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By C. D. Seybert, J. W. Evans

"The elimination of convection is essential in experimental investigations of diffusive transport (of heat and matter) during solidification. This paper describes an investigation of an approach whereby a magnetic field gradient is applied to a electrically non-conducting diamagnetic liquid. A magnetic body force then arises which is dependent on the volume susceptibility of the liquid and thereby on the density. With the field gradient aligned vertically and of correct magnitude, the variation of gravitational body forces due to density variations (arising from temperature variations, for example) can be counterbalanced by a variation in magnetic body force.Preparatory to a study of convection control in diamagnetic liquids, PN measurements have been made of the convection occurring during the solidification of water. A peculiar flow arises because of the density maximum at 4°C. Modeling of the flow the steady-state solidification of water in an extremely high field magnet at the NHMFL indicates that flow can be significantly reduced, but it is suggested that, due to field gradient variations within the cell, flow cannot be completely halted. INTRODUCTIONNatural convection is inherently a part of terrestrial solidification. Density-based convection during solidification, due to gradients of temperature and/or concentration, has a significant effect on a material's properties. The design of products with specific material characteristics has required the development of many processes to control convection (such as in the growth of semiconductor crystals, and electromagnetic stirring in steel casting). The expansion of fundamental knowledge about the process of solidification requires collecting data in the absence of density-based convection, while most of science's solidification data (and thus the equations that science has fitted to those data) have been obtained under the influence of gravity. Only relatively recently, through clever experimental design (e.g., drop towers, high altitude parabolic flights, and space laboratories), have investigators been able to study solidification in an environment with ""micro-gravity""."

Jan 1, 2001

By Cong Wang, Kexin Jiao, Yongan Zhao, Haibin Zuo, Jianliang Zhang

The carbon composite brick is a new refractory used in blast furnace hearth and bottom. It caused wide attention due to its high thermal conductivity and low erosion by molten iron. In this paper, chemical constituents, SEM-EDS and X-ray diffraction were carried out in order to understand reaction mechanisms. A series of experiments of oxidation resistance characteristics were made. The oxidation mechanisms of carbon composite bricks in the presence of air were analyzed. According to the analysis on many experimental results, the oxidation process of carbon composite bricks under different temperatures were controlled by different mechanisms. In the condition of high temperature, SiO2 as oxidation product hindered the diffusion of O2, and reduced the oxidation loss of graphite in the internal.

Jan 1, 2015

By D. J. Donaldson

The PAL process for recovering nickel from laterite ore requires large volumes of thick abrasive slurry to be raised lo high temperature (245°C+) and pressure (40 atm.+). Flow diagrams of the process typically result in facilities that have serious operating and reliability problems. Most of the problems can be attributed to using multiple pump stations to raise the slurry to autoclave pressure, large amounts of flash and live injection steam to heat the slurry to autoclave temperature and several steps of flash cooling to lower the temperature and pressure of the abrasive autoclave slurry down to atmospheric conditions. It is proposed that operating and reliability problems of PAL facilities can be mitigated by using Tube-in-tube heat exchangers and "float type" positive displacement pumps. The subject paper describes an innovative application of such equipment in the facility design of the PAL process. Keywords: Nickel, Laterite, PAL, Heating, Slurry

Jan 1, 2004

By Nobuhiro Ishikawa

The in-situ observation of the effect of impurities on the reduction process of iron oxides by C in TEM was carried out. A few wt% of CaO or AbO, was used as impurities in FeO was prepared. Some precipitates grew into the C layer expect for using 3.0wtCa. The reaction between FeO and carbon was much different from using pure FeO at about 800-1 lOOK. The rate of reaction became much slower including Ca and almost no reaction was happened with the concentration of CaO up to 3.0wt%. On the contrary, AbO, had ahuost no effect on the reaction. The results indicated that Ca suppressed the reaction and the effect of Al was much less. The precipitates which grew into C layer accompanied almost no Ca and AI. Only Fe was detected in the precipitates.

Jan 1, 2008

By C. A. Natalie

Prediction of average residence times for different particle size intervals during sulfide roasting was investigated. Calculations were done to predict average residence times using a model which employs empirical correlations for elutriation constants. Experimental average residence times were determined using a continuous., six inch diameter,. fluid bed roaster and compared with calculated residence time values. Comparison of calculated and experimental data showed that geometry effects may have .been significant when attempting to apply elutriation data to this roaster.

Jan 1, 1985

By Norihiro Murayarna

Hydrothermal synthesis of K type zeolite was carried out by using coal fly ash as a raw material and KOH as an alkali source. The change in various physical properties of the obtained zeolite, such as the kind of zeolite crystal, cation exchange capacity, surface structure of zeolite and particle size distribution were investigated through the overall reaction of zeolitization. The reaction mechanism of K type zeolite from coal fly ash was investigated from these results in this study

Jan 1, 2002

By Hao Deng, Hongmin Zhu, Jichao Li, Kai Huang

"Silicon and silicon carbide mixing micropowders obtained from the saw cutting industry of polycrystalline silicon ingot is separated by a simple sequential sedimentation. The Zeta potentials of the powders in the aqueous suspension are adjusted by varying the pHs with dilute acid or alkaline reagents. The dispersion and aggregation content of the microparticles is significantly influenced by pHs, and so their settlement velocity in the same hydraulic conditions are quite different, and silicon powders tend to suspend in the upper section of the suspension for its finer size and smaller density under the stronger Zeta potential repulsion force. The original content of the cutting powders with 30%wt silicon are separated into the Si-rich and SiC-rich powder respectively, and 62%wt Si-rich powder can be obtained after 4 times of sedimentation under pH = 8.0, showing the great potential for Si and SiC powder separation and recovery in a cost-effective way.IntroductionWith the fast development of photovoltaic (PV) technology these years, the market demand for the solar-grade high pure silicon material significantly increased, making the silicon recycling and recovery from the wire sawing slurry profitable and attractive[1]. Waste silicon slurry was produced in the multi-wire sawing process of a silicon ingot by using an ethylene glycol-based solution and silicon carbide abrasives as the slicing system. During this slicing process, about 30% of the silicon ingot will become the waste as the fine particles suspended in the slurry, which mainly consists of silicon kerf-loss particles, SiC fragmental particles, tiny iron fragments from the worn sawing wire and ethylene glycol-based solution [2]. The separation of above individual component is usually easy except for Si and SiC fine particles for their quite similar properties. So the biggest challenge for the effective recovery and recycling of silicon particles from the wire sawing slurry actually lies in the mutual separation of silicon and silicon carbide particles."

Jan 1, 2012

By Roderick I. L. Guthrie, Donghui Li, Mihaiela Isac, Luis Calzado

The HSBC is an ideal process for the production of BMG strips. The purpose of the present work was to investigate the casting of Ca-based, bulk amorphous strips. The possibility of casting three Ca-based alloys (60Ca-20Mg-20Al, 60Ca-15Mg-10Al-15Zn and 55Ca-15Mg-10Al-15Zn- 5Cu (at.%).) was investigated, using the HSBC simulator. Numerical simulation and mathematical modeling were used to predict temperature variations and cooling rates, under different interfacial gaseous atmospheres (helium and air) near the meniscus region. Given the critical cooling rates and glass temperatures needed to be reached for the vitrification of the respective alloys, this leads to predictions of the critical thicknesses possible with this novel casting process. To validate our predictions, these alloys were then prepared and cast onto the sand-blasted, solid copper substrate mould of the HSBC simulator. The possibility of producing Ca-based metallic glassy strips via the HSBC processes was confirmed, using optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy, to characterize the glassy properties of the cast strips. It was found that the HSBC process would be able to provide sufficient cooling to form amorphous strips for the 60CA-15Mg-10Al-15Zn and 55Ca-15Mg- 10Al-15Zn-5Cu alloys, but not the 60Ca-20Mg-20Al alloy.

Jan 1, 2014

By W. Mueller

The function of a process mineralogist in the operation of a copper mine and plant is to assist in the identification and classification of the operation's main throughput. These include ore, concentrates, slag and matte, and to a lesser extent, refined products. In addition, a number of other products not normally thought of in association with mineralogy are examined. These include scales from submersible pumps, failed boiler tubes, acid plant, and shaft furnace; characterization of inclusions in failed compressor gear teeth as well as in copper rod; and flue dusts from a smelter, air transported particulates and coatings on passive copper anodes in the refinery. Techniques and equipment required for these studies include simple hand magnets to the high intensity Isodynamic separator, visual examination to electron microscopes, x-ray equipment, DTA, IR, heavy liquid separation, and contracted services of custom laboratories. Several examined products from Magma Copper Company have been selected to illustrate the range of techniques and equipment required by a process mineralogist.

Jan 1, 1981

By Tian Tang, Sergio D. Felicelli

"The laser cladding is an important surface treatment for enhancing resistance against corrosion, abrasion, and wear. The focus of the present study is to develop a three dimensional finite element model to analyze the temperature history and thermal stress evolution during multi-pass laser cladding process on H13-H13 tool steel sample. A sequentially coupled thermal-stress analysis methodology was adopted in this study. The thermal model was firstly established to investigate the temperature history of the laser cladding process. Then the temperature history was used as input to mechanical model to calculate the thermal stress evolution during the process and the residual stress after the sample completely cooled down to room temperature. The influences of process parameters including the scanning speed and scanning strategies on temperature history, thermal stress evolution, and residual stress were investigated in details.IntroductionLaser cladding is an advanced material process technique, which is often used to improve mechanical properties or increase corrosion resistance, repair worn out parts, and fabricate metal matrix composites. In this process, the injected powder or wire feedstock material and a thin layer of substrate are melted and consolidated by use of a laser in order to coat part of a substrate or fabricate a near-net shape part.Numerous mathematical models have been established for analyzing the effects of process parameters, microstructure evolution, and thermo-mechanical behavior of laser cladding. Zhou et al. [1] established an analytical model to investigate the laser induction hybrid rapid cladding for Ni-based WC composite coatings. Huang et al. [2] also developed an analytical model to theoretically investigate the interaction between the laser beam and the powder stream of laser cladding process. A simple and realistic model of laser cladding was proposed by Picasso et al. [3]. The cladding layer is very sensitive to cracks due to the accumulation of residual stress, caused by non-uniform temperature changes, which have limited the wide application of laser cladding technique in industry. Recently, fmite element method has been increasingly used to simulate the laser cladding process [ 4-6]."

Jan 1, 2014

By Jan Steinhoff

The design options of a gravity separator are still limited and rely on the study of settling behavior. A methodology will be presented where an experimentally given inlet droplet size distribution (DSD) is the basis for the calculation of the dispersion layer in a gravity separator. A pilot-scale continuous gravity separator is presented and CFD (computational fluid dynamic) results are validated. A transmitted light measurement technique for the determination of the DSD is presented up to a holdup of 15% dispersed phase. The resulting DSD was in the range of 20–2000 μm depending on flow rate and phase ratio. Furthermore, correlations of the real DSD with the settling behavior of the dispersion in a settling cell are discussed. The new approach to the description of gravity separators will be presented and the applied CFD methods showed good results with the system water/paraffin.

By Peng ZANG, Qihang Liu

Experimental work was conducted to determine the relationships of coal char conversion with temperature and heat absorption. The results show that at an earlier stage of the coke forming process, lump coal would absorb large amounts of heat but the increase of high temperature strength of lump coal was not significant. Contrarily, the lump coal’s high temperature strength was greatly improved at later stage of coke forming process. A number of residual coal was found in most tuyere coke samples illustrating that the lump coals added in the melter gasifier were not completely transformed into coke when they arrived at the tuyere region. The results indicate that the improvement of lump coal’s high temperature performance is limited in the melting gasifier by the low coke forming rate which could become the core factor of fines generation of lump coal in the melting gasifier.

Jan 1, 2016

By Valentine A. Chanturiya

A model for development of electric discharges between particles of sulfide minerals (pyrite) under the action of high-voltage nanosecond pulses is proposed. It is shown that through discharges in a layer of pyrite particles lead to energy concentration in small contact regions between particles; the concentrated energy is sufficiently high for local disintegration of mineral complexes.

Jan 1, 2009

By Thomas Brynjulfsen, Merete Tangstad, Eli Ringdalen

Manganese ore fines cannot be added to the submerged arc furnace directly as they will prevent even gas flow through the burden. Low gas permeability in the burden will lower the degree of pre-reduction of ore subsequently increase the carbon and energy consumption of the process. In order to utilize manganese ore fines in the furnace, they are typically agglomerated into sinter. In this work, the melting and reduction properties of Gabonese sinter and Gabonese ore have been investigated in pilot scale experiments. Two experiments were conducted, one with 100% sinter as manganese source and one with 50/50 sinter and ore. Lime was used to achieve a charge basicity of 0.72 in both experiments. The composition of slag samples from the excavation of the furnace was established using EPMA(WDS), and the composition of the tapped slag and metal was found using XRF. It was found that while the coke-bed size would determine the tapped slag composition, the melting behavior of the Mn source would determine the mixing with lime.

Jan 1, 2014

By Shigehito Isobe

The Li-N-H system composed of LiH and LiNH2 catalyzed by titanium compound desorbs ~6 mass% hydrogen and a quite small amount of ammonia in temperature range from 150 to 250 °C under He flow atmosphere. In this work, hydrogen desorption (H-desorption) mechanism in the reaction from LiH+LiNH2 to Li2NH+H2 in a non-equilibrium condition was clarified by TDMS, TG and FT-IR analyses for the products replaced by LiD or LiND2 for LiH or LiNH2,respectively. The results suggested that H-desorption reaction progresses through two-step elementary reactions mediated by ammonia. As a next step, we carefully determined the amount of the ammonia containing in desorbed hydrogen for the Li-N-H system in a closed system from the practical point of view. The results indicated that a quite small of ammonia thermodynamically coexisted in the desorbed hydrogen in closed system, although ammonia could not be almost detected in emitted hydrogen gas by TDMS under some non-equilibrium conditions. Moreover, for understanding the role of titanium, the chemical bonding state of the titanium compounds doped as catalyst in the mixture was examined by XAFS measurement. The results indicate that the Ti atoms, which can induce catalytic effect, are in a particular chemical bonding state.

Jan 1, 2006

By Chuanyu Feng

In this paper, a load-based micro-indentation technique suitable for field applications was developed. This technique bears the same theoretical background as traditional load-depth sensing indentation, and does not need any direct measurement of indentation depth or contact area. The removal of this requirement will reduce much of the cost associated with traditional instrumented indentation. To demonstrate the feasibility, a portable indentation system suitable for online material characterization was developed. Design issues of the portable unit were discussed and preliminary results using the portable unit were also presented.

Jan 1, 2009

By Jie Ma, Shun-Li Zhao, Jian Zhao, Jie-Yu Zhang

"Microstructural morphology evolution of Ni-45wt.%Mo droplets during rapid solidification process was investigated using an advanced modified 3D cellular automaton-finite element(CAFE) model by CALCOSOFT software. The model was modified by User-defined functions (UDFs) and validated with experimental solidification microstructural morphology of Ni-45wt.%Mo droplets available in the literature. Then, the influences of convection heat transfer coefficient, superheat of the alloy droplets and droplets size were investigated during the rapid solidification process. The predictions show that microstructural morphology is obviously sensitive to convection heat transfer coefficient and droplet size. With the decrease of convection heat transfer coefficient, the grain density decreases. In addition, the decrease of the droplet size could obtain refined microstructure. However, decrease the superheat ofNi-45wt.%Mo droplets has little effect on microstructural morphology.IntroductionFor several decades, much attention has been paid to undercooled alloy droplets of rapid solidification process for which can obtain refined microstructure, decreased microsegregation and extended solubility of alloying elements [1-3]. Extensive prior work shows that solidification of droplets plays an essential role in advanced material properties [ 4]. Consequently, it is very important to investigate the microstructural morphology evolution, especially for dendrite growth during non-equilibrium solidification process, for dendrite growth reflected the kinetics of the crystal growth process."

Jan 1, 2013

By Jiao Li, WenhuiMa, KuixianWei, YongnianDai, Cong Zhang

The paper studied the diffusion process of nitrogen and characteristic distribution of iron impurities in the bottom of cast crystalline silicon ingot along the direction of crystal growth. According to the dynamics analysis of the decomposition of Si3N4 coating, the diffusion process of nitrogen into multicrystalline silicon ingot during casting process should be divided into three steps. The diffusion length of nitrogen in multicrystalline silicon ingot is 700 μm. The results of EDS analysis indicate that the distribution characteristic of iron in multicrystalline silicon ingot is concerned with the diffusion process of nitrogen in this length. Based on the above research results, the distribution model of iron in casting multicrystalline silicon ingot was established and verified by the experimental results.

Jan 1, 2015

By Huasheng Chen, Gaifeng Xue, Jing Zhang, Mingsheng He, Bin Liu, Yexian Ouyang, Shoujun Peng

Based on the investigation and study of the topography, microstructure and composition of the buildups which form in the surface of carbon sleeve in continuous annealing furnace for lowand medium-grade non-oriented silicon steel produced by CSP process, combined with production process of silicon steel, the mechanism and major causes for forming buildups of carbon sleeve are discussed from the factors such as CSP process, the quality of carbon sleeve and so forth. Meanwhile, some countermeasures to reduce the formation of the buildups are put forward.

Jan 1, 2015

By Alan J. Hurd

"New insights into the development of microstructure in sol-gel films have recently been revealed by several diagnostic techniques, including imaging ellipsometry, ""chemical imaging"" by fluorescent tracers, light scattering from capillary waves, and finite-element modeling. The evolution of porosity during the continuous transition from dilute sol to porous solid in restricted geometries such as films and fibers is becoming clearer through fundamental understanding of evaporation dynamics and capillarity.IntroductionWith sol-gel processing, the full flexibility of solution chemistry can be exploited to make ceramic films and fibers with well controlled compositional characteristics. No less important is the ability to tune porosity and connectivity for specific applications such as optical and electrical coatings and membranes. Since the chemical and physical factors that determine the microstructure are not entirely understood, new diagnostics applied to sol-gel processing are welcome.Sol-gel films and fibers are distinguished by processing that takes a sol through continuous stages of increasing concentration and connectivity of a solid precursor. The liquid carrier is usually volatile or, at least, volatilizable through heat treatment. During deposition through states of increasing solids concentration, this sol might gel, as in bulk sol-gel processing, however, the gel state may be a fleeting transient that quickly empties of liquid. Nevertheless, the structures formed in solution during this stage influence the structure of the final solid. In particular, porosity is likely to be a remnant of networks formed in the sol-to-gel transition. Here we report on experiments whose goal is to discover the factors involved with porosity development."

Jan 1, 1994