Search Documents

By Reno H. Sales

Our colleagues cannot in the future earn reputations and medals for achievements in milling and smelting ore and for successful management of mining companies, if some one doesn't keep finding and mining the ore to mill and smelt and to provide the basis for the good management. Good ore seems sometimes to be quite helpful to good management, and good ore is not as easy to find as it used to be. And there are still more reasons, why—when this honor had been decided upon and named for Mr. Daniel C. Jackling—it should be initially conferred on Reno H. Sales. . The terms of reference of the award are that it should be conferred upon an individual working in the fields of mining, geology, geophysics, who has made an outstanding contribution to the progress of technology in one or more of those fields. And in this initial year (the earlier years are the easiest) just that was done. I think I could get away with it amongst the old-timers of my generation if I say that this time they made the award to the individual, who made the outstanding contribution. But, as Al Smith used to say, "Let's look at the record." Really, the record is mixed up a little with extra-lateral litigation—the old-time "apex cases" under Section 2322 of the Revised Statutes. Reno Sales doesn't like such litigation, but there is little question that the urgency, generated by conflicting claims of intra-limital and extra-lateral rights, and consequent necessity for committing to records and maps the complications of Butte structure, did advance—and by several years—the first continuous, accurate, systematic, and scientific portrayal of the geological and mineralogical details of what is, after all, the most important and the most complicated copper district—at least in North America. Prior to Sales' time, some of the most eminent of geologists often waived details. One geologist took the judge to the window to show him the Rarus fault going through a notch in the Continental Divide. The entertaining testimony in the Bluebird litigation was as perfect in literary style as it was innocent of the criteria by which faulting and lack of continuity of vein structure are now recognized. At any rate, this need for an accurate record of structure was in the background—to whatever extent it was, or was not, the etiological agent—for formation of the Geological Department of the Amalgamated Copper Co. in and about the year 1900. Charles W. Goodale was at that time the head of the Boston & Montana, and John D. Ryan succeeded William Scallon as the president of Anaconda Copper Mining Co. in 1905. Horace V. Winchell, for years a specialist in extra-lateral litigation, was perhaps the man who at that date had the vision, the persuasive weight with the management, and the willingness to defend the idea of large current expenditures (as then viewed) for a complete and sys-

Jan 1, 1955

By B. M. Das

Several laboratory model test results for the determination of the ultimate uplift capacity of single and group metal piles embedded in near-saturated clay have been presented. Based on the uplift test results for single piles, the variation of the adhesion factor with the undrained shear strength of clay has been determined, and an empirical correlation for estimation of the adhesion factor in soft and medium clays has been presented. The group efficiency of piles under uplifting load depends on factors such as embedment ratio, undrained shear strength of clay, the number of piles in a group, and the center-to-center spacing of the piles.

Jan 1, 2010

By James L. Austing, Allen J. Tulis, Ronald Pape, Ronald G. Draftz

In a certain sense, the explosives industry began in the 13th century with the invention of black powder, which is an intimate mixture of sulfur, carbon black or charcoal, and potassium or sodium nitrate. For several centuries thereafter, black powder was the sole general purpose energetic material, serving as an igniter, propelling charge, bursting charge, and blasting agent. By today’s standards, black powder is totally inadequate for the latter three functions, but its use continues as an igniter for propellant charges because of its unique ability to ignite and burn under ambient conditions. The history of the development of black powder was reviewed by Rose (1980).

Jan 1, 1995

Detailed petrographic analyses of coal seams from the Newcastle, Illawarra, and Lithgow Coal Measures were made for a number of localities for each of twelve seams. From these analyses characteristic standardprofiles were derived for each seam. Two broad types of profile were found; one in which vitrite-poor and vitrite-rich layers alternate, and another in which there is a steady decrease in vitrite from the base to the top of the seam. From comparison of the petrographic profiles it was concluded that the Great Northern Seam in the Northern Coalfield is a possible equivalent to the BulIi in the Southern; and likewise the Fassifern to the Balgowni...

Jan 1, 1967

By Harry L. Brown, Philip E. Armstrong

Young's modulus doto ore presented for W, Mo. Ta. V, Cr. Ni, Ti, and Zr as a function of temperature up to about 0.7 of the melting points. A plot of reduced temperature us reduced modulus produces a general correlation except for titanium and zirconium. Young's modudlus data for some representatiue commercial graphites are given up to 2400°C. All results were obtained from longitudinal resonance-frequency measzrrements of 4-in. long samples, corrected for simultaneously measured thermal expansion. Comparison of poly crystalline and single-crystal tungsten behavior indicates that all the observed modulus values are frequencv -dependent at the higher temperatures. STATIC measurements of elastic properties of materials at elevated temperatures are extremely difficult to make since the elastic behavior is obscured by relatively large first-stage creep effects. Dynamic methods which avoid this difficulty by utilizing the measurement of the resonance frequency of a simple vibrational mode have been described in the 1iterature.l-3 The authors have extended the operating temperature range of this type of measurement to above 2000°C and have described the equipment elsewhere.~ The Young's modulus data presented here were obtained with this equipment, using samples about 4 in. long and 1/4 in. diam, supported horizontally at the center and excited to the fundamental longitudinal resonance frequency. Young's modulus was calculated by the formula: E = 4f2f2p where E = Young's modulus, / = frequency, 1 = length, and p = density. Dilatometric data were obtained simultaneously by optical measurements of the change of length of the sample. For the metals tested, an attempt was made to obtain modulus values that would be representative of the pure, strain-free, randomly oriented material. All of the graphites studied exhibited a high degree of elastic anisotropy, while the method assumes an isotropic homogeneous material. However , when the values for Young's modulus obtained for AUC graphite were compared with those taken from static measurements at room temperature they were found to be only about 4 pet higher. This is excellent agreement considering the low precision of modulus calculations from stress-strain curves. The difficulty in using data of apparent Young's modulus for anisotropic materials arises when the attempt is made to use these data and shear-modulus data to obtain Poisson's ratio. The results are usually meaningless and sometimes absurd.' RESULTS Table I lists the sources, impurity content, thermal history, and dilatometric constants of the metal samples that were investigated. All the metal samples were tested under a vacuum of 1 to 5 x 10-5 Torr. Where our dilatometric data agreed with previously published data, the table lists the previous values and the literature reference. Where no reference is given, the constants were determined from our dilatometric data. Table II presents the modulus data in units of millions of psi as a function of temperature in degrees centigrade. The numbers were obtained from curves fitted to the experimental data. For some types of calculations, such as those attempting to correlate creep data, the slope of the modulus curve is of interest, and this information also is reported in Table 11. It is always tempting to try to fit physical-property data into some general pattern and then use this pattern to predict the behavior of other similar materials. The general pattern for an elastic modulus of a metal seems to be a linear deoro- with increasing temperature Over the range between 0.1 and 0.4 of the melting temperature, then a progressive1y decreasing value up to the melting point. Metals appear to retain finite moduli

Jan 1, 1964

By Takashi Saito

Since early 1970?s skirt suction foundations (skirted foundation / bucket foundation) have been used as support for large fixed substructures or anchors for floating structures in offshore hydrocarbon development projects. In recent years skirt suction foundations are recognized as one of the solutions in foundations applicable to bridge substructures installed in waters, because skirt foundations have a wide variety of functions such as control of settlement during service life, less impact to environments during operation at installation site. This paper introduces general features of skirt suction foundations, and then discusses design practice of them for the application to bridge substructures, with reference to experiments in both laboratory and field.

Jan 1, 2013

[A session of the Institute of Metals held during the February, 1926, meeting of the Institute, was devoted to a symposium on ''gas" in copper. S. Skowronski, Perth Amboy, N. J., was chairman. On the program were papers by T. S. Fuller; W. H. Bassett and J. C. Bradley; Susan B. Leiter, and W. H. Bassett and H. A. Redworth. These papers follow the chairman's introductory discussion.] S. Skowronski, Perth Amboy, N. J.—There are today two groups of metallurgists, one group who believe in oxygen-free copper and another group who believe that oxygen is absolutely essential in copper; not that the two groups disagree, but that a certain grade of work calls for oxygen-free copper, while another grade of work does not. I can sum up the problem by reading the abstract of an article by Frederick Johnson of Great Britain in The Metal Industry of Sept. 4, 1925. Few, who have watched the trend of things during the last two decades, can have failed to notice the steady growth of opposition to the prevalent use of copper in the "tough-pitch" condition, which for many ages enjoyed an unchallenged supremacy. Broadly speaking, there are two schools of thought in the metallurgical world, one holding the view that copper containing a small proportion of oxygen is an eminently suitable material for users, the other expressing its preference, in no hesitating or uncertain manner, for copper from which oxygen has been removed by means of a deoxidizer. In the old days, before the advent of the converter and the electrolytic refining process, the copper of commerce was so impure that the presence of oxygen was imperative in order to neutralize the influence of impurities which militated against the hot-working properties of the metal. For electrical purposes, oxygen must be present, because sound bars and billets cannot be produced without it, except at the expense of electrical conductivity. For most engineering purposes, however, electro-deposited copper may be used either by itself or with the addition of alloying elements, e. g., arsenic and nickel, which experience has proved to be beneficial, such copper being freed from oxygen by the aid of a deoxidizer, e. g., phosphorus. Such material has positive advantages over "tough-pitch" copper as at present produced from refinery furnaces. It has greater toughness and malleability, and is immune from the action of reducing gases at high temperatures, the destructive action of which, in the case of "tough-pitch" copper, is well known. The reasons why there has been no wholesale replacement of "tough-pitch" copper by deoxidized copper are commercial in nature; copper can be more economically melted in large-capacity furnaces which lend themselves to the poling process and are not so suitable for control of uniformity of action of deoxidizers as the smaller electric or crucible furnaces, whilst they are also more convenient for the production of very large castings. Moreover, the equipment of most large copper manufacturing plants is designed for casting "tough-pitch " copper in open moulds, e. g., wire bars and cakes, and these could not be used for deoxidized copper, which must be cast in vertical moulds as in brass-shop practice. Further, there are still certain impure brands and

Jan 1, 1926

WE the undersigned, being ell persons of full age and citizens of the United States, and a majority resident of the State of New York, desiring to form a corporation pursuant to the provisions of the membership Corporations Law for the purpose of incorporating, as provided in section 5 of Article I. of said law, the existing unincorporated association known as American Institute of Mining Engineers, do hereby make, acknowledge and file this Certificate for that purpose, and do Certify as follows: I. That the American Institute of Mining Engineers is an unincorporated association organized and existing with the object of promoting the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals and the welfare of those employed in these industries by means of meetings for social intercourse and 6he reading and discussion of professional papers, and to circulate by means of publications among its members and associates the information thus obtained. II. That the persons duly appointed or designated to manage the affairs of said association are designated by the rules thereof Members of its. Council; that the undersigned are all members of said Council as the same was constituted on the 296h day of December, 1904. III. That on said last-mentioned date a regularly called meeting of said association was held at its office in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York; that thirty days before such meeting notice of the intention to incorporate said association was given by mail to each member thereof whose residence or post-office address is known; that at said meeting the following resolutions were offered, seconded and duly adopted by the unanimous vote of all its members then present, to wit: "Resolved, That it is the sense of the members and associates of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in general meeting assembled that it is desirable and necessary for the well being of said association and its members and for the furtherance of the objects for which the same has been formed, that said association incorporate under the Membership Corporations Law of the State of New York; "And Further Resolved, That the Members of the Council of this Association, or a majority thereof, be and they hereby are authorized, in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 of Article I. of the Membership Corporations Law, to incorporate this association for the same purposes for which it has been organized and conducted, in the manner provided in Article 11. of said law; "And Further Resolved, That the name of said corporation as hereby adopted by this meeting shall be American Institute of Mining Engineers; "And Further Resolved, That the said incorporators shall be named in the Certificate of Incorporation as directors of such corporation until its first annual meeting, and that such directors and their successors in office shall be and they hereby are authorized to enact and adopt a Constitution and By-Laws for the government of said corporation." IV. That the name of the proposed corporation is American Institute of Mining Engineers. V. That the purposes for which this corporation is to be formed are: To promote the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals, and the welfare of those employed in these industries by all lawful means; to hold meetings

Jan 1, 1928

WE the undersigned, being all persons of full age and citizens of the United States, and a majority residents of the State of New York, desiring to form a corporation pursuant to the provisions of the Membership Corporations Law for the purpose of incorporating, as provided in Section 5 of Article I. of said law, the existing unincorporated association known as American Institute of Mining Engineers, do hereby make, acknowledge and file this Certificate for that purpose, and do Certify as follows: I. That the American Institute of Mining Engineers is an unincorporated association organized and existing with the object of promoting the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals and the welfare of those employed in these industries by means of meetings for social intercourse and the reading and discussion of professional papers, and to circulate by means of publications among its members and associates the information thus obtained. II. That the persons duly appointed or designated to manage the affairs of said -association are designated by the rules thereof Members of its Council; that the undersigned are all members of said Council as the same was constituted on the 29th day of December, 1904. III. That on said last-mentioned date a regularly called meeting of said association was held at its office in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York; that thirty days before such meeting notice of the intention to incorporate said association was given by mail to each member thereof whose residence or post-office address is known; that at said meeting the following resolutions were offered, seconded and duly adopted by the unanimous vote of all its members then present, to wit: "Resolved, That it is the sense of the members and associates of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in general meeting assembled that it is desirable and necessary for the well being of said association and its members and for the furtherance. of the objects for which the same has been formed, that said association incorporate under the Membership Corporations Law of the State of New York; "And Further Resolved, That the Members of the Council of this Association, or a majority thereof, be and they hereby are authorized, in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 of Article I. of the Membership Corporations Law, to incorporate this association for the same purposes for which it has been organized and conducted, in the manner provided in Article II. of said law; "And Further Resolved, That the name of said corporation as hereby adopted by this meeting shall be American Institute of Mining Engineers; "And Further Resolved, That the said incorporators shall be named in the Certificate of Incorporation as directors of such corporation until its first annual meeting, and that such directors and their successors in office shall be and they hereby are authorized to enact and adopt a Constitution and By-Laws for the government of said corporation." IV. That the name of the proposed corporation is American Institute of Mining Engineers. V. That the purposes for which this corporation is to be formed are: To promote the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals, and the welfare of those employed in these industries by all lawful means; to hold meetings

Jan 1, 1928

By -1ng. B. Stampa

Introduction The author investigates the technology available for mine flow reversibility by reversing the operation of the main fans. Air bypassing, reversed sense of impeller rotation, and blade angle overturning are indentified as the most important means of achieving the flow reversibility. The axial flow fan is studied in some detail and the important variables of fan capacity, pressure, and efficiency are compared. Although some references to rotor velocity vectors are made (Fig. 1) the subject is not presented in detail in order to stay within the paper's intent. Background Where applicable, the requirements of mine air reversibility are an important part of the overall mining operation and should be given proper attention during mine ventilation design. The need for preventing mine fires in intake shafts is the reason that, for a long time, it has been a requirement in the Eastern European countries to have the feature of flow reversibility built into all main mine ventilators. In West German coal mines, this requirement does not apply since higher priority is given to safety precautions. Some metal and mineral mines in the United States are required to have ventilation currents readily reversible in order to fight underground fires as stipulated by the Title 30, Mineral Resources, and by the mining laws of some states. From an equipment performance standpoint, assuming the validity of other flow technical data, the question of the ventilator flow reversibility is of ten related to the actual scenario of the begining of an emergency. Most of the time, the system operates within half of the design capacity only and assuming that the equivalent mine orifice is stable only a quarter of the design pressure must be produced by the fan in any event. For such an operating point, the effective gradient and energy losses can be disregarded since fire emergencies usually last for only a short period of time. Equipment Comparison Fig. 2 depicts a ventilation arrangement wherein the flow can be reversed through changing the functional position of the dampers (slideplate or blade type). Both axial or radial fans can be applied in this case. For the mine exhaust operation, slide plates (guillotines) I and I11 are opened while plates I1 and IV are closed. The flow thus encounters two reroutings, which due to the reverse ventilation flow cannot be equipped with proper sheet metal deflectors, and therefore large pressure losses result during the air reroute operation. When the intake operation is considered, the dampers I and I11 are closed and the pair I1 and IV is opened. For this arrangement, almost the same flow conditions exist as for the foregoing exhaust mode; however, one additional corner must be applied. Even if a highly efficient ventilator is used in one of the previously described systems, the additional pressure losses resulting from air rerouting plus those encountered between the planes "0" and "00" significantly affect the overall energy requirements. Illustrated in Table 1 are the relative component losses of even flows for evaluation of various detour arrangements. From the aerodynamics standpoint, when these components are being designed, serious consideration must be given to the individual levels of the pressure loss coefficient, 5. Should there be an increase in the sum of the loss coefficients due to the particular component selection such that, for example, the net change is 1.2; the resulting pressure to be produced by the fan can be calculated from:

Jan 1, 1981

By Kenneth A. Moon

Kenneth A. Moon (U.S. Army Materials Research Agency)—The authors are to be congratulated for a very interesting and valuable paper. Their discussion of the structural implications of the results shown in their Fig. 5, however, requires a small correction. The model of Speiser and Spretnak with 0 = 1 and z' = 2 is perfectly reasonable for the Ti-O a phase, but Eq. [3] is valid only for solutions sufficiently dilute that the number of empty sites excluded by more than one filled site is negligible. The composition at which intrinsic saturation occurs therefore cannot be deduced from Eq. [3], but but must be decided by consideration of the structural details of the phase in question. In this case, intrinsic saturation is expected not at the composition Ti3O but at Ti2O, because Ti2O has the anti-Cd structurel4 for which each filled octahedral site has two nearby empty sites, one in the hexagonal plane immediately above it, and one in the similar plane below it. The other two models, with ?=1/3 and 1/2, imply a distinction between octahedral sites in pure titanium which is not easy to justify. The problem of extending Speiser's and Spretnak's treatment in a general way to more concentrated solutions will be the subject of a forthcoming publication by the writer. M. T. Hepworth and R. Schuhmann, Jr. (authors' reply)—The authors wish to thank Dr. Moon for calling to their attention the paper by Holmberg which presents the results of X-ray studies of Ti-O solutions ranging from 0 to 33 at. pct 0 and quenched from various annealing temperatures between 400" and 1800°C. Within these ranges, Holmberg found three types of phases: 1) At high oxygen contents (above 25 at. pct) and low annealing temperatures, he found the anti-Cd(OH)2 structure referred to by Dr. Moon. In this structure each titanium atom is in contact with 3 oxygens and each oxygen is in contact with 6 titaniums, the "available" oxygen sites corresponding to every other layer of octahedral sites in the titanium matrix. The limiting composition is Ti2O. However, this anti-Cd(OH)2 structure was not observed for samples containing 25 at. pct 0 or less. 2) For the specimen containing 25 at. pct 0 annealed at 400°C an ordered Ti3O structure was observed. This structure is related to the anti-Cd(OH)2 structure but differs from it by providing only two oxygens adjacent to each titanium atom and thus is consistent with the model represented by Eq. [5] in our paper, with 6 = 1/3, z' = 0. 3) For dilute solutions and for more concentrated solutions annealed at higher temperatures, the structure corresponds to that of the metal with random distribution of oxygens among all the octahedral sites. Thus, it is interesting to observe that the thermo-dynamic indications of ordering in the vicinity of Ti3O can now be supported qualitatively at least by Holmberg's X-ray evidence of the existence of an ordered phase of the composition Ti3O. That is, for solutions with oxygen contents close to that of Ti3O, both the thermodynamic data and the X-ray data are more consistent with models based on the ordered structure of Ti3O than they are with the model which Dr. Moon suggests corresponding to "intrinsic saturation" at Ti2O.

Jan 1, 1963

By M. A. Dayananda

Based on the Kirkendall frame of reference, a method is proposed for the determination of atomic mobilities of all the diffusing species in a multicorn-ponent system with a single diffusion couple. The method is based on an atomic mobility model developed on the concept of negligible interactions among the intrinsic fluxes. It is shown in the model that mobilities can be obtained directly from the cumulative intrinsic fluxes past the Kirkendall interface. The proposed method replaces the need for a prior determination of interdiffusion coefficients far the calculation of mobilities. Relations between intrinsic diffusion coefficients and mobilities are derived and the mobility calculations are illustrated with diffusion data in Cu-Zn-Mn alloys at 850°C. ThE concept of "intrinsic flux" with respect to a fixed lattice was introduced "i Darken1 to explain toa Kirkendall effect2 demonstrated by the motion of inert markers during isothermal diffusion in single-phase binary solid solutions. Based on this concept, intrinsic diffusion studies have been made in various binary metallic systems3,4 employing such a lattice frame of reference, commonly referred to as the Kirkendall interface. Similar approaches, both theoretical and experimental, have been presented5"10 to study intrinsic diffusion in multicomponent systems. Based on the direct integration of Fick's law extended to multicomponent diffusion, Philibert and Guy8 proposed a method for the determination of intrinsic diffusion coefficients. For an n-component system, this procedure requires an experimental study with (n — 1) diffusion couples, all having their Kirkendall interfaces at the same compositio;, where n(n — 1) intrinsic diffusion coefficients are defined. This technique has been employed for ternary diffusion studies by Dayananda and Grace" and Guy and Leroy.11 A different approach is recommended by Ziebold and Cooper,12 who have derived relations between interdiffusion coefficients and atomic mobilities employing fluxes referred to the local center of volume. Their analysis is based on the simplifying assumption of negligible interactions among intrinsic fluxes. This assumption has been considered satisfactory for dilute solutions.5"7 The use of this analysis for the calculation of mobilities requires an initial determination of interdiffusion coefficients with a set of diffusion couples having intersecting diffusion paths. It is the purpose of this paper to propose a method that would permit a direct determination of mobilities of all components of a multicomponent system from a single diffusion couple. This method is based on a mo- bility model developed with diffusion fluxes referred directly to the Kirkendall interface, generally identified by inert markers. gen erall, like that of Ziebold and Cooper,12 employs the simplifying assumption that the flux of each component relative to a fixed lattice is caused only by the driving force of its own chemical potential gradient. THE KIRKENDALL INTERFACE Inert markers are employed in diffusion couples to locate experimentally the position of the Kirkendall interface. They are initially placed at the weld interface for "sandwich" couples, or at the original vapor-solid interface for vapor-solid couples. Studies of marker motion in binary systems3'4 with both types of couples indicate that markers remain in a plane of constant composition and move with this plane para-bolically with time. Parabolic marker movements were also observed in ternary Cu-Zn-Mn couples by Dayananda and Grace.10 It is reasonable to expect a similar marker behavior even for diffusion couples with a higher number of components.

Jan 1, 1969

By Clarence W. Dunham

BECAUSE of the earthquakes that occur at Chuquicamata, the design of the smelter stacks constituted the most difficult structural problem of the entire sulphide ore project. Slight tremors occur almost daily and shocks of moderate magnitude are not uncommon. Naturally, the operation of the smelter depends upon the safety of these stacks, and their resistance to earthquakes was the critical feature of their design. Adequate data of the magnitudes of past shocks at Chuquicamata were not available. However, considering the information that was obtained from experiences in other parts of Chile, a period of one to two seconds was adopted as a basis for the design. To complicate the problem further, the stacks had to provide for operations under a wide variety of conditions ranging from the possibility of running one reverberatory furnace and two converters initially to perhaps five or six furnaces and eight or ten converters simultaneously in the completed plant. No one could tell for certain just what the ultimate capacity might have to be because the plans permitted a large extension beyond the first installation if this became necessary. Studies of the stacks were made for many conditions. At first it was thought that one stack 600 or 650 ft high should be used initially for both the furnaces and converters, with a second similar stack to be built for the future extension. This height would provide adequate draft in the rarified atmosphere at the plant's elevation of 10,000 ft. It would also disperse the gases high in the air. Preliminary studies of this large stack showed that such a structure was possible if made of steel but it would be exceedingly costly. Furthermore, the effects of the tendency for the top to whip under the action of earthquakes might be serious, and the design had to be based upon assumptions which might not be trustworthy. Such a tall stack was finally abandoned in favor of a larger number of smaller ones. Initially, one stack will service the first three or four furnaces. Another will handle the gases from four or five converters. The smelter has been located in such a position that the prevailing winds carry the fumes away from the remainder of the plant. A height of 300 ft for the stacks was finally selected. The top diameter is approximately 24 ft 9 in. clear inside of the lining. The converter stack is located upon a hill alongside the smelter. This provides an effective increase in height because its base is approximately 66 ft above the yard level. The base of the reverberatory stack is at the latter elevation. Stacks made of reinforced concrete or of steel were investigated, and so were many shapes for them. As these studies progressed, the lightness of a steel structure, and the ductility of the metal itself, led to the decision to use steel for the main part of the stacks. The fact that serious damage to one of the stacks would cause the plant to shut down, caused special studies to be made of the stress conditions that might exist around the breeching which had to be nearly 15 ft wide and 40 ft or more high where it joined the stack. This height was necessary in order to provide adequate transition from the horizontal flow of the gases to the vertical direction without undue eddies. This opening constituted a serious source of weakness in the structure. If made with sufficiently strong reinforcement around its edges, there would be a hard spot in the structure that might cause trouble because of shaft vibrations.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. S. Kasper, R. M. Waterstrat, B. F. Decker

THE existence of v phase in the Mn-Mo system was discovered in this laboratory several years ago,' but neither the conditions of its formation nor its composition were known, and preliminary attempts to reproduce the phase were unsuccessful. We wish now to specify the information appropriate to phase formation on the basis of experiments performed since that time. The starting materials were in every case electrolytic manganese and high purity molybdenum. Two methods of preparation were employed: l—arc-melting varying combinations of the elements in an inert atmosphere and subsequent heat treating, and 2—sintering compressed mixtures of finely divided powders of the elements. In the latter method, the powders were first passed through 200 mesh screen and then compressed into cylinders of % in. diameter and % in. length, which were sintered at elevated temperatures in an atmosphere of dry hydrogen. For some samples, the sintering temperature was 1200°C (for 1 hr), and these were then heat- treated at lower temperatures for times up to 24 hr. Eventually it was found, for the proper composition, that essentially pure a phase could be produced by sintering at 1125°C for 3 hr. Quenching to room temperature was effected by means of a stream of cold, dry hydrogen in a water-cooled chamber. The arc-melting procedure was found to be unsatisfactory after an investigation of many samples at different compositions and temperatures. Large quantities of manganese were vaporized during melting and none of the products were homogeneous or contained extended regions of pure phase. Nonetheless, these experiments established that no formation occurs in the Mn-Mo system below 1115oC, and indicated, at least roughly, the composition range of interest for further exploration. The more definite results obtained from samples produced by the second method are given in Table I. A portion of sample 2 heated for 16 hr at 1000°C in a Vycor tube transformed to molybdenum plus unidentified phases of complex X-ray pattern. From these few results it appears that the region of phase is quite narrow in composition. It is of interest that the composition is such as to make for difficulties in correlating this structure on an electron atom basis with other a structures of iron, cobalt, and nickel. In that respect Mn-Mo shows the same anomaly as Mn-Cr and Mn-V systems.' A second feature is that in common with the two other known molybdenum (Fe-Mo and Co-Mo), Mn-Mo v exists only at elevated temperatures. The X-ray powder pattern of the pure a phase of Mn-Mo is given in Table 11. It agrees well with the patterns established for other structures, especially with that for Fe-Mo as given by Goldschmidt.An attempt is being made to establish whether an ordering of the respective atoms occurs and such information will be reported in a future publication. Acknowledgment The authors acknowledge gratefully the assistance of Mrs. J. R. Belanger in some portions of this work. References 'J. S. Kasper, B. F. Decker, and J. R. Belanger: Journal of Applied Physics (1951) 22, p. 361. 2 A. H. Sully: Journal Inst. Metals (1951) 80, p. 173. H. J. Goldschmidt: Research (1949) 2, p. 343.

Jan 1, 1954

By R. E. Fryxell, E. C. Duderstadt, P. K. Conn

Permeation rates for nitrogen through are-cast tungsten were measured in the temperature range 1800° to 2600°C at nitrogen pressure differentials of 1.0 and 0.1 atm. Gas chromatography was used to measure the quantities of nitrogen which permeated through 0.26-and 0.53-mm-thick membranes. Permeation rates were proportional to the difference between the square roots of the nitrogen pressure on each side of the membrane and inversely proportional to membrane thickness, indicating that atomic nitrogen was the difjusing species and that diffusion was the rate-limiting step of the process. Permeation coefficients calculated from the rates may be represented by the equation: where P is expressed in the units cu cm (stP)-mm per 1/2 sq cm-min-atm"' and 70.0 * 0.8 is the activation energy in kcal per mole of permeating species. In a previous paper' permeation rates were reported for hydrogen and for oxygen through tungsten. The permeation cells used for the hydrogen measurements were suitable for measuring nitrogen permeation under similar conditions, so the study was extended to include nitrogen. Permeation rates of nitrogen through the polycrys-talline arc-cast tungsten membranes were measured in the temperature range 1800" to 2600°C using two membrane thicknesses and two nitrogen pressure differentials. Permeation coefficients were calculated and the activation energy of the process determined. THEORY For diatomic gases which dissociate prior to diffusion, the quantity of gas which permeates through a membrane or wall at an elevated temperature where bulk diffusion is the rate-limiting step of the process is given by the equation: where: q = total amount of gas permeating a membrane, P = temperature-dependent permeation coefficient, A = area of membrane, t = time, p1 = gas pressure of high-pressure side, p2 = gas pressure of low-pressure side, and d = thickness of membrane. When bulk diffusion is the rate-controlling step, and the solubility of the gas obeys Henry's law, a further relationship is that, for any given temperature and pressure, the permeation is the product of diffusivity and the amount in solution. The permeation coefficient, P, is temperature-dependent according to the equation: where: Po = permeation constant, Q = activation energy, R = gas constant, and T = absolute temperature. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Cell Design and Experimental Apparatus. Two of the permeation cells used for the previous measurements of hydrogen permeation are shown in Fig. 1. Each consisted of a cylindrical chamber divided into two parts by a permeation membrane fabricated from high-purity (>99.9 pct W) wrought tungsten sheet made from vacuum arc-cast tungsten. The membrane in one cell was 0.26 mm thick and the other was 0.53 mm. The fabrication of these cells was described previously.' The permeation cells were mounted vertically in a high-temperature tungsten resistance furnace and the membranes and the center portions heated to test temperatures. Temperatures were measured by sighting an optical pyrometer on the edge of the membrane through a small hole in a tungsten plate which was fastened to the side of the cell. This arrangement provided an approximate black-body condition and eliminated the need for emittance corrections. Appropriate corrections were made for the quartz window through which the temperatures were measured. Argon gas flowed through the 10-liter volume of the furnace at the rate of 4.7 liters per min. An impurity

Jan 1, 1969

By Clement K. Chase, J. A. Eisele, Paul D. Chamberlain, Terry Laverty, Lee Rice, Larry Sevenker, Albert G. Law, Daryl Tweeton, John Peters

"Name your poison," wrote Forbes, Jan. 3, 1983, in an article describing the plight of much of the mineral industry as it entered the new year. "To ask which (mining) segment is better these days is almost like asking which of several stones would make a better life preserver." "The scene has seldom seemed darker or apparently less promising," said the Mining Journal in June 1982. And the Northern Miner described the year as the third in a "3-year drought which has completely dried up (company) coffers." Thus, 1982 became the worst year for much of the mining industry since the Great Depression. Low prices, commodity surpluses, output reductions, layoffs, temporary and permanent closures, and financial losses made headlines as the general recession continued to hurl blows at an industry facing strong foreign competition, increased government regulations, and plummeting market demand. At fault were tight US monetary policies and the resulting high interest rates that, while forcing inflation to slow, also threw the economic wheels of the country into reverse gear. Automobile production, housing starts, consumer durable sales, and capital spending all fell dramatically. US industrial production fell about 8.5% in 1982, with the GNP dropping by 1.7%. Production Value Not a single mineral escaped this recession. According to the US Bureau of Mines, US nonfuel production value dropped for all but four out of 21 metals and 14 out of 44 nonmetals. Production quantities increased for only gold, lead, and zirconium among metals and for only six nonmetals. Total nonfuel mineral production value dropped a whopping 21% from 1981 levels, the largest decline since 1938 and the first since 1971. Production value was estimated at $20 billion. Metal commodities showed heavier losses than nonmetals-37% vs. 12%-because of their link to depressed automobile and construction industries. Prices From peaks in early 1980, prices of precious and base metals, ferrous and nonferrous metals, and virtually every mineral dropped to 30-month lows in June 1982. Gold dropped to $9.64/g ($300/oz) compared to a high of $27/g ($850/ oz). Silver was quoted below 164/g ($5/oz) versus a $1.61/g ($50/oz) high. Copper was offered at a five-year low of $1.22/kg (55.5¢/lb) compared with a high of $3.30/kg ($1.50/lb). Lead went for 53¢/kg (24¢/lb) versus $1.21 (554). Nickel begged for buyers at $4.19/kg ($1.90/lb) compared to a high price of $7.72/kg ($3.50/lb). Molybdenum was available at or below $8.82/kg ($4/lb), down from a high of $44/kg ($20/lb). Cobalt went for $11/kg ($5/lb) versus $55/kg ($25/lb). Adjusted for inflation, increased currency costs, and currency devaluation, many of these prices are the lowest reached in decades. Financial Profits & Losses Low prices severely impacted companies' earnings, turning profits into sometimes disastrous or fatal losses. Robert Norton, director of the US Bureau of Mines, noting there has been a recession in the mineral industry for years, said, "Profit rates as related to invested capital have been considerably lower (for mining) than those of other industries. Mineral industry profits have been subject to greater cyclical swings and debt equity ratios have been significantly greater than

Jan 5, 1983

By R. F. Domagala, M. Hansen, D. J. McPherson

On the basis of metallographic analysis, incipient melting data, thermal analysis work, and X-ray diffraction, phase relationships in the 0 to 50 atomic pct alloy content were carefully resolved. Phase relationships in the higher alloy content regions were outlined. A single intermediate phase, peritectically formed, of the form ZrX2 was established in each system. A eutectic and a eutectoid were found in the zirconium-rich region of both systems. Appreciable solubility of molybdenum and wolfram was found in ß zirconium, but only a slight solubility in a zirconium. PREVIOUS work on these systems was limited to X-ray investigations of the intermediate phases1, 2 and preliminary surveys of the zirconium-rich alloys." The diagrams presented were determined principally by metallographic, thermal analysis, and incipient melting techniques. In accordance with the Atomic Energy Commission contract requirements, phase relationships up to 50 atomic pct molybdenum or wolfram were carefully resolved, while only a limited amount of work was done to outline the 50 to 100 atomic pct alloy region. A description and analysis of the metals used in the preparation of alloys for this study are included in Table I. A "low-hafnium" zirconium crystal bar, produced by the decomposition of a volatile iodide onto a hot filament, was employed for these studies. Westinghouse "Grade 3" crystal bar was used for all alloys. The zirconium, as received, was coated with corrosion product from a standard autoclave test by which its grade designation is determined. This was removed by a sand-blasting and HF-HNO, pickling technique developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. The bars were cold rolled to approximately 1/32 in. sheet, pickled for iron removal, sheared to 1/4 in. squares, washed with acetone, and stored for furnace charge. Molybdenum sheet. 0.003 in. thick, 0.001 to 0.005 in. wolfram wire, and M in. wolfram rod crushed to granular form, from Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., were used as alloying stock. Melting Procedure A nonconsumable electrode arc furnace identical to that described in detail by Hansen et al.4 was used. The source of power for melting Zr-Mo alloys was a 400 amp dc welding generator, while a 900 amp dc generator was used for preparing Zr-W alloys. Electrode tips of the same material as the alloy addition were employed in both systems, i.e., molybdenum tips were used for Zr-Mo alloys, and wolfram tips for Zr-W alloys. This precluded any possible electrode contamination during arc melting. Ingots of 20 to 30 g of Zr-Mo alloys were melted under high purity helium in the cavity of a copper block insert in a spun copper crucible. Homogeneity was insured by remelting all ingots four to six times without opening the furnace. Due to the large difference between the melting points of wolfram and zirconium, direct melting of the charged metals as above generally yielded ingots containing unmelted wolfram particles. This was overcome, after many variations in technique, by melting a pure wolfram charge at high power levels (700 to 900 amp) and slowly adding zirconium to form a master alloy. Such master alloys were sectioned and remelted several times, then crushed to serve as melting stock for alloys of lower wolfram content. Master alloys containing 26, 50, 52, 70, and

Jan 1, 1954

INTRODUCTION Besides the European export credit agencies covered in Ted Rides' paper in this Chapter, other agencies are also active (see Appendix) but the most notable for mining projects are The Export-Import Bank of the United States ("US Exim") and the Export Development Corporation ("EDC") of Canada. Mexico's Fomex is basically a short-term trade-finance fund administered by the Central Bank. US Exim This independent agency can provide loans, guarantees, and insurance. Like all export-credit agencies, its mandate is to support the export of goods and services from the US as a means of competing against other countries' products. If a piece of mining equipment can only he made in the US, the US Exim may very well not provide any financial assistance. (It is important not to place the order for any item for which export credit is sought because, once ordered, the situation is no longer competitive in US Exim's eyes.) Direct Credits and financial guarantees ("buyer credits") are commonly in amounts greater than 85 million and for terms longer than six years. An example here is the $48.5 million provided to PT International Nickel Indonesia (see Robert de Gavre's paper in Chapter 12). US Exim usually requires a 15% downpayment and, therefore, finances up to 857 of the goods; less if the US content is lower. The dollar funding can he US prime, London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), or other sources. Exim can fund in either or both of the following ways: 1. Under a US bank Letter of Credit ("L/C") 2. Reimbursement to the buyer/borrower via a US bank account. US Exim will, without charge, issue a preliminary commitment. It will, however, need to approve the various credit agreements and prefers to tie other parallel financings into one loan agreement. US Exim's total commitments are large, up to $5R billion in aggregate under various programs. US Exim has been the world's leader in medium-to long-term minerals project financings/ co-financings but suffers from (i) aggressive foreign export-credit competition whereby other nations mix in soft-loans or aid programs ("mixed credits") to increase the percentage financed and lower the interest margin and (ii) an imbalance in its own cost of funds. A common US Exim package would be as follows: 15% Banks under US Exim guarantee, floating rate over prime or LIBOR. 35% US Exim funding, fixed rate 35% Pefco funding, fixed rate 857 Drawn down pro-rata under US bank L/C 15% Cash down payment (may have been financed within a project/corporate credit) 100% Repayment usually begins six months after planned start-up in equal semi-annual instalments, with the banks usually paid out first, Pefco next, and US Exim last. Medium-term credits ("supplier credits") are issued for US equipment exports for terms up to five years, again for 85% of the equipment costs although the exporter is expected to bear at least 10% out of that 857 for its own risk. The buyer is required to be a first-class credit such as some governments or highly credit-worthy companies. Otherwise a bank L/C would be required. (This may be wrapped into an overall project-finance package for a minerals development. The project-finance banks provide an L/C to US Exim instead of funding that portion themselves.) US Exim guarantees 100% of the political risk and either 85% or 95% of the commercial risk for

Jan 1, 1985

By J. F. Smith

ELASTIC constants of yttrium and eleven of the rare earth elements have been measured. This has been accomplished by measuring the propagation velocities of ultrasonic pulses. The velocity measurements were made by noting the elapsed time between an applied pulse and the appearance of successive echoes. The pulse-echo technique has become relatively common, and the basis of the measurement is outlined in several standard tests, e.g., Heuter and Bolt.1 Two important assumptions are made when using this method for the determination of elastic moduli. First, the pulse is assumed to propagate as a plane wave. To justify this assumption, the cross section of the test specimen should be large compared to the wave length of the transmitted pulse. For these measurements on the rare earth elements the minimum cross section wave length ratio was about 20. A second assumption which must be made when using polycrystalline specimens is that the grains are sufficiently numerous and randomly oriented so that the specimen may be approximated as elasti-cally isotopic. The grain size in the as-cast specimens which were used is believed to be sufficiently fine for this approximation, and the degree of preferred orientation is believed to be small. Supporting this viewpoint is the fact that elasticity measurements by the pulse-echo technique on as-cast specimens of other metals give results which are in satisfactory agreement with values obtained by other techniques. Hence, it is believed that the measured elasticity values for the rare earth elements are not apt to be seriously in error due to the assumption of elastic isotopy. The apparatus used in this determination was a modified Sperry Reflectoscope with a precisely calibrated time base circuit. Piezoelectric transducers were used both to generate the pulse and to detect the echoes. X-cut quartz crystals were used for the longitudinal modes, and Y-cut quartz crystals were used for the shear modes. Frequencies of 2.25 and 5 megacycles per sec were employed. Most of the specimens were 2.5 to 5.0 cm in length. Results Table I is a tabulation of the measured propagation velocities of longitudinal waves and of shear waves, together with densities obtained by Sped- ding, Daane, and Herrmann2 from lattice parameter measurements. The shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, and Young's modulus were calculated from the data in Table I through use of the following relationships: µ = pv32 [1] s=2-(vb/vs)2/2[1-(vb/vs)2] [2] and Y= 2µ(l+s) [3] where s is the shear modulus, Y is the Young's modulus, s is Poisson's ratio, p is the density, V0 is the longitudinal wave velocity, and v, is the shear wave velocity. The calculated quantities are shown in Table 11. Compressibility values can be computed from the relationship and the computed values may be compared with measured values obtained by Bridgman.8 Table III lists the data for such a comparison. The agreement is satisfactory, being particularly good for neodymi- um and gadolinium, poor for samarium, and intermediate for the other elements. Some variation is expected since Bridgman's measurements are isothermal, whereas the present measurements are adiabatic. In addition there may be some effect due to small variations in purity. Though most of the rare earth metals measured by Bridgman and all of the metals used in the present measurements were prepared at this laboratory, minor purity variations might exist since the samples came from different lots. Also, any imperfections such as dislocations, vacancies, voids, grain boundaries, microcracks, etc., should contribute to the volume change of a com-

Jan 1, 1958

By P. E. Baker

Approximate solutions are presented for the heat-flow equations in a loss-free linear system with a moving source and with heat transfer by convection and conduction, representing in situ combustion in an oil reservoir. The rate of heat generation and the velocity vf of the source (flame front) are assumed constant. A cold front or convection front caused by the cooling effect of in-jected air develops behind the flame front and moves with velocity vc, which is determined by the thermal properties of the air and rock. Because of thermal conduction the fronts are not sharp; i.e., they do not represent temperature discontinuities. The following solutions apply after a sufficiently long time. where Q is heat generated per unit volume of formation, k is thermal conductivity, CF is volumetric heat capacity, a is thermal diffusivity, and subscripts 1 and 2 refer to values behind and ahead of the flame front, respectively. The parameter CF2 is contained in v . Te is initial reservoir temper- . C2 e ature and air-injection temperature. Other mathematically possible solutions are presented. The different solutions result from the use of different values for various physical parameters. The solution just presented is thought to be most commonly applicable. INTRODUCTION In this paper, approximate analytical expressions are derived for the temperature profile developed in the underground combustion method of oil recovery. A qualitative description of the process may be found in a paper by Tadema.1 The flame front is regarded as a moving source with a constant rate of heat generation. Heat transfer is by conduction and convection. Previous publications, of which a few are cited here, 2-5 have also attacked this problem and have presented solutions pertaining to different methods of approximating or idealizing the process studied. The present paper also treats an idealized case: linear flow is assumed for heat and fluids, and vaporization and condensation effects are neglected. The results obtained are similar to those derived by Bailey and Larkin,3 but are obtained by an entirely different procedure. The method used here should give considerably greater insight into the physics of the in situ combustion process. Four types of cases are considered, distinguished by thermal and fluid-flow properties of the system. A constant rate of heat generation and constant rate of flame-front advance are assumed. Flame-front temperature is determined for each case using a heat balance which involves the entire temperature profile. The applicability of the different solutions to real systems is discussed after they are all presented. Again, this is done for the purpose of understanding better the physics of the process. Consideration of the nonapplicable solutions and of the reasons for their not applying is significant. In a paper by Cooperman,4 the only case solved is one considered here as not applicable. Fluid flow, as such (pressures, saturations, oil recovery, etc.), is not treated. This subject has been covered in a paper by Wilson, et al.6 Also, we are not concerned with requirements for continuance of the process; we only attempt to determine the temperature history for cases where the process has continued for some time. PHYSICAL SYSTEM AND APPROACH TO PROBLEM A linear flow (heat and fluid) system is assumed and the x-axis is taken parallel to the flow direction. The combustion zone (flame front) is vertical,