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Surface Effects with Single Crystal Wires of Cadmium

Abstract

THE letter of A. H. Cottrell and D. F. Gibbons, published in Nature of September 25, describes certain experiments which go to show that the phenomenon named 'thermal hardening' by Orowan1,2, and recently investigated by C. L. Smith3, is due to contamination by gaseous reaction. Experiments which we have been carrying out for some time on single crystal wires of cadmium have led us to the same conclusion. The surface of our HS cadmium wires, 1 mm. in diameter, Was cleaned with great care, and single crystals were made by the method of Andrade and Roscoe4, the wires being held in loosely fitting 'Pyrex' tubes which had been baked out at 400° C. and evacuated to a pressure of about 10-4 mm. mercury. Thus every precaution was taken against initial surface contamination.

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References

  1. Orowan, E., Z. Phys., 89, 634 (1934).

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  2. Orowan, E., Proc. Phys. Soc., 52, 14 (1940).

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  3. Smith, C. L., Nature, 160, 466 (1947).

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  4. Andrade, E. N. da C., and Roscoe, R., Proc. Phys. Soc., 49, 152 (1937).

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ANDRADE, E., RANDALL, R. Surface Effects with Single Crystal Wires of Cadmium. Nature 162, 890–891 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162890b0

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