Theoritical Cohesive Strength of Metal:

Metals/materials are of great technological values b/c of

their strength combined with a certain measure of
plasticity.
In the most basic term strength is due to the
cohesive force b/w the atoms.
In general

High

force

cohesive

Large elastic constant.(E)

High melting point.
Small coefficient of thermal
expansion

The interatomic force as a function of atomic

separation, provides a measure of atomic bond
strength in an IDEAL MATERIAL/SOLID.
Assumptions in ideal Material/Soild:
Under idealized condition, it is assumed that;
a) No allotropic changes occur as the solid is stretched.
b) The solid is infinite in extent so only one strain
component is important.
c) The temperature is low so that thermally activated
crack nucleation cannot occur.

d) No surface notches, inclusions, or other stress

concentrators are present.
e) Plastic flow does not occur.
f) No chemical reactions between the material and its
environment occur.
ao= interatomic spacing of the atoms in the unstrained
condition.

a
If the crystal is subjected to tensile load, the separation
o

b/w the atoms will be increased. We need to apply a force

greater than the maximum interatomic force in
order to break the bond.

The repulsive forces decrease more rapidly with

increased separation than the attractive force.
So that the net force b/w atoms balances the tensile load.
As the Tensile load increases further, the repulsive force
continues to decrease.

 A point is reached where the repulsive force is negligible

and the attractive force is decreasing b/c of the increased
separation of the atoms.

Figure shows a curve is the resultant of the attractive and

repulsive force b/w the atoms as a function of the
separation b/w the atoms.
This corresponds to the maximum in the curve =
theoretical cohesive strength of the material.(max)