- METALLURGY. (PROCESSES.) 



531 



Mining Journal," has been largely in the direc- 

 tion of the production of aluminum and its al- 

 loys with iron, steel, and other metals. In 

 Europe the progress has been less marked in 

 connection with this metal, but there have been 

 important developments in the ferro-nickel and 

 nickel-steel alloys. The most important steps 

 forward with regard to the improvements in the 

 production of aluminum resulted in the reduc- 

 tion of the price of the pure metal to two dollars 

 a pound with a corresponding lowering of price 

 for the various alloys of iron, steel, and copper. 



The results of certain tests of the effect of 

 aluminum in carburetted iron, as described by 

 Mr. W. J. Keep, of Detroit, at the May meeting 

 of the Iron and Steel Institute, concern strength 

 to resist weight and impact, deflection, set, elas- 

 ticity for stresses applied, shrinkage for cast 

 metals, hardness, and rigidity. They go to show 

 that the effect of a proper quantity of aluminum 

 on commercially pure iron is to produce a mate- 

 rial which is soft, easily bent, and flows readily. 

 Aluminum diminishes deflection by decreasing 

 the set and elasticity. In the opinion of the 

 author iron considered as a structural material 

 is improved in every way by the introduction of 

 aluminum. Mr. James Riley said that he had 

 tried the effect of aluminum in steel on a large 

 scale, but had been disappointed in the results. 

 There were advantages, but they were so slight 

 as to be insufficient to pay for the additional ex- 

 pense of one or two pounds of aluminum to the 

 ton of iron. Fluidity was gained, tensile strength 

 was very slightly increased, the elasticl imit was 

 raised considerably, and ductility was increased. 

 His views were seconded by Mr. Spencer, a large 

 steel maker of Newburn. 



Patents have been taken out by M. Henri 

 Schneider, of the Creuzot Works, France, for a 

 process for manufacturing alloys of iron and 

 copper. He claims to have produced a steel 

 containing from about 2 per cent, to 4 per cent, of 

 copper, which has remarkable qualities of elas- 

 ticity, strength, and malleability, as well as 

 other useful alloys with different proportions of 

 the constituents. The steels alloyed with cop- 

 per are represented as being especially useful in 

 the manufacture of ordnance, armor plates, gun 

 barrels, projectiles, and for other military pur- 

 poses, or in the manufacture of commercial 

 sheets, bars, and the like. They may be ob- 

 tained with varying amounts of carbon, manga- 

 nese, or silica, or silicon, according to the degree 

 of hardness required and the purpose for which 

 they are employed. 



A useful alloy of aluminum and tin has 

 been compounded by M. Bourbouze by fus- 

 ing together one hundred parts of aluminum 

 with ten parts of tin. The alloy is paler than 

 aluminum, and has a specific gravity of 2-85 

 that is, it is a little heavier than the pure metal, 

 but not too heavy to be formed into parts of in- 

 struments intended to be very light. It is not 

 so easily attacked by reagents as aluminum, can 

 be worked more readily, and can be soldered as 

 easily as bronze. 



Processes. Each of the three most com- 

 mended methods of electro-plating with plati- 

 num the Roseleur-Lanaux method, based on 

 the electrolysis of a solution of the double phos- 

 phate of sodium and platinum ; the process of 



the Bright Platinum Plating Company of Lon- 

 don, involving the introduction of substances 

 like sodium choloride and borax, to insure a 

 bright deposit ; and Boettger's method, founded 

 on the electrolysis of a solution of the double 

 chloride of ammonium and platinum in so- 

 dium citrate will yield satisfactory results 

 for a time, but are all liable to objections 

 arising out of the difficulty of maintaining the 

 chemical integrity of the electrolytes. To over- 

 come these difficulties, Mr. William H. Wahl 

 employs platinum hydroxide which is readily 

 soluble in alkalies and in many of the acids 

 for the purpose of maintaining the metallic 

 strength of the plating bath. Of the salts that 

 may be formed from platinic hydrate by solution 

 in acids (and in part by. suitable combination 

 with the corresponding alkaline compounds to 

 form double salts), the phosphates, oxalates, and 

 acetates are named as useful, and as yielding 

 ^practically valuable results in plating. With 

 these double salts may be formed with soda, 

 potassa, and ammonia. Prof. William L. Dud- 

 ley, of Vanderbilt University, has independently 

 worked out the problem of electro-plating with 

 iridium, in a manner precisely analogous to that 

 described by Mr. Wahl, with platinum. As de- 

 scribed in a letter to the author, his bath may 

 be composed of either the chloride (IrCl 4 ), the 

 double chloride of iridium and sodium, or a 

 double sulphate of iridium-ammonium. The 

 latter was preferred. 



Mr. A. Reliefs process for obtaining purified 

 iron for castings consists in eliminating sulphur, 

 phosphorus, and silicon. The pig is placed in a 

 special cupola, and is kept at a very high tem- 

 perature under a double action, slightly reduc- 

 ing and slightly oxidizing, in the presence of a 

 slag obtained by the admixture of limestone and 

 lime, iron ores,*and fluor-spar. By the arrange- 

 ment of the cupola the metal is separated from 

 the slag as soon as they are removed from the 

 action of the blast. In this way the phospho- 

 rus already eliminated is prevented from going 

 back into the metal, and too great a recarboni- 

 zation is avoided. 



As a modification of Dr. Thomas M. Drown's 

 rapid method for phosphorus, G. L. Norris heats 

 to boiling a solution of pig iron or steel with 

 nitric acid ; adds potassium permanganate ; boils 

 till manganese peroxide is precipitated; adds 

 tartaric acid for solution of all manganese perox- 

 ide ; adds nitric acid ; heats to 90 C. ; adds am- 

 monium molybdate solution ; shakes ; and pro- 

 ceeds with Emmerton's reduction of the yellow 

 precipitate with zinc and titration, with stand- 

 ardized permanganate of potassium solution. 



Experiments have been made with a view to 

 recovering the waste pickle from galvanizing 

 works. The waste liquor is boiled down to dry- 

 ness, and the solid residue heated to redness. 

 Oxide of iron remains in the furnace, while free 

 hydrochloric acid distills off, is condensed, and 

 can be used over and over again. The process 

 has been proved by a working trial on a large 

 scale to do away with the waste pickle, and even 

 to yield a clear profit.' 



G. von Knorre separates iron from chromium, 

 manganese, nickel, zinc, and aluminum, by pre- 

 cipitating quantitatively in faintly acid solutions 

 of ferric salts with nitrosonaphthol. Small quan- 



