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By V. L. Richards, S. N. Lekakh, S. A. Dutler

"This study presents determination on the thermal properties of investment casting shell molds used in casting process modeling. Superheat and latent heat from solidification and cooling of a casting can either be accumulated by ceramic shell for thin-walled casting or transfer to environment for massive casting. Heat capacity and thermal conductivity both play important roles in casting solidification. Thermal properties of ceramic shell depend on shell composition and fabrication techniques as well as thermal history during shell preparation process due to multiple phase transformations. Inverse modeling was combined with corrected Laser Flash method to determine the applicable thermal properties of the shell during casting solidification. Pure nickel was poured into ceramic shells containing two thermocouples and experimental cooling curves were obtained. These curves were then fitted to the model by adjusting temperature dependent heat capacity and thermal conductivity.IntroductionCasting solidification in investment casting shell affected by shell thermal properties including specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity. For relatively thin walled casting, most of the melt superheat and part of latent heat are accumulated by the shell. This process is mainly controlled by shell heat capacity. In the case of massive casting, significant part of latent heat transfers to environment through the shell so that this process is mainly controlled by shell thermal conductivity."

Jan 1, 2012

By Yimin Ruan

"An inverse design method is developed to obtain the optimal cooling conditions for the continuous quenching of precipitation hardenable sheet alloys to achieve the required yield strength. The yield strength of a precipitation hardenable alloy is obtained by allowing solute to enter into solid solution at a proper temperature and rapidly cooling the alloy to retain the solute in the solid solution. An aging process may be needed for the alloy to develop the final mechanical properties.The objective of the design is to optimize the quenching process so that the required yield strength can be achieved. With the inverse design method, the required yield strength is specified and the sheet thermal profile at the exit of the quenching chamber can also be specified. The conjugate gradient method is used to optimize the cooling boundary condition during quenching. The adjoint system is developed to compute the gradient of the objective functional. An aluminum sheet quenching problem is presented to demonstrate feasibility of the inverse design method.IntroductionQuenching is a critical step in metal production to achieve desired material properties, such as yield strength, hardness, etc., for precipitation hardenable alloys. In most cases, rapid quenching from the solution heat treatment temperature is necessary to obtain the required material properties, but rapid quenching may cause other problems such as excessive distortions of the quenched materials.In a solution heat treatment, the alloy is heated to a suitable temperature, held at that temperature to allow the soluble alloying elements to enter into the solid solution, and cooled rapidly (quenching) to retain the alloy elements in the solid solution. An aging process, which controls precipitation of fine particles at room (natural aging) or elevated temperatures (artificial aging), is generally followed after the quenching process to develop the final mechanical properties of the heat treated alloys."

Jan 1, 1998

By T. Langthaler, H. W. Engl, H. Holl, K. L. Schwaha

"The trend towards near net shape casting requires the development of more complex design and control algorithms for continuous casting ""machines in particular with respect to the solidification process.Compared to conventional continuous casting the reduction in casting thickness allows to influence more directly the solidification rate by control variables like surface cooling and/or casting speed.In order to enable the determination of these control variables for a given solidification profile, an algorithm (inverse solidification analysis) has been developed based on nonlinear constrained optimization. The application of the model is illustrated by practical examples ranging from conventional continuous casting to advanced thin slab casting.IntroductionProcess development in the Iron and Steel Industry is directed towards the realization of continuous process sequences. Since the direct linkage of processes imposes some restrictions onto the individual process steps, more complex algorithms are needed for design of equipment and control of operation. In particular the recent trend to reduce casting thickness, i.e. to cast thin slabs, has made the direct coupling of continuous casting and rolling absolutely necessary. The prospective development in strip production is schematically shown in fig. 1."

Jan 1, 1988

By Zhao-Qun Ke, Wen-Feng Tan, Jiang Diao, Yu-Hao Liu, Bing Xie, Zhang Tao, Wang Zhou, Hong-Yi Li

An effective way to decrease the dephosphorization burden in the current vanadium extraction-steelmaking process is slagging with CaO in vanadium extraction step. The phase composition of vanadium slag with different basicity and the regularities distribution of elements have been investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy combining with energy disperse X-ray spectrometry, respectively. The results indicate that V mainly concentrates in the spinel phases; Ca and P are rich in the silicate phases. Fe2SiO4 transform to CaFeSiO4, while the basicity of vanadium slag is 1.3. With further increase of basicity, 2CaOSiO2 could form in the silicate phases. Moreover, the phosphorus-containing phase will transform from Ca3(PO4)2 to Ca3(PO4)2-nCa2SiO4. With the increase of P2O5 content, the crystallization rate of spinels decrease obviously. Furthermore, the peak temperature for crystallization of spinels decrease 5 K with the P2O5 content increasing 1 wt%.

Mar 1, 2017

By Md. Z. Quadir, M. Ashraf, A. A. H. Ameri, J. P. Escobedo-Diaz

The quasi-static mechanical response of hot rolled lean duplex stainless steel 2101 (LDSS 2101) in rolling, transverse and normal directions under compression loading has been investigated for its perceived anisotropic behaviour. Microstructural characterization is performed by optical microscopy and Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) to qualitatively define the influence of the texture by using Taylor factor and grain sizes, and phase boundaries by utilizing the modified Hall-Petch formula. It was observed that LDSS2101 does not show anisotropic behaviour in terms of the mechanical strength but it has a clear anisotropy in the lateral strains; the microstructural explanation of this response may result from the phase boundaries strengthening.

Mar 1, 2017

By D. Georgiou

Direct sulphuric acid leaching of nickeliferous limonites is the process of choice to recover nickel and cobalt from equatorially located lateritic ores. These ores are rich-in-iron (-45 wt%) existing in the form of goethite enriched with nickel. The merit of this process is due to its high nickel selectivity because of simultaneous iron separation and acid regeneration. Under acid leaching conditions (-250 to 270°C) iron follows an acid dissolution-hydrolytic precipitation path yielding a very low concentration level depending on temperature and acidity of the final leach liquor. The primary precipitation product of iron is hematite which also forms as a scale on reactor internals along with co-existing aluminum. In this paper, an overview of the behaviour of iron solid products under process conditions is made. The evolution of goethite to hematite transformation, as well as the role of iron in reactor scale production, are studied using SEM/EDX characterization techniques.

Jan 1, 1995

By Ahmadzadegan. Arash, Anil Saigal, Michael A. Zimmerman

"In this study, the rheology of liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) melts through simplified 2-D and 3-D die geometries is simulated using Polyflow™. It is known that rheological properties of LCPs are close to long chain polymers and their directionality is close to those of small molecule liquid crystals (SMLCs). As a result, different rheological models (both viscoelastic and generalized Newtonian) for long chain polymers in Polyflow™ were investigated based on the available capillary rheometer data. By varying the parameters in these models, it is possible to adjust the effect of shear viscosity, normal stress differences and relaxations times on the rheology of the polymer. The free surface of the extrudate coming out of the die is simulated and the amount of die swell for different types of rheological models is compared. This study indicates that the Bird-Carreau model best applies to thermotropic LCP materials as quantified by die swell. Since the rheology of the LCPs affects the orientation of the crystals, the result of this simulation can be further used to predict the orientation of crystallines inside and outside the die.IntroductionAny rod like molecule or crystal tends to orient itself in the direction of shear as it moves within a flow. Since polymers consist of long chains of molecules, they experience the same phenomena when flowing in the melt condition. For most polymers, the molecules change direction and distribute uniformly in space during the solidification. However due to the higher inertia of the crystals in the liquid crystalline polymers, the oriented crystals will keep their order during the solidification and as a result the final product will show anisotropy in material properties."

Jan 1, 2012

By Wenxuan Xu, Shusen Cheng, Guolei Zhao

According to cross beam temperature measuring data of stock surface gas flow in blast furnace production process, using zoning method to deal with stock surface gas flow cross beam temperature measuring data, the evaluation system of stock surface gas flow distribution in radial direction and circumferential direction was established. Central index, platform index and edge index were proposed to evaluate stock surface gas flow distribution in radial direction, global uniform index and local uniform index were proposed to evaluate stock surface gas flow distribution in circumferential direction. Combined with actual production of 5500 m3 blast furnace and typical morphology of stock surface gas flow distribution,the strength of stock surface gas flow distribution was divided into five grades to provide guidance for the optimization of blast furnace operation.

Mar 1, 2017

By B. Madelin

Over the last ten years, Minemet Recherche and Metaleurop have used an approach in order to investigate and improve the operation of its Smelting furnace and its lead blast furnaces. This approach gives importance- to three complementary means of investigation : - Probing campains in the industrial furnace (temperature and gas analysis profiles), - Chemical and physical modeling (coke combustion, sinter reduction modes, flows patterns, ?.) , - Staged mass and heat balances or kinetic model. This allows to define the limits of operation of each blast furnace and to predict the influence of operating parameters on the furnace performances. For the zinc Imperial smelting furnace, the probing results show the existence- of both an Isothermal reserve zone at 1015ºc and a chemical equilibrium between ZnO and gas which makes possible the use of a practical model for heat and material balances. In particular, very good prediction on the influences of operating parameters can be made. On the contrary, for lead blast furnaces, the probing results show that the thermal and chemical equilibria are not reached. Consequently, classical models for staged heat and mass balances are not sufficient. The use of the other means allows then to characterize the specific influences of operating parameters on the thermal instabilities of these furnaces and their allowed limits.

Jan 1, 1990

By Ryo Kawarabuki, Atsushi Shibayama, Masato Kosugi, Masanobu Fujita, Kohei Mitsuhashi

An investigation on improving copper and iron recovery by removal of organic carbon and carbonaceous gangue mineral through flotation was carried out. The ore contains chalcopyrite and bornite as valuable minerals, and dolomite and calcite as carbonaceous gangue minerals. The chemical composition of the ore indicates that grade of 2.08 and 5.37 mass% for copper and iron respectively, while carbon was 3.70 mass%. The total organic carbon in the feed was recorded as 2.02 mass%. The presence of these gangue minerals is detrimental to copper and iron recovery during flotation. Therefore a two stage flotation study was carried out to remove hydrophobic carbon and carbonaceous material from ore and to improve copper and iron recovery. The objective of the study was to find effective and selective flotation conditions which can eliminate gangue minerals from valuable minerals and improve quality (grade) and recovery of copper and iron. The obtained results could be used to develop a flotation circuit for recovering copper and iron from carbonaceous sulphide ores.

Mar 1, 2018

By Zhigang Liang

Investigation into the mixing of 150t ladle furnace by two-nozzle jetting was performed by a water model simulation of 1:4. The effects of nozzle arrangements including separation angle, radial position and asymmetry as well as tracer adding position on the mixing time were studied. The most favorable mixing is achieved when the two nozzles are symmetrically arranged at half radii in the ladle, with 45o separation angle. The empirical relationship between the mixing time and stirring power intensity has been established for two-nozzle jetting based on the present experimental results. In addition, the swelling above bath surface is also investigated with two-nozzle jetting.

Jan 1, 2009

By S. Ozbilen, B. Erdogan, M. Erdogan

To study by thermal analyses the response of precipitation hardenable alloys of Al-Cu-Mg and Al-Li-Cu-Mg system to natural and artificial ageing, a series of ternary and quaternary Al-alloys with nominal compositions of Al-l.13wt%Cu-0:65wt%Mg (alloy-I), Al-1.15wt%Cu-0.57wt%Mg-0.07wt%Li (alloy-2), Al-l.19wt%Cu-0.56wt%Mg-0.75wt%Li (alloy-3), Al-2.0lwt%Cu-0.89wt%Mg (alloy-4), Al-2.14wt%Cu"0.56wt%Mg-0.07wt%Li (alloy-5) were used in the present investigation. Samples in the form of rolled sheets are subjected to water quenching at 25EC after solution treatment at 530EC for 20 min. Alloys were aged naturally at room temperature (25EC) up to 2 months and artificially at 190EC up to 2 days. By using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the temperature range of25-300EC, differential thermal analysis (DTA) in the temperature range of25-600EC together with Vicker's hardness measurements, the response to natural and artificial ageing of the alloys used in the present study were investigated. It was observed that in these alloys, GPB(Cu, Mg) zones [Guinier-Preston zones with Cu and Mg] do form during water quenching at 20EC following solutionizing heat treatment. Natural ageing of the same alloys causes formation of more GPB(Cu, Mg) zones, which results in hardening in the alloys. Artificial ageing at 190EC up to l day results in GPB zone dissolution causing preliminary decrease in hardness values while two days of artificial ageing in the alloys cause S' (Al2CuMg) precipitation confirmed by DSC/DTA analyses resulting in an increase in hardness values. Li addition up to 0.75wt% helps T1 (Al2CuLi) and T 2 (Al6CuLi3) phase formation together with S' precipitation as DSC/DTA analyses show after the same heat treatment.

Jan 1, 1998

By Simon Lekakh, Von Richards, C. Hank Rawlins, Kent Peaslee

"Batch aqueous leaching and carbonation tests were conducted using industrial steelmaking slags to determine the effect of carbonic anhydrase enzyme as a catalyst. Calcium leaching is a strong function of particle surface area, and the extent can be expressed as a function of time and particle size. Carbonic anhydrase did not affect the calcium-leaching rate, however, it did catalyze calcium carbonate formation to achieve a neutralization time near the theoretical rate. Additionally, carbonic anhydrase modified the precipitate morphology due to accelerated particle nucleation. Time controlled tests in which the pH dropped to ~6 decreased the amount of carbonate produced, and this effect was exaggerated by carbonic anhydrase, while pH controlled tests (>8.5) exhibited the highest rate of carbonation. Because the leaching rate was ~50% faster than the carbonation rate, a further increase in the amount of carbonation may be realized by using carbonic anhydrase however pH must be >10.3.IntroductionSteelmaking slag contains high fractions of alkaline earth oxide based phases (i.e., CaO and MgO) that exothermically form carbonates. Thus, it is being considered as a means of permanent carbon dioxide sequestration. At current U.S. steel production rates, approximately 13-17 million tons/year of slag are generated from basic oxygen furnace (BOF), electric arc furnace (EAF), and ladle metallurgy furnace (LMF) processes [1]. BOF and EAF slag is used as high quality mineral aggregate or cement clinker, while LMF slag, produced at ~15% the rate of BOF and EAF slags, has limited use as blast furnace flux or acid mine neutralization with the majority going to landfill [2]. Based on slag’s chemical nature and immediate availability as a co-product from steel production, the steel industry initiated a project to investigate hydrous carbonate formation in steelmaking slag as a method of sequestering carbon dioxide emitted in steelmaking offgas [3]. The goal of this project is to determine the reactor parameters suitable for the design of an industrial system for treating steelmaking offgas with raw or minimally processed slag."

Jan 1, 2009

By David G. Dixon, Maziar Eghbalnia

"Gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on pyrite at ambient temperature from colloidal solutions prepared by reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate or silver nitrate by sodium sulfide or sodium tetrahydridoborate. The nanoparticles were characterized using Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and the experimental spectra were fitted using Mie - Gans modeling. The modified pyrite was investigated using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Electrodes were prepared from both natural and modified pyrite samples and were modeled using an equivalent circuit (EC) based on the EIS data. The comparison of the results revealed a decrease in charge transfer resistance for the ferric ferrous redox couple associated with the modified pyrite. From this behavior it is concluded that the electronic transport between the nanoparticles and the electrode surface over distances in nanometer scale is enhanced. Nanoparticles below a certain size act as quantum dots due to electronic confmement. Decreased charged transfer resistance at the nanometer scale may be caused by electron transport through tunneling mechanism via quantum dots.IntroductionIn recent years, considerable attention has been focused on the synthesis and study of Metal nanoparticles due to their potential applications in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, material science and their interdisciplinary fields[!]. When material is nano-sized, the physical properties deviate markedly from those of bulk material, however, this effect is highly dependent on the particle size, interparticle distance, and morphology of the nanoparticles [2].An extremely small region of space defmed in a semiconductor material in order of nanometers is called a quantum dot, a term coined by Reed [3]. The three dimensional confinement of quantum dots can change properties of the excitons in comparison to free excitons in a bulk material [4]. Nanoparticles behave electronically as zero-dimensional (restricted in all three dimensions) quantum dots when the de Broglie wavelength of the valence electrons and the particle are in the same size range.As Reed [3] explains electrons confined in a plane have no freedom to move the third dimension. Those confined in a quantum wire are only free to move in one dimension, and those confined in a quantum dot are not free in to move in any dimension. An electron inside a cube of material IO nm on a side is confined to a point."

Jan 1, 2012

By Qiang Zhong, Bin Xu, Qian Li, Wei Gao, Yongbin Yang, Yaxuan Wang

Lump coal with high volatility is used for providing heat and reductive gas, and ensuring permeability in COREX. However, it is apt to be pulverized in transport and storage process. Therefore, comprehensive utilization of the pulverized coal to produce coal briquettes with appropriate binders is significant, among which the molasses binder cannot meet the technological requirements. In this paper, coal tar pitch binder and BJ additive were used in briquetting and carbonizing process of coal powder. The results showed that BJ effectively activated cold state cohesiveness of the pitch and make it bond the coke particles to a firm briquette at room temperature .Carbonizations of coal and coal tar pitch achieved obvious constriction and formed a carbonized skeleton. The drop resistance of wet briquettes reached over 50 times/1meter. When cured at 1000 °C for 1h under nitrogen atmosphere, the compressive strength of carbonized briquettes came to 6.43 Mpa.

Jan 1, 2016

By R. R. Odle

A laboratory and pilot-scale investigation of direct smelting of copper concentrates was conducted to determine the effect of concentrate analysis and the degree of roasting on the yield and quality of copper produced in a subsequent smelting step. A stoichiometric :mOdel of direct smelting is presented which predicts the? quantity of copper; slag, and white metal' prOduced'and the distribution of copper in these phases as a function? of the concentrate '(calcine) analysis.

Jan 1, 1983

By M. D. Bishop

Loss of organic solvent extraction circuits occurs through several accepted methods. Losses are commonly attributed to entrainment of the plant organic and evaporative loss of diluent. Evaporative losses of diluent have been estimated using various models or by considering all losses over and above entrainment to be due to evaporation. Other possible loss mechanisms are discussed and data on losses during weather conditions are presented. Accurate estimation of evaporative loss is vitally important to the industry due to both cost factors and environmental concerns. Data for and description of the Diffusive Flux Model are presented as an improved-method of estimating evaporative losses:

Jan 1, 1999

By A. Hasko

Phytoremediation is a new low cost alternative technique for remediation of contaminated soils from heavy metals that are emitted by ferrous and nonferrous mining and extracting processes. It is based on the possibility to use several plants that accumulate high level of metals in order to remove metallic pollutants from soils and render them harmless. Phytoextraction is an adjacent new technique that uses these hyper-accumulator plants in order to extract the metals from them using even the conventional smelting or refming processes. In our previous work, an extensive investigation of about 150 plants have been carried and several species were identified that could be used for nickel phytoremediation and phytoextraction because of their high accumulation of nickel. It has been found that five taxa from Alyssum genus specie had the highest ability to accumulate nickel with concentrations more than 10000 ug/g (dry weight) or 1%. The taxa showing the highest accumulation of this metal is Alyssum murale var. chlorocarpum with 28 600 ug/g or 2.86%, a good candidate for Phytoextraction. In this work, in order to optimize the phytoremediation and phytoextraction processes further Absorption Spectrometry measurements and biological studies were carried out to determine the parts of the plants that accumulate the highest amount of nickel and the best biological cycle during which they accumulate the highest amount. The results show that the greatest accumulation of nickel occurred in the leaf material (2.86%) and the least in the roots (0.43%). The investigation of the biological cycle of the genus Alyssum showed that: (1) the seeds germinated between 50 C to 30 0 C and more in 25 0 C; (2) 62.9 % of seeds germinated at A.m. var. chlorocarpum; (3) the emergence is almost continue from March to April; (4) the anthesis occurs from May to July; (5) the ripening of the fruit takes place 30 days after flowering; (6) the dissemination of fruits occurs from September to October. Due to these special characteristics it is reaffirmed that Alyssum murale var. chlorocarpum, as a nickel hyperaccumulator, is the most promising plant to be used for feasible phytoremedation and phytoextraction purposes. Keywords: Key words: Phytoextraction, PhytoRemediation, Nickel accumulators, Alyssum sp., Biological cycle

Jan 1, 2003

By G. G. Krishna Murthy

Several experiments were conducted to determine the rates of heat transfer coefficients of CaO-SiO2-A1203-FeO slags at temperatures in the range 1623-1823 K The experimental technique involved measuring heating rates of a solid specimen, sub¬merged in slag phase, using a temperature probe made of Pt\ 10%Rh-Pt. Effect of %FeO (3-10%), %FeS (0.1-0.68%), %P205 (0.2-3.0%), %MgO(5-6%), and %MnO (0.96-3.84%) present in the slag on overall heat transfer coefficient, U, of slags was investigated. Simple first order heat balance equation in combination with experimental plots rising temperature of solid specimen versus time were employed to determine the values of U. The values of U determined in the present investigation were present in the range of 70-260 cal/Ks.m2. The value of U increased with increasing the slag temperature. The values of U were not effected by increased amounts of sulfur in the slag phase. The increased concentrations of MgO, FeO, MnO, and P205 in the slag phase decreased the values of U. On the other hand, the increased amounts of Fe2O3 in the slag phase increased the value of U. Comparison of the results, obtained using the slag bath stirred by argon injection, with those determined without any stirring indicated that both radiative and conductive heat transfer mechanisms are important even at high temperatures.

Jan 1, 1993

By Jeffrey D. Winterton

Keywords: Copper, ion exchange, sulfonic acid, bis-picolylamine, ion exchange modeling, ion exchange kinetics As part of an investigation into the feasibility of using ion exchange resins to recover copper from aqueous waste streams generated during the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, the uptake of copper onto two ion exchange resins was investigated. The resins studied were DOWEX G-26, a standard gel type sulfonic acid resin, and DOWEX M4195, a macroporous chelating resin with a bis-picolylamine functional group. The equilibrium and kinetic behavior of the uptake of copper were investigated over a range of copper concentrations with constant sulfate concentration and different levels of acidity. The homogeneous structure of the G-26 resin yields equilibrium relationships that fit the Langmuir equation, and equilibration times of less than 30 minutes. The uptake behavior of M4195 is complicated by the need to absorb co-ions to maintain electroneutrality, resulting in uptake profiles that change character with increasing copper concentrations, and extended equilibration times.

Jan 1, 2005