SPECIFIC-HEAT OF 15 STAINLESS-STEELS IN THE TEMPERATURE-RANGE 4K-30K

The specific heats of fifteen commercial and special grades of stainless steel, containing 12% to 25% Cr and 9% to 20% Ni, have been measured between 4 and 30 K. The results show that the low temperature specific heats are particularly sensitive to the relative amounts of Ni and Cr in the alloys; a high proportion of Ni to Cr generally resulting in a high specific heat. Near 4 K, however, alloys containing a high proportion of Cr show evidence of superparamagnetism with the result that their specific heats are anomalously high with values approaching those of alloys containing larger quantities of Ni. Values obtained for the electronic specific heat coefficients of these steels suggest a maximum in the density of states of fcc-iron at about 8.3 electrons per atom. © 1979.