Abstract
THE eighth Edgar Marburg lecture of the American Society for Testing Materials was delivered by Dr. H. J. Gough, his subject being “Crystalline Structure in Relation to Failure of Metals—especially by Fatigue”. Dr. Gough dealt almost exclusively with the results of X-ray examination of metals, and the paper contains what is probably the fullest resume yet given of the subject. Some indication of the ground traversed will be obtained from the fact that the bibliography contains no less than 175 separate references. Starting off with a general discussion of the nature of the atomic bond and of the structure of solids in connexion with the basic problem of failure under stress, the methods of preparation of single crystals of metals, and crystal structure as revealed by X-ray investigation, Dr. Gough then proceeded to consider more specifically the distortion of single metallic crystals under simple static stresses, the influence of the crystal boundary upon strength and distortion and the effects of cold-working upon single crystals and multicrystalline aggregates. Coming to the subject of failure under ‘fatigue’ conditions, Dr. Gough dealt with metals crystallising in the face-centred cubic, in the close-packed hexagonal (discussing incidentally the twinning of zinc), in the body-centred cubic, and in the face-centred rhombohedral lattices. Finally, he considered the behaviour of single crystals as compared with that of multicrystalline metals. Dr. Gough's conclusions are not yet everywhere accepted, but whatever the individual opinions of readers of the lecture may be, it will be universally welcomed as providing, in a readily accessible form, an almost ideal summary of work dispersed throughout a multitude of different publications.
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Crystalline Structure and Failure of Metals. Nature 133, 717–718 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133717c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133717c0