Oct., 1911
T H E J O U R N A L OF I*YDb-.YTRIA4LA N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
b y manufacturers. I t is true that the immense amount of study- accorded this class of materials b y chemists throughout the world is responsible for a very large portion of our knowledge of organic chemistry, but most of the work so f a r accomplished has been devoted to the isolation of certain organic compounds present in the crude material or t o the preparation of new compounds, and this work is of little value in the field mentioned, which is obliged to deal with an endless variety of the most complex mixtures, solutions and emulsions of hydrocarbons and their derivatives, many of which are unstable and are undergoing constant changes, which affect their value as road materials. Comparatively few chemists have as yet entered this field and those who have so far obtained recognition for their work might almost be counted ,on the fingers of both hands. Methods of examination and annlysis a t present employed are more or less crude, and a vast amount of work will be necessary t o establish this branch of chemistry upon a satisfactory basis. The field is a most important one, however, and should prove attractive to many chemists and chemical engineers for whom it will most surely 'offer employment in the near future. Already its importance has been recognized by highway engineers of this and all of the progressive European countries as evidenced by the proceedings of the Permanent International Association of Road Congresses. The American Society for Testing Materials has established a Committee on the Testing of Road Materials, and the American Society of Civil Engineers has devoted much time and consideration to the subject. This branch of work will be recognized a t the Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry under the section on Fuels and Bituminous Materials. Xumerous chemical road material industries have recently sprung into existence, and many of those devoted to the manufacture of paving materials have widened the scope of their production to include various classes of dust preventives and road binders. Chemists are needed to control and perfect these processes, to inspect, analyze and specify products which are to be used and to carry on investigations relative to the utilization of by-products for road treatment and construction, t o improve old and devise new methods of examination, and to determine the effect of certain constituents upon the value of materials for this work. Innumerable problems might be mentioned for the consideration of the chemist engaged in this line of work, for instance the effect of light, heat, and atmospheric exposure upon various types of bitumens, accurate quantitative methods for the determination of paraffin scale in native bitumens and of naphthalene in tars and t a r products ; an accurate quantitative method for separating tars from petroleums and asphalts in bituminous mixtures ; a quantitative method for determining the presence of water gas t a r in coal t a r .products, an absolute method for recovering bitumens unaltered from bituminous aggregates, and so on ad infinitum. In order that the work of the chemist should be of
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greatest value in highway construction, it is, of course, essential that he have a thorough knowledge of how the materials which he examines are actually used and what effect peculiar local conditions and conditions controlled by the highway engineer will have upon the results obtained in practice, In like manner it is necessary for the modem highway engineer t o be informed in regard to the chemical and physical properties of the materials which he uses. During the coming winter a post-graduate course in highway engineering mill be offered, by Columbia University, which will include instruction in the chemistry of road materials, I t is therefore evident that the demand has already arisen for a new product of chemical and engineering sciences-'' The Chemical Highway Engineer"-to whom the country must look for information and assistance in the intelligent expenditure of a vast amount of public monev. This can best be realized from the fact that a t the close of 1 9 1 1 it is estimated that approximately one hundred and forty million dollars will have been spent b y this country in the construction and maintenance of highways during the year and subsequent annual expenditures will probably far exceed this amount. PR E vo ST H U B13 A R D .
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INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY.
Tentative rules governing the presentation and publication of papers before this body a t its meetings in September, 1912, have been issued, and in order that there may be no misunderstandings, all prospective authors should carefully read the rules that follow, submitting in writing any criticisms they may have to offer, together with suggested remedies for such criticisms. I . All papers must be in duplicate and legibly written, preferably typewritten. 2 . Each sheet must be written on one side only and ?tot on both sides. 3. Each paper must be accompanied by an abstract thereof, also legibly written, preferably typewritten, and which must be in duplicate. 4. Papers and their abstracts, both in duplicate, must be in the hands of the American Committee not later than June 30, 1 9 1 2 . All papers received prior to that time and accepted will be printed in their respective Sectional Volumes and distributed to such of the attending members of the Congress as may desire them a t or before the opening of the Congress. Papers received after that time, if accepted, will be printed, but may appear in an appendix which may or may not be ready by the opening of the Congress; the Congress cannot then undertake t o print them along with the papers of those sections to which they may be assigned. 5 . 411 papers or like contributions must be as concise as possible and must contain the full name and postoffice address of their respective authors ; further, what number, if any, of reprints of the paper or like contribution is desired. 6. Papers or other like contributions must be original and not elsewhere read or published, nor contributed
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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERIMG C H E M I S T R Y .
or offered to any other Society, Association or publication for presentation or publication. The offer of any paper t o the Congress is a tacit and understood agreement t o the foregoing requirement. No paper should deal with historical matter any more than is needful for a proper understanding of the new subject matter presented, which subject matter, as far as practicable, should be of a date subsequent to June, 1909, the date of the Seventh International Congress of Applied Chemistry, except by special request. Nonconformity to this requirement may be a reason for rejection; a remedy herefor is offered in paragraph 18. 7 . All authors, as a matter'of course, agree not t o publish their accepted papers in any other publication except as hereinafter provided, and, further, they automatically agree t o abide b y any final decision of the Congress with respect to such paper or papers, their presentation, discussion or printing. 8. The Congress obligates itself to have its final Report and Proceedings, including subject and authors' index, completed and ready for distribution on or before December 31, 1912;in case those reports and proceedings be not ready for distribution b y that date, authors of all papers received and accepted after June 30, 1912,may then publish in any journal or publication that they may elect. This refers only to the report and proceedings bound in paper; members desiring cloth-bound sets can obtain them a t an advanced charge over the $5.00 membership fee; such advanced charge will be announced later, but will probably be $2.50; delivery of these clothbound sets will be about 90 days later than of the paper-bound sets. Authors of papers received before the close of June 30, 1912, may publish those papers in any publication they may elect after the paper is read or after the Congress has adjourned. 9. Authors of papers accepted and printed in full or in abstract will receive free of cost and all delivery charges, not t o exceed fifty ( s o ) reprints of each paper or abstract; additional copies of reprints can be had upon payment of the prices for such copies, which prices will be announced later. The Congress cannot undertake t o furnish reprints of papers if the order for such reprints is not attached t o the paper or abstract when received by the American Committee. IO. N o paper offered to and accepted b y this Congress can be a t any time published elsewhere without giving credit to this Congress for such article or publication. 11. The Congress reserves the right t o reject any paper or other contribution that may be offered to it. I 2. Rejections by Sectional Committees will not be final; their decisions will be reviewed b y the Committee on Papers and Publications, but rejection by t h a t committee will be final. 13. Authors of finally rejected contributions will be notified in writing of such rejection immediately after it has been made, and, as far as the Congress is concerned, such final rejection is strictly secret and confidential. 14. Any paper which is of a pronounced polemical,
Oct., 1911
advertising or personal character may be thereby disqualified and for that reason alone rejected, regardless of whatever merit the paper may otherwise possess. 15. The Congress reserves the right t o print the full paper only, or the abstract only, or the title only, in each case with the author's name and post-office address. 16. The Congress will not publish a list of rejected papers nor state what papers have been rejected; directly after tke closing of the Congress all records relating t o rejected papers and like contributions will be destroyed; any and all proceedings as to rejected papers or like contributions, so far as the Congress is concerned, will be strictly secret and confidential. 17. Authors are requested to state on the papers themselves their preferences for the sections in which, they wish them to be read; the Congress will respect that request wherever practicable, but reserves the right t o assign the paper to any other section that may be deemed more appropriate, and such disposition is final. 18. Authors will not receive printer's proofs of their papers or abstracts; nor will their papers or abstracts be revised after receipt b y the American committees, except when express authority so t o do is given in writing b y the author and time and opportunity offer for such revision; authors of manuscripts so revised waive any and all right to complain of or rectify any such revision. (See paragraph 6.) 19. The time consumed in reading or presenting ' the substance of any paper b y an author or his representative a t a meeting of a Section must not exceed ten (IO) minutes; papers or presentations requiring' more time than that must be suitably condensed so as to fulfil that requirement. 20. Any one reading a paper of another's authorship must be fully equipped and prepared t o defend the paper in discussion, and no one else will be permitted t o read such a paper; an offer t o read another's paper is a n implied statement to the effect of such preparation. 21.. I n the absence of an author or his properly equipped representative the paper will be read b y title only, and if there be any discussion it must be based upon the paper as printed, because neither the paper itself nor its abstract will be read; exceptions to this rule can be made only under regulations t h a t may be adopted by each Sectional Executive Committee. 2 2. Discussions of a pronounced polemical, advertising or personal character may be ruled out by the Chair on that ground alone and not permitted t o appear in the printed record; the ruling of the Chair in such matters is final and is not subject to revision or appeal. 23,. Participants in discussions will be given a n opportunity of editing the manuscript reports of their remarks, but printer's proofs will not necessarily be
Oct.,
1911
T H E JOURATAL OF I N D U S T R I A L AlVD E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y .
submitted to them, although wherever practicable they will be so supplied. I t is contemplated t o announce the final and definite rules governing the subject matter of this summary during December, 1 9 1 I ; criticisms received before December I, 1 9 1 1 , will be duly considered.
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The final rules so adopted will be published in the four official languages of the Congress, and will then be binding on all contributors t o the Congress, and all papers offered to the Congress must be offered subject t o those rules.
ORIGINAL PAPERS. THE DIRECT PRODUCTION OF MOLYBDENUM STEEL IN THE ELECTRIC FURNACE.' BY E
'r. D
I ~ AND S R . G BOWMAN
Received October 1 . 1911. PREFACE.
a
Manganese in the form of metal or as the ferro alloy reacts with sulphides a t high temperatures according t o the following reaction: zMn +,RS = R zMnS. The manganese sulphide forms a slag resembling iron sulphide. If the above reaction takes place in a bath of molten steel or iron the resulting metal is a p t to contain small included masses of manganese sulphide. Sulphur in this form has little effect on the properties of steel. This reaction might be applied t o the production of alloy steels, such as molybdenum steel, by adding a mixture of molybdenite and ferromanganese t o the bath of molten steel just before tapping. This would result in the formation of ferromolybdenum and manganese sulphide, the former alloying with the steel and the latter passing into the slag. Silicon reacts with sulphides to form silicon sulphide SiS, and liberates the metal of the original sulphide. This is the reaction described b y Becket.' The reaction has been investigated by Fielding2 who produced a yellow powder which sublimed a t 1509' C. and which decomposed water with the formation of H,S and silicic acid. This compound did not torrespond t o the formula SiS,. Sabatiers describes a somewhat similar compound and suggests the formula Si$,. The heat of formation of SiS, is given by Sabatiers as 40.4. This reaction might be applied to the production of molybdenum steel in the same manner as the manganese reaction described above. The silicon, in the form of ferro-silicon, and the molybdenite should be reduced t o powder, intimately mixed ,in the proper proportion to produce the reaction and added to the steel in the furnace before tapping. The mixture might be added in a soft iron tube or in small briquettes made up with a binder of sodium silicate, Addition in the ladle during tapping would probably result in raising the sulphur content of the metal on account of the absence of slag, which in the furnace would remove small amounts of sulphur which might tend to pass into the steel.
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It is the intention of the authors to present in the following paper a brief r6sum6 of the properties, uses and methods of production of molybdenum steel, and t o describe in detail a series of experiments on the production of molybdenum steel, direct from iron ore and molybdenite, in the electric furnace. The use of a sulphide ore of so active a metal as molybdenum in connection with the manufacture of steel presents a number of problems. Foremost among these are the complete reduction of the molybdenum without serious loss, the diffusion of the molybdenum through the steel t o form a homogeneous product and the elimination of the sulphur from the steel. The process employed was one based on a reaction described by F. M. Becket in U. S. Patent 85 j , 1 5 7 , and is believed t o be new. The authors wish t o express their hearty appreciation and thanks t o Professor W. G. Haldane and others for the encouragement and assistance they have given in carrying out the experimental investigations. The desirable properties of molybdenum steel and the expense involved in its manufacture b y the methods a t present in use, led the authors t o search for some reaction upon which could be based a process for its direct production from its most common ore. Without such a process any extended use of molybdenum steel, instead of tungsten steel, is very improbable. The reaction described by Becket appeared the most simple and was, therefore, made the subject of the investigations. The production of steel direct from ore in the electric fiirnace is easily accomplished where the ore is pure. Certain impurities, particularly sulphur, are, however, very diffi< t o remove from the metal. Small amounts may be removed b y the use of a basic slag but this method is limited in its application since the fusibility of the slag decreased rapidly with increasing basicity. For the reduction of molybdenite E X P E R I M E N T A L WORK. in the presence of molten iron it is necessary t o have The experimental work of this thesis was underpresent some substance which has a greater affinity taken with a view to determine the feasibility of apfor sulphur than either molybdenum or iron. The plying the Becket process to the production of molybcompound formed b y the desulphurizing agent and denum steel direct from iron ore and molybdenite the sulphur must either pass into the slag or be vola- in the electric furnace. The problems presented tilized as soon as formed. The two metals which were: first, the design and construction of a suitable seem best adapted for use as desulphurizers, under furnace; second, the production of a carbon steel b y these conditions, are manganese and silicon. Elec. Chem. and Met. J i i d . , Aug., 1909.
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Paper presented at the General Meeting of American Electrochemical Society, Toronto, Sept , 1911
2 3
Bwll. de SOC.Chim.. Paris, 2 , 3 8 , 153. Comfit. rend.. 90, 819.
