in high-purity polycrystalline iron. Rees and Hopkins10 showed that the addition of oxygen to low-carbon (0.002 pet) iron weakened the grain boundaries, causing a shift from transcrystalline to intercrystalline fracture and a progressive decrease on the brittle-fracture stress with increasing oxygen content. In addition, it has been shown by Low and Feustel11 that the addition of carbon to polycrystalline iron containing oxygen eliminated grain boundary brittleness. Thus, oxygen can embrittle grain boundaries in high-purity polycrystalline iron, but the addition of an appropriate amount of carbon can eliminate the oxygen-induced brittleness. The oxygen content (19 ppm) of the iron "single crystals" employed by Stein el al. was large enough to suspect impurity effects at the occluded grain boundaries. Allen et al.1 Biggs and pratt,2 and Edmondson3 may have masked any occluded grain problem in their specimens considering the relatively high carbon levels they employed. stein13 demonstrated that the addition of as little as 0.9 ppm C to previously purified (less than 5 x 10-3 ppm C) "single crystals" would increase the elongation from a few percent to more than 20 pet at 78°K and the fracture was not associated with grade boundary initiation.

Jan 1, 1965