SURFACE CHANGE DURING WARM-FORMING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R003000020014-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 26
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: February 5, 1982
• Content Type: RP

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SURFACE CHANGE DURING WARM-FORMING
By Jack Houck
February 5, 1982
Metallurgical Analysis by Victor Kerlins
During 1981, I conducted 12 "PK Parties" wherein approximately 85% of
the attendies experienced metal bending with apparent ease. In general the
people described a short period, typically 5 to 20 seconds, in which the
metal felt warm and was extremely pliable. After this period the metal would
again become hard to bend as in its normal state. We have named this phe-
nomena "warm-forming" and have attempted to compile data which would help
understand what is actually occurring. During the April 20, 1981, PK party,
a 1/4" diameter steel rod appeared to dramatically change in surface color
when "warm-formed" by Tim. This rod was submitted to the= McDonnell Douglas
Astronautics Company (MDAC) Metallurgical Laboratory for analysis, the
results of which are contained in this report.
As of this writing, I have accumulated nine (9) other specimens which
also appear to have a dramatic surface change when compared to their control
rods. These have been warm-formed by six different individuals. In all
cases, the rods and one bolt are low carbon steel, coated with zinc. Steel
rods purchased in a hardware store are usually coated with zinc so that they.
do not rust. Not all the steel rods warm-formed at these PK Parties have
the surface change occur. Those rods that do have the surface change, have
it occur during the 10 to 15 minute period that it was handled by the indi-
vidual that warm-formed it. Usually most of the surface color change occurs
near the bend, however, in a few cases the entire rod surface changed as did
the rod analysized in this report.
The results of this metallurgical analysis indicate that the surface
change effect is limited to the surface of the rod. When magnified, the
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surface of the warm-formed rod appears much like that of volcanic rock which
diffuses light so that it appears dull as compared to the shiny surface of
the control rod. A spectrual analysis of the surface indicated the presence
of chlorine on the warm-form rod and none on the control rod, even though
both rods were handled approximately the same amount (the warm-formed rod
was handled by Tim and I handled the control rod).
Our best estimate of what happened to the warm-formed rod is that a
chemical reaction occurred during the time Tim was warm-forming it. This
chemical reaction could have been from either the salt (NaCl) in his perspi-
ration forming zinc chloride (ZC1) or possibly hydrochloric acid (HC1) in
his perspiration forming ZC1. Further analysis is required to determine if
either of these chemical reations will cause the surface appearance and if
so, under what conditions (e.g., temperature, pressure, amount of perspiration,
etc). It is again pointed out that this surface change does not always occur
when these zinc coated steel rods are handled and even warm-formed by many
individuals. Does the rod become exceptionally hot for some people, thus
facilitating the chemical reaction? This question has led to the desire to
instrument some rods during the warm-forming process to determine the tempera-
tures involved. Or do a few people have a very high PH factor in their
perspiration?
During the December 16, 1981 PK Party, several rods were bent by warm-
forming and indicated the surface change. On each of the rods I had placed
an identification tag attached to the rod with clear tape. These tags allow
me to find the correct control rod. On several of the specimens obtained
at this party, the surface change encompassed the area where the tape covered
the surface of the rod. When I peeled back the tape to see if the rod sur-
face changed under the tape, I found that underneath the surface was still
shiny--no change. This reinforces the idea that this change results from a
chemical reaction between something on the hands or in the perspiration of
the individual performing the warm-forming.
Prior to the April 20, 1981, "PK Party", I prepared a number of steel
rods to be warm-formed. The rod discussed herein is 12" long and 1/4" in
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diameter, made of 1018 steel, coated with zinc, and was purchased at a local
hardware store. Masking tape and the price sticker on the rod at the time
of purchase left a sticky gum which I removed by applying gasoline to the
entire rod. I then rubbed the entire rod with 0000 steel wool to make it
shiny and clean. Then I cut the rod into three sections, one was kept in
my den as a control and the other two were available for warm-forming at the
party. I filed the ends so that no one would be cut. Tim took one of these
rods and warm-formed it during a period of approximately 15 minutes. He
noted that when the rod became warm and was easily malleable, a permanent
color change occurred over the entire surface of the rod (not just where the
bend occurred). This seemed to be clear evidence that something happened to
the rod that could not be explained by physical force. The warm-formed rod
and its control rod were submitted to the MDAC Metallurgical Laboratory for
a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis of the surface of both specimens.
A small section was cut off the end of the straight (control) rod in order to
fit it into the SEM. Figure 1 shows both the straight and the warm-formed
rods.
F_ Warm-Formed Rod
Control
Rod
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Figure 2 shows the surface of the straight rod magnified 15 times by
the SEM. Two areas were selected for further magnification; marked 1 and 2.
Figures 3 and 4 show Area 1 of the straight rod magnified 1.15K and 7.8K
times, respectively. The scratches were caused by the steel wool and some
typical surface pitting can be observed. The high magnification was diffi-
cult to obtain and some gold coating was required to achieve sufficient
electron densities. Similarly, Figures 5 and 6 show Area 2 of the straight
rod magnified 1.16K and 7.9K times, respectively. The surface at Area 2
is very similar to that of Area 1. Nothing is unusual about the surface of
the straight rod.
Figure 7 shows the surface of the warm-formed rod, magnified 23.7 times
looking directly at the end (outside region of maximum curvature). Two areas
were again selected for further magnification; marked 1 and 2.
Figures 8 and 9 show Area 1 of the warm-formed rod magnified 1.18K and
8.1K times, respectively. The surface appears dramatically different from
that of the straight rod. These pictures are the result of patterns estab-
lished by the surface reflection of the electrons in the SEM. Because the
surface appears to have been drastically altered, one would suspect that the
dull appearance to the naked eye is caused by the light scattering and being
diffused by this highly irregular surface. Also note that extremely high
magnifications were obtained with no difficulty, suggesting the electrical
conductivity of the surface is very high. Figures 10 and 11 show Area 2 of
the warm-formed rod magnified 1.2K and 12K times respectively and are very
similar to the surface in Area 1.
The results of this testing prompted many questions. One question was:
"Does a straight section of the warm-formed rod illustrate the same apparent
change on the surface?" To the naked eye, the straight section of the warm-
formed rod appeared to have the same type of dull surface as was apparent on
the bent portion of the rod. However, to answer this question, a section of
the straight portion of the warm-,formed rod was cut and examined with another
section of the control rod. Figure 12 shows where the straight section was
taken from the warm-formed rod. (The photograph was taken prior to the
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NUMBER
DEFINITION
ELECTRON
BEAM
VOLTAGE
MAGNIFICATION J
(FIFTEEN TIMES)
CALIBRATION
500 u WIDE LINE
PICTURE
SEQUENCE
NUMBER
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A f- g 0:, ~ Er
Figure 3. Surface of Control Rod At Area 1 (1.15KX)
-zj
Figure 4. Surface of Control Rod At Area 1 (7.8KX)
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Figure 5. Surface of Control Rod At Area 2 (1.16KX)
Figure 6. Surface of Control Rod At Area 2 (7.9KX)
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Figure 7. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod At Bend (23.7X)
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Figure 10. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod At Area 2 on Bend (1.2KX)
Figure 11. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod At Area 2 on Bend (12KX)
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Figure 8. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod At Area 1 on Bend (1.18KX)
Figure 9. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod At Area 1 on Bend (8.1KX)
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section being removed.) Figure 13 shows the surface of the control rod
section magnified 14.3 times. Figure 14 shows the same section magnified
98 times. Further magnification (520 times) of that same section is shown
in Figure 15. Points A and B are defined in Figure 15 by the arrows on the
margin. Magnification of point A to 2.76 times is shown in Figure 16.
Similarly, magnification of point B to 2.78K times is shown in Figure 17.
These photographs of another portion of the control rod surface are essen-
tially identical to those previously shown in Figures 2 through 6. The
surface of the straight section removed from the warm-formed rod, magnified
14.3 times, is shown in Figure 18. Figure 19 shows that same section magni-
fied 97 times. Further magnification (520 times) is shown in Figure 20.
New points A and B are defined by the arrows shown in the margin on Figure
20. Further magnification of point A is shown in Figure 21, magnified 2.78K
times. Similarly a magnification of 2.78K times of point B is shown in
Figure 22. It can be seen that the surface of the straight portion of the
warm-formed rod is very similar to the surface of the bent portion shown in
Figures 7 through 11. Thus, the SEM shows that the same type of surface
pitting occurred over the entire warm--formed rod.
In attempt to further understand what happened to the surface of this
rod when warm-formed, an energy dispersive X-ray diffraction analysis was
performed. Figures 23 and 24 show the spectral lines resulting from that
analysis for the control and warm-formed rod, respectively. The peaks are
predominantly the 3 zinc (Zn) lines, an iron (Fe) line, and a chlorine (Cl)
line. The zinc and iron lines are essentially identical on both spectrums.
However, a strong chlorine occurred on the spectrum of the warm-formed rod.
It is postulated that the source of the chlorine might be from salt (NaCl)
which is contained in perspiration from the hands during warm-forming. The
sodium (Na) line would have occurred at 1.04 A and would essentially be
swamped by the smallest zinc line which occurs at 1.1 A. As indicated
earlier, Tim handled the warm-formed rod for only approximately 15 minutes,
and I do not know if his hands were perspiring. However, the total amount
of handling of both rods by human hands is probably nearly identical, because
I carried both rods around the country prior to analysis and often handled
the control rod. However, my hands were probably not perspiring when handling
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Figure 13. Surface of Control Rod (14.3X)
Figure 14. Surface of Control Rod (98X)
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Figure 15. Surface of Control Rod (520X)
Figure 16. Surface of Control Rod, Area A (2.76KX)
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Figure 17. Surface of Control Rod, Area B (2.70KX)
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Figure 18. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod in Straight Section (14.3X)
Figure 19. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod in Straight Section (97X)
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B TA
Figure 20. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod in Straight Section (520X)
Figure 21. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod in Straight Section, Area A (2.78KX)
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Figure 22. Surface of Warm-Formed Rod in Straight Section, Area B (2.78KX)
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Zn (CO
Figure 23. Spectrual Lines of Control Rod Surface
Zn CI Fe
Figure 24. Spectrual Lines of Warm-Formed Rod Surface, Straight Section
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Figure 25. Cross-Section of Control Sample
Figure 26. Cross-Section of Warm-Formed Sample
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VIEW FOR VIEW FOR
FIGURES 28 AND 29 FIGURES 25 AND 26
30 AND 31
STEEL
ROD
Figure 27. Side View of Mounting
MOUNTING
MATERIAL
VIEW FOR
FIGURES 32 - 35
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the rod. Another possibility to explain the chlorine line is that zinc
chloride (ZnC12) may have been formed if hydrochloric acid (HC1) was present
in the sweat of Tim's hands. However, this is not common.
Zn + 2Hcl = Zn C12 + H2+
Next, a cross section was taken from both the control and warm-formed
rods and mounted for an X-ray map examination. These sections were polished
and mildly etched using a 2% NITAL solution which rapidly affects the zinc.
The control and warm-formed cross sections are shown magnified 250 times in
Figures 25 and 26, respectively. These photographs were taken looking
directly down at the cross section. They clearly show the zinc coating over
the steel rod. The steel is to the bottom of both photographs and the
mounting material is at the top of both photographs. There is a small space
or gap between the mounting material and the zinc coating. If one were to
look across the edges of the specimens, the view would appear like that
shown in Figure 27. The etching removed a bit of the zinc coating causing
the slight step as shown in Figure 27. The purpose of the X-ray map examina-
tion was to determine if any zinc had penetrated into the steel case of the
rod. Figures 28 and 29 show the optical picture, magnified 1,000 times, for
the control and warm-formed specimens, respectively. It can be seen that
zinc did not penetrate into the steel (bottom) on either specimen. Figures
30 and 31 are the zinc X-ray maps of the control and warm-formed specimens,
respectively. The very dense band (top left to bottom right) shows the
concentration of zinc in the zinc coating. The less dense band, directly
above results from reflections in the mounting space. It can be seen that
these X-ray maps are essentially identical, further indicating no penetration
of the zinc along the grain boundaries of the steel rod.
In Figures 32 through 35, the zinc coating was viewed looking toward
the iron rod (see Figure 27 for perspective). Figures 32 and 33 show this
view magnified 248 times for both the control and warm-formed samples,
respectively. This same view, magnified 2.49K times is shown in Figures 34
and 35 for the control and warm-formed samples, respectively. A thin coating
on the surface of the zinc plate can be seen clearly. The surface change
seems to be only on the immediate surface of the warm-formed rod. This may
be a thin layer of ZnCI on the surface which appears to have increased or
been modified by the warm-forming process.
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Figure 28. SEM Micrograph of Cross-Section of Control Rod (1000X)
Figure 29. SEM Micrograph of Cross-Section of Warm-Formed Rod (1000x)
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Figure 31. SEM-X Zinc X-ray Map of Warm-Formed Cross-Section
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Figure 32. Alternate View of Control Cross-Section (248X)
sF ~1
Figure 33. Alternate View of Warm-Formed Cross-Section (248X)
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Figure 34. Alternate View of Control Cross-Section (2.49KX)
Figure 35. Alternate View of Warm-Formed Cross-Section (2.49KX)
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