Crystal boundaries in tin

Abstract

When an ingot of tin is melted, it can be seen that the crystals break off as if the material forming the crystal boundaries melts at a lower temperature than the crystals themselves. It is impossible, however, to draw any quantitative conclusions from observations of this kind, although such results would yield much wanted evidence as to the nature of the crystal boundary. In particular, it would be of interest to evaluate the temperature difference referred to, and to determine to what extent it varies with the amount of impurities present and with the angle between the crystallographic axes of the two crystals between which the boundary occurs. The present paper describes a series of experiments in which specimens consisting of two crystals with a single boundary between them were examined from this point of view.