Material

science

Dr. Mohammad Sobuh

• Material science involves investigating the
relationships that exist between the structures
and properties of materials.
• Material engineering is to create new
products or systems using existing materials,
and/or to develop techniques for processing
materials.
• The structure of a material is the arrangement of
internal components of the material.
• Structure levels:
– Subatomic structure (electrons and nucleus interactions).
– Atomic structure (organisation of atoms/ molecules
relative to one another) .
– Microscopic structure (atoms agglomerated together and
can be observed by a microscope).
– Macroscopic structure (structure viewed with the naked
eye).
• Material property is a material trait in terms of the
kind and magnitude of response to a specific
imposed stimulus ( ex. forging metal/glass)
 A single Polycrystal: Polycrystal:
• Aluminium oxide crystal low porosity high porosity
may be transparent,
translucent, or
opaque depending
on the martial
structure
• Properties of solid materials:
– Mechanical
– Electrical
– Thermal
– Magnetic
– Optical
– Deteriorative
 Classification of materials
Based on chemical makeup and atomic structure
materials can be subdivided into:
• Metals.
• Ceramics.
• Polymers.
• Composite.
• Advanced materials
 Metals
• Contain one or more metallic elements and often
also non-metallic elements in a small amount
(alloys).
• Atoms are arranged in orderly manner, thus
metals are usually dense.
• Are relatively stiff and strong yet are ductile and
resistant to fracture.
• Metallic materials have large numbers of non-
localized electrons.
• Are extremely good conductors of electricity and
heat and are not transparent to visible light.
• Of the 110 elements, 89 are classified as
metals.
• Nonmetallic elements:
– Oxygen, Chlorine, Iodine, Bromine, Nitrogen,
Fluorine Hydrogen, Phosphorus, Astatine.
– The inert gases: helium, neon, argon, krypton,
xenon, and radon.
• Intermediate elements (metalloids):
– Boron, Carbon, Silicon, Arsenic, Germanium,
Tellurium
• The most widely used metallic elements:
– Iron, copper, lead, zinc, aluminium, tin, nickel, and
magnesium.
• Metals can be used in the pure state, but by
far the largest amount is used in the form of
alloys.
• An alloy is a combination of elements that
exhibits the properties of a metal.
• The properties of alloys differ appreciably
from those of the underlying elements:
– Improvement of strength, ductility, hardness, wear
resistance, and corrosion resistance
 Ceramics
• Compounds between metallic and non-metallic
elements; most frequently oxides, nitrides, and
carbides (aluminium oxide (or alumina)).
• Relatively stiff, strong (like metals), and very hard.
However, they are extremely brittle (lack
ductility) and highly subjected to fracture.
• Typically, insulative to the passage of heat and
electricity, and are more resistant to high
temperatures and harsh environments than
metals and polymers.
• The traditional ceramics: Clay minerals (i.e.,
porcelain), cement, and glass.
 Polymers
• Include the familiar plastic and rubber materials.
• Chain-like very large molecular structures, with carbon
atoms as backbone.

Polyethylene

• Consist of organic compounds (i.e. carbon, hydrogen), and

other non-metallic elements (O,N, and Si).
• Low densities, and are not as stiff nor as strong as metals
and ceramics but they are extremely ductile and pliable.
• They are relatively inert chemically and un-reactive,
however they have tendency to soften and/or decompose
at modest temperatures.
• Familiar polymers: Polyethylene (PE), nylon, poly(vinyl
chloride) (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene (PS), and
silicone rubber.
 Composites
• Composed of two (or more) individual
materials (metals, ceramics, and polymers).
• Used to:
– Achieve a combination of properties that is not
displayed by any single material.
– Incorporate the best characteristics of each of the
component materials.
• Examples: Bone, wood and fibreglass, carbon
fibres.
 Fibreglass
• Small glass fibres are embedded within a
polymeric material (normally an epoxy or
polyester).
• The glass fibres are relatively strong and stiff, but
also brittle.
• The polymer is ductile, but also weak and flexible
and has low density.
• The resulting fibreglass is relatively stiff, strong,
flexible, ductile and it has a low density.
 ADVANCED MATERIALS
• Materials that are utilized in high-technology applications.
• Advanced materials are typically:
– Traditional materials whose properties have been enhanced.
– Newly developed high-performance materials.
• They may be of all material types (e.g., metals, ceramics,
polymers), and are normally expensive.
• Examples: liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and fibre optics
• Categories:
– Semiconductors: have electrical properties that are
intermediate between the electrical conductors (ie metals and
metal alloys) and insulators (ie ceramics and polymers).
– Biomaterials: materials employed in components implanted
into the human body for replacement of diseased or damaged
body parts.
– Smart Materials: materials are able to sense changes in their
environments and then respond to these changes in
predetermined manners.
– Example: Memory alloys
 Properties of solid materials
• Mechanical, electrical, thermal, magnetic, optical,
deteriorative.

• The mechanical behaviour of a material reflects

the relationship between its response or
deformation to an applied load or force.

• Deformation: Shaping materials by applying

forces by various means.

• The term “plastic “relates to permanent changes,

whereas “elastic” relates to reversible changes.
• Strain: The degree of deformation to which
the material is subjected.

• Types of strain: tensile, compressive, shear.

Stress
• Important mechanical properties: Strength,
ductility, stiffness.
(Hooke’s law)
Yield point
Proportional
(linear) change

Modulus of
resilience
• Engineering stress (σ)= Applied load (P)/ original
cross-sectional area (A0)
• Modulus of elasticity or Young’s modulus (E)= σ/e
• σ and E have a unit of pressure; Pascal (Pa
or N/m² or m−1·kg·s−2)
• E is a measure of the stiffness of an elastic
material.
• Stiffness is the rigidity of an object - the extent to
which it resists elastic deformation in response to
an applied force.
• The greater the modulus, the stiffer the material,
or the smaller the elastic strain that results from
the application of a given stress.
• Poisson’s ratio (v): The absolute value of the
ratio of the lateral strain to longitudinal strain.
• Modulus of resilience: The area under stress-
strain curve up to the yield point Y.
• Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb
energy when it is deformed elastically, and
release that energy upon unloading.
• Modulus of resilience =Y2/2E.
• Modulus of resilience has the units of energy
per unit volume (N-m/m3).
• In words Modulus of resilience is “the specific
energy that the material can store”.
• With increasing load beyond Y:
– Plastic deformation begins to take place.
– the relationship between stress and strain is no
longer linear.
• Yield strength: is the stress at Y point.
• Yielding does not necessarily mean failure;
yielding is necessary in metalwork (forging and
bending).
• The magnitude of the yield strength for a metal
is a measure of its resistance to plastic
deformation.
• Increasing load beyond Y results first in a
continuous elongation in which the A0 decreases
permanently and uniformly through the whole
length.
 Question?

Hint. Use table 6.1

• Further elongation requires increased load
(thus stress), up to a maximum stress point
after which less stress is required for further
deformation.
• The maximum stress is known as ultimate
tensile strength (UTS).
• UTS is a practical measure of the overall
strength of a material.
• Elongation before reaching UTS is uniformed.
• Strain up to the UTS is called uniform strain.
• Increased load beyond the UTS results in a
change in the A0 that is no longer uniformed
but is concentrated locally in a “neck”.
• Following necking, the stress required for
elongation deceases further.
• Finally, fracture happens within the necked
region.
• Breaking or fracture stress is the final stress level
in the stress/strain curve at which fracture takes
place.
• Ductility is how large a strain the material
withstands before fracture.
• A material that experiences very little or no
plastic deformation upon fracture is termed
brittle.
• Strain at fracture is a measure of ductility.
• The elongation at fracture is the total elongation.
• Two quantities are used to defined ductility:
– Percent Elongation.
– Percent Reduction of area.

• Elongation = (lf-l0)/l0 x 100

• Reduction of area = (A0-Af)/A0 x100

• Elongation has a inversed relationship with the original

length.

• Toughness is a mechanical term that is a measure of the

ability of a material to absorb energy up to fracture.
• It is the area under the stress–strain curve up to the point
of fracture.

• Hardness is a measure of a material’s resistance to localized

plastic deformation (e.g., a small dent or a scratch)
Stress-strain curve and temperature
Question?
 Crystal Structures
• Solid materials may be classified according to the
regularity with which atoms or ions are arranged with
respect to one another into:
– Crystaline materials
– Non-Crystaline materials
• A crystalline material is one in which the atoms are
positioned in a repetitive 3D pattern, in which each atom
is bonded to its nearest-neighbour atoms.
• Crystalline structure: the manner in which atoms, ions,
or molecules are spatially arranged.
• All metals form crystalline structures under normal
solidification conditions.
• Some of the properties of crystalline solids depend on
the crystal structure of the material.
Atomic hard sphere model
• When describing crystalline structures:
– Atoms (or ions) are thought of as being solid spheres
having well-defined diameters.
– Spheres touch one another.
• Lattice means a three-dimensional array of points
coinciding with atom positions (or sphere
centres).
• Unit cells: Small groups of atoms form a
repetitive pattern within the crystal.
• All the atom positions in the crystal may be
generated by translations of the unit cell integral
distances along each of its edges.
Crystal
• The unit cell is the basic structural
Unit cell
unit or building block of the
crystal structure.
 METALLIC CRYSTAL STRUCTURES
• Three relatively simple crystal structures are
found for most of the common metals:
Face-centred cubic, body-centred cubic, and
hexagonal close-packed.
• Simple (Primitive) Cubic Crystal Structure:
• A unit cell of cubic geometry, with atoms located at each of
the corners of the cube.
• The cube edge length (unit cell length) a and the atomic
radius R are related through:
a= 2R
• There are 8 eighths (one in each corner) for a total of
ONE atom in the unit cell.
• Coordination number: The number of nearest-
neighbour or touching atoms.
• For metals, each atom has the same coordination
number.
• Atomic packing factor (APF): is the fraction of volume
in a crystal structure that is occupied by atoms.
• APF = the sum of the sphere volumes of all atoms
within a unit cell/ the unit cell volume.
• Coordination number for simple cubic structure is 6.
• Atomic Packing Factor (APF) for a simple cubic
structure = 0.52.
• This structure is rare due to poor atom packing.
• Alpha – polonium (Po [84]) has this structure.
How the crystal structures arrive
(Stacking sequence)

A =
A
A
(52%)
• The Body-Centred Cubic Crystal Structure (BCC):
– Has a cubic unit cell with atoms located at all eight
corners and a single atom at the cube centre.

– Centre and corner atoms touch one another along

cube diagonals.
– Unit cell length a and atomic radius R are related
through:
Stacking sequence

B A =
A A
(68%)
– Examples of metals with BCC structure:
Chromium, iron (α), tungsten, and
tantalum.
– Two atoms are associated with each BCC
unit cell.
– The coordination number for the BCC
crystal structure is 8.
– The atomic packing factor for BCC is 0.68.
• The Face-Centred Cubic Crystal Structure
(FCC):
– A unit cell of cubic geometry, with atoms located
at each of the corners and the centres of all the
cube faces.
• In the FCC, spheres or ion cores touch one
another across a face diagonal.
• The cube edge length (unit cell length) a and
the atomic radius R are related through:
 Sacking sequence

C (74%)
B C B
A A
• For the FCC crystal structure:
– Each corner atom is shared among eight unit cells.
– A face-centred atom belongs to only two.
– One-eighth of each of the eight corner atoms and
one-half of each of the six face atoms, or a total of
four whole atoms, may be assigned to a given unit
cell.
• Some of the familiar metals with FCC crystal
structure: Copper, aluminium, silver, and gold.
• In FCC structure, the coordination number is
12.
• For the FCC structure, APF is 0.74, which is the
maximum packing possible for spheres all
having the same diameter.
• Metals typically have relatively large atomic
packing factors
 EXAMPLE
• Calculate the volume of an FCC unit cell in
terms of the atomic radius R.
• The Hexagonal Close-Packed Crystal Structure
(HCP):
– The top and bottom faces of the unit cell consist
of six atoms that form regular hexagons and
surround a single atom in the centre.
– Another plane that provides three additional
atoms to the unit cell is situated between the top
and bottom planes.
 Stacking sequence
FCC HCP
– The equivalent of six atoms is contained in each
unit cell:
• One-sixth of each of the 12 top and bottom face corner atoms.
• One-half of each of the 2 centre face atoms
• All 3 midplane interior atoms.
– If a and c represent, respectively, the short and
long unit cell dimensions, the c/a ratio should be
1.633.
– However, for some HCP metals this ratio deviates
from the ideal value.
– Coordination number and the atomic packing
factor for the HCP crystal structure are the same
as for FCC.
– The HCP metals include: Cadmium, magnesium,
titanium (α), zinc and cobalt.
 DENSITY COMPUTATIONS
A knowledge of the crystal structure of a metallic
solid permits computation of its theoretical
density (ρ) through:

Where:
n = number of atoms associated with each unit cell.
A = atomic weight
VC = volume of the unit cell
NA = Avogadro’s number (6.023 1023 atoms/mol)
 EXAMPLE PROBLEM
• Copper has an atomic radius of 0.128 nm and
an atomic weight of 63.5 g/mol. Compute its
theoretical density and compare the answer
with its measured density.
 Example
• The edge length of the unit cell for nickel is
0.3524 nm. The density of Ni is 8.90 g/cm3.
Does nickel crystallize in a simple cubic
structure? Explain.
 Polymorphisms
• Some metals may have more than one crystal structure, a
phenomenon known as polymorphism.
• In elemental solids, the condition is often termed allotropy.
• Crystal structure depends on both the temperature and the
external pressure
• Pure iron has a BCC crystal structure at room temperature
(α-Fe), which changes to FCC iron at 912⁰C (γ-Fe).
• From 912-1394⁰C Fe maintains the FCC structure (γ-Fe).
• δ-iron: 1394 – 1,538 °C; forms from cooling down molten
iron; same structure as α.
• Tin (Sn): Below 13.2 °C changes from β-Sn (White tin to α-
Sn (Grey tin).
• A modification of the density and other physical properties
accompanies a polymorphic transformation.
 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS
• Crystal can be divided into groups according to unit
cell configurations (unit cell geometry) and/or atomic
arrangements.
• In the unit cell geometry based system, the shape of
the appropriate unit cell parallelepiped without
regard to the atomic positions in the cell.
• The unit cell geometry is completely defined in terms
of six parameters (sometimes termed the lattice
parameters):
– The three edge lengths a, b, and c.
– The three interaxial angles α,β,and γ.
• There are seven different possible
combinations of a, b, and c, and α,β,and γ;
each of which represents a distinct crystal
system.
• The cubic system, for which and has the
greatest degree of symmetry. Least symmetry is
displayed by the triclinic system, since a ≠ b ≠ c
and α ≠ β ≠ γ.
Crystallographic Points, Directions, and
Planes
• The basis for determining index values is the
unit cell, with a right-handed coordinate
system consisting of three (x, y, and z) axes
situated at one of the corners and coinciding
with the unit cell edges.
• POINT COORDINATES:
– The position of any point located within a unit cell
may be specified in terms of its coordinates as
fractional multiples of the unit cell edge lengths
– The position of P is designated using coordinates q
r s with values that are less than or equal to unity.
– Coordinates are not separated by commas or any
other punctuation marks
 CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC DIRECTIONS
• Crystallographic direction is defined as a line between two
points, or a vector.
• The following steps are utilized in the determination of the
three directional indices:
1. A vector of convenient length is positioned such that it passes
through the origin of the coordinate system. Any vector may be
translated throughout the crystal lattice without alteration, if
parallelism is maintained.
2. The length of the vector projection on each of the three axes is
determined; these are measured in terms of the unit cell
dimensions a, b, and c.
3. These three numbers are multiplied or divided by a common
factor to reduce them to the smallest integer values.
4. The three indices, not separated by commas, are enclosed in
square brackets, thus: [uvw]. The u, v, and w integers correspond
to the reduced projections along the x, y, and z axes,
respectively.
5. For each of the three axes, there will exist both positive and
negative coordinates. Negative indices are represented by a bar
over the appropriate index ex.
1
 To draw the direction vector
1. Draw x, y and z axes
2. Determine the origin as the tail of your
direction vector (if there is a negative
number in the direction vector move the
origin in the positive direction of this axis).
3. Determine the endpoint of the vector
(remove the a common factor if any of the
indices are larger than 1)

Lets derive the following directions:

[010], [011], [012], [Ī10], [212], [021]
• For some crystal structures, several nonparallel
directions with different indices are actually
equivalent.
• For example, in cubic crystals, all the directions
represented by the following indices are
equivalent: [100], [010], [0Ī0], [001], [00Ī].
• The indices are equivalent because the spacing of
atoms along each direction is the same.
• Equivalent directions are grouped together into a
family, which are enclosed in angle brackets
‹100›.
• Directions in cubic crystals having the same
indices without regard to order or sign, for
example, [123] and [2Ī3 ], are equivalent.
 CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC PLANES
• In all but the hexagonal crystal system,
crystallographic planes are specified by three
Miller indices as (hkl).
• Indices denote a plane orthogonal to a
direction [hkl].
• Any two planes parallel to each other are
equivalent and have identical indices.
 Determining indices from a given
plane
1. Choose origin (O) in unit cell OR a new O’ with
axes x’, y’, z’.
2. Find intercepts from O to (a) intercept; from O
to (b) int.; from O to (c) int.
3. Take reciprocals of intercept position
4. Clean up:
a. Reduce multiples;
b. Eliminate fractions;
c. Put ¯ above negative integer in indices;
d. Place round brackets around integers.
 1. Choose Origin
Unit Cell a b c
2. Intercept
3. Reciprocal
4. Reciprocal Value
(111) (001)
5. Miler indices

1. Plane cannot touch the

origin.
2. Choose the closest corner.

(111)
(???) (110)

(121)
 Determining plane from a given
indices
1. Select origin O at 000 Or if there is negatives
at O’ x’y’z’.
2. Take the reciprocal of the indices which will
be the intercepts.
3. Mark intercepts along x,y,z axes
• Plot the plane of the given indices:
• (011)
• (100)
• (011)
1. Choose Origin
2. Reciprocal
3. Reciprocal Value
Unit Cell a b c
4. Mark intercepts
5. Draw

• (3 2 1)
• (1 1 1)
• (0 2 3)
 Atomic Arrangements
• The atomic arrangement
for a crystallographic plane (110)
depends on the crystal
structure.
• A “family” of planes
contains all those planes
that are crystallographically
equivalent; having the (110)
same atomic packing.
• A family is designated by
indices that are enclosed in
braces “{}”.
Reduced-sphere unit cells
• For example, in cubic crystals (111), (111),
(111), (111), (111), (111), (111), (111) planes
all belong to the {111} family.
• In the cubic system only, planes having the
same indices, irrespective of order and sign,
are equivalent.
• For example, both (123) and (312 ) belong to
the {123} family.
 LINEAR AND PLANAR DENSITIES
• Linear and planar densities are important
considerations relative to the process of slip.
• Slip is the mechanism by which metals
plastically deform.
• Slip occurs on the most densely packed
crystallographic planes and, in those planes,
along directions having the greatest atomic
packing.
 LINEAR AND PLANAR DENSITIES
• Linear and planar densities are important
considerations relative to the process of slip.
• Slip is the mechanism by which metals
plastically deform.
• Slip occurs on the most densely packed
crystallographic planes and, in those planes,
along directions having the greatest atomic
packing.
• Linear density (LD) is the number of atoms per
unit length whose centres lie on the direction
vector for a specific crystallographic direction;
that is

• The units of linear density are reciprocal

length i.e. nm-1
 Example
• Determine the linear density of the [110] direction
for the FCC crystal structure.
½ atom

1 atom

½ atom

– There is an equivalence of two atoms along the [110]

direction vector in the unit cell.
– The direction vector length is equal to 4R
– LD110 = 2/4R = 1/2R
• Planar density (PD) is taken as the number of
atoms per unit area that are centred on a
particular crystallographic plane, or

• The units for planar density are reciprocal area

i.e. nm-2
 Example
• Determine the planar density of the direction
shown in the following figure for the FCC
crystal structure. (110)

– 2 atoms in the plane

– Length = 4R
– Width= 2R 2
 Crystallisation
• Single crystal: All unit cells interlock in the same
way and have the same orientation.
• Single crystal has regular geometric shape having
flat faces.
• Polycrystalline: A collection of many small
crystals (grains).

• Grain boundary: The region where two

crystallographically mismatched grains meet
(see (3) in the following slide).
• Sometimes the grains in polycrystalline
materials have a preferential crystallographic
orientation (not randomly oriented); this
material is said to have a “texture.”
 Stages of solidification
1 2

Small crystals or nuclei form at various The small grains grow by the successive addition
positions in random crystallographic from the surrounding liquid of atoms to the
orientations. structure of each grain.

3
The extremities of
adjacent grains
impinge on one
another as the
solidification
process approaches
completion.
 ANISOTROPY
• The physical properties of single crystals of some
substances depend on the crystallographic
direction in which measurements are taken.
• This is due to the variance of atomic or ionic
spacing with crystallographic direction.
• For example, the elastic modulus and the electrical
conductivity may have different values in the [100]
and [111] directions.
• This directionality of properties is termed
anisotropy
• Isotropic substances: are these in which
measured properties are independent of the
direction of measurement.
• The degree of anisotropy increases with
decreasing structural symmetry.
– Triclinic vs. cubic structure.
 Imperfections in Solids
• Perfect order throughout crystalline materials on
an atomic scale does not exist.
• All contain large numbers of various defects or
imperfections.
• “Crystalline defect” is referred to the lattice
irregularity at one or more of its dimensions.
• Classification of crystalline imperfections (based
on geometry or dimensionality of the defect):
– Point defects: those associated with one or two
atomic positions).
– Linear defects: one-dimensional defects
– interfacial defects: two-dimensional defects
 Point Defects
• The simplest of the point defects is a vacancy
(vacant lattice site).
• All crystalline solids contain vacancies.
• The equilibrium number of vacancies (Nv) for a
given quantity of material depends on and
increases with temperature (exponential).

N is the total number of atomic sites, Qv is the

energy required for the formation of a vacancy, T
is the absolute temperature in kelvins, and k is
the gas or Boltzmann’s constant. k= 1.38 x 10-23
J/atom-K or 8.62 x 10-5 eV/atom-K. Absolute
temperature in kelvins (K) is equal to °C + 273
 Question
• Calculate the equilibrium number of vacancies
per cubic meter for copper at 1000 °C. The
energy for vacancy formation is 0.9 eV/atom;
the atomic weight and density (at 1000 °C) for
copper are 63.5 g/mol and 8.4 g/cm3 ,
respectively.
• Self-interstitial: the presence of an extra atom
in an otherwise complete lattice.
• In metals, a self-interstitial introduces
relatively large distortions in the surrounding
lattice.
 IMPURITIES IN SOLIDS
• A pure metal consisting of only one type of atom
just is not possible!
• Impurity (existence of foreign atoms) will always
be present.
• Most familiar metals are not highly pure; rather,
they are alloys.
• In alloys impurity atoms have been added
intentionally to impart specific characteristics to
the material.
• The addition of impurity atoms to a metal will
result in the formation of a solid solution.
• “Solvent” represents the element or compound
that is present in the greatest amount.
• Solvent atoms are also called host atoms.
• “Solute” is used to denote an element or
compound present in a minor concentration.
• A solid solution forms when the solute atoms are
added to the host material.
• In solid solution, the crystal structure is
maintained, and no new structures are formed.
• Solid solution is homogeneous (the impurity
atoms are randomly and uniformly dispersed
within the solid).
• Impurity point defects:
– Substitutional solid solutions,: Solute or impurity
atoms replace or substitute for the host atoms.
– Interstitial solid solutions: impurity atoms fill the
voids or interstices among the host atoms.
• Features of the solute and solvent atoms that
determine the degree to which the solute dissolves:
1. Atomic size factor: Appreciable quantities of a solute may
be accommodated in the solid solution only when the
difference in atomic radii between the two atom types is
less than about ±15%.
2. Crystal structure: For appreciable solid solubility the
crystal structures for metals of both atom types must be
the same.
3. Electronegativity: The more electropositive one element
and the more electronegative the other, the greater is the
likelihood that they will form an intermetallic compound
instead of a substitutional solid solution.
4. Valences: A metal will have more of a tendency to dissolve
another metal of higher valency than one of a lower
valency.
 Interstitial solid solutions
• For metallic materials that have relatively high
atomic packing factors, these interstitial positions
are relatively small (thus smaller atomic diameter
is required).
• the maximum allowable concentration of
interstitial impurity atoms is low (less than 10%).
• Even very small impurity atoms introduce some
lattice strains on the adjacent host atoms.
 Miscellaneous Imperfections
• DISLOCATIONS—LINEAR DEFECTS:
– A dislocation is a linear or one-dimensional defect
around which some of the atoms are misaligned.
– Virtually all crystalline materials contain some
dislocations introduced:
• During solidification
• During plastic deformation
• Consequence of thermal stresses that result from rapid
cooling.
 Types of dislocation
• Edge dislocation:
– An extra portion of a plane of atoms, or half-plane, the
edge of which terminates within the crystal.
– The defect centres around the line that is defined
along the end of the extra half-plane of atoms
(dislocation line).
– The atoms above the dislocation line are squeezed
together, and those below are pulled apart.
– The magnitude of this distortion decreases with
distance away from the dislocation line.
– The magnitude and direction of the lattice distortion
associated with a dislocation is expressed in terms
of a Burgers vector (b) (perpendicular).
• Screw dislocation:
– A dislocation formed by a shear stress in which
the upper front region of the crystal is shifted (ex.
one atomic distance to the right) relative to the
bottom portion.
– The screw dislocation is linear and along a
dislocation line (line AB).
• Mixed dislocations:
– Most dislocations found in crystalline materials
exhibit components of both edge and screw
dislocation.
– Though a dislocation changes direction and nature
within a crystal (e.g. from edge to mixed to screw),
the Burgers vector will be the same at all points
along its line.
– For metallic materials, the Burgers vector for a
dislocation will point in a close-packed
crystallographic direction and will be of magnitude
equal to the interatomic spacing.
• The nature of a dislocation (i.e., edge, screw,
or mixed) is defined by the relative
orientations of dislocation line and Burgers
vector:
– For an edge, they are perpendicular.
– For a screw, they are parallel.
– They are neither perpendicular nor parallel for a
mixed dislocation, but lies somewhere in
between.
 High-magnification transmission
electron micrograph
Dislocations can be observed in crystalline materials
using electron-microscopic techniques.
 INTERFACIAL DEFECTS
• Are boundaries that have two dimensions and
normally separate regions of the materials that
have different crystal structures and/or
crystallographic orientations.
• Interfacial defects include:
– External surfaces.
– Grain boundaries.
– Twin boundaries.
– Stacking faults.
– Phase boundaries.
– Domain walls.
 External Surfaces
• Surfaces along which the crystal structure
terminates.
• Surface atoms are not bonded to the
maximum number of nearest neighbours,
therefore in a higher energy state than the
atoms at interior positions.
• To reduce this energy, materials tend to
minimize, if at all possible, the total surface
area.
 Grain Boundaries
• The boundary separating two small grains or crystals
having different crystallographic orientations in
polycrystalline materials.
• Various degrees of crystallographic misalignment
between adjacent grains are possible:
– Small- (or low- ) angle grain boundary: When this
orientation mismatch is slight, on the order of a few
degrees.
– high-angle boundaries.
• Tilt boundary: When several edge dislocations are
aligned.
• Twist boundary: An array of screw dislocations (The
angle of misorientation is parallel to the boundary).
 Tilt boundary

Angle of misorientation

Twist boundary
• The atoms are bonded less regularly along a grain
boundary (high grain boundary energy).
• The magnitude of this energy is a function of the
degree of misorientation.
• This results in:
– Grain boundaries are more chemically reactive than
the grains themselves.
– Impurity atoms often preferentially segregate along
these boundaries
• The total energy is lower in large or coarse-
grained materials than in fine-grained ones:
– Grains grow at elevated temperatures to reduce the
total boundary energy
 Twin Boundaries
• A special type of grain boundary across which there is a
specific mirror lattice symmetry.
• The region of material between these boundaries is
termed a twin.
• Twins result from atomic displacements that are
produced from:
– Mechanical shear forces (mechanical twins)
– During annealing heat treatments following deformation
(annealing twins)
• Twinning occurs on a definite crystallographic plane
and in a specific direction depending on the crystal
structure:
– Annealing twins are typically found in metals that have the
FCC crystal structure.
– Mechanical twins are observed in BCC and HCP metals
 ATOMIC VIBRATIONS
• Every atom in a solid material is vibrating very
rapidly about its lattice position within the
crystal.
• At any instant of time not all atoms vibrate at the
same frequency and amplitude, nor with the
same energy.
• Therefore these atomic vibrations may be
thought of as imperfections or defects.
• At room temperature, a typical vibrational
frequency is on 1013 Hz, whereas the amplitude is
a few thousandths of a nanometre.
 BULK OR VOLUME DEFECTS
• These include pores, cracks, and foreign
inclusions.
• They are normally introduced during
processing and fabrication steps.
 Dislocations Mechanisms
• Plastic deformation corresponds to the net
movement of large numbers of atoms in
response to an applied stress.
• Thus plastic deformation corresponds to the
motion of large numbers of dislocations.
• During this process, interatomic bonds must
be ruptured and then reformed.
 Shear stress

Shear stress
• The process by which plastic deformation is produced by
dislocation motion is termed slip
• The crystallographic plane along which the dislocation
line traverses is the slip plane.
• An edge dislocation:
– Moves in response to a shear stress applied in a direction
perpendicular to its line.
– The direction of movement is parallel to the stress direction.
• A screw dislocation:
– Moves in response to a shear stress applied in a direction
parallel to its line.
– The direction of movement is perpendicular to the stress
direction.
• The number of dislocations, or dislocation
density: The total dislocation length per unit
volume or, equivalently, the number of
dislocations that intersect a unit area of a
random section.
• For heavily deformed metals, the density may
run as high as 109 to 1010 mm-2.
• Dislocation densities as low as 103 mm-2 are
typically found in carefully solidified metal
crystals.
• typical dislocation density for ceramic
materials is between 102 and also 104 mm-2
 CHARACTERISTICS OF DISLOCATIONS
• When metals are plastically deformed, some fraction of
the deformation energy (~ 5%) is retained internally;
the remainder is dissipated as heat.
• The major portion of this stored energy is as strain
energy associated with dislocations.
• As a consequence of dislocation, there are regions in
which compressive, tensile, and shear lattice strains
are imposed on the neighbouring atoms.
• The strains extend into the surrounding atoms, and
their magnitude decreases with radial distance from
the dislocation.
Shear
• The strain fields surrounding dislocations may
interact
• Forces are imposed on each dislocation by the
combined interactions of all its neighbouring
dislocations.
Same plane
Same direction

Same plane
Different direction
• Dislocation interactions are possible between
edge, screw, and/or mixed dislocations, and
for a variety of orientations.
• During plastic deformation, the number of
dislocations increases dramatically due to:
– Existing dislocations
– Grain boundaries
– Internal defects
– Surface irregularities such as scratches and nicks
 SLIP SYSTEMS
• Dislocations do not move with the same
degree of ease on all crystallographic planes
of atoms and in all crystallographic directions.
• There is a preferred plane (slip plane), and in
that plane there are specific directions (slip
direction) along which dislocation motion
occurs.
• This combination of the slip plane and the slip
direction is termed the slip system.
• The slip system depends on:
– The crystal structure of the metal
– The atomic distortion that accompanies the motion of a
dislocation (minimal).
• For a particular crystal structure :
– The slip plane is the plane that has the most dense atomic
packing.
– The slip direction corresponds to the direction, in this
plane, that is most closely packed with atoms.
• The number of independent slip systems represents
the different possible combinations of slip planes and
directions.
– Ex. there are 12 slip systems in FCC: four unique {111}
planes and, within each plane, three independent
directions <110>.
{111} 110
• Metals with FCC or BCC crystal structures have
a relatively large number of slip systems (at
least 12).
• These metals are quite ductile because
extensive plastic deformation is normally
possible along the various systems.
• Conversely, HCP metals, having few active slip
systems, are normally quite brittle.