Abstract
VOLUME XII. of the Journal of the Institute of Metals, representing the work of the Institute during the second half of 1.914, has just appeared. This is, one of the first volumes of proceedings to appear since the outbreak of the war, and it indicates that the Institute of Metals has been able to pursue its activities, except for the fact that the autumn meeting which was to have taken place at Portsmouth early in September had to be abandoned. An interesting series of papers, however, are fully discussed by correspondence in the Journal. One of the most interesting from the scientific point of view is the paper by Mr. O. F. Hudson on the critical point at 460° C. in zinc-copper alloys. Mr. Hudson brings forward evidence, which appears to be quite conclusive, that the interpretation of this point as marking the decomposition of the? phase of brass into α + γ, which has been elaborated by Prof. Carpenter in a series of papers, is erroneous, and that the β phase merely undergoes a polymorphic change from β to β1. A striking method of proof adopted by Mr. Hudson is that of preparing a series of alloys in a single piece of metal by the method of superposition. By superposing molten zinc on a layer of solid copper, the alloys can be formed at a temperature below 460° C, and yet a phase which corresponds to β makes its appearance. If what Carpenter has called “apparent β” were really unstable below 460° C, it could never be produced synthetically below that temperature.
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The Institute of Metals . Nature 95, 157–158 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/095157b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/095157b0