MAE 3344-001

Introduction to Manufacturing Engineering

Structure of Metals: Chapter 1

Sunand Santhanagopalan
Multi-Scale Energy Systems (MuSES) Laboratory
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
University of Texas at Arlington
 Why Study Structures? 2

• Atomic Structure
• Arrangement of atoms influences physical and mechanical properties
• Understanding helps predict and evaluate properties

• Other factors that influence properties and behavior

• Composition, impurities, grain size, grain boundaries, environment, size and
surface conditions, manufacturing processes
 Structures of materials 3

• Atom
• Nucleus—Protons, Neutrons
• Clouds, or orbits—Electrons

• Number of protons in the nucleus

• determines whether atom is metallic, nonmetallic, or semimetallic

• Ion—charged atom
• Anion—excess electrons—negative charge
• Cation—too few electrons—positive charge
• Chemical affinity determined by number of electrons in the outermost orbit

• Molecule
• Multiple atoms held together by attractive forces (bonds) through electron
interaction

Are there particles smaller than protons & neutrons?

 Periodic Table 4

Is the above periodic table correct?

Periodic Table 5
 Atomic Structure 6

Sober Physicists Don't Find Giraffes Hiding In Kitchens

Li – 1s2 2s1

O – 1s2 2s2 2p4

Si - 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p2

 Type of Atomic Bonds 7

• Strong bonds between atoms - Primary Bonds

• Ionic bonds (e.g. NaCl) http://dluetgens.com/userfiles//dogionic.gif
• One or more electrons from an outer orbit transferred to another atom
• Allows formation of crystalline structures
• Generally poor ductility, low thermal, electrical conductivity
• Covalent bonds (e.g. H2O) http://staff.aub.edu.lb/~hyaghi/LessonSamples/Atom/images/dogcovnt.gif
• Electrons in outer orbits shared by atoms
• Number of shared electrons—single bond, double bond, etc.
• Polymers—large molecules—covalent bonds How does
• Generally low electrical conductivity, some high hardness (e.g. diamond)
salt
• Metallic bonds http://66.media.tumblr.com/dddaf20bec9654e7b952bf39d58387b5/tumblr_nv51loh4BD1skn1oxo1_400.gif dissolve in
• Metals have relatively few electrons in outer orbits water?
• Available electrons shared by all atoms in contact
• Electron cloud provides attractive forces
How does
• High thermal and electrical conductivity
sugar
• Weak forces between molecules – Secondary Bonds dissolve in
• Van der Waals forces – Dipole and London forces water?
• Electrostatic attraction - attraction without electron transfer (e.g. H2O) – Hydrogen
bond
 Crystal Structure of Metals 8

• Metals solidify into crystalline structure

• Plays major role in determining properties of a particular metal
• Minimize energy required to fill space

• Unit cell—building block of crystal

• Smallest group of atoms showing characteristic lattice structure

• 3 basic atomic arrangements (crystal Lattice) How many

• Body-centered cubic (bcc) total crystal
• Face-centered cubic (fcc) lattices exist?
• Hexagonal close-packed (hcp)

• Can be modified by alloying

• Allotropism or polymorphism
• Appearance of more than one type of crystal structure
• Important in heat-treating, metalworking, and welding
Crystal Structure of Metals 9
 Single Crystal, Polyscrystalline & 10
Amorphous solids
• Single Crystal
• One single crystal
• No grain boundaries
• Anisotropic

• Polycrystalline
• Neighboring group of
crystals (grains) have
different orientation
• Anisotropic/Isotropic

• Amorphous
• No ordered orientation of Can you make single
crystals crystal bulk material?
• Isotropic
 Single Crystal Materials 11

Single Crystal growth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbBc4ByimY8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjhK2aSV1E

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/rolls-royce-single-crystal-turbine-blade/

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/each-blade-a-single-crystal
 Body-Centered Cubic (bcc) 12

• Examples
• Alpha iron, chromium, molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten, vanadium
 Face-Centered Cubic (fcc) 13

• Examples
• Gamma iron, aluminum, copper, nickel, lead, silver, gold, platinum
 Hexagonal Close-Packed (hcp) 14

• Examples
• Beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, magnesium, alpha titanium, zinc, zirconium

basal planes
 Deformation and Strength of Single 15
Crystals
• Elastic deformation—returns to original shape

• Plastic deformation—permanent—2 mechanisms

• Slip plane movement under shear stress
• Critical shear stress proportional to b/a
• a – spacing of atomic planes
• b – inversely proportional to atomic density in a
plane
• As b/a decreases, critical shear stress decreases
• Slip in single crystal takes place along planes of maximum
atomic density—in closely packed planes, in closely packed
directions
• When b/a varies in different directions—anisotropy

• Twinning (usually hcp metals)

• Portion of crystal forms mirror image of itself
 Slip Systems 16

• Combination of slip plane and its direction of slip

• Generally, 5 or more slip systems—ductile

• bcc—48 slip systems

• Probability high that external shear stress operates on a slip system
• High b/a—critical shear stress is high
• Generally, good strength and moderate ductility—can have high ductility at elevated
temperature

• fcc—12 slip systems

• Probability moderate that external shear stress operates on a slip system
• Low b/a—critical shear stress is low
• Generally, moderate strength and good ductility

• hcp—3 slip systems

• Probability low that external shear stress operates on a slip system
• More slip systems become active at elevated temperature
• Generally, brittle at room temp

Which structure is most ductile and why?

 Imperfections in Crystal Structure 17

• Actual strength of metals 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than molecular

dynamics theory predicts

• Due to defects, imperfections

• Point defects—vacancy, interstitial atom, impurity
• Linear—1-D defects—dislocations
• Planar—2-D imperfections—grain, phase boundaries
• Volume (bulk) imperfections—voids, inclusions, other phases, cracks

• Structure sensitive—mechanical and electrical properties

• Structure insensitive—physical and chemical properties, elastic constants

Point Defects 18
 Dislocations 19

• Defects in the orderly arrangement of a metal’s atomic structure

• Slip plane containing dislocation requires less shear stress to allow slip than
does perfect lattice
• Most significant defect to explain discrepancy between theoretical and
actual metal strength
• 2 types
• Edge
• Screw
 Dislocations 20

Edge Dislocation
 Work Hardening 21

• Dislocations can
• Become entangled and interfere with each other
• Be impeded by internal barriers (e.g. grain boundaries, impurities, inclusions)

• Increased shear stress required to overcome entanglements and impediments

• Greater deformation—greater entanglement—higher strength increase

• Used for strengthening in metalworking processes at ambient temperature

• Cold rolling (sheet metal)
• Drawing for cross section reduction (wire)

In standard stress-strain curve for a ductile material, does the material

undergo work hardening and if yes can we locate that on the curve?
 Grains and Grain Boundaries 22

(a) Nucleation of crystals at random sites in the molten metal; note that the crystallographic
orientation of each site is different.
(b) and (c) Growth of crystals as solidification continues.
(d) Solidified metal, showing individual grains and grain boundaries; note the different angles at
which neighboring grains meet each other.
Single crystal is anisoptropic—Polycrystalline generally isotropic

• If nucleation rate (sites) high

• number of grains per unit volume large, grain size small
• If crystal growth rate high—fewer grains per unit volume, grain size larger
• Rapid cooling
• smaller grains
• Slow cooling—larger grains
 Grain Size 23

• Influences mechanical properties of

metals
• Large grain size—low strength,
low hardness, ductility?
• Measured by
• counting number of grains in a
given area, or by
• Counting number of grains that
intersect a length of line randomly
drawn on enlarged photograph
• ASTM grain size number, n
• Related to number of grains, N, per
square inch at 100x magnification
by

It says above that larger grain size results in low strength… what
happens to ductility?
How do you measure grain size
 Influence of Grain Boundaries 24

• Influence
• Strength, Ductility, Strain hardening—Interfere with dislocation movement
• Boundaries more reactive than grains, have lower energy than atoms in
orderly lattice
• More easily removed, chemically bonded to another atom
• Grain boundary sliding—elevated temperatures, rate dependent properties
(e.g. creep)
• Grain boundary embrittlement—
• Liquid metal: normally ductile, strong metal can crack at low stress when
exposed to certain low-melting point metals
• Hot shortness: under plastic deformation at elevated temperature, metal
crumbles along grain boundaries due to local melting of constituent or impurity
below melting temperature of metal itself
• Temper: Movement of impurities in grain boundaries, alloy steels
 Plastic Deformation of Polycrystalline 25
Metals
• Cold Working
• E.g. forging or stretch forming
• Before—equiaxed grains
• During—grain boundaries remain
intact, mass continuity maintained
• After—grain boundaries aligned
along horizontal direction—
preferred orientation
• Strength increased due to
entanglement of dislocations
• Anisotropy—degree depends on
temperature and uniformity of
deformation process
 Plastic Deformation of Polycrystalline 26
Metals
• Anisotropy—bulge test
 Plastic Deformation of Polycrystalline 27
Metals
• Preferred orientation—crystallographic anisotropy
– Like single crystal deformation, slip planes and slip bands in
polycrystalline material align with general direction of
deformation under tensile force
– Align perpendicular to compressive force

• Mechanical fibering
– Anisotropy from alignment of inclusions, impurities and voids in
the metal during deformation
 Annealing 28

• Possible to reverse effects of plastic deformation

– Annealing—heating to specific temperature range for period of time
– 3 stages
• Recovery
• Recrystallization—decreases density of dislocations, lowers
strength, raises ductility
• Grain Growth

Generally, is annealing used to make material stronger or

weaker?
 Annealing 29

0.3Tm 0.5Tm

Strain-free

Polygonization—subgrain
boundaries begin to form
 Recrystallization 30

• Function of time—diffusion process—exchange atoms across grain

boundaries
• For constant amount of cold work deformation, recrystallization time
decreases with increasing temperature
• Recrystallization temperature—generally defined as recystallization occurs
within one hour
– Depends on degree of prior cold work—more cold work, lower
temperature required
• Higher amount of deformation, smaller the grain size becomes during
recrystallization
• Usually some anisotropy remains after recrystallization

Explain the 3 statements above in bold red

 Grain Growth 31

• Temperature raised further—grains begin to grow, may exceed

original grain size
• Adversely affects mechanical properties
• Large grains produce rough surface—orange peel—when
stretched or deformed
 Cold, Warm, Hot Working 32

• Cold working—usually room temperature

• Hot working—above recrystallization temperature
• Warm working—intermediate temperatures
 Summary 33

• Types of atomic bonds

• Crystal structure of metals
• Deformation and strength of single crystals
• Grains and grain boundaries
• Plastic deformation of polyscrystalline metals
• Recovery, recrystallization and grain growth
• Cold, warm and hot working
 Recap: Chapter 1 34

• Why study structures? • Deformation and strength of single

• 3 properties that it crystal
affects? • Elastic
• Plastic
• Atoms and atomic bonds • Slip plane movement – b/a?
• Atomic structure • Twinning
• Ionic, covalent and metallic • Twinning more likely in FCC or
bonds HCP
• Which is strongest?
• Slip Systems
• Crystal structures for metals? • Which crystal structure has the
• FCC, BCC, HCP most?
• How many atoms in each • Which structure is most ductile?
structure? Why?
• Alloying, Anisotropic behavior • Imperfections
• Point, Linear, Planar, Volume
• Point – Vacancy, impurity….
• Linear – Edge & Screw
• Work hardening?
 Recap: Chapter 1 35

• Grains and Grain boundaries… • Plastic deformation…

• Nucleation sites high • Is anisotropy possible?
• Large no. of grains • How?
• Grain size small • Preferred orientation
• Slow cooling • Tensile force – align
• Larger grains parallel
• Compressive force –
• Grain Size align perpendicular
• Large size – low strength • Mechanical fibering
• Can a crack propagate due to
• Grain Boundaries anisotropy?
• Are they more reactive than
ordered atoms?
• Annealing…
• Is sliding possible?
• Recovery
• Embrittlement
• Recrystallization
• Liquid metal
• Temperature?
• Hot shortness
• More cold work – lower
• Temper
temperature
• Grain growth

• Cold, Warm, Hot working…

 Some Questions 36

• How many atoms in the unit cells of BCC, FCC and HCP lattice structures? Why
can polycrystalline materials be isotropic or anisotropic?
• For single crystal solids, one mechanism for plastic deformation is by slip plane
movement. Can this occur with tensile forces?
• In plastic deformation by slip plane movement, what is the ratio b/a. Why does the
critical shear stress decrease with decreasing b/a ratio?
• The BCC lattice structure has the most slip planes (48). Why is the FCC structure
more ductile than BCC?
• Give an example each for when a point and linear defect can be advantageous? –Do
edge and screw dislocations cause the material to deform with lower force. Why?
• Would rapid cooling for solidification cause more or less number of grains?
• Will large grain size increase/decrease strength and ductility of material. Why?