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By Reinhardt Thiessen

In the general study of coal, all evidence points in the one direction —that coals had their origin in a manner analogous to that of peat. The best method of studying coal, whether it concerns its chemistry, composition, or physical condition, is to study peat. The essentials in a study of peat are a knowledge of the chemistry of plants, knowledge of decay and of the transformation process of plant-substances into peat. A number of facts must be emphasized, namely, (1) peat is formed under wet conditions only; (2) plants grow in the place where peat is formed; (3) all the plant substances go into the bog; and (4) all the plant substances are subjected to a series of phases of decay which are (a) in the air completely above the water level but in relatively moist conditions; (b) above the water level, but covered by debris; and (c) completely submerged by both water and debris. Plant Chemistry Plant chemistry as a whole is remarkably well understood. The number of compounds composing plants is large, and it is not possible here to give even a comprehensive outline, but a classification into definite groups is possible; this is as follows: Carbohydrates; glucosides; pigments; tannins; acids, alcohols and ketones, etc., and their salts; essential oils; resins; vegetable bases; proteins; enzymes. Plant substances may also be grouped according to the role they play in the life of the plant, such as: Framework materials, living materials, food materials, protecting materials, waste materials. While this classification groups them well for. certain purposes, it does not group them exactly chemically; but in a consideration of the composition of coal, this is an excellent classification for our purpose here.

Jan 1, 1925

MINING ENGINEERING presents the annual membership report of the Society of Mining Engineers; see page 109.

Jan 7, 1963

By Walter Miller

NOW, after a year's continued impact of war, the task of the petroleum-refining industry stands out clearly and looms up in larger aspect. This time it is not, as it was so largely in the first World War, simply a matter of increased quantity- more and more of the same petroleum products that had substantially been standard for years. In this era the emphasis is largely on newer and improved materials which had been produced, if at all, in comparatively insignificant quantities, and for which manufacturing equipment was not available on a large scale. At the beginning of 1942 four great product needs (besides a number of lesser one-) confronted the industry: 100-octane aviation gasoline, toluene for T.N.T. production, high-quality lubricating oils for aviation and Army equipment service, and petroleum chemicals for synthetic rubber manufacture.

Jan 1, 1943

By David Turnbull

STAFF: Editor, Gerhard Derge Carnegie Institute of Technology Schenley Park Pittsburgh 13, Pa. Editorial Assistant, M. A. Redmerski Production Editor, Otto T. Johnson THE METALLURGICAL SOCIETY: J. S. Smart, Jr., President; C. C. Long, Past-President; K. L. Fetters, Vice President; T. D. Jones, Treasurer; R. W, Shearman, Secretary. PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE OF THE METALLURGICAL SOCIETY: C. L. McCabe, Chairman; H. L. Bishop, K. L. Fetters, J. J. Harwood, W. A. Krivsky, F. C. Langenberg, R. E. Lund, W. O. Philbrook, L. L. Seigle, R. L. Smith, and F. L. Vogel. Review and selection of monuscripts is under the supervision of the following Publications Committees: Extractive Metallurgy Division: C. L. McCabe, Chairman; R. E. Lund, Vice-Chairman; D. H. Baker, Jr., W. A. Krivsky, R. A. Lewis, Paul Queneau, A. S. Russell, R. E. Shinkoskey, W, W. Stephens, and M. E. Wadsworth. Institute of Metals Division: L. L. Seigle, Chairman, Paul A. Beck, I. I. Bessen, J. 0. Better-ton, Jr., J. B. Clark, R. S. Davis, A. E. Dwight, R. W. Fountain, R. B. Gordon, C. D. Graham, Jr., R. W. Guard, J. C. Gurland, E. L. Harmon, J. J. Heger, A. A. Hendricksan, M. Herman, J. N. Hobstetter, H. H. Johnson, Jr., R. R. Nash, T- N. Rhodin, R. H. Richman, W. Ros-toker, P. G. Shewmon, C. W. Spencer, L.SIifkin, J. K. Stanley, C. D. Starr, and H. C. Stumpf. Iron and Steel Division: H. L. Bishop, Chairman; R. E. Boni, F. C. Langenberg, J. B. Wagstaff, and T. V. Wainwright. Published bimonthly by the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc., 29 West 39th Street, New York 18, N. Y. Telephone: PEnnsylvania 6-9220. Subscription $20 per year for non-AIME members in United States and North, South, and Central America; $25, foreign; $5 for AIME members. Single copies, $4.00, single copies foreign, $5.00. The AIME is not responsible for any statement made or opinion expressed in its publications . . . Copyright 1961 by the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. . . . Registered cable address, AIME New York .. . Indexed in Engineering Index, Industrial Arts Index, and Chemical Abstracts . . . Second class postage paid at New York, N. Y., and Ann Arbor, Mich. Volume 221, Number 3.

Jan 1, 1962

US 4,135,913-Extraction of nickel values from iron-containing nickel sulfide ore, particularly pentlandite or nickeliferous pyrrhotite A mixture of raw ore, roasted ore, or iron powder, and coal as a reductant is heated to a temperature of 800- 1000° C in a nonoxidizing atmosphere to convert the bulk of the iron content to metallic iron while diffusing into the iron the bulk of the nickel, the mixture cooled, and the cool material separated into a magnetic fraction containing most of the nickel and a non-magnetic gangue fraction A Illis arid L S Renzoni, assigned to International Nickel Co, Inc Jan 23, 1979 7 pp (75-21) Filed 10-10-75 (621,343) Priority Canada, 10-27-72 (155,032) Same Canadian 981,910, dated Jan 20, 1976 Same British 1,389,145, dated Apr 3, 1975 US 4,135,917-In the recovery of gallium from a solution obtained by the digestion of bauxite or nepheline in an alkali solution for the production of alumina, the digestion solution is neutralized, the neutralized solution evaporated to an op¬timum caustic alkali concentration and adjusted to a ratio of alkali metal oxide to alumina of above 2, the corrected solu¬tion contacted with a gallium-aluminum alloy, arid high-purity gallium recovered from the solution by electrolysis or cemen¬tation K A Badaliants, et al Jan 23, 1979 6 pp (75-109) Filed 12-19-77 (862,201) Priority USSR, 12-22-76 (2,428,¬006) US 4,135,918-Extraction of copper from copper sulfide ore containing also one or more of the metals iron, nickel, arid cobalt Ore is roasted at a temperature of 750-800° C to expel sulfur, the sulfur-free calcine slurried in water containing a sufficient amount of sulfuric acid to supplement any sulfuric acid formed in situ, the slurry heated at 150-165° C in the presence of a reducing gas to form soluble sulfates of metals other than copper while reducing copper to elemental form, arid the slurry filtered to recover copper solids Any precious metals present in the ore will report with the copper solids V A Ettel, A P Devuyst, R Sridhar, arid C. E O'Neill, as¬signed to International Nickel Co, Inc Jan 23, 1979 5 pp (75-117) Filed 3-2-78 (882,610) Priority Canada, 5-13-77 (278,360)

Jan 1, 1980

By G. P. Walters, W. C. Fuller

THE production of thin films of beryllium became essential early in the irradiation program at Harwell in order to study the fundamentals of irradiation damage in this metal. In common with other metals, electron-microacope specimens of beryllium can be produced by different techniques. The techniques used to produce thin-film specimens varied according to the starting material. Most of the starting material was -0.060 in. thick. Large-area specimens (1 in. long by 0.5 in. wide) were chemically thinned to -0.005 in. thick in a solution containing 85 pct orthophosphoric acid, 10 pct chromium trioxide, and 5 pct sulfuric acid at 70°C prior to electropolishing. Small-area specimens, Fig. 1, had to be mechanically thinned prior to electropolishing because chemical thinning considerably reduces the area as well as the thickness. Mechanical thinning tends to produce a worked layer about 0.002 in. deep and hence this method cannot be used to thin bulk specimens below about 0.005 in. thick. Mechanical thinning is carried out by mounting the specimen on perspex then carefully polishing on wet grinding papers. Polishing is continued until about half the initial thickness is removed; the reverse side is then polished in a similar manner. After the bulk specimens have been mechanically or chemically thinned to -0.005 in. they are elec-tropolished in the solution shown in able I at 50" to 80°C. This solution should be prepared by adding the chromium trioxide to the orthophosphoric acid and then the glycerol last. The glycerol should be added slowly because a vigorous effervescence can occur. Electropolishing is carried out by holding the specimen in stainless-steel tweezers and gently agitating in the solution. Masking or "window" techniques are not required for beryllium, good microscope specimens being obtained from the edges of elec-tropolished foils. A stainless-steel beaker should be used, acting as the cathode and solution container. A closed circuit voltage of 30 v is used for polishing. Too low a voltage produces a matt surface and pitting occurs when it is too high. The solution temperature is important. If it is too low, the solution is viscous and bad polishing results and, if too high, etching of the specimen occurs. After electropolishing, the foils are thoroughly

Jan 1, 1963

The Iron and Steel Committee of the American Institute, of mining and Metallurgical Engineers held a joint session with the American Foundrymen's Association during the Annual Meeting of the Institute in February, 1928, for the purpose of discussing blast-furnace operations and the character of pig iron and castings. Dr. Richard Moldenke presided. H.. H. Sweetser, who was named on the program as the presiding officer of the session, was unable to be present, but sent a letter in which he said: " The meeting we had here last year and the meeting held in Chicago last June showed a desire on the part of blast-furnace men and users of pig iron to get the facts regarding the influence on castings made from pig iron produced in blast furnaces under varying conditions of temperature, mixture and local furnace operations. It has been my hope that at this Round Table we might he able to formulate a series of tests that, would give us the desired information. "Several independent blast-furnace investigations have. been, and still are being, carried on in different sections of the country. The furnaces investigated include a southern furnace, a middle-west furnace, a western furnace and a Chicago district furnace. The results so far show distinct characteristics for each of the four furnaces. It is possible that a furnace in the eastern part of the United States would be different from all the others. "It is hoped that a plan of action can be worked out at your meeting today whereby the IT. S. Bureau of Mines will be able, to carry on more extensive work in connection with the research departments of the different iron and steel companies and the big consumers of pig iron. "No one group can get all of the, information but if the different investigations can be coordinated it will he possible for us to (Iran. conclusions regarding the effects of varying conditions in blast-furnace practice on the pig iron produced and the castings made there from." DISCUSSION R. Moldenke, Watehung, N. J.—I was across the -water this summer and saw some of those interested in an investigation of this kind. 'I'hey told me that in Germany, where they had a joint committee of blast-furnace operators and foundry-

By Henry Louis

IN the discussion on the paper on subsidence by R. V. Norris and H. W. Montz (Teohnical Publication No. 153), H. N. Eavenson has been good enough to quote some of my views regarding the phenomena of subsidence; he has, of course, only mentioned these briefly, and as he has not represented them quite correctly, it is evident that I have failed to make them clear. Seeing that he, and apparently some of the others who took part in the discussion, appear to hold views different from my own, I think it advisable to put my opinions down as definitely and as clearly as possible, because it appears to me at least possible that some of the differences above referred to may be differences of language and definition rather than of fact. The statements I propose to submit refer to the simplest cases, namely where an area in a practically horizontal bed has been entirely worked out. My experience has been confined to beds of bituminous coal and of ironstone, but D I do not at the moment see why there should be any difference in principle between the working of a bed of anthracite and one of bituminous coal, provided that the other conditions are the same. I wish to emphasize that I am considering the conditions of complete working out of the mineral bed with the roof allowed to come down and form goaf in accordance with the general British practice; 1 am excluding, therefore, methods of hydraulic, pneumatic, and hand stowage where extraneous material is brought in to hold up the roof. I am also excluding the case of bord and pillar working where pillars of small size are deliberately left in, apparently with the idea that these will subsequently crush and let the roof down gradually. Such a method of mining has long been discontinued in this country, indeed in Europe generally, and I venture to predict that the time will come when such a recklessly wasteful method will no longer be tolerated even in the United States. Further, I am referring entirely td static conditions after the mineral bed has been worked out and the ground has come to rest; the phenomena that occur during the course of extraction are much more complicated, and these I am not discussing here. Under these conditions, I have

Jan 1, 1929

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 H. H. Uhlig

IN our study of the mechanism of and the prevention of corrosion in stainless steels, it was considered of fundamental importance to obtain knowledge of the surface structure of such alloys. If corrosion resistance is due to a self-healing oxide layer, which like a paint film protects the underlying metal, it would be obviously relevant were the effort made to make the film less permeable and more adherent; for example, the surface might be expected to respond to an anodizing process, which is found successful in increasing the film thickness and corrosion resistance of aluminum. However, if passivity and corrosion resistance of stainless steels are due to another cause, the attack of the problem would follow another path. One of the most effective techniques for studying passivity and corrosion tendency is the measurement of the electrochemical potential. Not only can one determine by potential measurements whether a metal is active or passive, but also one can determine the degree of passivity and rate of transformation of passivity with time. Chemical media that build up or destroy passivity when in contact with the steel can also be classified by potential measurements. Something can be learned, too, of the effect of alloy additions such as molybdenum to 18-8, known to decrease corrosion of the alloy in chloride solutions. A study of alloys in previous investigations has sometimes included data on the electrochemical potentials. Tammann and Sotter1 measured the electrochemical potentials of alloys of iron-molybdenum and iron-chromium and reported the critical concentration of molybdenum or chromium at which passivity initiates. Strauss2 made similar measure-ments for the iron-chromium system. The electrochemical potential' has also been used to indicate carbide precipitated 18-8. In 18-8, heat-treated to precipitate carbide, active metal exists at the region of the grain boundaries, contrasted with passive metal within the grains, the active metal accounting for a resultant active potential. Several

Jan 1, 1939

By Wallace E. Pratt

IRon-oRe deposits in the Philippine Islands became the subject of official record as early as 1664. Undoubtedly iron ore was known and recognized by the Filipinos long before the earliest Spanish records. It is even possible that the Filipino practice of smelting iron ore is, like the native copper smelting, older than the Spanish conquest of the islands. The first records have to do with the magnetite-hematite ores near the towns of Santa Inez and Bosoboso in Rizal Province, from 15 to 20 miles east of Manila. The magnetite-hematite ores of Bulacan were exploited in 1783. Similar ores near the town of Mambulao in Camarines Province yielded a number of specimens to be exhibited in Spain in 1834. With the exception, then, of the lateritic iron ores on the eastern coast of northern Surigao, the true nature of which was not recognized until 1914, the important iron-ore deposits of the Philippines had all been discovered before the islands came under the dominion of the United States. Indeed, in the Spanish documents relating to the history of iron mining are statements which, if their accuracy be not questioned, leave us in the Philippines today with much less iron ore than the Spaniards found. To quote, for example, a report submitted to the Superior Government in Spain in 1835 by one of its emissaries, Don Lorenzo Calvo: "The Philippine Islands, most excellent Sir, possess iron and exhibit it in nearly every known mineralogical combination, and in such abundance that the cordillera of the island of Luzon, from Montufar Point in San Bernardino Straits to Cape Bojeador, is composed of no other mineral than iron, its ranges, of the third order, being in content and structure totally iron of the best quality, the more valuable in that its combinations are such as to facilitate its fusion and to render its redaction to metal simple." Today, however, it is recognized that the iron-ore deposits in the Eastern Cordillera of Luzon constitute, not a continuous belt, but a series of widely separated deposits, including a half dozen orebodies within a distance of 10 miles in Bulacan Province, a single outcrop at Santa Inez, Rizal Province, farther south, and three deposits around

Jan 1, 1916

By J. Burns Read, S. Tour

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize, as far as possible, the metallurgical information and experience gained by the Ordnancc Department, during the war, in the manufacture of artillery cartridge cases, to describe the tests to which artillery cartridge cases were put, and to summarize the knowledge and experience gained in this testing. The authors wish to acknowledge the aid given by manufacturers, army officers, and civilian employees of the Department in obtaining data. Artillery cartridge cases are cold drawn from circular disks punched from strips of rolled brass. The rnanufacture involves from 25 to 30 main operations, which are done almost entirely on a punch press. Descriptions of the operations have appeared in various periodical:: and, therefore, will not he given here. After each cupping, or drawing, operation, except the last, the cases are annealed at from 540" to 650" C. (1000" to 1200°F.), to remove all the hardening stresses set up in the metal and to allow complete recrystallization. After each annealing, the cases are pickled in niter cake or sulfuric-acid solution and then washed in water to remove all traces of acid. In some instances, the cases arc then immersed in a cyanide-salt solution, and afterwards rinsed in water, to remove the thin layer of copper that forms on the surface of the cases during the acid pickle. The last cold-drawing operation is followcd by the heading operation which, by flattening the head of the case on the outside, causes the metal to flow on the inside to approximately the proper finished dimensions. The mouth, or open end, is then annealed at 430" to 450" ('. 1800" to 900" F.) by immersion in a salt bath or by gas flames. After being washed, the eases are tapered, when they arc ready for machining, inspection, and testing. Cartridge-case Disks Good disks of proper composition and physical properties are essential to the production of good cartridge cases. The Ordnance Department

Jan 1, 1923

By J. Burns Read, S. Tour

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize, as far as possible, the metallurgical information and experience gained by the Ordnancc Department, during the war, in the manufacture of artillery cartridge cases, to describe the tests to which artillery cartridge cases were put, and to summarize the knowledge and experience gained in this testing. The authors wish to acknowledge the aid given by manufacturers, army officers, and civilian employees of the Department in obtaining data. Artillery cartridge cases are cold drawn from circular disks punched from strips of rolled brass. The rnanufacture involves from 25 to 30 main operations, which are done almost entirely on a punch press. Descriptions of the operations have appeared in various periodical:: and, therefore, will not he given here. After each cupping, or drawing, operation, except the last, the cases are annealed at from 540" to 650" C. (1000" to 1200°F.), to remove all the hardening stresses set up in the metal and to allow complete recrystallization. After each annealing, the cases are pickled in niter cake or sulfuric-acid solution and then washed in water to remove all traces of acid. In some instances, the cases arc then immersed in a cyanide-salt solution, and afterwards rinsed in water, to remove the thin layer of copper that forms on the surface of the cases during the acid pickle. The last cold-drawing operation is followcd by the heading operation which, by flattening the head of the case on the outside, causes the metal to flow on the inside to approximately the proper finished dimensions. The mouth, or open end, is then annealed at 430" to 450" ('. 1800" to 900" F.) by immersion in a salt bath or by gas flames. After being washed, the eases are tapered, when they arc ready for machining, inspection, and testing. Cartridge-case Disks Good disks of proper composition and physical properties are essential to the production of good cartridge cases. The Ordnance Department

Jan 1, 1923

By Clarence Balke

SMALL buttons of fused tantalum have been produced by are fusion in a vacuum, by drawing an arc between sticks of pressed tantalum and a tantalum-faced water-cooled copper block. However, ingots of appreci-able size can be produced only by the heat-treatment of bars pressed from powder. The following outline covering the production of finished bars of tantalum by the methods of powder metallurgy is also used for the production of columbium, taking into account the difference in the melting points of these two metals. PRESSING THE POWDER With possibly a few exceptions, a pressing operation is one of the essential steps in the practice of powder metallurgy. In fact, the author's experience with a number of high-melting-point metals and with numer-ous types of hard carbide compositions has led him to believe that this operation is often one of the most important in the- entire process, and frequently one of the most difficult to carry out in a satisfactory manner. Defects clue to improper pressing can readily lead to a defective finished product. It is the author's opinion that rarely is a bar or other article pressed from metal powder in such a way that all parts of the piece are uniformly pressed. The nearest approach to uniformity of pressing is possibly attained when the powder is contained in a flexible receptacle, such as rubber, and is pressed under a liquid by hydrostatic pressure. However, this method is not generally applicable. Hydraulic pressing in steel dies where one or two punches are forced into the die must usually be resorted to. As the pressure in such a die is built up, the powder begins to cling to the walls of the die with a tenacity dependent upon the nature of the powder, and this results in a bridging action, so that the layers of powder adjacent to the moving punch are pressed more heavily than those further removed in the mass. Frequently, as the pressure is carried higher, there may be a mass slippage of the powder upon itself, with the result that slip cracks are formed within the pressed

Jan 1, 1938

By C. C. McDermond, Others, B. N. Zavoico

Production of crude oil in Venezuela for the year 1937 was 186,653,-916 bbl., as compared with 155,228,982 bbl. produced in 1936, an increase of almost 31,500,000 bbl. The oil-field strike, which started on Dec. 14, 1936, lasted until Jan. 25, 1937, when a total of 10,000,000 bbl. of production was estimated to have been lost (5,750,000 bbl. in 1936 and the remainder in 1937). Of the total of 186,653,916 bbl. produced in 1937, the Lagunillas field contributed 45.6 per cent, a drop of approximately 10 per cent under 1936 figures; Tia Juana, 14.3 per cent; Quiriquire field, 14.0 per cent; La Rosa area, 13.3 per cent and the Mene Grande field, 7.6 per cent, these being the five leading contributors of the year's production. Detailed production figures by fields and by companies are shown on Table 1. Of the total production of Venezuela the following four major companies accounted for the greater proportion: Standard of Venezuela and Lago Petroleum Corporation together, 48.3 per cent; Shell, 37.4 per cent and Venezuela Gulf, 14.0 per cent. At the end of the year, 2491 wells were producing, of which number 1291 wells were pumpers, or about 52 per cent. Production The accompanying statistics of production record of Venezuela oil fields from its inception to Dec. 31, 1937, shown on Table 2, indicates that the cumulative production reached 1,503,283,228 bbl. In order of importance, Lagunillas leads all the fields, having accounted for about 50 per cent of Venezuelan production, followed by La Rosa area, which produced about 21 per cent; Mene Grande, which produced about 13 per cent, and Quiriquire, which produced 6.5 per cent. Table 3 shows the age of each field. Mene Grande is the oldest, having produced for 24 years; Tarra is next, 21 1/2 years old, and El Mene third, 171/2 years. The gravity of the crude from the various fields, also shown on Table 3, remained unchanged, the only addition being the new Tia Juana field, which averages 15.6' A.P.I. Table 4 shows the method of production by fields as of Jan. 1, 1938; at the end of the year 2491 wells were producing, compared with 2005 wells producing at the beginning of 1937, or an increase of 486 wells. The completions for the year reached 512. Of the 2491 wells producing crude oil, 1291 wells, or approximately 52 per cent, were pumping, 925 (approximately 37 per cent) were flowing naturally and 275 (11 per cent) were on

Jan 1, 1938

By W. M. Peirce

Commencing in 1922, each year a lecture has been presented to the Institute of Metals Division at this February meeting. The range of subjects has been very- broad. Some speakers have dealt with the most advanced work in the very heart of the science of physical metallurgy. Others have stimulated our imaginations by discussing the most recent progress in related fields of science. Others have told us of the latest art, which is at any moment of greater practical importance than the latest science, of metals. I feel that this broad precedent in the choice of subjects will justify my choosing to talk about some of the prosaic details of how, during the last generation, industry has effectively organized research to accelerate progress in our own and all other fields of science and related art. A number of years ago I visited one of this country's well-known research laboratories and had the pleasure of chatting for a few minutes with its equally well-known director. Being particularly interested at the time in the organization problems connected with industrial research, I broached that subject. My host stated in effect that he didn't believe in organized research. He was, of course, resorting to a rhetorical hyperbole. to pain: out the danger of overorganization which can so easily drift into regimentation and destroy individual initiative. Actually nearly all of us, much as we cherish our personal freedom of action, believe in organization because the history of progress in every field of human activity has been a history of men learning to work together, to cooperate, to create an efficient division of labor. We use organization to achieve this coordination. At the same time our form of organization must not stifle individual initiative or it will prove a deterrent rather than an aid to accomplishment. Research, too, must be organized for greatest achievement but especial skill and care are perhaps needed to avoid stifling the initiative of the individual workers. I have, of course, followed with keen interest and much benefit the vast amount . that has been said and written on this subject in the past twenty years but I still find new stimulation in discussions with my good friends working in this field. It is my hope that this discussion may serve a like purpose. It would be ungracious not to make due acknowledgment to the many able contributors to this particular phase of human progress, but their very number and the great volume of their writing makes it impossible to trace to any one individual a particular significant and valuable idea. I shall content myself therefore with this general acknowledgment and with acknowledgment of the specific debt that every research man owes to those who have so ably kept before the public, and in particular before industrial executives, the place of research in the modern scheme of things' Because of the legitimate publicity thus given to research, the day is past when any

Jan 1, 1944

By W. A. Wood, W. H. Reimann, K. R. Sargant

A study is made of the microstructural changes produced in armco and pure iron subjected to alternating torsion at amplitudes above and below the knee of the S/N curve. The aim was to identify the basic mechanisms of fatigue and to find why they should give rise to a sharp S/N knee in contrast to the type of S/N curve shown by fcc metals. It is found that the basic structural change above the knee in the iron is a pronounced cell formation in the grains, which determines irregular micro-cracks, and below the knee a dispersion of fine slip that determines a dispersed pore formation in the grains. Comparison of these changes with those in fcc metals similarly tested shows that they do not include an intermediate structural change, a concentrating of slip in narrow bands with associated slip-band cracking, that characterizes the fcc metals and accounts for their different type of S/N curve. RECENT conferences on basic mechanisms of fatigue emphasize that fatigue damage takes many forms: for example, cracking in slip bands (Thompson1), at grain boundaries and inclusions (Hempel'), at precipitation zones in alloys (Han-stock, Forsythe), or at surface notch-peak effects, both hypothetical (Mott, cottrel16) and observed (Wood). Evidently it is not easy to see in this diversity a basic mechanism. At the same time the contributions suggest that some reconciliation may be possible if distinctions are drawn between three phases of the fatigue process: initiation of damage at nuclei, distribution of these nuclei, and the final macroscopic crack system. In initiation, the relevant features appear to be that nuclei may appear early, at least by 1/100th to 1/1000th of the life of a test specimen; that they may do so at many independent centers, appearing according to some observationsa as pores or voids; and that they are not necessarily self-propagating, damage spreading rather by their multiplication. In distribution, the relevant feature appears to be that they form preferentially in zones where the microstructure becomes abnormally strained (as defined more closely below). Now in these two phases the basic fatigue process should be systematic. But, at the same time, the "abnormal strains" in particular set the stage for considerable diversity in the final phase of macroscopic cracking, for where zones of abnormal strain develop will depend on what kind of fatigue deformation is applied and what kind of prior processing the test material has had. On this view it seems desirable to know what in

Jan 1, 1964

By Heihachi Kamura

The reduction of iron oxide, such as Fe203, to iron in the blast furnace is performed principally by carbon monoxide, but partly by solid carbon by the two following reactions: Fe2O3 + 3CO = 2Fe 4- 3CO2 2Fe2O3 + 3C = 4Fe + 3CO2 It is known that reduction by carbon monoxide takes place at a much lower temperature than reduction by carbon and that the reducing action of earbon monoxide progresses to the inside of the ore in lump form by gaseous diffusion. In the reduction by carbon, however, the reducing action takes place only at the contact surface of the ore and carbon, so that the more complete the reduction by carbon monoxide, the more efficient is the operation. However, the reduction does not progress as shown in the foregoing equation, because carbon dioxide acts oxidizingly on the metallic iron to such a degree that when the gaseous composition reaches a certain proportion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, the reduction practically stops, even though the gases are moving slowly through the heated ore. The proportions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the gas depend on the kind of iron oxide and the temperature of reduction, also on the duration of time in the reaction. The longer the time of the reaction, the higher the proportion of carbon dioxide obtained in the gas, but finally it will attain to a condition of equilibrium. Chemical Equilibrium of Iron, Oxygen, and Carbon Investigations concerning the equilibrium between iron, oxygen, and carbon have been carried out by E. Baur and A. Glaessner,1 who deter-

Jan 1, 1925

By W. M. Peirce

Commencing in 1922, each year a lecture has been presented to the Institute of Metals Division at this February meeting. The range of subjects has been very- broad. Some speakers have dealt with the most advanced work in the very heart of the science of physical metallurgy. Others have stimulated our imaginations by discussing the most recent progress in related fields of science. Others have told us of the latest art, which is at any moment of greater practical importance than the latest science, of metals. I feel that this broad precedent in the choice of subjects will justify my choosing to talk about some of the prosaic details of how, during the last generation, industry has effectively organized research to accelerate progress in our own and all other fields of science and related art. A number of years ago I visited one of this country's well-known research laboratories and had the pleasure of chatting for a few minutes with its equally well-known director. Being particularly interested at the time in the organization problems connected with industrial research, I broached that subject. My host stated in effect that he didn't believe in organized research. He was, of course, resorting to a rhetorical hyperbole. to pain: out the danger of overorganization which can so easily drift into regimentation and destroy individual initiative. Actually nearly all of us, much as we cherish our personal freedom of action, believe in organization because the history of progress in every field of human activity has been a history of men learning to work together, to cooperate, to create an efficient division of labor. We use organization to achieve this coordination. At the same time our form of organization must not stifle individual initiative or it will prove a deterrent rather than an aid to accomplishment. Research, too, must be organized for greatest achievement but especial skill and care are perhaps needed to avoid stifling the initiative of the individual workers. I have, of course, followed with keen interest and much benefit the vast amount . that has been said and written on this subject in the past twenty years but I still find new stimulation in discussions with my good friends working in this field. It is my hope that this discussion may serve a like purpose. It would be ungracious not to make due acknowledgment to the many able contributors to this particular phase of human progress, but their very number and the great volume of their writing makes it impossible to trace to any one individual a particular significant and valuable idea. I shall content myself therefore with this general acknowledgment and with acknowledgment of the specific debt that every research man owes to those who have so ably kept before the public, and in particular before industrial executives, the place of research in the modern scheme of things' Because of the legitimate publicity thus given to research, the day is past when any

Jan 1, 1944

By Frederick Laist

0. C. RALSTON, Salt Lake City, Utah.-I have merely glanced over this paper, consequently, I am hardly in a position to discuss it intelligently. There is one thing, however, that is of interest, that is, the claim that the oil mixture which they have chosen is the best adapted to the work at hand. I would like to ask Mr. Mathewson if they still feel that that is the case-if that really does give the best grade of concentration and the best extraction for the same money, compared to any particular oil mixture which they could get. E. P. MATHEWSON, Anaconda, Mont.-We are still using that mixture, and we consider it the most economical mixture used. DAVID COLE, El Paso, Texas.-I would like to ask Mr. Ralston if there are some other mixtures that would be better? E. P. MATHEWSON.-We are open to suggestions. 0. C. RALSTON.-My own paper on oils* calls attention to the fact that certain hardwood oils, especially the tars, are now being burned or wasted. A great deal of hardwood tar is available as low as 4 or 5 c. per gallon, that being its value as fuel under the boilers. As a matter of fact, a great deal of testing has been done with only the commercial products that are as a usual ride sold on the market. Very little hardwood tar is sold on the market. In asking a great many people who have tested flotation oils, I have not heard hardwood tar mentioned very often. I think I would add to that that the hardwood tars can probably be bought in quantity comparable with the sludge acid at Anaconda, and. should contain a greater proportion of the frothing constituent, and at a price fairly commensurate with what they pay for the sludge acid. E. P. MATHEWSON.-I would like to make a correction in one statement I made that there has been no change made in the mixture. This change has been made: We found that the amount of wood creosote in treating the sand from tables was extremely small, and we tried some experiments on a large scale, dropping it out and using simply the sludge acid and sulphuric acid. We found that this gave practically as good results as wood creosote. We use wood creosote in treating the slimes. We find it necessary in that operation. DAVID COLE.-I would like to ask, what is sludge acid?

Jan 10, 1916