Abnormal weight changes of intermetallic compounds when heated

Monotonic weight gains are most usual when intermetallic compounds are heated in air to successively higher temperatures, but about 15% of compositions exhibit other behaviour in which mainly losses were partial or dominant. From a specimen population of binary phases with components drawn from many parts of the periodic table, it was found that abnormality was markedly found when components came from the early B Groups. It is suggested that the high volatility of phases such as beta brass and related structures may be responsible.