| Abstract: | The compressive yield strength was determined on three meteorites using specimens 4 mm and 8 mm in length and strain magnifications of 10,000 and 2000 respectively, with an apparatus developed for testing small specimens of biological hard tissue. The flow stresses required to produce 0.2% plastic strain in a recrystallized Cañon Diablo specimen, in the Odessa octahedrite, and in the metal phase of a Brenham were 62.9 K psi, 46.6 K psi, and 62.7 K psi respectively. The flow stress of Cañon Diablo after heating in a vacuum for one hour at 871 °C and furnace cooling was 60.0 K psi. The microstructure and grain size of the heat treated specimen was virtually that of the untreated meteorite. Plastic deformation of the Odessa specimen produced wavy slip lines in kamacite on a previously polished and etched surface. Slip lines also developed in taenite and cracks occurred in the phosphide phase. |
