CHAPTER 7: DISLOCATION AND STRENGTHENING MECHANISM

WHY STUDY Dislocations and Strengthening Mechanisms?

With a knowledge of the nature of dislocations and the role they play in the plastic deformation
process, we are able to understand the underlying mechanisms of the techniques that are used to
strengthen and harden metals and their alloys. Thus, it becomes possible to design and tailor the
mechanical properties of materials
Learning Objectives
1. Describe edge and screw dislocation motion from an atomic perspective.
2. Describe how plastic deformation occurs by the motion of edge and screw dislocations in
response to applied shear stresses.
3. Define slip system and cite one example.
4. Describe how the grain structure of a polycrystalline metal is altered when it is plastically
deformed.
5. Explain how grain boundaries impede dislocation motion and why a metal having small
grains is stronger than one having large grains.
6. Describe and explain solid-solution strengthening for substitutional impurity atoms in terms
of lattice strain interactions with dislocations.
7. Describe and explain the phenomenon of strain hardening (or cold working) in terms of
dislocations and strain field interactions.
8. Describe recrystallization in terms of both the alteration of microstructure and mechanical
characteristics of the material.
9. Describe the phenomenon of grain growth from both macroscopic and atomic perspectives.
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DISLOCATIONS AND PLASTIC DEFORMATION

The motion of dislocation

The formation of a step on the surface of a crystal by:

Motion of edge dislocation Motion of screw dislocation

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SLIP SYSTEMS

FCC: Slip plane {111}, slip direction (110)

Burgers vectors:

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SLIP IN SINGLE CRYSTALS

Resolved shear stress:τR= Fs/As or

The largest:

Critical resolved shear stress : the minimum

shear stress required to initiate slip.
Yield strength of a single crystal:

The minimum stress necessary to

introduce yielding occurs when

So:

Macroscopic slip Slip in a zinc single crystal

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EXAMPLE PROBLEM
A single crystal of BCC iron with a tensile stress is
applied along a [010] direction.
(a) Compute the resolved shear stress along a (110)
plane and in a 111] direction when a tensile stress of
52 MPa (7500 psi) is applied.
(b) If slip occurs on a (110) plane and in a 111]
direction, and the critical resolved shear stress is 30
MPa (4350 psi), calculate the magnitude of the applied
tensile stress necessary to initiate yielding.
Solution: Angle θbetween two vector:

Angleφbetween

Angleγbetween

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PLASTIC DEFORMATION OF POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS

Deformation and slip in polycrystalline materials is more complex because of the

random crystallographic orientations of the numerous grains.

BEFORE AFTER
Slip lines of a polycrystalline copper Alteration of the grain structure by plastic deformation.

Polycrystalline metals are stronger than their single-crystal equivalents, which means
that greater stresses are required to initiate slip and the attendant yielding.

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 MECHANISMS OF STRENGTHENING IN METALS

Because macroscopic plastic deformation corresponds to the motion of large numbers

of dislocations and the ability of a metal to plastically deform depends on the ability of
dislocations to move. So by reducing the mobility of dislocations, the mechanical
strength may be enhanced; or greater mechanical forces will be required to initiate
plastic deformation.
All strengthening techniques rely on this simple principle: restricting or hindering
dislocation motion renders a material harder and stronger.
There are 3 strategies for strengthening:

1. REDUCE GRAIN SIZE

Smaller grain size more barriers to slip.

Hall-Petch equation:

With: d is the average grain diameter

σ0 and ky are constants for a particular material.

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2. SOLID-SOLUTION STRENGTHENING
These solute atoms tend to diffuse to and segregate around dislocations in a way so as
to reduce the overall strain energy.

Smaller substitutional impurity atom Larger substitutional impurity atom

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 3. STRAIN HARDENING
Strain hardening is the phenomenon whereby a
ductile metal becomes harder and stronger as it is
plastically deformed.
Degree of plastic deformation or percent cold work:
A0: original area
Ad: after deformation are
Strain hardening is often utilized commercially to
enhance the mechanical properties of metals during
fabrication procedures.

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EXAMPLE PROBLEM
Compute the tensile strength and ductility (%EL) of a cylindrical copper rod if it is cold
worked such that the diameter is reduced from 15.2 mm to 12.2 mm
Solution:

From the figure, tensile strength: 340 MPa (50,000 psi), the ductility: 7%EL.

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 RECOVERY, RECRYSTALLIZATION, AND GRAIN GROWTH

RECOVERY
During recovery, some of the
stored internal strain energy is
relieved by atomic diffusion at the
elevated temperature.

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RECRYSTALLIZATION
New crystals are formed from very small nuclei and grow until they completely
consume the parent material. These processes involve short-range atomic diffusion.

Recrystallization depends on both time and temperature.

The degree of recrystallization increases with time.
Recrystallization temperature: TR = 1/3 TM – ½ TM . TR
depends on the amount of prior cold work and the purity
of the alloy. Recrystallization proceeds more rapidly in
pure metals than in alloys. Thus, for pure metals: 0.3 TM
and some alloys: 0.7 TM
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 GRAIN GROWTH
At longer times, larger grains consume smaller ones.Why?.
As grains increase in size, the total boundary area decreases,
causes reduction in the total energy; this is the driving force
for grain growth.
Grain growth depends on grain size on time:

Grain growth in brass

15 Min 10 Min
5800C 7000C

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