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Achieving continued economic growth with social equity within the natural limits of the Earth's 'eco-systems is the major issue facing the world today. The material and energy needs of the world cannot be met with the current ways of addressing this issue. The need for metals, an important class of materials, will continue into the future because their unique properties make substitution by other materials impossible in many applications and this need will continue to be met from primary metal production and recycling. However, the recycling rate will increase and the usage pattern of metals will change to reflect the environmental impact of their production and use. Pyrometallurgy has an important role in meeting the metal needs of the future since some metals can only be produced pyrometallurgically; the energy required to produce some metals pyrometallurgically is significantly less than by other methods; most metals are most efficiently recycled pyrometallurgically; and the release of harmful and toxic elements into the biosphere can sometimes best be controlled through pyrometallurgical processing. The development of strategies for pyrometallurgical processing for the future lies in the recognition that sustainable development calls for large step improvements in value delivered per unit of environmental impact over the entire supply chain. Pyrometallurgists can respond to this challenge by contributing to reducing the environmental impact of meeting metal needs using three broad strategies: "end-of-pipe" approaches to convert emissions into benign materials for storage or disposal; flowsheet redesign to limit or eliminate emission production; and improved recycling technologies. A number of examples are discussed to illustrate how the sustainability driver is already influencing the technological development of pyrometallurgical processes, and how these will develop further as the sustainability driver strengthens.

Jan 1, 2003

By Kenji Monden

"The creep properties of tin-based lead-free solders Sn3.0AgO.5Cu and SnO.7CuO.1Ni and lead solders 10Sn90Pb and 50Sn50Pb were investigated at temperatures between 298 K and 398 K. The creep-rupture time decreases with increasing initial stress and temperature. The analysis of the solder creep curves uses the Omega method. The creep rate E is expressed by following formula: 1n ? = 1n ?0 + O?, where ?0 and O are experimentally determined. The parameter Eo increases with increasing initial stress and temperature. The activation energy for ?0 is 108 kJ/mol for Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu and 85 kJ/mol for SnO.7CuO.INi. These energies suggest that the lattice diffusion of tin is dominant. The energy of 1OSn90Pb is 37 kJ/mol and that of 50Sn50Pb is 67 kJ/mol. The creep-rupture time is calculated using the parameters, ?0 and O. The calculated creep-rupture time is in good agreement with the measured creep-rupture time.IntroductionLead-free solders are replacing traditional tin-lead solders as part of a major trend toward protecting the earth's environment. However, tin-lead solders are currently needed for a high temperature range. Since creep is the main deformation mechanism in solder joints, understanding a constitutive model for creep and examining creep data for solders are important for reliability analysis of solder joints. A steady-state creep equation is generally used for solders [1,2], and it supposes that the secondary-, or minimum-, creep rate occupies the entire creep life. However, secondary creep accounts for only about 15 % to 40 % of the entire creep life for solders. Thus, the equation may not represent the entire creep life."

Jan 1, 2012

By Arthur E. Morris

Process modeling software is used extensively in process engineering, but there is a notable lack of affordable software for educational uses. This paper describes two educationally oriented software programs for thermochemical modeling of processes involving metals, minerals, and ceramic materials. Both programs run as Excel@ spreadsheet files. The first is FREED, a thermodynamic database program containing datafiles for 2500 species. It contains the entire U. S. Bureau of Mines and most of the U. S. Geological Survey database, plus data for scores of other species drawn from various sources. Several modules are available for manipulating and viewing the data. The second program is THERBAL, for making thermodynamic calculations using FREED data. Equilibrium calculations can be made for systems with non-ideal solutions, for a specified set of pressure, temperature, and input amounts of reactants. An optional heat balance is also calculated. The results are displayed as tables or charts in Excel worksheets. Examples of the use of THERBAL will be given for the reforming of natural gas for DRI production, DRI production, and EAF steelmaking. Some observations will be made on its use in the classroom. The development of FREED and THERBAL was initially carried out at the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla as part of a project to preserve and enhance the Bureau of Mines database. The current versions were developed privately by the authors.

Jan 1, 2002

By Daniel Hoffman, Katerina Aifantis, Ibrahim Miskioglu, Jaroslaw Drelich

"A new method to determine the elastic modulus of a material using the atomic force microscope (AFM) has been proposed by Tang et al. (Nanotechnology 2008, 19, 495713). This method models the cantilever and the sample as two springs in a series. The ratio of the cantilever spring constant (k) to diameter of the tip (2a) is treated in the model as one parameter (a=k/2a). The value of a, along with the cantilever sensitivity, are determined on two reference samples with known mechanical properties and then used to find the elastic modulus of an unknown sample. To determine the reliability and accuracy of this technique it was tested on several polymers. Traditional depth-sensing nanoindentation was preformed for comparison. Using both methods, the elastic modulus of the polymers tested was calculated. The elastic modulus values from the AFM were within ±(5-20)% of the nanoindenter results.IntroductionThe atomic force microscope (AFM) has proven to be a useful tool for characterizing materials on the micro- to nano-scale. The most common use of AFM is to image and measure the topography of the sample surface, but AFM has also been used to characterize the mechanical properties of materials [1-3]. With AFM's ability to scan the sample surface, features of interest can be found and indented. It provides an advantage over traditional nanoindenters that use optical microscopes and thus cannot resolve nano-scale features. This makes AFM a useful tool for characterizing materials on the nano-scale."

Jan 1, 2011

By Dao Su, Ganghua Fu, Xuling Chen, Yufeng Guo, Min Gan, Tao Jiang, Xiaohui Fan

"The sinter quantity and quality of limonite in the magnetite and hematite sintering models were studied and compared. For the sintering of magnetite, the results showed that the increase of limonite improved the permeability of sinter mixture, increased the sinter quantity and quality. The sinter strength and productivity were decreased when the proportion of limonite exceeded 50%. The appropriate proportion of limonite was 40%-50%. For the sintering of hematite, the sinter quantity and quality were first maintained at the same level thereafter declined, more obviously when the proportion of limonite exceeded 40%. The amount of calcium ferrite increased whose shape changed from acicular to leaflike and block gradually with the proportion of limonite increased from 0% to 80%.IntroductionWith the fierce competition of domestic and overseas iron markets in the twenty-first century, cheap ores such as limonite are used to be sintering raw materials to cut the costs of sinter and pig iron for steel making, and boosts the competitiveness of steel companies [1, 2]. In addition, as the reserve volume of hematite of high grade is reducing year by year, the usage amount of limonite in sintering are expanding in major domestic and international sintering plant [3, 4]. Sintering can be divided into two types, majoring in concentrates and fine ores, according to the different types of raw materials. The sintering characteristics of limonite in the two types above have been studied and compared in this paper, which makes a significant sense for the research of limonite sintering properties and guidance of ore proportioning in sintering plants."

Jan 1, 2012

By Richard J. Abitz

Thennodynamic geochemical models have been applied to assess the relative effectiveness of a variety of reagents added to aqueous waste streams for the removal of radioactive elements. Two aqueous waste streams were examined: effluent derived from the processing of uranium ore and irradiated uranium fuel rods. Simulations of the treatment train were performed to estimate the mass of reagents needed per kilogram of solution, identify pH regions corresponding to solubility minimums, and predict the identity and quantity of precipitated solids. Results generated by the simulations include figures that chart the chemical evolution of the waste stream as reagents are added and summary tables that list mass balances for all reagents and radioactive elements of concern. Model results were used to set initial reagent levels for the treatment trains, minimizing the number of bench-scale tests required to bring the treatment train up to full-scale operation. Additionally, presentation of modeling results at public meetings helps to establish good faith between the federal government, industry, concerned citizens, and media groups.

Jan 1, 1996

By Qing-Yun Huang, Xiao-Yi Zeng, Bing Xie, Hong-Yi Li, Jia-Rong Yan

"In order to utilize vanadium resource in vanadium-titanium magnetite ore efficiently, vanadium distribution ratio between hot metal and slag should be improved during BF process, meanwhile the precipitating of Ti(C,N) in slag must be minimized. Effects of temperature, Ti02 content in the slag and basicity on vanadium distribution between slag and hot metal were investigated by experiment and thermodynamic calculation. The results indicated that high temperature, low Ti02 content and high binary basicity of slag were beneficial to increase the vanadium distribution ratio. The effects of temperature and Ti02 content in slag on vanadium distribution were stronger than that of slag basicity.IntroductionVanadium is an important element that is widely used in industrial fields. Most of vanadium resource is hosted in vanadium bearing titanomagnetite [l]. Vanadium bearing titanomagnetite is thus one of the domainate raw materials to produce the vanadium products. In other words, the comprehensive utilization of vanadium bearing titanomagnetite is beneficial for vanadium resource utilization. Vanadium bearing titanomagnetite sources are abundant in Pan Xi of China [4]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Mehdi Asadi, Heinz Palkowski

"In recent years, the increased demand for advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) mainly had been driven by the need of the automotive industry to reduce weight and to improve safety. Beside good ductility and high strength, those steels have a high bake hardening (BH) effect, giving additional contribution to the strength of structural parts, subjected to the paint baking process. In this paper we concentrate results gained for hot rolled dual phase (DP) steels.For the simulation of changing process conditions within the final hot rolling the specimens were hot deformed using different schedules of temperatures and reductions, selected according to the non-recrystallization temperature (TnRX). It was possible to refine the DP steel structure by control-ling the deformation temperature and the amount of strain below TnRX during the thermo-mechanical controlled processing (TMCP). This structure refinement resulted in an improvement of the strength and BH behaviour. A wide spectrum of mechanical properties could be obtained depending on the different hot deformation schedules. The best strength and BH levels were recorded for the deformation below TnRX at the highest amount of strain.IntroductionDP steels are characterized by a good formability, high strength and a good compromise between strength and ductility [1]. Moreover, the DP steels exhibit a continuous yielding behaviour, low yield point and a high strain-hardening coefficient [2]. Furthermore, the DP steels often show a large potential for bake hardening (BH). BH refers to the increase in yield strength as a result of the paint baking treatment of the shaped auto-body parts. The primary mechanism that causes the additional strengthening is the immobilization of dislocations by the segregation of interstitial atoms, known as classical static strain aging [3]. The increase of strength thus achieved allows a further reduction of sheet thickness and improves the crash safety and the dent resistance. The BH of special steel qualities is technically used in DP, where e.g. the increase in strength is realized in the final heat treatment [4]. Previous own investigations [5-6] stated that the BH effect of DP is much stronger than that one for conventional BH steels."

Jan 1, 2012

By Kimio Ilagaki

The distribution ratios of Ag, Pb, As, Sb and Bi for the Cu2S-FeS or Ni3S2-FeS matte I FeOx-SiOl, FeOx-Si02-CaO or FeOx-CaO slag equilibration in a MgO crucible were determined experimentally at 1523 ~1573K under controlled partial pressures of S2 and 02 at given PS02 of 10.1,50.7 and 101.3 kPa(O.I, 0.5 and I atm), and the observed dependency of distribution ratio on the matte grade, S02 pressure and slag basicity were analyzed on the basis of thermodynamics.

Jan 1, 2003

By Herman Wotruba

Mercury emissions and other environmental impacts in small-scale gold mining are a world-wide problem. "Clean" or better: "Cleaner" technologies have -apart from being environmentally sound -to guarantee a higher income and better working conditions for the miners in order to have a chance for long-term acceptance. In small scale primary gold mining in several South American countries, a number of techniques have been adapted and improved so that they not only were accepted due to their efficiency and easy handling, but they could also significantly lower mercury emissions.

Jan 1, 2003

By David R. Brosnahan

Increased Cu grades due to chalcopyrite-rich ore from The Doe Run Company's new Casteel Mine prompted a program to increase Cu recovery. Preliminary tests indicated that prohibitive quantities of FeS2 float with chalcopyrite. Point counting of mill stream samples showed that locking was not a major problem, although grinding to finer particle size enhanced the floatability of both chalcopyrite and marcasite. Backscattered electron images and microprobe analyses of FeSz minerals revealed the presence of Pb which appears to occur as solid solution in marcasite, and as a sub-micron particulate Pb phase in pyrite.

Jan 1, 1987

By S. Stoyanov, M. Cross

"Silicon components containing transistor circuitry are at the heart of electronic products such as computers, mobile phones, etc. These components are connected to printed circuit boards (PCB's) using solder material that acts as the conductor for both electricity and heat. During the lifetime of a product it will undergo many thermal cycles where the chip becomes hot during product operation and then cools when the product is switched off. At the product design stage engineers undertake thermo-mechanical simulations to predict the thermal stress in the solder joints due to this thermal cycle and to ensure that the stress magnitude will not result in early fatigue-type failure. The design engineer's aim is to identify component parameters which ensure that the solder will survive beyond a certain number of thermal cycles.The aim of integrating computational mechanics and optimization tools together is to speed up dramatically the design process. From viewpoint of a design engineer in the electronics manufacturing sector, these tools can be used to quickly estimate key design parameters (i.e. material properties, product dimensions, etc) that will guarantee the required product performance. In this paper a modeling approach coupling computational mechanics techniques with numerical optimization is presented and demonstrated. The integrated modeling framework is obtained by coupling the multi-physics framework - PHYSICA - with the design optimisation tool- VisuaLDOC. Thermo-mechanical simulations are presented that predict the creep strains in solder material. Different numerical optimization procedures: Direct and Response Surface based optimization plus Design of Experiments, are tested as a part of this modeling framework."

Jan 1, 2001

By K. Osseo-Asare

Third phase formation, the separation of a solvent extraction organic phase into two liquids, is generally attributed to the limited solubility of the extracted complexes in the hydrocarbon diluents. Much of the research on third phase fomiation, therefore, emphasizes experiments designed to establish the stoichiometry of the species responsible for the limited solubility. This work offers a different approach, based on the recognition that the solvent extraction third phase, in fact, corresponds to the middle phase in a microemulsion fluid system. Using the tri-n-butylphosphate (TBP)-diluent-water-electrolyte system as a model system, current concepts of microemulsion phase behavior are utilized to develop a general framework for interpreting and predicting the patterns of phase behavior in solvent extraction systems.

Jan 1, 1999

By G. Van Weert

Refractory gold ores and auriferous concentrates containing silver tend to form refractory silver jarosites during pressure oxidation. Earlier work with pure Ag2S has shown that the addition of iodine species to the autoclave feed yields cyanide soluble iodargyrite (Agl) instead. Near complete silver extractions from the autoclave product were obtained at a I-/Ag+ ratio of 5 or more. This paper reports on the pressure oxidation and cyanide leaching of two industrial refractory (arseno) pyritic silver-bearing concentrates: 1. from Peru (sulphosalts) and 2. from the USA (pyrite, with acanthite occlusions). While using a I-/Ag+ mol ratio of only 1 in the feed, it has been possible to obtain 98 and 97% Ag extraction from the two autoclave products by cyanide leaching, respectively. This compares to 11 and 54% Ag extraction from the as-received concentrates and 4 and 15% Ag extraction, respectively, after pressure oxidation without KI present. The results of the testwork are discussed in terms of concentrate mineralogy and pressure oxidation conditions.

Jan 1, 1994

By Huimin Lu, Min Li, Jinghua Zou

"Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are new type of porous materials, form inerratic polyhedral in three-dimensional with large cages and small apertures, and appear structural diversity. Their hole size can be adjusted. These materials have high selective adsorption capacity to carbon dioxide. In this paper, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks were synthesized by solvothermal synthesis method with dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent and structuredirecting agent, divalent metallic ions as cation, and imidazole as ligand. The crystals were characterized with XRD, SEM for their crystal structures and physical properties, the adsorption of the crystals for carbon dioxide was also tested, and the result suggests that these porous materials have a capacity of 1.35ml/g for storing carbon dioxide at 273 Kelvin under ambient pressure.IntroductionGlobal warming caused by the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has become one of the main environment problems, contemporary research has focused on ways to slow or stop this trend. CO2 capture has attracted attention due to the potential to trap and sequester large amounts of CO2 from concentrated sources such as power plants [1]. Traditional technologies in capturing CO2 include absorption by aqueous amines [2]. However, utilization of this process is energy intensive and expensive. Carbon dioxide storage materials investigated so far can be divided into two categories: chemical storage adsorbents and physical storage media [3]. The first kind of materials can chemically adsorb carbon dioxide within their structures and need thermal energy to release the adsorbed carbon dioxide. The examples of the chemical adsorbents include aqueous amines, gas-hyperbranched aminosilicas [4]. The physical adsorbents store carbon dioxide by physical adsorption of carbon dioxide at elevated pressure and release the adsorbed carbon dioxide at low pressure. The physical adsorbents that have been investigated for carbon dioxide storage include zeolites, carbonaceous materials and other porous materials. Until recently, a new type of microporous material, known as zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), has been reported as promising adsorbents for carbon dioxide storage [5 ~ 10]."

Jan 1, 2010

By Bin Xu, Qian Li, Xin Min, Xiaoliang Liu, Yongbin Yang, Tao Jiang, Yan Zhang

The ringing characteristics of acid and alkaline iron ore pellets powder in kiln were studied by the thermodynamic calculation using software FactSage7.0, roasting experiments using briquetting method and analysis of SEM-EDS. The thermodynamic calculation demonstrated that liquid phase could be generated from alkaline pellets powder at a lower temperature and the amount of formed liquid phase was much more than that from acid pellets powder at the same temperature. Roasting experiments indicated that the compression strength of alkaline pellets powder briquettes were also higher than that of acid pellets powder briquettes. Additionally, the analysis of SEM-EDS suggested that the alkaline pellets powder briquette presented more liquid phase and a more compact structure comparing with the acid pellets powder briquette, which was consistent with the results of thermodynamic calculation and roasting experiments. Hence, in comparison with acid pellets powder, alkaline pellets powder is much easier to ring in the kiln.

Mar 1, 2017

By A. S. Rao

In the original roast-leach-electrowin (RLE) circuit at the Chambishi Cobalt Plant, commissioned in 1978, the separation of nickel and zinc from cobalt in aqueous streams was achieved by successive stages of precipitation using lime. However, this technique was not able to meet the increasingly stringent metal quality requirements of customers whilst maintaining acceptable process recoveries. Intensive process development work was carried out and, in July 1988, an ion exchange circuit for nickel removal was commissioned using DOW XFS 4195 resin and for the first time Z.C.C.M. produced high purity cobalt metal containing less than 0.10% nickel. Following further work, a solvent extraction circuit for zinc removal, using DZEHPA, was commissioned in February 1991 in order to enhance cobalt recovery by reducing co-precipitated cobalt losses. This paper outlines the process development, design, commissioning and subsequent operation of these nickel ion exchange and zinc solvent extraction circuits.

Jan 1, 1993

By Wilhelm Brandstätter, Johannes Steiner, Alois Triessnig, Christian Redl

"The results of numerical simulations of bubble detachment from an orifice in a horizontal plate submerged in liquid are presented. The bubbles are created by forcing gas through this orifice into stagnant liquid. The simulations are performed with a two-dimensional incompressible Lattice Boltzmann (LB) scheme. In previous works the same problem was investigated by two-phase simulations in which surface tension effects were considered by an interaction potential formulation between the phases. In contrast, in the present work a volume of fluid (VOF) model consisting of a carrier fluid and a passively advected scalar function for the calculation of gravitational and surface tension forces, respectively, is used. The aims of this study are to examine the applicability of the one-phase LB method to the numerical analysis of bubble formation and to verify the theoretical and experimental predictions of the dependencies of the departure diameter on gravitational forces, surface forces and wettability effects. To this purpose the simulations were performed at different values of gravitational acceleration g, surface tension coefficient s and contact angle ß. Nonlinear fits to the data yield functional dependencies which are in good agreement with the predictions. IntroductionBubble formation behavior is an extensively studied subject, especially in chemical engineering, power industries and metallurgical processing. Knowledge of the underlying physics of bubble motion is, for example, required for the design of chemical reaction towers and agitation tanks. Another important application is the argon gas injection through the wall of the tundish nozzle into liquid steel stream to deter clogging with solid inclusions. Argon bubble motion and its effect on flow depends greatly on different parameters, e.g. gas flow rate and size of the bubbles. Thus, if these bubbles are not managed properly, they can become encapsulated upon solidification and result in undesirable impurities in the material [1, 2]."

Jan 1, 2004

By Pengfu Tan

NiModel, a thermodynamic model, database and computer program, has been developed to predict the distribution behavior of Ni, Cu, Co, Fe, S, O, As, Sb and Bi, and heat balance in the nickel pyrometallurgical processes such as Outokumpu flash smelting, Outokumpu direct high-grade matte smelting, INCO flash smelting, and Peirce-Smith converting processes. In this model, as much as 16 elements (Ni, Cu, Co, Fe, As, Sb, Bi, S, O, Al, Ca, Mg, Si, N, C and H) are considered. The compositions of matte, slag and gaseous phases, and heat balance are calculated using the thermodynamic data and the activity coefficients of the components derived from the experimental data. The model predictions were compared with the known industrial data from Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter in Australia, Outokumpu Harjavalta Nickel Smelter in Finland and INCO Metals Company in Canada, and an excellent agreement was obtained. In this paper, the applications of NiModel in the nickel pyrometallurgical industries have been presented. NiModel has been used by Jinchuan Group Limited in China.

Jan 1, 2004

By cheng Peng-fei, TANG Hai-yan, guo Xiao-chen, LI Jing-she, Liang Yong-cang, Zhao Baojun

The origin and evolution of non-metallic inclusions for Al-killed casing steel during EAF-LFVD- CC process were studied by industrial tracer experiments. The formations of Al2O3 and MgO·Al2O3 micro- and macro-inclusions from ladle slag were analyzed by theoretical calculations. The results show that micro-inclusions were formed during deoxidation and temperature decreasing in the process of casting, most of the macro-inclusions come from entrapped ladle and mold slags. In addition, most of the Al2O3 formed were modified into 12CaO·7Al2O3 and 3CaO·Al2O3 inclusions which are liquid at steelmaking temperature. MnS cannot be fully modified to CaS and it was only wrapped outside the alumina or calcium aluminate in the form of (Ca,Mn)S with the amount of Ca-Si wire fed during the test.

Jan 1, 2016