~-:;) SURFACE IMPERFECTION~ . .. .

Me name indicate, the surface imperfections are -m;_o j 1mens1onaLin

~eometrical sens~. '[hey refer to region~ o~ distortions tpat, lie a?~
a
surface having a thickness of a few atomic duyneter§. The surface nn~ r- ·
fections include ~ain boundaf,)', .tilt and ~isL b.o=undA-fY, twin bouDE_ary
and stacking faults. .

Grain Boundary
The most obvi<>us manifestation of geometrical defects· extending over
whole surface is the appearance of grains and grain boundaries in
polycrystalline materials. A typical polycrystalpne sol!£1 £Onsists of!-
number of interlocking ·crystals or grains, ·oriented randomly. The -A!·
--~-~~--T-~~--~--~~- .
oms along the boundary regions ~re being__gulled by__ each of the, t~o
grains to join its own configuration. !,hey can jQin neither grain du~ to
t~e opposing forces ~nd t~ e up an equilibrium position. J he boun~ ry
between the adjacent grains, therefore, must have a structure that somehow
c.2nfor111 to the structure~ an_2 orientations. of both th~ $~ins 3 nd ~ an
be compared to a non crystalline material. Actually, the aJo ms_~l<IDg
~he bou?dary r~present a trapsiti2,n betwe~n tl!_t(two ~d-r;c; n1!J)i,§_orie.9.ted
CJYStalhne reg1012s. T12.e crystal orie!}tatio!1 c2anges sharplt_at ti!_~ g@in
b~ und'!!"y; 'fhe a~gles _between the_ ~~filallit~_orientaJ ions of .,!lea~ Y
 large (g,!_eater than 10-15°), the boundary between th
¢.. s are often
e~ . k ~- ------ e
in such cases 1: nown as 1gh angle boundary (Fig. 5,,38). \
\
\

(b)
(3)

Fig. 5.38 The atomic arrangements at grain boundaries

frhe average number of nearest neighbours for an atom near the bound-
ary of a close packed .crystal is 11, whereas in the interior of the crystal
it is 12. On an average, one bond out of twelve bonds is broken at the
boundary. The grain boundary between two crystals, which have differ-
ent crystalline arrangements or differ in composition, is known as inter".'
phase boundary or simply an interfac9. .
. ,(!'Cl, -
i""
J:dl._, /Jt,.,.,L'I.CJI.L.I'-¥'~
a,i,v O,,,l4 P,,.,t1,~ 1/l -Lvv u,
TJ!Land Twist Boundary_:- trtr .
Tilt boundary miiy be defined as a boundarf between two adjacent erJr~
~ t regions in the same crystal t at are shg tly tiltea, with respect to gne~
. !}other.7 n other words, when the angfe betwee tfie c~stallite orienta-
~ons o( the two grains is small,.(less. than 10°), the boundary is s~ to
a tilt 6oundary. They are. al~o called as low angle boundaries (Fig.
5.39). The structure of such 6oundarfes can oeoescrioeciby meanSOf
~ s of di;iocatiO_!lS- IL consists of a series ofe qually SRacea ed&e
dislocations of the same sign located one above the other.
The angle of tilt 0- is related to t'fie Burgers vector b of the edge
dislocations by
b
- =tan 0
h
Where h is the vertical spacing between two neighbouring edge disloca-
tions. For small angle of tilt,
 :,
~a-J
.
'h
' '. .
Fig. 5.39 A t~~-~~~dary consist~ffe<3_~~~1y_spaced edge dislocatio~s of

T~ lb~:-
f
th,!_s~~E! ~19!" , ~'??ve ! t}.~_ o!_her
i
""7fthe~ of the crystal are rQ_Ulted through a small angle, ~ ut an
axis which is perpendicular to "the grain bound¥}' (t,ather tb_an about one
"!!!at lies in the bound,iry as in the case of tilt boundm ), !,!Wist bound.~
t fonn_!;d. Twist boundlll)' consists of a set of screw dislocati«!JIS, m
- . contrast to the tilt boundary which consists of a set of edge dislocations.
~ :,. Ifththe _misoriented single cryst!I! ~ ctions are identical but are join~
stlC
~ -, ~ ~e er mst h a w~y that the boundary acts as a r,ef)£ciingJ2l~ e, th;
arr ~f c ais eonstttute a twin and the resultin bound is said to be
a twm boundary In s h · "de of
m; - - ·
t e ooundary is a · - fl . uc cases, the atomic arrangement on one h side
51
(FJg.. 5.40). mirror re ectton of the arrangement on the ot er
There are several w 10 · . G wth
twins are 1"' d .ays which twinning can be produced. ro .
orme during th &. rmatt0n
between high and I0 e growth of a crystal. The trans,o ake
place via twinning ;,,,:e~perature modifications of a crystal ~ay ~fa
· nnrng Produced during plastic defonnation
 Crystal Imperfections 237
crystal is called deformation twinning. The simplest example of twinning
in an fee structure can be represented by the sequence
J,
··· ·2-.B ~ ABCBA f BA . . ...
where the arrow indicate~-th~ t~inp~ an~ e : entre of the fault. The
occurrence of twinning is commonespecially in metals with bee or hep
structure.

Fig. 5.40 A twin plane

Example: Calculate the spacing between dislocations in a tilt boundary in

fee ~ickel, when the angle of tilt is 2°.
So/uiion: Given: 8 = 2°. Crystal is fee Nickel, so that a= 3.52A and hence
h==a/./i = 2.489A. Now, using eq. 61, we have

h= = 2.48: = 71.3A
tan8 tan2
lXa!npte: A single crystal of copper contains a low angle tilt boundary on a
(OIO) Plane and the tilt axis parallel to the [001] direction. Calculate the tilt
angle, if the spacing of the dislocations in the boundary is 1.5 x I0-,; m.
So/utio . G' A . I .h
n. 1ven: h =1.5 x Io-6 m = 1.5 x I04 • Cu 1s an fee crysta wit a =
3.61 A
and hence b = a/Ji = 2.55 A. Thus, using the eq. 61, we have
 238 Solid State Physics I

2.55
b I
tan 0 = h = 1. 5 x I04 = 1. 7 x I 0-4 rad
51. le crystal of copper contains low angle tilt bouncta
001) planeAw1.nthg a tt"lt axis P,arallel
(Example: ,. -
to [0 I 01. Calculate
-- .f; :-;-, -6
the tilt. angle ~f ohn
1 t e
. of the dislocation in,the boundary ts 3 x • 0 m and their Burgers
spacmg
vector is 0.4 x 1o-9 m.
. . Given: h = 3 x I0-6 m = 3 x .I 04 A and b = 0.4 x I0-9 rn == A
SoIutwn.
Therefore, 4

b 4
tan 0 = h- = 3x104 = 1.3 3 x I 0-4 rad

/Stacking Faults
In Chapters I and 3, we studied about close packings._A clo~ pack_ed
structure is generated· by ~ eking close packed layers on !oe.._o~ e
another withtlieresi:rrction that no two adjacent layers are in the same
oiientatioll-:-Givella layerA,a close"i>acking can be extended by placing
the ii~~ l~~r~ ch t_hat_ils- atoms ciccupy either B or c siteS (Fig. 5.41).
Here A, B and C refer to the three possible layer positions in a projection
nonnaI to the close packed layers.· In the following, we shall discuss
various ways of producing stacking faults in fee and hep crystals.

t [io11
¼[121]
½[IiOJ ... ,,
I
½rhioJ I (1 I I)
f
t rio101 ¼[I 12)
' ,:._J._, _, _,,,
I __.,__. _ _ _
f [Oil)
ifl 1201 I
I
( 0()()1) .,.
¼(I ioo1
Fig S 41
· ·
.
Pro•ect·
i f2ito1
' ton norrnat
~tacking PositionsA to th e ( 111) plane showing three types of
a
d
are' ao C. fee and hep notations
also Presented
 cry sta1 Imperfections 239
stacking Faults in fee Crystals
stacking faults may be produced in fcc crystals in the .c. .
. 1011 owing ways:
(a) ~ o_v_zng a ~lose,pf!.cked plane:
'ffiiscan o e achieved :--.. . by diffusion
--------~-.....---:-:------:. of a sheet of vacancies
--~ ,__________ . into
. the
plane an . y colla smg t~e:_t!).er th~ adj~ ning p l ~ e ~ h e . .
layer O VOid .betw_e_en _!!iem. For example, removing a BTayer ttie cubic
close packed sequence becomes - · -- - ,_ -- '
---- . - -
' -.
, ;:
.... A B 1~ A I <;ABC .....
<

This is called~ · ~ i fa~ . This can be regarded as a layer CACA

as
of hep or two over apping twin boundaries, CAC and ACA, across
which next nearest layers are wrongly....stack~d. In such cases, the nonnal
stacking sequence is maintained in the crystal on either side of the fault
right upto the fault plane.
(b) By inserting an extra plane _
This.can be achieved by diffusion of interstitial atoms into the space
be&reen two close packed planes. If say, a B layer is introduced as in.
the sequence

.....
.
ABCnAB _C .....
'
. -- ·i =. - · , ...... - -"\

This is called an extrinsic fault. This fault is equivalent to two neighbouring

twin boundari~ BAB.
(c) By slip on a close packed plane
Thiscan be produced by displacing all atoms above the reference
Plane by _shearing -Operation on {111 } planes. Let us ·consider an fee
crystal and suppose that the plane A as shown in Fig. 5.41 is a reference
Plane, and the next plane above it is a B plane. If the B plane and all
planes above it are displaceQ by the vectQ[ (1/6) [2°11], the B plane
into C positions,_and the planes above it transform in cyclic order,
~ e l a t i v e to the reference plane. The shear displacement is
epresented by .the arrows in the reaction ·
······,ABCABCABC ...... .
£' ! ! ! ! !
l.
. giving
CA BC A..... .
. . .

l anint :···:•·A. B C A. C A B C A ........ The resultant fault 1s eqmvalent to

as obtained in (a).
 rd State Physics
240 s01
in hcP crystals .
king Fau Its k d plane is the (0001) plane. This basal pl
sta:p crystals, close pact; observed glide palne in hep crystals :e
!n also the most frei~endoes not correspond to twin plane. Ref;rrinut
is stals .udS ·1 . g
unlike fee cry -b~ll model (Fig. 5.41 ), one_ c3:11 eas1 Y_ yenfy that there
again to the hard. . . faults and one extrinsic fault 1n hep structure
are two. kinds of mtr~ns1cof these faults are as follows: s.
The mode of formation
. e packed plane and then shear
, ,<( B removing a c1os • h ·
f 1 se packed plane 1n an cp structure 1s done in the
Removal o a c o h I. k.
same way as was done in the cubic case. T e resu ting stac 1ng becomes
. . . .A B A B I B A B . . : .
either side of boundary has· the same plane (i.e. A) which viol!ltes
Here, ~~==-~-:-:-- .- -. bl I =r
t~rule of close packing. Moreover, this 1s unsta e a so. In oruer to
acquire the stable configuration, the layer above the boundary must shear.
~t ~ - - - ___.::;..__-- I .
,J Therefore, shearing them by the vector
3[ I I 00], the A plane moves intQ
' l!Osition, and the planes above it transform in anticyclic orde!,
:..-.:t·
P'.
relative to A plane, yielding the stacking sequence·

"' . . .· ... A B "' B A ICA C A ..... .

· This fault 1s equivalent to cubic layer BAC.
(b) Simply by Shear
Another intrinsic fault b . . .
can e produced 1n the hep structure by directly
shearing all the planes bo 1 -
i.e. the sequence a ve a reference plane by the vector 3[
1100],

·•• . . A BAB I ABA

after shearin • ····
g yield a sequence •

Si . .
mllarly, this f l . . •
I
..... A B A B C A C
A .....
and Be au t is equivalent - - - - .
I . A. to two overlapping cubic layers, ABC
J) By Inserting
This can be a~ Extra Plane
seq achieved b •
uence A B A 8 Y tnsenin al
···· such as g a C Plane in the normal hexagon
 Crystal Imperfections 241

i
.
..
. . . . .A B A
--
BCA
·- BA B.... .
This is called an extrinsic fault and7iequivalent to three overlapping
cubic layers, i.e. ABC, BCA and CAB.