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By Antonio Augusto Gorni, Kenji Camey, José Herbert Dolabela da Silveira

Recently several studies have been developed on the use of microalloyed steels with low Mn content (below 1%) in the controlled rolling of heavy plates for the manufacture of pipes. However, this novel concept of alloy has peculiarities in its thermomechanical processing. Lower Mn contents should lead to the acceleration of NbCN precipitation kinetics during rolling, leading to a reduction in the soluble Nb content in austenite that delays its recrystallization by drag effect. This fact, plus the heavy and fast passes applied under virtually isothermal conditions in a heavy plate rolling mill with high power, increases the risk of partial recrystallization during the finishing stage of the controlled rolling, since strain hardening of austenite becomes significant and the interaction between precipitation and recrystallization is increasingly delayed. The objective of this study was to analyze the evolution of mean flow stress during the finishing stage of controlled rolling in these low Mn, high Nb microalloyed steels, in order to better understand the metallurgical mechanisms acting during this process and identify conditions that allow full compliance with the requirements of this product class.

Oct 1, 2019

By B. Tonn, F. Kröger

"The continued development in engine technology is leading to an augmentation in power density which steadily elevates the requirements for thermally and thermo-mechanically highly loaded components such as cylinder heads and pistons. Due to these high performance requirements conventionally applied Al-Si alloys have reached their application limits, since their mechanical properties deteriorate quickly under the influence of heat. Improved applicability is given by Al-Cu-based casting alloys which have a superior high-temperature strength than Al-Si alloys. Since Al-Cu alloys exhibit insufficient casting characteristics, especially regarding hot tearing susceptibility and increased tendency for porosity, it is currently not possible to cast geometrically complex components in robust permanent mold casting processes. The further development of Al-Cu alloys is aimed at finding an optimum between improved castability while high-temperature strength and thermal conductivity are not deteriorated. It is known that a high amount of eutectic reduces the hot tearing susceptibility of an alloy, but it reduces thermal conductivity at the same time. In this paper it will be presented how the conflicting objectives – improved high-temperature strength, good thermal conductivity and reduced hot tearing susceptibility – can be brought together to develop an optimized Al-Cu alloy for application in permanent mold casting.INTRODUCTION At the beginning of the 21st century car, engine blocks were primarily made of gray cast iron (GJL). Less than half a decade later, the choice of material had shifted towards lightweight materials. Ever since, the car engine manufacturing is dominated by aluminum-based alloys. The weight of car engine blocks could thus be reduced by around 50% due to the lower specific weight of aluminum alloys compared to gray cast iron. Furthermore, the high thermal conductivity of aluminum alloys allowed a reduction of complex cooling channel systems and thereby promoted the advancement of this material group. The further development in engine technology leads to an augmentation in power density which elevates the requirements for thermally and thermo-mechanically highly loaded components. For example, in diesel-powered car engines the upper required limits can reach an ignition pressure as high as 230 bar and gas temperatures of up to 1000°C. Thereby, thermal loads can cause high alternating thermal stresses (Grzincic, 2003) which can effectively be reduced by providing high thermal conductivity."

Jan 1, 2017

By Edgar E. Vidal

The deposition of ceramic materials onto substrates is of special interest in the development of surface related technologies. Research interest has been placed on using thermal plasma as the deposition method, specifically inductively coupled plasmas. Many different modifications to the same basic principle of deposition have been performed through out the materials research community. Such a technique may have many advantages over more conventional techniques, such as high deposition rates, high surface area coverage, clean energy source, no contamination from electrodes and operation near atmospheric pressures. Materials deposited vary from simple oxide systems like TiO2 to more complex structures like ternary oxides and nitrides. This paper reviews recent developments relative to the inductively coupled plasma deposition of thin films.

Jan 1, 2003

By Harry V. Makar

As part of a continuing research program for conserving domestic mineral resources, the Bureau of Mines is investigating new and improved scrap identification techniques to improve sorted mixed scrap purity. This report focuses on various classes of wrought and cast copper alloys produced with recycled scrap. Based on a survey of the literature, principal alloys, such as the brasses and bronzes, are examined with respect to impurity elements and their effects on metallurgical behavior. Effects of elements such as lead, antimony, iron, chromium, and aluminum are discussed. The metallurgical effects described include hot shortness, fire cracking, and undesirable phase transformations.

Jan 1, 1985

By F. A. Molloy

As a result of feasibility studies made in 1975 a 3-0 seismic reflection survey was shot over part of the Veendam salt pillow during 1978-1979. The Zechstein salt pillow, located in the northeast of the Netherlands near the town of veendam, occurs at a depth of 1400 m and contains three carnallite rich horizons over an interval of 300 m below top salt. MgCl2 brines are produced from these layers as feedstock for a magnesia plant, which starts up in 1981. Prior to the acquisition of the seismic data four wells had been drilled. The thickness of the carnallitite layers encountered in these wells varied between 50 and 125 meters. In view of these variations it was necessary to obtain a reliable isopach of the different layers. The 3-0 seismic survey covered an area of ± 4x4 km with a sampling interval of 20 m in all directions. The data was recorded it an area array using a 120 channel instrument. Final presentation of the data was in the form of 3-0 migrated acoustic impedance cross sections. The quality and resolution of the seismic data allowed reliable structural and isopach mans to be made. It was shown that the carnallitite layers are continuous over the area surveyed, whilst local thickening is "fault" related. Having this information brine production locations could be choosen in the thicker parts, allowing maximisation of production potential whilst avoiding faults and fulfilling mining regulations. A subsequent benefit of this approach is the possibility of using the seismic data to predict ore grade. Using the available wells as calibration points the acoustic impedance response of the seismic at the well was matched to the ore grade found. From these points a synthetic section was made with varying ore grades. Pre¬liminary results are encouraging and the liability of this predictive tool will be evaluated in the light of future drilling.

Jan 1, 1981

By Mike Faure

Hercules cribs make use of timber loaded parallel and perpendicular to the grain. Maximum use is made of the orthotropic properties of timber resulting in crib- having superior strength, high initial stiffness and controlled post yield deformations. Blocks and timbers can be combined in many different ways resulting in thousands of different geometries. Each geometry has a specific combination of block on block, timber on timber and block on timber contact area which results in a unique performance. Each crib can be fingerprinted by defining four parameters relating to its load/deformation curve. If the geometry is known, the performance can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy. If the mine support requirements are known, the crib geometries can be designed which met theme requirements in the most cost effective manner Hercules cribs come closest to satisfying mine support requirements. Due to the flexibility of the concept and their superior strength, they can be employed in most mining situations to enhance safety, improve productivity, reduce working costs or improve profitability.

Jan 1, 1993

By A. Becker, R. Tait, S. L. George, A. Carlisle

Surface treatments like laser shock peening (LSP) induce residual stresses penetrating up to 1 mm deep, surpassing traditional methods, thus significantly increasing the potential impact on materials prevalent in the automotive and aerospace sectors. Through extensive fatigue testing and fractography investigations, it was determined that LSP resulted in a fatigue life increase of over five times for aluminium alloy AA7075-T6 and titanium Ti-6Al-4V. Increased fatigue life was also noted in AISI316 stainless steel, which showed increases in fatigue life of 1.7x. While fatigue life in all cases improved, the efficacy of LSP was shown to be material dependent.

Jul 23, 2025

At times the phosphate industry, in Florida, encounters phosphate rock that gives lower than expected P2O5 recovery in the rougher plant section. The drop in recovery is typically 10% and as much as 30% or more. Variations in feed quality from day to day, shift to shift and even from drag-line to drag line, represent a challenge to the beneficiation plant operators and reagents? suppliers. Therefore, this characterization study has been initiated to identify the reasons for the differences in flotation behavior of such feeds. The study involves many samples to cover such variations. The characterization work includes: ? Mineralogical and chemical analysis; ? Size, shape, surface roughness and porosity analysis; ? Surface charge and surface contamination with other phases (minerals); ? Clay content and its relationship to phosphate and silica particles. The results correlated with flotation data and adsorption density measurements clearly establish the statistically significant variability in characteristic features that influence flotation response. This article discusses results from the above listed studies. On the basis of the obtained data, recommendations of practical approaches to overcome the problem of feed variability in phosphate flotation plants are delineated.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jilai Xue

Oxygen gas bubbles generate on anode during Pb electro-deposition process in PbSiF6-H2SiF6 aqueous solutions at room temperature. Cell voltage varies as the bubbles formed on the anodes surface. The bubble layer on the anode makes a voltage drop that consumes energy in the Pb process, which can be reduced by applying ultrasound on the anode. The effects of ultrasound frequency and anodic current density were investigated with ultrasound on and off, alternatively during the Pb electrode-position process. The removing of the gas bubbles were recorded in association with a drop in the cell voltage. The cell voltage can be lowered by 4% - 6% with ultrasound, which has potential for energy saving in Pb production.

Jan 1, 2010

By H. C. Roland Kammel

Stannous sulfate electrolytes are widely used nowadays in electrolytic tin production. Characteristic features of this electrolysis process are that dense cathode deposits can only be obtained by additions of organic additives and that so called ?black mud is formed on the anode surface which leads to an increase in cell-voltage. In order to prevent excessive cell-voltages or oxygen evolution the black mud has to be removed periodically. Studies in laboratory scale have been performed about the effect of different organic additives on electrolytic tin deposition and the formation of surface layers on pure and industrial tin anodes. Results reveal that organic addition agents are effective in reducing cathode roughening as well as extending the covering time of the anode ?by black muds.

Jan 1, 1985

By M. J. Nicol, P. Balestra, E. Schalch

A detailed fundamental study has been made of the various factors that influence the partial reactions comprising the electrochemical model of the cementation of gold from cyanide solutions by zinc. The effects of cyanide concentration, pH, agitation, additions of lead, and the presence of various impurity ions on both the anodic dissolution of zinc and the cathodic reduction of gold have been investigated. The results are used to explain the influence of these variables on the rate of cementation, and possible implications of this work for plant practice are discussed.

Jan 1, 1979

By Groudeva VI

The biohydrometallurgy of gold is based on different processes which could be grouped into four main groups (Attia, Litchfield and Vaaler, 1985; Karavaiko et al, 1988; Groudev, 1990): 1. bacterial oxidation of gold-bearing sulphide minerals by chemolithotrophic bacteria to facilitate the subsequent chemical extraction of gold; 2. solubilisation of gold from oxide ores by means of heterotrophic bacteria; 3. recovery of gold from solutions by biosorption; and 4. microbial modifications of the surface of gold-bearing sulphide minerals to improve the subsequent gold concentration by physical dressing methods (eg flotation, oil agglomeration).

Jan 1, 1993

By G. K. Roset, L. R. Woodland, J. A. Stevenson, G. J. Hodges

The Stillwater Mining Co. (SMC) is a partnership of Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. and Manville Corp. Since the summer of 1990, SMC has operated a precious metals smelter at Columbus, MT for further upgrading of concentrates from its platinum-palladium mine. The facility's gas-cleaning system utilizes "oxidation/dilute-mode," dual-alkali scrubbing technology to capture sulfur oxide gases from the process gas streams. This paper describes the rationale for selecting the dilute-mode, dual-alkali system and summarizes the design parameters. Also discussed are the startup problems encountered and their solutions.

Jan 1, 1993

By Ye Chen, Jianhua Chen, Meng Liu, Yuqiong Li, Xiao Mu, Cuihua Zhao

"Sulfidization-amine is the most effective method for the recovery of smithsonite (ZnCO3), however the interface interaction details remain unclear. The sulfidization-amine flotation mechanism of smithsonite has been studied by Density Functional based Tight Binding (DFTB+) method in this paper. The slab model of ZnCO3 (101) surface was built and the adsorptions of a monolayer of HS- and S2- ions were conducted to model the sulfidization effect on the ZnCO3 (101) surface adsorption. DDA hardly interacts with the hydrated ZnCO3 (101) surface. Under the low concentration of Na2S, HS- ions form a Zn-SH-SH structure on the ZnCO3 (101) surface, which hinders the interaction between DDA and surface Zn atoms. Under the high concentration of Na2S, a layer of ZnS is formed on ZnCO3 (101) surface, which is favorable for the adsorption of DDA on the surface. This is consistent with the flotation practice where smithsonite flotation requires a large amount of sodium sulfide. The results could provide a microscopic investigation into the sulfidization-amine flotation mechanism of smithsonite.INTRODUCTIONSmithsonite (ZnCO3) is an important and typical oxide mineral of zinc. It is a semi-soluble salt mineral with a solubility product constant of 1.46 × 10-10 (Weast, 1973). The most common and effective method to recover oxidized zinc ores is froth flotation (Caproni et al., 1979; Pereia and Peres, 2005; Kashani and Rashchi, 2008). It is well known that the flotation of oxidized zinc minerals is much more difficult than the flotation of zinc sulphide minerals (Hosseini and Forssberg, 2007).The recovery of zinc oxide ores with poor floatability attracts more and more attention due to the depletion of easy-recovered of zinc sulfide ores.Sulfidization-amine flotation, which using Na2S as sufidizing agent and amine as collector (Mckenna et al., 1949; Rey, 1954; Abramov, 1961; Rey, 1979; Hosseini and Forssberg, 2007). This method is the most successful technology used for zinc oxide minerals flotation in large-scale industrial applications since it was invented in the 1950s (Önal et al., 2005; Pereira and Peres, 2005). There have been numerous experimental researches on the sulfidization-amine flotation of smithsonite. Shi et al., (2013) studied solution chemistry of smithsonite flotation system. Feng and Wen (2017) studied the formation of zinc sulfide species on smithsonite surfaces and its response to flotation performance. Wu et al., (2017) investigated the sulfidization behavior of smithsonite with the use of zeta potential, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS). Their measurement results confirms the chemisorption of sulfur ions and the formation of ZnS film on the smithsonite surface after Na2S treatment, however the influence of HS- ions on the surface and the influence of sulfidization on the amine adsorption have not been discussed."

Jan 1, 2018

By O. E. Brown

The measurement principle of the Coulter Counter for particle size analyses is described. The application of the Coulter Counter to cement particle content and size analysis and to the size distribution of clinker from standard grindability tests are described. Methods of calibration, sample preparation and data reduction are presented. The results of the analyses obtained are compared with characteristics associated with performance showing both concordance and non-concordance of test data., Future uses of the Coulter Counter for particle size analysis in research and plant control adaptations are indicated.

Jan 1, 1960

By Andrey Dmitriev

The solution of set of equations for the bottom zone presented by a condition of a thermodynamic equilibrium, namely, an equilibrium constant of wustite reduction by carbon oxide, material and thermal the balances, supplemented by the equation of the heat balance for the top zone, allows to calculate the base indices of blast furnace smelting. The calculated indices are extreme accessible at the given parameters of charge and blast. Application of actual degrees of the use of gas instead of equilibrium allows the calculations of actual indices of the blast furnace smelting process.

Jan 1, 2006

By Mingming Zhang, Ramana G. Reddy

A 3-D mathematical model was developed for the batch reactor of low temperature aluminum electrowinning using ionic liquid electrolytes. This model describes the deposition process by incorporating the mass transport of participating ionic species, homogeneous chemical reactions within the diffusion layer, and the associated electrochemical kinetics. Processing parameters, current and potential distribution, species concentration, fluid flow distribution, and electrode spacing were evaluated for the optimal reactor performance. The results indicated that the electrode spacing significantly affects the electrolyte fluid flow and current density distribution. The parallel electrode configuration (in line with electrolyte inlet) improved the convection and resulted in uniform current density distribution and electrolyte fluid flow. However, for this electrode configuration, electroactive species distribution was most favorable between the electrodes. Perpendicular configuration of electrodes resulted in a more non-uniform fluid flow within electrolyte domain, and it has a potential to cause non-uniform deposits. Aluminum electrowinning experiments were conducted using batch reactor at 80 °C, electrolyte flow rate of 5–20 ml/min, and applied cell voltage of 3–3.5 V. Good agreement was obtained between the model and the batch aluminum electrowinning experimental results.

Mar 1, 2017

By Jeffrey Anderson, Cindi Byrns, Andy Davis

A closure plan was developed for the Intera Pond Facility, a former acid leaching collection pond at the BHP Robinson Mining Operations. To properly close the Intera Pond Facility, an engineering plan that was both technical and cost effective was developed. A primary objective of this closure project was to demonstrate to State regulators that following the proposed plan would minimize further degradation of water resources. Field data demonstrated natural attenuation of metal enriched solutes via carbonate reactions. Prospective fate and transport modeling indicated that it would not continue to degrade waters of the State.

Jan 1, 2000

By F. L. Wideman

This paper lists resources of sulfur in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizons, an area comprising approximately 522,600 square miles, Sources of sulfur occuring within the region are sulfur are, pyrite and pyritic ores, and natural gases and petroleum. Data concerning these sources are presented on a statewide basis. Some of the known deposits of sulfur ore are surficial and of fumerole origin; other deposits have resulted from oxidation of pyrite or sulfide ores of copper, lead, and zinc. The deposits are small and the sulfur is distributed erratically in them. There is a small production from some of the deposits, and the material produced is used as soil conditioner.

Jan 1, 1957

By James S. E

Financial risk of environmental problems is the key to many important business decisions within the mining industry. Massive uncertainty makes it difficult to choose a strategy for managing environmental problems to reduce corporate financial exposure to environmental impairment. A correct and practical method exists to clarify the risks and help make decisions. A case study on an insurance problem illustrates the method.The approach used is to translate existing data on environmental problems into probabilistic expressions of financial risk, and organise the expressions to reveal alternative solution strategies for the insurance problem.

Jan 1, 1993