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THE METAL-BENDERS” by JOHN B. HASTED

When bends are photographed at high magnification, fine radial creases are seen at the inside edge. These creases do not appear at the outside edge; they are probably associated with compressive stresses. The abnormal plane bends could not have been produced without some local lowering of the yield point, or softening; but there is no buckling. If there were temporary softening in the region of the bend, then only a small stress would be necessary to form an unbuckled abnormal plane bend in this thin aluminium strip. In attempts to produce similar bends by normal means we have not been able to avoid local markings, and have not produced inside edge creases

There is a strong supposition that the abnormal plane bends must have involved temporary softening; and therefore micro-hardness measurements were made on the outside and inside thin edges, and on the neutral plane. However, the usual elevation of hardness on both the outside and inside edges was recorded; so permanent softening still seems to be an event of great rarity, having been recorded in only a very few of the Crussard-Bouvaist-Girard experiments.

In these events the paranormal action of Jean-Pierre Girard did not produce permanent deformation; but there is no doubt that local permanent softening occurred – the measurements are quite unambiguous. But this effect was found to be rarer than local permanent hardening.

Evidence for the abnormal suppression of the elastic component during paranormal deformation may be found in the data from resistive strain gauges. When a normal extension force (or bending moment) beyond the yield point acts upon a metal specimen, the temporary extension is greater than the subsequent permanent extension, because the contribution from the elastic component cannot be neglected. One can prove the point for oneself by pulling suddenly to produce a permanent stretch on a weak spring, and noting the extent to which the temporary stretch exceeds the permanent stretch.

Dr Crussard has affirmed that in the video-records of Jean-Pierre Girard’s bending of thick aluminium bars, the elastic component suppression effect can actually be seen.

The bar passes directly from its original shape to its final shape. Of course in a gradual bending a large number of very small elastic effects might take place, individually too small to see on the video-record.

But there exist records which show relatively sudden bendings, without corresponding elastic components, and on these the effect is detectable.

We conclude that there are both permanent hardening and temporary softening effects in paranormal metal-bending. Indeed, the structural changes which produce these can probably be taken to be the primary effects from which the visible changes follow.