AMIE(I) STUDY CIRCLE(REGD.

)
A Focused Approach
Dated: 02-08-08
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Additional Course Material

Defects in Solids
Sessile Dislocation
Consider the dislocations moving on non parallel planes of an FCC crystal. The slip planes in
FCC belong to {111} family. Let a dislocation of Burger vector [ 0 11 ] moving on [111]
plane meet another dislocation of Burger vector 1/2[10 1] moving on (1 11) plane along the
line of intersection of these two planes. These two dislocations can interact and produce a
third dislocation with a decrease in potential energy
1 1 1
[0 11] + [10 1] [1 10]
2 2 2
The strain energy decreases by 50% during this dislocation reaction. As the Burgers vector
of the product dislocation lies in neither of these two slip planes, it becomes immobile
(sessile). Once the sessile dislocation forms by the dislocation reaction given above, it acts as
an obstacle to the oncoming dislocations from the respective sources, which gets piled up
against the obstacle. A back stress builds up and the dislocation sources stop operating.

Mechanical Properties
Fracture Toughness

Example (AMIE Summer 2008, 5 marks)

A sample of glass has a crack of half length 2 m. The Youngs modulus of the glass is 70
GNm-2 and the specific surface energy is 1 Jm-2. Estimate its fracture strength.

Solution

The formula for critical fracture stress is

2 Y
s =
c
where is surface energy per unit area.

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 AMIE(I) STUDY CIRCLE(REGD.)
A Focused Approach
Putting values

2 x1x 70 x109
f = 6
= 150 MNm 2
3.14 x 2 x10

Problem

A sheet of glass has an internal crack equal to 2 m. What stress should be applied along an
axis inclined at 600 to the crack surface to cause fracture? Y = 70 GN and = 1 Jm-2.
Answer: 149 MNm-2

Electronic Properties of Materials

Additional paragraph

Semiconductor Devices
Solar Cells. There are a variety of different devices which use sunlight to generate power,
but the basic concept of a solar cell is as follows. In a photovoltaic (PV) or solar cell, there
are two layers of silicon. Both are doped, or lightly mixed, with a certain element. Typically,
one side is doped with boron and the other with arsenic.
Because of the way each element bonds to the silicon, the layer containing boron, called the
n-type layer, has a surplus of free electrons. The other side, the p-type layer, has a deficit of
electrons. These deficits are called holes. The p-type layer and n-type layer are pressed
closely against each other and linked by a wire connected to an external load. This creates a
circuit in the solar cell.
When sunlight of the right energy level hits the n-type layer, which is on top of the solar cell,
it excites some of the free electrons, which break loose from their natural state -- pairs -- and
flow across the boundary between the layers to create a current. This only works if the two
layers of the solar cell are pressed directly into each other. This is usually accomplished by
fabricating both sides as part of the same process.

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