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By Robert Leach

THIS paper gives a brief summary of the process of manufacture of sterling silver, and some of its more important physical properties, as observed in commercial production of rolled sheet and wire. Although papers have been published by Turner and Smith,1 Rose,2 Sperry3 and Jordan,4 there are few technical data available, and unfortunately the time allowed for the preparation of this paper has not been sufficient to make it as comprehensive as the title might indicate. ANALYSIS OF STERLING SILVER Fine or pure silver is too soft for coinage and the manufacture of articles in which strength and resistance to wear are desired. From the earliest times of which we have record, copper has been the metal generally used to harden silver. Analyses of coins and silver articles from ancient tombs show varying amounts of copper, and old Roman silver objects in the British Museum have approximately the same analysis as our sterling. The first authentic record of the establishment of a standard alloy is during the reign of Henry II in England. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the people in the Eastern Provinces of Germany had a reputation for the standard and purity of their silver coinage, and it is said that Henry II employed some of these Easterlings, as they were called, to improve and standardize the English coinage, which had become debased. The peculiar standard adopted is probably accounted for by the system of weights used. A troy pound contains

Jan 1, 1928

By Richard J. Robbins

Mechanical moles have developed through a tedious process of evolution. At times it has seemed that tunnel borers have been subject to the same Darwinian rules of evolution as their zoological namesakes who, despite their efficiency, are highly specialized and still restricted to soft soil conditions near the surface of the ground. HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS The Robbins Co. began its work in this field in 1947 with the development of a twin-bore continuous coal miner. Although these machines were used primarily in coal, two of the early prototypes were used to bore tunnels through shale. Disk cutters were first used on these machines and showed promising results as core breakers between drag-bit kerfs. In 1953, James S. Robbins and Assocs. undertook the development of a 25-ft 9-in.-diam circular tunnel borer for Mittry Construction Co. to be used at Oahe Dam in South Dakota (Fig. 1). This is believed to be the first rock tunnel-boring machine built since the end of the 19th century when short sections of the Channel tunnel were successfully bored in chalk from both the English and French shores. Another Oahe Dam machine was built in 1955, and then a series of three small-diameter machines for the company's first real experience with medium-hard and hard rock (Fig. 2) None of these three could be considered a success, although they laid the groundwork for the success that followed. Interbedded shale and limestone in Pittsburgh and hard limestone in Chicago quickly pointed up the weaknesses in these machines which were used by Perini, Dravo, and Healey. Among the problems were the high breakage rate of tungsten-carbide drag bits, too much flexibility in the drive shafts, failure of high-pressure hydraulic systems, chain-conveyor failure, and general lack of rigidity and strength. In 1956 another attempt at medium-hard and hard rock-boring proved this time to be a success and a significant turning point in the development

Jan 1, 1970

By AIME AIME

THE Annual Meeting-numerically the 162d meeting-of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers will be held at the Pennsylvania Hotel, 7th Ave. and 33d St., New York, Feb. 18-22, with the exception of the following events: the Mineral Industry Education Division will meet Sunday afternoon and evening at the Columbia University Men's Faculty Club, 400 West 117th St.; and a meeting of the Section Delegates, the annual business meeting of the Institute, and an executive session of the Board of Directors will be held in that order Tuesday afternoon in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West 39th St., where the Directors will meet in the evening following their annual dinner to the Section Delegates. The Pennsylvania--one of the Statler group of hotels-was selected as headquarters because it has the physical equipment and facilities-for registration, technical sessions of all sizes, luncheons, social events, etc.-as well as the prominence and location desirable for an Institute annual meeting. (A tip for Tuesday afternoon and evening: You can walk underground from the Pennsylvania to within half a block of the Engineering Societies Building,)

Jan 1, 1945

By D. K. Crampton

ON giving thought to the subject of this paper, my first reaction was that many and striking changes have come about as a direct result of the war. However, more careful analysis indicates that few, if any, of these changes can be wholly attributed to it. The actual situation is that all these changes were conceived and most of them at least partially executed in re- cent prewar years, it remaining the role of war to achieve results in a fraction of the time that might normally have been taken, lacking its driving impulse. The further discussion will therefore be with the premise that the individual changes have been greatly hastened rather than directly and primarily caused by any war conditions. Co-operation among copper alloy producers on production problems is agreed to be much worth while. The industry was too long noted for jealousy and secrecy as to equipment, methods, and even materials produced. Gradually, a more open and co-operative policy evolved but even just prior to the war the interchange of ideas was relatively cautious and limited. The need for a great increase in production in record time fostered a more co- operative attitude; exchange of ideas and experience concerning all phases of production increased tremendously to the benefit of the individual participants and thus the war effort, too. This more united effort has undoubtedly led to many specific improvements in process or equipment and these in turn to more rapid and economical operation than could have taken place on an each-for-himself basis.

Jan 1, 1944

By Willard L. Cumings, Benjamin L. Miller

(Glen Summit Meeting, June, 1911.) I. THE CAMAGUEY DEPOSITS. 1. Location. THE Camaguey brown iron-ore deposit covers the top of San Felipe hill, the nearest point of which lies 14 miles NW. of the city of Camaguey. While there are several low flat-topped hills in the vicinity covered with a more or less continuous mantle of brown iron-ore, the deposit of San Felipe hill is the only one of any size and importance, and the name "San Felipe district " is proposed for the region. The deposit extends in a NW-SE. direction for a distance of about 10 miles, with an average width of 5 miles. The location is shown in Fig. 1, a sketch-map of the eastern part of Cuba. Fig. 2 is a map of the San Felipe district. 2. Description. The district is mentioned by Spencer,1 who says: "The Cubitas iron-ore fields are situated from 12 to 15 miles north of Camaguey City, in the province of Camaguey Within an area measuring roughly 10 miles east and west and 4 miles north and south, there are several flat-topped mesas rising 300 to 400 ft. above the level of an almost featureless plain which extends for many miles in all directions except toward the north." With the exception of the discrepancy in his statements as to the distance from Camaguey and the area of the hill, which is over 50 sq. miles, his description is a very good one. Kemp 2 has the following to say of ores in Carnaguey Province * Geologist, Bethlehem Steel Co. + Professor of Geology, Lehigh University. 1 Bulletin No. 540, U. S. Geological Survey, p. 324 (1908). 2 The Iron Ore Resources of the World, printed by the Eleventh International Geological Congress, vol. ii., p. 795 (1910).

Mar 1, 1911

By C. Richard Tinsley

INTRODUCTION The economic analysis (Chapter 3), the engineering studies (Chapter 10), the credit structure (and the consequential funding sources) - Chapter 11, and the overall feasibility structure for any venture are all directed to determining one major decision element: How much and how certain is the reward for taking these risks? Risk assessment is a surprisingly weak area of analysis and is usually addressed in a checklist fashion. It is much preferable to deal within a risk system so that the inevitable tradeoffs among risks are correctly made. DEFINITION The first step toward risk definition must be to ascertain all of the risks to which a project or a company is exposed; otherwise one will remain ignorant of the possibility of a financially crippling loss until it occurs. (Carter and Crockford, 1974). However, simply stating what "risk" is can lead to debate. For example, risk could be (adapted from Vaughan, 1982): -the chance of a loss - uncertainty of loss -possibility of loss - uncertainty -dispersion of actual from expected results - probability of an outcome different from the one expected - possibility of an occurrence of an undesirable contingency -a condition in which a possibility of a loss exists. For the minerals industry financier, the last definition is probably the most appropriate. However, from a mineral company's point of view the definition might well include the possibility of not achieving the expected financial return. RISK CLASSIFICATION Risk identification will be readily agreed as the all-important first step. There are five major "branches" of risk classification. These are: -Statistical -Modellers -Checklist -Project Financing -Insurance The Statistical set discovered probability theory and any risk discussion soon deteriorates into a mathematical jungle (Megill, 1977; Hartman, 1976; Reutlinger, 1970; and Pouliquen, 1970).Their use of terminology tells its own story: coin toss (binomial distribution), gamblers' ruin, delphi (oracle) techniques, monte-carlo simulations, random walks, etcetera. These techniques inadequately represent the judgements necessary in an increasingly complicated and interrelated world. The risk Modellers have turned to the computer to handle these inter-relationships but soon find barriers because of "simultaneity". Certainly the computer has its uses to conduct various analyses (marketed as "sensitivity" analyses) but very often one finds that this involves changing one or two variables at a time, all other things being equal. Unfortunately, in a modern and complex world all other things do not remain equal. The statisticians will, no doubt, jump to their own defence by citing this

Jan 1, 1985

By George B. Langford

ON THE QUESTION of postwar controls there are today three schools of though ; some advocate state control of everything the socialists ; second are those who advocate the removal of all governmental control over industry - the freedom of enterprise ideal ; and third are those who advocate a middle course - sufficient control to stabilize economic and industrial life, and to prevent violent fluctuations such as we saw in the interwar years. I advocate this third course. I firmly believe un free enterprise, but not in freedom of enterprise, or laissez faire, and there is a great and significant difference between these two.

Jan 1, 1944

By J. J. Gilman

The dependence of ortho kink-band formation on crystal orientation, on temperature, and on the conditions at the ends of a specimen is described. Load-compression curves for crystals that kink are presented. The reversibility of ortho kinking is demonstrated, and motion of kink planes through crystals is shown. Finally, a phenomenological explanation of ortho kink-band formation is given. ORTHO compressive kink bands (Fig. la) were discovered for the case of metals by Orowan,1 and they have been discussed by Jillson2 and in some detail by Hess and Barrett." However, their history in nonmetallic crystals is considerably older. It is not known when they were first observed in mineral crystals, but descriptions of them may be found as early as 1885.* They were sometimes mistaken for twins.6 Mügge seems to have been first to realize their true nature and importance. He reviewed the knowledge of them for a wide variety of crystals: anhydrite, antimonite, kyanite, vivianite, gypsum, mica, graphite, molybdenite, barium bromide, cal-cite, sodium nitrate, and barite. Also, the "twins" observed by Bridgman7 in sapphire crystals resemble kink bands more than twins. The terms ortho and para kink bands have been coined in order to distinguish between two types of kink bands which seem to represent the same geometrical configurations, but which have different origins and sizes. Ortho kink bands are the usual type that form at low loads when zinc crystals are compressed parallel to the basal plane. Para kink bands form at much higher loads in highly deformed crystals. These terms refer to compression phenomena and are not to be confused with analogous tension phenomena such as tensile kink bands and deformation bands. Mügge described the geometry of ortho kink bands quite completely for kyanite crystals, Fig. lc. The geometry observed for cadmium by Orowan1 and for zinc by Hess and Barrett3 is very similar to that described by Mügge. (See Hess and Barrett for a complete discussion.) Mügge associated kinking with bending combined with basal slip. He pointed out that the kink angles

Jan 1, 1955

Jan 1, 1967

By J. C. Boswell, J. D. Crawford

IN addition to its base-metal and coal mining operations, the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company has, for the past quarter century, been one of the few large American mining companies interested in dredging. Its activities in this field are confined to gold, and to Alaska, but it is the largest operator in that territory, with twelve huge dredges available to work during the summer on the frozen ancient beach sands at Nome and the gravels of Fairbanks. These operations will be described separately.

Jan 1, 1948

By F. R. Hensel

The present paper describes a number of experiments with fine silver, coin silver, silver-cadmium oxide and silver-nickei-copper compacts, prepared by powder metallurgical methods. The test data are of a preliminary nature, since most of the work was exploratory. Fine Silver Eject of Compacting Pressure on Hardness and Density during Cold and Hot Pressing The cold-welding properties of silver have received considerable attention and the welding characteristics are functions of such variables as: cleanliness of metal particles (impurities and adsorbed gases), chemical nobility of particles, plasticity and hardness, particle assortment, particle shape, particle porosity, apparent density, temperature, pressure, time, recrystalliza-tion characteristics. Chemical nobility, plasticity and low temperature of recrystallization after work-hardening are responsible for the excellent low-temperature bonding properties of silver. Several series of compacts were pressed at pressures of 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 70 and 80 tons per square inch, at temperatures of 32°C. (room temperature), l00°, 2000, 300°, 400°, and 450°C. Silver powder of minus 325-mesh, produced by displacing silver from a nitrate solution by means of copper, was used. The density was calcuiated from accurately measured and weighed compacts. The hardness was measured on the Rockwell F scale. The investigation shows that an increase in pressure promotes a higher density and hardness regardless of pressing temperature, up to a temperature of 400° C. The pressure-density curves at various pressing temperatures are shown in Fig. I, the pressure-hardness curves at various pressing temperatures, in Fig. z. The greatest increase in both hardness and density was obtained in the pressure range of 5 to 20 tons per square inch. A compact from each series was annealed at 300°C. in air, for various lengths of time. The hardness values after annealing are shown in Table I. A minimum hardness was obtained after one hour of annealing. No change in density occurred during annealing. The maximum density was obtained at 80 tons per sq. in., and at this pressure the hardness is equal to that of hard-drawn wrought

Jan 1, 1945

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

SINCE the Sixth Book has described the iron tools, the vessels and the machines used in mink, this Book will describe the methods of assaying1 ores; because it is desirable to first test them in order that the material mined may be advantageously smelted, or that the dross may be purged away and the metal made pure. Although writers have mentioned such tests, yet none of them have set down the directions for performing them, wherefore it is no wonder that those who come later have written nothing on the subject. By tests of this kind miners can determine with certainty whether ores contain any metal in them or not ; or if it has already been indicated that the ore contains one or more metals, the tests show whether it is much or little ; the miners also ascertain by such tests the method by which the metal can be separated from that part of the ore devoid of it ; and further, by these tests, they determine that part in which there is much metal from that part in which there is little. Unless these tests have been carefully applied before the metals are melted out, the ore cannot be smelted without great loss to the owners, for the parts which do not easily melt in the fire carry the metals off with them or consume them. In the last case, they pass off with the fumes ; in the other case they are mixed with the slag and furnace accretions, and in such event the owners lose the labour which they have spent in preparing the furnaces and the crucibles, and further, it is necessary for them to incur fresh expenditure for fluxes and other things. Metals, when they have been melted out, are usually assayed in order that we may ascertain what pro- portion of silver is in a centumpondium of copper or lead, or what quantity of gold is in one libra of silver ; and, on the other hand, what proportion of copper or lead is contained in a centumpondium of silver, or what quantity of silver is contained in one libra of gold. And from this we can calculate whether it will be worth while to separate the precious metals from the base metals, or not. Further, a test of this kind shows whether coins are good or are debased ; and readily detects silver, if the coiners have mixed more than is lawful with the gold ; or copper, if the coiners have alloyed with the gold or silver more of it than is allowable. I will explain all these methods with the utmost care that I can.

Jan 1, 1950

By R. Ruka, E. A. Gulbransen

ONE of the interesting questions in the understanding of the reaction of iron with oxygen is the kinetics and the mechanism of the crystal structure changes occurring in the formation and breakdown of the oxide film. In a recent work' the electron diffraction method was applied to the study of the solid phase reactions occurring internally in the oxide film on iron above 570°C and under vacuum conditions. The higher oxides which form under oxidizing conditions are reduced internally by the diffusion of iron into the oxide leaving the bulk of the oxide FeO (wüstite). This paper will ask and consider three questions. These are: (1) What is the nature of the depressed transformation temperature for the Fe3O4 + Fe ? 4Fe0 reaction in very thin oxide films?; (2) What is the mechanism of the forward transformation of Fe3O4 to FeO at or near 570°C?; and (3) What is the nature and mechanism of the slow reverse transformation of FeO to Fe3O4 and Fe below 570°C?. The composition of the oxide as well as its electrical, magnetic, mechanical, and chemical properties depends upon the kinetics of these reactions. Literature Survey The composition of the oxide film on pure iron at temperatures up to 570°C has been studied extensively by the electron diffraction method. Nelson,' Jackson and Quarrell,3 and Gulbransen and Hick-man4 have shown that Fe3O4 and a-Fe2O8 are formed in the temperature range of 225" to 570°C, while y-Fe,O, is most likely formed below 225°C for long oxidation times. In very thin films FeO (wüstite) is found to form at temperatures as low as 400°C, and its existence depends essentially upon the extent of initial oxidation. FeO is not found in the formation of thick films below 570°C. On the other hand X-ray5 and micrographic8 studies show that Fe3O4 may exist as the main com-ponent in thick films up to 650°C, well above the equilibrium temperature for the reaction Fe3O4 + Fe ? 4FeO. The kinetics of the forward and reverse trans-formations of the reaction Fe3O4 + Fe ? 4FeO have not been studied in oxide films. However, analysis of the data of Gulbransen and Hickman4 on the heat-ing and cooling of iron oxide films of known thick-nesses in high vacua shows that the forward reac-tion proceeds rapidly even for a 4000 A film at temperatures of 575" to 600°C. The reverse reaction or decomposition of wüstite (FeO) occurs at tem-peratures below 450°C. Thus, there appears to be a slow process in the decomposition which is in marked contrast to the rapid forward reaction. The decomposition of a bulk sample of FeO free from the metal has been studied extensively by Chaudron, Benard and coworkers using the micro-graphic, X-ray diffraction, and thermomagnetic methods. Chaudron7,8 first observed that the de-composition of FeO (wüstite) below 570°C occurs by the reaction 4FeO ? Fe3O4 + Fe. Later work by Chaudron and Forestier5 showed that the rate of de-

Jan 1, 1951

By Marius R. Campbell

Does mine-sampling show the commercial value of a coal, and if so, how should it be done? This question is often asked, but seldom answered. During the past summer, while engaged in securing coal for the Government coal-testing plant at St. Louis, I had an excellent opportunity to obtain information on this subject, and the results seem to furnish an answer to the questions propounded above. Sampling for the Geological Survey Coal-Testing Plant. In organizing the work of the testing-plant, it was decided that coal in car-load lots only would be accepted for testing, also that this coal should be loaded under the immediate supervision of a representative of the plant, so as to be certain that the car-load sample would be representative. As an additional check on the work, two mine-samples were to be collected from each mine visited, and these samples, as well as the sam¬ple from the car when it was received at the testing-plant, were to be carefully analyzed at the chemical laboratory, which was established in connection with the plant and operated under the direction of Prof. N. W. Lord, of the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Mine-Sanmhling:-Mine-samples were collected with great care by me and my assistants, Messrs. J. Shober Burrows, John W. Groves and Frank W. De Wolf. The dominant idea in the regulations which were adopted for mine-sampling was that it should be done in such a manner that the sample would have the same composition as the commercial output of the mine. .

Sep 1, 1905

By Frederick Laist

IT IS obviously impossible to design a copper smelting plant which could be considered, ideal under all conditions. For example, a plant properly designed to smelt the concentrates resulting from the treatment of porphyry ores by flotation would not be the kind of plant that one would design for the treatment of a coarse pyritous copper ore. The smelting of flotation or other fine concentrates is generally accomplished in a reverberatory plant, although occasionally the concentrates are sintered and then smelted in blast furnaces. On the other hand, coarse self-fluxing ores, whether pyritic or semi-pyritic, are generally smelted in a blast-furnace plant. Even this statement is only- approximately true, since the choice will be influenced by many factors; for example, the kind of fuel available (coal, oil or coke), the value of power (electric or steam), the uses to which waste steam may be put (heating, drying, etc.), the cost of refractories (silica and fire brick), the permanence and continuity of the ore supply and the relative first costs of the two types of plant (the reverberatory plant is generally more expensive to construct and to shut down), the contour of the site on which the plant is to be built (rugged, rolling or flat), the intelligence and character of the labor avail-able, and many other factors. From these remarks, it is evident that no copper smelter can be ideal for all conditions of ore and locality, and inasmuch as most of the copper now being pro-duced comes from fine or flotation concentrates and these are generally smelted in reverberatory furnaces, I shall confine my remarks to this type of smelt-ing plant.

Jan 5, 1923

By R. C. Gifkins, K. U. Snowden

The value of the index n in power ktivs for the stress sensitivity of minimum creep rale at lead is derived front results drawn from lite literature and from previously unpublished nork on commercial (99.99 pel) and high-purity (99.999 pel) lead polycryslalline and hi crystal specimens. In tests al 0.5Tm (22 to 50'C) for slvesses below 250 psi, n fulls to mily for poly-cr,yslullirle specimens, single crystals, and bicrystals, and toy grain boundary sliding in bicrystals. Between 250 and 500 psi there is a tyansilion range and, for the polycrystalline specimens al least, u high-stress regime for 500 to 1500 psi where n is 5 or 6. These results are such that none of the suggested stress taws can he used to extrapolate to very loir stresses. Meclianisms for deformation in Ike grains and toy grain boundary sliding in the low-strcss regime are outlined. In particular, the mechanism for grain boundary sliding involves sliding controlled by diffusion from tensile to compressire Ledges. predictions based on this model give promising numerical agree-nicul with experiment. II is suggested that the mechanism for grain boundary sliding may he important in other circumstances, e.g., in creep of ceramic materials or superplaslicity, because it can operate with lille or no dislocation aclirity. WhEN the stress dependence of secondary creep rate is represented by a power law the values taken by the stress exponent n are found to vary between 1 and 7, see, c.g., Garofalo.' In Eq. 1 11 u is the applied stress and A a constant. The case for accepting values of v = 1 rests principally upon tests at high temperatures (>0.9Tm) and there have only been isolated tests at lower temperatures (rather than plots of creep rate against stress) for which the creep rates are such that some form of Nabarro-Herring creep with n = 1 is applicable. Hanson5 and Greenwood and cole6 plotted creep rate against stress for tests made in the vicinity of 0.5Tw, and found a "creep yield", so that below a certain low stress the creep rate was linearly related to stress: these observations appear to have been subsequently ignored. Various models have been proposed which agree with a large body of experimental results in which n equals -5 at high stresses (e.g., weertman7 and McLean8). Various alternatives to Eq. [1] have been proposed principally as a means of unifying creep data, but sometimes, it seems, in order to obviate the necessity for assuming a series of regimes of deformation associated with the various values of n; further refer- ence to these will be made in the section on stress laws. This paper calls attention to extensive results which show n = 1 for the creep of lead at room temperature (0.5 T,). RESULTS Fig. 1 is a composite diagram based on figures in the literature6,9,10 with additional results obtained by the present authors and their colleagues11,12 in the course of a number of investigations not directly concerned with stress sensitivity. In Fig. 1 In creep rate is plotted against In stress. The curves show results for two kinds of material. Lead I is of commercial purity (99.99 pct Pb) and lead IT a specially refined material, hydrogen-purified to remove oxygen; it contains 99.999 pct Pb. Curve A is for lead I in polycrystalline form (grain diameter 0.02 to 0.05 cm) at room temperature (22' to 26°C). Curve B1 is for lead I, polycrystalline, tested at 50C. Curve B2 is for lead 11, polycrystalline (grain diameter 0.02 cm), tested at room temperature (22 O- Curves C to F relate to tests made of bicrystals of lead 11: all of the same nominal orientation ("Y" in Ref. 12). Curves C and V are for creep within the component crystals of the bi crystals at 22°C (AB and CD in Fig. 2). Curve E is for creep measured in a gage straddling the boundary, approximately 0.15 mm either side (BC in Fig. 2). Curve F shows rates of grain boundary sliding (as distinct from strain rates in the other curves), obtained by averaging the offsets of six marker lines on the bi-crystal boundaries. The principal feature of the results is that the stress sensitivity falls into two distinct regimes, according to whether the stress is below approximately 250 or above 500 psi (there is a transitional range between 250 and 500 psi). The new result is that below -250 psi two of the curves (A and BI) give a value of n 1, and the other curves also drop below n - 2 to -1.5 but do not extend to low enough stresses to show clear evidence of n 1. At very high stresses the curves tend to give values of n - 6, as previously determined in other investigations. Curve R2 for the high-purity lead in polycrystalline form at room tenlperature almost merges with B, and thus gives new significance to the values for stresses of 150 and 200 psi; previously'3 these points had seemed to fall away from the curve of slope -3, but they now can be seen as almost completing a transition to n = 1. It should be noted that there was originally considerable apparent scatter in the results for the high-purity lead. However, this was found to be associated with annealing conditions or variations in residual content of oxygen and curve B2 was constructed using the highest rate (i .e., the rate for the purest lead) determined for each stress during the course of various investigations over the years: altogether, some forty tests were used in constructing curve R2.

Jan 1, 1968

By L. S. Richardson, N. J. Grant

REACTIONS of oxygen and nitrogen at low pressures with titanium have recently been studied by a number of investigators.1-3 Gulbransen and Andrew' noted that the reaction with nitrogen followed the parabolic rate law whereas the reaction with oxygen deviated slightly from this law in the temperature range 300° to 800°C. In the work reported here, commercial titanium (75 A) was used as the test material. Cylinders 2.5 in. long and 0.25 in. in diameter were machined from heavier bar stock. The test pieces were given a metallographic finish, immersed for 30 min in cold concentrated HC1, washed in water, then acetone, and dried with lint-free cloth. Reaction rates were determined in a modified Sieverts type apparatus by measuring the decrease in gas pressure of the reacting gas contained in a constant volume. The amount of gas added could be measured in a calibrated gas burette to an accuracy of 0.01 mm. During the course of a run the temperature never varied by more than 10°C and then only for brief moments. After placing the specimen in the furnace, the system was first evacuated for 12 hr at room temperature, and then flushed with purified argon five times, adsorbed gases being discharged during this period from the glass system with a high frequency spark coil. The flushing and discharging were repeated at 400°C. This rather involved procedure was found necessary after a number of trial runs indicated extraneous effects traceable to the system. Reaction periods up to 2 hr were used, at initial gas pressures of 0.2 to 0.5 atm. Experimental Results Fig. 1 shows the decrease in oxygen pressure for tests at 0.5 atm at various temperatures as a function of the square root of the time. Deviations from linearity are minor and the parabolic rate law is obeyed. Fig. 2 shows the same plot for the nitrogen reaction. A definite deviation from linearity is noted; however, it is probable that the higher initial rates are caused by the presence of small amounts of oxygen contamination, the initial faster rate changing to the slower rate after about 5 to 10 min. Calculations of the rate constants were made on the basis of the latter portion of the curves. The parabolic rate law constants calculated from these curves are shown for oxygen and nitrogen in Fig. 3. In spite of some scatter the average curves are quite definite. Changes in gas pressure of the order of 20 pct did not result in a measurable change in the rate law constants. The activation energy for the oxygen reaction was calculated to be 47,400 cal per mol (above 700°C), which is not in agreement with the value quoted by Gulbransen and Andrew' for lower temperatures, their value being 26,000 cal below 600°C. The activation energy for the nitrogen reaction was calculated to be 45,400 cal per mol above about

Jan 1, 1955

By H. H. Power

THE PETROLEUM DIVISION of the A.I.M.E. continued with its diversified activities during 1.935. Sessions at the New York meeting in February were devoted to production engineering, domestic and foreign oil production, and petroleum economics. The symposiums on domestic and foreign production proved their increased usefulness. The data accumulated for 1935 were added to those published during prior years in "Petroleum Development and Technology." A joint session on the use of metals in the petroleum industry was held by the Institute of Metals, Iron and Steel, and Petroleum Divisions. W. S. Farish, chairman of the board of the Standard Oil Co. (N. J.), was the principal speaker at the annual dinner. The October meeting, held in Hous¬ton, was characterized by an excellent program and large attendance. Four sessions were devoted to problems in estimating reserves, reservoir energy, properties of drilling muds, electrical logging, water flooding, and other subsurface studies. Foreign representatives of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. presented a paper on surface tension and specific gravity of crude oil under reservoir conditions. The address by President Buehler, the dinner at San Jacinto Inn, a trip to various lo

Jan 1, 1936

By C. R. Kuzell

IN COMPARISON with recent years 1932 has yielded much less tangible evidence of progress in copper reduction and refining. The industry has been extremely quiet, especially in the United States. Design and construction has been throttled by lack of new capital expenditures. The excess producing capacity of the whole industry and the extremely gloomy outlook for the future have made it unwise to tie up more capital except under special conditions. The plants built during the previous year have, however, been placed in operation. Older plants have been abandoned, temporarily shut down, placed on part time operating basis, or continue to operate at a low percentage of normal capacity. In the United States the Phelps Dodge Corporation at Douglas, Ariz., has completed the remodeling of the former Calumet & Arizona smelter. A new roaster and Cottrell plant chimney was completed this year. Though operations have been limited the new equipment has been found to justify all expectations. The reverberatory plant addition consists of two furnaces 26 by 107 ft. inside dimensions, with a high arch, and modern steel binding of excellent design. Natural gas fuel gives good results. One of these furnaces will treat 1000 tons of solid charge per day with a fuel consumption of approximately 3,000,000 B.t.u. per ton. The larger converters have not only yielded the expected lower costs, but have simplified operations in the converter department. One of the noticeable results is the greater cleanliness in the environment and the absence

Jan 1, 1933