Mechanisms of Strengthening in Metals

• It’s important to understand the relation between

dislocation motion and mechanical behaviour of
metals.
• The ability of a metal to plastically deform depends
on the ability of dislocations to move.
• By reducing the mobility of dislocations, the
mechanical strength may be enhanced.
1. Grain size reduction
2. Solid-solution strengthening
3. Strain hardening/cold working
4. Precipitation hardening/strengthening (Chp. 11.9)

1
 Strategies for Strengthening:
1: Grain Size Reduction
• Grain boundaries are barriers to slip.

• Dislocations moving along on a particular

slip plane cannot go directly from one
grain into another.

• Slip planes are discontinuous and

change directions across the boundary
• Barrier "strength" increases with
increasing angle of mis-orientation.
Adapted from Fig. 7.14, Callister 7e.
(Fig. 7.14 is from A Textbook of Materials
Technology, by Van Vlack, Pearson Education,
Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.)

• Smaller grain size  area of grain boundaries increases

 more barriers to dislocation motion
 greater forces/stresses will be required to initiate plastic deformation.
2
 1. Grain Size Reduction
The Hall-Petch relation predicts that as the grain size decreases,
the yield strength increases

ky
 y  o 
d
*E O Hall 1951 and N J Petch 1953
d is the average grain diameter
 0 and k y are constants for a particular material

3
 1. Grain Size Reduction
Determine values for the constants 0 and ky for 70Cu-30Zn
(C2600, or Cartridge) Brass. Grain size
getting smaller

175   0  12k y  1 ky
 y  o 
d
75   0  4k y  2
 y
1  2 , 100  8k y
 y
100 MPa 1
ky  

8 mm

1
2
d 2

1
= Slope d 2
 12.5 MPa mm y

From 1 , 175   0  12 12.5 

1
 0  25 MPa
d
4
 1. Grain Size Reduction
Now predict the yield strength of this alloy when the
average grain diameter is 1.0103 mm.
1
k y  12.5 MPa  mm  ky
 y  o 
2

 0  25 MPa d

y ?  y  0 
ky
d
12.5
 25 
1.0  103
 420 MPa

5
 Strategies for Strengthening:
2: Solid Solution Strengthening
• Alloying with impurity atoms distorts the lattice &
generate stress.
• Stress produces a barrier to dislocation motion.
Smaller substitutional impurity Larger substitutional impurity

A C

B D

Impurity generates local stress at A Impurity generates local stress at C

and B that opposes dislocation and D that opposes dislocation
motion to the right. motion to the right.

6
 Stress Concentration at Dislocations
Extra half-plane  causes atomic lattice distortion
around the dislocation line

Above and adjacent to

the dislocation line
Atoms are
squeezed together

Below the half-plane

Atoms sustain an
imposed tensile strain

Adapted from Fig. 7.4,

Callister 7e.

7
 2. Solid Solution Strengthening
Strengthening by Alloying

small impurities

Compression

Adapted from Fig. Tension

7.17, Callister 7e.

(a) Small impurities (b) Smaller impurity atoms tend to be

impose tensile strains situated above the slip plane in an edge
on the surrounding dislocation  tensile strain will partially nullify
host atoms. the dislocation’s compressive strain

8
 2. Solid Solution Strengthening
Strengthening by Alloying
Large impurities

Compression

Tension

Adapted from
Fig. 7.18,
Callister 7e.

(a) Larger impurities impose (b) Large substitutional impurity atoms tend
compressive strains on the to concentrate below the dislocation line to
surrounding host atoms. cancel some of the strains in the lattice

Interactions between these impurities and dislocation

reduce the mobility of dislocation  increase strength
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 Example: Solid Solution Strengthening in
Copper
• Tensile strength & yield strength increase with wt% Ni in Cu.
Tensile strength (MPa)
180

Yield strength (MPa)

Adapted from Fig.
400 7.16 (a) and (b),
Callister 7e.
120
300

200 60
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
wt.% Ni wt.%Ni

• Alloying increases y and TS Pure metals are almost always

softer than their alloys of the
• BUT decreases ductility
same base metal!
Increase concentration of impurity  increase TS & y
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 Strategies for Strengthening:
3. Strain Hardening – COLD WORK
• Achieved by applying a stress that exceeds the
original yield strength
Metal is then plastically deformed
• Simultaneously strengthen the metallic material and
produce desired final shape

• Room temperature deformation – cold working

Original area of Cross sectional area
the cross section after deformation

Ao  Ad
Amount of cold work, %CW   100
Ao

11
 3. Strain Hardening – COLD WORK
Common forming operations change the cross sectional area:
Forging force Rolling
die roll
Ad
A o blank Ad Ao
roll
force
Drawing Extrusion
Ao
die Ad container die holder
Ao tensile force
force ram billet extrusion Ad
die container die
Ao  Ad
%CW   100 Adapted from Fig.
Ao 11.8, Callister 7e.

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 3. Strain Hardening – Processes
Common metalworking methods Deep Drawing

rolling
Metal plate,
sheet, foil

extrusion
Aluminium
beverage cans
direct
Complex
shape, e.g. rods, tubes,
automotive aluminium trims
crankshafts, indirect
connecting
rods Manufacturing
processes that
make use of
Wire or fiber cold working.
©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson
forging drawing Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a
trademark used herein under license.

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 Dislocations During Cold Work
Strain Hardening results in more dislocations
• Cold Worked Ti Alloy – Dislocations entangle with one
another during COLD WORK 
number of dislocation multiplies
– Dislocation density increases and
the average distance between
dislocation decreases
– Dislocation motion is hindered by
other dislocations  the dislocation
motion becomes more difficult
– Thus, the imposed stress to deform
0.9 m
a metal increases
Adapted from Fig. 4.6, Callister 7e.
(Fig. 4.6 is courtesy of M.R. Plichta,
Michigan Technological University.)
increase the strength of the metal
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 Result of Cold Work
total dislocation length
Dislocation density,  d 
unit volume
– Carefully grown single crystal
 ca. 103 mm-2 Cold-worked
– Deforming sample increases d
 109-1010 mm-2
– Heat treatment reduces d
 105-106 mm-2
Hardening  rate at which material
becomes harder to deform

Yield stress increases
y1 large hardening
as d increases: y0 small hardening


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 Impact of Cold Work
As cold work is increased
• Yield strength (y) increases
• Tensile strength (TS) increases EL = elongation
• Ductility (%EL or %AR) decreases AR = reduction in area

Processes:
•Forging
•Rolling
•Extrusion
•Drawing

Adapted from Fig. 7.20,

Callister 7e.

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 Cold Work Analysis
• Consider a copper rod which is to be produced with a
12.2mm diameter from a thicker rod.
• What is the Yield Strength, Tensile Strength & Ductility
after cold working/drawing from 15.2mm to 12.2 mm in
diameter?
Ao  Af
%CW   100
Copper Ao
Cold   d 2 2

 d 
work        
0 f

 2
   2   100
2 
  d0 

Do=15.2mm Df =12.2mm  
  2 

 d02  d f 2 
 100
 d 2 
 0 
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 Cold Work Analysis
Copper
 15.2 2  12.2 2 
Cold %CW   2   100  35.6%
work  15.2 
36%CW  Yield Strength ? Tensile
Do=15.2mm Df =12.2mm
Strength? Ductility?

yield strength (MPa) tensile strength (MPa) ductility (%EL)

60
700 800

500 600 40 Post-Work

300MPa Cu Ductility is
300 Cu 400 340MPa 20
HAMMERED
Cu
100 7%
0 20 40 60 200 00
0 20 40 60 20 40 60
% Cold Work % Cold Work % Cold Work
y = 300MPa TS = 340MPa %EL = 7%

Adapted from Fig.

18
7.19, Callister 7e.
 Exercise:

• Grain size reduction and strain hardening can increase the yield strength
of a material.

Briefly explain the mechanism involved in these two

metal strengthening methods.

19
 Strategies for Strengthening:
4. Precipitation Strengthening
• Involves formation of extremely small uniformly
dispersed particles of a second-phase within the
original phase matrix
• Must be accomplished by appropriate heat treatment
• These second-phase precipitates are effective
dislocation barriers and lead to a substantial hardening
of the alloy.
• e.g. Al-Cu, Cu-Be, Cu-Sn, Mg-Al, Ti-alloys.
• Since this precipitation takes time, this process is also
termed age-hardening

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 4. Precipitation Strengthening

• Hard precipitates are difficult to shear.

e.g: Ceramics in metals (SiC in Iron or Aluminum).

precipitate

Side View

Large shear stress needed to move dislocation toward

precipitate and shear it

21
 Precipitation Strengthening – Application

• Internal wing structure on Boeing 767

Adapted from chapter-
opening photograph,
Chapter 11, Callister 5e.
(courtesy of G.H.
Narayanan and A.G.
Miller, Boeing Commercial
Airplane Company.)

• Aluminum is strengthened with precipitates formed by alloying.

Light matrix Precipitates

phase is an Al
solid solution Adapted from Fig.
11.26, Callister 7e.
(Fig. 11.26 is courtesy
of G.H. Narayanan
and A.G. Miller,
Boeing Commercial
Airplane Company.)
1.5m

22
 Many engineering materials can be strengthened through
various hardening mechanisms
– however, an increase in strength almost always results
in a decrease in ductility
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
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