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Jan 1, 1947

By H. C. Lukens, E. V. Potter

The volume of hydrogen released from electrolytic manganese at various temperatures and pressures was determined in a previous investigation1 as part of a study to determine the most practical procedure for removing the hydrogen from electrolytic manganese metal. No attempt was made to determine the absolute volume of gas in the metal at any temperature and pressure; the volume of gas released showed only the variation in solubility with temperature and pressure. The results were very similar to those obtained by Sieverts and Moritz.² Both sets of data show a minimum solubility between 500' and 700°C., but they differ in certain respects; on cooling from 500°C., our results showed an increase in solubility of about 7 C.C. as compared with an increase of 34 C.C. per 100 grams shown by Sieverts. Furthermore, the transition temperatures, as indicated by sharp breaks in the solubility curves, did not agree well with Sieverts' data. This information was of secondary importance in the earlier investigations, and the solubility at low temperatures and the transition temperatures were subject to considerable error. Therefore, a subsequent investigation, reported in this paper, was made to measure the absolute solubility at temperatures from room temperature through the melting point and make more accurate observations of the transition temperatures. Apparatus and Method The apparatus and method were essentially the same as those described in the previous work,' as shown in Fig. I. At high temperatures, the small tube containing the thermocouple in the sample container A frequently broke off, so for some of this work the thermocouple was placed outside the sample container and protected by a quartz tube of about the same wall thickness as the sample container. No significant difference was found in the transition temperatures obtained in the two ways. The automatic temperature controller was used in these tests in the regions where there was little change in solubility with temperature. In the neighborhood of the transition points a continuously variable autotransformer was used instead of the automatic controller, and the power input to the furnace was adjusted so that the temperature increased or decreased at a very slow, uniform rate through the transition range. This procedure was followed because the temperature oscillations produced by the controller were too great compared with the transition range, and the transi- . tion points determined under such conditions were less accurate. Absolute Solubility Procedure ad Results The absolute solubility of hydrogen in manganese could be determined most

Jan 1, 1947

By John L. Ham, Robert M. Parke

The melting point of molybdenum is 2625° + 50°C. Heretofore the metal has been considered too refractory to be melted in commercial quantities; hence, it has been formed into rod, wire, and sheet by the methods of powder metallurgy, wherein the temperatures do not exceed 90 per cent of the melting temperature. The manipulation of liquid metals at temperatures of about 2000°C. and above presents some difficult problems in heat transfer, in purification, and in container materials. For metals melting at such high temperatures, it is generally regarded as expedient to circumvent the more common melting and casting process by resorting to powder metallurgy. This circumvention is not accomplished without some penalties, the more notable of which are the relatively high cost of the powder metallurgy method and particularly the size limitations of its product. In an effort to overcome the inherent disadvantages of the powder metallurgy method, especially in respect to the limit of size, a project was begun in 1943 at the Climax Molybdenum Co. laboratory to develop a method of melting and casting molybdenum capable of producing larger bodies of molybdenum than were then obtainable. Later, from Feb. I, 1944, to Aug. 31, 1945, the project was under the supervision of the National Research Committee, Division One. In peacetime, too, there are needs for molybdenurn, which make consideration of another process desirable; for example, large parts for heat engines generally, the omnipresent demand for metal of higher quality and lower cost, and the development of molybdenum-base alloys. This paper describes methods for melting and casting molybdenum, with details of the special process needed to make molybdenum castings ductile, and reports some of the properties of what may be regarded as a new, or at least modified, form of the metal. First Process for Melting and Casting Molybdenum The maintenance of a temperature greater than 2625°C. in a 'pace large enough to melt several pounds of molybdenum may involve the loss of heat at a Very considerable rate. For melting molybdenum, therefore, the source of heat must be of high potential and of fairly high power. Evidently, also, the source of heat must not impair the purity of the product. The electric arc operating in vacuum appeared to meet these requirements and was accordingly the first choice as a source of energy. A number of arc devices for melting molybdenum were examined, and several were tried. In the first experiment, a 20-kw., 60-cycle-per-second alternating-current arc was operated between two horizontal and opposed electrodes of molybdenum- In this arrangement the falling droplets of molybdenum solidified below the arc in an irregular mass. This experiment did not produce a useful casting, but the data obtained indicated that

Jan 1, 1947

By Thomas Fraser, Alvaro Abreu

The work described in this paper was carried out under the sponsorship of the Foreign Economics Administration and in cooperation with the Departamento Nacional da Produggo Mineral, Rio de Janeiro. The project was undertaken to obtain complete data on the variations in washability of coal to be used for coke manufacture in the steel industry and to determine the economy of preliminary hand-sorting operations. The coal-producing industry of Brazil is in that pioneering stage in which operating practices and methods are just being developed. Increased wartime demand for fuel, coincident with a drastic curtailment of foreign supplies due to lack of shipping facilities, has put a tremendous pressure on the national industry to furnish more coal. Under this incentive, production facilities are being -expanded- and new methods of operation are being tested. Such changes are being developed both by improvement of existing methods that originated in the field and by adaptation and modification of methods introduced from the United States and Europe. These mining conditions and mining practices in Brazil are typical of what the American mining engineer will find in many instances when he goes pioneering into the developing coal fields of the Southern Hemisphere. The producing coal fields of Brazil are all in the southern states of that country. The coal measures are in a band roughly paralleling the coast and extending in a generally southwesterly direction from northern Sao Paulo through the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul to near the Uruguayan border in the vicinity of Bajé. The accompanying map1 (Fig. I) shows the general location of these fields and also the principal routes of movement of both national and imported coal in a late pre-war year (1940). Statistical data on production by states up to that year are given in Table I. Rio Grande do Sul is still the largest producer among the coal states; but wartime

Jan 1, 1947

By Thomas Fraser, H. F. Yancey

Prior to the war just ended, Germany was the greatest coal producer in continental Europe. In 1943 the production of coal, bituminous and higher in rank, together with brown coal calculated to the equivalent amount of bituminous coal, is estimated to have been about 240 million metric tons, according to the War Department. Before the war production in Germany exceeded consumption. No other country in continental Europe except Poland had a large surplus. However, England's surplus was the largest in Europe as a whole. Before World War II the Ruhr Basin normally supplied about 70 pet of the total production of high-rank coal, the Saar and Aachen about 6 pet each, Upper Silesia about 14 pet, and Silesia and Saxony the remainder. Nearly one third of the brown coal was produced in the Rhineland, a little less than one half in central Germany nest of the Elbe River, and about one fourth east of the Elbe. Bituminous coal and brown coal together constituted by far the most important energy resources of the old German Reich. Bituminous coal furnished nearly 70 pet of the total energy requirement, brown coal supplied about 25 pet, and water power, wood, petroleum and alcohol together aggregated only 7 pet. Because it was the most important single mineral resource of Germany, an excess of coal enabled the Reich to import nearly all the other mineral products that she lacked, such as iron ore from Lorraine. The area adjacent to the coal fields was supplied with gas from an interconnected grid. Similar electric grids are based on brown coal with the power stations at the mines. Coal tar provided the foundation for the development of the extensive German chemical industries as exemplified by the I. G. Farbenindustrie. For almost a century, German scientists have been adequately supported both by the State and by industry in studying improved methods of utilizing coal. In Germany the mineral rights were reserved by the State and ordered eatraction of coal was enforced. Each lease comprised a relatively extensive area. which accounts for the generally large size of the mines and mining companies In 1938 there were 160 mines in the Ruhr, with a total output of 125 million tons but 90 pet of the production was controlled by 20 companies. By far the largest single coal-mining company in Germany was the Gelsen-kirchener Bergwerke A. G., which produced nearly 27 million tons in the Ruhr in 1937. Second was Saargruben A. G. a State-owned company operating in the Saar, which produced 'lore than '3 million tons. Third was Bergwerksgesellschaft Hibernia A. G., with 10 million tons, also in the Ruhr. Briquettes are made from both bitumillous coal and brown coal, but in 1938 some 44 million toils of brown-coal bri-

Jan 1, 1947

By L. A. Shipman

The combustion of coal in fuel beds has been practiced as an art for many years; during the last 2 7 years a scientific approach to this subject has contributed a small amount of fundamental data. The subject is a very controversial one. Opinions regarding the performance of the same coal used in the same equipment in different plants may vary from "the best coal ever used in the plant" to "the worst coal ever tired." These opinions can all be true, owing to the various conditions under which the coal was used. Because of these differences, an attempt will be made in this paper to discuss coal facts and coal characteristics as related to the use phenomena observed during the art of firing coal in fuel beds for many years. The work of Kreisinger1 and his associates in the 1,'. S. Bureau of Mines, reported in 1916, was the first scientific attempt I know of to obtain factual data explaining the mechanism of combustion of fuel beds. They gave a chart showing an ignited fuel bed. The air passing up through the fuel bed first combined with the fuel by a reaction resulting in the complete combustion of carbon to CO2, which combined with the carbon in higher levels of the fuel bed to form CO with the absorption of heat. The fundamental facts produced in those experiments proved of much value and checked with practical experiences with hand-fired fuel beds. Hand firing was the prevailing method of stoking coal at that time. The order in which these reactions occur, as shown by Kreisinger and his associates, has been amply confirmed by repetition of this work with different fuels both her? and abroad. These experiments also showed that under their conditions the rate of burning was proportional to the air flow. These data were of practical value to a fireman and were accepted as generally true in all fuel beds. In later years many observations by myself in fuel beds of underfeed stokers and other thick fuel beds such as gas producers, where channeling. increase of particle size, or both, occur. indicated that, instead of the horizontal layers we had thought were present, perhaps the layers were vertical or irregular. Later investigations in fuel beds made by Mayers2 and Barnes3 indicated that the burning takes place in some instances along the surfaces of vertical or irregular channels or cracks in the fuel bed and that under these conditions a reaction occurs that differs from that in the old horizontal-layered handfired fuel beds. Examining the data in Kreisinger'sl experiments, and the information in different charts with different fuels, different retort positions and air admissions of Barnes3 and the gas analysis arid isotherms of Mayers,2 one can check experience observation and come to a conclusion that as particle size of the fuel increases with other conditions the same, the maximum CO2 and temperature

Jan 1, 1947

By John I. Yellott

Since the days of Newcomen and Watt, when men first sought to turn the energy of fuels to useful purposes, coal-generated steam has supplied most of the power needed for both stationary and mobile applications. The low efficiency and large water requirements of the nineteenth century steam-power plant caused many engineers to turn their thoughts toward more direct means of converting heat into power. As far back as 1791, John Barber secured an English patent on a combination' which he might well have called a "gas turbine." He proposed to generate producer gas from coal or charcoal, to burn it under pressure in air obtained from a reciprocating compressor, and to drive a turbine wheel with the resultant hot combustion products. With the optimism characteristic of the inventor, he hoped that the turbine would not only operate his compressor but also perform useful work. There is no record that Barber ever built his machine, but if he had done so he would have learned that useful power can result from such a combination only when both turbine and compressor are highly efficient and when the temperature of the gas entering the turbine is not far below 1000°F. Hot-air prime movers continued to attract attention, and both Stirling in England and Ericsson in America2 built reciprocating engines that operated with some success upon coal-heated air. The internal-combustion engine, burning liquid fuels, supplanted the hot-air type, and, for the first time, challenged the supremacy of both the steam cycle and its familiar fuel, coal. Liquid Fuels Compete with Coal As the increasing use of the automobile multiplied the demand for gasoline, the supply of residual fuel increased rapidly, and heavy oil declined in price to the point where it became competitive with coal. First in the marine field and later in stationary plants in areas adjacent to refineries, oil began to be widely used. Oil's greater convenience and higher heating value per pound of weight or per cubic foot of bunker space have caused it to take over much of the marine field. The introduction of the highly efficient diesel engine, capable of burning a fuel that is cheaper than gasoline, again threatened the position of coal, for the operating costs of the diesel became directly competitive with those of coal-burning equipment. In isolated power plants and smaller marine installations, the diesel provided the medium by which oil again successfully invaded fields formerly dominated by coal. The diesel engine, provided with an electrical transmission, found an excellent application in railroad service. The high availability of diesel-electric locomotives, resulting in part from freedom from water

Jan 1, 1947

By Corliss R. Kinney

Since the first atomic bomb exploded over Japan, a great deal of speculation has been published about the use of atomic energy instead of coal for the production of power. Atomic energy, in time, may displace coal for this purpose, but atomic energy will not displace coal in supplying chemical raw materials to the rapidly expanding carbon-chemicals market. Modern civilization demands large quantities of carbon compounds and the logical source of many of these is coal. Consequently, many progressive operators are considering the possibilities of the utilization of coal as a chemical raw material as never before. Furthermore, the demand for clean, smokeless, and ashless fuels will continue to increase and the only way to handle coal under those conditions is to take it apart, just as crude petroleum is taken apart. One can readily imagine where the petroleum industry would be now if it had insisted on selling customers only crude oil, perhaps emulsified with a little salt water to correspond to the moisture and mineral matter in raw coal. The time seems to be coming at an accelerated Dace when mine operators will find that competing for a highly selective fuel market by producing a larger tonnage at smaller cost will be less profitable than to increase the value of a smaller tonnage many fold by producing something more valuable to industry and civilization than raw coal. For example, about 750,000 tons of carbon black selling for $50 to $60 per ton was produced in the United States in 1945. This tonnage is insignificant compared with the total production of coal in the United States, but a very tidy tonnage, together with the coal necessary to operate the process, for any mine operator fortunate enough to obtain a method of producing a better carbon black from coal. From the point of view of tonnage, the manufacture of coke of various kinds and its by-products is at present the most important source of carbon chemicals from coal. Nearly 20 per cent of the coal mined in this country is used for this purpose. A large proportion of the coke is used for the production of iron and steel, but even in this operation a considerable part of the coke is used for a chemical purpose; that is, the reduction of the ore to metallic iron. In addition, large quantities of coke are used in manufacturing many important products that find their way into the market. Possibilities of Acetylene One of the important chemicals manufactured from coke is calcium carbide, from which many products are made. One of these is acetylene. This hydrocarbon can also be manufactured from natural gas or from waste oil-refinery gas and these industries will probably offer competition for the manufacture of acetylene. Coke-oven gas can be used for making acetylene and should receive consideration

Jan 1, 1947

By Alfred R. Powell

Late in 1944 a group of petroleum and coal technologists was organized in Washington under the sponsorship of the Petroleum Administration for War and the U. S. Bureau of Mines. This group, known as the Technical Oil Mission, was placed under the authority of the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which was then promoting the organization of other missions to be sent to Germany to obtain technical information regarding various industries in that country. The objective of the Tehnical oil Mission was to obtain technical data on German production of synthetic oil from coal and all other commercial practices and research projects connected with the oil industry. The primary purpose was to obtain such data as were immediately essential to assist the war against Germany and Japan, with secondary emphasis on technical information that would assist American industry after the end of the war. since oil-production facilities in Germany and the occupied countries controlled by Germany were the top targets for strategic bombing, the Technical Oil Mission was the first group under the Technical Induslrial Intelligence Com,mittee to enter Germany. A few members of the group flew to London in February 1945 and the majority of the remainder followed in March. In London they were joined by an equal number of British investigators and the combined mission was then sent into Germany under the authority of the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS). A summary of the more important information gained by this combined British and American mission is presented below. German Oil Production The oil available to Germany, both natural and synthetic, and including production from occupied countries, reached a peak in late 1943 and early 1944 Production at this time was at the rate of 1,200,000 metric tons Per month, equivalent to 100,000,000 bbl. per year, or about 7 per cent of the wartime production in the United States. Of this production, jo per cent was crude oil from Romania and Hungary, 12 Per cent was crude oil from Germany itself, including Austria, 9 per cent cumprised coal-carbonization products, that is, tar and light oil, and only the remaining 29 per cent was synthetic liquid fuel made from coal or tar. Synthetic liquid fuel made in Germany was equivalent therefore to less than 2 per cent of wartime production of crude oil in the United States. The success of the strategic bombing campaign against German oil-production facilities is demonstrated by the fact that by September 1944 the Ploesti fields of Romania and much of the syrlthetic oil production had been eliminated, so that the amount of oil available to the German war machine was only 25 per Cent of the peak qualltity mentioned above. By early 1945, when the combined British and American oil mission was entering

Jan 1, 1947

By L. L. Newman

As soon as the Congress recognized the alarming rate at which our domestic oil resources were being depleted during the war, it took action to step up the rate of research and development which the Bureau of Mines had been conducting for several years on the production of synthetic liquid fuels from coals. Under Public Law 290, approved April 5, 1944, funds were authorized for the Bureau to proceed with research, development, design and construction of demonstration plants for the hydrogenation of coal, the synthesis of oil from carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and the distillation of oil from shale. During the latter part of 1944, when it became evident that the collapse of Germany was near, a Technical Oil Mission was organized to study the German techniques of synthetic oil production. Since the cost of hydrogen or synthesis gas is one of the major factors of expense in the operation of hydrogenation or synthesis gas processes, the Bureau of Mines considered it of prime importance to include on the mission gas engineers whose instructions were to examine closely the methods employed by the Germans in solving the problem of providing low-cost hydrogen or synthesis gas for their very extensive operations on synthetic liquid fuels. The Solid Fuels Mission and the Utilities Mission, as well as the Army and Navy Missions, also included teams for the study of German gas production. Although their objectives naturally differed from those of the Technical Oil Mission and from each other, it was recognized that there was considerable overlapping of their fields of investigation. Duplication of effort, however, was largely avoided through the close cooperation between the group leaders of these missions. For example, although I went to Europe as a member of the Technical Oil Mission, my first Gcrman assignment was actually made by Dr. Harry F. Yancey, leader of the Solid Fuels Mission— to investigate the brown-coal gasification methods in central Germany. The art of gasification in the United States and England, and to a large extent in the proximity of the coking-coal regions of Germany and the rest of continental Europe, depends essentially on two stages of operation; namely, carbonization and intermittent water-gas generation. As far as the United States is concerned, complete gasification in a single stage of operation is rarely practiced, except in gas-producer operations where the product is a relatively lean gas consumed close to the point of manufacture, and for water-gas production with anthracite as a generator fuel. Complete gasification of bituminous coal has been the subject of numerous investigations. Many relatively simple modifications of the water-gas generator have been tried to permit the direct gasification of low-cost bituminous coal instead of high-cost coke and anthracite for the production of water gas. Although varying degrees of Success have been achieved and the water gas produced generally has been higher in

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Jan 1, 1947

By Eugene F. Poncelet

Glass squares compressed on edge by steel jaws in poor contact with them developed jagged "partial-contact" cracks caused by the formation of local tensile stresses. Compressed by steel jaws in perfect contact, they developed smooth "release cracks" during release of the pressure, caused by the formation of local tensile stresses during the release of the pressure. All these cracks were parallel to the pressure. A Microflash photograph of a disintegrating specimen under sufficient pressure reveals a network of fractures roughly normal to each other, also "release cracks" and a disintegration cloud. The Griffith theory is amended to account for the formation of a first crack. A new theory, based on the theory of thermal agitation and wave propagation, is proposed to account for the progress, velocity and forking of cracks. The network of fractures is shown to have been caused by reflection at a free boundary of pressure pulses emanating from a first crack. Postulating equal distribution of energy in the pulses emitted on either side by a crack in particles, the smaller fragments are shown to continue fracturing preferentially while some of the coarser fragments remain as residual pieces. As comminution of the smaller fragments proceeds, the solid is reduced to a collection of residual particles of smaller and smaller sizes, accounting for the disintegration cloud. Experimental Procedure Apparatus A crushing device was built, consisting of a steel frame and two polished, hardened steel jaws to crush plate-glass samples. This device was placed between the plates of a hydraulic press (Fig. I). For centering the pressure, the upper jaw was guided vertically and provided with a rounded top. Later it was replaced by a steel jaw ground out of a 2½-in. steel ball, the lower surface being ground to an optical flat (Fig. 2). Four rollers were used to eliminate side thrust. Screws and centering blocks served to center the specimen in the crushing device. Hard steel shims placed under the shoulder of the upper jaw limited the "follow through'' of the jaw after failure of the specimen. Stress distribution was first examined with a polariscope mounted on an optical bench, using monochromatic light. It was found convenient to mount polaroid, quarter wave and monochromatic plates directly on the device itself. A Microflash unit* was used as light source for the photographs. A gold-paint pattern was fused on the plate-glass specimens and connected into the spark-

Jan 1, 1947

By Fred C. Bond

The Standard method of determining the crushing resistance of rocks consists of crushing prepared shapes under slow compression, and expressing the ultimate crushing resistance at the load causing failure in pounds per square inch of cross-sectional area perpendicular to the crushing force, with the height approximately equal to the diameter. One-inch cubes or cylindrical drill cores are commonly used. Cubes and drill cores are cut by a highspeed steel disk with diamond dust embedded in the edges, and running under a water spray. such a saw will cut one square inch or more of hard stone per minute. An oiled, spherical, swivel compression block of small diameter should be used to equalize the pressure. Each sample is crushed between sheets of cardboard or blotting paper extending about one-half inch beyond the edges of the stone. A cloth is wrapped around it to prevent dangerous explosive shattering. It is probably preferable to place the swivel block below the specimen, with either a rigid head or another swivel block above. Whatever the arrangement, the conditions should be selected that will develop the maximum crushing strength of the specimen, even though its top and bottom planes may not be precisely parallel. The cardboard pads may be dispensed with if the ends of the specimens are polished smooth. The use of lead pads was discontinued because of the observed tendency to split the material. The samples are weighed and measured before breaking, and the density is calculated. Cubes that contain bedding lanes or veinlets are usually placed with these vertical and parallel to the crushing force, in order to develop the maximum resistance possible. A number of compression tests were made on Canadian ores, by Forrest Nagler, of the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing CO., and are listed alphabetically in Table I. These tests were made on one-inch cubes or on diamond-drill cores approximately one inch in diameter and One inch long. The drill cores represent virgin rock, while the cubes may have been previously weakened by explosives. compression tests have been made in the Allis-Chalmers Milwaukee Laboratory on a number of ores and other materials. These are listed alphabetically in Table 2. In test NO. 1339, on limestone from the Hanna Coal Co., comparison was made between 2 by 2-in. diamond-drill core segments and one-inch cubes cut from the cores in the same strata. Results for the cylinders are tabulated directly below those for the cubes. The bedding planes were normal to the compressive force in breaking the cylinders and parallel in breaking the cubes, which accounts for the lower strength obtained from the cylinders. The percentage of net linear compression at the ultimate pressure was measured in test No. 1055 for Fontana TV A quartzite as 0.30 for cube A, and 0.37 for cube D.

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