Well, my time here in Minneapolis comes to a close. My latest experiment was glorious and successful. Here is the showdown of the three rocks I deformed in torsion.

SC = San Carlos olivine (natural olivine from a locality in the US, know as San Carlos).
SG = Sol Gel synthetic lab made olivine

The thicker sample SC6688 did not deform but cracked instead. A sad sad ending for that one.


And here you can see the actual rock (ignore the white bits, that’s Alumina):


There is one more thing to do here. That is the Minnesota State Fair. I’m going there tomorrow with some colleagues. Should be fun!