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By Yuzhe Zhang, Xiaodi Huang, Xinli Wang, Bowen Li, Matthew Andriese, Jiann-Yang Hwang, Zhiwei Peng, Likun Li

With the development of the world, the waste tires have been a serious environmental problem. There are about 2 billion waste tires produced all over the world every year and about 500 million waste tires are produced in the United States. Most of the waste tires are land filled, which waste a lot of space. It takes hundreds of years to resolve the macromolecules of waste tire into the standard which does not pollute the environment. Microwave irradiation is a thermal processing way for waste tires decomposition. In this study, the relative dielectric loss factor of the tire at various temperatures was determined to understand the behavior of tires under microwave heating.

Jan 1, 2016

By D. A. Dukelow, K. Li, G. C. Smith

Decarburization in the Fe-C system by oxygen top blowing has been studied in laboratory -scale experiments. It is shown that equilibrium models fail to explain or predict either the course of refining or endpoint conditions, giving results which either are incompatible with the chemistry of the system or do not satisfy material balance requirements. Also the path of decarburization was found to vary even for heats made under apparently identica1 conditions. A promising approach to analyzing the decarburization results is to relate oxygen efficiency fm carbon removal to bath carbon content. This relationship for Fe-C heats shows the same range of oxygen efficiencies as is obtained in pilot-plant and commercial heats using hot metal-scrap charges. This implies that oxygen transfer is primarily controlled by the decarburization reaction itself, independent of other refining reactions. Therefore, it should be possible to study separately decarburization and slag-metal reactions. DECARBURIZATION is probably the most important reaction in steelmaking. Not only is it a main reaction in the refining of iron to steel but it also provides the stirring action in the bath necessary for the diffusion processes to proceed at reasonable rates so as to make a steelmaking process practical. Kinetics of decarburization in the open-hearth process has been a subject of investigation for many years.&apos;-B It is generally accepted that at steelmaking temperatures the rate of homogeneous C-0 reaction is extremely high and cannot constitute a rate-controlling step. Diffusion of oxygen through a boundary film in the metal phase has been suggested by arken&apos; as rate-determining. Recently, Larsen and sordah16 concluded from experiments in a laboratory furnace that, with oxygen supplied from air or combustion gases, the rate of "steady-state" carbon boil is controlled essentially by a diffusion process of O2, Co2, or H2O through a film of nitrogen above the slag surface. Displacing this diffusion film by a stream of nearly pure oxygen produced a ten-fold increase in the rate of carbon boil with the rates of slag-metal oxygen transfer, bubble nucle-ation, and other steps all apparently able to keep pace. In the top-blown basic oxygen process, however, the transport of oxygen takes a more direct route. and the state of bath agitation is much more turbulent than in the open-hearth process. In addition, direct contact of the gas with the metal phase provides opportunity for direct oxidation of carbon. It is likely that the rate-limiting factor for the decarburization reaction will be different. However, only a few descriptive discussions of the subject have been reported in the literature.10-l2 Studies of the decarburization kinetics based on plant or pilot-plant data are necessarily complicated and are influenced by other refining reactions which occur simultaneously. In order to investigate the mechanism of decarburization, experiments have been conducted in which carbon-saturated iron melts were top-blown with pure oxygen over a range of conditions. It is hoped that this study will form a foundation on which a more basic understanding of this important reaction may be built. EXPERIMENTS One group of blowing experiments was made in a standard 200-lb induction furnace and another group in a 500-lb induction furnace. The furnaces were modified to the general shape of a basic oxygen furnace by adding a rammed refractory cone section to the regular crucible body. Crucible and cone were of high MgO (95 pct) material. A water-cooled lance, 1/2 in. in diam and threaded at one end to take a nozzle, was used for blowing oxygen. The lance with its water and oxygen lines was supported on a cantilever arrangement so that it could be moved up, down, or sideways. Oxygen of 99.5 pct purity was supplied from a cylinder and metered through a rotameter equipped with pressure and temperature gages. Another pressure gage was located at the top of the lance. A schematic diagram of the assembly is shown in Fig. 1. Before each experiment, a weighed amount of ingot iron, containing 0.02 pct C, < 0.01 pct Si, 0.10 pct Mn, 0.019 pct P, and 0.015 pct S, was charged in the furnace and melted down by induction heating. Graphite was then added to the molten charge until it became saturated. When the temperature of the charge reached the desired level, the lance was lowered to a predetermined height above the bath

Jan 1, 1964

By NIOSH NIOSH

This work explores application of a double alkaline leach method to extraction of alumina from Oregon ferruginous bauxitic materials. The process recovers a greater proportion of alumina from high-silica ores than is possible by a conventional single-leach method. This recovery is accomplished by calcining the ore, removing reactive silica in a preliminary dilute caustic soda leach, and then applying a second leach to dissolve alumina. Ores containing up to 15 percent Si~) 35 percent AI;:) Os, and 30 percent Os were examined. Under conditions of treatment established by experimentation, more than BO-percent alumina extraction was demonstrated. When and if conditions demand the use of low-grade materials, the double-leach process is capable of providing millions of tons of alumina from Oregon ferruginous bauxite.

Jan 1, 1963

By E. Goris Cervantes

"A theoretical framework based on a detailed analysis of mine operations data from an oil sands mine in northern Alberta and the static simulation of truck cycle times are developed, verified, and validated in this paper. Implementation of this framework provides better results than existing tools that rely solely on manufacturer data. This, therefore, aids in efficient equipment planning for the life of the mine. The use of this framework to modify existing productivity curve estimation methods currently in use at the mine site is also proposed. This method replaces “loaded flat haul” with “loaded effective flat haul” in the productivity estimation. Validation of the model results in a 4% overestimation of productivity, versus an underestimation of more than 10% when using the existing in-house method. ¦ KEYWORDS Equipment planning, Life-of-mine (LOM) planning, Oil sands, Productivity, Truck cycle times RÉSUMÉ Un cadre théorique fondé sur une analyse détaillée des données relatives aux activités minières d’une exploitation de sables bitumineux dans le nord de l’Alberta et la simulation statique des temps de cycle des camions sont développés, vérifiés et validés dans cet article. La mise en oeuvre de ce cadre offre de meilleurs résultats que ce que proposent les outils existants, lesquels se basent uniquement sur des données des constructeurs. Ceci contribue donc à une planification efficace de l’équipement pour des projets relatifs à la durée de vie de la mine. On propose également de se servir de ce cadre pour modifier les méthodes d’estimation de la courbe de productivité actuellement utilisées sur le site minier. Cette méthode remplace le concept de loaded flat haul (la distance parcourue par des camions avec un chargement du point de collecte jusqu’au point de déchargement des résidus miniers) par celui d’effective loaded flat haul (la distance relative parcourue par des camions avec un chargement du point de collecte jusqu’au point de déchargement des résidus miniers) dans l’estimation de la production. La validation du modèle résulte en une surestimation de 4 % de la productivité, par rapport à une sous-estimation de plus de 10 % avec la méthode actuellement utilisée en interne. ¦ MOTS CLÉS planification de la durée de vie de la mine, planification de l’équipement, productivité, sables bitumineux, temps de cycle d’un camionINTRODUCTION One aspect that differentiates oil sands mines in northern Alberta from conventional hard-rock mining is the environment in which they operate. Due to ground characteristics, producers in the region experience roads with very high rolling resistance (RR) that, in turn, negatively affect haul-truck performance and greatly increase fuel consumption and emissions. Oil sands mining companies use some of the largest haul trucks in the world. In addition, oil sands mines cover more extensive areas than hard-rock pits, resulting in longer haul distances on roads made of comparatively more viscous material."

Jan 1, 2019

By R. G. Hite, R. G. Rowe

The Crandon deposit, located in northern Wisconsin, is a 65.8 million ton Precambrian volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit which averages 1.4% copper and 5.8% zinc. The deposit is classic in origin, mineralogy and shape. Comprehensive understanding of the geology of both the deposit and the project site has been fundamental to the credibility and success of project feasibility studies and regulatory permit preparation. Mine development in the current investment and regulatory climate requires thorough and timely application of geologic tools. From 1977-1980 geologic activities were focused on the typical objectives of orebody delineation, reserve estimation, depositional geology, and general site investigation. Results from these programs formed the basis for the project&apos;s preliminary feasibility studies. Since 1981 further geologic investigations have provided criteria for project design, site management, and operational permitting. Activities have included mine entry position definition drilling, devel reserve modeling, large diameter (150 mm) core drilling for mill pilot samples, rock mechanics testing, and evaluation of the glacial overburden/deposit geohydrology for computer simulation.

Jan 1, 1992

By C. H. Herty

Manufacturers and consumers of steel have come to realize during the past few years that cleanliness is of great importance in steels which must meet rigid specifications for various physical properties. Of equal importance is the consistent production of steel which is uniform in these properties. For maximum utility, steels should be uniform not only from heat to heat, but also from ingot to ingot and within each ingot. In the manufacture of killed steels such as the higher carbon forging grades, uniformity as indicated by the usual chemical analysis is easy to obtain, provided that a normal top discard is taken, as is al¬ways the case in steels poured with hot-top practice. No such uniformity, however, holds true for the nonmetallic matter, which consists for the most part of the products of deoxidation of the steel. For a large tonnage of steels which go into articles manufactured by deep-drawing processes, killed steel has never been successfully applied because with the present deoxida¬tion practice, low-carbon killed steel is almost invariably extremely dirty. To obtain the desired qualities for deep drawing, the steel is rimmed, - that is to say, deoxidized with manganese and perhaps a small amount of aluminum, - the resultant product being of high purity in the skin of the ingot, but very badly segregated at the center of the ingot, particularly in the upper-central section. This segregation necessitates a very heavy top discard, and one of the major segregates is carbon which renders the steel too hard to draw properly. If clean, low-carbon killed steel could be made successfully, much better ingot yields would be obtained than by the present rimming steel practice. Furthermore, banded structures and outside and inside seams, which are undoubtedly due in a large measure to blowholes in the ingot, are defects which are very difficult to control in rimmed steel. These defects would be minimized by clean killed steel.

Jan 1, 1931

By E. S. Wheeler, M. W. Murphy

A LARGE part of the molybdenum produced in Colorado is converted and consumed in the Eastern States. As the raw materials and the power needed for the conversion of the Colorado concentrate are also accessible in the Eastern States, the conversion plant has been installed some 1500 miles east of where the ore is mined and milled. When concentrate was first produced at Climax in 1918, a custom smelter converted the product into ferromolybdenum. By 1924, the Company had decided to produce calcium molybdate and rented a building and installed equipment for that purpose at Langeloth, near Burgettstown, Pa., about thirty miles west of Pittsburgh. For the first few years the plant was a simple one of small capacity. A small hand-rabbled roaster was used, the product of which was made iota calcium molybdate by a conventional method; then an eight hearth mechanically rabbled roaster was installed to increase and speed up production. The output was considerably less than a million pounds of contained molybdenum annually until 1928, when a small part of the produc-

Jan 1, 1946

By E. Shum, V. G. Papangelakis

"Attempts to reduce the energy requirements of water recovery in the process industries have resulted in the development of techniques to freeze and purify aqueous solutions that take advantage of local climatic conditions. Natural freezing is a technique by which aqueous solution is exposed to freezing air temperatures, resulting in the production of a layer of ice on the surface. As the ice layer tends to exclude solute, a concentrated solution is formed. However, due to dendritic ice growth along the advancing growth front, small quantities of solution are trapped within the ice, decreasing the purity of the water recovered. The ice produced can then be allowed to thaw in order to recover the water using low grade plant heat. As the more concentrated parts of the ice melt first, a purer ice remains. In this study, 0.5 molal magnesium sulfate solution was frozen under simulated natural freezing conditions at temperatures between –1 and –6°C. The ice produced was thawed at either room temperature or 50°C. Up to 40% of the water was recovered with a separation efficiency of above 95% when thawing at room temperature.INTRODUCTION Advances in refrigeration technology have made low-temperature separation processes increasingly appealing to an energy-conscious society. The latent heat of freezing of water is about seven times smaller than the latent heat of evaporation providing freezing with a strong thermodynamic advantage over the traditional evaporation-based processes. The result is the development of a wide variety of processes that fall under the term Freeze Concentration (FC), which describes a variety of techniques in which an aqueous solution is concentrated by the creation and subsequent removal of ice (Williams et al., 2015).FC processes exploit the freezing behaviour of aqueous solutions as dictated by their respective water-salt phase diagram. When, for example, a solution of magnesium sulfate is cooled to a temperature below its freezing point but above its eutectic temperature of –4.1?C (Figure 1) then, if the concentration of MgSO4 is less than the eutectic concentration (about 1.7 m), ice will form until the solution concentration reaches its equilibrium concentration at the given temperature on its phase diagram. If the concentration is greater than the eutectic concentration, MgSO4 solid will precipitate until the concentration reaches equilibrium. It is for this reason that ice can be selectively produced in FC processes (Randall & Nathoo, 2015)."

Jan 1, 2017

By B. M. Currell, M. J. Neate, P. W. Bowden

Historically the hydrogen fluoride laden fume emitted from the electrolytic cells in the aluminium reduction process is further treated in pulse jet dust collectors. These dust collectors act as dry scrubbers performing two duties: adsorbing the gaseous fluoride emitted from the cells onto alumina dust; and collecting the alumina dust minimising particulate and fluoride emissions to the environment.Patented StarBag (TM) technology has been used in aluminium smelters in Australia as a means of increasing the dust collection and fluoride scrubbing capacity of existing collectors. This technology provides an alternative to major capital equipment upgrade where increased capacity is required, and potentially lowers the production cost per tonne of aluminium where capacity limitations are being realised and production expansion is required. This paper presents the findings of on-site pilot scale, and full production scale comparative tests, highlighting the operational and variable differences observed utilising the Star-Bag(TM) technology at Boyne Smelters Ltd in Australia. The results illustrate how this technology can be utilised to increase the hydrogen fluoride scrubbing efficiency and dust collection capacity of existing capital equipment.

Jan 1, 2006

By Joel Werner

Weak metal prices, declining head grade, and increased operational costs are forcing many open pit mining companies to look to their balance sheets for significant cost reductions in order to remain competitive. Maintenance continues to represent a significant proportion of the total operating costs in the mining industry. Compared with the other major cost components of the mining process very little effort has gone into maintenance optimization. The potential payoff from maintenance optimization on the cash cost of the commodity is enormous. A large percentage of these costs are incurred in unscheduled maintenance events, which typically cause serious disruptions to the production process. These maintenance induced production losses can be a significant contributor to the overall operating costs. A structured proactive maintenance approach using the latest advances in technology can achieve dramatic cost reductions and productivity improvements. Remote condition monitoring systems are becoming increasingly commonplace and have the potential to identify problems prior to failure. Detection of equipment degradation prior to failure will enable repairs to be scheduled thereby reducing costs and interruptions to production. Remote condition monitoring technology has evolved rapidly in recent years, with a host of new tools becoming available to assist mine operators in improving their maintenance operations. These tools have capabilities such as: remote real-time vital signs and performance monitoring, alarm/event handling, trend analysis, and maintenance workflow management. When these monitoring tools are used in conjunction with a mine management system the vital signs data can be integrated and associated with maintenance history, predictive maintenance data, operational information, and geographical information. This integrated approach to the management of vital maintenance data will help shift the mobile equipment maintenance paradigm from reactive to proactive. This paper will introduce a proactive approach to the management of the maintenance process and the tools required to facilitate this process.

May 1, 2003

By G. R. Fitterer, C. H. Herty

"INTRODUCTION Manufacturers and consumers of steel have come to realize during the past few years that cleanliness is of great importance in steels which must meet rigid specifications for various physical properties. Of equal importance is the consistent production of steel which is uniform in these properties. For maximum utility steels should be uniform not only from heat to heat, but also from ingot to ingot and within each ingot. In the manufacture of killed steels such as the higher carbon forging grades, uniformity as indicated by the usual chemical analysis in easy to obtain, provided that a normal top discard is taken, as is always the case in steels poured with hot—top practice. No such uniformity, however, holds true for the nonmetallic matter, which consists for the most part of the products of deoxidation of the steel.For a large tonnage of steels which go into articles manufactured by deep—drawing processes, killed steel has never been successfully applied because with the present deoxidation practice, low—carbon killed steel is almost invariably extremely dirty. To obtain the desired qualities for deep drawing, the steel is rimmed, — that is to say, deoxidized with manganese and perhaps a small amount of aluminum, — the resultant product being of high purity in the skin of the ingot, but very badly segregated at the center of the ingot, particularly in the upper—central section. This segregation necessitates a very heavy top discard, and one of the major segregates is carbon which renders the steel too hard to draw properly. If clean, low—carbon killed steel could be made successfully, much better ingot yields would be obtained than by the present rimming steel practice. Furthermore, banded structures and outside and inside seams, which are undoubtedly due in a large measure to blowholes in the ingot, are defects which are very difficult to control in rimmed steel. These defects would be minimized by clean killed steel."

Feb 1, 1931

By A E. Waltho, W J. Shaw

Predicting the physical characteristics of various ore types has for long been a difficult problem during mining. Grade control practices tend to concentrate on the chemical grade of the ore. Estimation of physical characteristics such as beneficiation behaviour is commonly limited to the simplistic application of historical averages. Large amounts of geochemical data are often gathered during the exploration and mining stages of a project, especially in ferrous and base metal deposits. In addition to the elements of principal economic interest, samples are often analysed for suites of gangue constituents to determine whether the mineralisation lies within target specifications. This multi-element data is often put to no other use than this simple chemical classification, yet it may present the geologist or metallurgist with valuable insights into the mineral content and physical characteristics of the deposit. Normative mineral estimates have been used as a method for characterising igneous rocks for almost 100 years. The method establishes and applies a set of sequential rules, by which the chemical components of a sample are assigned to mineral components. Provided that it is possible to make some realistic assumptions about the mineral species likely to be present in a rock unit or deposit and their paragenesis, this approach can be extended to a variety of mineral deposits. The geochemical data that are routinely collected when, for example, drilling iron ore and base metal deposits, can be used to derive estimates of normative mineral content. These estimates can be used to characterise physical or metallurgical aspects of the ore, such as density, beneficiation behaviour and metal recovery. This paper examines the application of normative mineral estimates to a variety of practical resource characterisation problems. The potential for predicting the lump and fines proportions of iron and manganese ores is also discussed.

Jan 1, 1999

Jan 1, 1884

By J. B. Zadra

Much has been published by various investigators on the use of activated carbon for adsorbing precious metals from cyanide solution and pulp. For the benefit of the reader, a list of these earlier publications appears at the end of this report. The present paper deals only with a process for extracting gold from gold-laden carbon and re-use of the de-adsorbed carbon. At the Getchell mine, Redhouse, Nev., experiments have been in progress for several years concerning the use of activated carbon to adsorb gold from their slime circuit pulp. The experimental work has been successful. Their practice has been to ship the gold-laden carbon to a smelter for treatment, which meant the total loss of the carbon in addition to smelter and freight, charges, all of which proved costly and wasteful.

Jan 1, 1950

By Özcan Y. Gülsoy

Coal beneficiation with optical sorting has not yet been studied in detail. Optical separation of coal from gangue particles as a dry method can be used as an alternative to the other enrichment methods. Developments in optical and pneumatic technology put the optical sorting one step forward by means of applicability of the mechanical sorting to the mineral industry. Because of the inefficient separation performance, dry separation of coal is very limited in industrial applications. Therefore, optical sorting depending on color differences between two minerals can be introduced to coal beneficiation systems. In this study, coal samples obtained from Konya-Ilgin region (Central Anatolia-Turkey) were separated by optical sorter and the results were evaluated. The conventional floatability tests for Ilgin coal are conducted by collecting most of the feed material at 1.3-1.4 g/cm3 density range. Separation of Ilgin coals with heavy medium methods will not be possible because of poor density difference between coal and its impurities. There are important color differences among the floated particles at 1.3-1.4 g/cm3 density range. Therefore, Ilgin coal is subjected to optical sorting in a pilot scale optical sorter. Different size fractions were fed to the optical sorter and then rejected and accepted particles by equipment were analyzed. Ash content of the accepted particles was reduced to 25-35 % and ash in tail increases up to 55-60 % after sorting. Although most of the material floated at low densities, optical sorter separated the feed into two different quality products. This study has the potential to clarify applicability of optical sorting even to non-floatable coals and to provide an important contribution to both industrial applications and literature.

Sep 1, 2012

By Scott Webster

Dynamic pile Monitoring Services (DMS) have been used for testing of offshore piles for several decades. However, most of this testing was to measure hammer performance and pile stresses rather than pile capacity or soil resistance. As the need for more economical solutions for foundation support increases, the use of DMS has provided a better means of evaluating in-place pile capacity for offshore structures, and therefore a method of determining pile acceptance. The authors have been involved in several offshore projects where DMS has been the primary source of data for acceptance of the driven pile foundations. The use of DMS for evaluation of offshore foundations requires considerations quite different from land applications and these considerations are often necessary for the careful and thorough analysis of the collected data in nearly real time for determination of pile acceptance. Case Method capacity estimates are often of little use due to the non-uniform cross sections of the foundation piles and their deep penetrations. Therefore, capacity assessments should be made using CAPWAP which is a signal matching program whose utility and reliability has been proven on thousands of projects every year, both on land and offshore. Depending upon the soil conditions at a given location, capacity assessment after soil setup effects may be necessary. In addition, tension capacity is often critical when pile refusal occurs significantly before the design pile penetration depth. Evaluation of uplift capacity can be accomplished by a CAPWAP analysis, which results in a total capacity prediction and its shaft resistance component. The use of hydraulic hammers for driving of these piles also adds the requirement of controlling hammer energy such that over-stressing of the pile is avoided. The calculation of non-axial stresses such as bending or eccentric stresses may also be involved in order to prevent pile damage.

Jan 1, 2010

By C. Ntsele

Stirred milling technologies have firmly established themselves in concentrator circuits as energy-efficient alternatives to tumbling ball mills. High and continued increases in electricity costs, coupled with the ever-increasing power consumption by primary grinding circuits due to declining head grades of ore-bodies, provides a compelling case for these technologies. Additionally, the ability to successfully deploy stirred milling in coarse grinding applications extends the range of use in concentrators, thus increasing the opportunity matrix for energy optimization in a flowsheet. This paper therefore details methodologies and strategies that can be applied to evaluate the optimum stirred milling solution for different concentrator applications. These methods and strategies will focus specifically on the two major stirred mill machine types; namely, gravity-induced (VERTIMILL? grinding mill and Nippion-Eirich tower mill) and fluidized (SMD, Isamill?, Knelson-Deswik mill, etc. ). Finally, case studies from circuits across industry and laboratory tests will be used to illustrate the energy benefit from the use of stirred mills.

Jan 1, 2012

By Christian Leble, Dr. -Ing. Jakob Vogelsang, Dr. -Ing. Oksana Solt, Dipl. -Ing. Joachim Meier, Dr. -Ing. Wolfgang Orth

In the course of closing the gap between the Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz, the Museum Island station was built by Implenia Construction GmbH. The tunneling for the platform hall took place on a length of about 106 m (347 ft) under the protection of a major ground freezing measure and crossed the Spree canal as well as the listed castle bridge. The approximately 20,000 m³ (4.54 E+06 US gal dry) frozen mass lay mainly in the Berlin sands. In order to ensure safe tunnelling and to protect the adjacent buildings, the planners had defined requirements for the mean freezing temperature and thickness of the frozen mass. For a reliable conclusion on the dimensions of the frozen mass, we used innovative temperature sensors as well as the new, web-based 3D measurement visualization and the associated site-specific evaluation software. The largely automated evaluation enabled a quick and reproducible determination of the temperature distribution in the frozen soil and its thickness in the relevant cross-sectional areas. The measurements were validated by thermal calculations using the Finite-Element-Method. Thus, an objective and clear assessment basis was available to ensure rapid coordination between stakeholders. The evaluations provide new insights into the temperature influences from tunneling, the application of shotcrete and the concreting of the inner shell. The newly implemented active thawing system is also an interesting innovation.

May 1, 2022

By M. B. Shongwe, G. Freemantle, M. Botha, S. Brill, J. D. Steenkamp

During steelmaking, one important factor for production efficiency is the free opening of the ladle nozzle during continuous casting. Free opening occurs when the well filler sand and the steel flow freely when the slide gate is opened. Well filler sands are used for the slide gate of a ladle to separate the slide gate refractory and the molten steel. The well filler sand is partially sintered by the heat of the molten metal, which can result in the ladle nozzle failing to open if the sand is not sintered to an appropriate extent. It is therefore of great importance that the sintering behaviour of well filler sand is understood. We studied the effect of the well filler sand chemistry on its sintering properties. Samples of well filler sand with various chemical compositions were sintered in a high-temperature chamber furnace. Quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICPOES), and wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS) by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) were used to analyse the various well filler sand mixes. Points of analysis were indicated on backscattered electron (BSE) micrographs. Quantitative element mapping was undertaken by energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). Thermodynamic calculations in FactSage predicted the percentage liquid phase present for the various well filler sand compositions at equilibrium conditions. The results of this work show that the degree of sintering of chromite-silica well filler sand depends strongly on the silica content. The amount of liquid phase formed increases with increasing silica content.

Feb 2, 2022

By R. H. Frazier, C. H. Lorig, F. W. Boulger

THERE are both advantages and disadvantages in using semikilled steels in place of killed steels. One advantage of semikilled steels is they provide a higher ingot-to-product yield. This is especially important to shipbuilders in the time of national emergency. By using semikilled steel for hull plates, a greater number of ships can be built from the same ingot tonnage. Consequently, if semikilled steel plates are adequate for the service, the advantage of the higher product yield is of considerable importance. The performance of hull plates is closely associated with the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature, and this, in turn, is strongly dependent on the composition of the steel. A low transition temperature is desirable because it indicates that the steel is less likely to fail at low ambient temperatures. Killed steels are known to have lower transition temperatures than semikilled steels. It is believed that the better qualities of killed steels in this respect are due mainly to the low oxygen contents of the steel. The principal deoxidizers, aluminum, silicon, and manganese, lower the oxygen content. Fundamental studies1-0 have shown that the oxygen content remaining after the addition of one of these three elements is influenced by the residual amounts of the other two present. In the current study, therefore, various amounts of silicon and aluminum were added to steels containing different manganese contents for the purpose of studying the influence of silicon and aluminum on the notched-bar properties of hot-rolled steels. Eleven types of steels were studied. The temperature at which the plates were finish-rolled was care- fully controlled at 1850°F. All plates were rolled to ¾-in. thickness, and tested in the as-rolled condition. The total number of steels prepared in the laboratory for this study was 95. The charge consisting of ingot iron and ferrosilicon equivalent to 0.10 pct Si was melted in a 200-lb induction furnace under an atmosphere of argon to insure low, uniform nitrogen contents. After the charge was melted and the desired temperature was obtained, the melt was partly deoxidized with either silicomanganese or aluminum. Aluminum was used for this purpose in only those steels with very low silicon contents, where the finished steel was to contain some aluminum. This initial deoxidizing addition was made to obtain consistent recoveries of subsequent additions of ferro-manganese, ferrosilicon, and aluminum. Carbon, in the form of graphite, was added, either just prior to tap or to the final aluminum addition. The entire heat of 200 lb was poured directly into a 6x6-in. big-end-up mold. The ingots of semikilled steel were capped with a steel plate. The killed steels, on the other hand, were poured with a hot-top containing 14 pct of the total volume of the ingot. The ingots were processed by heating to 2250°F, followed by forging to slabs 1¾ in. thick and 6 in. wide. After reheating to 2250°F, the slabs were rolled to 0.9-in. gage, using reductions of approximately 1/6 in. per pass. The 0.9-in. thick plates were immediately recharged in a furnace held at 1850°F. After 30 min in the furnace at 1850°F, the plates were rolled to ¾ in. in one pass. Following the final pass, the plates were stacked on edge on a brick floor, with a brick separating one from another, where they were allowed to cool in air. Drillings for chemical analysis were taken from the plates at locations corresponding to the top and bottom of each ingot. Carbon, manganese, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogen contents of each sample were determined. The analysis of each steel was carefully controlled so that the contents of

Jan 1, 1957