Institute of Metals Division - Anomalies in Thermal Expansion of Dilute Solid Solutions (TN)

VOLUME 6 of the Transactions of the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy, Moscow, is devoted to the subject of "the experimental and theoretical study of the physical characteristics of dilute solid solutions,11 and summarizes work that has been done largely in the years 1958-9. In view of the attention that Soviet investigators have given to this subject, it seemed useful to carry out an independent experimental investigation in an effort to judge the scientific basis and practical significance of this field of study. The present note is a preliminary report of this investigation. The first property studied by the Soviet group was X-ray spectra of solid-solution alloys.' An anomaly observed at low concentrations (--0.05 at. pct) of the alloying element led to the theory that each impurity atom in a transition-metal base alloy is the center of a "block" of affected atoms with a radius of about 10"7 cm. This theory was further developed in a later paper.2 By this time similar anomalies had been found in diffusion coefficients3 and in thermal expansion.4 The entire development up to 1959 was reviewed in a comprehensive paper, and further theoretical ideas were also published at this time. Finally, the volume mentioned above was published in 19607 giving new experimental data on anomalies in optical properties and Hall constant, and a new theoretical treatment also appeared.' Although western scientists have done both theoretical work, summarized recently by Friedel,9 and considerable experimental work on dilute solid solutions, there is little support for the marked anomalies reported in the Soviet papers. Of the physical properties studied by the Soviet investigators, thermal expansion was chosen for the present investigation because of the relative ease of obtaining the necessary precision of measurement. A Leitz dilatometer was used for this purpose, and a special technique involving interchanging of the two specimens being compared permitted a precision of 0.05 x X in average thermal expansion over the range 27° to 600°C. The specimens were heated and cooled in vacuum or in a protective atmosphere at a rate of 50 °C per hr. Ferrovac E iron was used as the comparison specimen and in every case had a coefficient of expansion higher than (or equal to) that of the alloy. Since unintentional impurities are an important factor in studies of dilute alloys, special attention was given to the purity of the iron and the alloys used. The alloys were the same of those used by Abrahamson10 and by Michalak," and their preparation is described in these references. Chemical analyses of the Ferrovac E iron and of typical Fe-W and Fe-Mo alloys are given in Table I. The purity of the iron and alloys is undoubtedly higher than in the