Surface Effects in Creep of Cadmium Crystals

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Abstract
A recording rate-of-strain meter has been used to investigate the changes in creep rate when the chemical environment of a stressed cadmium crystal is altered. Experiments were made with aqueous solutions of a number of inorganic salts of cadmium. The observations are explicable in terms of variations in the thickness of a surface film of cadmium hydroxide, the presence of such a film having the effect of reducing the creep rate by an amount depending on its thickness. Measurements were also made on the effect of very thin films, formed by immersion in distilled water; these were estimated to be about 10-6 to 10-7 cm. thick. When the films were removed with dilute sulphuric acid a sudden small strain increment was observed, the magnitude of which depended on the film thickness. Possible explanations are discussed.