Bakerian Lecture: The distortion of an aluminium crystal during a tensile test

Abstract

The work described in the following pages was inspired by a paper in which Prof. Carpenter and Miss Elam described the result of applying tensile tests to specimens of aluminium which had been treated in such a way that they appeared to turn into single crystals. The resulting distortions of the test pieces were very remarkable and clearly suggested that the crystal axes were not orientated in the same direction in different specimens. The uniformity of the distortion in different parts of the same specimen made it seem likely that it would be a straightforward, though possibly laborious, matter to determine the relationship between the orientation of the axes and the distortion produced in a tensile test. And it seemed possible that by examining a number of specimens some general results might be obtained about the forces necessary to produce distortions of this type. On discussing the matter with Prof. Carpenter and Miss Elam it was found that it would not be possible to determine the distortion from the measurements they had already made. Moreover, no measurements of the orientation of the crystal axes had been made, though Sir W. Bragg had made a few observations indicating that the material retained its crystalline character after it had been distorted. Under these circumstances, it was decided to carry out a test, making all the necessary measurements at various stages during the extension of a specimen.