The physics of metals

John C. Slater

Citation: Physics Today 2, 1, 6 (1949); doi: 10.1063/1.3066390

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3066390
View Table of Contents: http://physicstoday.scitation.org/toc/pto/2/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 T y p e of fault w h e r e there
is a local deficiency of bubbles.
This and other
photographs of effects
in metals as simulated by soap
bubble models, are
reproduced
by the courtesy of
W . L. Bragg and J. F. Nye.
From Proc. Roy. Soc. A, volume 190.

T H E P H Y S I C
W i t h the end of the w a r international scientific
meetings began to revive and the s u m m e r of
1948 s a w American physicists sailing to E u -
rope in considerable numbers. Physics T o d a y
here presents a report of a conference on met-
als held last July by the International U n i o n
of Pure and Applied Physics at A m s t e r d a m .
Dr. Slater is a vice president of the I.U.P.A.P.
by John C. Slater

The International Union of Pure and Applied

Physics held an International Conference on the
Physics of Metals in Amsterdam on July 12—17,
1948, in connection with a meeting of its General
Assembly. It was a popular meeting for Americans:
thirty out of the 311 physicists in the official list of
participants came from the United States, a dele-
gation exceeded only by those from the Netherlands,
which naturally had the greatest number, and Great
Britain.
M a n y of the Americans came away with two firm
impressions: that international cooperation of the
type encouraged by the International Union is most
valuable, and not enough known and appreciated in

PHYSICS T O D A Y
 this country; and that European physics, far from
lagging behind our o w n postwar efforts, is flourish-
ing in a highly healthy state.
T h e International Union is an organization
which w a s rather inactive before the war, but has
been revitalized since, partly by the encouragement
of U N E S C O . S o m e of its business is of the unin-
teresting but necessary sort: discussion of units,
nomenclature, and such things. B u t in addition it
encourages international cooperation by correlating
the w o r k of various national societies, and by spon-
soring conferences like this one. It has had a n u m -
ber in the years since the war, a m o n g them one on
cosmic rays in October 1947 in Cracow, and one on
thermodynamics in January 1948 in Brussels; fur-
ther conferences are being planned, for example one
on statistical mechanics in 1949.
T h e Union has commissions on various subjects,
some of them joint commissions with other unions.
This and similar unions in other fields are tied to-
gether in the International Council of Scientific
Unions, organized and supported financially by
U N E S C O and the various countries. M e m b e r s of
t)F METALS
the executive committee of the Physics Union (the
president is H . A . Kramers, of Holland) are drawn
from a number of countries, including the United
States. T a k e n altogether, the Union fulfills in in-
ternational physics some of the functions of the N a -
tional Research Council and the American Insti-
tute of Physics in American physics. T h e General
Assembly, a business meeting of the Union (the
first one held in two years), came during the week
before the conference on metals, and w a s attended
only by official delegates. Naturally, most of the
participants in the conference on metals did not
k n o w of the business meeting; but it accomplished
the groundwork necessary for similar conferences
in the future.
A s for the conference itself, most of the arrange-
ments were m a d e by the local committee of the
Netherlands Physical Society, and very fine arrange-
ments they were. G r o u p lunches for the participants,
in the restaurant of the magnificent m u s e u m in
whose lecture hall the meeting w a s held ; evening
receptions, with special views of the art collections
JANUARY 1949
of the Rijksmuseum and a collection of van G o g h
paintings, and an address by the mayor of Amster-
d a m ; sight-seeing trips on the canals; excursions
to the various physical laboratories in Amsterdam,
Leiden, Utrecht, and Delft; all such things were
arranged with great skill and hospitality, as was the
difficult problem of housing an unexpectedly large
group of visitors in a city still not completely re-
covered from the war. In spite of all difficulties, the
meeting w a s run on the whole almost more smoothly
than any comparable session in this country. T h e
Dutch laid themselves out, and their visitors were
greatly impressed and filled with admiration.
It is always interesting, in these days of inter-
national tensions, to observe whether representa-
tives are present from this or that country. T h e
conference w a s sandwiched in between an earlier
one at Zurich, a rather small invitation affair deal-
ing mostly with the two problems of low tempera-
tures and of nuclear physics, and a later one at
Oxford, the meeting of the Physical Society, which
conducted a symposium on microwave spectroscopy
and related subjects. M a n y of the participants went
from one to another, and one w a s meeting friends
all over Europe. Switzerland, a neutral, had invited
a number of G e r m a n physicists, and the members of
the Zurich conference could not fail to notice the
cordiality with which Heisenberg, Meissner, Gent-
ner, and others were welcomed by physicists from
the various countries, and the geniality with which
Sommerfeld, at eighty, spoke after the official din-
ner. A t Amsterdam, on the contrary, the G e r m a n s
had not been invited.
O n e cannot blame the Dutch and French physi-
cists, with the m e m o r y of the harsh treatment their
countries received during the war, for still hesitat-
ing to welcome their former enemies. It w a s inter-
esting and heartening, with this in mind, to see the
executive committee of the International Union,
led by its Dutch members, take the position that it
would not oppose the invitation of selected G e r m a n
physicists to future conferences sponsored by the
Union. Nevertheless one felt that the question of
relations with G e r m a n science w a s still a touchy
one on the continent. A s for the "Iron Curtain,"
John C. Slater, who once studied with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen,
taught at Harvard for six years before going to Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology, where he has been chairman of the physics de-
partment since 1930. A theoretical physicist, he is almost unique in
the range of his work, which includes atomic spectra, the solid state,
microwaves and radar, and chemical physics.
 Holes which
a r cannot be closed
by local
readjustments,
appear and disappear
when the crystal
*'#'lwV • is "cold-worked."

•*v-!*l*#»£4

delegates were present from Poland, Czechoslovakia,days of w a v e mechanics, based on the classical
and some other countries, taking part freely in thetheory of Drude, which assumed that the electrons
meetings, but reporting difficult traveling conditions.
in the metal were essentially free, but suffered col-
Only the Russians, of the various countries on thislisions with atoms, which limited their free paths.
questioned list, raised no problems; they didn't This classical theory explained metallic conductivity,
come, and that was that. but failed to take account of the specific heat of
T h e scientific sessions of the conference dealt with
metals: it would predict that the free electrons,
three main topics: the electronic structure of metals,
acting like a gas, should have the specific heat char-
plasticity and crystal growth, and ferromagnetism. acteristic of a gas, whereas in fact they have almost
Principal speakers on thefirsttopic were R. Kronig,no specific heat.
of Delft, giving a general survey of the electronic Sommerfeld removed this difficulty by showing
structure of metals; H . Jones, of London, on the that according to quantum theory the free electrons
structural and elastic properties of metals; L. Paul-
should obey Fermi statistics, should thus fill their
ing, of Pasadena, on valency in metals; A . B. Pip-lowest available energy levels almost completely,
pard, of Cambridge, England, on the high frequency and should have no specific heat, in accordance with
skin resistance of metals at low temperature; and observation. This simple theory w a s m u c h too crude,
C. J. Gorter, of Leiden, on superconductivity. T h e
however, for it had to be fitted into our k n o w n
second topic was led off by Sir Lawrence Bragg, on models of atomic structure, models which have de-
slip in metals, followed by C. Zener, of Chicago, veloped with great success from wave mechanics.
on relaxation phenomena in metals; N . F. Mott, of A free electron, w h e n it strikes an ion in a
Bristol, on work-hardening and creep in metals; metal, acts m u c h like one of the electrons of the
W . G . Burgers, of Delft, on crystal growth; G . ion, and its theory must be handled accordingly. T o
Borelius, of Stockholm, on transitions in super- take care of this, theories were worked out by Bloch
cooled metallic solutions; and A. Guinier, of Paris,
and Brillouin, and extended by W i g n e r and Seitz,
on precipitation in alloys. Ferromagnetism w a s in-
to describe h o w an electron would act in a periodic
troduced by J. H . V a n Vleck, of Harvard, with a field: it finds essentially free space in the regions be-
general survey, followed by R. M . Bozorth, of the tween atoms, but a strong attractive field of the
Bell Telephone Laboratories, on ferromagnetic do- nucleus, as shielded by the outer electrons, near each
mains, L. Neel of Grenoble, on theories of the ion. Electronic motion in such a periodicfieldbrings
coercive force, and J. L. Snoek, of Eindhoven, on in mathematical problems like those of electron and
time effects in ferromagnetism. In addition to these
x-ray diffraction ; it leads to a prediction of allowed
major talks, there were smaller sectional meetings bands of energy levels, in which electrons can move,
on the same general topics handled in the larger and forbidden bands, in which no electrons are al-
sessions. lowed, the forbidden bands showing a mathematical
relation to the Bragg reflections.
Electronic Structure If in a solid there are just enough electrons to
fill certain allowed bands, leaving a forbidden band
The electronic structure of metals is a compli- immediately above thefilledbands, it w a s shown
cated and abstruse subject. O n e approach to the that the solid is an insulator; if on the contrary a
problem w a s suggested by Sommerfeld in the early band is partlyfilled,leaving empty bands immedi-

PHYSICS T O D A Y
 ately above, the solid is a conductor, since then it is
possible for an external field to accelerate electrons,
raise them by very small increments of energy. T h u s
the energy band picture, as outlined by Kronig, of
Delft, in his introductory talk in the conference,
leads to an understanding of m a n y features of m e -
tallic structure.
Jones took up the question as to whether this
model can explain the mechanical properties of the
metal: its lattice spacing, crystal structure, and
elastic constants. For this, one must m a k e a very
accurate calculation of the total energy of the crys-
tal as a function of its volume and shape. It is not
hard to m a k e this calculation crudely, and show
that there is a stable state for a lattice spacing in
the general range of the experimentally determined
value; but it takes a very accurate calculation in-
deed to distinguish between the stability of various
possible crystal structures, and to determine such
things as the shear modulus, in which the shape of
the crystal is distorted without change in its total
volume. Jones took up the detailed terms coming
into the calculations of energy, and showed that they
allow one to go rather far with these problems,
though the field is still far from worked out.
Pauling, thinking of individual atoms rather than
a crystal as a whole, has endeavored to build up a
theory of metals, and in particular of the iron group,
from ideas of chemical valency. In assuming that
each atom is tied by valence bonds to a number of
neighbors, he thinks that sometimes an atom is
bonded to one of its neighbors and sometimes to an-
other, and that consequently, on the average, it
seems to have a fractional valence. These ideas,
which are stimulating from the chemical and crys-
tallographical point of view, do not necessarily con-
tradict the other type of energy band theory; simi-
lar problems come up in molecular structure, and
it has been k n o w n for m a n y years that the two
points of view form simply different starting points
for the calculation, and that if either one is worked
out in enough detail, taking all correction terms
into account, it is bound to end up with the same
answer in the end as the other. Each picture is par-
ticularly useful for those features that it can explain
simply in its lowest order of approximation.
Existing theory is fairly good for elastic prop-
erties and conductivity of metals; but so far it has
had small success in explaining superconductivity,
that most elusive property of metals. This probably
JANUARY 1949
is because the free electron, or energy band, theory
fails to take proper account of the interactions be-
tween the various electrons in the energy bands; it
does not really bring in the electrostatic repulsions
of the electrons for each other, which will prevent
them from coming very close together. It treats
these forces only on a sort of averaged-out basis, so
as to replace the many-body problem of interac-
tions of all the electrons by one-body problems, mak-
ing each electron m o v e in a fixed field of force set
up by the average behavior of all other electrons.
Heisenberg has proposed a theory of superconduc-
tivity in which he tries to take account of these re-
pulsive interactions between electrons, and the gen-
eral opinion seems to be that he correctly points to
these interactions as the probable source of the
trouble with existing theories, but that his pro-
cedure of correcting the error is too crude, so that
his theory in detail has small chance of correctness.
Experimentally, there is good evidence that some
of the electrons in a superconductor have their m o -
tions correlated, probably as a result of these re-
pulsive forces, in such a w a y that they can all move
through the crystal lattice rather as an army would
march, the correlation tending to hinder any one of
the electrons from being deviated from the ranks;
since such deviation, or scattering, is the mechanism
of electrical resistance, this explains the resistance-
less character of the supercurrent. A t the same time,
there is good evidence that some of the electrons are
not organized into this marching army, and can dart
back and forth like the ordinary free electrons of a
normal metal. Part of the evidence for this two-
fluid type of theory is taken from specific heats and
other aspects of the thermal behavior of the transi-
tion from superconductor to normal metal, and this
aspect w a s particularly stressed by Gorter in his
talk on superconductivity; it is a field in which he
has m a d e important contributions.
O n e of the most direct evidences for the two-
fluid theory was discussed by Pippard. It is the
effect of microwave frequencies on superconduc-
tivity, an effect under investigation at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology and Yale Univer-
sity as well as in Pippard's w o r k in Cambridge,
England. Pippard, in his main address, considered
the behavior of normal conductors at low tempera-
ture and high frequency. There the skin depth, the
distance which an external field penetrates into the
conductor, becomes very small—smaller than the
 10

m e a n free path of the electrons, which increases properties affected only in a secondary w a y by
with the decrease of normal resistance at low tem- minute impurities, strains, and in general by the
perature. W h e n this situation occurs, naturally structure and history of the metal. O n the other
O h m ' s law no longer holds, since each electron hand, it is well k n o w n that m a n y other metallic
traversing the skin depth is accelerated by the field properties—breaking strength, for example, and
only over a small part of its m e a n free path. plastic deformation—depend very greatly on struc-
A theory has been set up for the effect to be ob- ture. M o s t of the rest of the conference dealt with
served, and experiments are in tolerably good agree- these structure-sensitive properties. T h e general pic-
ment with this theory. In the superconducting case, ture one got from it was the very large number of
which Pippard discussed in one of the smaller ses- properties of actual metals that depend on disloca-
sions, the two-fluid behavior shows itself in this tions, flaws, and impurities in the lattice.
w a y : thefieldpenetrates the superconductor to a It has been k n o w n for a long time that a straight-
certain distance and induces a supercurrent as under forward calculation of the breaking strength of a
direct current conditions; but on account of their perfect crystal gives values of a m u c h higher order
inertial effects, the superconducting electrons do notof magnitude than the values found experimentally;
form perfect shields for the interior and some of and from the work of G . I. Taylor, O r o w a n , and
the field accelerates the normal electrons simultane- others, w e k n o w that this discrepancy can be ex-
ously present, causing resistive losses. These finiteplained if w e assume lattice irregularities of a type
called dislocations. Just as a piece of paper or cloth
tears m u c h more easily once the tear is started, or
as glass breaks more easily w h e n a nick is formed,
so a crystal breaks m u c h more easily w h e n it has
one of these dislocations to start from. T h e disloca-
tion can be in the interior as well as on the edge;
but in the process of shearing it moves across the
crystal from one side to the other, a plastic deforma-
tion being a resultant of the migration of a very
large number of such dislocations. Sir Lawrence
Bragg, in his opening address for this part of the
program, gave a very fine illustration, by far the
most spectacular thing in the conference, showing
h o w these dislocations move.
Bragg had had the idea of making a model of a
crystal out of soap bubbles. H e found a w a y of
A grain boundary. blowing very large numbers of minute bubbles, a
fraction of a millimeter in diameter and uniform
resistive losses below the superconducting transitionin size. A study of their properties shows that the
are observed at high frequencies; and while the forces between two bubbles in contact simulate with
theory worked out on the basis of the two-fluid remarkable accuracy the forces between atoms, so
hypothesis explains the phenomena with qualitative that a crystal model m a d e up of such bubbles is
success, it seems on present evidence to be far from really a very good model of a metal. In the w o r k
correct quantitatively, which throws some doubt, he presented, the models were generally two-dimen-
in Pippard's mind, on its fundamental correctness. sional, one or two layers thick, so that they were
Further conclusions in this particular field must not strictly comparable with real metals, but still
await more experimental evidence. showed m a n y of their properties. Bragg had m a d e
motion pictures of the bubble crystals, which showed
Plasticity and Crystal Growth their behavior very graphically.
In the absence of stresses, a great mass of bub-
All these matters deal with the perfect crystal of bles, laid d o w n together, automatically formed regu-
a metal, and with structure-insensitive properties, lar crystalline packing; but in the process a good

PHYSICS T O D A Y
 m a n y dislocations were formed, of just the type pre-
dicted by Taylor and O r o w a n . W h e n the model
crystal w a s stressed, the dislocations ran back and
forth in the predicted manner, and could be seen in
the motion picture, darting around in very graphic
fashion. W i t h such direct evidence from a simple
model, it is clear that this picture of dislocations
must be accepted as correct.
W h e n a crystal undergoes plastic deformation, M/&
some of the dislocations travel through the crystal,
and come out at the boundaries; but on occasion
they can be effectively reflected at the boundaries,
M M
and m a d e to travel back and forth from one side to
8S:e;;k;
the other, allowing more and more distortion of the
crystal. This w a s pointed out by Mott, and illus- m •' • '
trated by a mechanical model. Furthermore, some- :••••:•:••':,••.;••:• !, •.:•:••••.•:••,'•:/
• • '
times the dislocations stop inside the metal. W h e n
........ ...,..»M.... ............ .
they do this, they interfere with the propagation of
other dislocations through them, and thus they ? w m . i m x <<•;.••-•>• *;;- '-•;•.- is-t/i. y>, :•»w>
harden the metal. M o t t showed h o w work-harden- ...•,;•'• . •
ing is largely a result of this formation of m a n y "••y-fyy-y:,-.-- • .-
dislocations in the interior of the metal. H e also > . ••:•. ••..••••• •. . • : • • •. • • •
showed h o w impurities, precipitates, and other ir- rmm&ymayym^mmmm:
regularities in the lattice can impede the motion of Wryiyi<^^mfyMW}MMm'.
W•IH-.m•m ' • v •. '• :
dislocations, and hence contribute to the hardening •
-'
.','.:
Spff •.
'.
•.
•. --/.
..- • .
:....
'•• '
. ..
•...•••:..
•••: :
of a metal. ' •','• .
T h e dislocations are of importance not only in mmmmmxmmyy.
the elastic behavior, but also in the phenomenon of
crystallization, and this w a s discussed by Burgers.
H e considered h o w the surface of a crystal could
SiliSiiiyyy 'yi: .'.••<: •;••:.:
form from the melt, and showed that the normal
thing w a s for dislocations to be formed in the
process of crystal growth. It is these dislocations,
present from the time of the crystal's formation,
which presumably m a k e it capable of being dis-
torted plastically.
A m o n g the experimental methods of studying
creep and other types of elastic phenomena is the W:<yW^y:.y:y%Wm
yyyyyiy.{yyyyyy..yyyy..:y
acoustic method, the study of absorption of energy
yvmx:t<yjy:yi:yyyy'y>yy--y
by the crystal w h e n it is deformed periodically, and my&yyi^y&ymyyy*
this subject was discussed by Zener, w h o has m a d e ilallliie
an extensive study in thisfield.T h e mathematics is
not very complicated: one assumes that the force
tending to oppose an external stress is m a d e up of
two parts, one proportional to the external stress
and opposing it (an elastic restoring force), and the
other a force proportional to the velocity, and op-
posing it (a frictional force).
If one studies the resulting motion, under a pe-
riodic external force, one finds a frequency depend- A raft of bubbles, stirred vigorously
a n d then allowed to readjust itself,
JANUARY 1949 s h o w n re crystallizing two, fourteen, a n d
twenty-five minutes after stirring. Photo-
graphs taken immediately after stir-
ring s h o w very m u c h smaller grains.
 12
ence which is characteristic of such phenomena,
called relaxation phenomena, and by measuring the
energy loss as a function of frequency, one can
evaluate the frictional term and help interpret it.
Since these frictional forces are generally of the
nature of viscous forces, and have activation ener-
gies, they depend on temperature in a character-
istic way, and it turns out that a study of energy
loss as a function of temperature at constant fre-
quency, or of frequency at constant temperature,
give similar sorts of information. Zener explained
h o w this method led to better understanding of
such things as the motion of twin interfaces and
the rate of precipitation.
Precipitation, and the precise details of the proc-
ess of formation of crystal nuclei in an alloy, were
Here a magnetic recording tape was pressed on the surface of a single crystal of cobalt
and then photographed in the same manner as was the tree pattern shown opposite.
the subjects of the talk of Guinier, w h o based his
results on detailed x-ray studies. Similar matters
were taken up by Borelius, w h o was concerned with
the rate of ordering of a metallic solution below
the transition temperature. In m a n y cases such solu-
tions have their atoms arranged in a regular crystal
lattice, but with atoms of either type interchange-
ably occupying each lattice site, above a transition
temperature. Below such a temperature the atoms
are arranged in a regular array. Boreliusfirstap-
plied thermodynamic arguments to a study of the
equilibrium, then considered the actual process of
rearrangement.
Ferromagnetism
The remainder of the conference dealt with fer-
romagnetism. V a n Vleck led off with a general dis-
cussion. T h e general theory of metals leads to a
fairly complete understanding of ferromagnetism.
It can be approached either from the point of view
of the energy band theory, or of the atomic valence
picture such as Pauling suggested. For metals,
either method has its value, while for paramagnetic
salts the atomic picture is more appropriate. This
atomic picture is the basis of Heisenberg's well-
k n o w n theory of ferromagnetism, which interprets
a magnetic material as having atoms which them-
selves are magnetic, on account of the spin of the
electrons they contain.
These magnets tend to line up, not so m u c h on
account of magnetic forces (which are compara-
tively w e a k ) as on account of a typical quantum-
mechanical effect called exchange forces. A t low
PHYSICS T O D A Y
 13

temperatures these forces are great enough to give
a very complete lining up, but at high temperatures
the thermal agitation opposes the orientation, until
finally there is a transition temperature, called the
Curie temperature, where the spontaneous orienta-
tion disappears; above this temperature the mate-
rial is paramagnetic, requiring an external field to
magnetize it, instead of being permanently mag-
netized. V a n Vleck reviewed these well-known
theories.
In an actual ferromagnetic material, both theory
and experiment have shown that the substance splits
up into domains, microscopic regions within any
one of which the magnets all point the same way,
at least at low temperatures, but with a different
orientation from one domain to the next. A n un-
magnetized piece of iron consists of domains whose
individual magnetic fields, pointing in different di-
rections, cancel each other, so that the sample as a
whole shows no net magnetization. If the iron is
placed in a magnetic field, several things happen.
T h e magnetic moments of the individual domains
swing around to point in the direction of the field,
and the domains whose moments point in the direc-
tion of the field grow at the expense of those point-
ing in the opposite direction, by an actual motion
of the surface of separation. B y a study of this
domain behavior, the hysteresis curve and phe-
nomena of the magnetization process are explained.
Bozorth not only described these phenomena, but
showed beautiful photographs of domains, taken by
an improved powder pattern technique, which prove
the existence of the domains in a very graphic m a n -
ner, and allow a complete analysis of the directions
of the field in them.
Hysteresis, and the coercive force responsible for
the existence of a permanent magnetic m o m e n t in a
permanent magnet even w h e n it is not in an ex-
ternal field, are clearly frictional effects, and it is
not surprising that m a n y of the same features enter
here which are found in studying the creep and
other frictional effects in the mechanical properties
of metals. Neel discussed the coercive force, and the
various hypotheses which have been m a d e to ac-
count for it. A n d it was significant that here again
w e came to lattice irregularities resulting from im-
purities, strains, and similar things, as the significant
causes of permanent magnetization. Snoek discussed
time effects in ferromagnetism: the w a y in which
some magnetic effects change gradually with time,
just as mechanical properties change with aging.
Here again it is lattice irregularities, in this case
small quantities of carbon and nitrogen in solid
solution in the iron, which are determining factors
in the rate of the process, governing the rate of dif-
fusion of dislocations, and in turn the relaxation of
stresses. Finally Snoek m a d e some remarks on the
magnetic resonance in ferromagnetic bodies. This
subject, which w a s merely touched on in Amster-
dam, formed one of the main topics of the Oxford
conference which followed the Amsterdam meet-
ing, and w e m a y well omit its discussion, since it
could best be described in connection with a re-
port on the Oxford meeting.

MAGNETIC DOMAINS
A drop of liquid containing magnetic powder in colloidal suspension is placed on the surface of a single crystal of
iron (containing some silicon), which has been electrolytic ally polished. The drop is covered with a thin cover glass
and photographed through a microscope while the crystal is subjected to various magnetic or different kinds of me-
chanical stress. This is called the tree pattern.
H. J. Williams, R. M. Bozorth. W. Shockley