The Mellow Met Newsletter

No. 29 — March 2007

An Extraction of the News for Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Utah

Message from the Chair

Dear Alumni and Friends,

The department has kept up efforts to maintain a high standard of excellence during 2006. Some details of these efforts follow in this 29th edition of the Mellow Met Newsletter, together with information on the status of the department, as well as alumni news. We are always pleased to have alumni visit, and you are most welcome to come when the opportunity affords itself.

During 2006 much preparation was done for construction of the new Ivor Thomas Laboratory. The building is now complete, and equipment has been relocated from the Ore Dressing Laboratory (ODL), which together with the old Ivor Thomas Laboratory was demolished in January 2007.

In two years we expect that the new Sutton Building will be completed on the site of the ODL, and many of our space problems will be alleviated. Until then we are a bit crowded, but everyone has worked together to try and make necessary accommodations.

Graduate student enrollment remains high. Undergraduate enrollment had a slight upward tick. New scholarships have been established by Phelps Dodge, Barrick, and Rio Tinto, for which we are especially grateful.

We still have a faculty position open in the area of mineral processing.

We lost one of our retired faculty this year, Dr. Peter King. We in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering are quite fortunate to have had Peter with us during the past decades. His contributions to the department have been substantial as professor, director, and chair, and his international reputation extends beyond us here in the College of Mines and Earth Sciences. Peter’s pursuit of excellence and academic rigor served as a role model for all of us to emulate. Clearly we will miss Peter, but his influence will endure.

New nanotechnology courses are being offered, both an introductory course and an advanced course on nanoparticle technology. In addition, several special topics courses are being given, on atomic force microscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, lattice Boltzmann method for flow simulation, discrete element method and other topics.

Research funding is healthy, with contracts from NSF, DOE, DOD, and CAST, plus contracts and gifts from industry. The department has four Centers of Excellence funded by the State of Utah. Some interesting new projects are in progress, such as molecular dynamics simulation of interfacial water, synthesis and characterization of activated carbons and modified activated carbons, surface chemistry of anisotropic phyllosilicates, advanced fuels from biomass, biotechnology for water treatment, nanoscaled thermal diode structures, electrochemical micromachining, fuel cell research, materials development for hydrogen storage, bioimplant materials, online control of SAG mills with an instrumented lifter package, nano crystalline materials, and iron oxide reduction.

It is expected that future research activities will involve fossil fuel projects on the processing of oil sands and oil shale as supported by Utah Heavy Oil Center (UHOC) and the new USTAR Utah Fossil Fuel Energy Program.

All the best for the new year.

Jan D. Miller
Ivor Thomas Professor of Metallurgy

Student Recruiting

Science Day

The department participated in the U’s annual Science Day on November 11th. Hundreds of high school students from around the region came to the University of Utah to attend science and engineering presentations and learn about various related programs. Prof. Mike Free met with more than twenty-five students who expressed some interest in studying metallurgical engineering. In addition, several professors gave presentations about state-of-the-art departmental research topics. Profs. Jan Miller and C. L. Lin presented "3D Analysis of Internal Structures Using Cone Beam X-Ray Micro CT," Prof. Jakub Nalaskowski presented "Exploring the Nanoworld Using Atomic Force Microscopy," and Prof. Free presented "On the Cutting Edge: Metals and your world."

Open House

The department’s open house for potential undergraduates was February 9. We had nineteen students, plus about that many parents, come for a tour of our labs, dinner, and a presentation on curriculum and careers in metallurgical engineering.

Moving to the new Ivor Thomas Laboratory

The College of Mines and Earth Sciences began construction in January 2007 of the Frederick Sutton Geology Building, at the site of the old Ore Dressing Laboratory and Ivor Thomas Laboratory. The new building will be occupied by the Department of Geology and Geophysics. Some of the vacated space in the Browning building will be available to Metallurgy in the next few years for expansion.

In addition to the many past and present faculty who spent numerous hours there in teaching and research, many alumni will have distinct memories of the Ore Dressing Lab and of working with equipment there. Research such as the grinding circuit control program and the tar sands program had their home in ODL. There may be many of your best (and worst) research moments that can be linked to the legacy of the ODL, and to those of you who have worked and studied in that building, the department expresses its gratitude for contributing to that research and keeping it up and running.

The new Ivor Thomas Laboratory (ITL) is complete. It is on Central Campus Drive, across from the Alumni House and adjacent to the Energy & Minerals Research Office building (the old Bureau of Mines building).

For the past few months, the department was faced with the arduous task of moving all of the equipment from the ODL to the new ITL. These include Jan Miller's and Raj Rajamani's mineral processing equipment and ball mills, Rocky Sohn's high-temperature reactors and furnaces, Ravi Chandran's hot press, Siva Guruswamy's induction unit, and Zak Fang's ultrahigh-pressure cold press. The faculty had the difficult challenge of reinstalling these massive pieces of equipment and accessories and restoring functionality while minimizing the research downtime. Given the fact there are a large number of projects in progress, it was quite a task. A few pieces of light equipment were moved to the Browning Building.

Although we have less laboratory space in the new Ivor Thomas Laboratory (about 4,700 sq. ft. in the new building, as opposed to the old space the department held, about 9,000 sq. ft), the good news is that the equipment is in an entirely new facility with utilities, drainage, and ambience meeting current building-code standards.

We invite you to visit our new facility when next you are on campus.

Faculty and Staff News

2007 EPD Technology & Science Awards

Dr. H. Y. “Rocky” Sohn received the 2007 Extraction and Processing Science Award from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) of AIME, for his paper, "The Influence of Chemical Equilibrium on Fluid-Solid Reaction Rates and the Falsification of Activation Energy." This makes Rocky the first-ever four-time recipient of this prestigious award.

At the same award ceremony, Dr. Jose Parga (PhD 1987), Professor at Instituto Tecnologico de Saltillo, Mexico, and Dr. Jesus Valenzuela (ME 1989), Professor at Universidad de Sonora, Mexico, were presented the 2007 EPD Technology Award for their paper “Arsenic Removal by Electrocoagulation Technology in Comarca Lagunera Mexico,” by J. R. Parga, et al. The paper is the result of a long-running research collaboration on electrocoagulation between Tecnologico of Saltillo and Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology

On January 4, 2007, Dr. Jan Miller was presented the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology for 2006. The Governor’s Medal recognizes career achieve ments and/or distinguished service that has benefited the State of Utah in science and technology.

Champion H. Mathewson Award

Ravi Chandran (left) is presented the Champion H. Mathewson Award by Dr. Teresa Pollock, 2006 President of TMS, at the 2006 TMS Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, March 12-16, for notable contributions to metallurgical science.

In Memoriam —

Dr. R. Peter King

1938-2006

The world lost an outstanding scholar and human being on September 11, 2006 when Dr. R. Peter King, Professor Emeritus, died at the age of 68. His accomplishments over his lifetime were truly remarkable.

Peter was born in Springs, South Africa, on March 13, 1938. His youth was spent on a gold mine. In 1956 he met Ellen, who would become his constant companion, loving wife and partner for the rest of his life. Peter graduated cum laude with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Witwatersrand University in 1958 and received a M.Sc. from Wits in 1962. Upon graduation he received a scholarship from Shell for doctoral studies at Manchester University. Peter and Ellen got married in Manchester, and this is also where they started their family.

In 1963 Peter received his Ph.D. and returned to South Africa. From 1963 to 1990 he taught at Wits and led a research group at the National Institute of Metallurgy. Honors during this period include being elected President of the South African Institute of Mining Metallurgy. He was appointed a Life Fellow of SAIMM and Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Prime Minister. Peter was awarded the Gold Medal of the SAIMM in 1991.

Peter first came to the U as a Visiting Professor, on sabbatical in 1987. In 1990 he returned as a Professor in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering and the Director of the Generic Mineral Processing Center in Comminution, and in 1999 he became department chair.

Peter and Ellen became citizens of the United States of America in 1995.

He received the 2002 Antoine M. Gaudin Award from SME for his seminal research in mineral liberation. In 2003 Peter was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for “recognition of the development of useful techniques to quantify mineral liberation and in leadership in internet education of mineral processors.”

He was Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Mineral Processing and was a member of the Undergraduate Council at the University of Utah.

He published more than 150 scholarly papers on fundamental aspects of mineral processing. He was the author or coauthor of five books, the most recent of which are Introduction to Practical Fluid Flow, and Modeling and Simulation of Mineral Process Systems.

Ellen says Peter was always very busy preparing lectures but often took time to visit the national parks and to ski. Peter very much enjoyed being with his seven grand-children. He recently expressed to Ellen a regret that he hadn’t had an opportunity to teach his grandsons how to make and fly airplanes, and he longed to return to the African game parks.

We will all miss you, Peter.

Peter is survived by his wife Ellen, his children Andrew (Angela), Janet (Richard), and Jeremy (Sylvia), and grandchildren. His brother Dudley died March 13, 2007.

Hellos & Goodbyes

We congratulate Prof. Mike Moats on his new family member, Morgan Judith Moats, born November 11, 2006.

In November 2006, Dr. Colleen Hough accepted a job with Idaho Technologies Inc. Colleen worked with Jack Adams on the biotechnology research program.

Honors

Dr. Zhigang Zak Fang was recently granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.

The University of Pretoria, South Africa, will confer an honorary doctorate upon Jan Miller in April 2007.

It was a big year for awards for Dr. H. Y. “Rocky” Sohn. For the third time in the last four years, students selected him for the 2006 Mellow Met Award for Excellence in Teaching Metallurgical Engineering. He has been appointed Advisor of LS-Nikko Co., Korea, which is one of the world's largest copper smelters.

In late August 2006, Rocky was honored by the "Sohn International Symposium on Advanced Processing of Metals and Materials: Principles, Technologies and Industrial Practice," in San Diego, California and sponsored by TMS. More than 540 papers were presented, about a thousand researchers and scholars attended, and nine proceedings volumes were published. All of these were the highest numbers for a stand-alone symposium of this nature.

Kay Argyle observed her 25th employment anniversary with the U in February.

Student Recognition

Graduate

Jose Delgadillo won the 2006 Graduate Seminar Award for Best Student Presentation for his seminar on large eddy simulation modeling and design of hydrocyclones. The audience complimented his visual aids. His previous degrees are from the University of San Luis Potosi in Mexico.

The Teaching Assistant Award went to Edgar Blanco. Edgar was T.A. for Dr. Sohn’s “High-Temperature Chemical Processing” class, Fall 2005. He received his B.S. from the Universidad Nacional Jorge Bas, Peru, and a Masters from the Universidad Nacional de San Agustin, and briefly attended BYU. He is finishing up his Masters under Rocky Sohn’s supervision and will do a Ph.D. with Jan Miller.

Undergraduate

Brady Butler swept the board in 2006. He was selected as the 2006 Valedictorian for the College of Mines and Earth Sciences and received the Oblad Medal of Excellence in Metallurgical Engineering. His 4.0 gpa earned Outstanding Senior Awards both from the department and from the Young Alumni for the college.

Brady previously received the department’s Outstanding Sophomore and Junior Student Awards. His scholarships include the Kennecott, Copper Club, Cooper Hansen, Franklin & Elizabeth Alex, Oblad Energy, Catherine Singer, and Departmental. He attended East High in Salt Lake.

He is working on his master’s with Zak Fang.

Zane Wyatt received the Outstanding Junior Student Award for his 3.9 gpa. Zane came to the U from Castleford, Idaho.

The Outstanding Sophomore Student Award went to James D. Paramore. James’s gpa was 4.0. He transferred to the U from Salt Lake Community College and was the 2005 Outstanding Freshman.

Ryan Morrison was the Outstanding Freshman Student, with a gpa of 3.8.

Graduating Students

Departmental Research

Research Funding

State of Utah Establishes USTAR Plan to Advance Technology Development at Universities

The State of Utah has established the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative to bolster Utah’s economy with high-paying jobs. The intent is to recruit world-class research teams in care fully targeted disciplines. These teams will develop products and services that can be commercialized in new businesses and industries. $40M has been allocated over a five-year period. In addition, construction of a $130M USTAR building is planned for the campus, funded by $100M from the State via the USTAR initiative and the balance from the U.

Currently eight USTAR programs at the university have been authorized:

• Fossil Energy

• Biomedical Device Innovation

• IT Networks & Memory

• Circuits of the Brain

• Personalized Medicine

• Nano-Technology Bio-Sensors

• Imaging Technology

• Diagnostic Imaging

Each USTAR program will have about $5M over a five-year period to accomplish the initiative’s goals. It is expected that the Department of Metallurgical Engineering will be able to participate in the USTAR programs on Nanotechnology Biosensors and Utah Fossil Energy.

Hydrometallurgy

Francis Elnathan, Amrita Mahapatra, and Shili Zheng are studying the use of activated carbon and magnetic activated carbon for gold recovery from alkaline cyanide solution under Jan Miller’s supervision.

Flow through packed particle beds is the topic for Alvaro Videla’s (MS 2006) PhD thesis. Alvaro is using 3D x-ray CT information to define complex geometry of the pore network structure and simulating the unsaturated flow behavior using the lattice Boltzmann method, with advice from Profs. Lin and Miller.

With Prof. Miller, Dr. Jinshan Li continues to look at noncyanide hydrometallurgy strategies for the treatment of gold ores, including leaching, solution concentration and purification, and recovery.

Electrocatalysts

Prof. Mike Moats has enjoyed a fruitful first year with the department. His group is working on two projects, funded by DOE/CAST and Phelps Dodge Mining Company. Prachi Shrivastava is focused on improving anode technology for primary metal electro winning systems by stabilization of ruthenium dioxide for oxygen evolution. Chayata Piriyapong is working on under standing rapid voltage escalations experienced by iridium dioxide electrocatalysts in copper electrowinning. The ultimate goal is to develop improved anodes that can reduce the power consumption of worldwide primary metal operations by 400 mW. Mike’s research group is rounded out with an undergraduate researcher, Steve Merrill.

Mike was awarded an NSF travel grant to visit Dr. Adalgisa Andrade at the University of Sao Paulo-FFCLRP in Brazil to develop a collaborative research pro gram on developing electrocatalysts for wastewater electrolysis and direct ethanol PEM fuel cells.

Another international collaboration is being formed with Dr. Masatsugu Morimitsu of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Dr. Morimitsu visited in October 2006 to establish plans for a joint research program developing “intelligent” electrocatalysts that can inhibit side reactions while promoting desired reactions.

Mike co-authored four papers in 2006 on electrocatalytic coatings for industrial electrolysis, particle microelectrodes from flotation concentrates and tailings, and anode passivation in copper electrorefining.

In May 2006, Phelps Dodge Mining Corp. invited Mike to deliver a one-day short course on alternative anodes for copper electrowinning, in Safford, Arizona. Eighteen process and research engineers from all of Phelps Dodge’s North American electrowinning operations attended the course.

Finally, Mike has been invited to join the Copper Refining Group, a North American industry consortium of all operating copper refineries. Mike is only the second academic invitee in the 20-year history of the Group.

Pyrometallurgy

Dr. H. Y. Sohn has a new $200,000 project funded by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), "Mathematical Modeling of Flame Reaction Process for the Synthesis of Silicon Compounds from Waste Silicon Sludge," running through April 2010. A project on suspension hydrogen reduction of iron oxide concentrate, funded by American Iron & Steel Institute & U.S. DOE, is underway, as well as one on metallic iron whiskers growth during the reduction of iron oxide, funded by the U.S.-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Board/NSF. He published 21 papers during the year.

He and Prof. Zak Fang have three continuing projects funded by the U.S. DOE, on bulk nanocrystalline cemented tungsten carbide, chemical vapor synthesis of metal hydrides for reversible hydrogen storage, and nanocrystalline intermetallic coatings for metal alloys in coal-fired environments.

Dr. Dong Won Lee of Nanopowder Materials Group at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Changwon, Korea visited from September to October 2006 to discuss nanopowder synthesis with Prof. Sohn's research group and to plan international collaboration.

Dr. Weol Cho is developing two new technologies. The first is a new synthetic oxide flux system based on titanium oxide to remove nitrogen from molten metals including steels and superalloys. The new flux was found to have a much higher affinity for nitrogen than other oxide fluxes reported previously. The nitrogen content can be lowered to an extremely low level using the flux. The preliminary study was presented at the Sohn International Symposium and has been submitted to Materials and Metallurgical Transactions for publication. An application of utility patent on the discovery of the flux has been filed by the Technology Commercialization Office.

The other project is to develop a new process to eliminate copper impurities from solid ferrous scrap, in particular auto scrap. The trace amount of copper causes a detrimental effect to various steel properties. For this reason, ferrous scrap containing copper has not been recycled effectively by the steel industry, especially not by the EAF minimill industry. The proposed process will remove copper without melting scrap, unlike other processes attempted previously. Lab-scale fundamental studies are currently underway to fully develop the technology.

Electrometallurgy

Prof. Mike Free’s research group works in the areas of metal extraction, electrodeposition, corrosion, and electrochemical machining. They are currently working on electrodeposition methods to produce alloy coatings that have appropriate values of stress, resistivity, composition, and coefficient of thermal expansion to meet the demands of the electronics industry.

The group is also working on projects to improve gold and copper recovery during extraction from gold and copper ores. Another project is underway to reduce energy consumption in the copper industry by more than 50% using nontraditional hydrometallurgical and electrometallurgical processing.

Future projects are in various stages of development, including work in nanoparticle removal, fuel cells, agglomeration, precipitation, corrosion modeling, metal extraction modeling, and electrochemical micromachining. In addition, they are collaborating with Prof. Guruswamy’s group in a corrosion study involving magnetostrictive alloys.

The work in the electrometallurgy group has resulted in research opportunities for several undergraduate and graduate students this past year.

Advanced Fuels Development

Dr. Wlodzimierz Zmierczak initiated development of processes for production of two types of new generation fuels from lignin, an abundant biomass component. They include conversion of lignin to bio-jet fuel and to bio-naphthenic kerosene. The bio-jet fuel project, funded by DARPA, is realized as teamwork with North Dakota University. In the framework of this project The group will provide the technology for production of aromatic component of the fuel. The goal is generation of JP-8 jet fuel from biomass feedstocks. The bio-naphthenic kerosene project, funded by BioFuels Development Group, leads to production of high-performance jet and rocket fuels.

Wlodek and Jan are starting a large long-term R&D project on production of dimethyl ether (DME) from synthesis gas generated in the coal gasification process. This project will develop catalysts and reactors for commercial production of dimethyl ether (DME) and consecutive conversions of this primary product to olefins, gasoline, and diesel fuel.

Wlodek continues projects on lignin to bio-gasoline (PureVision Tech nologies, Inc.) and naphthenic kerosene from refinery naphtha feedstock projects.

Bioremediation

Microbes, plants, and their components (biomaterials) are being harnessed to clean various wastewaters of inorganic contaminants. Bioremediation can be used to clean up oil spills and remove metals, salts, and other chemicals from the soil, water, and waste materials. Additionally, biotechnologies have enabled scientists to harness the genes and gene products of different plants and microbes to increase their usefulness in bioremediation. Research conducted under programs directed by Dr. Jack Adams and Jan Miller is developing new biotreatment products and bioprocesses based on these concepts.

This research is being conducted by Nicol Newton, Madhuri Nanduri, James Kennedy, and Brett Richins. Bioremediation processes and products developed by this team are being integrated into biotreatment and bioremediation processes for mine wastes and wastewaters.

Physical Metallurgy — Fatigue, fracture, titanium boride

Dr. Ravi Chandran’s State Center of Excellence on titanium boride materials is in its fourth year. Four grad students are creating titanium boride-coated titanium materials and nanostructured titanium boride for applications ranging from biomedical implant devices to bearings, gears, and dies. The Center is funded by the State Office of Economic Development and by Ortho Development Corp., of Draper, Utah.

The students, principally Curtis Lee, in collaboration with Loveridge Machine Co. of Salt Lake, have designed and built a pin-on-disk wear machine to enable testing of implant materials submerged in bovine serum, a medium simulating human blood. The machine has force and torque sensors in three axes and is intended to measure subtleties associated with dynamic friction between contacting hard surfaces. The Center has also made the first titanium boride-coated balls for use as ball bearings for industrial/aerospace applications.

Anil Kumar completed his master’s thesis, developing a materials information system for efficient database storage of materials property data of commercial metallic materials. He has joined a database software company in Detroit, Michigan.

Two new students have joined Dr. Chandran’s group. Biplab Sarma, formerly at Essar Steel Ltd., India, has joined Dr. Chandran’s group for PhD research on titanium boride materials. Paul Chang transferred from the Department of Mechanical Engineering to work with Dr. Chandran on fatigue of superalloys. In a collaborative project between the University and GE Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, Paul will explore the nature of duality of fatigue brought about by stray inclusions in superalloys.

Dr. Chandran also received a one-year Small Grant for Exploratory Research from NSF, for understanding and controlling the uncertainty in fatigue of superalloys. GE Aircraft Engines Corp. will provide material for the study, which may help in establishing long-term collaborations in this area. Dr. Gerald Cashman of GE Aircraft Engines visited in November for discussions.

Physical Metallurgy—Magnetic and Electronic Materials

The activities of Prof. Siva Guruswamy's magnetic and electronic materials group include developing high-performance magnetostrictive alloys for sensor and actuator and other applications, research on nanoscale magnetic structures, development of solid-state thermal diode structures, examining deformation and dam age in silicon, germanium, and compound semiconductor crystals and wafers, and examination of issues related to failures in lead cable sheathing in high-voltage under ground power transmission systems.

The clean-room facility for magnetic materials and thin film development work, the high-temperature metallic single-crystal growth facility, and magnetic measurement capabilities have seen further improvements over the past year. Research in nanoscale magnetic and electronic structures is anticipated to expand during the coming year.

We are fortunate to have excellent graduate students Jay Jayaraman, Swieng Thuanboon, Deepak Thimmegowda, Adirek Janwong, Cody Pearce, Padungkiat Kwannnikom and Passakorn Duangmuan working on various projects. We are deeply saddened by the serious accident to Deepak's brother recently, and we pray for his complete recovery. Jason Neff has taken employment with Syllarus and is anticipated to finish his MS work during the year.

It is a great pleasure to welcome Dr. Nakorn Srisukhumbowornchai and his family back to Salt Lake City. He is here as a Visiting Professor during 2006-07, working at the Magnetic Materials Laboratory as a part of Center of Excellence activities. He is currently a faculty member and Acting Division Head at the King Monghut's Institute of Technology, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Thanks to support from the University and many individuals, we have been able to bring the TEM back on-line. A popular new course in the principles and practice of trans mission electron microscopy was offered Fall semester, enabling students from various groups on campus to operate the TEM independently. Efforts to obtain a next-generation TEM facility are underway.

The Magnetic Materials Laboratory was recognized as a Finalist for the Stoel Rieves award and as one of the winners of the Edison Innovation Showcase competition held in Salt Lake City in 2006.

Visitors this year include Dr. K. L. Murty from NC State, Dr. Raghaw Rai, Free Scale Semiconductor (Motorolla), Austin Texas, Dr. Srini Srinivasan, Los Alamos, Drs. Greg Peisert and Brian Lent, JGAI, and visitors from Norway and Detroit. Dr. Rai presented an invited lecture on "Failure Analysis of Semi con ductor Devices during Device Development and Manufacture."

Mineral Processing

Dr. Miller’s students Edgar Blanco and Francisco Medina are investigating aspects of the flotation of gold ores such as factors that limit effluent recovery, cindlugin liberation issues, and surface chemistry factors. Students working on other flotation research include Orhan Ozdemir (trona), Hao Du (other soluble salts), and Lukasz Hupka (phosphate rock).

Preferential grain boundary fracture in multiphase particles is being studied by Daniel Garcia, under the direction of Profs. Lin and Miller, using 3D x-ray CT information to define the extent of preferential breakage as a function of the loading rate and other variables.

Dr. Raj Rajamani’s research group just completed a DOE project on energy reduction in SAG mills via redesign of shell lifters and discharge pulp lifters. Cortez Gold Mines, Crescent Valley, Nevada cooperated immensely with the project. They modified the shell and pulp lifter as recommended by the U of U team, and in January 2007 they reported a net plant work index reduction of 3.6 kWh/ton.

Trailokya N. Patra will be completing his M.S. thesis on pulp lifters in May 2007. Dr. Sanjeeva Latchireddi, postdoctoral fellow on the project for three years, took a chief engineer position at Outokumpu Technology, Centennial, Colorado.

In summer 2006, Dr. Jose Delgadillo completed his Ph.D. on the computational fluid dynamics of hydrocyclones using large eddy simulation as the turbulence model. He continues to work with Dr. Rajamani on the CFD of heavy-media cyclones. Jose has taught the mineral processing class for the past two years. He received excellent reviews from his 2005 class of 13 students.

Tugcan Tuzcu is applying a nonlinear population balance model to ultrafine grinding — that is, the evolution of particle size distribution in stirred mill and planetary mills. He is pursuing a Ph.D.

It has been a challenge for Swadhin Saurabh to magnify the Lorentz force in his eddy current device. Lately, he figured out how to do this successfully. He will be completing masters degree soon.

Vishal Durisetti pursued the problem of measuring impact spectra in grinding mills. He devised load cell package and wireless transmissions to go on the grinding mill. The force spectra of impacts were successfully gathered via wireless and a control computer. DOE is funding the project with the aim of helping mill operators monitor grinding mills more closely.

X-ray Computed Tomography Lab

During the past six years, the X-ray micro computed tomography (CT) instrumentation has provided for 3D visualization and analysis of multiphase systems at a resolution of ten microns. This custom-designed, state-of-the-art equipment has been used by researchers from multiple departments for advanced research in core analysis; mineral exposure/liberation; fluid transport analysis of heap leaching systems; colloid transport and deposition in porous media; tooth enamel mineralization; metrological analysis of micro-electro-mechanical systems; LB multiphase flow simulation in porous media (particle beds and exploration drill core); and characterization of cellular polycrystalline diamond, structured composites and advanced alloys, of porous brittle solid structures, of energy resources, and of structural analogs of geological material observed by the Martian Rover.

Because X-ray CT imaging nondestructively measures the material characteristics of a sample at each volume element in three-dimensional space, multiphase systems can be quantified while structure and dimensions are being measured. In addition, for porous structures the internal surface (interface) and pore network connectivity can be determined.

At present, multiscale (scale-up) analysis, from nanometers to meters, is a major issue in the science and engineering community. Although electron tomography using STEM can provide true nanometer resolution, sample preparation, penetration depth of dense material, and limited view tomography have limited its application to biological studies.

The resolution for x-ray projection-type computed tomography is commonly thought to be determined by the x-ray source spot size. Only recently have x-ray sources with spot sizes of 1 mm or less become available. These micro-focus x-ray generators combined with advances in image detector technology have given us nano-tomography systems with submicron resolution.

Jan Miller and Dr. C. L. Lin plan to expand the existing laboratory to provide 3D multiscale imaging of multiphase systems, both at the small, nano-scale end (hundreds of nanometers in resolution) and at the larger milli-scale end (millimeter level of resolution). The cost for the expanded laboratory is estimated at $1,000,000.

For scale-up purposes, a milli-CT scanner will be installed suitable for imaging of larger multiphase systems at the millimeter level of resolution. Key differences between the milli-CT scanner and CT scanners commonly available in medical facilities include the use of high-energy x-ray sources and systems with higher resolution and the ability to handle dense materials and large objects and to operate the system under in-situ conditions such as flow in packed particle beds or porous media.

In addition to the current research programs, the proposed expanded CT laboratory (nano-micro-milli) will be of particular interest for analysis of exploration/produc tion cores without tedious sample preparation. The cores can be directly examined in the field using a mobile system.

Powder Metallurgy & Nanocrystals

The Powder Metallurgy group under Prof. Zak Fang’s direction is working on synthesis of nanocrystalline materials including nanoparticles and consolidation of nanoparticles into bulk nano crystalline materials, functionally designed composite hard materials containing cemented tungsten carbide and polycrystalline diamond, and hydrogen storage materials.

The Utah State Center of Excellence on Functionally Designed Cemented Tungsten Carbide and Diamond Composite was established.

An ultrahigh-pressure rapid hot consolidation press is finally installed and tested. It consolidates nanosized powders for fabrication of bulk nanocrystalline materials. Materials that have been consolidated on this press include nano tungsten carbide, nano tungsten, nano boron carbide, and nano tantalum carbide.

Hydrogen-storage materials research made significant progress. We published several papers and applied for patents on two breakthrough materials and reactions that are potentially usable for hydrogen storage. As the result, we are now the lead organization for research on amide-related materials for hydrogen storage within the Metal Hydride Center of Excellence led by Sandia National Lab, funded by DOE.

To prepare future engineers and scientists for the challenge of the everchanging technological development in the real world, Zak now offers a class entitled “Selected Topics on Nanoparticles for Engineers.” The class was taught the first time in Fall 2006, and it attracted students from both in and outside the department.

Xu Wang and Haibo Zhang were the respective winners of second and third prizes for metallography during the annual conference of the American Powder Metallurgy Institute.

Two more undergraduates, Eric Riddle and Megan Hotchkiss, joined James Paramore to work in the group as undergraduate research assistants.

David Harding has pseudo-graduated and gone to work for Diamicron in Orem, Utah. David started in the department as a freshman over eight years ago. He has passed his doctoral qualification exams.

Oladapo Eso defended his doctoral dissertation and has started his career with Alldyne Advanced Materials, a division of Alleghany Corporation. Vineet Kumar finished his Masters program and will be returning for a Ph.D degree.

Water Treatment

A unique project on water treatment is being carried out with Newmont under Jan Miller’s supervision, with focus on waste water treatment for Yanacocha Gold Mine, Peru. One of the world’s largest membrane units was installed at Yanacocha by Harrison Western for removal of contaminants in the cyanide solution, such as arsenic, lead, mercury, zinc, selenium, copper, thallium, cyanate, and thiocyanate. The unit has performed effectively since installation, but concerns regarding accumulation of contaminants in the process water have stimulated research.

The project involves testing membrane equipment at Harrison Western laboratories to evaluate the utility of membrane tech nol ogy in conjunction with solution chemistry to recover and/or remove cyanide from process waters such as those encountered at Yanacocha. Rajesh Raitani, a PhD student in the Environmental Engineering option, will carry out speciation of various oxyanions and cyanoanions in permeate and the concentrate streams in order to develop a process strategy for treating the concentrate stream prior to recycle to the plant operations.

Alumni News

1930s

Wilbur L. Kennicott (BS 1939) retired as Vice President of Engineering after 41 years with Kennametal in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He has nine patents. He received his 75th Anniversary Medal from ASME. He is a Life Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

1960s

K. S. Mortensen (PhD 1967) has retired after 37 years as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

1980s

Cary D. Young (BS 1983) survived the evacuation of Houston during Hurricane Rita! He is Principal Technical Professional at Kellogg Brown & Root (Houston), involved in the engineering, procurement, and construction of large-scale refining, petrochemical, and mining facilities for clients around the world. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas. Previously he worked for Noltex as Asst. Tech Manager, Equistar Chemicals, and Celanese. He is married with two sons, Mark (13) and Jeffrey (9).

Heidi Bastian (BS 1985) (née Petersen) is concentrating on being a mother. The family moved to Nooksack, Washington in April 2006. Her husband Clint works as an Engineer for Anvil Corp., designing oil refineries. Their three children were as excited about the move as their parents.

1990s

Qiang Yu (PhD 1991) was promoted to Senior Research Associate at USG in April 2006. Qiang started his career at USG Research in 1991. He has completed numerous inventions related to the manufacture of gypsum wallboard, including MCM, fire-resistant additives, and wet gypsum accelerator. Qiang received the 1998 USG Technology Award for discovery of MCM, and the technology was the basis for the “Next Generation SHEETROCK®” marketing program. More recently, Qiang is lead researcher on USG’s weight reduction program. A cross-functional team is exploring how to commercialize this technology. He has ten patents and eight patents pending. He is an Adjunct Professor in our department and listed in the Who’s Who in Science & Engineering.

2000s

Suraj Jain (MS 2001) graduated from Duke University with an MBA in June 2004. He was named 2004 Fuqua Scholar for his academic achievement. He started work with Reckitt Benckiser (makers of Lysol, Dettol, Airwick, etc.) as Assistant Brand Manager, and was promoted to Associate Brand Manager in the summer of 2005.

American Telugu Association Excellence in Engineering Award

Ramana G. Reddy (PhD 1980), the ACIPCO professor of metallurgical and materials engineering and the department head at the University of Alabama, has been awarded the American Telugu Association Excellence in Engineering Award. This prestigious award recognizes dedication to the promotion of literary, cultural, educational, religious, social, economic, health, and community activities for people of Telugu origin.

2007 Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Utah

Don Wardell (BS 1985, MS 1987), an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Management at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business, received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the U. This award honors faculty with eight or more years of service at the U, recognizing outstanding teaching, innovative pedagogy, concern for students, and exemplary contributions to the educational process outside the classroom. (Other recipients of this award whose names you might recognize include John Herbst, 1986, and Milton Wadsworth, 1978.)

Don’s wife Megan is also an alumna — BS 1985.

Don has taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including teaching classes in Spanish at INCAE in Costa Rica. He received a Ph.D. from Purdue University's Krannert Graduate School of Management. He has been honored with the David Eccles School of Business's Masters Teaching Excellence Award, the Brady Superior Teaching Award, and the Marvin J. Ashton Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. His research interests are mainly in the areas of quality management and Six Sigma, and especially statistical process control.

Friends of the Department

Dr. Zhorro Nikolov received the Outstanding Research Faculty Award from Drexel Uni ver sity. Zhorro is the Director of the Centralized Materials Characterization Facility, and a Research Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University College of Engineering, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We’d love to hear from you. Let us know what’s going on in your life – fill out the alumni activity questionnaire at the back of the newsletter or send us a letter (photos welcome).

In Memoriam

Bryant Jacobs Bullen passed away peacefully June 27, 2006, at age 80, of myleodysprastic syndrome. He was born September 22, 1925 to Bryant and Helene Jacobs Bullen in Logan, Utah.

When he was five years old, his father died following surgery. His mother obtained work in Salt Lake City to support him, aided by his grandmother, Eleanora Jacobs. He married Beatrice Duke Nov. 16, 1953.

He loved barbecues with his son-in-law, Dan, going to IHOP with his son Ted and his boys, eating at Chuck-A-Rama and having a quarter pounder at McDonalds.

Bry's work for Galligher Company (later Baker-Hughes) carried him to South America, Mexico, South Africa, and many other countries. He dearly loved his own country, playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" at top volume on national holidays, with his young children marching around the family room waving flags.

After retirement, he devoted time to genealogy. He found a distant cousin on the Isle of Jersey who still had the French spelling Balleine of their surname, and went to visit, along with his wife. He was thrilled to photograph headstones of Bullens in the nearby cemetery and gathered many more records there.

He is survived by his wife, Beatrice Bullen, children, Thomas (Diana) Bullen, Ted (Robin) Bullen, Diane (Dan) Larsen, Jill (Todd) Crosland, and Pam (Mark) Clawson, and 22 grandchildren; and preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Patricia.

Arthur Harvey Leigh

Arthur Harvey Leigh passed away on Sunday, January 14, 2007 at the age of 93 in Boulder City, Nevada. He was born in Lone Pine, California on November 30, 1913 and raised in Ely, Nevada.

In 1936 he graduated from the University of Nevada Reno with a BS in chemistry. He worked as a chemist for Kennecott Copper in McGill, Nevada.

Art married Ruth Nell Dart in 1940. She preceded him in death in 1991 after 51 years of marriage.

During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as a glider pilot from 1941 until 1946. He continued to serve his country in the Air Force Reserve, retiring in 1973 as a Lt. Colonel.

He worked for Kennecott Copper in Salt Lake for almost 30 years, retiring in 1978 as general manager of the silver refinery. He lived in the St George, Utah, area for more than 13 years.

He belonged to the Masonic Temple, the Elks, and Kiwanis. He is survived by his daughter Linda Leigh, a pharmacist, and his son Arthur D. Leigh, a business owner.

John Lyman Ballif, III passed away age 80 on Saturday, May 20, 2006, following a short illness. He was born May 17, 1926, in Salt Lake City, son of John Lyman Ballif, Jr., and Cora Hansen, and grew up there.

He received his B.S. degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder (1946). He was a U.S. Naval Reserve officer from 1943 to 1960.

John married Barbara Nielson of Blanding, Utah, in 1952.

He worked in the aerospace and nuclear energy industries in California and Washington until 1975 when he returned to Salt Lake City to work as a consulting engineer. Later he and Barbara moved to Provo and then to Idaho Falls where he continued his consulting work before retiring in 1991.

John and Barbara served three missions together during the'90s, training leaders in an inner city branch in Birmingham, Alabama, and serving as missionaries in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and in the mission office of the Austria Vienna Mission, which serves Austria, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. In between, they returned to reside in Provo.

John cared for Barbara during the last difficult years of her life. He is survived by his children, Christina Ballif Parkinson (Alan), John (Lezlie), Joseph (Janet), David (Chris), Jeffrey (Nancy), Mark (Julia); 27 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Charles Edward Jelden passed away peacefully in Bountiful, Utah on May 13, 2006, with his wife of 49 years and his daughter at his side. He was born June 29, 1928 in Topeka, Kansas to Vera Cates and Edward Jelden, the oldest of three brothers, and spent most of his youth in Columbus, Nebraska. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Jim.

Charles served in the U.S. Army from 1948 to 1951. He retired from Kennecott Copper Corp. in 1984.

Anyone who knew Charles knew of his fascination with cameras and the cinema — his breadth of knowledge was legendary. He loved people, and no one was a stranger for long. He also had a fondness for animals, children and food.

He married Geraldine Fitt on May 29, 1957 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They spent 49 years together and had four daughters: Jacquelyn (Gary) Insch, of Morgantown, West Virginia; Jennifer (Ed) Sahm, of San Diego, California; Stacey (Roger) Reese, of Bloomington, Idaho; Lisa (Joel) Sappenfield, of Kaysville, Utah; and thirteen much-loved grandchildren. The grandkids will always remember grandpa and his $2 bills, movies, and Popsicle runs!

Donors

We’d like to thank the individuals and organizations who provided donations to the department during the 2005/06 fiscal year.

Donations to scholarships or other department programs may be made by credit card at the secure web site, www.ugive.utah.edu (designate the specific program you wish to support) or using the enclosed card and U.S. business-reply envelope.

AMEC, Vancouver, British Columbia
American Chemet Corp., East Helena, Montana
Barrick Gold of North America, SLC
Robert Bartlett (BS 1953, PhD 1961), El Dorado Hills, California
Edward & Larue Baumgarten, St. George, Utah, in memory of Arthur Harvey Leigh
Dr. Frank Brown, SLC, in memory of Peter King
Neera & Subhash Chander, State College, Pennsylvania, in memory of Peter King
Stanley Channon (MS 1948), Valley Springs, California
Cognis Corporation, Tucson, Arizona
Dawson Metallurgical Labs, SLC
Theodore Greaves (BS 1975), Clovis, California
Scott Hartman (BS 1979), Hayden, Idaho
Karen Haynes, SLC, in memory of Peter King
Thomas Henrie (PhD 1955), Orem, Utah
INOTEC, SLC
Hychem, Inc., Tampa, Florida
Kennecott Utah Copper, Magna, Utah
Wilbur Kennicott (BS 1939), Ligonier, Pennsylvania
Insoo Kim (PhD 1999), Busan, Korea
Krebs Engineers, Tucson, Arizona
Willard Labrum (BS 1939), SLC
Jan & Patricia Miller, SLC, in memory of Peter King
Montana Tech Foundation, Butte, Montana, in memory of Peter King
Ravindra Nadkarni (PhD 1967), SLC
Ramaswami Neelemeggham (PhD 1972), South Jordan, Utah
Newmont Mining Corp., Englewood, Colorado
Ferron & Donna Olson, SLC
Kent & Diane Peterson, St. George, Utah, in memory of Arthur Harvey Leigh
Phelps Dodge Mining Co., Phoenix, Arizona
Karen Quinn (BS 1994), SLC
Claudio Schneider (PhD 1995), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in memory of Peter King
Varian Medical, SLC
Xuming Wang (MS 1999, PhD 2004), Libertyville, Illinois

Speakers

Information on our weekly graduate seminar is on our website, http://www.metallurgy.utah.edu/events. To receive notices, contact Kay at (801) 581-6386 or kay.argyle@mines.utah.edu or using the alumni activities questionnaire. Specify email or fax (local calls, to a dedicated fax line). The list below doesn’t include the many seminars given by graduate student researchers within our department.

Spring 2007

“Computational Study of Nanostructures: From Nanowire Structure Prediction to Quantum Island Growth Simulation,” C. Z. Wang, Ames Laboratory — U.S. DOE and Department of Physics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 14 March 2007

“Electron Backscatter Diffraction: Characterizing the Orientation Aspects of Microstructure,” Dr. Stuart Wright, TSL Products, EDAX-TSL, Draper, Utah, 7 March 2007

“BioCeramic Materials,” Dr. Ashok Khandkar, CEO, Amedica Corporation, Salt Lake City, 28 Feb 2007

“What Controls the Performance of Ceramic Armor?” Raymond A. Cutler, Ceramatec, Inc., 14 Feb 2007

“Design of Solid State Galvanic Cells for Thermodynamic Property Evaluation in Oxide Systems,” Dr. Niladri Dasgupta, Materials Science & Engineering, U of U, 7 Feb 2007

“Surface Analysis by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy,” Prof. Loren Rieth, Electrical Engineering, U of U, 31 Jan 2007

“Copper Smelting and Recycling in Japan,” Professor Takahiko Okura, Venture Business Laboratory, Akita University, Akita, Japan, 8 Jan 2007

Fall 2006

“Fossil Energy Research in North America: The Perfect Storm,” Prof. Philip J. Smith, Chemical Engineering and Director, Utah Heavy Oil Center, The U of U, 25 Oct 2006

“Synthesis of Nano-Structured Powders by Chemical Processes,” Dr. Lee Dong-Won, Korea institute of Machinery and Materials, 27 Sept 2006

“Molecular Recognition Technology for Hydrometallurgical Applications,” Mr. Neil Izatt, IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc., 20 Sept 2006

“Fracture Toughness Based Models for the Prediction of Power Consumption, Product Size, and Capacity of Jaw Crushers,” Dr. James Donovan, Mining Engineering, U of U, 13 Sept 2006

Summer 2006

“The Chemistry of Grinding Sulphide Ores,” Stephen Grano, Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, 28 July 2006

“Interfacial Forces in Flotation Separation Systems,” Jakub Nalaskowski, U of U, Metallurgical Engineering, 22 June 2006

“Novel Metamaterials for Producing Polymer Nanocomposites,” David J. Chaiko, Nano Clays, Tucson, Arizona, 25 May 2006

“Surface Forces in Foam Films,” Liguang Wang, Center for Advanced Separation Technologies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, 30 May 2006

Spring 2006

"Modeling Acid Rock Drainage — Predicting the Future of Mining Rock Piles," Prof. Edward M. Trujillo, Chemical Engineering, U of U, 19 April 2006

"Failure Analysis in Power Plant Components and Systems," Marshal Clark, Pacificorp, Salt Lake City, 12 April 2006

"Strain Engineering and Nanomechanical Architecture for Self Assembly of Nanostructures," Prof. Feng Liu, Material Science & Engineering, U of U, 29 March 2006

"Challenges in Metallic Interconnect Development for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells," Dr. S. Elangovan, Ceramatec, Salt Lake City, Utah, 22 March 2006

"Solid-Liquid Interactions and Func tional Surface Wettability," John Ralston, Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, Australia, 16 March 2006

"Transmission Electron Microscopy for Process Development, Manufac turing, and Failure Analysis of Semiconductor Devices," Raghaw Rai, Austin Silicon Technology Solutions, TSO Freescale Semiconductor (formerly Motorola), Austin, Texas, 10 Feb 2006

"Laboratory Safety," Ms. Christina Kulakowski, Environmental Health & Safety, U of U, 8 Feb 2006

"Rheology of Mineral Suspensions and UCT Machine Vision System for Flotation: Research Activities in Mineral Processing at the University of Cape Town," Liza Burdukova & Gordon Forbes, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 1 Feb 2006

"Multicomponent Reactive Transport Modeling in Variably Saturated Media," Ulrich Mayer, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, 27 Jan 2006

"Gas-Based Direct Reduction of Iron Oxide," Mr. Alim Ullah, Danarex, Danieli & Co., Buttrio, Italy, 25 Jan 2006

"The Role of Surfactant in Chemical Etching and Particle Removal Associated with Chemical Mechanical Planarization during Integrated Circuit Manufacturing," Prof. Michael Free, Metallurgical Engineering, U of U, 11 Jan 2006

The faculty and staff wish you a prosperous year and hope you will visit us when the opportunity arises.