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By T. G. Edgeworth

Some of the historical background of the industry is reviewed, with reference to the different types of reduction cells in use for aluminum smelting. Factors to be considered in cell des1gn involve capital, power, and operating costs. The trend is apparently toward larger cells. The industry is studying new construction materials for cell linings, as well as alternate electrolyte compositions and other design changes which will improve productivity and energy efficiency. The aluminum smelting activity in other countries is briefly reviewed. TODA Y'S industrial production of aluminum is still based on the simultaneous discoveries made in 1886 by Charles Martin Hall in Ohio, and Paul Heroult in France. Up to that date, only about 50 tons of aluminum had been produced in the world, and the price at that time was about $5 per pound. Sucl1 figures must be contrasted with the present world aluminum smelting capacity of over five mil-lion tons per year, and a price of about 25 cents per pound.

Jan 1, 1962

By William J. Campbell

Evaluation by the Bureau of Mines of published expansion values for magnesium oxide shows significant variation in values, which may be attributed to sample variables, experimental errors, or systematic differences between measuring techniques. To eliminate the sample variable in measuring expansion, thermal expansion characteristics of a high-purity polycrystalline magnesium oxide were determined by 21 cooperating laboratories using one or more of the following techniques; X-ray camera, X-ray diffractometer, dilatometer, interferometer, and telemicroscope. All expansion values were corrected by the author to a single reference temperature of 25° C. Linear expansion was expressed as a power series in the form of the following equation. Expansion (percent) = [[ A + B (?t) + C (?t)2] ?t 104] The constants, A, B, and C, were determined by least square techniques for X-ray camera, X-ray diffractometer, and dilatometer data separately, and for combined data of all five techniques. Expansion values are tabulated from 26° C. to 1,400° C. in 2° C. intervals using constants derived from X-ray camera data. Below approximately 500° C., expansion values obtained by dilatometric and interferometric methods are significantly lower than those by X-ray methods; above 500° C., this bias decreases rapidly. Comparison of results within methods showed the least variance for X-ray camera results; dilatometer and X-ray diffractometer results have about the same variance. The average deviations, in percent, between observed and calculated expansion values among methods were approximately 10 percent from 100°C. to 300°C., 5 percent from 300°C. to 500°C., and 2 percent from 500°C. to 1,400°C. Maximum deviations were approximately twice as large in most instances.

Jan 1, 1962

By A. M. Gaudin

In the first place, let me thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to speak to you on "Mineral Industry Problems - Present and Future". It is a distinguished honor for me to have this opportunity, and I am highly appreciative of this distinction. The beautiful surroundings of Gatlinburg and the pleasantness of a summer occasion are a wonderful tonic for all of us, yet they should not blind us to the seriousness of our Industry's problems No doubt, because of my past appearances before members of the Society of Mining Engineers, at which I discussed wholly scientific topics, or research in the Applied Sciences, you may be expecting me to revert to these subjects. But I intend to venture in a field that is new to me, yet old to all of us, the field of Economics.

Jan 1, 1962

By G. E. Viens, R. A. Campbell, G. N. Banks

A survey of the literature reveals wide differences in the procedures used in making iron ore pellets and in the properties of the pellets obtained. In this paper, the methods of production and the properties of pellets, as reported in the literature, are examined in an effort to determine what correlations exist between them. An attempt is also made to determine the levels of the properties of pellets which are considered acceptable and desirable in modern practice. M UCH has been written regarding the important changes which have been taking place recently in the iron ore industry. As the demand for ore has increased and the supply of direct-shipping ore has dwindled, tl1e problems associated with the utilization of lower grade ores ha\•e been intensely investigated and important advances in both beneficiation and agglomeration techniques have taken place. In particular, there has been a great deal of activity in connection with the pelletizing method of agglomeration. The superiority of pellets over raw ore has been demonstrated in blast furnace tests

Jan 1, 1962

By H. Marquis

The present paper consists of a survey of the literature on the problems of abrasion and wear of metals and materials by suspended matter. This problem is a very general one in industry, and is especially notice-able in the operation of cyclones and other types of dust collectors. The problem of abrasive dust in corrosive gas environments, such as commonly encountered in metallurgical industries, is particularly severe. Very little work has been done in the study of this type of abrasive wear, especially at high temperatures. However, a general review is presented here of all the work published on related subjects, such as that involving sand erosion in turbines and water wheels and the effect of temperature on friction wear. Topics in this paper include: blasting wear by sand, quartz, limestone, silicon carbide and other refractory particles; methods of investigation; effects of velocity, temperature and *Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment, Valcarter, P.Q. angle of attack; correlation between indentation hardness, scratch hard-ness and resistance to abrasion; the effect of protective coatings; resistance of various metals; etc.

Jan 1, 1962

By John Chipman

DESPITE the rapidity of chemical reactions at steelmaking temperatures, deoxidation reactions cannot be expected to reach equilibrium immediately after addition of a deoxidizing agent. A considerable period of time may be required merely to obtain complete mixing of the deoxidizing element throughout the volume of steel to which it is added. Evidence in the literature indicates that in some cases the time is long compared with that allowed for completion of the experiment or for teeming of the heat. The great turbulence observed during the filling of the ladle is no guarantee of complete dispersion on a fine scale throughout the heat. During the process there are initially certain volume elements which are high in deoxidizer and others which retain substantially their original oxygen content. Mixing consists of the subdivision and ultimate destruction of these liquid segregates through the process of shear and elimination of concentration gradients by diffusion. The shear process does not continue indefinitely and a quiescent state may be reached in the ladle before all volume elements of divergent deoxidizer and oxygen content are completely eliminated. In furnace deoxidation the time required for complete mixing may be very long unless continuous stirring is employed.' In Fig. 1, let the circle represent one small volume element of aluminum-rich metal surrounded by oxygen-rich steel in which no stirring movement remains. Further mixing requires inward diffusion of oxygen and outward diffusion of aluminum, resulting in precipitation of A12O3 in the diffusion zone. It is important to note that such a precipitate may itself interfere with the diffusion process. Moreover, if the precipitate forms as a film with even minimal mechanical strength, it may interfere not only with diffusion but with shear as well, thus stabilizing compositional differences in volume elements of greater than microscopic size. A film surrounding such a volume element would have little or no ability to rise or to sink unless it enclosed a liquid whose density differed from that of the ambient. Consider now the effect on the overall composition of the melt. Fig. 2 represents the A1-O equilibrium at the temperature of the bath. High-aluminum elements of composition X may exist alongside high-oxygen elements of composition Y in such proportions that the average composition 2 has a much higher A1-O product than that corresponding to equilibrium. The A1-O product supposedly corresponding to equilibrium at 1600 °C was found by Wentrup and Hieber2 to be 10-10, by Hilty and crafts3 to be 2 X 10-9 and by Gokcen and chipman4 to be 2 x 10-14. Only the last named investigators approached equilibrium by means

Jan 1, 1962

By Engineering Staff

In 1958, the Iron Ore Company of Canada decided to proceed with the Carol Project. The ore deposits in the area are part of the highly metamorphosed southern zone of the Labrador Trough. They lie along the shore of W a bush lake, in the western part of Newfoundland-Labrador, 190 miles north of Sept-Iles. The project is designed to mine, by open-pit methods, 17,200,000 long tons of crude ore, grading 37 per cent iron, per year. This ore will be beneficiated to produce 7,000,000 long tons of concentrate, grading 66 per cent iron, of which 5,500,000 long tons will be pelletized. Production is scheduled to commence this summer. Initially, ore will be taken from 45-foot benches in the Smallwood mine, using jet-piercing production drills and large-scale blasting with "slurry" explosives. Four 13-yard electric shovels will muck the broken ore into 100-ton trailer trucks. The trailers will be hauled to two 2,000-ton loading pockets, which feed the ore into 100-ton railcars. Four ore trains, each comprised

Jan 1, 1962

By H. Marquis

This paper is concerned with an analysis of a number of failures of large-size, hypervelocity light gas gun chambers and barrels. A brief description of the light gas gun principle and of the various types of guns is first given. The failures and the investigations carried out are then described in detail, with the failures divided into two groups. The first group comprises those failures caused by certain conditions to which the guns may be submitted, and includes, for example, severe local heating of the bore surface causing hardening and cracking of the steel. These conditions were accidental and steps were taken to prevent them. The remaining failures were due to faults in the material or in the heat-treatment, manufacturing or assembling procedures. Specific problems, such as hydrogen embrittlement, and the use of high strength gun barrels above their ductile-brittle transition temperature by preheating prior to firing, are briefly considered. Some interesting observations are also presented on the use of surface markings, and angles of fracture of large fragments, as an

Jan 1, 1962

By R. W. Heckel

A method is described whereby the relationship of both the "at-pressure" powder compact density and the "zero-pressure" compact density to the applied pressure may be obtained from continuous measurements of punch movement during a single compaction operation. The rate of density increase with applied pressure for the metal powders is found to be proportional to the volume fraction of pores for pressures exceeding a lower limit which varies from 15,000 to 30,000 psi, depending on the powder. 1 HE compaction of powdered materials is carried out primarily to increase the density of the material. If the ultimate goal of the over-all process is the attainment of minimum porosity, compaction is responsible for most of the densification. For example, loose powdered metals have porosities of about 65 to 75 pct. Axial loading in a die or hydrostatic pressure may effectively reduce the porosity of most powders to 20 pct or lower with pressures of 50,000 psi and greater. The relationship between the density of a powder compact and the pressure needed to achieve that density is most commonly obtained by pressing several compacts, each at a different pressure. Measurement of the densities of the individual compacts when they are removed from the die then provides the density-pressure relationship. However, this method suffers from several disadvantages. Because a large number of compacts and pressing operations are required, it is inherently slow. Furthermore, since density measurements are made after the specimens are removed from the die, data obtained refer only to pressures greater than those necessary to form a coherent compact. The third disadvantage is the inability of this method to provide information about the compact density at the applied pressure in the die. Because the determination of density-pressure relationships has been a slow, tedious process, investigators have sought to express the compaction behavior of powders by other means. The general terms "comparability" and L'compressibility" have been used to rank powders qualitatively according to their compaction characteristics. To restore a quantitative nature to the subject and to prevent confusion, Schwarzkopf1 has proposed that compac-tibility be defined as the minimum pressure needed to produce a given green strength, while compressibility should be used to indicate the extent to which the density of a powder is increased by a given pressure. Probably the most widely used of the compaction parameters is the "compression ratio,'' which is generally defined as the ratio of the compact density obtained by pressing at a given pressure to the apparent density of the loose powder.2 However, the description of the compaction behavior of a powder by these parameters provides only limited information about the process because of their applicability to just one specific condition such as a given green strength or a given pressure. The method of obtaining density-pressure relationships which will be described in the present paper was designed to eliminate the shortcomings of the previous techniques while maintaining equivalent accuracy and precision. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES The general principle employed makes use of the fact that the linear movement of the punch during a

Jan 1, 1962

By Thomas M. Garland

Reports that set forth the pertinent facts of existing secondary-recovery operations are an integral part of the work of the Bureau of Mines in promoting conservation and efficient utilization of the petroleum resources of the Nation. Knowledge of the success or failure of waterflood projects in an area is very useful to other operators. Although projects will not have identical results, information concerning the flood performance, method of operation, and difficulties encountered on one project will help operators to determine the feasibility of flooding a similar sand and to select the methods of operation most likely to prove successful. The increasing cost of discovering and developing new oil reserves, as well as the unending effort to reduce operating costs and increase ultimate oil recovery from known petroleum reservoirs, has required the petroleum industry to evaluate continuously the performances of various secondary-recovery methods. Waterflooding was recognized early by the petroleum industry as a possible means of increasing oil recovery. From the early accidental floods in Pennsylvania and through many haphazard attempts to inject eater into oil-bearing formations, waterflooding emerged as one of the more important methods of oil recovery. Waterflooding is important not only to the oil industry but also to the economy of the area concerned.

Jan 1, 1962

By Nathaniel Arbiter

The question of automation of concentrator operations with computer control is under increasing consideration. Some of the problems involved will be discussed from the viewpoint of the availability of the requisite, detailed knowledge of the unit operations. The justification for full-scale automation of a mill must ultimately be economic--an increase in profitability over and above the cost of instrumentation and development, Potential savings would be in three probable directions: decrease in operating labor costs by substitution of machine control; improved metallurgy through continuous effective control; and decreased operating costs by achieving higher unit capacities and process efficiencies.

Jan 1, 1962

Why A Friction Hoist? B EFORE discussing the equipment, it would be instructive to review the factors that influenced the management of Opemiska Cop-per Mines to purchase a friction hoist rather than a conventional double drum hoist. The mine required that 250 tons per hour be hoisted from a depth of 2,100 feet. They also specified that the top speed should not exceed 1800 feet per minute. Eight ton capacity skips in balance and a maxi-mum hoisting speed of 1725 feet per minute would meet the required <Output on a duty cycle as follows: Loading time Creep away from loading pocket Accelerate (at 2.5 ft/sec2) 10 seconds 5 seconds 11.5 seconds Full speed run Decelerate (at 2.5 ft/sec2) Creep into dump Cycle time Trips per hour Tons per hour 72 seconds 11.5 seconds 5 seconds 115 seconds 31 31x8 = 248

Jan 1, 1962

By A. R. Taylor

This report describes the design, construction, and operation of a low temperature adiabatic calorimeter for measuring heat capacities of solids or liquids from 60° to 300° K. A brief discussion of the basic theory involved in chemical thermodynamics and the problems involved in obtaining accurate experimental data is presented. The operation of the calorimeter was tested by measuring the heat capacity of a sample of benzoic acid obtained from the National Bureau of Standards over a temperature range of 60° to 300° K. The measured heat capacity values of the benzoic acid compared favorably with similar values obtained by the Bureau of Standards, the maximum deviation being 0.5 percent. THEORY A brief discussion of the basic theory involved in chemical thermodynamics will illustrate the applications of heat capacity data and the problems involved in obtaining accurate experimental data.

Jan 1, 1962

By H. A. Stoess

The Minerals Industry makes heavy demands for and on its Material Handling equipment. It also gives progressive management the opportunity for considerable savings, ad consequently increased profits. In some cases, cost of Materials Handling amounts to 40°/o of the total cost of the ultimate product. Handling costs are hidden in overhead, indirect labor, excessive maintenance, productive workers performing handling tasks, and, a great many more. Even though Materials Handling is the oldest occupation of mankind, it is only within the past twenty years that it has emerged as a specialized field. While this industry has made full use of all types of mechanical and vibratory conveyors, pneumatic conveyors in their proper application can be a distinct asset. me use of pneumatic conveyors by this industry however is limited- to a certain extent by the particle size of your products through the various phases of manufacture, as well as their bulk density. However, with increasing knowledge of the fluidization of dry materials, their use is becoming more wide spread.

Jan 1, 1962

By W. D. C. MacKenzie

IT IS almost exactly fifteen years since the discovery of the Leduc oil field and, as this luncheon is part of the Thirteenth Annual Technical Meeting of the Institute's Petroleum and Natural Gas Division, it seems, therefore, a singularly appropriate time to discuss the theme which the program committee has suggested for the occasion -the progress of the Canadian oil industry during the fifteen years since the discovery of the Leduc field. As you will see, I plan to take a few minor liberties with this suggested theme. I shall present ample evidence of growth and progress, but, at the same time, I want to refer to some areas where progress has been anything but conspicuous and to see what can be learned from these areas for the future. The achievements of the Canadian oil industry since the Leduc discovery in 1947 have been substantial, and the public is relatively familiar with the more spectacular developments.

Jan 1, 1962

By C. H. G. Bushell, James E. Lawver, William Barbarowicz

Proper use of automatic controls in the process industries is a combination of art and science. Although many phases of automatic control theory can be expressed by precise mathematical relationships, the final control arrangement usually requires considerable effort by trial and error before the optimum control circuit is found. The failure of flotation operators to recognize that control circuits require study and plant experimentation before satisfactory operation occurs has led to a popular misconception that flotation plants simply do not lend themselves to automation. This widespread belief has been overcome to some degree in recent years by the numerous installations of automatic controls that have paid their way by increasing profits in terms of increased recoveries, lowered costs, or higher grade concentrates. WHY CONTROL ? Any form of automation must be justified in terms of ultimate return on in- vestment by improving quality, by increasing plant throughput, or by reducing the total operating costs. Generally speaking, automatic controls rarely re- place a mill operator. They assist the operator in holding important variables within predetermined limits. Large tonnage operations usually can justify a great deal of automation because an increase in one or two units of recovery results in enormous savings compared to the capital and operating costs of controls. DETERMINATION OF CONTROL The first questions in considering plant automation are: 1) What variables must be controlled? 2) What are the optimum levels of the variables? The optimum operating conditions for any process are those which maximize profits. Many of the variables active in flotation processing can be determined by experimentation in the laboratory or pilot plant 10. Although laboratory experiments can pinpoint variables, the true optimum conditions existing at plant level usually must be determined by plant scale experiments. In recent years, the concepts of detailed experimental designs in the laboratory, followed by plant experiments, have reached the stage of maturity where

Jan 1, 1962

By V. E. Edlund

Pyrometallurgical studies by the Bureau of Mines demonstrated the feasibllity of sintering and smelting a low-grade flotation concentrate made by pilot-plant processing 10-percent manganese ore from the Maggie Canyon deposit, Mohave County, Ariz. Under optimum conditions 85 percent of the manganese in a flotation concentrate that assayed 36 percent manganese was recovered as standard ferromanganese. A blend of this flotation concentrate with high-grade dithionate pilot plant precipitate was similarly processed with a recovery of 90 percent of the manganese. Thorough mixing and pelletizing of the charge before treatment on the sinter hearth was necessary to produce a well agglomerated product by single pass sintering. Although satisfactory sinter was produced from a variety of material combinations, best results were obtained on a charge that contained 80 percent flotation concentrate and 20 percent return sinter fines. This combination was mixed with 6 percent coke, based on weight of concentrate; and 12 percent moisture. Sintering such a charge yielded a well agglomerated product containing over 80 percent coarse material, The results of standard crushing tests showed that the product was physically comparable to iron ore sinters and manganese nodules.

Jan 1, 1962

By Charles Smeal, Robert J. Schafer, Max Quantinetz

Normally metal powders cannot be ground to sub-micron sizes because of welding and agglomeration phenomena. Through the use of selected grinding aids and grinding fluids, nickel and other metal powders have been ball-milled as fine as 0.1 It was found that certain inorganic salts are more effective grinding aids for metal powders than conventionally used surfactants. METAL and alloy powders are used to produce reagents, pigments, coatings, solders, brazes, and parts for industry by powder metallurgy techniques. They are also combined with refractory compounds to produce cermets and dispersion-hardened products. One of the interests at the Lewis Research Center has been to explore the potentialities of the dispersion strengthening process. Since the work of Ir-mann, many investigators have shown that the strength of dispersion-hardened products may increase with decreasing interparticle spacing.24 One approach to achieving small interparticle spacing is to combine fine refractory compounds and metal powders, preferably below 1 in size. In attempting to obtain fine metal powders, it was found that until very recently the best that could be obtained from commercial suppliers, particularly of ductile metals, was about 1.0 . Interest was therefore developed in providing finer metal powders for dispersion-hardening studies. Information obtained from the literature, from others working in the field, and from prior experimental work performed at NASA, led to a consideration of ball-milling as a technique to produce the desired materials. Some of the variables associated with ball-milling are the size, material, and nature of construction of the grinding container; the nature and amount of the grinding material and material to be ground; and the nature and amount of the grinding liquid and grinding aid, if employed, and the grinding time. In all ball-milling, welding and agglomeration can oc- cur as well as grinding. Because of the tendency of ductile metals to weld together, they are difficult to grind.5 The ultimate particle size obtained on grinding is generally the one at which the rate of grinding becomes equal to the rate of welding. To help delay welding and thus obtain smaller particle sizes, grinding aids are often employed. The principal objective of this investigation was to produce submicron metal powders by ball-milling the powders with selected grinding aids and grinding fluids. A secondary objective has been to attempt to explain the variations observed in grinding behavior by considering possible grinding mechanisms and correlating various parameters with grinding effectiveness. Three groups of ball-milling experiments were run; one in which the grinding aid was varied, a second in which the grinding fluid was varied, and a third in which the material being ground was varied MATERIALS, APPARATUS, AND PROCEDURE In the first group of experiments in which the grinding aid was varied Inco Carbonyl Grade B nickel powder initially 2.5 (all sizes refer to average particle size as measured by Fisher Sub -sieve Sizer) was used as the material being ground and 200-proof ethyl-alcohol as the grinding fluid. Surfactants, representative of typical organic structures, were selected as grinding aids. Inorganic salts used as grinding aids were chosen on the basis of the size and valence of their ions. Water soluble salts were used in order to facilitate their removal from the slurry after grinding. In the second set of experiments, grinding of the 2.5- Ni powder was tried in four different grinding liquids; water, cyclohexane, n -heptane, and methy-lene chloride. In this study seven grinding aids selected from those tried in the first group of experiments were employed. In the third group of experiments 200-proof ethyl alcohol was again used as the grinding fluid to mill Cu, Cr, Fe, Ag, and Ni powders of various initial particle sizes&apos; All mill charges contained 300 ml of grinding liquid and 3000 g of 1/2 in. stainless steel balls. When inorganic salts were used as the grinding aid, 70 g of salt and 210 g of metal powder were employed, and with surfactants 6 g of grinding aid and 300 g of

Jan 1, 1962

By R. I. Jaffee, R. W. Wood, H. R. Ogden, D. N. Williams

D. W. Morgan, D. H. Polonis,and R Taggart (Uuivevsity of Washington)—Dispersion hardening in titanium-copper alloys is of particular interest to us in view of our current research activities in phase transformations in this system. We should like to raise questions concerning several points in the paper. The flow sheet for fabrication and heat treatment (Authors&apos; Fig. 2) indicates that 0.045 in sheet is treated in air for a period of 30 min at 1625&apos; F. Were any surface coatings used to reduce oxygen contamination at this stage? One might ask the same question about the 8-hr annealing at 1400F. Contamination during fabrication and heat treatment of such thin sections could be considerable without some protection. Although the authors state that no analyses were made, they note that contamination masks the distinction between base strengths of the different alloys. In this connection, what fabrication and heat-treatment procedures were used in obtaining the comparison specimens of unalloyed titanium? It would seem that oxygen contamination must cast doubt on the reliability of the proposed strength-mean free path relationship deduced from the data (Authors&apos; Fig. 5). It is usual to evaluate dispersion hardening on the basis of yield strength rather than ultimate tensile strength, and accordingly we have replotted the authors&apos; Fig. 1 to include yield strength. The yield strength data do not justify a discontinuity of 3 p at either 70" or 1000 OF. Can the authors substantiate their conclusion 1) with additional evidence? Otherwise it seems that they have succeeded only in pointing out the possibility of a linear relationship between yield strength (or Uts) and the logarithm of the nleall free path, comparable with that demonstrated for iron-carbon alloys (Authors&apos; Ref. 2). Work in our own laboratories has shown that the hardness of the phase Ti,Cu is 235 Vpn, and that of a 1.5 pct (at.) (2 pct wt) supersaturated solid solution of copper in titanium is 190 Vpn. This small difference in hardness would suggest that Ti2Cu should not be a very effective dispersion-hardening phase. D. N. Williams, R. W. Wood, H. R Ogden, RI. L Jaffee (authors&apos; reply)— This discussion brings out some interesting points with respect to the interpretation of our results, and also raises some questions regarding the experimental technique. We shall consider the latter questions first. Contamination during heat treatment was prevented by performing all heat treatments in argon-filled Vycor capsules. Fabrication was done in air, with the usually observed scaling. Scale was removed

Jan 1, 1962

By L. M. Burman

The phase-boundary pressure required to maintain a natural hydrocarbon fluid in a single phase must be considered in planning the recovery of reservoir liquids by miscible-phase processes. The change in the phase-boundary pressure at reservoir temperature that results when a light component or a mixture of light components is added to a reservoir fluid is an especially important consideration. The cricondenbar pressure (maximum phase-boundary pressure) and the critical pressure are unique correlated pressures that have been utilized to calculate the change in phase-boundary pressure that may result when the composition of a reservoir liquid is altered by an additive. In this study one reservoir oil and three gas-condensate fluids are used as examples. Correlations pertaining to the critical and cricondenbar states in chapters 4 and 5 of Bureau of Mines Monograph 10 (3)5 were used to demonstrate how butane and lighter components added to these reservoir fluids affect their phase-boundary pressures.

Jan 1, 1962