Imperfections in Solids - III

Atomic vibrations

Every atom in a solid material is vibrating very rapidly about its lattice
position within the crystal.
Over time the vibrational energy of any specific atom will also vary in a random
manner

At room temperature, a typical vibrational frequency is on order of 1013 vibrations

per second, whereas the amplitude is a few thousands of a nanometer

• Atomic vibrations are also a kind of defect, especially at very high

temperatures which affect the properties of a solid.

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 Microscopic Examination
Some structural elements are of macroscopic dimensions; that is, they are large
enough to be observed with the unaided eye.
Eg, Macroscopic grains are often evident on aluminum highway guardrails.
In most materials the constituent grains are of microscopic dimensions, having
diameters that may be on the order of microns or nanometer

Why?
to ensure that the associations between the properties and structure
to predict the properties of materials once
to design alloys with new property combinations,
to determine whether a material has been correctly heat-treated,
to ascertain the mode of mechanical fracture.

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 Microscopic Examination – Optical Microscopy

• Metallographic microscopy – applicable to polymers also.

• Surface preparation is very crucial. Surface must be ground

and polished to a smooth and mirror like finish.

• Following this, surface treatment using a chemical reagent to

etch the grains is to be done.

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Microscopic Examination – Optical Microscopy

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 Microscopic Examination – Electron Microscopy

Scanning Electron Microscopy:

 The surface of the specimen is
scanned and the reflected beam of
electrons is collected to be displayed
on a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
 Only surface features of the
specimen can be viewed.
 The surface has to be electrically
conductive.
 A very thin metallic surface coating
is to be applied for non–conducting
materials.
 Possible magnifications: 50000 X Gold Dendrites on a Carbon Nanotube Yarn

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 Microscopic Examination – Electron Microscopy
• Electron beams are incident on the sample
instead of light. Electron beams can have
wavelengths in the order of picometers.

• This gives a very good magnification of the

sample under observation.

• Transmission Electron Microscopy:

 Electron beam passes through the
specimen.
 Specimens should be in the form of a
thin foil so as to allow the incident
beam to be transmitted.
 Transmitted beam is projected on to a Atomic resolution TEM image of a triple and a
quadruple line at the interface between Σ3 boundaries
fluorescent screen or a photographic and a Σ9 boundary in nanocrystalline palladium.
film.
 Possible magnifications: 1000000 X

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 Scanning Probe Microscopy

 Based on the deflections of the tip of a

probe that is being scanned over the
surface of specimen.
 Piezoelectric tips transfer these
deflections into electronic signals, which
upon deciphering using a computer
renders 3–D surface images.

Advantages
• Examination on the nanometer scale much
better resolutions
• Three-dimensional – provide topographical
information
• variety of environments (e.g., vacuum, air,
liquid) – specimen may be examined in its
most suitable environment.
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 Grain size determination

1. Draw lines of equal length on the

photomicrograph.

2. Count the number of grains intersected by

each of these line segment and take an
average.

3. Divide the line segment length with this

average number.

4. Divide this grain size with the magnification

of the micrograph.

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 Grain size determination

Grain size number is used extensively in the specification of steels

n represent the grain size number, and N the average number

of grains per square inch at a magnification of 100

Magnification 100x Magnification other than 100x

Example
Determine the ASTM grain size number of a metal specimen if 45 grains
per square inch are measured at a magnification of 100

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 Microscopic Examination – Summary

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 Microscopic Examination – Summary

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Mechanical Properties of Materials
 Mechanical Properties of Materials
Important mechanical properties in today’s engineering applications

• Strength - Ability to withstand or support external forces or load without

rupture
• Hardness - Ability to resist deformation by abrasion, indentation or penetration
and scratching by harder bodies.
• Ductility - Ability to undergo appreciable plastic deformation before rupture

• Brittleness - Ability to fracture when deformed. Opposite to ductility

• Toughness - Ability to absorb maximum energy up to fracture. Must be strong

and ductile to be tough. Shows ability to withstand impact, Value
increase when temperature increase
• Resilience - Ability to absorb energy when it is elastically deformed.

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 Mechanical Properties of Materials
Important mechanical properties in today’s engineering applications

• Elasticity - Ability to retain its original shape and size after removal of load

• Plasticity - Ability to experience permanent deformation without fracture when

subjected to external forces
• Malleability - Ability to be deformed into thin sheets by rolling or hammering
without fracture
• Machinability - Ability to be cut or removed by cutting tools in various
machining operations.
• Weldability - Ability to 2 similar or dissimilar metals to be joined by fusion and
with or without filler
• Castability - Ability to be formed into different shapes and sizes from its liquid
state

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 Mechanical Properties of Materials
• Certain Standards have to be following to do Laboratory testing to determine the
mechanical properties.

• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM – http://www.astm.org).

• An engineer’s role is to determine the stress distribution and deflections in the

component/member that is being designed. These aspects will be discussed in a
detailed course “Mechanics of Materials”.

• Materials and Metallurgical engineers are concerned with producing and

fabricating materials to suit a particular application.

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 Mechanical Properties of Materials

Types of loads:

• Static

• Dynamic – Impact, variable loading, deformation at constant load (creep), Wind,

Seismic

A material may show different response to different kinds of forces such as

compressive, tensile and shear of same magnitude can be different (e.g., wood).

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 Concept of Stress

Stress is a physical quantity that expresses the internal resistive forces per unit
area, that neighboring particles of a continuous material exert on each other

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 Types of Stress

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 Types of Stress

Tensile normal Compressive Combined Stress

stress normal stress

Shear stress due to a shear force

Torsion
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