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The Colours of Tempered Steel

Abstract

THE well-known and characteristic tints that appear on the surface of a tarnishable metal when it is heated in contact with air have been usually regarded as interference colours due to the formation of a thin film of oxide on the surface of the metal. The correctness of this explanation has, however, recently been questioned (A. Mallock, Proc. Roy. Soc., 1918), and rightly so, as a continuous film on a strongly reflected surface cannot on optical principles be expected to exhibit such vivid colours as those observed.

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RAMAN, C. The Colours of Tempered Steel. Nature 109, 105–106 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109105b0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109105b0

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