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By J. Wes Blakely

In the mid-1950s the importation of foreign oil began to encroach on traditional coal markets such as railroad steam engine fuel, home heating, electrical generating plants, and others. Many of the smaller coal companies with substantial coal reserves subsequently found that they could no longer continue to mine economically and merged in various ways with larger established coal mining concerns. As the seats of top management and authority were removed from the mines to large metro centers such as New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago, the more personal relationship between mine workers and management that had existed prior to these mergers began to be eroded and replaced by "remote control" mine management. The disappearance of this face-to-face contact of upper management with mine employees tended to create barriers blocking simple effective communications between coal mine management and labor. In examining the human relations aspects of the coal mining industry, many elements, some concerned with work and others not, have depicted the industry as almost devoid of good applied human relations and communications practices, and, in truth, little has been done to alleviate this situation. In past years many coal producing companies, with the exception of one of the largest, failed to adequately define the term "communications ' as it applied to their companies, whether internally or externally. Internally many still place heavy reliance on written communications such as company-wide newspapers to do the job of communicating with their employees which they feel ought to be done. One company puts an inordinate belief in its company "newspaper" as the primary instrument to stimulate its work force into increasing productivity. Primarily aimed at the workers, who greatly outnumber the salaried administrative people, this publication mainly documents the fortunes of individual mine workers who are felt to have achieved something with their lives, e.g., a mine worker who had managed to put four children through universities, the

Jan 1, 1981

By James T. Waber, Allen C. Larson, Karl Gschneidner, Margaret Y. Prince

The original graphical method proposed by Darken and Gurry for predicting which elements are soluble in a given element was slightly modified and was used to predict terminal solubilities in 1455 known binary combinations. it was found that the modified Darken and Gurry method had a reliability of 61.7 pct in predicting extensive solid solubility (greater than 5 at. pct) and of 84.8pct in predicting limited solid solubility (less than 5 at. pct), an over-all reliability percentage of 76.6. Using the same experimental data, it was found that using only the simple Hume-Rothery size-effect criterion was 50.1 pct reliable in predicting extensive solid solubility, only slightly better than a purely random choice. and 90.3 pct reliable for predicting limited solid solubility, an over-all reliability percentage of 67.6. THE first rational rules for determining a priori whether two metals are not freely soluble in the solid state were announced by Hume-Rothery and coworkers.1,2 These well-known rules have been accorded a special place in metallurgical literature. Since the "electronegative" and "relative valence effect" rules of Hume-Rothery were only qualitative in nature it was difficult to use them in a quantitative analysis. The next major step was made by Darken and gurry3 and apparently went unexplored for a number of years. They prepared graphs illustrating the influence of both electronegativity and size difference on the solubility of elements in silver, magnesium, and aluminum, and they drew elliptical figures, whose maximum width was ±15 pct of the solvent radius and the maximum height was ±0.4 electronegativity units. The purpose of the present paper is to assess and compare the effectiveness of using the simple size-factor and the Darken-Gurry criteria to predict which elements will be soluble and insoluble in a given solute. In 1957, waber4 prepared Darken-Gurry plots for determining the solutes that were likely to be soluble in 6 and plutonium and introduced an inner ellipse as an aid to determining which elements should be soluble to a considerable extent. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the major axis of the outer ellipse corresponded to ±0.4 electronegativity units (OD) while the minor axis corresponded to ±15 pct of the radius of the solvent phase (OB). This simultaneous "action" of the two Hume-Rothery criteria was used to indicate which elements would have little or no solubility in the host lattice, namely those elements whose points lay outside this ellipse. An inner ellipse, "centered" over the same point of the solvent was drawn with ±0.2 electronegativity units (OC) and ±8 pct (OA) as the major and minor axes. Solutes with points lying within the inner ellipse were expected to be capable of forming extensive solid solutions with the host element. Use of this method of applying the earlier Hume-Rothery criteria was moderately successful for plutonium. For 6-phase plutonium, only one element out of the eight predicted to be extensively soluble was known to be almost insoluble, and of the sixteen elements predicted to have more restricted solubility, five were known to be essentially insoluble. The success of discerning solubility in the E phase by this method was comparable. One prediction made on the basis of this analysis was that the heavier rare earth metals, such as holmium, erbium, and thulium, should be soluble in the 6 phase, whereas the lighter rare earth elements, such as lanthanum or

Jan 1, 1963

By Robert Gilman Brown

There are few disasters so difficult to deal with as an underground fire. It is inaccessible at best, and generally unapproachable ; and it finds most material in the very places where it can do most harm, namely, in large stopes and in " heavy " ground where timbers are massed, and in shafts and level-stations where there are inevitably strong drafts to make the burning yet more fierce. The fire constituting the subject of this note occurred in the shaft of the Standard mine at Bodie, California, and originated after the departure of the night-force at 3 a.m., being discovered by the men going to work at 6.30. At that time it had gained already considerable headway, and was throwing smoke plentifully from the collar of the shaft. It must be premised, for understanding of the situation, that in this shaft all hoisting is done to the 320-foot level, where the material is dropped by chutes 30 feet. to the tunnel-level, through which it is run to the mill. Hoist and sheaves are all placed

Jan 1, 1897

By Wilbur C. Helt, Joseph J. Yancik

Throughout the history of mankind, the principal use of coal has been to produce heat through combustion. The heat is used in many ways: to warm air space for our comfort; to provide heat or energy to power industrial processes, such as cement and steel production; and to produce electricity. Because it is our nation's most abundant fossil energy fuel, coal in the late 20th century is on the threshold of becoming a significant source for synthetic liquids and gas energy fuels for this country. This is made possible by conversion processes which can change solid coal into various synthetic gases and liquids. These coal-derived fuels are nearly identical to the processed fuels and chemicals provided by natural gas and crude oils, which presently provide almost all the petrochemical feedstocks and energy fuels needed for the residential, light commercial, and transportation markets. A revolution is beginning to take place, not only in the United States, but in many other countries with a return to a coal-based energy economy. Also, new combustion and conversion technologies which are compatible with national health arid environmental goals are rapidly emerging. These technologies will allow coal's use to be expanded not only in its traditional markets, but also to supply markets held by natural gas and crude oil. With the worldwide decline in natural gas and crude oil reserves, coal is being looked upon to meet the energy demand. Because of these new coal conversion technologies, coal will no longer be only a combustion fuel, but a valuable raw material for production of a variety of clean fuels and chemicals. MARKETS FOR COAL: PAST AND FUTURE A simplified diagram of the marketing network for coal is shown in Fig. 1. As shown in this figure, coal is transported to its traditional

Jan 1, 1981

By J. Wes Blakely

In the mid-1950s the importation of foreign oil began to encroach on traditional coal markets such as railroad steam engine fuel, home heating, electrical generating plants, and others. Many of the smaller coal companies with substantial coal reserves subsequently found that they could no longer continue to mine economically and merged in various ways with larger established coal mining concerns. As the seats of top management and authority were removed from the mines to large metro centers such as New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago, the more personal relationship between mine workers and management that had existed prior to these mergers began to be eroded and replaced by 'remote control mine management. The disappearance of this face-to-face contact of upper management with mine employees tended to create barriers blocking simple effective communications between coal mine management and labor. In examining the human relations aspects of the coal mining industry, many elements, some concerned with work and others not, have depicted the industry as almost devoid of good applied human relations and communications practices, and, in truth, little has been done to alleviate this situation . In past years many coal producing companies, with the exception of one of the largest, failed to adequately define the term “communications” as it applied to their companies, whether internally or externally. Internally many still place heavy reliance on written communications such as company-wide newspapers to do the job of communicating with their employees which they feel ought to be done. One company puts an inordinate belief in its company "newspaper" as the primary instrument to stimulate its work force into increasing productivity. Primarily aimed at the workers, who greatly outnumber the salaried administrative people, this publication mainly documents the fortunes of individual mine workers who are felt to have achieved something with their lives, e.g., a mine worker who had managed to put four children through universities, the

Jan 1, 1981

By Wilbur C. Helt, Joseph J. Yancik

Throughout the history of mankind, the principal use of coal has been to produce heat through combustion. The heat is used in many ways: to warm air space for our comfort; to provide heat or energy to power industrial processes, such as cement and steel production ; and to produce electricity. Because it is our nation's most abundant fossil energy fuel, coal in the late 20th century is on the threshold of becoming a significant source for synthetic liquids and gas energy fuels for this country. This is made possible by conversion processes which can change solid coal into various synthetic gases and liquids. These coal-derived fuels are nearly identical to the processed fuels and chemicals provided by natural gas and crude oils, which presently provide almost all the petrochemical feedstocks and energy fuels needed for the residential, light commercial, and transportation markets. A revolution is beginning to take place, not only in the United States, but in many other countries with a return to a coal-based energy economy. Also, new combustion and conversion technologies which are compatible with national health and environmental goals are rapidly emerging. These technologies will allow coal's use to be expanded not only in its traditional markets, but also to supply markets held by natural gas and crude oil. With the worldwide decline in natural gas and crude oil reserves, coal is being looked upon to meet the energy demand. Because of these new coal conversion technologies, coal will no longer be only a combustion fuel, but a valuable raw material for production of a variety of clean fuels and chemicals. MARKETS FOR COAL: PAST AND FUTURE A simplified diagram of the marketing network for coal is shown in Fig. 1. As shown in this figure, coal is transported to its traditional

Jan 1, 1981

By M. G. Fowler

A GENERAL decline in copper production for most American producers occurred during the past year as a result of shortage in available labor. Few noteworthy technical developments have been reported; undoubtedly, many changes and improvements have been made but have not been reported because of lack of time. During the war years through 1944 the pressure for sustained high production has been of prime importance and during 1945, with slackening of production, many operators were faced with the problem of catching up on repairs and maintenance of plants, with inadequate labor supply. In hydrometallurgy there were some important developments that undoubtedly will be reported during 1946. Several operators in the Southwest have instituted experimental leaching programs to exploit low-grade oxidized and mixed ore bodies. The Bureau of Mines is conducting pilot-plant experimental work to determine the possibility of producing a satisfactory sponge iron at an attractive cost from deposits of iron ore and coal in Arizona. The sponge iron would be used for the production of cement cop¬per. The cell house of the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co. at Inspiration,

Jan 1, 1946

By J. D. Pennock

The different samples of brick examined were Grecian magnesite, American magnesite; silica brick and coke-oven tiling made in Belgium and used in retort coke-ovens. The Grecian magnesite was furnished by a New Pork party. The American magnesite and the silica brick were furnished by a manufacturing company in Pittsburgh. From these brick were made cylindrical cores, '79 inches long and 15/8 inches in diameter. At one end of each was drilled a hole about 1/4-inch in diameter and 11/4 inches long, into which the thermometer was inserted during the experiment. Conductivity.—The apparatus used for determining the conductivity, as shown in Fig. 1, is a sheetriron drum, 18 inches in diameter and 8 inches high. In the center is a little combustion-chamber with walls of split fire-brick, 39 inches square and about 6 inches high. The fire-brick, however, pass through the drum to the table on which the drum stands. The cores are placed horizontally, half-way between the top and bottom of drum and on the line of diameters at right angles. In the four walls of the combustion-chamber are cut holes just large enough to allow the cores to pass through. The cores extend

Jan 1, 1897

By G. Reinberg, C. D. Clarke

MOST underground mining operations are dependent on pumping installations to keep the mine unwatered. The reliability of such installations is obviously of paramount importance. The volume of water to be handled is often considerable, and the total head is relatively high. In these cases, both capital cost and operating expense of the pumping installations will become significant factors in overall mining costs. To insure reliability and to keep efficiencies, and hence operating cosl;s, within acceptable limits it goes without saying that mechanical maintenance of a mine pumping installation must receive scrupulous attention at all times. Large mine pumping installations today almost invariably use multistage centrifugal pumps, since positive-displacement units would not be economically competitive except under very unusual conditions of small volume combined with extremely high heads. Centrifugal pump maintenance, under ideal circumstances, would be confined to parts subject to normal running water, i.e., bearing surfaces, stuffing box packing, and shaft sleeves. Under adverse conditions, however, metal may be lost from the wetted surfaces of a pump by erosive or corrosive action of the pumped fluid, and maintenance costs can easily attain enormous proportions. The following definitions are those most generally used for the phenomena encountered. Erosion is a general term meaning mechanical removal of material from a surface. As applied to pumps, it may be the result of simple abrasion, such as that produced by suspended solid matter in the liquid being pumped. In common with other hy-

Jan 1, 1957

By P. A. Beck, Hsun Hu

It has been known for many years that in cold drawn polycrystalline aluminum the recrystallization texture is practically identical with the deformation texture.l,2,3 V. Goeler and Sachs4 stated that in cold rolled polycrystalline aluminum, too, the deformation texture is retained upon recrystallization. This behavior was interpreted by Dehlinger9 as an indication that each recrystallized grain inherits the orientation of the matrix in which it grew. However, Burgers and Basart showed6 that in deformed aluminum single crystals the orientation of the recrystallized grains strongly deviates from that of the matrix. Barrett demonstrated8 that even in deformed polycrystalline aggregates the local orientation within each deformed grain changes on recrystallization. No explanation has as yet been offered of how the aggregate texture can be retained, while the local texture is everywhere changing. According to Burgers and Louwerse6 the orientation change on recrystallization in compressed and rolled aluminum single crystals corresponds to a rotation around [112] axes lying in the active slip planes and perpendicular to active slip directions. This orientation change was rationalized by them on the assumption that the orientation of the recrystallized grains is determined by the orientation of the available nuclei, and that these nuclei are small fragments of the deformed crystal, rotated in the deformation process. Barrett pointed out,? however, that these assumptions were by no means proven, and that the total volume of material necessary for the nuclei is so small, that it must be available in any orien- tation whatever. It is, therefore, unlikely that an "oriented nucleation" theory could satisfactorily explain the orientation changes in recrystallization of a deformed crystal. Furthermore, in contradiction to Burgers and LOU-werse's conclusions, Barrett's results for the orientation change could be best expressed in terms of rotations around. [Ill] axes. Thus agreement is lacking not only in the interpretations but apparently even in the experimental results contributed by the various investigators. The orientation relationships on coarsening* in a highly oriented polycrystalline matrix were first investigated by Burgers and Basart.5 They produced a fine grained highly oriented matrix by the recrystallization of a compressed or rolled single crystal of aluminum, and studied the orientation relationships in three successive generations of crystals: the "deformation texture" in the single crystal, the recrystallization texture, and the coarsening texture. Burgers24 showed that the preferred orientation of each successive generation was almost always widely different from that of the preceding one, but that the coarse grains often approximately reverted to the orientation of their grandparent, the deformed single crystal. This observation, and the idea that the orientation of the coarse grains is determined by that of the available "nuclei," led to the concept that the coarse grains are nucleated by the remnants of the deformation texture.12,15 On the other hand, Bowles and Boas16 found, in a carefully conducted experiment, that in recrystallized fine grained copper of cube texture coarse grains grow in orientations which can be derived from the orientation of the recrystallized matrix by rotation around a [lll].] direction: the coarsening texture here does not appear to be related in any simple manner to the original rolling texture from which the cube texture had been obtained by recrystallization. It may be assumed that in a recrystallized material, even with a strong texture, there always are present some grains of practically any orientation. These may serve as "nuclei" for the coarse grains, provided that the conditions are favorable for their growth. The existence of a coarsening texture may be considered as an indication that grains with certain relative orientations with respect to the preferred orientation of their neighbors can grow much faster than others. This "oriented growth" theory was briefly suggested by van Arkel, as early as 1936,13 and it was mentioned by Burgers." Recently, C. G. Dunn produced direct

Jan 1, 1950

By J. D. Edwards, C. S. Taylor, A. S. Russell

Solubilities and densities are reported for alumina hydrates in NaOH solutions under the conditions of the Bayer process employed to purify alumina for aluminum production. The equilibrium constants for reactions to form A102- accurately correlate the effects of NaOH concentration on the solubilities; the temperature coefficients of the equilibria lead to heats of solution of 7.34, 4.76, and 5.24 kcal for the a trihydrate, a monohydrate, and ß trihydrate, respectively. Moderate calcination does not change the solubility of the a trihydrate but increases that of the a monohydrate. At solution temperatures above 100°C, the trihydrates transform rapidly to a monohydrate. Hydro-thermally produced a monohydrate is the stable phase above 20°C. CORNERSTONE of the aluminum industry, the Bayer process for alumina production is based on the difference in solubility of hydrated alumina in NaOH solutions between 170" and 40°C. Solubilities and densities in this system were determined thirty years ago by M. Tosterudl under the direction of J. D. Edwards and C. S. Taylor. The solubility data, which still appear more concordant than those in the literature, are employed to sort out the complex equilibria in this system. The nomenclature for the alumina hydrates is that presented in The Aluminum Industry' and more recently summarized in Alumina Properties.3 a trihydrate is the purified phase analogous to gibbsite, a monohydrate is similarly akin to boehmite, and ß trihydrate is sometimes known as bayerite. Literature Goudriaan4 reviewed the early literature on alumina in NaOH solutions and presented data on the solubility at 30°C of several forms. The gel precipitated from aluminum sulphate or chloride with ammonia and dried at 130" to 140°C had the highest solubility but was unstable, its solubility being cut to one-tenth on standing in NaOH. The solubility of the gel was decreased one-third on calcination at 300" to 400°C, while that of the gel transformed in NaOH at room temperature to a crystalline trihydrate was unchanged on calcination. The preparation produced by slow hydrolysis of sodium aluminate solution with CO, in the air gave solubilities in rough agreement with later values for a trihydrate. The solubility of this form was increased slightly by the calcination. Fricke and Jucaitis5 extended the work to 30" and 60°C with a trihydrate. They also gave solubilities for ß trihydrate (bayerite b), although the residue belonging to the left branch of the solubility curve corresponded to a trihydrate. The residues at high NaOH concentrations were mono and trisodium aluminates, the latter being 3Na2O . AL2O3 • 6H2O. Solubilities of a trihydrate at 95°C and of a monohydrate at 150" and 200 °C come from the work of Magarchak.6 a trihydrate transformed to a monohydrate above 95°C. A few measurements on the solubility at 25°C of an alumina trihydrate prepared by slow hydrolysis of NaAIO, solutions were presented by Sprauer and pearce.? Their analyses showed the monosodium aluminate to have the composition Na2O.Al2O3-2.5H2O.

Jan 1, 1956

By Frank Gilbreth

THE problem, of the crippled soldier in industry is not a problem of war work only; it is a problem of industrial development. As individuals, each one of you is seeking to provide our maimed heroes with such teaching as will render them, in the shortest possible amount of time, productive and satisfied members of the community. As individuals you are interested in the organizations that are preparing to receive these men, to train them and to place them at that work for which they are best fitted. As an organization, it is now your duty to take up the industrial end of the problem, to investigate existing conditions in the industries, to discover where the opportunities for employment lie, and so readjust industrial practice that the cripples may be utilized to their own and the community's good with the least shock to themselves or to the industries, and with the greatest amount of permanent benefit to all concerned. We have divided industrial opportunities suitable for cripples roughly, into three classes. First, such as already exist in the industries, which can be set aside for cripples only, present occupants being transferred to other work for which they can be fitted but which is not suitable for cripple work; second, opportunities in the industrial world that, through changes in the working equipment or tools, or through appliances attached to the cripple himself, can make the cripple a competitor of the sound worker; third, opportunities not existing at present in the industries, but which could be introduced for the good of the community, without placing the cripples into competition with any existing class of workers.

Jan 4, 1918

By E. V. Kleber, V. F. Novy, R. C. Vickery

The constitutional diagram has been determined in part for the sgstem Gd-Fe. Seven intermetallic compounds have been found at compositions corresponding to the following Gd-Fe ratios; 2:3, 1.2, 1:3, 2:7, 1:4, 1:5, and 2:17. The GdFe, com-pound has a congruent melting point above 18000C, whereas all of the remaining compounds melt incongruently, A eutectic exists at 13 wt pct Fe at a temperature of 860°C. ALTHOUGH an increasing amount of information is becoming available on the metallurgy of pure rare earth metals, relatively few studies have been made on alloy systems of the rare earths with the transition metals; iron, nickel, and cobalt. Even less data are extant on gadolinium alloys although it could be expected that such alloys might possess interesting structural and magnetic properties. In this paper, we report investigation of the gadolinium-iron alloy system. Studies on systems containing nickel and cobalt will be presented in subsequent papers. Previous data on gadolinium-iron compounds have been reported by Endter and Klemm1 and Jep-son and Duwez.2 Both reports agree on the existence of the GdFe2 phase, which crystallizes with the C-15type structure (face-centered cubic). This is in accord with results of the present work. EXPERIMENTAL The gadolinium metal used was prepared by met-allothermic reduction of high purity gadolinium fluoride. A typical analysis of the metal thus produced indicated the principal impurities to be oxygen, 0.24 pct, and tantalum, 0.2 pct. The iron metal used for alloying was a reagent grade material. Alloys were prepared by arc melting mixtures of the respective metals. Appropriate quantities of the two component metals were carefully weighed, blended and compacted. The compacts were then melted in an arc furnace consisting of a water-cooled copper hearth plate and a water-cooled tungsten-tipped counter electrode contained in a brass vacuum chamber. The furnace was evacuated to an absolute pressure of less than 1 with the leak rate established as being less than 20 per min. The furnace was then back-filled to a pressure of 25 mm of Hg, with a 75 pct He-25 pct Ar mixture. Arc melting at 25 v and 300 amp was maintained for about 30 to 60 sec until the entire visible area of the sample became molten, by which time surface tension had drawn the molten metal pool into a large bead. After allowing the furnace to cool, the alloy button was inverted and the melting process repeated. A series of melts was made covering entire composition ranges from 100 pct Gd to 100 pct Fe. All samples were examined metallographically in the as-melted condition. As the phase diagram became rationalized, and differential thermal analysis had given indications of temperature arrests, annealing was carried out in vacuo or in argon. Generally, compositions containing more than about 60 pct Gd were heat treated at 750°C and alloys containing less than this quantity of gadolinium were annealed at 1000°C. Prolonged annealing times were of the order of 100 to 200 hr. Metallographic examination was repeated on the annealed materials. Although little material loss was noted during alloy preparation, chemical analyses were made on all specimens prepared. The following standard, analytical techniques were used. Samples were dissolved in hydrochloric acid; insoluble material was filtered off, ignited and fused with potassium pyro-sulfate. The cold melt was leached with dilute acid and the solution thus obtained added to the main sample solution. Gadolinium was always determined gravimetri-callv as oxide from oxalate ignition. Iron was removed from an aliquot sample by electrolysis on a mercury cathode at approximately six volts. Gadolinium in the iron-free electrolyte was then precipitated as oxalate which was subsequently ignited to oxide. Iron was determined volumetrically in an aliquot solution by reduction with stannous chloride fol-

Jan 1, 1962

The Institute conducts jointly with the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and American Institute of Electrical Engineers, certain activities as listed below, and is joint owner with them of certain properties. United Engineering Trustees, Inc. When Mr. Carnegie made his gift which made possible a home for the engineering societies, a separate corporation was organized to act as a holding company and to manage the common property. This was long known as the United Engineering Society but the name has now been changed to one which more nearly reflects the real function of the corporation. It holds title to the Engineering Societies Building and to various funds placed in its charge and is managed by a Board of Trustees of which three are chosen by each of the four societies, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers and American Society of Civil Engineers, which own equal and undivided interests in the property. The land and building cost two million dollars. The interest of each of the Founders societies, aside from especial trust funds, is now valued at $493,352. The A. I. M. E. trustees are Arthur S. Dwight, J. V. N. Derr and George D. Barron. The President of the Board is Francis Lee Stuart and the Secretary, Alfred D. Flinn.

Jan 1, 1923

By R. F. Jones, N. E. Truitt, M. Prats

In most published discussions and theories of in situ combustion, the combustion fronts are assumed to be vertical. However, evidence from field tests leaves no doubt that combustion fronts often advance more rapidly along the top than near the bottom of a formation as a result of difference in density between injected air and formation liquids. The approximation proposed in this paper to determine the movement of the resultant tilted combustion surfaces states that the vertical rate of movement of combustion surfaces is proportional to the horizontal oxygen flux. Where self-ignition is possible, the proposed method demands that a secondary combustion surface exist around production wells which produce some oxygen. These secondary combustion surfaces may be formed long before the primary combustion surface can advance from injection to production wells. Heat liberated near production wells at these secondary combustion surfaces can contribute to an early increase in production rate. Results indicate that significant oil recoveries cannot be obtained from the usual flood patterns (five-spots, seven-spots, etc.) without producing large volumes of unused oxygen. Ideally, to increase oxygen- consumption efficiency, well patterns should allow oil production from a first line of production wells and gas production from more distant lines of producers. However, it may be desirable to produce some gas at all wells to support (and benefit from) active secondary combustion surfaces. Results indicate that the well spacing through which combustion can be advanced is larger than that predicted by other methods. A large number of production wells may still be desirable to take quick advantage of gravity drainage. From a comparison with results at South Belridge field, California, it appears that this method adequately describes oxygen concentration and temperature histories and combustion-front shapes. However, this method does not accurately locate the most advanced point of the combustion surface. There is some field evidence to substantiate the actual presence of secondary combustion surfaces at South Belridge. Use of the proposed method appears warranted at this time when lay-over of the combustion surface can be anticipated. INTRODUCTION The assumption of vertical combustion fronts has been embodied in all previous publicationsl-6 which use the movement of combustion fronts away from injection wells to determine the temperature and fluid distributions in the reservoir. The only paper concerned with a mathematical model of the combustion process in which a nonvertical combustion front is used was written by Gottfried.11 Actually, nonvertical combustion fronts have been observed in most in situ combustion field tests for which adequate data are available.7, 8, 6 In practice, the typical vertical extent of the burned zone decreases with distance from the injection well, and this burned zone is at or near the top of the sand body. In some cases, such as at South Belridge field near Taft, Calif., the combustion surface is almost horizontal over a very large area.8 Thus, for some years an obvious and serious gap has existed between theory (vertical fronts) and practice (tilted fronts). This is indicated in Fig. 1. Tilted combustion fronts such as observed at South Belridge8 sometimes result from the natural tendency of injected gases to rise to the top of an oil sand. An initially present gas cap, even if thin, would make apparent the effect of gravity segregation from the first, particularly since formations considered for in situ combustion field operations are generally selected for their

Jan 1, 1969

By Pedro Bolsaitis, Paul M. Sullivan

The activities of zinc in liquid Zn-A1 alloys in the temperature range of 1000' to 1160°K were determined by means of the isopiestic technique. The results are in reasonable agreement with the previous values determined by the radioactive tracer dew point method. Slightly negative excess entropies of mixing were found. The measured activities suggest that the a function for these alloys is not a constant, as has frequently been assumed, but is better represented by two straight line segments of different slopes. THE thermodynamic data of Al-Z alloys have been the subject of investigation by many authors. However, in the recent compilation of such data by Hult-gren et al.,5 the conclusion is reached that none of the previous measurements are reliable or consistent with each other. Since then two new sets of measurements have been reported,2, 8 both laying claim to good accuracies, yet showing very significant disagreement in the measured activity coefficients of zinc in Zn-A1 alloys and in the magnitude and sign of the excess entropies of mixing. Information on the thermodynamics of the system is of particular interest for interpreting results of the Bureau of Mines research on refining of zinc by distillation of die cast scrap. The present study was undertaken as an independent check on the recent values obtained from dew point measurements 8 and electromotive force measurements.' The isopiestic method, first introduced by Herasy-menko,' was chosen because it is one of the few thermodynamic techniques which, in principle at least, is carried out under perfect equilibrium conditions. The disadvantage of the method is that data are obtained at various random compositions and temperatures, which makes the interpretation somewhat cumbersome. The random errors arising from temperature gradients and fluctuations appear to be comparable to those of other techniques, as evidenced by the magnitude of the estimated uncertainties in the calculated integral thermodynamic quantities. An advantage of the method is that each run provides a relatively large amount of data; thus, it is less time consuming than those methods where samples of each composition must be measured individually. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The activities of zinc in liquid Zn-A1 alloys were measured by the isopiestic method which uses the principle of the tendency toward equilibrium of a series of samples at various temperatures under an imposed vapor pressure of the more volatile component (i.e., zinc, in this case). The basic apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The small graphite crucibles that contained the metal samples were 15 mm ID and 13 mm deep with approximately 3 mm wall thickness. Each crucible was notched at the top and bottom to allow easy passage of vapor from one to another. At the beginning of an experiment each crucible was weighed on an analytical balance. Zinc and aluminum of spectrographic purity (99.999 pct) were then weighed into the crucibles. The amounts of each metal added were such that initial compositions varied above and below equilibrium values. One crucible contained only pure zinc. After weighing, the crucibles were stacked with the pure zinc on the bottom (corresponding to the lowest temperature in the furnace) and richest aluminum alloys at the top. The entire stack of crucibles was then placed in the silica glass container "E" which was then sealed under vacuum. Sixteen to twenty calibrated Chromel-Alumel thermocouples were attached by wire along the length of the silica tube, one or more adjacent to each sample.

Jan 1, 1970

By H. H. Kellogg, T. R. Ingraham

Three anhydrous zinc sulfates have been identified. They are: ZnSO,(a), stable below 1007°K; ZnS04(/3), stable above 1007OK; and ZnO.ZZnSO,. The decomposition pressure of each sulfate has been measured and the following relations calculated from the results: The measured data have been combined with the known themzodynamic properties of ZnS, ZnO, Zn, SO,, and SO, to yield univariant and bivariant phase diagrams for the system Zn-S-0. The application of these diagrams to problems of roasting zinc concentrates is discussed. PRESENT knowledge of the equilibrium chemistry of the system Zn-S:O, so essential to scientific control of zinc-blende roasting, is deficient in several respects. A basic sulfate of zinc has been reported by many investigators, but its composition is in doubt and its thermodynamic properties have not been measured. Our scanty knowledge of the properties of the normal sulfate at roasting temperatures is based on old and inexact studies. A crystal transformation in the normal sulfate, involving a sizable heat effect, has been noted by several investigators but has never been quantified. The studies reported herein were designed to fill these gaps in knowledge and to make possible a reasonably complete thermodynamic description of the system Zn-S-0 at roasting temperatures. The results make possible a far more exact understanding of zinc roasting chemistry than was hitherto possible. EXPERIMENTAL The principal experimental technique employed was the measurement of the total gas pressure developed from decomposition of either ZnSO, or ZnO2ZnS0, in a closed system. The apparatus employed was essentially the same as that described by Warner and lngrahaml and Flengas and tngraham.' The unusual feature is a flexible Pyrex bellows used to separate the reaction gas mixture (S03, SOz, and 02) from the mercury in the manometer and thus prevent corrosion of the mercury by SO3. The bellows operates without evidence of hysteresis and, barring accidents, may be used for several months. The response of the bellows varies from manometer to manometer, but is generally of the order of 0.6-cm displacement for a l-cm change in pressure. The response for all manometers has been linear over the range 0 to 1 atm. To prevent condensation and polymerization of sulfur trioxide, the bellows-manometer was maintained at 100.0" * 0.5" by a circulating bath of silicone oil. The connecting tubing between the manometer and the furnace was maintained at 100.0" * 0.2"* also, with a stirred air bath. The open end of the manometer was connected with a chamber which was maintained at a known pressure. The pressure could be varied so that readings of the height of the mercury column, measured with a cathetometer, could be made with both rising and falling mercury column. By using the average of the readings, any error due to sticking of the mercury column was minimized. The sample was placed in a 2-in.-long platinum boat formed into the shape of a half-cylinder. The sample was prepared as a fine powder and pressed against the inner wall of the platinum boat. A silica thermocouple well, covered with a platinum sleeve, was placed lengthwise along the center of the boat. The temperature of the sample was read on a calibrated Pt-10 pct Rh theirnocouple. The temperature profile of the furnace was constant within ± 0.2 C over the length of furnace occupied by the sample. The horizontal furnace used to contain the sample and the quartz reaction tube was electrically heated, with the control thermocouple placed 1/4 in. from the windings. A Brown Pyro-O-Vane temperature controller with a 3-sec response time was used to maintain the furnace temperature. Before beginning a run, the apparatus, including the bellows manometer, was thoroughly washed in sib with acid and distilled water to remove any

Jan 1, 1963

By AIME AIME

TWENTY-TWO sections and all four of the divisions sent delegates to the annual meeting. They became so interested in the wide ranging dis6ussion of old and yet ever-new problems of Institute affairs that three instead of two sessions scheduled were necessary. Monday morning the meeting assembled with President Bassett presiding in the absence of President-elect Tally, who had been called to Baltimore by the serious illness of a brother. Thursday morning Vice-president Turner presided until Mr. Tally appeared after which the latter guided the sessions. Since reports from all of the active sections save one had been mimeographed and sent in advance to the delegates, detailed reports from each were dispensed with. The discussions dealt largely with membership problems, both local and national, with financing, speakers and programs, visits from national officers, and the conduct of the annual meeting. Many interesting and constructive suggestions were made and will be reported back to the sections by the delegates.

Jan 1, 1931

By M. Gensamer

ONLY recently has it been realized that preferred orientations are common in hot-rolled steels. In a recent paper, N. P. Goss1 stated that hot-rolled mild steel exhibits a texture different from that charac-teristic of cold-rolled steel. No complete study of these hot-rolling textures has been reported using the pole-figure method of Wever. The material used in the work reported in this paper was the same material used by Gensamer and Mehl2 in a recent study of preferred orientations in cold-rolled steel, to which reference may be made for the composition and thermal history of the steel. Automobile-body sheet bar, 4 in. thick was hot-rolled at two temperatures, 780° and 910° C. (1436° and 1669° F.). (These temperatures refer to the tempera-ture of the furnace in which the steel was heated.) After each pass the steel was returned to the furnace and held there long enough to return to temperature. Although no accurate method was used to measure the temperature after each pass, it was estimated by color that only a slight drop in temperature occurred. In order to determine the effect of any preferred orientation that might have persisted through the normalizing treatment, one specimen at each temperature was rolled in the same direction as the original working direction and the other at right angles to it. The total reduction in each case was 85 per cent, the specimens having been reduced from 0.250 to 0.0375 in. in five passes. Final cooling was in air. Pinhole reflection photograms were taken of all four specimens, with the rolling direction vertical and the X-ray beam at an angle of 7° with the transverse direction (the transverse direction is defined as that direction in the rolling plane perpendicular to the rolling direction). These photograms, taken with a Me target at 35 kv., are reproduced in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. They show that a more pronounced texture was developed by the low-temperature rolling (780° C.), and that of the two

Jan 1, 1936

By AIME AIME

APOCRYPHAL, no doubt, but widely entertained is the proposition that top-flight mining geologists never agree with each other on anything. Being rugged individualists, they frequently seem intolerant of opinions that conflict with their own. However, one may suspect that controversy is often more apparent than real. For example, at last summer's meeting of the American Mining Congress, Ira B. Joralemon and Reno H. Sales, discussing "Mining Geology, Today and Tomorrow," seemed to be in serious disagreement over various phases of the subject; but much of this arises from the different angles of approach of the two distinguished and successful ore finders.

Jan 1, 1941