Search Documents

By Richard H. Olson, Lawrence A. Roe

Talc, when it can be isolated as a pure mineral, has a composition of 63.36% Si02, 31.89% MgO, and 4.75% H20. However, as an industrial commodity, talc rarely approaches theoretical purity. Nevertheless, the impure talc products of commerce find a multitude of uses and few substitutes in many industrial applications. Minerals commonly associated with and sold together in talcose mixtures are tremolite, chlorite, dolomite, mica, and magnesite. Steatite was originally a mineralogical name applied to pure talc. In today's commerce steatite generally refers to the massive variety of talc suitable for electrical insulator manufacture. Block steatite ore can be machined into various shapes. Impure varieties of massive or block talc are still commonly referred to as soapstone. Soft massive talc, suitable for crayon manufacture, has been referred to as French chalk. It has been common practice to discuss talc, soapstone, and pyrophyllite under the same general heading. In the case of soapstone and talc, this is a natural thing since many different types of platy, soft minerals exhibiting a high degree of lubricity (commonly referred to as "slip") have been grouped together and called soapstone or talc. Further, there is a mineralogical relationship of pyrophyllite to montmorillonite and talc to hectorite. Thus, talc and pyrophyllite are sometimes referred to as clay minerals. When finely divided talc or pyrophyllite are combined with water in proportions to make a slurry, the end product does have the appearance of a clay-water mixture. Soapstone for utensils and ornaments was mined by prehistoric Indians on Santa Catalina Island, CA. In the mid-1800s, soapstone from deposits along the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains was used by white settlers for building and ornamental stone and in the linings and foundations of furnaces (Anon. 1956). Previous to 1916, the annual recorded production in California did not exceed 2000 tons. In the period 1912 to 1918, output rose sharply when the Talc City, Western, and Silver Lake mines were put into operation. From 1916 to 1935, the state's annual output of talc was in the range of 9,000 to 20,000 tons. In the mid-1930s, the use of talc in wall tile grew rapidly. In California, the production of talc grew to 63,000 stpy in 1943. The post-war building boom helped California production to grow to 120,000 tons in 1951. In 1968, production was 165,000 tons, 1969 was 145,000 tons, 1970 was 185,000 tons, and 1972 was 155,000 tons. Talc mining in New York state dates to about 1878 when a Colonel Palmer and associates opened the first commercial talc mine on the Nelson Freeman farm near Talcville, New York. In 1893, this operation was sold to the International Pulp Co. which changed its name to the International Talc Co. in 1944. The company was acquired by R.T. Vanderbilt Co., Inc. in 1974. A new talc operation, the Gouverneur Talc Co. owned by the R.T. Vanderbilt Co., began operations near Balmat, NY, in 1948. The initial capacity of the processing plant was 200 stpd (Gillingham, 1950). Subsequent expansions have increased capacity to over 600 stpd. The Vermont talc industry began just after the start of the 20th century. Talc was discovered in the area of the present Johnson, VT, talc mine in 1902. The American Minerals Co. initiated plant operations at Johnson in 1904. The Magnesia Talc Co. opened a plant at Waterbury, VT, in 1913 (Burmeister, 1963; Trauffer, 1964) and acquired American Minerals Co. in 1923. The Waterbury mine has a long history as a producer of talc crayons. The Eastern Magnesia Talc Co. was formed in 1924 by a merger of the Eastern Talc, Co.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. W. Loucks

There is plenty of evidence to indicate that at least one of man's chief interests in life is to make himself as comfortable as possible. If you doubt this, just watch the fellow next to you for the next half hour trying to find the most comfortable position that a hard chair has to offer. Comfort, however, does not always mean an easy chair. To some, it may mean a wealth of money: to another, freedom from worry. But to most of us, it means first of all a comfortable atmosphere in which to live, and to a great many of us it probably also means freedom from that annoying task of firing the furnace. Today more than ever before, automatic heat is one improvement that is placed high on everyone's list. Perhaps this is because automatic heating is becoming relatively cheaper. Perhaps it is because of a good publicity campaign on the part of the oil and gas men or maybe it is just that we are getting lazier day by day. At any rate, almost every issue of Better Homes and Gardens, House Beautiful, or your other favorite home magazine carries an article extolling the virtues of this or that automatic heating system.

Jan 1, 1949

By Nicholas J. Grant, Robert F. Wilde

TAYLOR and Floyd's"" work in establishing phase diagrams based on the elements Ni-Cr-Ti-A1 has led to an understanding of the precipitation hardening mechanism in alloys based on these elements. Nordheim and Grant4 concluded that in simple alloys, and where the aluminum to titanium atomic ratio was such that less than three out of five aluminum atoms were replaced by titanium, the precipitate on aging is the face-centered-cubic Ni 3A 1 phase, called They further found that increasing amounts of hexagonal ? phase, Ni3Ti, precipitated from these alloys when the titanium content exceeded the solid solubility of both matrix and Ni3A1. For alloys of Ni-Cr-Ti-Al, in which the titanium and aluminum contents each ranged from 0 to 4 wt pct, the titanium-rich was superior for strengthening to either pure ?' or 7. It was also noted that the combined titanium plus aluminum content (atomic pct) was a direct measure of the high temperature strength and overaging temperatures for these alloys.4 The present investigation was undertaken to extend existing data on precipitation hardening in the more complex commercial alloys containing higher titanium plus aluminum, and with significant quantities of cobalt, molybdenum, and carbon. Experimental Procedure Reforging of As-Received Bar Stock—The alloys were received as ground, forged bar stock. Chemical analyses and the as-received bar diameters are shown in Table I along with the ASTM grain size after the various treatments. All stock except the Waspaloy was reforged to % in. diam to gain material and to facilitate machining of stress-rupture specimens. Forging was carried out at 2100°F, and discontinued when the bar temperature fell to 1800°F. Heat Treatments—For experixental simplicity it was desirable to heat treat all of the alloys at, the

Jan 1, 1958

By Frederick Laist

IT IS obviously impossible to design a copper smelting plant which could be considered, ideal under all conditions. For example, a plant properly designed to smelt the concentrates resulting from the treatment of porphyry ores by flotation would not be the kind of plant that one would design for the treatment of a coarse pyritous copper ore. The smelting of flotation or other fine concentrates is generally accomplished in a reverberatory plant, although occasionally the concentrates are sintered and then smelted in blast furnaces. On the other hand, coarse self-fluxing ores, whether pyritic or semi-pyritic, are generally smelted in a blast-furnace plant. Even this statement is only- approximately true, since the choice will be influenced by many factors; for example, the kind of fuel available (coal, oil or coke), the value of power (electric or steam), the uses to which waste steam may be put (heating, drying, etc.), the cost of refractories (silica and fire brick), the permanence and continuity of the ore supply and the relative first costs of the two types of plant (the reverberatory plant is generally more expensive to construct and to shut down), the contour of the site on which the plant is to be built (rugged, rolling or flat), the intelligence and character of the labor avail-able, and many other factors. From these remarks, it is evident that no copper smelter can be ideal for all conditions of ore and locality, and inasmuch as most of the copper now being pro-duced comes from fine or flotation concentrates and these are generally smelted in reverberatory furnaces, I shall confine my remarks to this type of smelt-ing plant.

Jan 5, 1923

By MARSHALL D. DRAPER

CHINA is one of the large producers of the world's tin. About 95 per cent of the total Chinese production comes from the Kotchiu district in the southern part of the province of Yunnan. Yunnan occupies the southwestern part of China, bordering on Burma,. Siam and. French Indo-China. From the British port of Hong Kong,' small steamers sail southwest at about four-day intervals, reaching Haiphong in French Indo-China in two or three days. This, one of the principal ports in Indo-China, is a modern French city of some 50,000 population which, with its tropical surroundings, has much natural beauty. It is a few miles from the sea on the Red River, which has its source in China. Both at Haiphong and Hanoi, the capital of Indo-China, sixty-three miles north of Haiphong and also on' the Red River, there are foundries, shipyards, machine shops, cement and brick plants and various similar industries.

Jan 1, 1931

By H. H. Stout

In the early fall of 1925, the writer was conducting, in the Ledoux and Co. laboratory, New York, experiments directed toward ascertaining the effect on its impurity content when cathode copper was subjected to a current of various gases at an elevated temperature below the melting point. The apparatus consisted of a vertical I-in. dia. silica tube about 12 in. long, heated on the outside. The cathodes were broken to pass 3/8-in. mesh, and a current of various different gases was passed up through a 4-in. long column of these loose cathode particles in the vertical tube furnace. Temperature was maintained to 1500º to 1600ºF. and the gas treatments lasted from 3 to 6 hr. The writer observed that whenever reducing gas (H2 or CO) was used, these cathode particles stuck together at points of contact with each other. The cohesion was so marked and tenacious that an examination was made of the fractured surfaces, when cathode particles were broken from the cluster. Crystal growth was always found to have taken place across the surfaces where separate particles were in contact, but only after all oxides, sulphates, etc., had been completely removed. The idea of a possible new process was then conceived and was disclosed to A. M. Smoot (V. P. Ledoux and Co.) with intent to obtain his views. The first conception as given Smoot was "to gas-clean broken cathodes, put them in an extrusion press, solidify and extrude them at around 1500ºF." Smoot's reaction, after a few moments considera- tion, was, "It looks perfectly all right to me.'' The writer and his assistants, W. H. Osborn and H. H. Stout, Jr., after conferring as to ways and means, decided to go ahead with preliminary laboratory experiments, which, it was thought, would move the new process from the possible to the probable. This program followed a course indicated by three basic considerations: 1. Since brittle cathodes were often unintentionally produced, it seemed probable that the laws controlling this type of deposition could be ascertained. 2. We had already proved the gas-cleaning feature. 3. There remained to prove: whether a sound, homogeneous metal billet could be produced with crystal growth established over the entire surface of each individual particle in the billet; and, if so, what would be the physical properties? Osborn arranged with Columbia University for conducting experiments in its research laboratory to prove or disprove the third item; Columbia assigned C. A. Phillipi, Jr. to assist in the project. A press with a cylinder 2 in. high and of I-in. dia. was used. It was surrouilded and heated by a resistance coil 01 Nichrome wire. Broken tough cathodes were used. Experimental Procedure The first run took place March 18, 1926. The resistance wire gave out when temperature of 1000ºF. was obtained. Pressure was immediately applied: perceptible ram movement stopped when 39,000 lb. per sq. in. on the copper was reached, with a maxi-

Jan 1, 1941

By Mark J. Klein

The creep of 043 was studied over the temperature range 1650" to 3200°F and over the stress range 3000 to 44,000 psi. The steady-state creep rate over this range of stress and temperature can be expressed by the equation where A is a constant, is the stress, and is -0.8 x 103 psi-'. Over a narrow range of stress variations c0 a and for this proportionality n varies from 3 to 30 in accordance with the relation n = aB. Above about 2400° F, H, the apparent activation energy for creep, is 110,000 cal per mole, a value about equal to that estimated for self-diffusion in this alloy. Below 2400°F, H increases with decreasing temperature reaching a value of -125,000 cal per mole at 1700° F. In this temperature region, H appears to be a function of the interstitial concentration of the alloy. MOST of the detailed creep studies of dispersion strengthened metals have been concerned with metals having fcc structures. However, there are a number of important refractory alloys with bcc structures that derive part of their high temperature strength from an interstitial phase and whose creep behavior has not been well defined. This paper describes the creep behavior of the bcc alloy, D43, over the temperature range 1650" to 3200°F (0.4 to 0.7 Thm) and over the stress range 3000 to 44,000 psi. In addition to colum-bium, this alloy contains 10 pct W. 1 pct Zr, and sufficient carbon (-0.1 pct) to form a carbide dispersion throughout the matrix of the alloy. The effects of variations in temperature and stress on the steady-state creep rate of this alloy are presented in this paper. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Creep tests were made in a vacuum of 106 torr under constant tensile stress conditions using a Full-man-type lever arm.' Creep specimens were machined from 0.020-in. D43 sheet (grain size -5 x l0-4 in.) processed in a duplex condition (solution annealed -2900°F, 40 pct reduction in area, aged 2600°F). The specimens were tested in this condition without further heat treatment. Specimen extensions over 1-in. gage lengths were continuously recorded using a high temperature strain gage extensometer. Differential temperature and stress measurements were used to determine temperature and stress dependencies of the creep rate. Activation energies were calculated from the changes in strain rate induced by abrupt shifts in the temperature during constant stress creep tests. The 100°F temperature shifts used in most of the activation energy determinations required 15 to 90 sec depending upon the temperature at which the shift was made. The dependence of strain rate on stress was determined by measuring the change in strain rate for incremental stress reductions during constant temperature tests. It has been shown that columbium-base alloys such as D43 are susceptible to contamination by gaseous interstitial elements during vacuum heat treatments.' In this regard, it is unlikely that these alloys can be heat treated without some loss or gain of interstitial elements despite the precautions taken to control the heat treating environment. However, several factors suggest that changes in interstitial concentrations of the specimens during testing did not affect the results presented in this paper. First, the dependence of the creep rate on the stress or temperature determined during the course of a single creep test showed no variations with the duration of the test. A variation would be expected if a loss or gain in interstitial concentration during the course of the test affected results. In addition, precautions taken during this investigation to minimize interstitial contamination by wrapping the gage lengths of the specimens with various foils2 (Mo, Ta, W) did not produce a detectable change in the stress and temperature dependencies relative to the unwrapped specimens. The averages of duplicate analyses for carbon and oxygen in several specimens determined before and after creep testing are listed in Table I. The combined nitrogen and hydrogen concentrations which were ordinarily less than 50 ppm did not change in a detectable way with creep testing. The analyses show that only minor changes in carbon concentration occurred during creep testing except for specimen 4. This specimen which was tested at 3100°F lost a significant amount of its carbon concentration to the vacuum environment. Specimen 1 gained 100 ppm of O, while specimens 2, 3, and 4, which were tested at progressively higher temperatures, lost increasing portions of their initial oxygen concentrations during testing. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The Temperature Dependence of the Creep Rate. The apparent activation energy for creep, H, was de-rived from creep curves similar to that shown in Fig. 1. Steady-state creep was rapidly attained at the beginning of the test and with each change in temperature. This behavior suggests that the alloy rapidly attains a stable structure with each shift in temperature or that the structure is constant throughout the test. Since the dispersion will tend to stabilize the structure, the latter is probably the case. The activation energy was found to be independent of the direction of the temperature shift and the magnitude of the shift (50" or 100°F). Although H was approximately independent of the strain, there was a tendency for it

Jan 1, 1970

By J. F. KENP

THE White Knob copper-deposits are situated about three miles south of Mackay, on the Salmon River .branch of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, in Custer county, Idaho. An outline-map of this district is given in Fig. 1. The deposits have been known and spasmodically worked for many years, and a total of over 3.5 miles of tunnels, shafts and other workings has been driven with a view to their development. These extensive excavations have exposed the deposits sufficiently to permit a careful geological examination. The peculiar features which give special interest to this paper are the branching, free-like form of the ore-bodies; the absence of zones of secondary enrichment in the partly oxidized pyritic deposits, and the fact that while the deposits are associated in a general way with the contact of an eruptive rock with limestone, which it penetrates, the garnetization has taken place not in the limestone, as is the usual case, but in the igneous

Mar 1, 1907

By Walter C. Holmes

IN the recently published book entitled "Man in a Chemical World," by A. Cressy Morrison, the several pages discussing explosives were included in the chapter on "Serving Industry." Such a classification is entirely correct, as blasting explosives function only as a tool for accomplishing certain useful work, a tool which is completely destroyed in one use. Explosives are so important to industry and to modern society, in fact, that it seems impossible to imagine the existence of civilized nations without access to commercial explosives as ready servants. Two main types of explosives are now in use, the low-velocity or deflagrating type, such as black powder, which is adapted for use in coal mining and other applications where a slow, heaving effect is desired, and high explosives of the dynamite type,

Jan 1, 1938

By D. S. Gleason, D. E. Severson, D. R. Skidmore

Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. has modified the German Pott-Broche process, on which patents date back to 1927, to produce on a bench scale liquid products by solution hydrogenation of coal. A continuing program of lignite solution-hydro gena-tion experiments is directed toward investigating coal solution reactions, determining favorable conditions for the solution refining of lignite by the Pott-Broche process, and investigating some of the uses for the de-ashed product obtained from lignite The German Pott-Broche process1" on which patents date back to 1927, has been modified by the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co., a Gulf Oil subsidiary, to produce on a bench scale liquid products by solution -hydrogena-tion of coal." The objectives of the present effort are to investigate coal solution reactions, to determine favorable conditions for the solution refining of lignite by the Pott-Broche process, and to investigate some of the uses for the de-ashed product obtained from lignite. This paper is a summary of results to date in a continuing program of lignite solution-hydrogenation experiments. The coal solution reaction program has several principal aims. The first of these is to determine whether lignite can be successfully dissolved in solvents that might be practical for commercial development. The second object is to determine whether the solvents function after successive cycles of use, recovery, and reuse. It seems necessary to the economics of a potential commercial process that the solvent be recycled. Third, it is desired to learn something about the distribution of the ash constituents between cake and filtrate. The extent of ash removal is important. The nature and quantity of mineral matter passing through the filter may determine end-use marketability. For certain use applications, trace quantities of certain minerals can be objectionable, e.g., titanium and vanadium must be very low in electrode carbon for aluminum production. The Solution Reaction The coal solution Process involves an extremely complex system of chemical reactions. An initial solvent such as anthracene oil is a mixture of hundreds of different compounds with a boiling range of roughly 500" to 750°F at atmospheric pressure. The coal macro-molecule is broken down by thermal decomposition and solvent action into myriads of different compounds, some the same as those comprising the solvent. This similarity in structures opens up the possibility of production and subsequent recovery of solvent. Some solvent is inevitably lost by reaction. Regeneration of solvent was not a problem in the early German Pott-Broche plant. The coal refinery was an integral part of a petroleum refinery complex and replacement solvent was readily available. A coal refinery using lignite, however, might be isolated from other hydrocarbon processing facilities and the regenerability of solvent could be vital to the economic success of the venture. Several structural features of the solvent molecules have been cited as important to the coal solution process.'. The first of these is aromaticity of the material, the second, ability to transfer hydrogen to another molecule, as for example the ability of tetralin to transfer hydrogen and be converted to naphthalene. Finally, the presence of hydroxyl groups on aromatic rings within the molecule, i.e., phenolic character, seems beneficial. Mixtures of pure compounds have been tried by various investigators. Mixtures of o-cresol, a phenolic substance, and tetralin were found to dissolve bituminous coal better than either substance alone.3 This maximum solubility was not found with lignite." Hydrogen contributes to the reaction by hydro-genolysis and by combining with free radicals and molecular "loose ends" to stabilize the compounds formed in coal depolymerization. High boiling point, and correspondingly high molecular weight, seems to be a property which improves solution potential for coal with a given type of compound.' The maceral components of the coal appear to have an important bearing on its ease of solution. The fusain portion is quite inert to solvent action, but the an-thraxylon material dissolves quite readily.3 The hydrogenation reaction can be improved by the use of a catalyst; commercial hydrogenation catalysts having been found effective. Although cost is involved in the use of catalyst and catalyst recovery, the resulting saving in time and perhaps lowered temperature or pressure might justify their use in the solution refining process and decrease the total process costs. Apparatus and Procedure The coal solution runs were made in a 1-gal stainless steel stirred autoclave. The autoclave was provided with thermocouple wells and a transducer to permit continuous recording of temperature and pressure. The autoclave stirrer was magnetically driven, eliminating the leakage inherent with a rotating pressure seal. For runs in which a catalyst was used, the catalyst in the form of beads was placed in a wire mesh container mounted on the stirrer shaft. A control system programmed the heatup and reaction cycle. The permissible heating rate was 5°F per min because of the need to minimize thermal stress in the autoclave body. The temperature was raised at that rate until the reaction temperature was attained and then the temperature was held constant for the desired length of time. The maximum temperature seldom exceeded the average run temperature by more than 15°F.

Jan 1, 1971

By Frank R. Milliken, Robert Goodwin

In September 1937, the Ohio Copper Co. inaugurated the treatment of its copper-bearing mill tailings at Lark, Utah. These tailings had been accumulated during the regular operation of the Ohio Copper mine and mill over the period 1907 to 1919. Gravity concentration had been employed except for a comparatively short period in 1919, when flotation was used. The ore milled during that period assayed about I per cent Cu. The chief copper mineral, chalcocite, was disseminated in a shattered quartzite, mainly along fracture or cleavage planes. The quartzite gangue was extremely hard and grinding to liberation resulted in excessive sliming of the "sooty" chalcocite, with consequent high tailings losses. Recovery on the seven million tons treated was probably less than 60 per cent of the total copper content. As early as 1918, attempts had been made to sample the dump. In 1928, a complete sampling program was undertaken. The sampling consisted of seventy-four 5-in. post auger holes drilled to the full depth of the dump at regular intervals of 250 ft. Each 10-ft. portion thereof comprised a sample for analysis. Each sample was screened, rolled, divided into three parts, dried and assayed. The reject was retained for testing purposes. From the depth of the auger holes a contour map of the dump was plotted, Fig. I, which gives percentages of tonnage and copper content. The tonnage within the limit of the drill holes was estimated at about five million tons with an average content of 0.42 per cent Cu, 31 per cent of which (0.13 per cent) was acid-soluble. A screen analysis of the composite dump sample is shown in Table I. Flotation tests by several companies and individuals were then made, the results of which ranged from 62 to 74 per cent recovery. On the basis of these, a 200-ton pilot plant employing straight flotation was built and operated for a few months. Operation of this plant was unsuccessful, as no provision had been made to handle the copper-bearing solutions resulting from the water-soluble copper, a point that was overlooked in the laboratory test work. Attempts to decant the copper-bearing solution for precipitation in the usual manner ahead of flotation were not satisfactory because of low water recovery (owing to poor settling characteristics of the pulp) and contamination of the copper precipitate with unsettled slime. Low copper prices in 1931 necessitated the termination of testing. With the stimulus of higher copper prices in 1937, a review was made of metallurgical

Jan 1, 1943

By Robert Goodwin, Frank R. Milliken

In September 1937, the Ohio Copper Co. inaugurated the treatment of its copper-bearing mill tailings at Lark, Utah. These tailings had been accumulated during the regular operation of the Ohio Copper mine and mill over the period 1907 to 1919. Gravity concentration had been employed except for a comparatively short period in 1919, when flotation was used. The ore milled during that period assayed about I per cent Cu. The chief copper mineral, chalcocite, was disseminated in a shattered quartzite, mainly along fracture or cleavage planes. The quartzite gangue was extremely hard and grinding to liberation resulted in excessive sliming of the "sooty" chalcocite, with consequent high tailings losses. Recovery on the seven million tons treated was probably less than 60 per cent of the total copper content. As early as 1918, attempts had been made to sample the dump. In 1928, a complete sampling program was undertaken. The sampling consisted of seventy-four 5-in. post auger holes drilled to the full depth of the dump at regular intervals of 250 ft. Each 10-ft. portion thereof comprised a sample for analysis. Each sample was screened, rolled, divided into three parts, dried and assayed. The reject was retained for testing purposes. From the depth of the auger holes a contour map of the dump was plotted, Fig. I, which gives percentages of tonnage and copper content. The tonnage within the limit of the drill holes was estimated at about five million tons with an average content of 0.42 per cent Cu, 31 per cent of which (0.13 per cent) was acid-soluble. A screen analysis of the composite dump sample is shown in Table I. Flotation tests by several companies and individuals were then made, the results of which ranged from 62 to 74 per cent recovery. On the basis of these, a 200-ton pilot plant employing straight flotation was built and operated for a few months. Operation of this plant was unsuccessful, as no provision had been made to handle the copper-bearing solutions resulting from the water-soluble copper, a point that was overlooked in the laboratory test work. Attempts to decant the copper-bearing solution for precipitation in the usual manner ahead of flotation were not satisfactory because of low water recovery (owing to poor settling characteristics of the pulp) and contamination of the copper precipitate with unsettled slime. Low copper prices in 1931 necessitated the termination of testing. With the stimulus of higher copper prices in 1937, a review was made of metallurgical

Jan 1, 1943

By Donald C. Branford

The place of geophysics in the curriculum of a college or an engineering school has been much discussed. There is uncertainty as to whether the graduate may be called a "geological geophysicist" or a "geophysical geologist." Some have used the term "geophysical engineer." The question of the specialized undergraduate curriculum versus a general undergraduate training in the parent sciences with the addition of cultural electives has been and is still being argued. The literature during the past Io years shows that there are two rather definite schools of thought on this subject. The prospective employer, engaged in active geophysical exploration, visualizes the graduate in terms of the routine work he will do in the field. The school administrator, grounded in many years of tradition in the cultural type of education, visualizes the graduate in terms of his position in a political and cultural society as well as in his work as a professional geophysicist. Both are right and both wrong. A third school of thought, that of the student himself, has been almost totally ignored. It would seem best, for the purpose of this paper, to treat these various points and allied material separately, and then to integrate the conclusions as a set of conditions that should be fulfilled as far as possible in the ideal curriculum. At the end the relationship of our findings to the curriculum that has been tentatively adopted at the University of Pittsburgh will be considered. Divisions in Definition or Field of Geophysics Geophysics is that field of science in which geological and earth problems are solved with the use of physical and chemical techniques. Altogether too much attention has been paid to the artificial separation in this science of the commercial applications from the so-called "pure" or academic geophysics. The only real difference in the two types of work is one of scale of operations. In the commercial field the scale is large in terms of fmancial backing, immediate economic importance, and speed of operations. In the academic field the scale is large in terms of breadth of interests, in eventual economic importance, and length of time allowable for theoretical investigations. In exploration work the scale is small in terms of dimensions, since the methods are applicable only to the outer 20,000 ft. or SO of the earth's crust. In academic work, the student is not pressed for results of immediate economic importance, and therefore can afford to spend more time on problems that seem unimportant at the time. In the sense of background knowledge of the parent sciences necessary to the geophysicist, no essential difference can be found. Physics, chemistry, geology, and mathematics together, and in their proper proportionate amounts, form the matrix from which geophysical ideas and methods may spring.

Jan 1, 1946

By Donald C. Branford

The place of geophysics in the curriculum of a college or an engineering school has been much discussed. There is uncertainty as to whether the graduate may be called a "geological geophysicist" or a "geophysical geologist." Some have used the term "geophysical engineer." The question of the specialized undergraduate curriculum versus a general undergraduate training in the parent sciences with the addition of cultural electives has been and is still being argued. The literature during the past Io years shows that there are two rather definite schools of thought on this subject. The prospective employer, engaged in active geophysical exploration, visualizes the graduate in terms of the routine work he will do in the field. The school administrator, grounded in many years of tradition in the cultural type of education, visualizes the graduate in terms of his position in a political and cultural society as well as in his work as a professional geophysicist. Both are right and both wrong. A third school of thought, that of the student himself, has been almost totally ignored. It would seem best, for the purpose of this paper, to treat these various points and allied material separately, and then to integrate the conclusions as a set of conditions that should be fulfilled as far as possible in the ideal curriculum. At the end the relationship of our findings to the curriculum that has been tentatively adopted at the University of Pittsburgh will be considered. Divisions in Definition or Field of Geophysics Geophysics is that field of science in which geological and earth problems are solved with the use of physical and chemical techniques. Altogether too much attention has been paid to the artificial separation in this science of the commercial applications from the so-called "pure" or academic geophysics. The only real difference in the two types of work is one of scale of operations. In the commercial field the scale is large in terms of fmancial backing, immediate economic importance, and speed of operations. In the academic field the scale is large in terms of breadth of interests, in eventual economic importance, and length of time allowable for theoretical investigations. In exploration work the scale is small in terms of dimensions, since the methods are applicable only to the outer 20,000 ft. or SO of the earth's crust. In academic work, the student is not pressed for results of immediate economic importance, and therefore can afford to spend more time on problems that seem unimportant at the time. In the sense of background knowledge of the parent sciences necessary to the geophysicist, no essential difference can be found. Physics, chemistry, geology, and mathematics together, and in their proper proportionate amounts, form the matrix from which geophysical ideas and methods may spring.

Jan 1, 1946

By Benjamin N. Webber

During World War II the Pocos de Caldas bauxite deposits of Minas Gerais in Brazil yielded some 60,000 tons. Since then they have maintained a small but almost continuous production. Known for many years, the deposits have been reconnoitered by a number of geologists,1-4 but no dimensional study has been possible because there have not been enough exposures to show clearly the depth, bedrock, and habit of occurrence. The deposits are somewhat unorthodox in their occurrence mainly on steep slopes of mountainous terrain. Although the parent rocks are a sequence of alkalic intrusions that bauxitize readily under the proper conditions, bauxitization has not been the dominant weathering process in the area. It is limited to certain localities where important volumes of bauxite have formed by laterization of several rock types, each yielding a distinctive type of bauxite. Bauxitization may be observed in several stages and in both direct and indirect cycles of formation. The deposits are unique in being of demonstrably recent age, so that the conditions under which the bauxite formed are essentially those of the present time. The bauxitization sequence is postulated in Fig. 1.

Jan 8, 1959

By George Fancher, R. L. Whitting

A typical drilling mud from the Hastings oil field, Brazoria County, Texas, containing only 8 per cent (dry basis) of material of colloidal dimensions, which is largely illite, was concentrated to a density of 10.2 lb. per gal. and used in this study. The effects of water dilution, treatment with complex polyphos-phates, temperature and the time of heating upon the rheological properties of the mud were investigated. It was found that water plays an important part in chemical treatment and that sodium acid pyrophosphate and sodium tripolyphosphate were more efficient than other complex polyphosphates for chemical treatment. Muds treated with either of these chemicals manifested maximum reduction in viscosity and minimum filtration rates at low concentrations. Furthermore, .mud treated to minimum viscosity with either of these two chemicals was virtually unaffected by heat-treatment. Introduction The drilling of deep wells is dependent upon the use of drilling mud, and problems frequently arise concerning the effects on mud of temperature, prolonged heating and aging. The use of chemicals to control the rheological properties of mud is a well-established practice. Salts of weak organic acids such as sodium tannate or gallate were used at first until the complex phosphates of sodium were found to be more efficient. Consequently, it seemed important to investigate the reaction of a mud to chemical treatment with phosphates, temperature, heat-treatment and aging, particularly since previous work in the laboratory at the University of Texas had provided the particle-size distribution and mineral composition of Hastings mud. Properties or Mud Used in Experiments A large sample of the mud from a drilling well in the Hastings field, Brazoria County, Texas, was obtained directly from the circulatory system. Some of the general physical characteristics of the mud and other data are presented in Table I. Table i.—General Properties of Hustings Drilling Mud Alex- Cur-ander keet Well Well Depth when sample was taken, It.. 5720 5700 Weight. lb. per gal............... 9.5 0.8 Viscosity, sec. A.P.I.............. 47 60 Viscosity, Stormer, grams......... 80 Viscosity, centipoises............. 13 Filtration rate, c.c. per 30 min.a. . . 19.6 22.8 Salt content (chlorides), per cent... 0.13 0.12 pH............................. 8.9 8.9 The Alexander mud was used for the experimental work. Comparison with Curkeet mud indicates a considerably greater dilution but otherwise suggests similarity. The mineral composition and particle-size distribution of Curkeet mud (Table 2) are available (Fancher and Oliphant6). It is suggested that Alexander mud would have a similar composition.

Jan 1, 1943

By R. L. Whitting, George Fancher

A typical drilling mud from the Hastings oil field, Brazoria County, Texas, containing only 8 per cent (dry basis) of material of colloidal dimensions, which is largely illite, was concentrated to a density of 10.2 lb. per gal. and used in this study. The effects of water dilution, treatment with complex polyphos-phates, temperature and the time of heating upon the rheological properties of the mud were investigated. It was found that water plays an important part in chemical treatment and that sodium acid pyrophosphate and sodium tripolyphosphate were more efficient than other complex polyphosphates for chemical treatment. Muds treated with either of these chemicals manifested maximum reduction in viscosity and minimum filtration rates at low concentrations. Furthermore, .mud treated to minimum viscosity with either of these two chemicals was virtually unaffected by heat-treatment. Introduction The drilling of deep wells is dependent upon the use of drilling mud, and problems frequently arise concerning the effects on mud of temperature, prolonged heating and aging. The use of chemicals to control the rheological properties of mud is a well-established practice. Salts of weak organic acids such as sodium tannate or gallate were used at first until the complex phosphates of sodium were found to be more efficient. Consequently, it seemed important to investigate the reaction of a mud to chemical treatment with phosphates, temperature, heat-treatment and aging, particularly since previous work in the laboratory at the University of Texas had provided the particle-size distribution and mineral composition of Hastings mud. Properties or Mud Used in Experiments A large sample of the mud from a drilling well in the Hastings field, Brazoria County, Texas, was obtained directly from the circulatory system. Some of the general physical characteristics of the mud and other data are presented in Table I. Table i.—General Properties of Hustings Drilling Mud Alex- Cur-ander keet Well Well Depth when sample was taken, It.. 5720 5700 Weight. lb. per gal............... 9.5 0.8 Viscosity, sec. A.P.I.............. 47 60 Viscosity, Stormer, grams......... 80 Viscosity, centipoises............. 13 Filtration rate, c.c. per 30 min.a. . . 19.6 22.8 Salt content (chlorides), per cent... 0.13 0.12 pH............................. 8.9 8.9 The Alexander mud was used for the experimental work. Comparison with Curkeet mud indicates a considerably greater dilution but otherwise suggests similarity. The mineral composition and particle-size distribution of Curkeet mud (Table 2) are available (Fancher and Oliphant6). It is suggested that Alexander mud would have a similar composition.

Jan 1, 1943

By C. E. Birchenall, F. N. Rhines, L. A. Hughes

A. J. Shaler—I should like to congratulate the authors on the presentation of this paper, which we have been awaiting a long time. The view they have taken of the sintering process, namely that voids are comparable to particles of a second phase capable of dissolving to a slight extent in the metal phase, is an interesting but dangerous one. Pines has given a first-order solution of the problem and Has predicted a decrease in the concentration of pores near the surface. The authors of the present paper have experimentally demonstrated the second-order effects, that is, the diffusion of the space phase between voids of different sizes, and also the movement of atoms from highly curved parts of a void to less curved regions of the same void. I have recently calculated the rate of vapor-phase transport within odd-shaped pores in copper at 850 °C and found that probably at that temperature volume flow is the more rapid shape-changing mechanism. The authors of the present paper have found that at 1000°C, vapor-phase transport is dominant. There is no disagreement here, I think. The dominant phenomenon can easily be different' in different temperature ranges and with different pore shapes: I used a cylinder going to a sphere, not a tricuspid going to a "triple cuspidor." But there is some danger in the other art of the explanation, that is, in the study of the diffusion of vacancies from a pore to its neighbors and to the outside. A vacancy is very different in dimension from an atom. When it moves, it carries a field of elastic strain. This has to be taken into account. A concentration gradient of vacancies can cause them to diffuse. But in the absence of such a gradient, they can be made to diffuse by a field of stress. What happens in some of our experiments, and it is most noticeable in the shrinkage of synthetic cylindrical pores, like the tubes we have been working with, may be broken down into the following steps. (1) The presence of a surface establishes a vacancy concentration gradient, as Dr. Kuczynski and the present authors have shown. (2) Vacancies then diffuse in order to decrease this gradient. (3) In so doing, they cause an elastic field to be built up in such a direction as to oppose the diffusion, so that it slows down until it reaches a steady-state rate. (4) The steady-state flow is due to the fact that the surface tension acting on curved surfaces applies a stress to the system which itself mechanically causes vacancy diffusion. What I have said is that the diffusive types of flow of the authors and of Dr. Kuczynski are transient phenomena which soon stop if the pores are large. We are then left with a mechanical problem only, and our researches have not yet disclosed just what the mechanism of flow is; it may be a slip process, or it may take place by a vacancy diffusion of the type Nabarro has de-

Jan 1, 1951

By AIME AIME

CERTAINLY in point of attendance, and doubtless in several other ways as well, the 147th meeting of the A.I.M.E. was the best ever held. In times of depression, mining engineers and metallurgists have plenty of time to come to the Annual Meeting but money is scarce; at the height of industrial activity they have plenty of money but no time. "The current period of transition seemed to provide ideal conditions for' both the preparation of papers and attendance at their presentation. The weather made even the Californians present envious though the weather man gets no credit, for rain and snow was what he willed. Among the elevator men, the miners have the reputation of being the toughest crowd to handle, though the best natured, withal, of all the engineering groups that meet in the Engineering Societies Building. This year Your inquiring reporter was told, "it was the damnedest meeting I ever saw; they

Jan 1, 1937

By David W. Brunton

(San Francisco Meeting, October, 1911.) MINE-DRAINAGE and the ever-increasing demand for water on the plains have within the past few years necessitated the driving of a great number of adits and tunnels, including many of considerable size and great length. In most instances, ex isting conditions have called for extreme rapidity of execution; and this necessity, coupled with the high altitudes at which most of the work has been carried on, excessive freight-rates, and difficulty -of access, has involved many complex and interesting problems. One of the most rapidly executed undertakings of this class is the Laramie tunnel, recently completed for the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation Co. This tunnel is driven through Green ridge, a spur of the Continental Divide, which separates the Laramie river from the Cache-la-Poudre in Laramie county, Colo. Green ridge is extremely persistent, and further northward in Wyoming is known as Sherman hill, the highest point on the Union Pacific railway. At the point where the tunnel is driven, two opposing bends bring these streams within 2.5 miles of each other, with a difference in elevation of 500 ft. The rock exposed on the banks of the two rivers does not differ materially in hardness; and, without a geological study of the conditions involved, it would appear that the difference in the depth of erosion of the two streams is due principally to the greater volume of water at this point in the Cache-la-Poudre, which has a drainage-area above the tunnel-portal of 110 sq. miles, as against 30 sq. miles of natural drainage for the Laramie. To increase the water-supply at the tunnel, however, this latter amount has been augmented by two side collection-canals, which bring the available drainage-area up to 84 square miles. The nearest railroad shipping-point to the eastern portal is

Apr 1, 1912