Search Documents

By W. E. Davies

"This paper is the sequel to that on Developments in Sintering Efficiency delivered by Davies and Mitchell at the International Ore Dressing Congress, Stockholm, 1957. Attention is drawn to the fundamental concept of sintering as a heat transfer process, in which the ignition heat is continually transferred onward through the bed as a heat wave. By its passage, this heat initiates endothermic 'changes, such as carbonate decomposition, whose energy requirements are supplied by the combustion of the fuel contained in the bed.Ideally, the heat wave should be generated by the ignition hood followed by the pre-heating of the incoming air. The fuel content of the bed should be no more than the theoretical quantity needed to balance the endothermic changes. In practice, the heat wave is seriously short of energy and this is offset by excess fuel in the bed. As a result, sinter quality suffers, more return .fines are produced, and fuel is wasted, a loss of efficiency which could be avoided if the fundamentals of correct ignition were more widely appreciated.Sintering speed, otherwise heat wave velocity, is a function of the rate at which the incoming air acquires .heat from the cooling sinter and imparts it to the unburned feed below the combustion zone. It is thus a function of rate of air flow and so depends on bed permeability>. Ways of• improving and maintaining permeability at the maximum consistent with thorough sintering are discussed, particular reference being made to taconite concentrates. The possibilities of recrystallizing refractory ores into forms more amenable to physical concentration techniques by sintering are visualised, very little expenditure on heat energy being required when the process is operated near the ideal conditions."

Jan 1, 1960

By John B. Gustavson

This paper describes a case history of geochemical prospecting. An area of known mineralization was available for an orientation survey which led to the selection of elements and criteria for a reconnaissance survey in the area offsetting the known mineralization. Certain anomalies were found which were then made subject of confirmation sampling and of rock geochemical investigations. Inasmuch as the geochemical prospecting technique specifically led to a detailed area which now serves as a target for drilling and other exploration efforts, the geochemical prospecting part of the program is considered successfully concluded and, therefore, reported on here. Whether the target area will turn out to host the deposit or not is, of course, of utmost importance to the Company, but is of less importance to this paper. We will describe the concepts, the planning, the execution, the analysis and the interpretation of this typical geochemical prospecting case. A number of people on the staff of International Oil & Gas, Inc. have participated in this prospect, as have students from Southeast Missouri State University and their professor, Gary M. Lowell. In addition, the Missouri Geological Survey has been most helpful with records and letters on the century-old prospecting and mining in the general area. Many valuable discussions have also been held with geologists from the industry who, from time to time, have visited the area, examined the property and reviewed the status of the project. The support and interest from all these parties has made it possible to pursue and expand this exploration concept from one of being just "more of the same kind" to the most chal-1enging and exciting with which this author has ever been involved, namely the prospect for tin porphyry deposits in the mid-continent United States.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. V. Higgins, H. C. Miller

"INTRODUCTION The development of methods for determining the total quantity of crude oil that a given pool could be expected to produce in the future and the well-spacing and drilling programs most likely to result in the recovery of the maximum quantity of oil at the minimum cost became problems of acute concern to American oil producers and petroleum engineers during the second decade of the twentieth century, The United States faced what seemed at that time to be a serious shortage of petroleum, and it appeared that the constantly increasing demand for petroleum and its products could not be adequately supplied. Undrilled prospective acreage, which until then had been plentiful, seemed to be getting scarcer, competition was increasing, the margin of profit to the producer was shrinking, and the need for developing constructive policies of conservation appeared paramount. As a result of physical and economic changes then taking place within the petroleum industry prompted by the seemingly uncertain future, accurate knowledge pertaining to the probable future production of oil wells and of oil lands especially was needed and greatly desired. Furthermore, the need for obtaining the maximum quantity of oil from known fields caused technical information - which up to that time had not been deemed essential to the successful and profitable operation of oil lands - to be sought eagerly. The need for technical information, such as methods for determining future reserves of oil and the rate at which the oil could be obtained under a specific program of drilling, was emphasized further with the passage of the Revenue Act of 1918, and oil producers with enough income to place them in the taxable class were compelled, for the first time, to report their taxable income 4/ to the Treasury Department."

Nov 1, 1939

By M J. Newton

As part of the AMIRA P843 project Keeney and Walters (2008) describe how the principal components analysis (PCA) method can be used to identify classes of samples with similar metallurgical characteristics. However PCA does not take account of the location of each sample in 3D space. This paper describes a study to analyse the spatial distributions of the classes and determine appropriate modelling methods to control the estimation of the comminution parameters and mill performance indices into a 3D block model. This includes but is not restricted to geostatistical techniques that are used for grade modelling. The starting point for the study is the class definitions and the regression models for estimating the comminution parameters and performance indices. Each sample is assigned a class and the spatial distribution of each class has been analysed using different techniques including the calculation of variograms. This establishes whether the classes can be used as domain control for estimation into the block model – a procedure similar to using geological rock type domains for controlling the estimation of grades for a resource model. However, standard geostatistical estimation methods such as ordinary kriging assume that the variable being estimated is additive or linear. This assumption is valid for variables such as grade but this is not necessarily the case for the comminution parameters or the performance indices. Therefore the estimation procedure must either use variables that are definitely additive or the effect of potential non-additivity must be tested and accounted for where possible.The results of the study show how performance indices such as recovery, throughput and specific power can be estimated into the block model. This model is then combined with the geological model to provide a multi-parametric model that is used to optimise the mine planning and scheduling activities which can lead to significant improvements in NPV.

Sep 5, 2011

By Joseph Harrington

It is sufficiently correct to say that domestic solid fuel is universally hand fired and it is almost as correct to state that a very large proportion of hand-fired domestic fires are extremely inefficient and smoky. This is particularly true with raw bituminous coal for the fuel. The smokeless and efficient firing of domestic coal affords one of the most difficult problems confronting the combustion engineer. This is due to the universally constricted combustion space in the domestic furnace, the complete ignorance regarding the laws of combustion on the part of the average person, and the fact that the laws of efficient combustion are almost completely nullified under these conditions. It is well to familiarize ones self with these laws. These are: 1. The gradual introduction of the fuel to the furnace. 2. The admission and mixing of the right quantity of air with the coal gases. 3. A temperature high enough to permit complete combustion, and 4. A furnace space of volume sufficient to permit of the combustion gases and the oxygen getting together within the confines of the furnace. Even a casual inspection of the domestic heater will show that none of these essential things are present in proper degree, and this is the reason why the problem of domestic firing presents such difficulties. I have analyzed these conditions in a paper published by the Black Diamond, and which has already had wide distribution, so that I will not repeat the rather lengthy discussion in this paper. A survey of the entire field indicates very clearly that a reversal of existing methods and equipment must be had before any real improvement can be expected. It is my firm belief that in this instance above all others it is necessary to build the efficiency and smokelessness into the equipment in such a manner that its performance will be entirely independent of both skill and interest on the part of the operative. To attempt to educate every man, woman and child who periodically throws coal into a domestic furnace would be literally impossible. Much can be done, however, if we could teach the householder the simple essentials of alternate firing, which I have explained at length in the above mentioned paper. This would go a long way toward making the domestic furnace problem more satisfactory, as well as efficient and smokeless. Many will argue, and with good reason, that the domestic fuel should be prepared coke and with this I agree up to the limit imposed by the practical considerations of quantity production, price and the possibility of marketing the by-products. It will be obvious that if enough raw coal should be processed to provide all of the required domestic fuel that the amount of by-products recovered during the coking process would be so great that there would be little or no market at any price which would justify the manufacture of coke. If the by-products were wasted they would not only be a tremendous economic loss, but the price charged for the coke would probably be so high that the market would be limited, and this would defeat the very idea of the whole thing. Much can be done, however, in advancing the use of coke, but I believe that much more extensive and careful experimentization should be had in order to determine the right size and quality of coke for the various domestic furnaces. If coke were to be developed for extensive domestic consumption it is more than probable that the coking process should and could be stopped at a point where the volatile content of the coke would be sufficiently high to permit of prompt ignition and combustion in low draft installations. If the volatile content were from five to ten per cent a very different kind of coke would be produced from that which is now produced with perhaps one per cent of volatile. A skillful manipulation of this feature would make coke adaptable and satis-

Jan 1, 1925

By H. L. Teichman, E. M. Sipprelle

ENACTMENT' of Public Law 290 by the 78th Congress authorized the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, to conduct an experimental program to develop the technology for obtaining oil from oil shale. In adopting and later extending this legislation, the Congress recognized the impending necessity of supplementing ground petroleum reserves with synthetic fuels. Under the provisions of this legislation, the Bureau of Mines, among other things, was charged with the responsibility of developing mining techniques, methods, and equipment for mining the oil shales of the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The oil shales of western Colorado are apparently richer, more accessible, and more amenable to exploitation than elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain region. The site chosen for the Bureau's Experimental mine is about 10 miles west of Rifle in northwestern Colorado. It is within a 1000-sq-mile area from which, it has been estimated, 300 billion barrels of shale oil could be produced from a 500-ft measure near the top of the formation. One hundred billion barrels of this amount could be produced from the Mahogany ledge, a 60 to 100-ft section near the bottom of the 500-ft measure. This ledge is considered to have economic importance at present. The Green River formation was laid down as sediment in the bottom of vast, shallow inland lakes during Eocene time. The deposit is flat-lying, and there are no faults, fissures, or local rolls. Oil shale is actually a strong, tough magnesium marlstone, which will stand unsupported over relatively wide spans. These and other natural physical characteristics favor mechanized, low-cost mining, which is essential for establishment of an oil-shale industry. It was realized from the outset that an extensive research program would be necessary to develop mining methods, equipment, and techniques for a mechanized, low-cost operation. The program was designed to include research. into all the productive phases of mining, such as drilling, blasting, loading, transportation, and maintenance of the mine structure. The methods, equipment, and techniques developed as a result of this research have established a production of 116 tons per man-shift total labor at a direct cost of $0,292 per ton. Another important phase of the research program that has received little publicity because of its theoretical nature is study of the roofstone behavior and determination of mine structure stresses. This paper purposes to discuss this phase of the research program. Preliminary studies of the physical properties of the Green River oil-shale formation were made in the Barodyramics Laboratory at Columbia University during the latter part of 1945 and the early part of 1946.* The purpose of these studies was to determine the maximum size of unsupported underground openings that would be commensurate with safety and still permit the use of large, efficient mining equipment. Also to be determined were the pillar support to extraction ratio and the shape, size, and spacing of supporting pillars. Selected samples of possible roofstones near the top of the Mahogany ledge, as well as representative samples of different rock types found within the ledge, were obtained from the Bureau's oil-shale mine for these studies. The maximum safe unsupported roof span calculated from this work was 200 ft. Using a safety factor of four, it was theoretically determined that openings 60 ft wide could be advanced under a roofstone at the top of the Mahogany ledge. To support the overburden, 60-ft-sq pillars would be left in a checkerboard pattern. From visual observations made of core samples through the selected roofstone at the oil-shale mine, it was determined that the roofstone was actually a plate 6 to 8 ft thick. Because the calculations were theoretical and allowance had to be made for unknown cracks and fractures in the formation, openings 50 ft wide and pillars 60 ft sq were originally contemplated in the Bureau's Experimental mine. This would be the minimum allowable width that would permit use of large underground mining equipment. For lower mining costs and greater efficiency larger openings were desirable. Different but analogous approaches were made to the problem at the Bureau of Mines Applied Physics

Jan 1, 1951

By S. Dinda

A series of as -quenched 4340 bars were drawn through a carbide die to various reductions. The X-ray diffraction technique of Lopata and Kula was employed to detect preferred orientation in drawn martensitic steel bars with low amounts of deformation, as lord as 0.8 pct The specimen face of each bar examined was cut at a 45-deg angle to the bar axis. The reflecting planes in the 45-deg face were varied by appropriate rotation of the sample using a spectrogonionzeter. TIE X-ray bean of a diffractometer was reflected from the center of the bar and the diffracted intensity was delected with a proportional counter and recorded. Intensity peaks were developed by cold working for 110 planes oriented at 0 and 60 deg to the bar axis. The intensity peaks increased with increasing defortnalion us a preferred orientation with a 110 texture developed parallel to the drawing direction. The intensity peaks for deformed as-quenched specimens remain unchanged after tempering at temperatures as high as 1000°F. The same amount of preferred orienlalion was observed both inferritic (hot-rolled) and martensitic (as-quenched) structures after an equivalent amount of deformation. THE deformation of martensite with medium carbon content. less than 0.5 pct, has been studied by Breyer et a1.1,2 It was reported that changes in properties such as resistivity, carbide precipitation, and the introduction of a yield point phenomenon were produced after cold reduction of as-quenched AISI 4340 steel bars. Later, Breyer and Nachtman3 studied the effect of cold reduction upon X-ray line intensity. They showed that the integrated 110 line intensity increased with increasing deformation when the planes examined were perpendicular to the die drawing direction. The integrated 110 line intensity for planes oriented at 45 deg to the die drawing direction, in contrast, were found to slightly decrease. These changes were proposed to be consistent with the previously proposed model of a stress-induced ordering of carbon atoms in the vicinity of dislocations.1,2 Objections can be raised to the above interpretation of the X-ray results on two grounds: a) Rough structure factor calculations indicate that the intensity changes are too large (50 pct observed vs 2 pct calculated4,5) to be the result of changes in the location of iron atoms produced by the stress-induced ordering of the carbon atoms. b) The results might be explained in terms of preferred orientations, although X-ray evidence of the development of texture has not been reported in the literature for deformations as slight as 1 or 2 pct. The aim of the present work was to determine if preferred orientation was present in such cold-drawn martensitic steel bars. In drawn rod or wire there is generally a certain crystallographic direction which is aligned in the direction of the wire axis, and the crystallographic planes are distributed symmetrically around this "fiber axis".6-8 This type of cylindrical specimen, with the fiber axis located at the center, will show rotational symmetry. Lopata and Kula9 proposed an experimental method utilizing a specimen cut at 45 deg, see Fig. 1. The X-ray beam is diffracted from the center of this bar cross section. The specimen is rotated around an axis perpendicular to the bar axis and lying in the 45-deg cut face. This permits the angle between the normals to the reflecting planes and the bar axis to be varied from 0 to 90 deg.9 With this arrangement the errors due to absorption and irradiated volume compensate each other.' This greatly simplifies analysis of the data and is of considerable advantage for quantitative measurements. If there is preferred orientation in the specimen, more planes are oriented in a particular direction in the bar. When the bar is rotated to the favorable Bragg condition for that particular orientation, the intensity will be higher than that for some other angle. This technique was adopted for the present investigation.

Jan 1, 1969

By R. M. S. B. Horta, W. T. Roberts, D. V. Wilson

Evaluation of results obtained by the Harris method for inverse pole figures is discussed. Two existing analyses and a new approach are compared. In the most frequently used analysis, different reflections are accorded equal weight. A second method involves area-weighting of reflections, mainly to take account of nonuniformity of Pole distribution. In the new method, reflections are weighted according to their multiplicity factors. Intensity ratios obtained from a sample of steel sheet by the three methods are compared. INVERSE pole figures offer a convenient method of depicting the proportions of material with various orientations referred to a unique specimen axis. The technique was first applied to fiber textures, but it is now frequently used as a description of texture in sheet metal, the unique axis in this case usually being the sheet normal. The Harris method' for the determination of inverse pole figures has the great merit of simplicity. It suffers certain intrinsic limitations, but provided that these are borne in mind, the results allow useful conclusions to be drawn regarding the effects of texture components on certain mechanical properties. Much thought has been given to alternative methods of texture description, aimed at eliminating the ambiguity in the simpler methods.2"6 Refinements in the method of description are obtained at the price of increasing complexity, and it seems clear that a simple method, such as that of Harris, will continue to find application. The original derivation by Harris1 has been corrected by Morris7 and later by Mueller, Chernock, and Beck.2 Since the latter reference is more accessible, it is referred to more frequently than the work of Morris. Most users of the inverse pole figure method present their results on the basis of the treatment by Mueller et al., and it is the purpose of the present communication to comment on this treatment and to suggest a simple modification to the method of presentation which enhances the meaningfulness of the results. It will be convenient first to summarize the Mueller analysis as follows: The intensity Ihkl of a hkl reflection from a textured specimen is: Ihkl=CI0AL\Fhkl\2NhklPhkl [1] where C is a constant for a given sample I, is the intensity of the incident beam A is an absorption factor. With usual diffrac-tometer geometry and a flat specimen, A is inversely proportional to the density of the specimen. L is the Lorenz polarization factor Fhkl is the structure factor for the hkl reflection Nhkl is the multiplicity factor phkl is the fraction of crystals in the polycrystal-line aggregate with any particular (nkl) plane parallel to the surface. The corresponding equation for a specimen with randomly oriented grains is lR,hkl=CRl°ARL\fnkl\2Nnklk [2] the subscripts R indicating the factors that are different for the random sample, which will, in general, have a density different from that of the textured one. The intensity ratio is hkl , c A Phkl [3] IR,hkl CR AR PR The constants are eliminated by summing over all the measured reflections ^iRMi °R AR PR ljPkkl and from Eqs. [3] and [4] T IR,hkl The only unknown in Eq. [5] is Yj phkl and before this can be evaluated, it is necessary to adopt some form of normalizing procedure. Mueller et al. assume that when a large number, n, of reflections is used, the average value of p as defined by Eq. [6] below will be unity ? = £j**l3l [6] and the final result of their analysis follows: hkl Pkkl = i I&Jf~ [7] ±y* Ihkl ^ in,hki The normalizing procedure used by Mueller et al. involves an unrealistic assumption since it gives equal weight to each of the hkl reflections. Other normalizing procedures can now be examined with a view to selecting a more appropriate one. For an infinite number of reflections, the function p can be averaged over a continuous range of orientations covering the complete solid angle 4p by the integral relation: p =1 jp(a)dQ = l [8] This is the only exact procedure, but in practice a

Jan 1, 1970

By Walter Hull Aldridge

Much has been said about the foreseeable exhaustion of known mineral reserves-particularly in the United States. It is claimed that we are about to become a have-not nation insofar as certain essential minerals are concerned; and in this respect our position is often contrasted with that of the world as a whole, largely because we have drawn so heavily on our domestic resources during the last fifty years. As a matter of fact, the difference is not great if one takes a reasonably long-term view of the situation. No one denies that nature endowed the United States richer in mineral resources than any other equal area. It is granted that we have skimmed the cream of many kinds of minerals; but in a free international trade in minerals it would not be many decades before the richer deposits-at least the deposits easy of discovery throughout the world would be depleted to much the same degree as those in the United States today. For it is a fact that the problem of satisfying the needs of our industrial society for minerals is fundamentally worldwide in scope. The singular and significant attribute to all minerals is that there is but a single crop. Forests can be grown, but mineral deposits can be replaced only by finding new ones. Thus, one of the vital tasks of the mining engineer, the petroleum engineer, and the geologist is to find these new mineral resources. Another task is to devise means and methods for the exploitation of, at costs that are economic, low-grade deposits and those deeply buried in the crust of the earth. The first need, however, is to find the deposits in the ground. If the assumptions of those who today fear an early exhaustion of all deposits are valid, the outlook for continued material and social progress is gloomy indeed. I take a more optimistic view, for it is my belief that vast new sources of needed minerals will have come to light before our known resources are gone. The real question is whether the outside layer of the crust of the earth that is accessible to engineers contains adequate mineral deposits; and whether engineers can find those deposits. The answer must be based on geologic science, geologic fact, and mining history. Every continent, and almost every country, has yielded minerals of industrial utility in substantial quantity. Mineral deposits are widespread. Geologists know the conditions that were favorable to the occurrence of ores and the types of rocks in which various kinds of ores may ordinarily be found. They know that such rocks occur over broad regions of the earth's surface. They also know that in large areas rocks that are potential carriers of ores are covered and concealed by material of entirely different character. Such cover may consist of lava flows, layers of volcanic ash, or beds of material washed down from the surrounding mountains. Sometimes those covers are thick, sometimes relatively thin. But men well-qualified to pass judgment are sure that concealed deposits, large in number and in size, exist close enough to the surface to make exploitation practical. Only by actual penetration of the surface can this contention be proved, but to conclude otherwise would be to ignore the laws of probability and to deny the over-all consistency of nature. The task of probing the crust of the earth to determine the location of these deposits, and to obtain some notion of their size and quality, poses serious problems. However, they should not be beyond human solution. Much more research must be done in analyzing and explaining the laws of ore deposition. New tools, in the shape of techniques and methods and of mechanical and electrical devices and instruments, must be developed. But no reasonable person can doubt that these objectives will be achieved. As the need becomes increasingly pressing, scientists and engineers will supply the imagination and the ingenuity that will provide the solution. The time and effort thus far devoted to the development of methods for locating hidden ore bodies have been pitifully meager. Energetic investigation of the subject of applied geophysics is essential to the success of the mineral industry, and I have no hesitation in predicting that effective techniques will be found and successfully applied. Twenty-five years ago the petroleum industry

Jan 3, 1950

By H. L. Teichman, E. M. Sipprelle

ENACTMENT' of Public Law 290 by the 78th Congress authorized the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, to conduct an experimental program to develop the technology for obtaining oil from oil shale. In adopting and later extending this legislation, the Congress recognized the impending necessity of supplementing ground petroleum reserves with synthetic fuels. Under the provisions of this legislation, the Bureau of Mines, among other things, was charged with the responsibility of developing mining techniques, methods, and equipment for mining the oil shales of the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The oil shales of western Colorado are apparently richer, more accessible, and more amenable to exploitation than elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain region. The site chosen for the Bureau's Experimental mine is about 10 miles west of Rifle in northwestern Colorado. It is within a 1000-sq-mile area from which, it has been estimated, 300 billion barrels of shale oil could be produced from a 500-ft measure near the top of the formation. One hundred billion barrels of this amount could be produced from the Mahogany ledge, a 60 to 100-ft section near the bottom of the 500-ft measure. This ledge is considered to have economic importance at present. The Green River formation was laid down as sediment in the bottom of vast, shallow inland lakes during Eocene time. The deposit is flat-lying, and there are no faults, fissures, or local rolls. Oil shale is actually a strong, tough magnesium marlstone, which will stand unsupported over relatively wide spans. These and other natural physical characteristics favor mechanized, low-cost mining, which is essential for establishment of an oil-shale industry. It was realized from the outset that an extensive research program would be necessary to develop mining methods, equipment, and techniques for a mechanized, low-cost operation. The program was designed to include research. into all the productive phases of mining, such as drilling, blasting, loading, transportation, and maintenance of the mine structure. The methods, equipment, and techniques developed as a result of this research have established a production of 116 tons per man-shift total labor at a direct cost of $0,292 per ton. Another important phase of the research program that has received little publicity because of its theoretical nature is study of the roofstone behavior and determination of mine structure stresses. This paper purposes to discuss this phase of the research program. Preliminary studies of the physical properties of the Green River oil-shale formation were made in the Barodyramics Laboratory at Columbia University during the latter part of 1945 and the early part of 1946.* The purpose of these studies was to determine the maximum size of unsupported underground openings that would be commensurate with safety and still permit the use of large, efficient mining equipment. Also to be determined were the pillar support to extraction ratio and the shape, size, and spacing of supporting pillars. Selected samples of possible roofstones near the top of the Mahogany ledge, as well as representative samples of different rock types found within the ledge, were obtained from the Bureau's oil-shale mine for these studies. The maximum safe unsupported roof span calculated from this work was 200 ft. Using a safety factor of four, it was theoretically determined that openings 60 ft wide could be advanced under a roofstone at the top of the Mahogany ledge. To support the overburden, 60-ft-sq pillars would be left in a checkerboard pattern. From visual observations made of core samples through the selected roofstone at the oil-shale mine, it was determined that the roofstone was actually a plate 6 to 8 ft thick. Because the calculations were theoretical and allowance had to be made for unknown cracks and fractures in the formation, openings 50 ft wide and pillars 60 ft sq were originally contemplated in the Bureau's Experimental mine. This would be the minimum allowable width that would permit use of large underground mining equipment. For lower mining costs and greater efficiency larger openings were desirable. Different but analogous approaches were made to the problem at the Bureau of Mines Applied Physics

Jan 1, 1951

By M A. Rhamdhani, R Z. Mukhlis

Removing the ledge formation in the Hall-Heroult cell during the electrolysis process may significantly reduce the energy requirement of the aluminium production process. In the absence of the ledge, however, the sidewall-material types become heavily restricted since the cryolite is very corrosive at the electrolysis temperatures. This paper study the corrosion behaviour of sintered nickel ferrite, nickel aluminate, and magnesium aluminate refractories (as possible candidates for sidewall material) in molten aluminium and cryolite melts with various alumina content at 980°C. Immersion tests of refractories with various porosity were conducted to assess the suitability of the refractories in the corrosive environment of the electrolysis cells. Microstructural change of the refractory after immersion were analysed using secondary scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Sampling of the melts were taken at 0, 10 min, 30 min, and each hour up to 6 hrs, and subsequently analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) spectroscopy. Based on the projected concentration of the refractories constituents in the melts, it was predicted that the corrosion rate of NiFe2O4, NiAl2O4 and MgAl2O4 in cryolite with 11 wt per cent Al2O3 were 461 × 103, 1.03 × 103, and 798 × 103 cm/a, respectively. Much lower corrosion rate of 2.3 cm/a for NiFe2O4, 2.6 cm/a for NiAl2O4 and 0.3 cm/a for MgAl2O4 were predicted if the refractories in contact with aluminium melts. Erosion played an important role in the corrosion as the concentration of the refractory constituents in the melts were beyond its solubility limit. It is therefore crucial to increase the densities of the refractory and improve its wetting characteristics.

Aug 21, 2024

By M. L. Leming

Introduction In the decades since silica gel was first identified in material exuding from cracked concrete, a great deal of research has been conducted regarding the chemical reactions between the alkalies found in portland cement and silica found in aggregates. The reaction is complex and one that is not yet completely predictable, especially from the point of view of developing specifications that are appropriate to all situations. This paper is not intended to be a rigorous review of the research findings but is an attempt to provide a simplified review of the mechanisms of the alkali-silica reaction (ASR), so that one can better understand the implications of the specifications, test results and effects on structures. In addition, the contractual relationships between the aggregate supplier and one of their major clients, the concrete supplier, will be examined with regard to the ASR. ASR basics Silica. Silica (silicon oxide) may exist in naturally occurring aggregates in various forms and in combination with a number of other elements. When the silica is completely crystalline, such as in quartz, it is chemically and mechanically stable. Quartz silica is impermeable and reacts only on the surface of the crystal, where the silicon and oxygen bonds are broken. Because the surface area per unit volume of most quartz is low, the reactivity is also low. Completely amorphous (noncrystalline) silica is, on the other hand, more porous and very reactive. The less "crystalline" the silica is in the aggregate, the more reactive. Silica that has melted and cooled quickly without recrystallizing, creating a glassy material (such as in certain volcanic aggregates), has a very low state of crystallization and will be much more reactive in an alkaline solution. Crystalline silica that has been transformed by heat and pressure may have a large quantity of strain energy stored in the crystal lattice. The presence of this higher energy will make the silica more likely to react. The "strained quartz" found in many metamorphic aggregates means that these aggregates are potentially susceptible to deleterious alkali silica reactivity, although the rate of reaction is typically much slower than with aggregates composed of or containing glassy or amorphous silicas. Another problem may exist with aggregates in which the silica is primarily crystalline. In aggregates such as chert, in which the silica exists as very fine crystals (i.e., crypto- or microcrystalline), the very high surface energies between the crystals contribute to alkali sensitivity. Therefore, the potential reactivity of an aggregate is seen to be a function of both the degree of crystallization of the silica in the aggregate and the amount of energy stored in the crystal structure, whether due to a large quantity of microcrystalline silica, a high strain energy stored in the crystals or some combination of these factors. The surface area per unit volume of the reactive silica will also affect the rate of reaction, because a larger surface area of reactive silica will have more opportunity to react. Obviously, the reactivity of the aggregate is also affected by the silica content. However, in this case, the results are not quite so obvious. A discussion of the effect of silica content will be postponed until after a discussion of the contribution of the cement paste. Paste characteristics. Hydrated portland cement is a very alkaline material with a pore solution pH typically in excess of 12. The alkaline environment of moist concrete provides an ideal place for noncrystalline or cryptocrystalline silica to react. However, not all alkalies are equal in their effects. Calcium compounds react with glassy silica to form calcium silicate hydrate, commonly abbreviated C-S-H a poorly crystalline material that can occur in several forms and chemical compositions. C-S-H was at one time called tobermorite gel, because it was chemically similar to the naturally occurring crystalline mineral tobermorite and because it had a gel-like (noncrystalline) structure when viewed under an optical microscope. The formation of C-S-H is the basis for both portland cement hydration and reaction with, for example, fly ash. C-S-H is relatively stable. Although drying will cause some shrinkage and rewetting will cause some expansion, the volume stability of the C-S-H is very good compared to the volume stability of most alkali silica gels. Alkali silica gels with high sodium contents, for example, are nonstable compared to C-S-H.

Jan 1, 1997

By J. D. Bateman

At Giant Yellowknife, where high grade gold-bearing orebodies are highly irregular in shape, geology has been applied extensively to the mining of ore. The classical functions of the mine geologist in the fields of exploration and mine development have been extended to guide ore extraction, ensuring "clean" mining and effectively reducing waste dilution. THE property of Giant Yellowknife Gold M.ines Ltd. is situated west of Yellowknife Bay on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, a distance of 600 air miles north of Edmonton, Alberta. The Giant claims were staked in 1935, the company was formed in 1937, and the main orebody system was disclosed by diamond drilling in 1944 following a geological study of the property by A. S. Dadson,* Consulting Geologist for the company. Production began in 1948 at the rate of 200 tons per day and, during 1950, reached a daily rate of 425 tons. During the first 3 years of operation a total of 366,000 tons was milled with an average grade of 0.79 oz of gold per ton. Work is in progress with an expansion to 700 tons per day in view. A descriptive account of the geology and gold-bearing shear zone has appeared previously.* The rock formations in the vicinity of Yellowknife Bay have been subjected to protracted pre-Cambrian tectonic deformation culminating in a series of late faults having a cumulative horizontal displacement exceeding 11 miles. The Giant property is underlain by part of an Archean sequence, several miles thick, consisting of basic volcanic flows and minor intercalated tuffs. The volcanic succession forms the west limb of a major syncline, the flows facing east, but overturned on Giant property to dip west at 65" to 75". Orebodies are confined to shear zones up to 200 ft in width, which were formed along early thrust faults. The shear zones assume fold-like attitudes, the larger of which have an amplitude of several hundred feet. The rock formations beyond the limits of the zone of shearing do not reflect the simulated folds, the axes of which are within a few degrees of the strike of the flows. The schistosity and most of the planar elements in both the shear zones and the orebodies dip west • A. S. Dadson and J. D. Bateman: Structural Geology of Camdian Ore Deposits, Can. Inst. Min. Met. Jubilee Volume (1948), PP 273-283. at angles between 65" and 75", generally corresponding to the dip of the flows. The planar elements within the shear zone system thus dip more or less constantly west whether the shear zone is flat, vertical, or expressed as east or west dipping limbs. The shear zones reflect the deformation and alteration of the basic volcanic flows into chlorite schists which, in most places, have undergone metasomatic replacement to form chlorite-sericite-carbonate schists or sericite schists. The boundaries between the shear zones and country rock, although often gradational, usually can be defined within a few feet or even inches as they are expressed by the limits of metasomatic alteration. Orebodies may occupy a small or large proportion of the shear zone and, although they generally conform to the shape of the zone, their morphology is much more complex. Ore boundaries in some instances are sharp and can be delineated with a chalk line; but more generally, a large proportion of the ore boundaries is not visually obvious and can be determined only by the perception acquired by the geological mapping of ore or study of drill cores. Ore shoots in fold-like attitudes may transect the planar elements of the shear zone at any angle; yet the schistosity within the ore shoot may be coincident with that in the enclosing shear zone. Thus it is clear that problems may arise in the delineation of mining boundaries. Ore generally consists of 20 pct or more quartz with ferruginous carbonates in sericite schist deposited in two dominant stages. The earlier stage limits of quartz with carbonate, pyrite, and very fine-grained arsenopyrite in lenses and bands. The later stage consists of quartz-carbonate lodes, in

Jan 1, 1952

By C Donnelly

Redpath Australia is using a unique mining method for the Australian underground coal industry at Kestrel Mine Extension in the Bowen Basin, Central Queensland.The project involves completing two separate drifts from the surface for access to the German Creek Coal Seam located approximately 230 m below the existing surface. The scope of work is primarily the construction of two drifts; the first is 1577 m at 1 in 6 gradient and the second 1874 m at 1 in 8 gradient. Each drift has been developed by a Mitsui S200 roadheader with modifications to allow for a continuous tunnelling/mining cycle operation. A shotcrete boom has been fitted to the left hand side of the machine with the operators console located at ground level. Another operators console is elevated on the right hand side of the machine to allow operation of the rotary drill boom which is mounted on a slide rail to allow flexibility of positioning depending on the stage of the cycle. In support of the roadheader activities, an integrated conveyor system mounted on a sliding floor arrangement is able to be advanced as the mining face progresses. This sliding floor consists of four 1.5 m × 6 m sections that utilise hydraulic rams to ‘walk’ inbye, allowing room for installation of precast concrete floor panels for final floor completion. This method borrows from the tunnelling and construction industries to eliminate place-change delays in the mining cycle by enabling complete ground support installation without retreat of the primary development machine from the face. The aim is to reduce the project duration with the completion of final floor and services to within 30 m of the operating face as it advances.

Mar 21, 2011

By Oluwasegun Samuel Odebiyi, Shaona Wang, Feng Gao, Biao Liu, Hao Du

Recovering vanadium from vanadium titanium-magnetite (VTM) ore using ( NH4)2C2O4 is a clean hydrometallurgical process, but the drawback is the low recovery and slow kinetics due to the formation of inhibitor. A novel energy-efficient mathematical model was derived for green leaching of VTM in which the mechanical activation (MA) removed the inhibitor “δ” (formation of impermeable product layer of CaC2O4) covering the reacting core of the CaV2O6 leaching process in ( NH4)2C2O4 solution. Before the MA processing, the formation of the CaC2O4 layer affects the kinetics (slow) and NH4VO3 leachability (low recovery). The dissolution rate enhancement and economic importance (in terms of leaching kinetic/recovery) of mechanical activation (MA) pretreatment in hydrometallurgical processing cannot be overemphasized. It is shown from the experimental and developed mathematical model results that the rotating speed of the ball mill (ωb) has a significant effect on the NH4VO3 recovery. At 360 rpm, the experimental result gave an 82% optimum recovery rate and a reaction rate constant of 0.01889s−1 with close correlation with the present models at 82.8% and 81% for liquid-to-solid layer diffusion and chemical reaction controls, respectively, with a reaction rate constant of 0.018883s−1. The close correlation between the experimental recovery rate results and the diffusion recovery rate model result justifies that the leaching process is diffusion control shrinking core kinetic with experimentally measured activation energy (Ea) value of 19.502 kJ/mol . This present model proved that MA enhances the dissolution rate regardless of the formation of a passivation layer on the material and best describes the kinetics of the MA hydrometallurgical processes compared to the shrinking core model.

Nov 3, 2023

By W. G. Pfann

The simultaneous segregation of two solutes during the directional solidification of an ingot is treated mathematically on the basis of simplifying assumptions. Expressions are derived for the difference in concentration of two solutes, and for the location and concentration gradient of a pn barrier formed in a semiconductor by the segregation of a donor and an acceptor. THE problem of normal segregation of a single solute during the freezing of an alloy has been treated mathematically by a number of investigators. Gulliver' showed that coring increases the quantity of eutectic above that to be expected at equilibrium, for a system having limited solid solubility and, on the basis of simplifying assumptions, calculated the fraction of eutectic to be expected. Scheuer2 expressed composition of solid solution in terms of a distribution coefficient and the fraction solidified and compared experiment with calculation for the systems A1-Cu, Al-Zn, Cu-Sn, Cu-Zn. Hayes and Chipman,3 in a detailed study of segregation in a low carbon, rimming steel ingot, calculated distribution coefficients for a number of solutes in iron, compared calculated and experimental segregation curves, and discussed the effects of process variables such as rate of solidification and stirring. In the present paper a mathematical analysis is made of the simultaneous segregation of two solutes during the orderly freezing of a solid solution system, with particular emphasis on the difference in solute concentrations. Although the analysis is quite general and can be applied to the segregation of minor elements in alloys, it is directed in particular at the solidification of a semiconductor containing a donor and an acceptor. Normal segregation has unique aspects in a semiconductor, because of the ways in which donors and acceptors affect the electrical properties. The difference between two solute concentrations becomes of importance, as does also the gradient of the difference where the difference goes through zero, this being the concentration gradient of excess carriers at a pn barrier. A primary object of this paper is to extend the mathematical treatment of segregation to include these newer aspects which are of particular significance for semiconductors. One property of interest is the electrical conduc- tivity, which arises from the presence of donors 'or acceptors in solid solution. The conductivity may be either n-type or p-type depending on whether donors or acceptors, respectively, are in atomic excess. For both germanium and silicon, elements of Group V of the Periodic System, such as P, As, and Sb, are donors and elements of Group 111, as B, Al, In, and Ga, are acceptors.4-6 If a donor or acceptor is present alone in solid solution, the conductivity is proportional to its concentration." If both a donor and an acceptor are present, then the conductivity is proportional to the difference in their atomic concentrations. If the donor and acceptor segregate at different rates then a pn barrier in certain circumstances may form at some point in the ingot. Accordingly, equations are derived and illustrated which express the effect of segregation on: 1—the concentration of a single solute with a discussion of the assumptions; 2—the difference between two solute concentrations and means for minimizing its variation in an ingot; and 3—the location and concentration gradient of a pn barrier. The analysis is applicable to processes in which the entire charge is melted and then progressively frozen from one end. The method in which an ingot is solidified in a crucible7 and that in which a solidifying rod is pulled from the melt8 both fall into this category. Segregation of One Solute If a cylinder of molten alloy is caused to freeze slowly from one end, a normal segregation of solutes will usually occur, producing a lengthwise concentration gradient in the ingot. Depending on whether a solute raises or lowers the melting point of the solvent, it will become concentrated in the first or last regions, respectively, to freeze. If it is assumed that freezing is such that there is no diffusion of solute in the solid, complete diffusion in the liquid, and that k, the distribution coefficient, defined as the ratio of solute concentration in the just-freezing solid to that in the liquid, is constant, then the

Jan 1, 1953

By H. Lyn Bourne

Daily everyone depends on the great variety of glass products, so much so that glass is often taken for granted. In fact most people do not realize how versatile glass has become. Consider the various uses and then try to imagine a day in which we are not influenced by glass. Common uses include container ware, table ware, window glass, lead crystal, automobile glass, and fiber glass. Several less common, but important, uses include laboratory ware, pharmaceutical, TV bulbs, light bulbs, glass ceramics, optical glass, fiber optics, and laser glass. Corning, Inc., a leader in specialty products, uses nearly 1 000 different compositions to manufacture about 60 000 different products (Edwards and Copley, 1977). Glass is such a complex product that-definitions vary and exceptions can be found for most definitions. Glass is an inorganic amorphous (non-crystalline) solid. Most glasses are produced by melting of a mixture of oxide raw materials, and then cooled to room temperature. Soda-lime-silica composition.s account for about 90% of all glasses melted (Anon, 1973). The properties of the glass product come mainly from its chemical composition. All of the different glasses require melting a combination of raw materials and forming the molten material into the desired shape. Both the melting and the forming processes use sophisticated technology and these technologies require experts to manage these production systems. The manufacturing process is continuous and takes place in tonnage quantities, so adjustments in the batch to achieve the desired finished product requires a great deal of expertise. Raw materials are fed to the batch mixing area in very large quantities (tons in most cases). As a result, impurities in the range of 0.1% result in addition of that impurity within the molten glass in kilogram amounts. More than twenty different industrial minerals are consumed in the manufacture of various kinds of glass (O'Driscoll, 1990). This chapter describes the major and minor ingredients of the various glass batches. It discusses the roles of the various oxides in the glass batch and most importantly considers the mineral raw materials which supply the glass industry. Each of the raw materials is described in detail in other chapters so the geology and mineralogy sections are kept brief here. Container glass, by far, accounts for the most production; followed by flat glass, fiber glass, and specialty glass of which table ware accounts for the greatest tonnage. [Table 1] shows the general production data for 1987 through 1990. Statistics for many of the uses do not appear because production volumes are small compared to the major uses. The glass industry is organized in four categories: containers, flat glass, fiber glass and specialty glass. The US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, publishes production data about the glass industry in three different categories: 1) glass containers, 2) consumer, scientific, technical and industrial glassware, and 3) flat glass. The Bureau has very complete statistics about the glass industry in these three categories but they report production data in different units according to industry standards. Therefore, [Table 1] gives the production data in dissimilar units. The production of most glass articles follows similar steps. The raw materials are mixed and the resulting batch is fed into the furnace. In soda-lime-silica glasses melting begins between 600 and 900°C. At these temperatures CO, and other gasses are released which create bubbles in the molten glass. To remove the bubbles and insure complete melting the temperature is raised to between 1 500 and 1 600°C. This is the melting-refining stage during which the refining agents in the glass batch serve to aid in the release of gas bubbles, homogenize the melt, and prevent the formation of scum on the surface of the molten liquid. At the conclusion of the melting-refining stage the glass is too fluid for working and the melt is cooled to about 1 100°C to attain the proper viscosity for working and forming to begin. After the glass article has been made, it must undergo annealing (slowly and uniformly reheated and cooled) to remove thermal stresses that were created during the forming process.

Jan 1, 1994

By Leendert de Witte

Conventional resistivity logs consisting of a short normal, a long normal, and one or more long lateral curves do not give data that allow a complete quantitative interpretation in beds thinner than 20 ft. Reservoir rocks usually exhibit zones of continuous homogeneity of quite limited thickness where the long lateral curves become useless because of adjacent bed effects and boundary phenomena. If the beds are 12 ft or thicker, the short and long normals may be used for qualitative interpretation, which can be streamlined by the application of simplified departure curves. For beds of a thickness less than twice the long normal spacing, this procedure breaks down. The combination of the limestone curve, the later-olog or guard electrode log, and the microlaterolog permit quantitative interpretation for beds that are at least 10 ft thick, provided the mud resistivity and the hole diameter are known with sufficient accuracy. For beds thinner than 10 ft, combinations of the microlaterolog with short spaced laterologs and pseudo laterologs appear to be promising. Interpretation of these curves again requires the application of simplified departure curves. Resolution of various possible combinations was analyzed using departure curve data calculated on the Whirlwind I computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A field example is shown using the microlaterolog-microlog combination, and the combination of a 6-in. modified laterolog plus a 6-in. pseudo laterolog. INTRODUCTION For the purpose of quantitative interpretation of resistivity logs in porous formations, we want to obtain two essential quantities from the logs, namely, the true resistivity of the undisturbed formation, Rt, and the resistivity of the part of the formation invaded by mud filtrate, Rt. The apparent resistivities of all conventional logging devices are functions of these two parameters and are also influenced by a third unknown parameter, the diameter of the invaded zone, d. It has been shown' that from the normal curves alone it is impossible to arrive at a unique solution for the three unknowns, Rt, R1, and d1. In very thick homogeneous beds, if invasion is not too deep, we can obtain a fair approximation to Rt from the long lateral curves and then use the two normal curves to find Rt and d1 Even under the most favorable conditions, the resolution of this system is not very good. The short normal does not give a reasonable approximation to R1 unless invasion is very deep (dl>16 hole diameters). For very deep invasion, however, the long laterals no longer approximate Rt. For bed thickness between 20 and 40 ft, the long laterals are affected appreciably by the adjacent beds; and the curves are distorted by boundary anomalies to the extent that they lose their quantitative usefulness in most cases. For the same bed thicknesses, the normal curves still function reasonably well. Although it is impossible to find unique solutions Lor R1 and Rt using the normal curves alone, we can obtain a reasonable approximation for the ratio R1/Rt through the use of simplified departure curves. This fact was brought to our attention by A. J. de Witte, geologist with Continental Oil Co. As the magnitude of Rl/Rt is a major clue to the presence of oil in formations, this method can be used to good advantage for qualitative analysis and will be discussed in somewhat greater detail. With the aid of suitable bed thickness corrections, the analysis of the normal curves may be used for bed thicknesses larger than 12 ft. For thinner beds, the method rapidly loses its resolution; and we have to resort to different types of resistivity logs if we want to attempt to analyze the curves quantitatively. The inadequacy of conventional resistivity curves in thin beds is far more serious than generally realized. Fig. 1 shows a conventional E. S. with a 16-in. and 64-in. normal and a 16-ft lateral through a section of Lansing-Kansas City lime, in comparison to a guard electrode survey through the same section in a neighboring well. The porous zones, which show up as low resistivity breaks on the guard electrode log, are completely masked by adjacent bed effects and boundary anomalies on the conventional curves. Even the short normal shows most of the porous Zones only as Vague deflections and in many cases fails to register Their

Jan 1, 1955

By J. T. Norton, Pekka Rautala

The phases and equilibria in the W-Co-C system have been studied by X-ray diffraction methods, metallographic technique, and thermal analysis. In addition to the 7 phase, two double carbides, called 8 and have been revealed. The compositions correspond to CO3 W6C2 and Co3-W10C4. The reactions leading to these phases have been explained and tentative diagrams of stable and metastable equilibria proposed. The basic reactions in sintering cobalt cemented tungsten carbides are discussed. THE W-Co-C system is of fundamental importance in practical carbide manufacturing as well as for the understanding of the sintering mechanism. Surprisingly little is known about this system, for the probable reason that all the important alloys are of two-phase structure and that the diagram Co-WC has been treated as a quasi-binary. This obviously is incorrect, because WC decomposes before melting. One ternary phase, 7, of composition Co3W3C has long been known. It was first studied by Adelskold, Sundelin, and Westgren,1 although the isomorphous iron-tungsten carbide was known earlier. There have been in the literature several reports of two 7 phases.' " Also the 7 phase has been considered unstable by Takeda4 and Westgren.1 The Co-WC diagram has been studied by Wyman and Kelley5 and a quasi-binary diagram has been published by Sandford and Trent.2 Takeda has published a tentative Co-W-C diagram, considering both metastable and stable equilibria. However, the lines of two-fold saturation are shown only partially and it seems impossible to complete the diagram without violating the phase theory. Therefore it seemed desirable to examine the system in more detail. Experimental Procedure The alloys used in the present investigation were made of powders of tungsten, tungsten monocarbide, cobalt, and carbon and were of the grade used in manufacture of commercial cemented carbides. The powders were ground and mixed in small stainless steel ball mills, using balls of the same material. Benzene was used as a dispersing agent. The mixing period was 1 hr, since this was shown to give suffi- ciently good mixing of the powders without too great a contamination from the mill. After ball milling, the specimens were pressed in cylindrical or rectangular dies. No paraffin or other lubricant was used and the small compacts had sufficient green strength to be handled without difficulty. Several sintering furnaces were employed. The most satisfactory arrangement was a vacuum furnace based on the Arsem principle which employed a graphite helix as the resistance heating element. Specimens were placed on graphite stands and there was generally a slight carburization or decarburiza-tion of the specimen surface, depending on the carbon content of the alloy. The evaporation of the cobalt at a sintering temperature of 1400°C was not significant, but became severe at 1500°C and higher. The sintering time was 1 hr at 2000°C and 2 to 4 hr at lower temperatures. It was not possible to quench the specimens, but the cooling rates were rather fast, greater than 300°C in the first minute. In the system under investigation, the reactions are sluggish, and it is believed that the high temperature structures are satisfactorily retained. The principal method of investigating the sintered specimens was X-ray diffraction by the Norelco recording spectrometer. Approximate determinations of the phase boundaries were made by the disappearing phase method. Ternary Phases To study the phase formation in W-Co-C system, a series of specimens was sintered at 1400°C. In this experiment two ternary phases, called here ? and k were formed in addition to the well-known 7 phase. The 7 phase, which has been completely described by Westgren: showed a range of homogeneity from 7 to 20 pct C and from 38 to 48 pct Co. At 1400°C the 7 phase was found to be in equilibrium with monotungsten carbide, 8, tungsten, 8, #?, and liquid. The boundaries toward #? and liquid were difficult to determine and appeared to be very temperature sensitive. The other boundaries are believed to be well fixed. The homogeneity range of 7, as measured in this work, is considerably smaller than the one

Jan 1, 1953

By R. F. Mehl, R. F. Bunshah

A fast amplifier technique has been developed for the measurement of the rate of propagation of martensite in an Fe-29.5 pct Ni alloy. The time of formation of one plate of martensite is 3x10 sec and the rate of propagation is 3300 ft per sec approximately. IT has been known for some time that the plate-like structural unit of martensite forms from austenite with great rapidity. Wiester1 and Hane-mann, Hofmann, and Wiester took motion-pictures of the transformation as it occurs in a 1.65 pct C steel; they demonstrated that a single plate formed fully in the time interval between successive frames, viz., 1/20 sec, thus setting an upper limit. Forster and Scheil,3 using an Fe-Ni alloy with 29 pct Ni, recorded the sonic characteristics of the process electrically, upon an oscillograph, setting the upper time limit at 0.002 sec. Forster and Scheil,~ measuring the change in electrical resistance in the same alloy upon a cardiograph, set a limit of 0.02 sec. Forster and Scheil5 later, employing the same alloy, improved their technique, reporting an upper limit of 7.10 sec. In studying signals of such short duration, it is an important question whether the frequency response of the electrical system used is high enough compared to frequency of the pulse measured, or, put differently, whether the system is able to reproduce without distortion the signal arising, in this case, from the formation of a single martensite plate. Forster and Scheil (referring only to their last paper) obtained signals of a frequency of 30 kilocycles (hereinafter kc); this was about the frequency response of the equipment used; thus, if the signal had a frequency higher than 30 kc, it would still appear as a signal of frequency 30 kc. All of these results thus provided upper limits only. Recent developments in electronics have made available equipment with very high frequency response, very high sweep-speeds, high gain, etc. The electrical characteristics of such equipment, used in the present study, are given in Table I. Such equipment offers obvious attraction in the study of the rate of propagation of a martensite structural unit—and perhaps of other structural alterations proceeding at a very high rate. This paper reports an attempt to develop a technique employing such equipment to measure the time of propagation of a martensite structural unit and the variation of this with temperature, with the mode of formation—athermal and isothermal—in both polycrystalline and single-crystal samples; and from such measurements to obtain the rate of propagation. As will be seen, the results obtained are useful theoretically. Materials All data presented here are for an Fe-Ni alloy of the following analysis: 29.5 pct Ni, 0.027 pct C, 0.135 pct Mn, 0.094 pct Si, balance Fe. There were several reasons for choosing this alloy: 1—it is substantially the one used by previous investigators; 2—it exhibits both the athermala and the isothermal' mode of formation of martensite, both studied in detail by Machlin and Cohen; 3—the subzero temperatures of transformation in this alloy are experimentally very convenient; 4—it exhibits the "burst phenomenon";" 5—the change in electrical resistance upon the formation of martensite, a decrease, is great, approximately 50 pct.' The polycrystalline specimens were in the form of wires of 0.025 in. diameter; the single crystals were 1x1/4x1/4 in. Experimental Methods Electrical Apparatus: Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing of the electrical circuit used. The principle used in these measurements is the same as that used by Forster and Scheil." A small direct current, about 1 to 2 amp, is passed through the sample. When a martensite plate forms, the resistance of the sample changes and a high frequency signal is generated. This signal is picked up by the probes attached to the sample, fed into the bank of amplifiers and thence to the vertical deflection plates of a cathode-ray oscilloscope. The signal itself triggers the oscilloscope trace which flashes across the tube face and is photographed by means of a 35 mm movie camera at the end of a light-tight hood. The camera has no shutter. As soon as the signal flashes

Jan 1, 1954