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By Theodore R. Butkovich, Jesse L. Yow

Geological storage of spent-fuel assemblies from an operating nuclear reactor has been underway since the Spring of 1980 at the U.S. Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site. The primary objective of this generic test is to evaluate granite as a medium for deep geological storage of high level reactor waste and to provide data on thermal and thermomechanical behavior of granite from imposed heat loads.(l) The underground installation in the Climax stock granite was sited at about 420 m below the surface and 145 m above the existing water table. As shown in Figure 1, three parallel drifts were excavated spaced on approximately 10 m centers. Seventeen storage holes were drilled at the central drift on 3 m centers in which eleven spent fuel canisters and six thermally identical electrical simulators were emplaced. Electrical resistance heaters were emplaced in vertical holes in the floor of the side drifts on 6 m centers. The thermal output of these heaters is being periodically adjusted to simulate the thermal response of a large storage array. Rock and ventilation air temperatures are being measured continuously in the drifts and throughout the rock surrounding the excavations. Measurements of drift deformation have been made routinely since the emplacement of the spent fuel. Both vertical and horizontal measurements are being taken at five locations along the heater drifts and at six locations along the central canister drift (Fig. 1). Two types of instrumentaton are being used: convergence wire extensometers which are monitored automatically, and a manually operated tape extensometer with which measurements are taken periodically. The tape extensometer measurements were initiated about 6 weeks following fuel emplacement. The lack of a temperature correcting capability for the convergence wire extensometers make that data unavailable for analysis at this time.

Jan 1, 1982

By Brigitta Hassler

INTRODUCTION In the early 1960's research was begun in Sweden to improve the agglomeration of our domestic iron ore concentrates (5). Different agglomeration methods that were used in the building material industry were studied under the economic support from the Swedish Technical Council, the Swedish Board of Technical Development and by the Swedish industry. The research work was performed at the Division of Mineral Processing at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. All known agglomeration methods were reviewed and the methods were developed to produce superior quality agglomerates (6). The term cold bonding (in contrast to sintering) was introduced to describe the induration operation in these processes and this has been accepted internationally. Even though we used it mostly for steam autoclaving methods, it has come to describe a class of processes that use binding methods by pore filling. Schumacher in Germany discovered around 1907 that a strong material can be produced by mixing slaked lime with fine ground quartz and subjecting to a steam atmosphere under pressure at about 185ºC. This started development of lime-sandstone building materials and later on, in Sweden, the light-weight concrete. Schumacher also used the same reaction for briquetting iron ore concentrates by adding silica and lime, and autoclaving. The product seems to have been accepted for blast furnace burden and the process was used on an industrial scale until the 1920's. The sintering method has a small melting phase as diffusion medium and in the steam-autoclaving method a small quantity of water condensate at about 200°C serves the same purpose. Thus the induration process by the hydrothermal hardening methods is similar to that of sintering or heat treatment.

Jan 1, 1977

By F. Keeler, C. M. Craighead

Aluminum alloys containing magnesium and silicon are susceptible to strengthening and hardening by suitable heat-treatments, and they constitute a class of alloys of considerable commercial importance. Generally, they contain these two elements in the proportions required for the formation of the intermetallic compound Mg2Si, or an excess of silicon; no commercial wrought alloys are made with an appreciable excess of magnesium. The reason for not having excess magnesium is obvious from the results given in this paper, since it is shown that excess magnesium results in a proportional decrease in the solubility of Mg2Si. This is the eighteenthl of a series of papers from the Aluminum Research Laboratories dealing with the equilibrium relations in aluminum-alloy systems; most of the previous publications concerned binary aluminum-alloy systems; this is the fourth of a group pertaining to ternary aluminum-alloy systems. The work on this system was completed in 1930, but the results were not published because of the pressure of other work. Hanson and Gaylor2, in 1921, presented the results of an extensive investigation of the aluminum-magnesium-silicon system. Their results indicated that an excess of magnesium over the amount required to form the compound MgzSi caused a noticeable decrease in the solid solubility of MgzSi in aluminum. A more recent investigation3 in these laboratories showed that the solid solubility of MgzSi in aluminum was 1.85 per cent at 595' C. and decreased to 0.30 per cent at 300' C. The results of the latter investigation were used as the basis for the present work. The Present Investigation In the present investigation, a study was made of the effect of various amounts of excess magnesium upon the solid solubility of MgzSi in

Jan 1, 1936

By Frank Alfred Fahrenwald

A complete list of the elements as given for 1915 includes 18 that melt above 1,700" C. There does not exist one complete thermal equilibrium diagram for any pair of these 18 elements. Several of these elements have been combined, in relatively small proportions, with metals of lower melting point: e.g., tungsten, molybdenum, and vanadium, in steels, or with nickel and cobalt; but of this refractory group, platinum is the only one that has been extensively studied in this connection. When one considers that, with few exceptions, the industries have made use of alloys to the exclusion of pure metals, it is reasonable to expect that alloys of this refractory group will invade fields in which the pure metals have found little application. The past neglect of this class of metals has, no doubt, been partly due to the rarity of some of them, for even though alloys of very valuable properties should be developed, their cost, unless in exceptional applications, would be prohibitive. There is also a well-founded reluctance to undertake research involving very high temperatures which, in the case of most of these elements, must be accompanied by an inert atmosphere as well. This combination of high temperatures*and control of atmosphere within the heating chamber of any furnace of present design is a difficult problem. It is the purpose of this paper to give results,' of an investigation of one binary series of this group, in which methods were employed that avoided the usual difficulties accompanying high-temperature alloy investigation. , Historical.—The alloys of tungsten and molybdenum have received very little consideration during the past. A review of available literature reveals very little regarding this system, and that which has been recorded seems to be at fault. Mennicke2 writes, "Die bekannteste Verbindung

Jan 1, 1917

By W. Bonfield

The microstrain characteristics of a polycrystal-line Cu 1.9 wt pet Be precipitation-hardening alloy have been determined for various conditions of aging. The friction stress remained constant for all the conditions investigated, whereas the microscopic yield stress (the stress to produce a plastic strain of 2 x 10-8 in. per in.) and the three-stage stress-strain curve in the microstrain region were sensitive to changes in dislocation and precipitate distribution. Correlations between the measurements of microplasticity and electron-nzicroscope observations of substructure are considered. ALTHOUGH the macroscopic mechanical properties of Cu 1.5 to 2.0 wt pet Be precipitation-harden ing alloys were established' in some detail, there has been no previous investigation of the nature of microyield-ing in these alloys. This paper describes a high-sensitivity extensometer determination of microplasticity in polycrystalline Cu 1.9 wt pet Be, in which the friction stress, the microscopic yield stress (the stress to produce a plastic strain of 2 x 10-6 in. per in.), and the rate of strain hardening in the micro-strain region were measured for various conditions of precipitation. The structural changes accompanying aging in this alloy were examined using transmission electron microscopy, a study which differed from previous investigations as, in order to minimize grain boundary precipitation effects,' the solution-treated alloy was cold-rolled to 40 pet reduction prior to aging. Hence the extent of recovery and recrystalliza-tion, as well as the variation of precipitate morphology and distribution, were assessed. From these results possible correlations between the microstrain characteristics and the observed precipitate and dislocation structure are considered. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The material investigated was a commercial copper beryllium alloy (Berylco 25), which had a com- position of 1.9 wt pet Be and 0.2 wt pet Co. The alloy was solution-treated at 800°C, quenched in water, and then cold-rolled to 40 pct reduction. Tensile specimens of gage length 1 in. and rectangular cross section of 0.18 by 0.06 in. were prepared from the solution-treated, cold-rolled material and aged for 15 min, 2, 24, and 100 hr at 315°C and 24 hr at 425°C to produce a range of precipitate structure. The hardness values associated with these conditions are listed in Table I. It can be seen that a maximum value is obtained after 2 hr at 315oC, which decreases with continued time at temperature to a minimum after 24 hr at 425°C. For comparison some as-solution-treated specimens were also aged for 2 hr at 315°C. The specimens heat-treated to a given condition were examined in two ways. First, the nature and distribution of the precipitate and dislocation structure was characterized using transmission electron microscopy. Thin foils were obtained from the specimens by electrolytic polishing in a 30 pet nitric acid-alcohol solution at -20oC, and were examined in an RCA EMU 3 electron microscope. Second, the mi-croplastic behavior of the specimens was measured with a Tuckerman strain gage, using the load-unload technique previously described2, 3 to determine the friction stress, the microscopic yield stress, and the variation of plastic microstrain with stress. RESULTS 1) Structural Changes During Aging. a) Annealing Processes. The solution-treated, cold-rolled Cu 1.9 wt pet Be had an irregular dislocation-cell structure,

Jan 1, 1968

By AIME

Annual production of more than 4,000,000 tons of 0.74 percent copper ore and coincident handling of over 5,000,000 tons of waste at the open-pit mine of Castle Dome Copper Co. near Miami, Ariz. takes a lot of power. Manufacturers have ever co-operated with mining companies in providing the required equipment to suit the problem. Power equipment suppliers have done much to make possible the economic and profitable production of copper from low-grade ores. In the future, as mining operations will necessarily handle even lower-grade ores, the ability of the manufacturer to supply the power and mechanical equipment to produce more metal at a fair and reasonable price will be the good right arm of the miner. About 27,000 tons of concentrate is produced from the 4,000,000 tons of ore.

Jan 1, 1948

By William Campbell

In the olden days the making of alloys was an art, and the secrete of the craft were jealously guarded. To-day it has become a science, though the old ideas in regard to the secrets and formulæ are dying hard. Modern progress may be attributed to scientific research and testing of materials, and the substitution of chemical analytical control for " cook-book " methods. We know to-day a great deal about the constitution of alloys, the reasons of the change in structure and physical properties by heat and mechanical treatment; and this new knowledge is due for the most part to the physical chemist and metallographist, who have shown us that alloys are simply solutions, and as such obey definite laws. The application of the theories of solutions and of the phase rule tells us what ought to happen when our alloys are in a state of equilibrium. The working-out of the temperature-composition diagram (thermal diagram) for numerous alloys has thrown a light on the structure and constitution which has dispelled most of the darkness in which we labored before the advent of metallography. The work began with the determination of the freezing-point curves, and here the research of Le Chatelier,' Gautier,2 Roberts-Austen,3 and the other pioneers broke the ground. Next the physical chemists, Tammann,4 Rooseboom,5 Bancroft,6 and their colleagues, showed us the complete thermal diagram and its meaning. Then the researches of Heycock and Neville7 on the Cu-Sn series and of Shepherd 8 on the

Jan 1, 1913

By Demitri B. Shimkin

Minerals - A Key to Soviet Power, by Demitri B. Shimkin. Harvard University Press. $8.00, 452 pp., 1953. -The book is an economic evaluation of the position of the Soviet Union in respect to mineral wealth and development. Various sources are drawn upon, including the reports issued after completion of the various five year plans. The book is of considerable reference value despite the confusion which beclouds information concerning Soviet mineral progress. The theoretical study is the joint product of some of the staff of the Harvard University Russian Research Center. The author's approach to metals and nonmetals in the Soviet Union is systematic and he presents a great deal of data covering the period 1926 to 1950. Indicated weaknesses in the mineral economy are highlighted. Some considerable space is given to Soviet mineral future.

Jan 5, 1953

Iron Ore Resources of the World (Die Eisenersvorrate der Welt)_ By G. Einicke. Verlag Stahleisen, Dusseldorf, 1950. 418 p., with 192 tables and an atlas volume containing 100 p. of reaps. 66 German Marks.-A notable work in which the latest available information on iron ore deposits has been compiled by diligent work, continent by continent, country by country. The author reveals the effect of geological formations, iron content of ore, accessability, cost of transportation, political and economic considerations. Ore beds of importance to the German iron and steel industry are given more space than others. The bibliography contains almost 250 references. A tragic comic feature is the author's complaint that as soon as a map of iron ore resources of a country has been completed, the country's boundaries are changed. Reviewed by W. Trinks, Carnegie Institute of Technology. Industrial Research Laboratories of the United States. National Research Council, Washington, D. C. Ninth Edition. 1950. 445 p. $5.-Contains information on the research laboratories of 2845 industrial and commercial organizations, including names of research executives, location of labs, types of activity, whether any consulting services are offered. There are two appendices, one of which lists data on government labo ratories which cooperate with industry, and the :)ibex naming universities and colleges offering research services to industry.

Jan 2, 1951

By E. B. Branson

Introduction to Geology, by E. B. Branson, W. A. Tarr, and W. D. Keller, revised-by Carl C. Branson. McGraw-Hill, 1952. $5.50.-Dealing with physical and historical geology, the book has been revised from an earlier edition. An attempt has been made to eliminate unnecessary detail in discussing processes and history. Revisions bring technical and statistical data up-to-date, and follow suggestions by teachers who used earlier editions. The book carries an eye witness account of the severe earthquake in Assam, India, in 1950 and the story of Paricutin and other major examples of volcanism. Charts summarize chemical weathering, and the results of metamorphisms. The book also contains many new illustrations, including aerial photographs. A History of Phelps Dodge 1834-1950, by Robert Glass Cleland. Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. $4.00.-The book traces the growth of Phelps Dodge from the day Anson Greene Phelps opened a small saddle shop in Hartford, Conn., to the present day. As the country grew, so did Phelps Dodge. The company took part in large affairs from its very beginning. It bought and sold, exported and imported, built factories and railroads, and widened its scope of operations economically and geographically. Entrance of Phelps Dodge into copper mining and the gradual giving up of other interests in favor of the new venture is traced.

Jan 1, 1952

By Eugene Rabinowitch

The Chemistry of Uranium. By Joseph J, Katz and Eugene Rabinowitch. Published by McGraw-Hill, Book Co. of New York, 1951. 609 P. $7.15.--This volume is the first half of a comprehensive treatise on uranium chemistry. It contains a detailed summary of the properties of the element uranium, including its occurrence in nature, extraction from ores, and the physical and chemical properties of uranium metal. Binary compounds of uranium with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and the halogens, among others, receive extensive discussion, including methods of preparation and physical properties such as crystal structure, thermochemistry and volatility. A very large proportion of the material in this volume is based on the results obtained in the laboratories of the Atomic Energy Project, much of it not published before. In addition, all of the open literature has been critically surveyed and integrated with the results of the Atomic Energy Project studies. Principles of Geology. By James Gilluly, Aaron C. Waters and A. O. Woodford. Published by W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, Calif., 1951.640 P. $5.75.-This book attempts to summarize some of the knowledge that geologists have won from the study of the earth. It covers such subjects as movements of the earth's crust, records of earth movement, stream erosion and deposition, deserts, the ocean and mineral resources of the earth. The authors have concentrated on the analysis of processes that are at work upon and within the earth. rather than to present a catalog of descriptive facts and terms. The development of stratigraphy is also outlined. Pictures, maps, and tables are used to illustrate the major points of each chapter.

Jan 9, 1951

By J. B. Clark, A. J. McEvily, R. L. Snyder

The nonuniform distribution of precipitate particles has been recognized as a leading factor contributing to the relatively low fatigue resistance of aluminum alloys. The structure of many of these alloys is characterized by narrow precipitate-free zones adjacent to the grain boundaries. Alloys with such zones exhibit a tendency for brittle inter crystalline fracture. The interrelation between this type of structure and mechanical properties was investigated in an Al-10 wt pct Mg alloy. It was found that deformation during fatigue occurs preferentially along these zones and cracks initiate there. In Al-10wt pct Mg, the zones were found to be supersaturated even after extensive general precipitation and are due to the absence of proper precipitate nuclei in the region near the grain boundaries. Cold working the alloy prior to aging improves the mechanical properties by inducing precipitation within the zones and also by jogging of grain boundaries. The mode of fracture is changed from brittle inter crystalline to more ductile trans granular fracture. THE process of fatigue is highly structure sensitive, with the strength of the whole often dependent upon some localized discontinuity, either geometrical or metallurgical in nature. Much has been learned about the role of geometrical discontinuities, e.g., notches, in fatigue, but with the exception of the effects of inclusions or the shapes of carbides, relatively little is known about the specific effects of discontinuities in metallurgical structure such as nonuniform precipitation. In most age-hardening aluminum alloys, metallo-graphic studies have shown that the extent of precipitation adjacent to grain boundaries is much less than that which occurs in the interior of the grains. The width of these almost precipitate-free regions, which are sometimes called denuded zones, and the extent of solute depletion within them, are dependent upon the particular alloy and its aging treatment. It has been observed1 that these zones are relatively soft with the result that plastic deformation takes place preferentially within them. It has also been shown 2-4 that there exists a tendency for intercrys- talline cracking in fatigue when such zones are present. It is of interest to note that Broom et al.2,3 were able to reduce the incidence of this type of failure in an A1-4 wt pct Cu alloy by stretching the material 10 pct prior to aging. In the present study, the effects of precipitate-free regions on the fatigue properties of an A1-10 wt pct Mg alloy were studied in detail, and the effects of deformation prior to aging on the nature of the precipitation process as well as on fatigue properties were also investigated. MATERIAL AND PROCESSING An A1-10 wt pct Mg alloy was selected for this study, because it was known that well-defined precipitate-free regions along the grain boundaries are readily obtained in this alloy after aging at 200oC.5 The starting materials were 99.998 pct A1 and singly sublimed magnesium of about 99.9 pct purity. The aluminum was induction melted in a graphite crucible, and then the magnesium addition was immersed until dissolved. Chlorine gas was then bubbled through the molten alloy for 4 min to degas the melt, after which the melt was cast at a pouring temperature of 730" to 760°C into a cold, graphite-coated, tapered steel mold. Since A1-Mg alloys are difficult to homogenize,5 special care was taken to obtain a uniform composition. Two-in. cubes were cut from the ingot and heated at 446°C for 30 min. These cubes were then hot forged approximately 35 pct in each of the three cube directions and homogenized for 16 hr at 446°C. Sheet specimens were then obtained by pressing 40 pct and rolling 35 pct per pass with reheating between reduction steps to a final thickness of approximately 0.10 in. The sheet was then solution treated for 16 hr at 446°C and water quenched. The age hardening behavior of this material at 200°C was then determined, and the results are shown in Fig. 1. The age hardening of this alloy when subjected to cold work prior to aging is also shown in this figure. Preliminary work indicated that extensive deformation after quenching was required to affect drastically the precipitate-free regions in this alloy, and a rolling reduction of 50 pct was chosen. For purposes of comparison the following three conditions were studied: a) Solution treated, quenched, and aged 20 hr at 200°C

Jan 1, 1963

By L. H. de Wald, J. Walter Scott

It is usual practice in the copper industry to use open horizontal molds for casting tough-pitch copper wire bars.' A wire bar cast in this manner is partly characterized by heavy wrinkles and a comparatively deep skin of oxide on the top of the bar, corresponding to the open side of the mold. On the theory that the rough, high-oxide surface might have an adverse effect on the rolling and drawing properties of a wire bar and might account for some of the irregularities of mill behavior, several bars which had been planed to remove the wrinkled surface were processed into wire. These bars responded to mill treatment more satisfactorily than did the regular wire bars. Realizing that machining the surface of one face of each bar would not be commercially feasible, it was decided that casting the metal into a vertical mold and cropping off the pouring end would accomplish approximately the same result. Several wire bars of commercial size (250 Ib.) were so cast and processed into wire for comparative test with bars cast in the usual horizontal molds. It is the purpose of this paper to present the results obtained from this investigation, in which commercial bar sizes and processing technique were used throughout. The results show that in general copper wire bars cast vertically are superior to those cast horizontally. Experimental Procedure A horizontally cast bar and a vertically cast bar were obtained from each of several regular reverberatory furnace heats of copper which had been refined and poled to tough-pitch metal in accordance with usual methods.' Both bars were cast from the same part of the melt and within five minutes of each other, in order to produce as nearly as possible, in each case, wire bars of identical composition.

Jan 1, 1930

By Reamy Joyce

CONDITIONS in underground mining are so variable that in approach-ing the problem of the economies effected by the use of pressure-treated mine ties and mine timbers, it is necessary to secure specific data for each mine. Facts must first be dug out to show the service life of untreated timber and the reason for its failure. Generally speaking, decay is the usual cause of failure, but in some mines mechanical destruction is an important factor. Occasionally the two causes combine to produce fail-ures, and it is difficult to determine positively which factor is responsible. In making comparisons, it is always necessary to start with the cost in place and for this reason there must be accurate information covering the labor cost of installation and the labor cost of renewals. When treated timber is used, it is necessary to know the specifications for the treating process, whether the timber was painted, dipped, treated open tank, or impregnated under pressure according to standard specifica-tions. It is also necessary to know the preservative used and the amount of the preservative that was retained by the timber after treatment. It is also well to know whether the timber was thoroughly air-seasoned before treatment or was green at the time it was treated. The kind of timber available, both untreated and treated, must be known and all of the factors listed above must be taken into consideration in the study of any problem.

Jan 1, 1939

By Frederick Rhines

IT has been shown elsewhere1 that the data on the rates of diffusion in solid metals are fragmentary and in many cases unacceptable. As a result, relatively little is known concerning the factors determining rates of diffusion and the variations in these rates with temperature. The first form of Fick's law (equation 1 below), ? in which the diffusion coefficient D is assumed invariant with composition, has been recognized for many years as only an approximation. The differential equation representing the second form of Fick's law (equation 4 below) has only recently been integrated by Matano,2 and unfortunately only in cases where a full diffusion-penetration curve (concentration-distance curve) has been obtained can the Matano solution be applied. The proper analysis of diffusion data is thus confined to the data of Grube and Jedele and of Jedele.§ These data are essentially for one temperature alone and do not furnish any information on the variation of the activa-tion heat of diffusion, Q, with concentration: no information exists on the variation of Q with concentration within a singles olid solution field. Much of the argument concerning the properties of metals that deter-mine D and Q has been drawn from data in which variations of the quan-tities with concentration are unknown, for these data- have been taken from experiments that could not furnish this information. Speculation concerning the properties of metals that may be effective in determining D and Q on the basis of data in which the chosen D and Q values are averages over wide concentration ranges of values at particular concen-trations, ranges often of 100 per cent, is likely not to be fruitful.

Jan 1, 1938

The question, Who won the war?, has been the text for innumerable newspaper, and magazine articles, the answers running from "bread and butter" to "poison gas," in a material sense, and from the "Y. M. C. A." to the "boys in the front lines," humanly speaking. Personally, I think the margin by which success was secured was so narrow that none of the complex, interdependent factors could have been .spared, and that, as Admiral Sampson said after the battle of Santiago: "There is glory, enough for all." But if any one human factor can be said to have been absolutely indispensable, I think all will agree that it was the engineer. The engineer, as a rule, is a modest fellow, so modest in fact and so averse to publicity of any kind that, referring to him as a class, he was hardly occupying the place he should in public estimation before the war. By way of illustration, in the early history of a mine in Bisbee, the chief owner was also the proprietor of a saloon and spent most of his time there. When asked why he did not pay more attention to the mine, lie replied: "Oh! I can hire a boy to look after that; it takes a man to run this bar." Comparisons of the position and pay of engineers with other occupations are sometimes made to show that the engineer is not getting all that he should, considering the time of preparation and the qualifications required. Perhaps at least a part of the cause may be his aloofness from many of the practical affairs of everyday life. Whether he won the war or not, the part played by the engineer has certainly placed him on a sort of pedestal in the public estimation at present and it is very desirable to keep him there and maintain the position he has made for himself.

Jan 9, 1919

By Zay Jeffries

THE metallic products of today represent the temporary end point of the efforts and interplay of thousands of years of the human struggle for existence, for pleasure, for conquest, for defense, for improvement in the standard of living, and for the satisfaction of that irrepressible urge to discover and utilize the materials and laws of nature Each metal has gained its place in the sun in severe competition with all other materials, be they metallic or nonmetallic Each serves better than any other for certain purposes. The compromise between cost and properties usually determines the selection of a metallic product for a given use. There are exceptions, as in wartime when the availability at a certain place at a certain time may far outweigh the ordinary economic considerations. In many instances superior properties are vastly more important than cost. If this were not so, the metal industry, for practical purposes, would be the iron industry. The use of 38,000,000 metric tons of newly produced nonferrous metal during, the five-year period from 1940 through 1944 is ample evidence that the special properties of these many metals have great economic value. In fact, our extensive industrial advances would have been quite impossible without the great range and variety of properties and combinations of properties of the nonferrous metals. This observation is not made to detract in the slightest way from the dominant role played by iron and steel. During the past century the production of pig iron has constituted well over 90 per

Jan 1, 1947

By D. G. Westlake, D. T. Peterson

The saturation solubility of thorium dihydride in thorium was studied by saturation of samples and subsequent analysis. The solubility increased from about 1 at. pct at 300°C to above 20 at. pct at 800 °C. Over this temperature range the log of the solubility was a linear function of the reciprocal absolute temperature for thorium of good purity. The heat of solution of thorium dihydride was found to be 7.9 kcal per atom of hydrogen in crystal bar thorium and 6.6 kcal per atom of hydrogen in Ames thorium, The important effect of hydrogen on the physical and mechanical properties of many metals is receiving increasing recognition. The basic physical and chemical data necessary to help explain the observed effects of hydrogen on the mechanical proper ties of metals are all too often not available. The solubility of hydrogen in thorium metal was determined to provide a portion of this basic data for the thorium-hydrogen system. The absorption of hydrogen by thorium metal and the formation of thorium hydrides was studied by several investigators, beginning in 1891, and their work is summarized in Gmelin's Handbuch.1 No effort was made to determine the extent of solid solubility in the metal in these early investigations and the impure metal available made interpretation of the results uncertain. Nottorf2 reported the results of a careful study of pressure-composition isotherms for the thorium-hydrogen system. The principal interest in this work was in the composition and dissociation pressures of the thorium hydrides. Mallett and campbel13 reported the pressure-composition isotherms for the thorium-hydrogen system up to the composition of thorium dihydride. The saturation solubility of thorium dihydride in thorium was reported to be 13 at. pct at 650°C and 23 at. pct at about 900° C. Mallett and Campbell used thorium metal which had been prepared by the calcium reduction of thorium tetra-fluoride or thorium oxide. The results obtained with thorium of these two types agreed within the experimental error. PROCEDURE AND MATERIALS Procedure—The method used to determine the solubility was to saturate a sample of thorium with hydrogen and analyze a portion of the saturated sample. This method was chosen rather than a determination of pressure-composition isotherms since it was much less time consuming and could be applied at temperatures at which the equilibrium hydrogen pressure was too low to measure. The

Jan 1, 1960

By A. G. Metcalfe

Observations at temperature are used to investigate the phase changes in alloys containing more than 50 pct Co and above 1000°C. The nonsuppressible transformations in cobalt above 1120°C and in the intermetallic compound Co2Cr3 are studied. The liquidus and solidus surfaces are determined. Insufficient data is obtained to complete the constitution diagram. A REVIEW of some of the earlier work on cobalt' and on the binary systems with chromium2-4 and with molybdenum,5 showed that one likely source of differences might be attributed to the presence of phases at high temperatures which could not be retained by quenching. Consequently, the decision was made that only methods of examination at temperature should be used in this work. The correctness of this decision was confirmed during the course of the work by the investigation of the martensitic nature of the transformation in cobalt- and by the decomposition of the high temperature form of the phase Co2Cr3 on quenching.' The use of high temperature methods, including dilatometry and thermal etching led to the postula-tion of the existence of a high temperature form of cobalt with a probable hexagonal close-packed structure, transforming from cubic cobalt over a range of temperature from 1119° to 1145°C.8 One of the important pieces of evidence for this transformation was that it was observed in alloys with chromium and molybdenum which were nonmagnetic at this temperature so that confusion with magnetostriction effects was impossible. These results were not reported in this earlier paper, so that the data given here supply further evidence for the existence of a second allotropic transformation in cobalt. High temperature observations are necessarily much slower in producing results than the examination of quenched specimens at room temperature by conventional means such as X-ray diffraction or microexamination. The investigation has only covered a limited part of the field, as a result, extending from the liquidus down to about 1050°C and from the cobalt corner up to 50 pct alloying elements. The differences between the various reported diagrams for the constitution of the Co-Mo and Co-Cr systems have already been mentioned. The best available diagram in the first system is due to Sykes and Graff' which is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows the latest Co-Cr diagram due to Elsea, Westerman, and Manning.' A comparison reveals that these are incompatible because of the disagreement with regard to the number of allotropes of cobalt. Elsea, Westerman and Manning took their liquidus and solidus curves from Wever and Haschimoto.2 The temperature horizontal in the two-phase field beneath the eutectic was placed 35" to 39°C higher than in earlier work2,4 with a new interpretation of the nature of this transformation. This interpretation also required a peritectic horizontal at about 1470°C, which has been confirmed here for an alloy with 53 pct Cr. No investigation had been made of the ternary system until after this work had been terminated, when a section at 1200°C was published." In this work a ternary compound was found by the X-ray diffraction examination of quenched alloys. This compound contained less than 50 pct Co, and was thus outside the field investigated here. However, some reactions were found dilatometrically which could not be fitted on the diagram and are now believed

Jan 1, 1954

By L. C. Armstrong

A. E. ROSS*—Mr. Armstrong in his paper stated that they had experienced considerable difficulty in drilling the quartz-feldspar intergrowths. The dia-mor~d loss was excessive and the diamond bits polished quite rapidly. Mr. Davidson, who presented the paper, stated that bortx stones in the range of 20 to 30 per carat had been used in the bits on this job. I would like to suggest the use of bits employing stones in the range of 60 to 100 per carat, an average of possibly 80 per carat. If these stones had been used the bits might have lasted longer and not polished so quickly. As a basis for this suggestion I would like to point out that in northern New York State we had at least two examples where bits employing stones in the range of 80 per carat had solved a difficult problem. Bits set with stones in the range of 20 to 30 per carat had been used previously and had failed. With the finer stones, the cost per foot of drilling decreased material1y. It should also be noted from a technical standpoint that the smaller stones require higher drilling speeds than the larger stones. Greater pressures are not normally necessary, and it is the higher speed which seems to be the major factor of importance. It should also be noted that the finer stones afford a greater number or cutting surfaces for the same carat weight in a bit. Then too, the smaller stones, by virtue of their size, serve as sharper cutting edges than larger stones. There is no doubt that the diamond bit employing smaller stones costs more to set than the bit using larger stones. However, with the technique developed at the shops of Sprague and Henwood, Inc., we feel that the relatively slight additional cost required to set these bits is more than paid for by the resultant lower drilling cost. We feel that the highest quality stone available is the most economical to use when hard fine grained rock is encountered. In summary, I would suggest that it might be possible to solve the problem presented in this paper by using a diamond bit employing stones at least as small as 80 per carat of the highest grade possible and by using the diamond bit at the highest speed available with modern drilling equipment. L. C. ARMSTRONG (author's reply) —It is generally agreed that the use of smaller, high-grade diamonds and of higher drilling speeds, as suggested by Mr. Ross, may be the best approach to the solution of the problem.

Jan 1, 1950