Search Documents

By George R. Elliott

Methods are presented for measuring and comparing "degree" of water drive, and for observing the control that rate of withdrawal exerts over decline of reservoir pressure. Degree of water drive is studied from pressure-production curves of 10 reservoirs; the method used to present these comparatively is to convert cumulative oil production from barrels to percentage of ultimate. Degree of water drive is also represented by a "water-encroachment factor," representing barrels of water influx per pound-month per acre-foot of oil reservoir. Pressure-production curves for the water-drive reservoirs after a period of declining pressure show a diminishing angle of slope, in some cases to the point where pressure ceases to decline or where it even increases; the shapes of these curves are in marked contrast to the dissolved-gas type of curve, which shows a general trend toward zero pressure at ultimate oil recovery. Yearly rate of oil production in percentage of ultimate oil recovery is correlated with pressure decline. The correct rate of production of oil with its associated gas and water sustains pressure in reservoirs having a high water-encroachment factor. For reservoirs having a low water-encroachment factor, it is necessary to inject the produced water and even inject large volumes of water from an outside source. The discussion of the actual reservoirs is preceded by a general review and is followed by a substantial bibliography. It is now generally accepted that water drive is capable of yielding 60 to 80 per cent of the original oil in place in most reservoirs, as compared with 20 to 40 per cent for dissolved-gas drive. There is no need to question the importance of controlling a reservoir in order to take advantage of such an efficient mechanism. What is a water-drive reservoir? Oil reservoirs usually combine two or more of the four basic mechanisms: dissolved-gas drive, gas-cap drive, water drive, gravity drainage. A water-drive reservoir is one in which water advances to take the place of the oil and gas produced. When the oil withdrawal rate is sufficiently low, the water will tend to maintain pressure. The maximum effectiveness is attained when the water follows the oil withdrawal so closely that little or no decline in pressure occurs. Oil in its underground reservoir is associated with water. This water is significant in the production of the oil according to the source of supply and the permeability of the surrounding formation. As oil is produced and the pressure is lowered, water can move in to replace the oil. With adequate supply and sufficient permeability, actual movement takes place on an extensive scale. The first movement of water takes place by expansion of the water and its associated fluids. While this expansion is of little importance in some fields, in others it is sufficient to supply all of the energy required for the production of oil. When a pressure differential has been established

Jan 1, 1946

By George R. Elliott

Methods are presented for measuring and comparing "degree" of water drive, and for observing the control that rate of withdrawal exerts over decline of reservoir pressure. Degree of water drive is studied from pressure-production curves of 10 reservoirs; the method used to present these comparatively is to convert cumulative oil production from barrels to percentage of ultimate. Degree of water drive is also represented by a "water-encroachment factor," representing barrels of water influx per pound-month per acre-foot of oil reservoir. Pressure-production curves for the water-drive reservoirs after a period of declining pressure show a diminishing angle of slope, in some cases to the point where pressure ceases to decline or where it even increases; the shapes of these curves are in marked contrast to the dissolved-gas type of curve, which shows a general trend toward zero pressure at ultimate oil recovery. Yearly rate of oil production in percentage of ultimate oil recovery is correlated with pressure decline. The correct rate of production of oil with its associated gas and water sustains pressure in reservoirs having a high water-encroachment factor. For reservoirs having a low water-encroachment factor, it is necessary to inject the produced water and even inject large volumes of water from an outside source. The discussion of the actual reservoirs is preceded by a general review and is followed by a substantial bibliography. It is now generally accepted that water drive is capable of yielding 60 to 80 per cent of the original oil in place in most reservoirs, as compared with 20 to 40 per cent for dissolved-gas drive. There is no need to question the importance of controlling a reservoir in order to take advantage of such an efficient mechanism. What is a water-drive reservoir? Oil reservoirs usually combine two or more of the four basic mechanisms: dissolved-gas drive, gas-cap drive, water drive, gravity drainage. A water-drive reservoir is one in which water advances to take the place of the oil and gas produced. When the oil withdrawal rate is sufficiently low, the water will tend to maintain pressure. The maximum effectiveness is attained when the water follows the oil withdrawal so closely that little or no decline in pressure occurs. Oil in its underground reservoir is associated with water. This water is significant in the production of the oil according to the source of supply and the permeability of the surrounding formation. As oil is produced and the pressure is lowered, water can move in to replace the oil. With adequate supply and sufficient permeability, actual movement takes place on an extensive scale. The first movement of water takes place by expansion of the water and its associated fluids. While this expansion is of little importance in some fields, in others it is sufficient to supply all of the energy required for the production of oil. When a pressure differential has been established

Jan 1, 1946

By Robert McKay

THE practical study of corrosion requires consideration off its economic aspects. It must be based on sound scientific principles, but it should be borne in mind that probably the most important object of a corrosion test is to determine what metal in corrosion-resisting construction will produce the greatest operating profit. Thus the corrosion test must be directly connected with money values or it is not a practical corrosion test. This, perhaps unusual, connection between corrosion and economics is partially due to the fact that corrosion deals only with the time factor or duration of equipment, and it is almost the only test which deals with this feature. In these statements a departure is made from the academic definition of the word corrosion and it is done deliberately. The use of the term corrosion is unusual. It is as though we spoke of a tensile test as. a "breaking" test. We are not interested primarily in the break but in the strength of the metal. There is no English word which expresses our main interest in corrosion-testing, but let us have clearly in mind that we make corrosion tests to prevent corrosion. Our real interest is in this corrosion-prevention, not in the corrosion. Previous to 1922, it was common comment that "it is impossible to determine the course of corrosion by laboratory testing." This statement was true at that time in that the technique of laboratory testing for corrosion resistance was so vague that tests in the laboratory gave untrue results almost as often as true ones. This was so, even in the simple case of determining which one of two metals better resists a given solution. While this is no longer true the number of misleading "corrosion tests" still being ground out by laboratories is too large in the light of our present knowledge. There are two important features of corrosion testing whose neglect is a large contributing factor to misleading results: (1) The economic relations of the corrosion tests to other tests; (2) testing technique.

Jan 1, 1929

By Joseph Pogue

IT IS well known that one of the cornerstones of economic theory is the so-called law of supply and demand, which, really, is a group of economic laws, one of which may be succinctly stated : A rise in price tends, sooner or later, to increase supply. It is the fear that, in the case of petroleum, a limited natural resource, a point will soon be reached when supply will not respond adequately to price advances, which in recent years has prompted a movement for oil conservation. This movement has lately taken concrete shape in the appointment of a Federal Oil Conservation Board by the President. An important aspect of the law of supply and demand is that the supply of any commodity is not an entity per se, but is a factor of price. Supply, without the specification of price, has no exact meaning; and in practice supply cannot be divorced from considerations of price. Mathematically, supply may be expressed by the formula SP, which means that supply varies with price, just as the value of 10 raised to the x power varies with x. In its technical usage, supply is the quantity of a commodity that is bought currently on the market at a given price. In the case of a natural resource, however, this quantity will eventually depend not alone on price but on the physical volume of the reserve that exists and. that, in consequence, can respond to the stimulus of price. If this reserve is fixed in size, we must sooner or later reach a point where supply can no longer respond to price in the usual degree and a permanent shortage. will develop which no advance in price can correct, except in so far as higher prices may curtail demand or improve the efficiency of utilization.

Jan 3, 1925

By J. B. Conway

Stress-vuptuve data for several of- the refractory metals are frequently found to yield a linear relationship between the Larson-Miller parameter and the logarithm of the applied stress. In such cases linear stress-rupture isotherms result with slopes bearing a definite relationship to the temperature. It also follows that the stress to produce rupture in a certain period of time will be linear in temperature. Data for several refractory metals have been reviewed and excellent linearity is shown in this type of isochronal plot. In addition, the af ore - mentioned lineavity leads to a linear relation between the log of the stress to produce rupture in a certain time and the homologous temperature. This has been illustrated for the Group VI-A metals, tungsten and molybdenum. EXTENSIVE use has been made of the Larson-Miller' parameter in the interpolation and extrapolation of stress-rupture and creep data. In those cases where this particular parametric approach is applicable a convenient and fairly straightforward procedure is made available for the correlation of experimental stress-rupture data. It is quite common to employ this parameter in the form of a master rupture plot in which the parameter, T(C + log tr), is expressed as a function of log stress. In many cases this functional relationship in log stress is linear within acceptable accuracy and hence the following relation results: where P is the parameter, C is the Larson-Miller constant, T is the absolute temperature, t~ is the rupture time, a is the stress, and a and b are constants. Examples of such a relationship are contained in the work of Green, Smith, and 01son2 dealing with high-temperature rupture behavior of molybdenum and in the work of Green' dealing with the high-temperature behavior of tungsten. In addition, pugh4 has shown a similar linearity for some fairly low-temperature data for molybdenum. It can be shown that when the relationship in Eq. [I] is exhibited certain generalizations can be made concerning the form of the stress-rupture isotherms. For example, rearranging yields: For a given material (constant C) at a given temperature the first term on the right-hand side of Eq. [2] is a constant and hence this equation defines a straight line when log stress is plotted as a function of log-rupture time. This is recognized as the standard form usually employed in this type of data presentation. Such linearity then suggests the linear form of the Larson-Miller parameter. Or, in other words, the linear parametric relationship in Eq. [2] results only when the stress-rupture data are linear on a log-log plot of stress vs rupture time. Another interesting observation can be made in regard to Eq. [2]. It can be noted that the slope of the stress-rupture isotherms is given by - T/b and hence a direct calculation of the constant b is available. It also follows that since the value of b is the same for all temperatures the slopes of the various isotherms on the log-log stress-rupture plot cannot be the same. Indeed, the existence of the relationship in Eq. [2] precludes a system of parallel lines on this common stress-rupture plot. As a matter of fact it further specifies that in addition to being nonparallel the slope of these isotherms must decrease (i.e., become more negative) with increasing temperature. Such a condition is indeed found to exist in the case of the stress-rupture data reported for molybdenum.' As a corollary to the above, it may be stated that stress-rupture data which do not lead to a linear log-log stress-rupture plot or whose isotherms do not exhibit a decrease in slope as the temperature increases will not yield the linear relationship of Eq. [I]. Applying Eq. [2] to two different temperatures and solving for C yields: Eq. [3] affords a simple and rapid method for calculating the Larson-Miller constant from the log-log stress-rupture plot. The slope of a given linear isotherm is measured and the value of "b" calculated based on Eq. [2] as: slope = - -Tb Then at an abscissa value of 1.0 hr (making log tr in Eq. [3] equal to zero) read the stress corresponding to rupture for two different temperatures. Substitution in [3] yields: A value of the Larson-Miller constant can thus be calculated from a few simple mathematical procedures employing data read directly from the log-log plot of the stress-rupture data. Of course, it is not to be overlooked that the above reasoning has been based on the linear relationship of Eq. [I] being applicable. However, if as mentioned above the log-log plot is

Jan 1, 1967

By G. G. Luther, C.E. Jackson

The relationship between hardenability and weldability has been mentioned many times. The ease of making a hardness survey has led to its wide use as a criterion of weldability and with a given class or series of steels for which the ductility under weld heat-treatment is known the test is entirely suitable. However, in studying a new steel the hardness survey is of less value, since it is based on the assumption that there is a correlation between hardness and ductility. Several attempts have been made to derive indices for weldabilityl and hardenability from the chemical analysis. In most of these proposals the effects of the different elements were considered to be additive, but recently Grossmann2 proposed a novel method of calculating the hardenability of a steel from its chemical composition. In the method proposed, a steel is considered as having a base hardenability due to its car- bon content and grain size, and this base hardenability is multiplied by a factor for each chemical element present. The final product is the hartlenability. The purpose of the present study is to point out the possible relationship between hardenability and the effect of welding on hardness and ductility for a number of plain carbon and low-alloy steels. The composition of the 25 steels reported in this paper as determined by chemical analysis is given in Table I. To eliminate the effect of variations in finishing temperatures, the 1/2-in. plates were normalized after heating for one hour at 1650°F. in a con-trolled-atmosphere furnace. In making comparative tests, it is essential to hold conditions as Constant as possible; hence full automatic weltling control was used. The electrodes, all supplied by

Jan 1, 1943

By G. G. Luther, C. E. Jackson

The relationship between hardenability and weldability has been mentioned many times. The ease of making a hardness survey has led to its wide use as a criterion of weldability and with a given class or series of steels for which the ductility under weld heat-treatment is known the test is entirely suitable. However, in studying a new steel the hardness survey is of less value, since it is based on the assumption that there is a correlation between hardness and ductility. Several attempts have been made to derive indices for weldabilityl and hardenability from the chemical analysis. In most of these proposals the effects of the different elements were considered to be additive, but recently Grossmann2 proposed a novel method of calculating the hardenability of a steel from its chemical composition. In the method proposed, a steel is considered as having a base hardenability due to its car- bon content and grain size, and this base hardenability is multiplied by a factor for each chemical element present. The final product is the hartlenability. The purpose of the present study is to point out the possible relationship between hardenability and the effect of welding on hardness and ductility for a number of plain carbon and low-alloy steels. The composition of the 25 steels reported in this paper as determined by chemical analysis is given in Table I. To eliminate the effect of variations in finishing temperatures, the 1/2-in. plates were normalized after heating for one hour at 1650°F. in a con-trolled-atmosphere furnace. In making comparative tests, it is essential to hold conditions as Constant as possible; hence full automatic weltling control was used. The electrodes, all supplied by

Jan 1, 1943

By C. O. Fairchild

ONE of the fundamental principles of efficiency is the use of adequate and permanent records. The rapid increase in the manufacture and use of recording pryometers is a proof of the appreciation of efficiency principles on the part of the manufacturers engaged in the various technical industries. Where recording pyrometers are not employed in an industry in which temperature measurements are necessary, one will generally find that a printed form is used upon which is written, periodically, the temperatures measured by an indicating instrument. It is no serious condemnation of the workman to state that such records are often "doctored," but it is rather a reflection upon the executive who puts such temptation in the way of a workman. One of the well-known "tricks of the trade" is to "force." a furnace so that it will be at the proper temperature during the periodic trips of the foreman or other official. Indicating instruments and recorders may be used together to great advantage. The recorder furnishes .a printed record and a check upon the operator of the furnace, and a record of value in correlating properties of the finished product with the heat treatment. The indicator should be of assistance to the operator in controlling the furnace or oven. Modern practice requires a temperature-recording instrument that is as simple as possible, rugged, reliable, and sufficiently accurate. Of these qualifications reliability is paramount, particularly in cases where the recorder is used for controlling the temperature automatically. By a reliable instrument is meant one that will run continuously with little attention and with a consistent degree of accuracy. That is, if it is in error by 5 per cent. one day, it must be in error by a like amount on any other clay, and not by 2 per cent. or 10 per cent. The earlier forms of recorders were complex and delicate, or mechanically unsatisfactory and inaccurate, and required considerable attention to keep them in operation. Within the past few years, however, the development in the manufacture of temperature recording devices has been highly satisfactory and many excellent instruments are now available. .

Jan 9, 1919

By T. F. Adams, L. G. Margolin

The Bedded Crack Model (BCM) is a constitutive model for brittle materials. It is based on effective modulus theory and makes use of a generalized Griffith criterion for crack growth. It is used in a solid dynamic computer code to simulate stress wave propagation and fracture in rock. A general description of the model is given and then the theoretical basis for it is presented. Some effects of finite cell size in numerical simulations are discussed. The use of the BCM is illustrated in simulations of explosive fracture of oil shale. There is generally good agreement between the calculations and data from field experiments.

Jan 1, 1982

By Knapp. Arthur

THE ORDINARY well log is subjected to a great deal of criticism, much of which is well founded. Sometimes, though, the difficulty in interpreting the log is due to the fact that the geologist or engineer using the logs does not know the limitations of the drilling method used. The rotary drill, especially, has inherent limitations that make it difficult, to secure .definite information at all times. The identification of well-defined key beds is about all that can be expected from the rotary log. The formation in a drilled hole, as reported by the driller; has a direct relation to the speed with which the drill makes the hole or to the reaction of the various strata on the bit, called the "feel of the bit." When this is not thoroughly understood by the geologist or engineer endeavoring to interpret the log, the result is an erroneous correlation with other wells or a discarding of the log as worthless. GENERAL TERMS Hard and Soft.-Hard and soft are relative terms. In the case of well logs, they are very misleading as they are used in connection with both resistance to abrasion and resistance to percussion. In technical rock classification, hardness is relative resistance to abrasion. The term brittleness is used in connection with resistance to blows. These terms are misleading to the geologist or engineer who is not familiar with both the cable-tool, or standard tool, method of drilling and the rotary method. In the case of the standard tools, the driller's report of the hardness of the formation is in terms of its resistance to blows. For instance, a cable-tool driller might be able to make from 30 to 50 ft. a tour in a brittle limestone, which he would call soft and at the same time he might call a relatively soft (from a purely mineralogical standpoint) gypsum hard, because it is somewhat elastic and is not readily broken by blows. The rotary driller would reverse the terms. The limestone is hard in that it resists the abrasive action of the bit, while the gypsum might be soft in that it is readily cut by the rotary bit. It is rare that wells drilled by the

Jan 2, 1920

By R. B. Sosman

INTRODUCTION IT is well known that ferric. oxide, Fe.-,03, is paramagnetic, while magnetite, Fe304, is classed among the highly ferromagnetic substances. But magnetic data on oxides intermediate in composition between Fe-03 and Fe304 have been almost completely lacking. Fe203 and Fe304 form a solid-solution series, according to present evidence.' In this series the properties change continuously from Fe203 toward Fe304, as the percentage of FeO increases from zero toward 31.03, which is the percentage in magnetite. It is possible that there is a break in the series near Fe304, but it has not yet been possible to establish the existence-of such a break experimentally. The occurrence of solid solution ill this series is shown by the dissociation pressure, or oxygen pressure in equilibrium with the oxides, which falls continuously over the range from Fe203 to Fe304. The oxygen-pressure curves at 1,100° and 1,200° are shown in Fig. 1. The existence of solid solution is also demonstrated by the continuous change in optical properties from Fe203 over to a composition containing about 18 per cent. FeO, at which point the opacity of the oxide becomes so great that it is im-possible to obtain measurements at higher percentages of ferrous iron. Natural oxides of iron intermediate in composition between Fe2O3 and Fe304 are much more common than is generally supposed. If a mineral oxide is not strongly attracted by a small hand magnet and if it gives a red streak, it is usually labeled "hematite." If it is strongly attracted by the hand magnet it is usually labeled "magnetite" without further tests. As we shall show later, oxides containing from 1 up to 31 per cent. FeO can be thus erroneously lumped together as "magnetite." It is a fact, nevertheless, that the great hulk of natural oxides of iron lie fairly near either Fe203 Or Fe304 in composition. The reason will be

Jan 6, 1917

CALAMINE is one of the semiminerals that have great similarity to the metals. It is a very heavy mineral earth of a yellowish color. It is found in Germany near the lead mines and in Italy in a mountain between Milan and Como. It is also found, as I have heard, in other places, as at Fosini in the territory of Siena. I believe that it is almost certain that some exists there because there are many other kinds of minerals there- about, although none is mined there in these times. But this does not mean that it could not be mined or that there is not some there that is real. Someone says that he med to melt what he could find with copper [36v]

Jan 1, 1942

By W. F. Chiao, R. B. Gordon

Tile sharp-yield point found in magnesium crystals in the solulion-treated and aged condition is studied by dislocation internal-friction experiments. The results show that the sharp yield is not file to the sudden release of pinned dislocations hut is movc likely due to the rapid multiplication of an initially small number of dislocations. Recovery or the dislocation internal friction after deformation is also studied. This yecovery results from the re-pinning of dislocations by a solute, presumably nitrogen, which moves with a relatively small activation energy. SHARP-yield points, when they occur, are a striking feature of the stress-strain curve generated during a tensile test. Although commonly associated with steel, sharp yielding has been found in a variety of metallic and nonmetallic crystalline materials. In particular, sharp-yield points have been found in zinc"' and cadmium3 containing nitrogen. With this background, Geiselman and Guy4 investigated the tensile properties of magnesium single crystals containing nitrogen to see if sharp yielding also occurs in this system. They found that sharp yields did indeed occur in solution-treated and aged specimens tested at elevated temperature but were not able to give conclusive proof that the sharp yield was caused by nitrogen, a yield drop being observed even in their purest crystals. Sharp-yield points have also been found in various polycrystalline magnesium alloys.7'8 In the study of the sharp-yield phenomenon it is desired to observe the behavior of dislocations in the earliest stages of the deformation process. Internal-friction experiments are useful for this purpose because dislocation damping is sensitive to the mobility of free-dislocation segments. At low strain amplitudes the damping, A, due to the the forced vibration of dislocation segments of average length L is ? =KAL4 [1] where A is the dislocation density and K, if the applied frequency is well below the resonant frequency of the dislocation segments? is a constant for the sample under observation.5 Dislocation damping, because of the fourth-power dependence on L, is particularly sensitive to the creation of free-dislocation segments during deformation. Since sharp yielding is associated with the sudden release of pinned-dislocation segments, marked changes in the dislocation damping are expected at the yield point.6 The use of the dislocation-damping observations to help elucidate the incompletely understood mechanism of yielding in magnesium is the primary objective of the experiments reported here. PROCEDURE Many investigations have shown that very marked and rapid changes occur in the dislocation damping of of a deformed material as soon as the straining is stopped.5 It was quite essential, then, for the purpose of this investigation, to make the damping measurements during the deformation of the samples. This can only be accomplished through the use of the ultrasonic-pulse method. In this method traveling sound-wave pulses are used and, in contrast to resonating-bar methods, only the sample ends are set in vibration. Thus, the sample can be gripped along its sides in the tensile-test machine without disturbing the damping measurements. In the pulse method, the decrease in the amplitude of a sound pulse is measured as it travels back and forth through the sample. If A is the amplitude after traversing a distance x and A. is the initial amplitude, A=Aoe-ax [2] and a is called the attenuation. It is commonly measured either in units of cm-I or as db per µ sec. The observed attenuation in a metal sample is due to a number of causes. These include scattering by grain boundaries and impurity particles, thermo-elastic damping, diffraction effects, stress-induced ordering of solute atoms, and dislocation damping. The total observed attenuation in a given sample usually cannot be resolved into these various components, but changes in a due solely to changes in dislocation damping can be accurately determined, provided the experiment is arranged so that all other sources of damping are held constant. It is desired to reduce the extraneous sources of attenuation to a minimum and for this reason the experiments are done on single crystals of high purity. Magnesium crystals offer the further advantage that, when properly oriented, only a single set of slip planes is active during deformation. Crystal Preparation. The method of sample preparation is similar to that of Geiselman and Guy.4 The starting material was high-purity, sublimed magnesium rod supplied by the Dow Chemical Co. Melting under Dow 310 flux was used to reduce the nitrogen content of the starting material: the fluxing was done under an argon atmosphere and the

Jan 1, 1965

By Charles Pack

Die castings may be defined as metal castings made by forcing molten metal, under pressure, into a metallic mold or die. It is necessary to keep this definition in mind to avoid confusing this process with other permanent-mold casting processes. The fundamental principles of the process have been known and practised many years. The simplest application is embodied in the modern linotype machine in which molten metal (usually tin-lead alloy) is forced under pressure into a metallic mold. The pressure is derived from a piston and cylinder immersed in the molten metal. Progress in the art of die casting may conveniently be divided into three groups: Machine for imparting pressure to the metal, material for the die or mold, casting alloys. The problem of delivering molten metal under pressure into a die is comparatively simple, when dealing with low-fusing-point alloys, as the alloys of lead and tin, but it is much more complicated when dealing with metals of higher fusing points, such as the alloys of zinc, aluminum, and copper. Although the art of die casting is comparatively new and, to a large extent, unknown, the records of the patent office are replete with patents on the subject. Fig. 1 shows the Underwood machine patented in 1902; this is probably one of the first machines designed for the production of commercial die castings. The relation of this machine to the linotype casting machine is clearly apparent. A cylinder and piston are immersed in the molten metal, the application of power to this piston forcing the molten metal, under pressure, into the mold or die. The Doehler machine, Fig. 2, patented in 1907, is based on the same general principles. This machine is used to a large extent at the present time, throughout the United States, for the production of zinc, tin, and lead alloy die castings. In the machine shown in Fig. 3, patented by Doehler in 1910, compressed air is used for forcing the metal into the die. In Fig. 4 is shown another of this type of machine. Here compressed air is applied to the surface of the molten metal to force it into the die. In a machine patented by Chandler in 1914, shown in Fig. 5, the

Jan 1, 1919

The Molycorp operation at Mountain Pass, California, is unique in that it is the only place in the world where bastnasite is mined. The orebody is a metamorphic carbonatite; the mineral of importance is bastnasite, a fluocarbonate containing principally cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and praseodymium, with small amounts of samarium, gadolinium, and europium. In addition, appreciable quantities of barite, calcite, and strontianite are present. Molycorp had mined and processed the bastnasite ore since the early 1950s at a rate of about 100 tpd by a unique hot flotation process in a plant originally used for cyanidation of gold ore. The concentrate was primarily used in high quality glass polishing, lighter flints, ceramics, and in specialty steel making. Then in the early 1960s, Molycorp and the Colorado School of Mines Research Foundation developed a solvent extraction process to recover europium from the bulk rare earth concentrates. In 1965 a new SX plant was constructed to produce this material for use as a red phosphor in color television tubes. Because of the demand for this material, a new 500 tpd concentrator was designed and constructed in 9 ½ months. Then, because of a sharply increased demand for europium, the plant was expanded to 1200 tpd only four months after completion of the original construction. The crushing section of the new plant was designed similarly to those portable units used in road construction and arrived on the site in ten major pieces. Foundations were concrete piers; and after their completion, the entire crushing plant composed of primary and secondary crushers, conveyors, and a screen was erected in fourteen days by a crew of ten men assisted by a mobile crane. Pit-run ore is loaded into 35-ton trucks by a 7 yd (5.4 cu m) loader, trans- ported to .the crushing plant, and dumped into the 65 -ton concrete pocket. A 42 in. by 20 ft (1.07 m by 6. 1 m) apron feeder feeds ore to the 30 in. by 42 in. (760 rnrn by 1070 mm) single toggle jaw crusher. Crushed ore is trans- ferred by a scissors conveyor to a 5 ft by 14 ft (1.52 m by 4. 27 m) double- deck screen which produces a final ¾ in. (19 rnrn) product with the oversize being treated in a 4 ¼ ft (1. 3 m) standard cone crusher. Cone crusher product is returned to the first scissors conveyor to join the primary crusher product. Dust collection is by a wet scrubber, and an operator's control room is located to overlook the primary. The entire crushing is in the open, and a 30-ton mobile crane is used for maintenance. Molycorp’s two-stage crushing plant is an excellent example of functional design for a small mining and milling operation.

Jan 1, 1978

By William M. Shakespeare

Thin sheet copper in wide widths and long lengths is being made electrolytically on a commercial scale at the Raritan Copper Works, Perth Amboy, N. J. This achievement is the result of three years of intensive development preceded by almost ten years of intermittent research. While the idea of producing sheet copper by the electrolytic process is old, the literature on the subject is limited. It is evident, however, that the idea has been attractive to many investigators for years, if the issued patents in the field may be taken as an indication. These patents may be divided into three groups. In one group metal is deposited on some form of endless cathode, of which a revolving cylinder or drum is the most common. The cathode moves slowly and at such a rate that metal of the desired thickness is deposited during one pass through the electrolyte. The deposited metal is stripped off the cathode at a point above the solution level and, after washing and drying, is wound up immediately. In the next group of patents a band of thin metal is increased in thickness by being guided through an electrolytic tank in opposition to suitable anodes. The third group covers means of producing sheets of definite dimensions where flat plates or revolving cylinders are used as cathodes. With such cathodes, sheets of definite dimensions are built up to the desired thickness and then stripped off. The process as worked out at the Raritan Copper Works combines the methods of the first two groups. In the first stage a sheet weighing 1 oz. to the square foot is produced on a revolving cylinder. This sheet is increased to any desired thickness in the second stage. In the first stage (Fig. 1) a lead-covered copper drum is mounted horizontally on a lead-lined concrete tank so that it. is partly immersed in the electrolyte. The cylindrical surface of the drum immersed in the electrolyte is opposed by lead anodes spaced about 36 in. from it. The electrolyte, made up of appropriate quantities of copper and sulfuric acid, flows into and out of the tank continuously. The ebullition of gas at the surface of the anodes induces a vigorous circulation of electrolyte between the anodes and the drum surface, which is augmented by means of compressed air introduced through a pipe between the ends of the anodes under the center of the drum, not indicated on the diagram. This

Jan 1, 1934

By V. F. Leferrer

A new process for the treatment of silver crusts from desilverization of lead has been developed by Societe de Penarroya. The zinc contained in the crusts is recuperated by vacuum distillation at low temperature. The use of special retort crucibles is avoided. AT Noyelles-Godault the Parkes process (zinc addition to a silver-bearing lead melt) is used to desilverize lead bullion from the blast furnace. The crust which rises to the surface of the bath is removed and pressed by a well-known process in a press of the Howard type. The pressed crust, called zinc crust or silver crust, contains 10 pct Ag, 30 pct Zn, and 60 pct Pb. It is melted under a salt bed in a small, narrow, and deep kettle heated only in its upper part. A liquid concentrated alloy is obtained which is called T.A.C. in France (triple alliage concentr6) analyzing approximately 25 pct Ag, 65 pct Zn, 8 to 10 pct Pb, and 1 to 1.5 pct Cu. This T.A.C. is a real metallic alloy, completely deoxidized, and can be stored indefinitely. The process used at Noyelles-Godault consists in distilling this alloy in a tight furnace, under low vacuum and at low temperature, so that only the zinc distills and is condensed into liquid form. The residual silver-bearing lead is almost entirely free from zinc and oxidized dross. The vacuum dezincing equipment, see Figs. 1 and 2, consists of: 1) A furnace, constituted of a casing of steel plate lined with refractory bricks, heated internally by means of graphite resistors. The temperature of the furnace is measured by a thermocouple device and controlled by an automatic temperature regulator which acts upon the flow of the current passing through the resistors. Two doors, numbered 1 and 2 in Fig. 2, are provided for, one for charging the T.A.C., the other for tapping the high silver-bearing lead. 2) A condenser, and an ordinary room lined with good heat conductor refractory material. This condenser is provided with a graphite resistor which serves to bring to temperature when starting the furnace. A thermocouple records the temperature of the zinc melt and controls the temperature in the furnace, that is, the flow of current through the resistors, by means of the above mentioned regulator, so that the distillation rate in the furnace does not exceed that of the condensation. The condenser is connected to the vacuum pump by a filter. The whole equipment should, of course, be fluid-tight. The operation is carried out under a vacuum of about 10 mm Hg.

Jan 1, 1958

By Leonard H. Goldman, Harold E. Marr

The PGT uranium assay probe is a borehole tool developed by Princeton Gamma-Tech over the last several years. It has the ability to do an in-situ assay of uranium in the presence of any amount of disequilibrium. It has some advantages over coring including cost, speed of analysis, and accuracy. In this paper we would like to give a brief description of the measurement and then show some sample logs from South Texas. Uranium exploration and development is carried out primarily by gamma logging since uranium daughters are prolific emitters of gamma rays. The conventional gross gamma tool for uranium logging is limited in value because of the inability of this tool to distinguish uranium from its daughters and other naturally occurring radioisotopes, such as potassium and thorium. This problem becomes severe in cases of disequilibrium. Disequilibrium, in a geological context, is defined as the condition when the gamma radiations from the daughter products are being emitted in a location different from that of the parent uranium. In the decay chain of uranium almost all the gamma radiation emitted in the entire chain comes from the daughter product, bismuth-214. Bismuth-214 is separated from uranium by several long-lived isotopes that are chemically active and have different physical properties, often resulting in shifts in the location of bismuth- 214 relative to the parent uranium. In the United States orebodies exhibiting disequilibrium are a common occurrence and the use of a gross gamma log to delineate uranium orebodies can lead to errors. At present the solution to the disequilibrium problem is extensive coring followed by chemical analyses of the cores. There are several drawbacks in using this technique. First is the high cost of coring, the second is the fact that no results are available for days, or typically, weeks after the drilling is done. Thus for development work, coring and drilling must be done on a grid basis and many additional holes are cored to ensure that the entire orebody is mapped. Another disadvantage to cores is the fact that a small volume is sampled, the volume of the core itself. This leads to problems in the mapping out of the orebody when the ore de- posit is not very homogeneous. The PGT probe described in this paper is a new solution to the disequilibrium problem. Basically, the probe measures radiations that come almost directly from uranium itself. The first daughter of uranium, which is protactinium-234 (Pa-234), is only separated from uranium by a 24-day half-life and no disequilibrium problems build up in such a short time. The PGT probe measures the intensity of a one MeV gamma line emitted by Pa-234 and, using this information, calculates the concentration of uranium. The PGT probe is 24" in diameter and 12 feet long. The probe contains a microprocessor which passes the information to a larger minicomputer in the truck. All data is analyzed on site, and the results from a high speed printer are presented to the geologist. Data is also available on 9- track IBM compatible tape for further processing. The PGT probe output is linear with uranium concentration. The only correction factor is for borehole size, and that only becomes important in boreholes bigger than seven inches in diameter. Dead time is compensated in the probe itself and no problems have been encountered in ore zones up to several percent UjO8. In addition to the uranium assay, a conventional gross gamma log is plotted alongside. Grade thicknesses for zones above cutoff are calculated as well as disequilibrium factors. COMPARISONS During its commercial operation PGT logged a series of 18 holes that had been cored and assayed. All of the holes in this series were logged in normal operation by regular field operators. The time to log each hole was generally under an hour, and in typical operation a PGT logging truck will do between 7 and 8 holes a day. The results of the comparison of the PGT and the core assays are presented in a series of figures showing plots of the PGT assay, core analysis and gross gamma measurements. The first three figures show individual holes with the gross gamma plotted along with the core and the PGT assays. All three logs were from holes on the reduced side of a rollfront deposit in South Texas. In Figure 1 we see the two wings of the roll- front at 143 ft and 150 ft separated by a barren zone. The wings are well defined both by the PGT assay and the core. There is approximately a one foot shift which can be attributed to drilling errors. The gross gamma is showing a rather severe discrepancy, being considerably lower and not showing the barren zone. The grade thickness calcula-

Jan 1, 1980

By O. J. C. Runnalls, L. M. Pidgeon

J. M. Blocher, Jr. and I. E. Campbell (Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio)—Since the de Boer-Van Arkel process for making titanium metal involves a number of steps in a fairly compact unit, it is difficult to determine simply which of the steps is rate controlling. In any statement as to which step constitutes the rate-controlling process, qualifications appear to be in order. It is possible to design a reaction bulb in which any one of a number of steps is made to be controlling. I—With the filament removed some distance from the crude, as in the case of the authors' experiments, the interdiffusion of iodine and iodide may be controlling. 2—If, as is usually done, the crude metal is placed in a perforated cylindrical basket, or as a briquetted mass, in close proximity to the filament, the rate of deposition is increased (we obtained rates of deposition 5 to 10 times those cited in the authors' paper), and another rate-limiting factor, such as the reactivity of the crude, may take over. In this regard, we have noticed radically different rates of deposition with different crudes, and with crudes in various stages of exhaustion. 3—With a very reactive crude metal and with optimum practical geometry, still another process may be controlling. It is felt that this is a diffusion process in the immediate vicinity of the filament involving the fundamentally adverse situation of a net flow of particles away from the filament. The separate experiments on the reactivity of iodine with titanium are interesting but somewhat inconclusive. Data is still needed on the partial pressure of iodine in an operating decomposition bulb. A knowledge of the gradient of iodine partial pressure from the crude to the filament would be particularly enlightening. Optical absorption may be a useful technique here. Accurate measurements of the total pressure within a decomposition bulb under various conditions would be quite revealing. Preliminary measurements have been made at Battelle in following this line of attack. It is interesting to note that the authors' data on the temperature dependence of deposition rate indicate that the overall rate is not controlled by the kinetics of the decomposition reaction at the filament: TiI1 ? Ti + 4I Any reasonable estimate of the activation energy of this reaction would, if its kinetics were controlling, dictate a much greater temperature dependence than is observed here. The authors apparently attribute the drop in deposition rate (eventually to zero) with increased TiI4 pressure solely to a decrease in diffusion rate. However, there is an equilibrium factor involved here that must not be overlooked. As the partial pressure of TiI4 is increased, a point is reached where, due to the competing reaction of the tetraiodide with titanium to form lower iodides, the equilibrium partial pressure of titanium is reduced to the point that it equals the vapor pressure of titanium at the filament temperature and the deposition rate falls to zero. This effect would

Jan 1, 1953

By C. Y Garber

Interest in the sink-float plant operated by the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Co. at Kellogg, Idaho, has recently been largely confined to the preparation and reconditioning of the galena medium. The ease and simplicity of these operations in a concentrating mill producing a flotation lead concentrate has occasioned enough comment to possibly justify a brief description. The subject is treated from an operator's viewpoint only; no effort is made to discuss it in a theoretical or technical manner. Plant at Bunker Hill The sink-float plant was first operated in December 1941. It was built for the purpose of quickly increasing mill capacity with a minimum of equipment. It is the Huntington-Heberlein sink and float process using galena medium and is operated under license from the Sink and Float Corporation, New York city. Lead-zinc ore from the Bunker Hill mine is crushed to pass a 1¼ in, screen and is then washed and separated on vibrating screens having 4½-mm. round-hole punched plates. The screen under-size, amounting to 33 per cent of the mill feed, is dewatered and sent to the ball-mill feed bins. The screen oversize goes to the sink-float plant, where 50 per cent of the oversize, or 33 per cent of the mill feed, is float, which is washed free of medium and disposed of as a tailing. The remaining 33 per cent is sink, which, after washing, is crushed to pass 36 in. and joins the under-size in the ball-mill feed bins. The normal plant capacity is 1700 tons per 24 hr. About 1.7 per cent of the total lead and 3.3 per cent of the total zinc in the feed is lost with the sink-float tailings (Table I). More complete descriptions of the H. H. process and Bunker Hill sink-float plant are given in several recent articles, listed at the end of the paper. Preparation OF Medium at Bunker Hill New medium is made intermittently as needed, usually 12 hr. in each 6 days. A small portion of the current mill flotation concentrate is diverted from the lead cleaner cells to a I-in. vertical sand pump and pumped to a two-cell 36-in. Agitair flotation machine, where NaCn and ZnSO4 are added and the grade of concentrate is improved as shown in Table 2. Tailing from this operation is returned by gravity

Jan 1, 1947