TECHNOLOGY

J. H. Buck (right), technical director of Well Surveys, watches T. P. Hubbard adjust ion source of company's van de Graaff accelerator used for well logging

Well Logging with α van de Graaff First unit devoted exclusively to precise research in

radioactive well logging

A VAN DE GRAAFF accelerator recently -*** installed in the Tulsa research laboratory of Well Surveys is the first atom smasher in Oklahoma, and one of the first to be used for research in the oil industry.

Van de Graaf accelerators, which have operating ranges from 0.5 to 10 million volts do not, in general, produce particles of as high energy as those pro­duced by the cyclotron, cosmotron, synchrotron, and betatron. On the other hand, they have substantial ad­vantages in stability, homogeneity, and intensity of the particle beams they produce. Other advantages include smaller size, lower construction costs, and less maintenance expense.

By choosing the right target mate­rial, employing the proper ionized par­ticles in the beam, as well as the correct accelerating potential, it is possible to produce a great variety of nuclear reac­tions with this machine. Any of the atomic particles desired for research, including neutrons, beta rays, x-rays, gamma rays, protons, or alpha particles may be produced. Many uses are fore­seen for the device, but its primary use at Well Surveys is as a source of atomic particles for precise research in radio­active well logging.

Originators of gamma-ray and neu­tron oil well logging, company is the only one engaged solely in research and development in this field. Their van

de Graaff accelerator is the first atom smasher devoted exclusively to oil well logging research. The only other ac­celerator in the entire oil industry is a similar machine recently installed at Magnolia Field Research Laboratory, Dallas, Tex.

Radioactive Logging. In recent years well logging has become ex­tremely important in the completion and exploitation of oil wells. At the present time nearly all rotary-drilled wells are logged at least once before completion. A large number are logged by many different methods so that oil producing formations and other zones of interest can be located and accu­rately correlated with depth.

Of all commercial logging methods which are used in locating and identi­fying subsurface formations, only ra­dioactive logs are capable of obtaining the necessary information both in open or cased holes. This is possible because atomic radiations such as gamma rays and neutrons penetrate great thick­nesses of iron, water, rock, and other material. These radiations are em­ployed to "see" through the steel cas­ing and observe the properties of sur­rounding rocks, and in many cases qualitatively measure the fluid within the formations.

Radioactive Research. A radio­chemical laboratory with the only re­motely controlled manipulator i n the

oil industry is maintained by the com­pany, and facilities are available for the handling of radioactive sources of high intensity. However, company realized that even these elaborate facili­ties were inadequate to cover the ex­tremely broad and varied fields of fun­damental research required to keep pace with the modern oil industry, and to assure advances in well logging art. More information about the strata sur­rounding a borehole can b e obtained from radioactivity logs when more is known about t he effect of neutrons and gamma rays on various types of geo­logical formations.

New Use for Old Friend A Louisiana State University assist­

ant professor is credited with discovery of a method for locating oil deposits by use of microorganisms. Considered by some oil experts as a great advance­ment in the oil industry, t he patented method is simple and inexpensive.

Raymond J. Strawinski says the work of other men gave him his initial idea that bacteria might be a way of tracing petroleum deposits. Since gas is found with oil deposits and a small amount of it probably works its way to the sur­face, Strawinski reasoned tha t there would b e some microorganisms feeding on this gas near the surface.

His method involves obtaining soil samples at a two-foot depth from the area be ing prospected, incubating these with a rich gas mixture of oxygen, car­bon dioxide, and any of the hydrocar­bon gases (methane, ethane, propane, and bu tane ) . This is added to a min­eral salt medium to encourage optimum growth of the hydrocarbon-consuming microorganisms in the soil samples; then rates of hydrocarbon gas consumption in the mixture are measured. Since bac­teria are known to be sensitive to very small amounts of organic matter, in this case hydrocarbon gas, method is effective and perhaps bet ter than chemical detection. Procedure is not affected by fertilization of soil and sea­sonal variations in the areas studied.

Method will not point out exact lo­cation of oil, because escaping gas does not necessarily rise vertically to the sur­face, b u t experience has confirmed presence of oil in immediate vicinity.

Mass, Scale Section for NBS National Bureau of Standards has or­

ganized a mass and scale section to be headed b y Douglas R. Tate, which will combine mass section, scale section, and additional related work. Reorganiza­tion will bring together program for certifying legal and scientific standards

1020 C H E M I C A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S

of mass, program for periodic calibra­tion of master railway track scales, standardization of test weight cars, and application of electronic devices to the weighing field.

M a g g e d iron ore , 76 tons of it, was used to trace the flow of i ron ore through a blast furnace in Ford experi­ment. Test was conducted to deter­mine feasibility of using fine iron pow­ders obtained by concentrating low-grade ore as par t of the charge. Tests showed tha t 6 0 % of powder was re­tained during smelting, but th i s was not high enough to make charging of such powders practicable. Although amount of material was large, radio­activity was 100 times less t h a n safety level prescribed by AEC.

• Savings of nickel in alloy castings are predicted from research results ob­tained at Battelle. A. M. Hall, division of alloy development, says H F grade alloy containing approximately 209^ chromium and 9% nickel can substi tute for H H grade alloy containing 2 6 % chromium and 12% nickel. Effective temperature range is 1200° to 1600° F .

• Plastic-coated glass fiber screens are undergoing intensive weather ing tests at Army's engineer research and development laboratories, Ft. Belvoir. Inability of conventional screens to hold up under varied wea ther condi­tions prompted investigation of plastic-coated type.

• Improved dry-charge electr ic s tor­es g e b a t t e r y is in planning stages at Gould-National Batteries. Advantage will be shorter soaking period after in­troduction of sulfuric acid w h e n ready for use. Company says ba t tery can b e kept in stand-by indefinitely without deterioration.

• Tubing with special shapes is now being extruded by Babcock & Wilcox. Integral fins on inside surface of tub­ing, needed for unusual problems in heat transfer, is one of the specialties. Production has passed experimental stage.

£ Bright-nickel plating process de­veloped by Hanson-Van WinUe-Munning is called Nickel-Lume. It operates at low temperature, uses stable brightening agents, has high tolerance to impurities, uses regular nonpremiurn anodes and standard plat ing equip­ment, and produces bright thin de­posits. Bath contains nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, boric acid, a n d bright-ener additives.

• Coreaction of e p o x y re s ins wi th polysulfide liquid polymers results in products having many properties bet­ter than either polymeric product by

Scale Models for Defense

Scale model of land based submarine test facility of submarine intermediate reactor is typical of model constructed by Atkins & Merrill, makers of scale models for several of AEC's development projects. Atomic or industrial scale models may take 2000 or more man hours to build. Materials used are specially formed wood, plastic, or metals

itself, say J. S. Jerczak and J. A. Belisle of Thiokol. Process converts epoxy res­ins to strained lattice structure. When the two basic products are combined, a wide range of properties can b e had bv selection of concentrations of the

two ingredients. Actually, polysulfides act as modifiers for epoxy resins, con­tributing lower shrinkage, lower strain, flexibility, impact resistance, lower moisture transmission, lower pouring viscosity, and better peel strength.

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