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By W. A. Tiller, W. C. Johnston

The solute distribution ahead of an advancing solid-liquid interface is controlled by varying the momentum boundary layer thickness in the liquid adjacent to the interface. Single pass zone-melting experiments on Pb-Sn alloys are described in which the liquid is caused to rotate in the plane of the solid-liquid interface due to the influence of a magnetic .field rotating in this plane. The variation of the diffusion boundary layer thickness with field strength is determined. DURING the freezing of an alloy a partitioning of solute occurs at the solid-liquid interface, the magnitude depending upon the difference in the solid and liquid solubilities at the interface temperature. Because the diffusion coefficient is so small in the liquid relative to normal freezing rates, either a pileup or a depletion of solute occurs at the interface when the partition coefficient, kO, is either less than or greater than unity, respectively. This solute distribution is completely characterized by i) the solute concentration in the liquid far from the interface, C) the ratio of freezing velocityf, to diffusion coefficient, D, iii) the partition coefficient, ko, and iv) the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer, 6,, at the interface (this assumes that an electric field is not applied across the interface). For a particular system, C ko and D are fixed so that the character of the solute distribution can be changed only by a variation of either f or 6c. As is well known, the freezing velocity can be changed by varying the thermal environment of the alloy. Whereas, the thickness of the solute rich layer can be changed by varying the fluid flow conditions in the liquid. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a technique for controlling the fluid flow conditions in the liquid. During most solidification experiments the driving force for fluid flow arises from either mechanical mixing, thermal convection or electromagnetic mixing. The momentum boundary layer thickness, 6m at the solid-liquid interface, within which negligible movement of the liquid occurs, has been calculated for the special case of mechanical mixing where crystals are solidified by the Czochralski technique.l,2 The calculation of 6m for the case of thermal convection has also been made.3 In some calculations it has been assumed that the momentum boundary layer thickness, 6,, may be equated to the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer 6c, at the interface. However, as may be seen from Appendix I this is only true in very special cases and in general where a is a constant of magnitude determined by the particular liquid alloy. Neither calculations nor experimental data exist for the dependence of upon electromagnetic mixing. In this paper experiments are described in which the liquid is caused to rotate in the plane of the interface due to the torque developed on it by a magnetic field, H, rotating in this plane. The variation of is controlled by the variation of H. A magnetic field rotating in a plane perpendicular to the interface has been used for the purification of aluminum. Experimentally, we determined the variation of 5C with H by using the zone-melting technique of pfann5and a theoretical relationship of Burton et a1.2 pfann5 has shown that, after the passage of one molten zone through a long cylindrical charge of uniform concentration, CO, the solute distribution, C,, in the solid is as shown in Fig. 1. The equation describing this distribution is

Jan 1, 1962

By W. M. Reilly, Martin E. True, O&apos

A technique, equipment, and a compound have been developed and field tested for sealing tubing joint thread leaks without removing the tubing from the well. This eliminates the necessity of killing the well with possible damage to the producing formation, which could result if it were exposed to drilling mud. A thread sealing compound, developed and tested in the laboratory, is introduced into the tubing and squeezed into the joint to eliminate the leak. A high percentage of successful field applications have eflected an appreciable cost reduction in repairing leaking tubing strings in East Texas and in the Louisiana Gulf Coast area. INTRODUCTION In producing oil and gas wells the industry has been plagued with a never ending problem of tubing connection leakage. This situation is becoming increasingly more significant as more gas wells are placed on production and as higher pressures are encountered at greater depths of current drilling. Substantial progress has been made in minimizing thread leaks by careful handling and cleaning of joints and by the use of improved sealing compounds in combination with controlled makeup. But even with the use of the best known methods and sealing materials during initial makeup, occasional leaks through tubing joint threads appear inevitable. In some instances, tubing joints in high-pressure gas wells have been found to leak gas at relatively less pressure than that at which the tubing had been tested satisfactorily using liquid. Many expedients have been employed to prevent the physical replacement of tubing when leaks have developed. Perhaps the most commonly used is the sodium silicate treatment in which the solution is lubricated into the tubing to form a crystalline plug in the leak. Generally, any benefit realized is of a temporary nature. In addition to field studies on handling and makeup of tubing, extensive laboratory work has been undertaken on the development and testing of thread dopes.' Also, substantial effort has been devoted to testing tubing joints using high-pressure gas as a pressure medium.' The results of this work have emphasized that tubing joints are susceptible to occasional leaks, especially when subjected to relatively high differential pressures. To cope with the problem of leaking connections, an extensive investigation was undertaken to devise means of sealing leaks without removing the tubing from the well and without reducing the inside diameter of the tubing. The purpose of this paper is to present a technique, together with the associated equipment and compound, which have been developed for effecting a seal of leaking tubing in place. DISCUSSION Work was initiated simultaneously on two ventures: (1) to develop a satisfactory leak sealing compound and (2) to develop tools necessary to find the leak and place the compound. Leak Sealing Compound In the development of a sealing compound, tests were conducted on those compounds commercially available which include: (1) conventional thread lubricants, (2) thermo-setting resins and (3) other materials which held promise of effecting a seal. Although none proved completely satisfactory in their available form, two commercial compounds proved nearly equally effective in sealing leaks during laboratory tests after proportioned quantities of graded silica had been added. Field usage has indicated that the preferred compound is one prepared of an aluminum-stearate base thinned to the proper constituency and carrying a mixture of fine mesh graphite and graded silica. The compound developed by Humble Oil & Refining Co. is designated as Tubing Thread Leak Sealant 800. Placement Tools and Technique In developing tools to detect joint leaks and to place the sealing compound, work was done initially on wireline equipment. Preliminary designs were completed of a tool somewhat on the order of a pressure bomb to test individual joints with gas at high pressure to determine if the joint was leaking. An entirely different tool equipped with opposed packers was intended for placement of the sealing compound at high pressures in each leaking joint. The application of these tools

Jan 1, 1958

By W. E. Field

In the Coast Mountains approximately 110 miles north of Vancouver, the gold mine of Bralorne- Pioneer Mines Ltd. lies at an elevation of 3500 ft. The deepest or 41 level in the mine is at an elevation of 1400 ft below sea level, and the rock temperature on this level is 122.5°F. The thermal gradient is 1 "F increase in temperature for each 67.5 ft increase in depth. The mine produces between 500 and 600 tons per clay, utilizing an adit two internal shafts, and one service shaft from surface. The Queen shaft, extending from the 26 to the 41 level, IS the deepest, and most production now comes from this area. Stoping in by cut and fill using mill tailing hydraulic backfill.

Jan 12, 1963

By Harold Cook

Discussion of the paper of HAROLD EARLE COOK, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1916, and printed in Bulletin No. 110, February, 1916, pp. 375 to 400. ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass.-I think we must all agree with Lieutenant-Commander Cook when he says that there is a great deal of room for improvement in the annealing of steel castings and that better results would be attained if the annealing were conducted in closer agreement with scientific requirements. Whether even a carefully annealed steel casting can ever be made the equal of a steel forging of good quality is still a debatable question. Nevertheless, we all realize that very greatly improved results can be attained by careful annealing. Lieutenant-Commander Cook refers to some requirements calling for annealing steel castings above the Ac1 point. He is undoubtedly right where he says that this should be the Ac3 point. Take, for example, a steel casting containing, say, 0.35 per cent. of carbon, having a very coarse structure made up of coarsely crystalline ferrite. If this is heated just above the Ac1 point the ferrite remains, of course, just as it was before, while the pearlite is converted into a solid solution, austenite. Upon cooling, all this austenite is again converted into pearlite, or sorbite, while the coarse structure of the ferrite remains unchanged and the annealing has accomplished very little. It is therefore surprising that the requirement of annealing above the Ac1 point should appear, in these specifications.

Jan 5, 1916

By W. T. Thom

RegaRding the elements necessarily involved .in working out a scientific scheme of classification, Stansfield and Sutherland, (94)† quoting Grout, (34) make the following statement: All bases (for a scientific classification) should be capable of quantitative determination, or be exactly related to some property capable of such a test, so that, if no natural groups are found, arbitrary lines may be drawn to limit the classes. The best basis for classification should involve inherent and fundamental qualities of the materials considered. Allied to this is the requirement that advantage should be taken of any natural grouping. As a further help in selection, the bases or tests should be easily applied, widely known, and have a wide range of values in the material classified. In order that we may apply the philosophy thus expressed, it is necessary for us to have clearly in mind both the reasons why coals differ and the specific purposes to be served by the classification to be devised. Coals differ because, as modern science has shown, coal beds are actually neither more nor less than buried and altered peat deposits, formed in remote geologic time. And as is generally known, such peat beds consisted of masses of partly macerated and decayed trees, shrubs, plants, mosses and/or algae, deposited under swamp or semiswamp conditions. It is therefore to be expected that coals will vary: 1. Because of differences in the parent vegetation, due either to evolutionary plant changes, as from the fernlike types of the Paleozoic to the coniferous and hardwood types of the late Mesozoic and Tertiary; or due to the differences in floral assemblages (growing at the same time) induced by differences in local environmental conditions. For example, moss, sedge, woody and other peats are today accumulating simultaneously in different bogs in North America. 2. Because of differences in the stage to which bacterial decay proceeded in the peat bed. Peats laid down in stagnant waters suffer

Jan 1, 1932

By W. C. Schroeder

During the post-war period, and particularly during the past few years, coal production has been maintained at a reasonably constant level. This is in contrast to the greatly expanded demand for oil and natural gas. Certain markets for coal, such as the railroad and for home heating, have tended to decrease, but this decline has been offset by an increase in demand for other uses, particularly for electric power. Since the United States has very large reserves of coal and relatively limited reserves of natural gas and oil, from the conservation viewpoint, it would be better if the increased demand were to fall more heavily on coal. Where coal has lost certain markets, the decision has not always been made on the basis of price, and, in fact, in many instances, the markets have been lost where coal could show a price advantage. There are various reasons for this situation but it can be attributed in the main to the preference of certain consumers for the convenience offered by liquid and gaseous fuels. In the production of chemicals such as benzene, phenol, or ammonia, coal still plays an important role. As co-products from coke-oven operations, a wide variety of aromatic chemicals are available. In recent years, however, the production has not been sufficient to supply the demand, and it is not profitable to build coke ovens to make chemicals unless there is a market for the coke as well. As a result, the petroleum industry is beginning to take a stronger part in the production of aromatic chemicals. Natural gas has almost displaced the coke-oven water-gas machine for the production of hydrogen for the synthesis of ammonia, as well as for the synthesis of methyl alcohol and other oxygenated compounds. This information is not new and is given here only as a basis for the discussion of the broad significance of the development of the gasification process. It is clear that if coal is to regain some of its old fuel markets, as well as to maintain a position in the field of chemical synthesis, processes must be available for converting coal to the type of fuel the customer wants, and for a cheap method of furnishing gaseous raw material to the chemical industry. The operation of coke ovens and water-gas machines is not the answer to this problem for at least two important reasons: (1) the limited supply and relatively high price of good coking coals, and (2) the relatively high costs of the combined operations of coking and manufacture of water gas.

Jan 1, 1953

By W. A. Tiller, S. O’Hara

Grain refinement in stirred melts has previously been shown to arise from dendrite segmentation. The present work discusses experiments capable of distinguishing between remelting and mechanical effects which result from fluid motion. Nucleation of still un-dercooled Sn-1 pct Pb melts with a single-crystal seed shows that the grain size of the resulting ingots decreases as the undercooling at nucleation increases up to about 1Z0C, then increases again for larger undercoolings. Pure melts exhibit little refinement as a result of nucleation at any undercooling up to 12°C. The presence of fluid motion gives rise to grain multiplication in pure melts, but the magnitude of this effect is partly obscured by solid-state pain growth. The results indicate that two grain-multiplication pvocesses can operate, one which involves dendrite remelt ing, and another associated with fluid motion. Small ingot experiments indicated that an equiaxed transition can be caused by fluid motion. THE presence of forced convection during recales-cence of undercooled Sn-1.3 pct Pb melts has been shown to give rise to extensive grain refinement during solidification of small ingots of this alloy.''2 In Ref. 2, this refining was shown to result entirely from dendrite fragmentation and not from any nucleation mechanism. The purpose of the present work is to establish what processes lead to dendrite segmentation. Experiments were therefore carried out to determine the resulting structure of both pure tin and Sn-1 pct Pb melts, nucleated at various undercoolings by single-crystal seeds in the absence of forced or natural convection. By comparing the information obtained from these experiments with the results of Refs. 1 and 2, the effects of fluid motion on the ingot structure, and the details of the segmentation mechanisms, should become clear. The results of these experiments should also be helpful in understanding the solidification structures of larger ingots since natural convection, which is known to play an important role in determining ingot structure13 differs only in degree from the fluid-motion effects studied here. I) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The apparatus shown in Fig. 1 was constructed to permit controlled nucleation of stirred or unstirred supercooled melts using a seed oriented in the tin dendrite growth direction. Because the melts, in all cases, were capable of larger supercoolings than the one used in each experiment, the structure observed always resulted from a single nucleation event at the surface. The sequential procedure was as follows: Tin was melted under purified hydrogen and the oxide removed at a temperature of 450°C . Electromagnetic stirring was then used to clear the surface completely and during this time the guide tube was lowered underneath the melt surface. A pointed Czochralski-like crystal was then propagated from a specially prepared tin dendrite seed4 inside the guide tube while the temperature of the bulk melt was held just above the melting point, ensuring a perfectly clean seed which was epitaxial with the original dendrite. The dendrite and epitaxial seed, still in the guide tube, were withdrawn from the melt which, in turn, was undercooled to 2C° below the temperature at which the nucleation experiment was to be performed. The melt was held there for several minutes, both in stirred and in still-melt experiments. The temperature was next raised to the required value and the melt nucleated by the carrot seed inside the guide tube, the heater power being shut off just after nucleation. In experiments where quenching after nucleation was required, a high-density graphite crucible was used, but otherwise the procedure was as described above. The temperature gradient in the melt before nucleation was kept below 1C° per cm by carrying the experiment out just below the center of the heater shown in Fig. 1.

Jan 1, 1968

By William P. Blake

As the storage of water for agricultural and mining purposes in the arid regions of the West is now receiving much attention by the people and their representatives, some facts coucerning the greatest pioneer enterprise for the purpose should appear on our records. I refer to the dam and reservoir at Walnut Grove, in Yavapai county, Arizona Territory, which was finished in the winter of 1887, and is known as the Walnut Grove Dam, It is not my intention at this time to give a full description of

Jan 1, 1889

By Dwight C. Roberts, Stender Sweeney

The spacing of wells in Long Beach oil field has caused much discussion from the earliest days of its development, on account of the closely drilled town-lot areas which have been as intensively developed as any productive areas in the world. The purpose of this paper is to present the results obtained from this type of development in comparison with the more widely spaced development in this field, now that a sufficient length of productive life has elapsed. The intensity of development in Long Beach is indicated by the fact that up to Sept. 1, 1929, there were 1736 wells either drilled or drilling. Of these 165 failed to get production and 121 were drilling. Thus 1450 wells have produced oil from an area of 1350 acres. Up to July 1, 1929, these wells produced a total of 35.5,047,913 barrels. Method Pursued Four groups of offset areas were chosen, in each group the wells in one area are widely spaced and in the other, closely spaced. The areas in each group are contiguous and the groups are spread over the field from the southeast end to the northwest, so that representative data are assured. The comparison has also been extended to shallow and deep zones, like zones in their respective areas being compared. Even though these productive zones are very thick, a fair picture of results is obtained, because the drilling of the wells in the two types of areas was concurrent in the different groups and, as a rule, the thickness of sand opened up at any one time was about the same. As deeper sands were found, wells in offset areas were deepened or new ones were drilled in both types of areas. The division of zones was made in the same manner in contiguous areas. The total cumulative production up to July 1, 1929, of the wells in their respective zones in each area was obtained. From these figures were computed the recovery per well, recovery per acre, acreage per well, and the ratios of these factors. Thus July 1, 1929, is the end of the period considered in all areas.

Jan 1, 1930

By George W. Bain

SOME problems concomitant with commercial exploitation of marble are presented as examples of interesting, useful and profitable fields for application of scientific knowledge. The marble industry is only one such field and is selected because its varying new aspects are familiar to the author. However, what is true for marble is equally so in principle for many industrial minerals. The problems of any stone industry are to maintain markets, create new outlets for stone already in demand, and develop varied uses for varieties that are not so popular. Here the geologist has a different role from most of his colleagues in metal mining. The producing branch may ask about the expectable variation in thickness or size of a deposit as development proceeds. The stock department may call for the available amount of a given type of stone before accepting a large order. The sales force requires data on the use for stone from certain parts of deposits in order to divert grades to the most suitable use. The service department wants defects rectified and the cause determined to avoid recurrence. The mills want data on durability and cutting quality of abrasives. The geologist occupies no special department; he is on general call, as may be illustrated by a few types of problems that may be classified as: (1) dominantly geological in character, (2) dominantly chemical in character, (3) dominantly physical in character. GEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS The geological problems deal almost exclusively with the size of blocks. Size across the deposit is limited by thickness of individual beds, and along the strike by the space between crosscutting joints. Frequently the vertical depth of a block is reduced by exfoliation shells arising from spontaneous expansion. All these factors require consideration in developing a deposit to fill an order. Thickening of Marble Beds The limestone beds that became the marble deposits of the northern Appalachians and of the Yule locality in Colorado were seldom homo-

Jan 1, 1940

By Sanford Belden

My topic, Recent Developments in the Design of Electric Mine Locomotives and Mining Machinery, does not require me to go into a general review of electricity as applied to the mining industry. Interesting as that subject always is, what I might say in regard to it, by way of introduction, would be unnecessary use of your time, since such facts are familiar to all. First, we will consider the recent development of the electric mine locomotive. We may well pause for a moment to reflect upon its importance to the coal-mining industry of to-day. With the dawn of the electrical age its advent was inevitable. Our practical interest is aroused not so much by the first crude effort as by the great efficiency attained during the 30 or more years since the electric locomotive made its first appearance. To judge accurately what it means to coal mining, and through coal mining to the industrial field at large, we would have to know how many of these locomotives are in use throughout the country and their aggregate daily performance, and then compare the results with what could be expected with other forms of power. Such data are lacking, but it requires no statistician to make it evident that the electric mining machine is a tremendous factor in modern progress, and that without it the work of the world could never have reached its present magnitude. Not only has the electric mine locomotive served its own special branch of usefulness, but incidentally it has solved in the main the whole problem of electric transportation. It is but a step from the triumph of a 25-ton locomotive leading a long train of loaded coal cars from a mine to the electrification of common carriers. We may or may not be near any great change in this respect. Economical reasons may hold it back for an indefinite period. But the fact remains that in the development of our mine locomotives we have met this larger emergency, in mechanical type and efficiency, whenever it may come.

Jan 6, 1914

By P. B. Baxendell

The performance of a water-drive reservoir having a gas cap depends primarily on the movement of the gar-oil and oil-water contacts. The movement of the contacts during production depends in turn on fluid withdrawals and how the reservoir pressure changes as fluids are produced from the reservoir; that is, on how effectively the aquifer maintains pressure by replacing withdrawals. inasmuch as pressure changes, fluid withdrawals, contact positions, and produced gas-oil and oil-water ratios are interdependent, the analysis and prediction of the performance of a reservoir produced in a given way must take into account this interdependence throughout depletion. This paper presents an analysis which, within the limitations of the assumptions made, yields an engineering approach to predicting future performance based on reservoir pressure and production history. The most significant assumption is the method of extrapolation of future gas-oil and water-oil ratios. The extrapolation procedure smoothly increases both ratios to preselected values as the remaining oil column undergoes a specified decrease in thickness. This preselection is made on the busis of previous field experience in depletion of similar reservoirs under similar conditions. For computing future performance a vdumebic balance L combined with the differential equation defining pressure distribution in the aquifer to obtain positions of water-oil and gas-oil contacts. From these positions are extrapolated produced water-oil and gas-oil ratios. Reservoir performance can be investigated when oil production rates are dependent upon various factors including the performance of the reservoir itself. Examples of practical application of the procedure are included. INTRODUCTION To predict performance of water-drive reservoirs with gas caps and thin oil columns, it is necessary to describe the motions of the fluids within the reservoir during the entire production period to depletion. These motions depend on the pressure changes and on the withdrawal of oil, gas and water. Production of oil from the oil zone primarily causes water to move in to take its place; production of gas from the cap tends to cause oil to migrate into its place. In addition, the volumes of oil and gas remaining in the reservoir depend on changes in the pressure, since a decrease in pressure causes fluid expansion, gas liberation and oil shrinkage. A method of relating the future pressure to total withdrawals is used to describe the motions of fluids within the reservoir under conditions arising in possible modes of production. The analysis is based on two relationships and will reduce the problem to one amenable to digital computation. The first of these concerns the dependence of the pressure distribution in the entire aquifer furnishing the water drive upon the total reservoir withdrawals. This dependence is dictated by the permeability distribution and the extent of the aquifer; at present, such information is most readily obtained from the performance history by means of the resistancecapacitance reservoir analyzer. The second relation involves withdrawals, pressure in the reservoir, and movement of oil, gas, and water within the reservoir. The analysis is subject to certain simplifying assumptions that are necessary to permit solution of the problem. A comparison of the methods of this paper with those presently practiced is pertinent. One method of analysis is to use the reservoir analyzer to predict reservoir behavior based on aquifer characteristics determined from production history. Inasmuch as the total withdrawal rate depends upon the gas-oil and water-oil ratios, which depend in turn upon, among other things, the positions of the gas-oil and water-oil contacts, these ratios must be assumed in advance. In this paper these ratios are, instead, related to the computed positions of gas-oil and water-oil contacts. Thus, our method can be applied to problems in which the oil production rate is limited by produced gas-oil ratio, or to problems in which it is desired to determine the variable gas injection rate that will maintain the gas-oil or water-oil contact stationary. These problems cannot be worked satisfactorily on the analyzer. Another method presently used is based on a paper by Hurst.' Since his procedure is dependent upon using the solution of the heat flow equation, which requires constant permeability within the aquifer, and our procedure recognizes variations of permeability in

By H. H. Keller, E. J. Couch

Damage to production wells subjected to the high temperatures associated with in-situ combustion projects has been a problem since the advent of this thermal recovery technique. Injection of water down the annulus of hot wells has been successfully utilized for cooling and prolonging the life of such wells. A mathematical model that is suitable for predicting the effectiveness of cooling water in a particular application is developed. Typical results for practical ranges of the various parameters involved are presented. INTRODUCTION In the normal course of in-situ combustion operations, highly damaging conditions develop in the production wells as the combustion zone approaches, and these wells are subjected to high temperatures (up to 1500F). The resulting well damage is recognized as one of the more serious operating problems unique to the in-situ combustion process. Even in operations where well completions have been specifically designed to cope with this problem, the question arises as to how this destructively high temperature can be kept within tolerable limits. A simple and economical approach to this problem is to circulate cooling water down-hole. This method has been used with some success in shallow reservoirs. At greater depths, however, the heat exchange with the overburden surrounding the well and between the fluids in the tubing and the annulus tends to equalize the temperatures of the two fluid streams so that the cooling capacity delivered to the bottom of the hole decreases with well depth. This method would provide no appreciable control over the bottom-hole temperature at great depths. In order to delimit the condition under which cooling by water circulation is effective, the wellbore temperature must be related to the water inlet rate and temperature; to the reservoir depth, production rate, and initial temperature; and to the combustion at at bot tom-hole depth. A model that meets these requirements and that will offer an approach for developing engineering solutions to practical design and operating problems is described in this paper. MATHEMATICAL MODEL Previous studies of temperature distributions include those for flowing wells1p2 and those for hot fluid injection. Adams and Haddenhorst 6 presented solutions for the down-hole circulation of hot oil in the treatment of paraffin-deposition problems. In this paper the thermal model presented by Ramey 4 is adapted to the flow system shown schematically in Fig. 1. Water at temperature Ti is injected at a rate wi and flows down the annulus outside the tubing. It mixes at bottom-hole depth D with the fluids produced at race w from the hot reservoir at temperature T. This mlxtureJ. of injected water and reservoir fluids flows up the tubing and is produced at the surface at TI,. In order to describe the temperature response in this system, we make use of the usual conservation of

Jan 1, 1969

By H. J. Rose

Graphic methods have long been used to advantage in dealing with diverse phases of fuel technology and research. Not only are graphs convenient for presenting data and making calculations, but they are invaluable for deriving generalizations from a mass of data. This is particularly true when relationships are obscure and numerical correlation is poor. This paper describes a new form of graph, the Multibasic Coal Chart, which has been developed to facilitate the study and comparison of coals of all ranks from peat to anthracite on any moisture and purity basis. This type of chart is of unique value for coal classification purposes, since it permits a direct visual comparison of the results obtained when coals are classified by the various systems which have been proposed. Coals are highly variable in character as a result of wide differenees in original vegetal ingredients, degree of metamorphism, and nature and amount of associated impurities. For nearly 100 years, attempts have been made to devise a satisfactory method of classification, and many tables, formulas, ratios and graphs have been suggested. Many of the suggested systems possess considerable merit and have found a limited use, thus promoting a better understanding of coal. However, objections have been raised against each system, and none has received general adoption. When the various systems of classification are compared, it is found that there is an apparently almost hopeless confusion due to: 1. Serious lack of agreement as to the proper moisture and purity basis on which to classify coal. More than ten different bases have been proposed, each of which requires complete recalculat.ion of the analysis data used. 2. Lack of agreement as to what chemical and physical properties are most important and best to use for classification purposes. There is too little knowledge of the degree to which these properties can be correlated.

Jan 1, 1930

By Ernest A. Hersam

The advantages of the tri-axial diagram in representing the composition of slags and silicates are well appreciated by many metallurgists. Prof. H. M. Howe* has pointed out the application of a fourth variable, in connection with the diagram, and has called attention to the usefulness of the general systern of tri-axial representation. In the discussion of Prof. Howe's paper, Mr. Firmstone† indicated how certain distances could be measured directly by projection. Prof. R. H. Thurston,‡ as early as 1877, had made use of a typtic model and of triangular diagrams, with contour-lines, rekrresenting varying physical properties corresponding to varying chemical composition. Still earlier, Prof. J. Willard Gibbs§ had used the diagram in similar work; and other scientists were thought by him to have preceded him in its use. During the period of nearly a quarter-century, following these early publications, there has been an ever-increasing use of graphic methods in numerous branches of scientific work, stimulated, in part, by the possibility of representation by three co-ordinates upon plane-surfaces. Yet the number of possible co-ordinates for graphic representation has always been, and always must be, insufficient to express many facts which are shown mathematically; while, without graphic representation, the involved nature of mathematical expression often fails to facilitate and promote research. The coming into use, therefore, of the fourth co-ordinate, permitting representation by four variables, marks but the beginning of some lines of research which could not well advance without this aid.

Jan 1, 1902

By Howard Smith

OF late considerable experimental and, theoretical interest has been shown in the rates of transformation from a single phase, usually a supercooled solid solution, into one or more phases. Such reactions may involve both diffusion and transformation of the major constituent, as in iron alloys, or it may simply involve diffusion, as in superstructure forma-tion and in age-hardening systems. Most of the work has been confined to ferrous alloys1-9t although two investigations have been made on copper alloys10,11. That such work may be of considerable, practical importance has been demonstrated by Bain12, by the workers at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fur Eisen-forschung13,14, and by the everyday use of precipitation and age-harden-inn principles15. Experiments in this country have generally followed Davenport and Bain's technique of rapid supercooling followed by isothermal treatment. In Germany16,17 the work has been extended to the study of the influence of accurately controlled and measured rates of cooling. The work on steel indicates that there are two subcritical temperature ranges where reaction starts sooner after quenching and proceeds at a more rapid rate than at other temperatures. At subcritical temperatures above Ar" where reaction is dependent upon atomic migration there is a period of time of which the length depends upon the alloy content and the temperature, before which no reaction has been detected. Daven-port and Bain1 find that different sorts of atoms in solid solution in gamma iron affect the length of this "prereaction" period differently, manganese

Jan 1, 1935

By Robert Adams

Secondary or scrap materials appear at all stages in the industrial process and in a bewildering variety of forms, grades, and values. It is useful to begin analyzing them by dividing the broad concept of "Secondary Supply" into three parts First, the concept must encompass the stock, or pool, of secondary materials. In the process of satisfying his wants, man produces desired products from the materials and natural resources found around him. As long as the rate of production is greater than the rate of obsolescence of a given product, the total stock or pool of materials embodied in that product will increase in size This stock concept relating to secondary materials is directly analogous to the "resource" concept used for primary raw materials in the preceding chapter, and includes all materials embodied in existing products (Obviously, this excludes those materials which are destroyed in the consumption process, viz , fuel oil burned to provide heat.) Consumption of a primary material in a productive process tends to reduce the resource base of that primary material In direct contrast, however, the production or use of products increases the resource base of the secondary material. Thus, we find that a country which has no resource of a primary material can, by importing products that contain the material, build up a large enough stock to provide a basis for secondary recovery. The estimated growth of the pool of copper in use in the United States through 1967 is shown in Table 5.B.1.a The estimate of 39 3 million tons at the end of 1967 includes only technologically recoverable copper and is, therefore, somewhat less than the stock concept described previously, which does not distinguish between recoverable and unrecoverable material. Nevertheless, Table 5 B.1 does give an idea of how a nation's secondary resource of a material can grow over the years. A second aspect of the concept of secondary supply is the generation of secondary materials. This includes materials generated as scrap in production as well as the movement of a material out of the stock of existing products via wear, damage, or obsolescence The quantity of materials generated is usually either nearly or completely independent of the technologic capabilities and economic forces which prevail in the secondary recovery market.b The justifications for and the qualifications to this statement are considered later. The final aspect of the concept of secondary supply consists in the secondary recovery process It is at this point that the technologic and economic forces of the secondary recovery market become the controlling fac-

Jan 1, 1976

A mine that staggers the imagination is Chuquicamata, the granddaddy of them all. In 1968 production exceeded 300,000 tons of copper. Production began in 1915 and mining proceeded solely on oxide ores until 1953 when the first treatment of sulfides began. Today the company has mined about 1.2 billion tons of all types of material since inception. The accelerating rate of output can be gauged by the comparable 1946 figure of production-to-date which was 350 million tons. No single mine comes close to touching Chuqui for productivity at its high annual metal yield mining only 90,000 tpd of ore at the luxurious waste-to-ore ratio of 0.6 to 1. However, the complexity of the operation is enormous and the experience required to synchronize the various processes is masked by normal operations and only becomes apparent in times of emergency such as when the slide took place in the pit in February.

Jan 11, 1969

By R. Lagneborg, R. Gullberg

An X-ray method for determinig volume fractions of phases in textured materials has been developed. The method involves measurements of the integrated intensities of reflections of each phase for one single orientation of the sample. The method was checked by evaluating the phase contents in samples from two stainless Cr-Ni steels containing austenite and ferrite in known amounts. In the present case measurements of about five reflections from each phase were required. The agreement between calculated and known volume fractions was found to be very close. AN X-ray diffraction method is often employed for determining the amounts of two or more phases in a material. The details of the method have been described at several instances.'" In short, the method is based upon the fact that the integrated intensity of a reflection is directly proportional to the volume fraction of the phase considered. In principle, the method only requires the measurement of the intensity of one reflection for each phase. The most severe shortcoming with this method is that it disregards influences from preferred orientation in the material. In a diffractometer, where this type of analysis is most conveniently carried out, the geometry is such that the diffracting planes for a specific Bragg peak are all parallel to the surface of the specimen. This implies that it must be required that the occurrence of the diffracting planes parallel to the specimen surface must be as frequent as for any arbitrarily oriented physical plane of the sample. This requirement will generally only be fulfilled for a material free of texture. Since all materials in reality always exhibit a preferred orientation to some extent. the deficiency of the method is quite serious. In cold-deformed material the texture is appreciable, but also annealed material will in many cases display a considerable texture. The problem of quantitative phase analysis in textured material is one of obtaining the integrated intensity averaged over all orientations of the specimen with respect to the X-ray beam. Lopata and ~ula~ have shown that this can be accomplished by integration of intensities over the whole pole figure, or by random rotation of the specimen in the X-ray beam, or by a combination of both. Hence, in this method the average integrated intensity for a specific reflection is obtained by directly determining the intensity for a sufficient number of physical orientations of the sample. However, since an excess of diffracting planes in a certain surface plane necessarily must be accompanied by a deficiency of another type of diffracting plane, it appears to be possible to obtain the correct average intensity for a specific diffracting plane by performing an appropriate averaging of intensities belonging to a large number of diffraction planes of different hkl when all intensities have been produced from one single orientation of the specimen surface. In the present work such a method has been attempted and tested experimentally for two stainless Cr-Ni steels containing austenite and ferrite. 1) THEORY The expression for the integrated intensity of a Bragg reflection diffracted from a phase in a polycrys-talline sample in a diffractometer is: where C is a constant only dependent on the incident X-ray power and the diffractometer geometry, v the volume of the unit cell, F the structure factor, m multiplicity of the diffracting plane, L Lorentz factor, P polarization factor, e-2 temperature factor, p average linear absorption coefficient of the irradiated vO1umej and V volume fraction of the phase 'Onsidered. Hence, the factor R in the abbreviated form of Eq. [I] can be calculated and depends only on 0 and the diffracting plane {hkl}. For an alloy containing two phases, a and y, we can write

Jan 1, 1967

By J. K. Gustafson

MEASURED in terms of ore tonnage, the New Quebec and Labrador iron ore fields promise to rank with the greatest iron ore districts of the world. -- Over 400 million tons of high-grade ore for direct shipping have been discovered to date. Much greater amounts of lower-grade beneficiating ores are indicated by outcrops. Many hundreds of square miles of iron formation await testing.

Jan 6, 1953