The Rehbinder Effect

According to Rehbinder the immersion of wires of certain metals in non-polar paraffin containing a little oleic acid increases the rate of flow of the metal under a given stress and increases the electrical resistivity The experiments described show that the mechanical effect can be obtained with single crystals of cadmium if the surface is contaminated by a thin oxide layer, which is known to increase the critical shear stress, but not if the surface is clean. The effect is accordingly attributed to the disruption of the hardening surface layer by the active agent and not to penetration into the metal, as assumed by Rehbinder. It has not been found possible to detect any electrical effects with cadmium or lead crystal wires having either clean or contaminated surfaces.