THE GROWTH AND PROPERTIES OF WHISKERS

In recent years filamentary forms of materials have been the subject of an extensive programme of scientific investigation. The widespread interest in “whiskers” has often been motivated by the discovery of their unusual physical properties, but “whiskers” have also provided extremely useful single-crystal specimens for the study of the general physical properties of solids. A number of excellent surveys have appeared on the subject in the last few years and this review will attempt to cover the main points of the field with special emphasis on recent work. Extensive reference will be made to review papers by Brenner, Nabarro and Jackson, Nadgornyi, and Hardy.