The Nature Of Strain Markings In Alpha Brass

THE fine lines shown in Fig 1 are typical of markings that may be detected after polishing and etching deformed specimens of alpha brass and other alloys. Although they have long been the subject of discussion by metallurgists their nature is still uncertain and the names that have been applied to them, such as deformation lines or strain markings, indicate this uncertainty. In this paper which reports the results of a further investigation of their nature, they will be called strain markings. INTRODUCTION Matthewson and Phillips1 in 1916 concluded that strain markings appeared only after deformations that exceeded 20 pct. They objected to the markings being called slip lines believing this term should be reserved for surface markings produced by plastic deformation. In 1921, Vogel2 described similar striations which appeared after polishing and etching the roughly ground surface of numerous alloys. He reported that the markings were crystallographic in nature, and since they resemble Neumann bands in iron, at least superficially, he assumed them to be mechanical twins. In 1928, Matthewson3 reported work by Phillips which indicated that the lines were more readily produced by impact than by slow deformation and that in many cases the twins inside recrystallized grains were parallel to strain markings in the original deformed grains. This was taken as evidence that the markings coalesce into annealing twins, and hence that they themselves are mechanical twins. Many attempts have been made to [ ] demonstrate directly that the markings are mechanical twins. In 1934, Samans4 described the results of X ray studies of two deformed crystals of alpha brass. Evidence was obtained which could be interpreted to indicate that the strain markings are mechanical twins, and this remains the only direct evidence to this effect. Several other attempts to obtain similar evidence by X ray diffraction have failed5,6,7 although in no case was the original method of Samans employed. An