National Metallurgical Laboratory

I do believe that there can be no real progress either in this country or any other part of the world without it being founded and based on science, on the scientific application to many things in lide and, if I may say fur-ther, on the scientific temper of the mind of the people - thus said the late Pandit Jawaharwal Nehru, former prime Minister, while inaugurating the National Metallurgical Laboratory on 26th November 1950

Welcome Address

Kedar Pandeji, distinguished delegates to the Symposium, distinguished guests, ladies and Gentlement. It is my pleasant duty to extend to you all a very warm and hearty welcome to this inaugural function of the Symposium on 'Science and Technology of Sponge Iron and its Conversion to Steel' organised by the National Metall-urgical Laboratory

Sponge Iron Technology - Efforts at the National Metallurgical Laboratory

Even if the proposed new steel plant were to be operated efficiently at 100% of the rated capacity, it will incur an annual loss of rupees sixty crores!" The above conclusion of the feasibility study made out by the consultants for the proposed new steel plant at Vishakhapatnam came as a surprise to many. The findings were, however, anticipated in some knowledgeeable quarters in India. The role of the conventional iron and steel production technology which has predominated all over the world since the middle of the last century has all along been severely restricted by certain well known geogra-phical and economic factors

Presidential Address

As President of the Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers as well as Director of the National Metallurgical Labo-ratory, I would like to add to the welcome greetings already extended to you on the occasion of National Seminar on Mineral Processing and the concurrent IX Annual Tech-nical Convention of the IIM E. It is indeed a great privi-lege to have the Hon'ble Minister with us inspite of his very busy schedules and prior commitments. The Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers just completed 16 years of its fruitful existence and, as you are all aware, it cons-titutes the pioneering forum for the discussion of all the scientific, technological and engineering aspects of mineral industries, not only in India but also in the world wide context

Panel discussion

A panel discussion was arranged in the concluding session of the Seminar to bring out salient points which need to be further nurtured by the industry, research laboratories and the policy makers for the healthier growth of the ferro alloy industry. The Session was chaired by Professor V. A. Altekar, Director, National Metallurgical Laboratory and Chairman, Organising Committee. While complimenting various authors who had presented so well their view points during the Seminar, Prof. Altekar requested the Chairmen of the various Sessions to summarise the import-ant points raised during the deliberations and put forward their own considered views

Welcome Address

Hon'ble Sri Salve, Mr. Mody, Dr. Dastur, Mr. Samara-pungavan, Dr. Irani, distinguished guests, delegates, ladies and gentlemen.It is indeed a great privilege for me to extend to the Hon'ble Minister of Steel Et Mines, Sri Salve a very warm and affectionate welcome on behalf of us all, who have assembled at this National Seminar on "Problems Et Prospects of Ferro-Alloy Industry in India" organised jointly by the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML) and the Iron 8- Steel Division of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM). We are indeed very happy to have the Minister amongst us inspite of his very busy schedule. This is his first visit to this steel town after he has assumed the charge of the Ministry of Steel 8 Mines. We all hope that it will be an enjoyable and memorable visit for him

Some Experiences in Electro-winning of Aluminium from Fused Chloride Bath

Although the electro-winning of aluminium from out of a fused chloride bath dates back to 1854, When Bunsen first isolated the metal, the interest in the process since then has been sporadic. Earlier work in this labo-ratory had not'only confirmed the results reported in the-literature, but had gone a step ahead in proposing and conducting electrolysis on extended time schedule with periodic additions of the trichloride. This work however was conducted at an optimum temperature of 400°C i.e. below the melting point-of the metal which was obtained mostly as loosely adherent flakes. The recovery of such a deposit had been problematical and the cell operation had to interrupted because the fluffy deposit would soon accumulate to short circuit the electrodes. Further it would drop off the c athode while the same was being removed, thus further complicating the procedure

Studies in the Amenability of Kolhapur Bauxite to Bayer's Process-Parts I and 11

DETERMINATION of the digestibility pattern of the bauxite samples is the most important step towards the design of an integrated alumina plant principally based on Bayer's process. Of all the aluminous minerals, the trihydrate gibbsite is the most amenable to Caustic digestion, and diaspore the hardest to treat. Altekar and Mathadt proceeded to determine the mineralogical set-up of the Kolhapur bauxite. The samples were obtained by the senior author from seventeen different pits dug to an average depth of 17' in a 30-acre plateau on top of a 3,000' high hill near Udgcri. The deposit has been since estimated at 3'5 million tons of bauxite. The findings of the author were that the principal and predominant mineral of alum-inium is gibbsite and it was therefore predicted that its response to caustic treatment would be quite favourable. Thic paper records the results of detailed investigations concerning the digestion of the bauxit

Some experiences in Electro-winning of Aluminium from fused Chloride bath

ALTHOUGH the electro-winning of aluminium from a fused chloride bath dates back to 1854, when Bunsen first isolated the metal, the interest in the process since then has been sporadic. Some of the earlier documenters like Mellor', Richards2, Borches3 and others had taken up the lead, but had been discouraged into branding the approach as impracticable. Patents filed by Aluminium Industrie A.G.4, I.G. Farben Industrie, A.G.5, Henriques and Thomsen6, Brode7, Treadwell8, Daudonnet9 and others during the period 1928 to 1931 indicated a resurgence of the chloride bath, although in the subsequent period the only mentionable patents were by Lovel and Phillips in 194510, Electronic Reduction Corporation in 1951,11 Grothe12 in 1953, and by Slatin13 in 1959 and 1963. Some of these were for the declared purpose of electroplating rather than electro-winning. The published investigations are also equally sporadic, and mention may be made of the work of Fink and Solanki14, Ramachandran15, and Newalkar and Altekar16