Rare Earth Spectrometer

rare-eart-elements working curves

Interest in the separation, purification, reduction, and metallurgy of the various lanthanide rare-earth elements has necessitated developing sensitive and flexible instrument-analysis techniques . The widely accepted analytical application of the spectrograph in many phases of metallurgy suggested its use in the analysis of complex rare-earth elements. Moreover, by using an optimum internal standard and a […]

Separating Rare Earth Elements

rare-earth elements ion-exchange column arrangement

Bastnasite rare earths are now being utilized to a limited extent as a source of rare-earth materials used in the steel industry; but advances in the technology of separating the rare-earth elements from each other will make the individual elements available in adequate supply for engineering evaluation and ultimate utilization. The Federal Bureau of Mines […]

Mine Shaft Sinking

sinking methods lowering timber

This paper is one of a series prepared by the Bureau of Mines on shaft sinking methods and costs in various districts throughout the United States. The Burgin shaft was sunk as part of the exploratory program of the East Tintic project of Bear Creek Mining Co. The Tintic district is in Utah and Juab […]

Recover Magnesium and Cadmium by Vacuum Distillation

incendiary alloy distillation unit

Vacuum distillation tests on a magnesium alloy containing 20 percent cadmium indicated that it would not be practicable to separate the two metals by selective vaporization of cadmium. A partial separation into products containing +90 percent cadmium and +90 percent magnesium, respectively, was effected by fractional distillation on a series of baffle plates between the […]

Bauxitic Kaolins Properties

refractory properties stack of kaolinite crystals

Although there are many potential ceramic uses for kaolinitic materials of the type occurring in the Eufaula district, this investigation has been limited to a study of their refractory properties. Sampling was restricted to deposits uncovered by bauxite-mining operations, and no effort was made to determine continuity of clay strata from pit to pit. Rather, […]

Cathodic Protection

cathodic protection wenner method for earth-resistivity measurements

Loss of metal and damage to buried metal structures because of corrosive action is, to a large extent, determined by the soil resistivity in the immediate vicinity of the structure. The intensity of corrosive action is inversely proportional to the soil resistivity; that is, corrosive action will increase as the soil resistivity is lowered. Moisture […]

Titanium Electrorefining

titanium electrorefining cutaway of deep bath

The development of a fused-salt Titanium Electrorefining technique to recover hyperpurity titanium from offgrade sponge and mill scrap, under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Mines Electrometallurgical Experimental Station at Boulder City, Nev., for several years has been described in many publications. This report describes the investigations to obtain greater capacity by increasing the depth […]

Volumetric Assay Determination of Uranium

concentrations of iron separation and recovery

According to Katz and Rabinowitch, workers do not agree as to the solubility of uranium tetrafluoride. However, the conditions under which solubility data were obtained were not always the same. In any event, since both uranium (III) and uranium (IV) fluorides are generally regarded as insoluble in a carbonate-free, nonoxidizing acid solution, in which fluoride […]

Electrorefining Titanium Electrowinning

electrorefining-of-titanium schematic cutaway drawing of standard laboratory electrorefining cell

This series of investigations was exploratory in nature, as all variables that might influence alloy-element transfer were not examined. The test show, that, under the conditions described, titanium can be refined almost completely from molybdenum, tin, and zirconium; that refining from aluminum and chromium is only slightly less successful; and that refining from vanadium and […]

Nickel and Cobalt Electrolytic Separation

electrolytic-separation cell and cathode products

Preliminary work on electrolytes of neutral sulfate, neutral chloride, ammoniacal sulfate, and ammoniacal chloride solutions offered little promise for separating cobalt from nickel by the anodic deposition of cobalt peroxide. Electrolytes composed of synthetic Nicaro liquor, dichromates, cyanides, and phosphates offered little or no promise. An ammonium sulfate electrolyte showed separation of cobalt from nickel […]