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By M. G., Corson

1. In addition to the alloys of copper with iron previously found by Hanson and Ford to show an increase in the concentration of the alpha range with increase in temperature the following binary and ternary systems have been found by the author to exhibit: the same feature: (a) Copper-chromium. (b) Copper-cobalt. (c) Copper-silicon. (d) Copper-nickel-silicon and its pseudo-binary section Cu-Ni2Si (formula of compound definitely established). (e) Copper-cobalt-silicon and its pseudo-binary section Cu-Co2Si (formula of compound established with some probability but not as definitely as for Ni2Si). (f) Copper-chromium-silicon; formation of a compound definitely established (compare Figs. 1 and 2). The formula of this compound may be either Cr2Si or Cr3Si. (g) Copper-iron-silicon; presence of a phase containing both iron and silicon established in an indirect way only. No definite microconstituents observed. 2. RANGES OF SOLID SOLUBILITY (percentage at various tempera¬tures). (a) For copper-chromium: 0.8 at 1000° C.; 0.5 at 900° C.; 0.25 at 800° C.; 0.05 to 0.1 at 500° C. (b) For copper-cobalt: 3.4 at 1000'C.; 2.4 at 900'C.; 1.7 at 800'C.; 0.9 at 600°C.; 0.35 at room temperature. (c) For copper-silicon (Fig. 3) : 6.8 ± 0.1. per cent. at 800° C.; 3 per cent. at 400° C. and probably below 2 per cent. at room temperature if sufficiently long annealed. (d) For copper-cobalt silicide: 3.3 at 1000° C.; 2.4 at 900° C.; 1.6 at 800° C.; 0.7 at 600° C.; 0.3 at 300° C. (e) For copper-nickel silicide (Fig. 4): 8.2 at 1000° C.; 5.5 at 900° C.; 3.6 at 800° C.; 1.6 at 600° C.; 0.7 at 300° C.

Jan 1, 1927

(Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members.) Members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period July 10, 1916 to August 1, 1916: W. A. Barnes, San Francisco, Cal. W. J. Mead, Madison, Wis. W. L. Bell, Davenport, Fla. Charles Mentzel, San Pedro, N. M. James P. Clarke, Jr., Little Rock, Ark. H. H. Miller, New York, N. Y. R. A. Carhart, Mitchell, S. D. W. E. Pomeroy, El Paso, Tex. G. M. Colvocoresses, Humboldt, Ariz. M. K. Rodgers, Los Angeles, Cal W. E. Defty, Phoenix, Ariz. S. C. Rodgers, Guanajuato, Mex. Carl F. Dietz, Worcester, Mass. John M. Baker and Hamilton W. Baker have resigned as general manager and mine superintendent respectively of the Baker Mines Co., of Oregon. After Aug. 1, their address will be 43 Emerson St., Denver, Colo.

Jan 9, 1916

ALBERT SAUVEUR, Chairman. A. A. STEVENSON, Vice-Chairman. HERBERT M. BOYLSTON, Secretary, Abbot Bldg., Cambridge, Mass. John Birkinbine, William Kelly, J. S. Unger, William H. Blauvelt, Charles Kirchhoff, Felix A. Vogel, James Gayley, Richard Moldenke, Leonard Waldo, Henry D. Hibbard, Joseph ANT. Richards, William R. Walker, Henry M. Howe, C. F. W. Rys, William R. Webster, Robert W. Hunt, E. Gybbon Spilsbury, Frederick W. Wood. J. E. Johnson, Jr., For the meeting of the Institute which is to be held in New York City, Oct. 16 and 17, 1913, the following program has been arranged: October 16, 1913, 10 A. M W. A. Forbes, Blast Furnace Gas Cleaning. W. H. Blauvelt, The Slagging Producer. Prof. F. Peter (Leoben, Austria), The Generation of Steam by Waste Heat from Furnaces. G. C. Stone, The Generation of Steam by Waste Heat from Regenerative Furnaces. W. R. Shinier, Over-Oxidation of Steel.

Jan 10, 1913

By George R. Mansfield

Interest in the reserves of phosphate rock in the United States and their proper conservation has recently been aroused by hearings held in different parts of the country by the "Joint Committee to investigate the adequacy and use of phosphate resources of the United States." This committee was appointed within a few days after a Presidential message to Congress on the same subject, dated May 20, 1938, and began to function almost immediately. Hearings were held in Washington, D. C., Pocatello, Ida., Wilson Dam, Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., and Lakeland, Fla. The resulting testimony, when published, comprised a volume of 1182 pages.l At the earlier hearings held in Washington and Idaho the seeming disparity between the great reserves of the West and the smaller reserves in the East led to some suggestions as to the desirability of curtailing or even prohibiting the exportation of phosphate rock so that eastern producers, becoming alarmed, cooperated in making available for the use of the committee information hitherto closely guarded. This information has provided an opportunity for new studies by official agencies, for a restatement of the reserves of Florida and Tennessee, and for some modification of figures for the Western States. The writer, representing the Federal Geological Survey, was given free access to the Florida material and has prepared for publication a report,² some features of which are summarized in this paper. The Tennessee material was studied by Dr. G. I. Whitlatch,³ of the Tennessee Division of Geology. Prof. J. Stewart Williams,* of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, has published a recent study of the phosphate resources of Utah and the writer has given some further study to reserves of western phosphate from the viewpoint of including material of lower grade than that hitherto considered. Technologic advances in the phosphate industry must be credited with a large share in the expansion of reserves by making available for

Jan 1, 1942

By George R. Mansfield

Interest in the reserves of phosphate rock in the United States and their proper conservation has recently been aroused by hearings held in different parts of the country by the "Joint Committee to investigate the adequacy and use of phosphate resources of the United States." This committee was appointed within a few days after a Presidential message to Congress on the same subject, dated May 20, 1938, and began to function almost immediately. Hearings were held in Washington, D. C., Pocatello, Ida., Wilson Dam, Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., and Lakeland, Fla. The resulting testimony, when published, comprised a volume of 1182 pages.l At the earlier hearings held in Washington and Idaho the seeming disparity between the great reserves of the West and the smaller reserves in the East led to some suggestions as to the desirability of curtailing or even prohibiting the exportation of phosphate rock so that eastern producers, becoming alarmed, cooperated in making available for the use of the committee information hitherto closely guarded. This information has provided an opportunity for new studies by official agencies, for a restatement of the reserves of Florida and Tennessee, and for some modification of figures for the Western States. The writer, representing the Federal Geological Survey, was given free access to the Florida material and has prepared for publication a report,² some features of which are summarized in this paper. The Tennessee material was studied by Dr. G. I. Whitlatch,³ of the Tennessee Division of Geology. Prof. J. Stewart Williams,* of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, has published a recent study of the phosphate resources of Utah and the writer has given some further study to reserves of western phosphate from the viewpoint of including material of lower grade than that hitherto considered. Technologic advances in the phosphate industry must be credited with a large share in the expansion of reserves by making available for

Jan 1, 1942

By George A. Miller

OIL, the abundance of it in the hands of the Allies and the lack of it in the hands of the Axis, played a major role in winning World War II. It bids fair to implement the winning of the peace. In fact the signing of the revised agreement on petroleum between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the United States of America on Sept. 24, 1945, may be considered as the first step in establishing a new pattern in foreign relations by our Government. The significance of this agreement on petroleum is that it was arrived at on the part of the United States of America through the advice and consent of the most interested parties, the leaders of the petroleum industry and the Government, distinctly a first step toward unifying the power of business and the strength of the Government, which places us on a par with the British Crown which has always had the advice and counsel of its business leaders in formulating its foreign trade policies. And what is the thing so patently discernible in this new first step toward winning the peace? It is that the petroleum agreement, the first draft of which, signed in Washington on Aug. 8, 1944, almost caused an epidemic of apoplexy among the leaders of the oil industry, represents the desire of the people most concerned with the problems of petroleum both at home and abroad. This new agreement, which will come up before the Senate for ratification this month-hearings will commence in January - derives its "power from the consent of the governed," something about which our forefathers were vitally concerned once upon a time.

Jan 1, 1946

By Terkel Rosenqvist

THE desulphurization of molten iron and steel is a very complicated process. One way to arrive at a better understanding of this process is to break it down into several simpler chemical processes that can be studied individually in the laboratory. For a study of the different factors that influence the equilibrium distribution of sulphur between liquid metals and slags, several simpler equilibria may be investigated. One very important subject is the determination of the escaping tendency of sulphur in the liquid metal and its dependency on temperature and composition of the melt. Several papers in this field have recently been published.', ' Another subject is the study of the sulphur capacity of the slag. A molten slag is indeed complex, and even if sulphur distribution data for a large variety of molten slags may give empirical data about their desulphurizing power, the importance of the individual components is still not quite clear. It is accepted generally that lime is the most important desulphurizing component in the slag. The present investigation has as its purpose to study the desulphurizing power of lime in its standard state, and to provide a basis for thermodynamic calculations of the desulphurizing power of various lime-containing slags. The standard state of lime at steelmaking temperatures is solid calcium oxide, CaO. It can react with sulphur to form solid calcium sulphide, CaS. The relative stability of calcium oxide and calcium sulphide is expressed by the free energy of the reaction: 2Ca0 (s) + S1 (g) = 2CaS (s) + O2 (g) The existing free energy data for this reaction, listed by Kelley5 nd Osborn,' are uncertain to about 10 kcal and are of limited value for a calculation of equilibrium constants. Under the conditions prevailing in a melting furnace, the sulphur pressure may be expressed conveniently by the ratio H,S/H2 and the oxygen pressure by the ratio H,O/H, (or CO,/CO). The desulphurizing power of calcium oxide may, therefore, be studied by the reaction CaO + HIS = CaS + H2O. A study of this reaction may be complicated by certain side reactions: Water vapor and hydrogen sulphide may react. to form sulphur dioxide, and calcium sulphide may be oxidized to calcium sulphate. A thermodynamic calculation shows that these side reactions will be suppressed to insignificance if the equilibrium is studied in the presence of an excess of hydrogen. The apparatus used is shown in Fig. 1. About 10 g calcium oxide and 20 g calcium sulphide (laboratory qualities) were intimately mixed, and some water was added to make a thick paste. The paste was put into a thimble of zirconium silicate, which was placed within the constant temperature zone of a furnace, and capillary refractory tubes were attached in both ends. After the mixture had been heated in dry hydrogen at 1000°C for several hours all Ca(OH), and CaCO, had decomposed and CaSO, was reduced, so only CaO and CaS remained in the thimble forming a porous plug. The mixture was examined by X-ray diffraction after the initial reduction in dry hydrogen as well as after the subsequent experimental runs up to 1425 °C. It was shown that crystalline calcium oxide and calcium sulphide were always present together in about equal amounts. The unit cell edges were found to be 4.80A for CaO and 5.68A for CaS in good agreement with existing literature values." This shows that the mutual solid solubility is very small, and that the compounds are present in their standard states. Purified hydrogen was passed through water sat-urators kept at constant temperature in a thermostat bath. The amount of water vapor saturation was checked by means of a dew point method, not shown on Fig. 1. The gas mixture was passed through the capillary inlet into the furnace, where it was sifted through the porous plug of calcium oxide and calcium sulphide. The hydrogen sulphide present in the outgoing gas was absorbed in a zinc acetate solution and the hydrogen was collected over water. When one liter of hydrogen had been collected, the amount of hydrogen sulphide was determined by iodometric titration. As one molecule of H,O is used for the formation of each molecule of H,S, the equilibrium ratio H,S/H,O would be , where (H,O) is the molar concentration in the ingoing gas, and (H,S) the molar concentration in the outgoing gas. In the present work (H,S) was always very small compared to (H20). In order for the observed H,S/H20 ratio to represent the true equilibrium ratio the gas flow has to be: 1—Sufficiently slow to give a complete establishment of equilibrium, and 2—sufficiently fast to counteract thermal diffusion. Incomplete reaction would give a value decreasing with increasing flow rate, and thermal diffusion would give a value increasing with decreasing flow rate. When inlet and outlet tubes of about 2 sq mm cross-section were used, the observed gas ratio was independent of the flow rate between 15 and 125 cc per min, Fig. 2. In this range, therefore, the observed gas ratio represents true equilibrium.* For the rest of the in-

Jan 1, 1952

By J. VAN DEN BERC

Tin production and export from the Far East are still a long way off from the prewar figures. The Malayan Peninsula, which had a rather good start directly after the war largely because of stock piles found in Singapore and elsewhere, has since been hampered in the rehabilitation of its tin mines and dredging operations by material shortages and, more recently and more severely, by revolts and attacks of communist elements and gangster bands. These hindrances make working in the mines dangerous and form a daily threat against the valuable and highly vulnerable dredges. Contrary to the conditions in Malaya are those on the tin islands of Billiton, Banka, and Singkep-all in the Netherlands East Indies-where the Dutch have re-established peaceful relations with the population. Dutch efforts since the fall of 1945 have been rewarded by continuously increasing production, extension of production facilities, and return of moderate prosperity, complete safety, and all-out co-operation among the population ? native and Chinese ? to the benefit of all concerned.

Jan 1, 1949

By Walter E. Mingramm

The construction of rescue-apparatus on the principle of furnishing the wearer with air from a tank containing it under high pressure was given up by inventors about 20 years ago. Such an apparatus must supply continuously, for not less than two hours, nearly 50 liters of pure air at atmospheric pressure per minute, or a total of 6,000 liters (210 cu. ft.); and a cylinder containing this amount of air, under 2,000 lb. pressure, would weigh 180 lb. or more. Although apparatus has been recently constructed utilizing liquefied air, no experiments have been made to determine the regularity with which the air is generated, nor has its chemical composition been determined. Moreover, the chief objection to such an apparatus is the difficulty and cost of keeping on hand a large quantity of liquefied air. The system of furnishing the wearer of a breathing-apparatus with air which has given the best results, and has found

Jan 1, 1909

Albin, B. R. Billings, Mont. '28 Amster, Nathan L 25 Broad St., New York, N. Y. '28 Bache, Jules S 42 Broadway, New York, N. Y. '28 Barrett, C. P 5338 Harper Ave., Chicago, Ill. '28 Baum, Frank G., Cons. Hydro-Electric Engr Cassel, Shasta Co., Cal. '28 Bayless, William S Russ Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. '28 Bean, Louis H., V.P., Dwight P Robinson & Co., Inc. 125 E. 46th St., New York, N. Y. '28 Beatty, Ross J 1105 First National Bank Bldg., Chicago, Ill. '28 Benwell, Oswald F 110 Gilpin St., Denver, Colo. '28 Beymer, Albert S., V P., Keystone National Bank Pittsburgh, Pa. '28 Blumenthal, Hugo 44 Pine St., New York, N. Y. '28 Boettcher, Charles Ideal Cement Bldg., Denver, Colo. '28 Bowlus, Thomas H Iola, Kans. '28 Brown, Colvin B. .. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D. C. '28 Burt, Maxwell Struthers Southern Pines, N. C. '28

Jan 1, 1923

By W. H., Bassett

IN January, 1926, the writer began a study of the commercial value of beryllium in its relation to copper. The purpose of the investigation was not to make a mere laboratory study of the characteristics of beryllium-copper alloys, but to determine under mill conditions the behavior of copper when alloyed with beryllium and when other metals were added to such alloys; in other words, it was considered important to know whether the alloy bars could be hot-rolled or cold-worked, and what limits in composition would have to be established for these two methods of working. Consequently, more stress has been placed on the practical application of the alloys in engineering and commercial use than on a discussion of the metallography of the specimens examined, although this part of the matter has not been entirely neglected. Credit should be first given to G. Oesterheld,1 who, in 1916, published the copper-beryllium equilibrium diagram. Fig. 1 has been copied from the original article with the simple substitution of English words. It will be noted from Fig. 1 that alpha solid solutions are formed, up to about 1.5 per cent. Be (10.5 atom.). The freezing-point curve, after falling from 4.2 per cent. Be (23.5 atom.), enters into a very complicated form over the entire beta region. There is a possible compound, Cu2Be, at about 6.5 per cent. Be (32.3 atom.). The pure gamma range extends from 11.2 to 12.2 per cent. Be. (46.5 to 49 atom.), after which the liquidus rises rapidly to 30 per cent. Be. (75 atom.). The delta solution extends from 25 per cent. to an unknown percentage of beryllium. There is a eutectoid point at 575" C., extending from 1.5 to 11.2 per cent. Be., the maximum time interval of which occurs at 6 per cent. Be. Below this line the beta solution is described as breaking up into alpha and gamma. Microscopically, the eutectiferous alloy thus formed closely resembles pearlite, and requires a high magnification for its resolution.

Jan 1, 1927

By H. E. McKinstry

LIKE nearly everything else, mining geology has been reconverting. Many geologists had been in military and other government service. Many more, with mining companies, had been working primarily toward increasing production from known reserves. All of these are turning now toward their normal peacetime endeavor-the search for new ore; for most mining companies, finding themselves with accumulated deficits in development work, are more than ready to go ahead with their postwar plans made a year or more ago but still stalled at the close of 1945 for lack of man power. These plans include not merely development in the old home camp but also wide exploration for new prospects both domestic and foreign. Most of the large concerns have geologists and engineers in the field in the United States, despite the outlook for higher mining costs here, and at least half a dozen strong American companies are already investigating opportunities abroad, notwithstanding past unhappy experiences in certain Latin-American nations which have welcomed capital but later found means of preventing investors from reaping the reward of their enterprise. A few of these new foreign expeditions are following well-planned programs, but too many, in their haste to get any sort of footing, are proceeding without well-considered policy. with the result that their geologists can do little more than desultory scouting.

Jan 1, 1946

By E. Ordonez

I have read in the Bullentin a paper by H. von Hofer relating to the Origin of Petroleum, in ehich the author supports his and Englers views, express before, of the organic origin of petroleum.

Jan 1, 1915

F A. THOMSON, president of the Montana School of Mines, gave an interesting talk on mining schools of the past, present and his ideas of the future before a recent meeting of the Montana Section of the A. I. M. E. He covered the history .of the various mining schools and com- pared the three main types of schools; those attached to or forming part of an endowed college or university such, for example, as' the Columbia School of Mines, the Mining Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Mining Department of Stanford University. These resemble in a general way the second class, those attached to the state universities and colleges. The schools of this general type have had varied success.

Jan 1, 1928

By J. P. BONARDI, William F. Boericke

BOULDER COUNTY, Colorado, ranked during the war years and until the end of 1918 as one of the foremost tungsten-producing districts of the world. In 1919 production fell off drastically, due to heavy importations of foreign ores from China, Burma and South America. So large were the imports that even after the enactment of a protective tariff in 1922 of 45c. per lb. on tungsten metal, equivalent to $7.14 per unit (201b.) of tungstic acid? (WO,), the stocks of metal in this country were extensive enough to supply the demands of industry, and prevent general resumption of mining by domestic producers. Even today there are only two producers in the Boulder district though at one time as many as twenty separate companies were in operation. About the same ratio holds for other tungsten-producing districts in the country, including California and Nevada. Total consumption of tungsten concentrate in terms of 60 per cent WO2 in the United States amounted to approximately 3790 tons in 1928, according to Frank L. Hess.' Of this amount, domestic mines contributed 1290 tons, and the rest, 2500 tons, was imported. Yet in 1917, with tungsten concentrate selling at $20 per unit, the Boulder district alone produced 2707 tons, indicating the effect of enhanced ore price upon production. It is believed by American tungsten miners that, given a sufficiently high tariff, all the demands of industry can be met by domestic production without placing a prohibitive burden on consumers. For instance, in steel manufacturing the percentage of tungsten entering into the manufacture is so small that, ?regardless of cost, it can constitute but a small fraction of the cost of steel to the buyer.

Jan 1, 1929

By George R. Mansfield

INTEREST in the reserves of phosphate rock in the United States and their proper conservation has recently been aroused by hearings held in different parts of the country by the "Joint Committee to investigate the adequacy and use of phosphate resources of the United States." This committee was appointed within a few days after a Presidential message to Congress on the same subject, dated May 20, 1938, and began to function almost immediately. Hearings were held in Washington, D. C., Pocatello, Ida., Wilson Dam, Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., and Lakeland, Fla. The resulting testimony, when published, comprised a volume of 1182 pages.1 At the earlier hearings held in Washington and Idaho the seeming disparity between the great reserves of the West and the smaller reserves in the East led to some suggestions as to the desirability of curtailing or even prohibiting the exportation of phosphate rock so that eastern producers, becoming alarmed, cooperated in making available for the use of the committee information hitherto closely guarded. This information has provided an opportunity for new studies by official agencies, for a restatement of the reserves of Florida and Tennessee, and for some modification of figures for the Western States. The writer, representing the Federal Geological Survey, was given free access to the Florida material and has prepared for publication a report,2 some features of which are summarized in this paper. The Tennessee material was studied by Dr. G. I. Whitlatch,3 of the Tennessee Division of Geology. Prof. J. Stewart Williams,4 of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, has published a recent study of the phosphate resources of Utah and the writer has given some further study to reserves of western phosphate from the viewpoint of including material of lower grade than that hitherto considered. Technologic advances in the phosphate industry must be credited with a large share in the expansion of reserves by making available for

Jan 1, 1940

By Willard S. Morse

The ores of the district are treated at this mill by the lixiviation process, consisting of drying, crushing, chloridizing-roasting and lixiviation by hyposulphite and Russell solutions. Gas is used as fuel for both drying and roasting, The gas-plant consists of two- Taylor revolving-bottom gas-producers, one 6 feet in diameter for the ore-dryers, the other 7 feet in diameter for the Stetefeldt furnace. The producers were made by Messrs. R. D. Wood & Co., Philadelphia, who also furnished the

Jan 1, 1893

By C. R. Fettke

In 1914, the officials of the Brundred Oil Corpn., faced with the problem of introducing new methods to increase production in the old and nearly depleted pools of Venango County, became interested in the Smith-Dunn (Marietta) process which was at that time being tried out in southeastern Ohio and which was already yielding very encouraging results. A license to use the process in Pennsylvania was secured from the owners of the patents. These patents were later declared invalid. The method was first used in Pennsylvania on a property consisting of about 434 acres, of which 300 are productive, at Hamilton Corners, 15 miles northwest of Oil City, in Cherry Tree and Oakland Townships, Venango County. The producing horizon is the First Sand of the Venango Group. A small oil pool was opened up in this vicinity in 1904. By July, 1916, when the compressed air was first introduced to restore pressure, the production had dropped to a point where it was no longer possible to continue profitable operation. From that time until March, 1927, over 100,000 bbl. of oil have been recovered from the tract. The property is being operated at present by the Brundred Oil Corpn. and LUX. The 1926 production, amounting to 10,650 bbl., was only 400 bbl. short of the maximum reached during any year of the 10-year period that the process has been in operation. Inasmuch as the Hamilton Corners pool is the first one in Pennsylvania in which the Marietta process was tried out, and the one in which it has been longest in continuous operation, considerable interest attaches to the results obtained. Through the courtesy of H. D. Brown and W. J. Brundred, officials of the Brundred Oil Corpn., all their data on this operation were made available to the writer in connection with an investigation of rejuvenation methods in the State for the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Stratigraphic Position of the Producing Sand The producing sand at Hamilton Corners is encountered at depths of from 364 to 560 ft., depending on the location of the well and the topog-

Jan 1, 1928

By E. W. Murbach

The oxidation of uranium carbide by oxygen at various pressures, and by air, has been investigated at temperatures up to 600°C. Arc-melted and cast uranium carbide displays oxidation behavior that appears to be dependent on its treatment after melting. ccReactive" uranium carbide, which results from exposure of freshly melted material to laboratory air, ignites in oxygen at about 275° to 350°C depending on pressure, and in air at about 350°C. The product of the initial oxidation appears to be UO2+.. Continued heating produces U30,. The initial oxidation rate is poportional, roughly, to the square root of the oxygen pressure. The activation energy determined for the initial oxidation reaction is 7.1 kcal, from 400° to 600°C in 10 mm of oxygen. AN investigation of low-decontamination methods for reprocessing uranium carbide reactor fuels is being carried out at Atomics International. One of the reprocessing cycles includes oxidation of the fuel at relatively low temperature (300° to 500°C) and reaction of the product oxide with carbon at elevated temperatures (above 1500°C) to produce uranium carbide. A number of small-scale experiments have been carried out in which uranium carbide was oxidized in air and oxygen at various pressures to measure reaction rates and to obtain other information concerning the oxidation process. In initial experiments with arc-melted UC, ignition was observed at about 275°C in oxygen or 350°C in air. However, similar experiments by Neymark' at 426°C in air showed no ignition. It was soon determined that the difference in oxidation behavior was due to the treatment of the UC following arc-melting. Neymark's experiments were carried out with freshly melted UC while those reported in the

Jan 1, 1963

By A. R. Krause, C. Laird

In order to establish whether or not there is a real temperature effect in fatigue (independent of environment) , poly crystalline copper and Cu- 7.9 A1 alloy have been cycled at 298° and 7° K in vacuo and the fatigue lives compared with those in air and in liquid nitrogen. The lives of both copper and the alloy were found to be highly temperature-dependent in the absence of environment. This result casts serious doubt on the validity of the cell structure hypothesis for stage I crack propagation as presently formulated, because it predicts that there should be no such tempevnture dependence. On the other hand, the plastic blunling process is consistent with the result. Effects of environment aside, the homogenization of slip which accompanies testing at low temperature, and at low strains, seems to be the main cause for increased fatigue life. At high strain amplitudes, the fatigue lives of wavy slip materials, typically copper, are independent of temperature.' It is well-known, however, that low-strain lives greatly as as the temperature of testing is decreased. By contrast, the lives of planar slip materials, such as Cu-7.9 pct A1 alloy, increase to an even greater extent with decreasing temperature throughout both the high and low strain ranges.1'2'5 The mechanism of this temperature effect is associated with the earliest stages of fatigue failure,'" crack nucleation, and stage I growth,"' which is slow propagation along slip bands to the depth of a few grain diameters. Such life behavior has been interpreted on at least two different bases. On the one hand, those interested in the temperature effect at high strain amplitudes1 believe that stage I growth occurs by the plastic blunting process of crack propagation.7'9 They explain the effect in planar slip materials by the homogenization of slip* which accompanies fatigue testing at low temper- atures and serves both to delay crack nucleation and to decrease the rate of stage I propagation. On the other hand, Holt and Backofen,2 who have studied the effect in low strain fatigue, believe that stage I growth can be interpreted by a cell structure hypothesis.10-12 They have challenged2 the conclusion that there is a real temperature effect in this regime of fatigue testing and have interpreted the increased fatigue lives almost entirely in terms of the "environmental-protective'' effect of the liquid nitrogen and helium baths used to obtain low temperatures. This interpretation by Holt and Backofen2 may offer a means of discriminating between these two mechanisms as currently formulated and used to explain stage I growth. On the basis of the plastic blunting process applied to stage I crack propagation,7* the low strain fatigue lives of both wavy and planar slip materials should be increased with decreasing temperature. This follows because both materials show increased slip homogenization in this strain regime."13 Consequently, crack nucleation in intensified bands will be delayed and the linking of such small cracks into larger stage I cracks will be difficult. In addition, the blunting process required to lengthen a stage I crack from the order of 2 to 10 (where the strain concentration of the crack begins to overcome the slip homogenization property of the material) will also be retarded. These delays will give rise to longer lives in both kinds of material. In contrast to the blunting hypothesis, no temperature dependence has been predicted on the basis of the cell structure hypothesis, because it is well-known that materials cycled at low temperature show no differences in type of dislocation structure for a given strain amplitude.18"20 If the lives of wavy and planar slip materials do show a temperature dependence when the environment is eliminated as a variable, then it is questionable whether cell structures per se have a fundamental role in fatigue fracture. Accordingly, specimens of copper and Cu-7.9 wt pct A1 have been cycled at 298° and 77°K in vacuo and the fatigue lives compared with those in air and in liquid nitrogen, in order to establish whether or not there is a real temperature effect in low strain fatigue. Since it is difficult to measure the strains in specimens when cycled in vacuo, S-N curves have been used as the basis of comparison. In studying the influence of temperature on fatigue life in ordinary environment, Holt and Backofen2 used the superior basis of E-N curves. However, they also published S-N curves and thus established the relationship between E-N and S-N curves. This relationship is used to support the S-N comparison reported in the present investigation. EXPERIMENTAL Materials. The copper employed in this investigation was of 99.99 pct purity and the cu-7.9 pct A1 was prepared from metals of the same purity. The stock, of 3 in. initial diam, was reduced in size by rolling

Jan 1, 1969