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free-water level

The surface of a body of water in contact with the atmosphere; i.e., at
atmospheric pressure.

free-water surface

See:water table

free way

A direction of easy splitting in a rock. Fay

freeze

a. To permit drilling tools, casing, drivepipe, or drill rods to become
lodged in a borehole by reason of caving walls, or impaction of sand, mud,
or drill cuttings, to the extent that they cannot be pulled out. Also
called bind; seize. Long
b. The act or process of drilling a borehole utilizing a drill fluid
chilled to -30 degrees C to -40 degrees C, as a means of consolidating, by
freezing, the borehole wall materials and/or core as the drill bit
penetrates a water-saturated formation, such as sand, gravel, etc.
Long

freeze-in

a. Used in much the same sense as definition a. of "freeze."
b. Applicable when drill rods become fastened by solidification or
freezing of the drilling fluid in a borehole drilled in permafrost.
Long
c. To become or be fixed in ice. Long

freeze proofing

A surface treatment, as with calcium chloride solution, to prevent or
reduce cohesion of coal particles by ice formation during freezing
weather. BS, 5

freeze sinking

Use of circulating brine in a system of pipes to freeze waterlogged strata
so that shafts can be sunk through them, established, and lined.
Pryor, 3

freeze-thaw action

See:frost action

freeze-up

In ball milling, the theoretical rate of revolution at which the contents
of the mill are centrifugally held at the circumference. Pryor, 3

freezing

Consolidation of fine-grained waterlogged soil, enabling excavation to
proceed, can be effected by freezing. The process, which dates from 1862,
is particularly suitable for shaft sinking. Hammond

freezing interval

See:crystallization interval

freezing method

A method of shaft sinking through loose waterlogged sands that are not
suitable for the cementation sinking method. Rings of lined boreholes are
put down outside the proposed shaft and in them a very cold solution, such
as brine, is circulated until an ice wall has been formed sufficiently
thick to enable sinking to proceed normally. The method consists of the
following stages: (1) forming a protective wall of ice, with its base in
an impervious deposit; (2) maintaining the ice wall until the sinking and
lining of the shaft has been completed, and (3) thawing out the ground
without damage to the shaft. The freezing method has been revived, largely
due to the successful use of bulk concrete, backed by corrugated sheets in
place of tubbing, for lining the shaft through the frozen ground. This is
followed by wall grouting. Freezing was introduced originally in 1883 by
F. H. Poetsch. See also:Oetling freezing method;
chemical soil consolidation; silicatization process. Nelson

freibergite

An isometric mineral, (Ag,Cu,Fe)12 (Sb,As)4 S13 ;
tetrahedrite group; forms series with argentotennantite and with
tetrahedrite; occurs as tetrahedra; in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, and
Germany.

freieslebenite

A monoclinic mineral, AgPbSbS3 . Occurs with pyrargyrite,
argentite, and galena in late-stage silver ores at Hiendelaencina, Spain;
Freiberg, Germany; Oruro, Bolivia; and Rosebery, Tasmania, Australia.

Fremont etching reagent

An etchant consisting of 10 g of iodine and 20 g of potassium iodide in
100 mL of water. Osborne

French chalk

A soft, white variety of talc, steatite, or soapstone finely ground into
powder.

French drain

A covered ditch containing a layer of fitted or loose stone or other
pervious material. Nichols, 1

French process

A process in which zinc is distilled and the vapor burned to produce the
oxide; the purity of the oxide is controlled by the purity of the metal.
Newton, 1

Frenier sand pump

Spiral ribbon of steel enclosed between two steel disks, mounted on a
horizontal hollow shaft into which pulp picked up peripherally is
discharged during slow rotation. Pryor, 3

Frenkel defect

A type of "point defect" in a crystal structure where an atom or ion is
displaced from its normal position to an interstitial one.
CF:crystal defect; point defect; interstitial; Schottky defect.

frenzied

S. Staff. Said of coal crushed by the creep or subsidence of the cover.
Fay