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By E. L. Brack

ASARCO's copper smelter at Hayden, Arizona has been upgraded to meet the increasing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) environmental standards. Fortunately, means were found to accomplish these standards and provide for more efficient operations. With the adaptation of oxygen flash smelting and other related operations at Hayden, ASARCO has turned to the use of minicomputers and microprocessors for inter-plant communications and local area process control. The applications of distributive and computer controls to the plant operations at the Hayden smelter are discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 1984

Since I have had the pleasure of watching the development of this process very closely, I feel that I ought to say a few words on the subject, although I cannot add much to what Mr. Roe has already said. I wish, however, to bear witness to the hard work, persistence and skill which have been exercised during the past two years, and which have so well deserved the success attained. Those of us who remember the history of the past efforts in this line, such as the rotary puddlers, in which also some of us had a part, can easily appreciate the problems involved, and may well be skeptical as to the outcome. Such, at least, was my frame of mind when the process first came under my notice. Now, after having seen every heat, but three, of the many made, it really seems to me that a process and plant for the mechanical puddling of iron has at last been developed which is practical, economical and successful. Of course I do not mean by this that either the process or the machines are developed to their highest point, technically or economically, but that, in my opinion, these goals are in plain view, and that the difficulties which remain are such as will be overcome by developing the skill of the operator through practice ;

Jan 1, 1903

By R. A. Corley, W. R. Wilcox, J. R. Teviotdale

Chemical vapor deposition of hafnium carbide yielded whiskers, needles, dendrites, faceted crystals, and adherent coatings. The gas stream compositiom and the mass transfer conditions determined the habit of the deposit. The deposits were obtained at temperatures ranging from 1100" to 1800°C. HAFNIUM carbide has the highest melting point of any binary compound; therefore, its various potential applications are a subject of vital interest to the aerospace industry. The experiments described herein were performed to investigate the chemical vapor deposition of hafnium carbide with particular interest being placed upon the possible production of high-strength single-crystal whiskers for composite materials. In 1931 Moers 1 used a gaseous mixture of HfC14, Hz, and toluene to vapor deposit crystalline hafnium carbide on a tungsten filament heated to 2400°to 2800°C. More recently Lepie 2 deposited hafnium carbide on graphite using HfC14 and methane in a helium gas carrier. The pyrolytic depositions described here were accomplished in graphite tubes by using various gas mixtures and dopants. The resulting crystal habits included whiskers, needles, needle dendrites, bulbous dendrites, faceted crystals, and smooth, adherent poly-crystalline layers. EXPERIMENTAL The depositions were carried out in an induction-heated graphite tube, 1.2 cm ID, which was contained in a vertical 9-cm-ID quartz tube. (A more detailed account of the experimental procedures and results is given in Ref. 3.) Refractory oxide fiber and tubes and graphite felt were utilized jointly and singly for therma1 insulation. A typical temperature distribution is shown in Fig. 1. The reactant gases were introduced at the top and removed at the bottom of the tube. Table I summarizes the experimental conditions and results. Many deposition habits were obtained. X-ray analyses showed that they possessed the hafnium carbide structure. Almost invariably these formed well above the point of maximum temperature in the graphite tube. The habit depended strongly on the gas composition. In a series of runs (e.g., run A) using HfC14 and toluene in H 2, hafnium carbide coatings, Fig. 2, were reproducibly obtained at the position where the tube wall was 1400°C, and bulbous dendrites, Fig. 3, were

Jan 1, 1969

By Carl Lee

CHICAGO in the last week of June fulfilled all its promises to the visiting engineers except one. This holds true with respect to the activities of the Regional Meeting of the A. I. M. E. in particular and of Engineers' Week in general. No one expected to find much of the beautiful in the outward aspects of the Fair-the Century of Progress Exposition, to be more formal; but they expected novelty, color, and startling lighting effects at night, and they were in no sense disappointed. It has been said that the architecture is a portent of the style of the buildings of the future; most who have seen the Fair hope that this forecast will prove inaccurate. As to the exhibits themselves, they are splendid. They are in keeping with the theme of the Exposition-a Century of Progress in science, in engineering, in the industries based upon them. No attempt will be made here even to suggest the exhibits that are most interesting. There are plenty for every one; and any member of the Institute who has the opportunity should by all means visit Chicago before the end of October.

Jan 1, 1933

By E. A. Slover

THE usual reverberatory system of smelting cop--1- per concentrate or calcine has for its component parts a furnace and one or two waste heat boilers. These parts are operated on a basis of compromise, since the furnace can send gas to the boilers at too high a temperature and the boilers by plugging, due to dust or slag, can place a definite limit on the amount of fuel the furnace can burn. Over the years the copper concentrate smelting furnace has had few advances in design. The simple rules of design such as the flame should wipe the bath and the speed of the gases should be reasonably low for dust carrying purposes seem to cover the main features. In the construction of the individual furnaces some innovations are always being introduced. Among these are charging so that the work of smelting is a complete bath process, the use of suspended brick arches in place of sprung arches, the use of basic brick, not only in the crucible, but also in roof and sidewalls, the use of various means to feed the charge, the use of magnetite or other heavy material to construct the hearth, water cooling of bridgewall and slag skimming bay, the smelting of raw charge instead of calcine, the use of preheated air, and possibly the use of oxygen-enriched air for combustion. But the general outlines of the furnaces have not changed much except as to size. Furnaces at Hurley As shown on Fig. 1, the furnace at Hurley is 126 ft long between the longitudinal buckstays and 32 ft wide at the skewback plates. The foundation is a concrete retaining wall with piers at intervals that go deeper into the earth. Purposely the wall at the burner end of the furnace is not backed-up as tightly as the other parts of the foundation so that movement due to expansion may take place here rather than into the boiler foundations. Within these foundation retaining walls of concrete, the earth has been removed to allow the placement of the crucible brick base inside of which a silica hearth is laid 4 ft 6 in. in depth. No expansion is left in the brick base and crucible where they are in contact with the hearth. The hearth itself is of quartzite crushed to 1 in. size with fines left in the product. An 8 in. layer is laid and tamped with paving tampers to about 6 in. in thickness. Then a layer of silica flour is spread and vibrated into the hearth. This operation is repeated until a depth of 4 ft 6 in. is occupied by the silica mass onion-skinned in layers of approximately 6 in. Before firing the entire hearth is covered with broken slag to a depth of 4 in. so that a seal may be formed on the hearth. The crucible is completely faced with magnesite chemically bonded brick while the outside, against the foundation, is made of silica brick. The side-walls are carried up with silica brick in which expansion joints are left at intervals. Above the crucible the sidewall is corbelled to form a shelf on which the charge may build up along the side-walls, see Fig. 2. The arch of the furnace is sprung 20 in. silica brick, with the longitudinal centerline horizontal the length of the furnace, and some 9 ft in the center above the bath. Both straight and wedge brick are used in the construction and a thin silica mortar is troweled for joints. After the arch under heat has assumed its permanent shape, a silica slurry is spread over the arch to fill any cracks that have formed, thus giving bearing surface to the brick and preventing dust from entering the body of the arch to act as a future fluxing agent. The uptake of the furnace slopes up to the boiler entrance where a brick pilaster divides the gas stream for the two boilers. Over this flared uptake is a suspended flat arch of firebrick. The pilaster and sidewalls are constructed of firebrick but the bottom of the uptake is lined with silica brick and fettled through holes in the roof with siliceous fettling. Close to the entrance of each boiler is a brick covered slot through which water-cooled dampers may be lowered in event of boiler trouble. These water-cooled dampers are hung permanently in position ready to be lowered when needed. Flexible hoses to follow the dampers as they are lowered are connected at all times and individual chain blocks are used to lower the dampers. A pump supplying water is started before the dampers enter the heat. Charging of the furnace along the sidewalls for some 80 ft from the bridgewall is accomplished by electric vibrating conveyors fed by belt from charge storage bins above the furnace. These conveyors

Jan 1, 1954

By P. K. Strangway, H. U. Ross

Briquets consisting of pure artificial magnetite, pure artificial hematite, and mixtures of the two were reduced by hydrogen in a loss-in-weight furnace at temperatures in the range 500° to 1000° . The rate of reduction of the pure hematite briquets increased continuously with increased temperature. In contrast, the pure nmgnetite briquets exhibited a pronounced rate ninimutn at about 700°C. Metallographic studies of partially reduced briquets rerlealed that, at this temperature, the he.matite samples reduced in a topo-chemical manner while the magnetite ones reduced uniformly throughout, and after partial reduction their cross sections contained a mixture of iron and unreacted wustite grains. No iron shells could be detected on the surfices of any of these uwstite grains. X-ray diffraction investigations indicated that these grains had a rzinimum lattice parameter when they had been formed at the rate rninimum temperature. Also, it was found that an activation energy of 41,000 cal per mole zoas required for reduction when only these wustite grains were present. Thus, it is suggested that the overall reduction rate of the rnagnetile su?nples at temperatures in the range influenced by the rate nzinirnum phenomenon was limited by the rate qf iron ion diffusion in the unreacted wustite grains. THE rate minimum phenomenon, which has often been observed when reducing iron oxides at a temperature of about 700°C, is one of the most interesting, yet unresolved, problems in the field of reduction kinetics. Basic principles of chemical kinetics and 'In some instance, a second rate minimum has been observed at about 900°C. Since most investigators are in agreement that this minimum is directly related to the transformation from a to y iron (which takes place at 911°C) and since it was not encountered during the present reduction tests, it will not be referred to in this vaver. fundamental laws of diffusion all agree that, as the temperature is increased, the rate of reduction should also increase. However, with certain ores, it has been found that their reduction rate actually decreases with an increase in temperature up to some value X where a minimum reduction rate is reached. With further temperature increases beyond X the rate becomes more rapid again. Temperature X is usually referred to as the "rate minimum temperature", while the overall type of behavior constitutes the "rate minimum phenomenon". This phenomenon has been reported by numerous investigators. They have found rate minima during the reduction of both artifiial' and natural374 magnetites and artificia15j6 and natural5" hematites. Rate minima have been observed when reducing high-purity material2 or low-grade ores,3'4 when studying particles in the micronsize range5 or relatively large agglomerates,g10 and during reduction with either hydrogen7 or carbon monoxide.11"2 Previously, this phenomenon has been attributed to many factors; these include sintering and recrystallization of the iron formed during reduction374 changes in microporosity of the ore upon redction,"" formation of dense iron shells around retained wustite grains,11716 and chem-isorption,17 to name only a few. However, most investigators who have reported a rate minimum merely speculated as to what seemed to influence it and they did not examine the fundamental causes. Consequently, the present experimental study was initiated in order to evaluate the basic factors which could be associated with this phenomenon. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experimental techniques, followed during this investigation, are similar to those which have been described previously.18 The chemically pure magnetic powder was prepared by partially reducing Fisher reagent-grade hematite with a gaseous mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in a rotating-drum furnace. Three-quarter-inch diam cylindrical briquets which weighed about 12 g were formed from this magnetite powder and pure hematite powder. All of the briquets were sintered while they were slowly raised through the 1200°C hot zone of a vertical tube furnace. An argon stream was continually flushed through this furnace in order to prevent oxidation of the magnetite briquets, while in the case of the pure hematite briquets sintering was carried out in air. The sintered hematite briquets had a density of 5.06 g per cu cm while the density of the sintered magnetite briquets was 4.27 g per cu cm. The sintered briquets were reduced by purified hydrogen in a loss-in-weight furnace at temperatures in the range 500" to 1000°C. In all instances, the critical reducing gas velocity was exceeded and, in order to ensure that the results were reproducible, duplicate briquets of each type were reduced under each set of experimental conditions. A continuous record of the weight loss during reduction was obtained with the aid of a Statham transducer. The present experimental setup was capable of detecting a change in weight as small as 10 mg. Since a weight loss of over 2 g usually occurred during each reduction test, an accuracy of better than 0.5 pct of the total weight loss could be achieved. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Reducibility Tests. In the first set of experiments, pure hematite and pure magnetite briquets were used.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. C. Mertz, C. H. Mathewson

Accurate knowledge of the solid solubilities of the elements that dissolve in the important base metals is needed for guidance in the preparation and heat-treatment of the alloys derived from these components. While there is still difference of opinion concerning the merits of the X-ray and microscopic methods of determining such solubilities, it is certainly true that the recent extensive use of X-ray diffraction to review the existing constitutional data has revealed many glaring inaccuracies and has brought about a much improved knowledge of phase-boundary locations, which will inevitably come to include all of the important alloy systems. When the work is done with all necessary precautions it appears that in the majority of cases where the solubilities extend beyond a few tenths of a per cent the X-ray back-reflection technique is capable of furnishing the best of information in this field. For the most prolonged and thorough studies it is obviously advisable to combine the results of several methods, in particular, to obtain an agreement between X-ray and microscopic data. This paper reviews the work previously done on the solubilities of phosphorus, arsenic, antimony and bismuth in copper and, in consideration of the uncertainties thus made apparent, presents new X-ray data obtained with the first three members of this group. Copper-phosphorus System Heyn and Baurl found that in slowly cooled alloys phosphorus forms a solid solution with copper up to about 0.175 per cent. Huntington

Jan 1, 1937

By W. H. Somerton

The effects of drilling variable on rotary drilling rates and efficiencies have been studied by a series of laboratory drilling tests. TWO-cone 1.25-in. diameter hits were used to drill vertically upwards into rock samples at corltrolled weights and rates of rotation. Shale, sandstone and specially prepared concrete samples were used in this study. Power input to the ririllirig systeln was measured and drilling chips collected for energy — .size reduction studies. Reasouably good correlations between drilling variables and rates of penetrotion were found. Qrrantities that are difficult to evaluate include rock strength parameters and the effects of bit wear. Effects of bit size and geormetry require further investigation. Analysis of the drilling chips confirmed the premise that, for rocks containing two or more mineral constituents of diflerent strengths, a greater amourrt of rock breakage occurs in the weaker constituent. Drilling conditions which required greater amounts of energy produced finer drilling chips. As bit tooth wear progressed, drilling chips became finer. Efficiency of rotary drilling as a rock breakage mechanism was extremely low. Comparison was made with theoretical energy requirements and with energy requirements for size reduction by comminution methods. INTRODUCTION Many technological developments and innovations have made possible the successful drilling of oil wells by the rotary method to depths exceeding 20,000 ft. Bigger, more powerful rigs, better steels, improved bit design and more careful control of the circulating system have all contributed to this success. Despite these advances comparatively little is known regarding the basic mechanism of rock breakage by the rotary drilling process. Future improvements and, in particular, reduction of drilling costs will undoubtedly require a clearer understanding of the variables controlling effectiveness and efficiency of rotary drilling. Rotary drilling is inherently an inefficient means of producing rock breakage. Loss of energy in transmission from the surface to the cutting mechanism may be large, thus limiting the total amount of energy which may be applied to rock breakage. Increased efficiency may be realized by improved energy transmission methods such as the turbodrill. Conversion of transmitted energy to rock breakage by use of rotating cutter teeth is likewise inefficient. Improvement of cutter efficiency has been obtained essentially by empirical means —changes in bit tooth size, shape and spacing, and tooth deletion to give clean bottom-hole patterns. The present work was undertaken to investigate the factors controlling rates of bit penetration under laboratory drilling conditions. Laboratory drilling apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The effects of rock strength and bit wear on drilling rates were investigated. Drill cuttings were analyzed to determine the character of breakage and to compare this with other methods of producing rock breakage. VARIABLES INVOLVED IN ROTARY DRILLING Some of the variables controlling bit penetration rates can be studied conveniently by dimensional grouping. R/DN f(F/D2S) or

By N. Mungan

Laboratory water floods were performed in oil-wet and waterwet alundum and Torpedo cores, displacing a refined oil with n-hexylamine or Triton X-100 solution. Also, some floods were performed in which a sucrose solution was displaced with n-butyl alcohol. The Purpose ot the tests was to see if the oil recotlery could be increased and to examine what role the inter-facial tension reduction and wettability change play in the recovery mechanism. it was found that the chromatographic transport of amine was influenced by core wettability. In oil-wet cores, the rate of advance of the amine band could be predicted from equilibrium chromato-graphy, while in water-wet cores the amine band moved faster than predicted, indicating a non-equilibrium process. By reducing the interfacial tension to 1.1 dyne/ cm, oil recovery was increased. More oil was recovered from Dri-filmed cores than from water-wet cores. Reversing the wettability of the porous media from oil-wet condition also resulted in some additional oil recovery. Neutral wettability floods did not increase oil recovery. INTRODUCTION Interfacial forces in petroleum reservoirs are responsible for retention of large quantities of residual oil. Increasing exploration costs have created an incentive to attempt recovery of this residual oil by new and novel processes. One novel process involves changing the interfacial forces by introducing a chemical into the reservoir during water flooding. Recently, several investigators have carried out laboratory displacement tests using amines. lt3.4 The amines adsorbed onto initially water-wet core surfaces, changing them to oil wet. Additional oil was recovered when the cores were flooded in a manner reversing the. wettability from oil-wet conditions. In all these studies, the wettability reversal was considered responsible for increased oil recoveries although it was noted that amines also reduced oil-water interfacial tension. In the present study, displacement experiments were performed in water-wet and Dri-filmed cores. The purpose was to separate the effects of lowering the interfacial tension from changing the wettability. LABORATORY STUDY All experimental data given in this paper have been obtained at a temperature of 70F + 1 and prevailing atmospheric pressure. FLUIDS AND MATERIALS The oil used in these experiments* was washed with H2S04 and passed through two 100-200 mesh silica-gel beds to remove unsaturates and surface active impurities. Normal hexylamine** of practical purity was used, and the alundum cores*** were composed of nearly pure A1203. Fused quartz (SiOi) and Lucalox (A12 )t plates were used in the contact angle measurements. DISPLACEMENT TESTS Displacement tests were performed in alundum and Torpedo cores. Before displacement runs, cores were acidized with 0.1 normal HCI, flushed with distilled water and fired at 1,200F to make them water wet. This procedure also reduced water sensitivity of the Torpedo cores. Oil-wet cores were prepared from water-wet cores by flowing several pore volumes of 1 per cent by weight Dri-film SC-87 solution in heptane through the cores, flushing the cores with nitrogen, evacuating, and finally heating the cores at 300F for 4 or 5 hours. Between floods, cores were cleaned by conventional procedures and treated again as above.

Jan 1, 1965

Later this month (June 24-27) in San Francisco, the Society of Mining Engineers of AIME, together with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Canadian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and the Engineering Institute of Canada, is sponsoring the second biannual Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference. The dominant theme of the Conference is the practical application of techniques and research relating to underground rapid excavation and tunneling. In the following pages, ME gives highlights of many of the 24 technical sessions and some of the papers being presented. The full proceedings of the Conference will be published by SME-AIME later this year.

Jan 6, 1974

By Jasper Stuckey

THE object of this paper is to record and interpret field and laboratory observations made by the writers during five years of study of the barite deposits of North Carolina. Deposits of barite are known to occur in three localities in North Carolina (Fig. 1) two of which-the Hot Springs and Kings Mountain -contain material of economic value. The Hot Springs area begins near Bluff, some 6 miles south of Hot Springs, and continues northeast by Stackhouse; a total length of 7 miles. The Kings Mountain deposits lie along a belt that extends from the north end of Crowders Mountain in a southwestward direction, along the east side of this and Kings Mountain, to Kings Creek, South Carolina. The third locality is 3 1/2 miles southeast of Hillsboro, Orange County, a short distance west of the highway leading from Hillsboro to Chapel Hill. It is not known when barite was first discovered in North Carolina, but production from the Hot Springs area began some 50 years ago. The state has never produced large quantities of barite-usually there have been less than three producers-and definite figures are not available, but reasonably reliable estimates indicate a total production of 300,000 tons. From 1901 through 1920 barite mining was on a seemingly prosperous basis and a large tonnage. was shipped from the Hot Springs and Kings Mountain areas. With the depression of 1920 the industry began to decline and production practically ceased in 1926.

Jan 1, 1933

By Jan D. Miller

The application of computers to the control and study of mineral processing operations such as grinding, classification and flotation has created an interest in simulation studies of these operations with mathematical models. Evidence of this interest is confirmed by papers presented at the 1969 International Computer Application Symposium held concurrently with the Fall Meeting of the Society of Mining Engineers in Salt Lake City, September 17-19, 1969. Proceedings of this symposium, entitled A Decade of Digital Computing in the Mineral Industry. were edited by Alfred Weiss and published by SME. Two sections of this book are devoted to computer application and simulation of mineral processing operations. In the area of comminution, several papers were presented at the International Computer Symposium. The size-discretized batch grinding model was described, and its application to the simulation of batch grinding, locked-cycle grinding and closed circuit grinding were discussed1. Freeh, Horst and Kellner2 approached simulation using a steepest ascent parameter-fitting technique, while Schoner3 considered the dependence of the elements of the mill matrix and classifier matrix on operating conditions, especially the feed rate.

Jan 1, 1970

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

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

Jan 1, 1930

By F. W. Maclennan

ORE production from the property of the Miami Copper Co. began early in 1911. Until 1925 this ore came from the so-called high-grade orebodies, which contained a little over 2 per cent. copper. This ore was mined by the following methods. 1. Top slicing after mining the peaks by square setting, which produced 4,524,347 tons, including ore from square setting. 2. Shrinkage stoping with sublevel caving of the pillars, which produced 2,230,577 tons. 3. Undercut caving with hand tramming, which, produced 15,427,672 tons. Estimating December tonnage, the total ore mined to the end of 1929 will amount to slightly more than 43,000,000 tons. The first method was described by E. G. Deane1 and the second by D. B. Scott,1 and the third, together with a general, description of the mine, by J. H. Hensley, Jr.1 The geology of the district has been worked out by. Dr. F. L. Ransome.2

Jan 1, 1930

By J. W. Mills

This paper's aim is to demonstrate, by reviewing findings and conclusions of earlier authors and through recording and interpreting the outcome of recent laboratory study of the ores, that the ores around the Gem stocks are metamorphosed equivalents of common siderite-sulfide ores far from the stocks, as was first proposed by Hershey (1912, 1913). That is, all the ores probably have the Precambrian age of 1250 million years reported by Long et al. (1960). Those near the Gem stocks, however, were extensively metamorphosed in Cretaceous time during the emplacement of stocks so their resemblance and relation to other veins in the district are camouflaged.

Jan 1, 1985

By M. R. Geer, J. D. Davis, H. F. Yancey

ALTHOUGH the mechanical cleaning of coal is carried out at plants on the surface, preparation is actually begun at the face in the mine. Here the character of the coal and the amount, character, and distribution of the impurities within the bed may be seen. Blasting methods, dust-allaying procedures, location of mining cut with respect to bands of impurity, and the practice of discarding segregated impurities underground, all have an important bearing on the successful operation of surface cleaning units. The most important single characteristic of both coal and its associated impurities from the standpoint of cleaning is specific gravity. Other characteristics related in one way or another to the preparation , of coal are rank, petrographic composition, structure and hardness, and friability. These and still other coal properties are discussed in the first section of this chapter and impurity characteristics in the second. COAL CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO PREPARATION Rank As a result of work done over a period of several years by committees of the American Society for Testing Materials and the American Standards Association, standard specifications are now available showing the 'classification of coals according to rank and quality of grade.' The term "rank" expresses the degree to which the original coal-forming material has been changed by metamorphism through successive stages from peat to anthracite. Table 1 shows the classification of coals according to rank as devised by the committees of the organizations mentioned. The basic scheme of classification for the higher-rank coals is according to

Jan 1, 1943

"In the mines producing over 500 tons per day, skips have replaced the old method of hoisting ore by cars run onto cages. In the car and cage method, two men (station tenders) trammed the loaded cars onto the one-deck cage, and as the production increased the one-deck cage was increased to two decks and later to four decks. Landing chairs at the underground stations were necessary in this method and were the cause of many serious accidents by being carelessly left in the shaft by the station-tenders when leaving one station for anotherabove. The labor and time occupied in loading the leaving cages were con¬siderable, and, at times of rapid hoisting, four men were necessary in taking off empty and caging loaded cars. This also required at the surface landing, as many as ten men on a shift to remove the loaded cars and replacing them with empties, and tram the loaded ones to the surface ore bins, where the railway cars were loaded.The skips used in Butte are generally of 100 cubic feet capacity and hold five tons of ore, and weigh 7,500 lbs. The cage above, to which the skip is attached, weighs 2,300 lbs. The skips dump automatically into a pocket of 50 tons capacity. Two men are with the skips underground and load them from 125 ton capacity ore-pockets, under each station, the bottoms of the pockets having an inclination of 50 degrees from the horizontal. At the bottom of these pockets a gate is operated by compressed air. The labor of loading the skips amounts only to the opening and closing of a valve in the air-line, the ore running by gravity into the skips.Besides the saving in labor, the use of the skips has removed the necessity of underground landing chairs in the shaft and the accidents which are inevitable where such chairs are used."

Jan 1, 1913

By J. P. Martin, A. H. Geisler, J. H. Crede, E. Both

The investigation of a 50 pct Co alloy was undertaken to determine whether there was any direct correlation between the structure and properties of Co-Fe alloys which were given various magnetic heat treatments. The magnetic anisotropy and texture of the 0.002-in. cold-reduced 98 pct material tend to decrease and change in nature with increasing temperature of the recrystallization anneal. Annealing samples in a magnetic field had little effect on either the magnetic properties or texture. However, cooling them in a magnetic field greatly improved their magnetic properties. THE beneficial influence of a magnetic field applied during the heat treatment of certain soft magnetic materials has been known for a long time. Early work showed that the presence of a magnetic field of a few oersteds during the heat treatment of Fe-Ni alloys will cause a large increase in maximum permeability. A pronounced increase in the residual induction which is produced by the magnetic anneal causes the hysteresis loop to approach the shape of a rectangle. Such results are beneficial since the desired properties are high permeability, high induction at maximum permeability, high residual induction, and low coercive force. More recently Libsch and coworkers1 studied the effect of magnetic annealing on the hysteresis properties of a series of Co-Fe alloys prepared from powders. They observed good response for the 35 and 50 pct Co alloys but little response for the 42 pct Co alloy. They pointed out that this was somewhat surprising since the 42 pct alloy has a high linear magnetostriction and zero crystal anisotropy and similar conditions in Fe-Ni alloys give excellent response to magnetic annealing. They found optimum properties to be at the 50 pct composition with residual induction, Br = 19,000 gauss and coercive force, Hc = 0.68 oersteds after the magnetic anneal. Before the magnetic anneal these values were B, = 12,600 gauss and Hc = 1.15 oersteds. The optimum treatment consisted of cooling from above the y-a transformation temperature to 900°C in a field of 20 oersteds, holding 11/2 hr at 900°C, then cooling at a rate of 20° to 25°C per min in the field to below 230°C. Cooling rate mainly affected coercive force with the value decreasing from 1.09 to 0.88 oersteds as the rate was increased from 3° to 48°C per min. Cooling from 1020" to 900°C in a field followed by further cooling to 230°C without the field gave properties decidedly inferior to those for samples annealed with the field applied throughout the cooling. They concluded that to get the best properties the samples must be cooled in a field to a threshold temperature above which the alloy is plastic enough to be affected by magnetostriction. In this respect the holding temperature must be high enough so that the alloy exhibits good plasticity to permit the optimum orienting of magnetic domains by relaxation of magnetostriction. In contrast, the holding time was of less significance for there was little improvement when the time exceeded 1/2 hr. The improvement in properties effected by magnetic annealing has usually been attributed to the establishment of a domain texture caused by the "freezing in" of magnetic strains. On the other hand, Smoluchowski and Turner2,3 apparently found that a magnetic field applied during recrystallization could alter the crystal texture. If this effect is real, improved properties would also be expected when

Jan 1, 1954

By Robert F. Brindisi

There are approximately thirty to forty operating mills in the United States which are currently producing uranium yellow cake. This figure includes a significant number of in situ and by-product operations however the conventional acid leach flowsheet depicted in Figure 1 is the most common process used by domes- tic yellow cake producers. Ground ore is leached with sulphuric acid and the solids are separated from the pregnant liquor and washed in a series of counter- current decantation thickeners. After clarification of the pregnant liquor, uranium is recovered from the solvent extraction/stripping circuit by the addition of ammonia with precipitation of ammonium diuranate, or simply yellow cake. The yellow cake precipitate is then thickened in a conventional thickener before re- porting to the dewatering/washing unit operation. De- watered solids subsequently report to thermal drying, and clarified liquor from the dewatering/washing step is recycled to the yellow cake thickener. The yellow cake dewatering/washing unit operation is generally accomplished using either a solid bowl centrifuge or a rotary vacuum drum filter. In most cases the underflow from the yellow cake thickener is pumped to the dewatering/washing unit operation at approximately fifteen to twenty percent solids. For the purpose of this discussion ammonium diuranate, the product of ammonia precipitation from a conventional acid-leach uranium mill flow sheet, as discussed earlier, will be considered. With only slight adjustment this discussion will be equally applicable to sodium diuranate or uranium perioxide precipitates and to either in situ or by-product operations where such precipitates are generated. Some of the domestic uranium mills which have selected solid bowl centrifuges instead of vacuum drum filters for the dewatering/washing unit operations are listed in Figure 2. Why have these uranium mills, as well as others not listed, chosen to use the solid bowl centrifuge for this particular application? It is simply a matter of performance, reliability and economics. In the remainder of this paper the performance, initial cost, installation cost, maintenance and power consumption of both the solid bowl centrifuge and the rotary vacuum drum filter will be com- pared. In order to provide a consistent basis for comparison the appropriate sized (centrifuge or filter) unit for the dewatering/washing of 400 to 500 pounds per hour of yellow cake solids will be considered. Such a flow will usually be generated by a typical 3,000 ton per day (acid-leach) uranium mill.

Jan 1, 1980

lv. H. Blauvelt, Great Falls, Montana (communication to the Secretary): In his remarks on Mr. Stetefeldt's paper (Trans., xxiii., 587)) Mr. Goetz observes: " Trouble experienced with producers at Great Falls influenced me to try Taylor producers instead of those of Wellman. But recent reports show that the Wellman producers work better, besides coating nearly 50 per cent. less than Taylor producers of equal capacity. Indiana and Illinois coals cannot be used in the Taylor producers by reason of the large size and hardness of the clinkers which they form." I think that Mr. Goetz must have been misinformed regarding the work of this producer in Illinois. One of the large mauafacturing concerns in that State, the Illinois Zinc Company, situated at Peru, which uses a coal mined in the vicinity, tried one Taylor producer, some four years ago, in competition with those of an older type, which it had been using. As a result of this trial, the company has now thirteen Taylor producers, which have been in operation for about three years. A recent report from these works says that the Taylor producers have largely reduced the loss of coal through the grate, and have also improved the quality of the gas, as compared with that produced from the same coal in the producers of the older type. This Illinois coal is, perhaps, the worst in the country for making gas; since, besides containing from 20 to 40 per cent. of ash, it carries a large quantity of pyrites, so that the clinkers are large and extremely hard, and the capacity of the producer is most severely tested.

Jan 1, 1895