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By R. E. Head

UNDER existing economic conditions, the treatment of gold ores occupies an outstanding position in metallurgical activity. The increased price of gold has automatically brought about a reclassification of old dumps and low-grade orebodies, and many that formerly were considered valueless are now being vigorously investigated and worked. This situation has developed problems that have taxed the ingenuity and ability of metallurgists to the utmost. Some gold ores give a high extraction of gold by standardized methods of treatment; other ores of apparently similar character yield but a relatively small percentage of their gold when treated by the same processes.

Jan 1, 1936

By Reno H. Sales

EVERY mine manager, mine geologist, and every prospector in the field who appraises the future of mining properties does so on the basis of a theory of ore deposition whether he recognizes this fact or not. Wherever the ultimate value of a mine or prospect is dependent upon undeveloped ore, any estimate by an engineer or geologist necessarily involves a theory of origin of the deposit. In view of these facts the importance of a thorough understanding of the genesis of ore deposits cannot be overestimated. It well may be that the greatness of our country will depend upon finding reserves of natural resources as yet undiscovered. The genesis of ore deposits offers a fascinating field for study and investigation. This is attested by the large number of geologists who have written at length on the subject. For progress made toward a better understanding of ore genesis we owe much to Kemp, Lindgren, Ransome, Vogt, Emmons, Spurr, Graton, and a host of others. Within my own experience, I have attempted to apply in practice the various concepts and theories that have been advanced by these men.

Jan 5, 1954

By E. S. Leaver

THE presence of soluble base metals in precious-metal ores usually precludes cyanidation as the best method of treatment. The laboratory experiments described in this paper show the possibility of cyanidation of gold-silver ores containing less than 0.5 per cent, of cyanide-soluble copper and the effect of zinc in the cyanide solution. PART I.-COPPER IN CYANIDATION The proposed process of cyanidation of precious-metal ores containing copper is based on the regeneration of about 80 per cent., of the cyanide used in the dissolution of the copper. The method of regeneration involves a combination of the sulfide and the acid precipitation of the copper and silver. The resultant solution is made alkaline with lime, and the gold is precipitated with zinc dust. Solubility of Copper Minerals in Cyanide Solution In order to determine the solubility of copper minerals, including metallic copper, under the usual conditions for cyanidation, experiments were conducted with synthetic ores. Each ore sample was prepared by mixing the particular pure copper mineral with barren sea sand. Both the mineral and sand were ground to pass 100 mesh before they were thoroughly mixed. The percentage of copper in each head sample was determined by direct assay, excepting the metallic copper sample, which was computed on weights before mixing. Table 1 gives the results.

Jan 1, 1929

By Maurice Ewing

THE purpose of this paper is to present the results of the application of the earth-resistivity method of subsurface investigation to the problem of locating seams of anthracite coal beneath a mantle of soil and subsoil. Details are given of the successful use of this method in locating the outcrops of anthracite seams in actual prospecting. The presence of the outcrop of an anthracite seam is indicated at points where electrical resistivity tests showed relatively low readings. The reason for, this is that in some localities the resistivity of anthracite was found to be about 0.0001 megohm-cm. compared to 1 to 200 megohm-cm. for shales and sandstones. For two reasons it is believed that the data sum-marized in this paper should be of particular interest. In the first place, most of the interpretations of the resistivity survey have been checked by subsequent drilling and some by the removal of the overburden and the exposing of the anthracite seams. It is infrequent that the oppor-tunity for checking results so thoroughly is given. In the second place, the fact that recent commentators 1.2.1 on the application of geophysical methods to mining have concluded that direct prospecting for anthracite and other types of coal is not promising makes the good results obtained more significant. So far as the authors can learn, the only previous experiment with electrical methods in the Pennsylvania anthracite field was one made by Sherwin F. Kelly in 1922, when he used the self-potential method at Wilkes-Barre4. The profile he made does not show a very marked correlation with the geologic cross section. Kelly points out that stray currents from electric motors in the mines undoubtedly affected his results, but the experience of the present authors with stray currents from mining machinery suggests the possibility that the potentials measured by Kelly were due almost entirely to this effect.

Jan 1, 1936

By W. E. Remmers

The defect in wire known as "cuppiness" has appeared and disappeared from time to time but the exact cause of its appearance or disappearance has not heretofore been known definitely. This defect is not limited to one particular metal or alloy but seems to be found at various times in all of the materials that are drawn into wire. Fig. 1 represents cuppy wire made from an aluminum alloy and Fig. 2 illustrates copper wire that became cuppy in drawing without intermediate annealing. Differences of opinion are current among the manufacturers of wire and in the literature (see bibliography at end of paper), some believing that the source of the trouble lies in segregation in the wire rod, oxides, sulfides, slag, etc.; others that the trouble is created by an unevenness of stress distribution across the section of the wire, usually thought of as being a function of die shape. All of the published work is of a qualitative rather than a quantitative nature. With this in mind, it was deemed advisable to make a study of the shape of the wire-drawing dies, as well as the oxygen content of the copper to be drawn. Experimental After several methods were tried, it was found that by studying the contour of the butt-end of the rod after drawing a measure of the "working" across the section of the wire could be made. The butt-end of the annealed rod was not sheared but was sawed off. The end was then smoothed with a fine file so that the plane of filing was perpendicular to the drawing axis. It is to be noted that this method is not an absolute measure of the distribution of cold working but is a very good indicative means of studying comparative values. The method of examining a tension break in wire was found to be the most sensitive in detecting cuppiness. Other methods, such as microscopic examination of longitudinal sections, X-ray radiographic studies, etching away of outer layers with nitric acid, and fracture by bending, can all be used to identify cuppy wire but the tension break will give the fracture characteristic of cuppiness before any of the other methods can

Jan 1, 1930

By John Wulff, J. H. Hollomon

Service failures in brass condenser tubes are often due to corrosion. One of the commonest types of corrosion reveals a surface structure of redeposited copper.' The study of the effect of alloy addition agents in preventing this kind of corrosion has received impetus from the extensive publication of Bengough and May.2 The mechanism of such inhibition gauged from immersion corrosion,2 cell corrosion,3 and electrolytic potential4 measurements is controversial. This controversy may be attributed in part to a lack of definite knowledge5 of the actual nature of the initial films formed in corrosion experiments. In our own corrosion work on copper and 70-30 brass this lack became apparent and necessitated an examination of surface films by X-ray and electron diffraction methods. The present paper is but an introduction to the subject of inhibition and reports the structure of films formed in active corrodents. Experimental Procedure The arsenical coppers and brasses used in this investigation were made by one of the writers* in the plant of the Revere Copper and Brass Co. at Rome, N. Y. Standard commercial melting practice was followed. O.F.H.C. copper and electrolytic zinc were used and all arsenic additions were made by additions of a master copper alloy. The final analyses are given in Table I. Likewise, the extrusion, cold-rolling, and intermediate anneals employed followed standard usage. Final heat-treatments were given to all materials to produce a similar grain size (0.035 to 0.045 mm. for brass and 0.015 to 0.025 for copper) for the alloys containing various percentages of arsenic. Samples 1/2 by M by 1/4 in. were cut from sheet material resurfaced and finished with 0000 metal-lographic papers. The surfaces were all degreased in alcohol and benzine before immersion. After immersion in the corrodent, they were washed gently in tap water, dipped first in alcohol and then in pure benzine and allowed to dry in the diffraction apparatus. The reflection electron diffraction apparatus used has been described by Burwell and Wu1ff.6 Fig. I is typical of the photo-grams obtained. The X-ray apparatus was

Jan 1, 1941

By John Wulff, J. H. Hollomon

Service failures in brass condenser tubes are often due to corrosion. One of the commonest types of corrosion reveals a surface structure of redeposited copper.' The study of the effect of alloy addition agents in preventing this kind of corrosion has received impetus from the extensive publication of Bengough and May.2 The mechanism of such inhibition gauged from immersion corrosion,2 cell corrosion,3 and electrolytic potential4 measurements is controversial. This controversy may be attributed in part to a lack of definite knowledge5 of the actual nature of the initial films formed in corrosion experiments. In our own corrosion work on copper and 70-30 brass this lack became apparent and necessitated an examination of surface films by X-ray and electron diffraction methods. The present paper is but an introduction to the subject of inhibition and reports the structure of films formed in active corrodents. Experimental Procedure The arsenical coppers and brasses used in this investigation were made by one of the writers* in the plant of the Revere Copper and Brass Co. at Rome, N. Y. Standard commercial melting practice was followed. O.F.H.C. copper and electrolytic zinc were used and all arsenic additions were made by additions of a master copper alloy. The final analyses are given in Table I. Likewise, the extrusion, cold-rolling, and intermediate anneals employed followed standard usage. Final heat-treatments were given to all materials to produce a similar grain size (0.035 to 0.045 mm. for brass and 0.015 to 0.025 for copper) for the alloys containing various percentages of arsenic. Samples 1/2 by M by 1/4 in. were cut from sheet material resurfaced and finished with 0000 metal-lographic papers. The surfaces were all degreased in alcohol and benzine before immersion. After immersion in the corrodent, they were washed gently in tap water, dipped first in alcohol and then in pure benzine and allowed to dry in the diffraction apparatus. The reflection electron diffraction apparatus used has been described by Burwell and Wu1ff.6 Fig. I is typical of the photo-grams obtained. The X-ray apparatus was

Jan 1, 1941

By Edward Keller

About a dozen years ago the art of bessemerizing copper- * matte, brought to these shores from France, was first established at the smelter, in Butte, Montana, of the Parrot Silver and Copper Company, which had bought the process from Mr. Manhks, the inventor. Through the efforts of Mr. J. E. Gaylord, general manager, and Mr. A. J. Schumacher, snperintendent,, assisted by an able staff, the new method rapidly underwent, at the Parrot establishment, an evolution towards higher perfedion, and within a few years its success and its advantages were so marked that all the great works in the west followed in the footsteps of this pioneer. The converter-process has now practically superseded the reverberatory-process in this country. The latter will undoubtedly, in a not very distant future, be relegated to metallurgical history. The writer has availed himself of what was perhaps the last chance to make comparisons of the two methods, working practically on the same material on an extensive scale, the reverberatory process being that of the Baltimore Copper Smelting and Rolling Company,* while the converter-process is that of the Anaconda Copper Company—both using the matte from the latter company's works in Anaconda, Montana. For the greater portion of the material considered in this paper, the writer is indebted to the two companies. In order to understand the difference of behavior of the several elements, and the difference of the copper produced in the two processes, it is best to study and follow those elements

Jan 1, 1899

By M. L. Holzworth, Philip R. Sperry, Paul A. Beck

INTRODUCTION THE basic work of Z. Jeffries1,2,3 has long ago established the main features of grain growth in the presence of a dispersed second phase. Working with sintered specimens of initially fine grained tungsten, to which various amounts of thoria have been added, Jeffries found that grain growth was inhabited, that is, practically prevented, up to a certain annealing temperature. When this temperature, which increased with the thoria content, was exceeded, extremely large grains developed abruptly from the fine grained matrix. Such a "coarsening temperature" was later found by Gross mann13,14 in certain types of steel, while Bain showed" that in other steels grain growth was gradual, without inhibition and abrupt coarsening. Later work16,17,18,19,21 demonstrated the connection between coarsening and aluminum additions. The viewpoint that the direct cause of inhibition and coarsening in aluminum killed steels is a fine dispersion of aluminum oxide21 appears to be held quite generally, although some doubts have been voiced even very recently.20 In steels with Ti additions the titanium carbide phase is considered responsible for the inhibition effects found.20 The coarsening temperature increases, with the titanium content. That coarsening may occur, as a result of certain heat treatments, even in low carbon rimmed sheet steel, was shown by Samuels,22 He also detected coarsening in a steel ingot of similar composition, after giving it the same heat treatment as that used by him for the sheet material, In this instance the identity of the inhibiting phase has not been determined, However, Tangerding found 23 that even the few small carbide particles, which occur in carbonyl iron, have a very marked inhibitive effect. As a result of an oxidizing anneal at 850°C, large grains begin to form at the surface of the carbonyl iron specimen, and gradually grow inward as the subsurface oxidation of the carbide particles progresses and eliminates the obstruction, The carbide particles can be removed also by annealing in hydrogen, with similar results. But if the oxidizing anneal of 10 hr at 850°C in air, is followed by annealing in hydrogen for 75 hr at the same temperature, grain growth is more spectacular; usually the whole specimen is transformed into a single crystal (approx. 1,5 cm X 5 cm). The reversed procedure, that is, hydrogen annealing followed by oxidizing annealing leads to smaller grains. Tangerding arrived at the logical conclusion that there must have been in his specimens some additional obstruction to grain growth resulting from a minor impurity, other than carbon. It seems likely that this obstruction was caused by an oxide formed during the oxidizing anneal and gradually reduced during the subsequent hydrogen-annealing. Other instances of grain growth inhibition of varying severity, associated with a dispersed second phase, have been described by several authors. Notable examples: lead with 0.06 pct Cu or Ni,24 cartridge brass with 0.12 pct Cr,25 or with up to 0.15

Jan 1, 1948

By J. A. Herbst

During the last decade it has been established that conventional mineral-processing control strategies based on classical control theory result in significant increases in plant throughput and operating-cost savings. It has, however, also been recognized that conventional strategies have important limitations for complex multivariable mineral-processing systems. These limitations center around the fact that single-input/single- output control linkings often result in highly undesirable interactions between controllers. During the last few years new and promising approaches to solving this problem have emerged. These approaches are based on the use of on-line dynamic models to make predictions which are useful for control decision-making. This paper presents a brief summary of the state-of-the-art for mineral-processing control in 1984. This summary is followed by a review of recent developments in model-based control strategies including those in optimal control, self- tuning regulators and decoupling control. Expected trends for the future in the control of mineral-processing operations are discussed.

Jan 1, 1984

TITANIUM is one of the most abundant elements in the minerals that make up the earth's crust but its use in industry is only a generation old; yet probably no other important commercial mineral raw material (except possibly magnesium) has undergone more changes and developments in sources of supply, in processing techniques, in uses and applications, in the past 10 years, or stands on' such a threshold of still more advances. Its outstanding use today is as the oxide, and because of its extreme whiteness, high refractive index, chemical stability, and relative cheapness, it has become the white pigment used in the largest volume. New developments in the uses of titanium metal, potential and actual, may surpass the pigment use of the oxide before many years. TITANIUM-BEARING MINERALS Although a number of minerals contain titanium as the principal metal, only a few are of commercial importance. These are arizonite, ilmenite, and rutile. The other oxides, brookite, pseudobrookite, and anatase, occur in a few deposits, one at least of minor importance. The silicate titanite, and the double oxide of calcium and titanium, perovskite, occur in a few deposits in quantities sufficient to be considered as potential ores were not richer deposits of the oxides available elsewhere. Arizonite is a name given by Palmer46a to a mineral found some years ago in minute quantities in Arizona, which has the formula Fe203.3Ti02. Unexpectedly, it was found that the black titaniferous iron oxide found in large quantities on the beaches of many continental land masses corresponds in chemical composition to this formula (although ferrous oxide is always present). No one has yet been able to prove that the commercial mineral on the beaches is truly arizonite, or an allotropic modification of it, since X-ray investigations by Howard Carl and A. F. Gabriel, of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, and by the X-ray laboratory of the Chemical Department at the Experimental Station of the du Pont company, have shown only that the sand mineral gives just a jumble of lines, rather than an identifiable pattern. Lack of a better name,

Jan 1, 1949

THE. extraordinary volume of work done in this period, and the multiplicity of subject matter, make a year-by-year historical account undesirable, if the account is not to be an assembly of unrelated fragments. We shall, instead, undertake to narrate the development in this period of each of the branches of the subject separately, hoping that their interrelations will be self-evident. There is a certain arbitrariness in the selection of subject matter in the following sections. The development of important engineering alloys-for example, high-speed steel-is disregarded, for it is the primary purpose of this account to relate the advances in ideas, the growth of the science of metals; other historical accounts relate these parallel advances. Nor are advances in techniques stressed, though occasionally the most important are noted; nor is the progress described in allied fields such as welding, cutting, etc.; for though these developments have very frequently made possible the advances herein related, they are far too numerous to recount in anything short of a ponderous volume. There is a more serious arbitrariness, however; it is not an easy matter to draw the boundaries of physical metallurgy, and some contiguous subjects have been omitted that perhaps should have been included, such as, for example, corrosion, gases in metals, the magnetic behavior of metals and alloys, and certain other fields in the physics of metals. REACTIONS IN ALLOYS--DIFFUSION Many of the reactions occurring in alloys proceed by the operation of the process of diffusion in the solid state: the annealing of mixed powders to form alloys, the homogenization of castings or forgings, the freezing of alloys, the treatment of clad metals, the loss

Jan 1, 1948

By George S. Koch

Since 1882, world zinc production has increased. In contrast, US zinc production rose until about 1915, but since then has remained nearly constant, with a slight tendency to decrease. Production from the Tri-State district, the largest early source of zinc in the US, has gone down steadily; this decline has been balanced by a growth in the rate of other districts. These changes in US production are due to economic, not geological, factors. Recent exploration has located large minable ore bodies: additional deposits will undoubtedly be found in the stratabound carbonate rock and volcanogenic environments. A statistical analysis of the exploration effort in the Middle Tennessee district indicates that new discoveries can be expected there. Thus, the US is in an early stage of the production cycle for zinc. Of major mining districts in the US, only the Tri-State is exhausted under current economic conditions; large zinc resources of low-grade material, which would repay mining at higher prices or improved technology, are known to exist in that district .

Jan 1, 1982

By C. H. Mathewson

MicrOscopic metallography has been exploited quite well enough to bring about a very general understanding that the typical metal or alloy is composed of minute crystalline particles blended into a coherent rnicrostructural rnosaic. One does not have to be a specialist in metallography to realize that the properties of such an aggregate are essentially a summation in appropriate form of individual effects derived from the shape, size, placement or orientation and cohesive characteristics of the component particles. It is clearly of great importance to consider the various forms of discontinuity which may occur at the boundaries between these crystalline particles. When a number of particles each possessing the same orderly arrangement of atoms are brought together into a close-fitting system of purely haphazard contacts, not unlike a handful of snowflakes compacted into a snowball, the particles are said to possess random orientation. There are no generally accepted views concerning the arrangement of the atoms or the constitutional reaction between atoms where one crystal meets another, but these contact regions are characterized by strength rather than weakness and it is customary to require the presence of many rather than few boundaries in preparing metal for useful service. Under certain circumstances all of the particles in a metal may be nearly alike in orientation. Other general tendencies of orientation may be associated with particular forms of mechanical and thermal treatment. In contrast with these cases of fortuitous or statistical diversity of orientation, we often find adjacent particles united along a plane which possesses a grouping of atoms belonging equally well to both structures. This, of course, determines a fixed relationship between the two orientatjions and it is always possible to derive one from the other by some form of- rotation or reflection prescribed by the symmetry of the crystal structure under consideration. Particles united in this manner are known as twin crystals although the term refers to the form of association rather than the number of individuals concerned.

Jan 1, 1928

By J. J. Pye, J. B. Drew

The surface-diffusion coefficients of Ni63 diffusing on low-index planes of nickel single crystals have been measured over the temperature range from 400° to 1000°C using a precision autoradio-gvaphic technique. The activation energy for sur -face diffusion appears to he the same on the {111}, {110), and (100) planes and amounts to -0.60 ev. This is in good agreement with the value (-0.62 ev) reported for (111) planes obtained by mass-transport techniques. In an earlier paper, the authors have reported self surface-diffusion coefficients on silver.' In that work, a deviation of the diffusion coefficients from linearity in the Arrhenius plot was observed at high temperatures. This effect was attributed to a loss of tracer atoms into the bulk by volume diffusion. The purpose of the present work was to extend the technique developed to the nickel surface-diffusion system up to the point where volume diffusion would come into play. The nickel system especially lends itself to this technique due to the high efficiency of the isotope in darkening the film and the large absorption of the weak radiation (0.063 mev /3- particle of the trapped tracer atoms. The diffusion coefficients and ictivation energy for different orientations on nickel can also be compared with a report published by Blakely and Mykura 2 where a mass-transfer technique was used. This paper reports the self surface diffusion of nickel on the low-index planes over a wide temperature range using a precision autoradiographic technique. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The experiment is similar to that described in the earlier publication consisting of a radioactive needle as a source resting on a flat, smooth, chemically polished surface annealed in a dynamic dry-hydrogen atmosphere. The needle is held snugly on the surface by a holder fabricated from commercially pure nickel. The point source is made by grinding down a small-diameter nickel rod until a tip of approximately 0.1 mm radius is formed. It is then etched and the needle tip plated with the radioactive isotope Ni63. Nickel single crystals were used whose main impurities were spectrographically determined as Co 0.05, Fe 0.007, C 0.005, and S 0.003 pct. The surfaces, oriented to within 1/2 deg of the low-index planes, were carefully mechanically polished and etched in a 50-30-10-10 hot solution of acetic, nitric, sulfuric, and phosphoric acids giving a smooth polished surface. The crystals were then washed in distilled water and alcohol. Annealing temperatures ranged from 400° to 1000°C with a furnace arrangement in which the crystals could be brought up to temperature in times short compared to diffusing times. The temperature was maintained constant to ±10°C. In the temperature range investigated, the ratio of the surface-diffusion coefficient to the volume-diffusion coefficient (Ds/Du) was 105 or more and the mean bulk-penetration values, calculated from literature values of volume-diffusion coefficients,3 were on the order of 10-5 cm. After the diffusion anneal, the sintered needle is removed, and both the radius of the needle point and spot left on the crystal face are measured. The crystal is then placed on photographic film. Diffusion profiles are obtained by scanning the film with a recording microdensitometer which has a slit width of 10µ. DISCUSSION AND RESULTS The experimental conditions are such that the source strength and needle radius are essentially constant and the time is adjusted such that the mean bulk penetration is small. An exactly analogous heat-flow problem has been considered by Carslaw and Jaeger4 and the solution can be written in integral form as:

Jan 1, 1964

By G. W. Poling

Chemical and physical properties of thiol collectors are re-examined to compare the prospects,of heavy metal-thiolate or disulphide surface reaction products acting as actual collector species. Recent evidences for the existence and importance of each of these types of adsorbed species on sulphide minerals are also discussed. A conclusion is reached that partial coverage by chemisorbed heavy metal thiolate is often sufficient to confer practical levels of hydrophobicity and floatability. Only on a few highly conducting and "noble" sulphides does adsorbed disulphide-type collector oxidation product appear to be significant.

Jan 1, 1976

Jerome L. Boyer, Reading, Chairman; William L. Sheafer, Pottsville, Secretary ; Levi Quier, Reading, Treasurer; Robert Allison, Port Carbon; James Archbald, Jr., Pottsville; William Atkins, Pottsville; D. P. Brown, Lost Creek; William McH. Boyer, Rending; Albert Broden, Reading; George Brooke, Birdsboro; Frank Carter, Pottsville; H. P. Cooper, Pottsville ; J. H. Carpenter, Reading; E. S. Cook, Pottstown; B. Halberstadt, Pottsville; Hakon Hammer, Pottstown; J. Hartshorne, Stowe; M. P. Janney, Pottstown; R. C. Luther, Pottsville; N. Muhlenberg, Reading ; W. H. Morris. Pottstown ; George L. Norris, Reading; G. H. Potts, Pottstown ; H. Potts, Pottstown; S. M. Riley, Ashland ; J. S. Robeson, Pottstown ; Jas. P. Roe, Pottstown; A. W. Sheafer, Pottsville; Heber S. Thompson, Pottsville; Bard Wells, Pottsville; E. C.Wagner, Girardville; N. B. Wittman, Birdsboro. Reception Committee.— George Brooke, Chairman; Robert Allison, J. H. Carpenter, Edgar S. Cook, R. C. Luther, W. H. Morris, H. S. Thompson. Hotel Headquarters.—The Neversink Mountain Hotel, near Reading, Pa. All sessions were held in the hotel. The opening session was held on Tuesday evening, October 11. Mr. Jerome L. Boyer, Chairman of the Local Committee, called the meeting to order, and introduced Mr. John F. Daniel], Jr., VicePresident of the Reading Board of Trade, who delivered an address of welcome, in the course of which the industrial and commercial importance of the city was effectively outlined by skilful use of the statistics of leading branches. From this statement the following particulars are condensed for preservation: The Board of Trade has about 300 members. The annual value of the manofttctures (taking mainly the figures of 1891) is as follows: Iron manufactures, about $16,000,000 (including boilers and flues, $323,000; hardware, locks and butts, $1,650,000; pig-iron, wrought-iron pipe and machinery, $8,400,000; beams, bridge-work and steel, $4,000,000; bolts, nuts, rivets, etc., $1,000,000; stoves, $659,000); silk and cotton goods, $1,725,000; boots and shoes (one concern only), $150,000; ropes and cordage, $600,000; fire-brick, terra-cotta and glass, $320,000; wool and fur hats, $3,000,000; cigars (105 millions), upwards of $3,150,000. The street and elec-

Jan 1, 1893

By Charles M. Romanowitz

The motivation for the art of dredging for placer mining can be compared in a slight degree to the spread of civilization which started in the Near East and spread both east and west. Dredging started with the "bag and spoon" dredge in the lowlands of Europe reportedly about 1565, went southeast to New Zealand where designs were developed for a bucket-line mining dredge known as the New Zealand type, and westward to the eastern United States where a dredge was developed and used exclusively for excavating. Then it moved to Montana, where it was first used for mining in 1895. The New Zealand-type dredge was imported into California in 1898 (Fig. 1) and was followed shortly by the Montana design. As today, these early dredges were equipped with continuous bucket- line chains, a treatment plant, and a means of waste disposal mounted on a wooden hull. Both types of dredges are complete mining units: they dig the formation, transport the dug materials, and concentrate the valuable ore. After sizing, the fines containing the ore are passed by gravity to the treatment unit, while the barren materials are discharged overboard. By digging the materials to be treated at the bow and depositing all the waste, at the stern, the dredges automatically advance to new reserves without presenting any transportation problems. The main differences between the two types are in the method of holding the dredge in the digging position and in the disposal of the tailings to the rear. The New Zealand type (Fig. 2) uses the headline system with a bow anchor for holding the dredge in the digging position and long tailing flumes or short stackers off the stern for disposal of the barren materials. The California type (Fig. 3) uses box girder spuds projecting into the ground in a vertical position at the stern of the

Jan 1, 1969

By W. A. Klikoff, I. Fatt

The concept of fractional wet wattability is examined. Fractional water wettability of a reservoir rock is defined as the fraction of the internal surface urea that is in contact with water. Capillary pressure and relalive permeability of unconsolidated sand are shown to be functions of fractional wettability. INTRODUCTION The petroleum industry has long recognized that wettability of reservoir rock has an important effect on multiphase flow of oil, water and gas through reservoirs. As early as 1928 the American Petroleum Institute sponsored a study of wettability as part of API Project 27 at the U. of Michigan.' Despite 30 years of research, there is still little exact knowledge of the wettability of reservoir rocks. There are two parts to the wettability problem. After agreeing to a uniform nomenclature in regard to wettability,' the first question to be answered is, "What is the in situ wettability of a given reservoir rock?" If this can he answered the next question is, "What part does wettability play in determining the characteristics of multiphase fluid flow through the rock?" This paper represents an oblique attack on the problem of wettability. No attempt is made here to answer the basic question of wettability in situ. instead the consequences of the concept of fractional wettability are examined. Multiphase flow in sandpacks is shown to he highly influenced by fractional wettability. Jennings' has given 3 definition of wettability and the other terms used in discussing wettability. These terms must be applied to the physical situation existing In reservoir rock. A survey of the pertinent literature from 1928 to 1956 indicates that the concept of a contact angle was applied to reservoir rock in the same way it would be applied to a flat, homogeneous surface. Attempts were made to state quantitatively the wettability of a reservoir rock in terms of a contact angle which was presumably constant at all points on the very rough and heterogeneous interior surface of a porous rock. Calhoun, et al,3-6 prepared synthetic consolidated and un-consolidated porous media in which they claimed there was a known uniform contact angle. They then showed the effects on the capillary pressure and relative permeability characteristics of varying this angle. The API Project 47 at the U. of Texas' and others' have made extensive studies of an indirect approach to the contact angle through the use of heat of wetting data. Even if successful. however, this approach also states the wettability of porous rock in terms of a contact angle which is uniform over the entirc surface. If the angle varies from one part to another on the internal surface, there is no way of determining from the measurements the area distribution of contact angles. In 1956 Brown and Fatt5 suggested that the concept of a contact angle, as applied to reservoir rock, be abandoned. This suggestion was made because it is known that the internal surface of most reservoir rocks is composed of many different minerals, cach with a different surface chemistry and a different capacity to adsorh surface active materials from reservoir fluids. Furthermore, the operation of a contact angle in determining the form of a fluid-fluid interface is difficult to picture in the very complex geometry of a pore. Brown and Fatt proposed that the wettability of reservoir rock be stated in terms of the fractional internal surface area that is in contact with water or oil. All surfaces on which there is water are called water-wet; surfaces on which there is oil are called oil-wet. The fractional water wettability is then stated as a number which represents the fraction of the internal surface that is in contact with water. A symmetrical statement can be made for the fractional oil wettability. The concept of a fractional wettability as previously stated has in its favor the recognition of the heterogeneous mineral composition of most reservoir rocks. Another point in its favor is that fractional wettability can be measured quantitatively with relative ease. Hol-brook and Bernard10 se a simple dye adsorption test to obtain fractional wettability of reservoir rocks. Amott11 uses a combination of imbibition and displacement to arrive at a wettability index of reservoir rocks which seems related to fractional wettability in the range 0.25 to 0.75 fractional water wettability. Jennings" has shown the changes in relative permeability that take place when a porous material is changed from unity to zero fractional water wettability. He also shows that reservoir rocks in their natural state, but at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, have relative permeability characteristics which would indi-

By J. E. Steiner, J. M. Hodge, M. A. Orehoski

Ingots of four steels (1045, 1080, Ni-Mo-V, and Ni-Cr-Mo-V) were cast at pressures varying from about 1 to 760 mm of mercury, so as to obtain a range of hydrogen contents in each steel. The susceptibility of these steels to flaking was evaluated by cooling hot-rolled blooms at a range of cooling rates, varying from water quenching to slag cooling, and studying the occurrence of flaking as a function of cooling rate. The steels exhibited differences in susceptibility to flaking, and a tlzreshold value for hydrogen content for each steel was found, below which the susceptibility was very low and above which the susceptibility increased markedly with increasing hydrogen content. Mechanical property evaluations, metallogvaplzic exantinations, and X-my diffraction determinations o,t retained austenite were made on samples from the blooms. A mechanism of flaking which is consistent with the observed behaviors, the effects of hvdrogen content, and the differences in susceptibility among the steels investigated is postulated, based on the results of mechanical property evaluations and metallographic and X-ray diffraction studies. ThE important role of hydrogen as a factor in the occurrence of "flakes" or "hair-line cracks" in steel has now been established by many investigations. These have included investigations by steel producers and forging manufacturers, to whom the prevention of flaking is a very real and serious problem, and many research studies aimed primarily at establishing the mechanism of this behavior Several investigators3 have reported that steels cast at reduced pressures (absolute pressures of about 1 mm) not only are low in hydrogen content but are essentially insensitive to the formation of flakes. These investigations have shown that a general relationship exists between hydrogen content and susceptibility to flaking. The difficulty of obtaining suitable samples of steels of a given composition with the desired range of hydrogen contents, particularly in the relatively large sections in which flaking most commonly occurs, has been the principal obstacle to quantitative evaluations of these relationships. Steels with intermediate hydrogen contents between 1 ppm, and the 4ppm or higher of air-cast steels are generally not available in commercially produced steels. Laboratory procedures, in which the hydrogen is introduced into solid steel samples by heating in a hydrogen atmosphere under pressure, generally involve a limitation in the size of the sample which can be treated, and thus are not representative of the behaviors in large sections. The availability of a facility at the South Chicago Works of U.S. Steel, in which several ingots could be cast from a single heat of steel at total air pressures ranging from 0.25 to 760 mm of Hg, has made it possible to overcome this obstacle and to obtain ingots of a given steel covering the intermediate range of hydrogen contents desired. These ingots, furthermore, are of a size suitable for the production of product with section sizes large enough to be representative of the products in which flaking most commonly occurs in commercial production. In these experiments, this facility was used to study the relationships between hydrogen content and the susceptibility to flaking of four steels, two plain carbon steels at 0.45 and 0.80 pct C and two low-carbon alloy steels representing a medium and a rather high hardenability level. These flaking studies were supplemented by evaluations of mechanical properties and by metallographic studies on samples from the blooms, in order to obtain pertinent information on the factors other than hydrogen content which influence the susceptibilities of these steels to flaking. Based on the results of these tests, a mechanism for the initiation and propagation of the flaking cracks, which is consistent with the observed behaviors, is postulated. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK Steelmaking and Conversion. To provide material for the investigation, five 29- by 35-in., hot-topped, big-end-up ingots were cast from each of four 80-ton, basic electric-furnace heats of four different steels (a 1045 steel, a 1080 steel, a Ni-Mo-V steel, and a Ni-Cr-Mo-V steel). A double-slag practice was used on all steels and the two plain carbon steels were Si-A1 deoxidized with an addition of 2 lb of A1 per ton, while the Ni-Mo-V and Ni-Cr-Mo-V steels were deoxidized only with silicon and

Jan 1, 1964