Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Met 5a
Met 5a
Mechanisms
The mechanical properties of a material are controlled by the
microstructure. Tensile strength is controlled by the work‐hardening
rate.
The work‐hardening rate controls the amount of uniform deformation
(elongation). The higher the elongation, the tougher the material and
the greater deformability.
The ability of a metal to plastically deform depends on the ability of
dislocations to move.
Reducing or inhibiting mobility of dislocations enhances mechanical
strength.
Four main ways of controlling the strength: (a) Solid Solution
Hardening; (b) Grain Boundaries; (c) Precipitation hardening and (d)
Work Hardening (Dislocation Hardening)
Strengthening in crystals results from the restriction of
dislocation motion.
We can restrict dislocation motion by altering, promoting, or adding:
Bond type: Choice of basic material
Dislocation‐ dislocation interactions: Work hardening
Grain boundaries : Hall‐Petch relationship
Solute atoms: Solid solution hardening
Precipitates or dispersed particles : Precipitation hardening or
dispersion hardening
Phase changes: Transformation hardening or toughening.
How can we do to increase strength?
• GENERAL
One simple method is to place obstacles in the path of dislocations
that will either slow them down or stop them completely until the
stress is high enough to move them further. This works for crystals!
In non‐crystalline materials we do different things.
• SPECIFIC
Dislocations distort the crystal lattice.
Various obstacles also distort the crystal lattice.
Stress/strain fields from both will interact with each other, which
reduces v (the dislocation velocity).
This in effect increases the stress required to cause the material to
“flow” (i.e., it increases the flow stress) and thus the “strength” of the
material.
General model for strengthening (1)
REFERENCE: L.M. Brown and R.K. Ham, in Strengthening Mechanisms in Crystals, edited by A. Kelly and R.B.
Nicholson, Wiley, New York, 1971, pp. 9‐70.
Consider a slip plane that contains a random array of obstacles. We
don’t care what the obstacles are at this point.
As the dislocations are being anchor by the Gb ⎛ φc ⎞
obstacles, extra “work” is required to move the τ ≅ ' Cos⎜ ⎟
L ⎝2⎠
dislocation through the array of obstacles. This
results in a higher stress to cause “flow”. Gb
τ Max =
SOLID SOLUTION STRENGTHENING L
•Impurity atoms that go into solid solution impose
lattice strains on surrounding host atoms
•Lattice strain field interactions between
dislocations and impurity atoms result in
restriction of dislocation movement
•This is one of the most powerful reasons to make
alloys, which have higher strength than pure
metals.
•Example: 24k gold is too soft. If we put in 16% silver and 9% copper,
we get an alloy that looks just like pure gold, but is much more strong
and durable. We call this 18k gold. (18/24 = 75% gold)
There are two types of solid solutions:
Substitutional Solid Solution: Solute and solvent atoms are roughly
of the same size and the solute atoms will replace the solvent
atoms in its position in the crystal structure.
Interstitial Solids Solution: The solute atoms are smaller than the
solvent atoms and they will occupy interstitial positions in the
solvent lattice.
Substitutional Ni/Cu
Interstitial
C/Fe
The factors that control the tendency for the formation of
substitutional solid solutions are given by the Hume‐Rothery Rules.
Factors for high solubility in Substitutional alloys
(Hume‐Rothery Solubility Rules)
•Similar atomic size (to within 15%)
•Similar crystal structure
•Similar electronegativity (otherwise a compound is formed)
•Similar valence
Composition can be expressed in weight percent, useful when
making the solution, and in atomic percent, useful when trying
to understand the material at the atomic level.
Example
Ni is completely miscible in Cu (all rules apply)
Zn is partially miscible in Cu (different valence, different crystal
structure)
Ni ‐ Cu binary isomorphous Limited solubility
alloy (eutectic) alloys
Ni Cu Pb Cu
crystal structure FCC FCC FCC FCC
atomic radius 0.125 0.128 0.175 0.128
2.4% 36.7%
electronegativities 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.8
valence 2 + 2 + 2+, 4+ 2 +
Solid Solution:
homogeneous
maintain crystal structure
contain randomly dispersed impurities
(substitutional or interstitial)
Second Phase: as solute atoms are added, new compounds /
structures are formed, or solute forms local precipitates
Why it works??
Small atoms like to live
here. (they reduce lattice
strain caused by the
dislocation).
Big atoms (or interstitials)
like to live here (there is
more space.)
Atoms of either type diffuse to dislocations during high temperature
processing, then exert forces on the dislocation later to keep them
stuck.
The Principle
• Any inhomogeneity in a crystal lattice will create a strain field
within a lattice.
• Dislocations will interact with those strain fields.
• The type of interaction will determine the degree of hardening
or softening.
• In general, solute atoms increase the strengths of crystals.
However, under the right conditions they can decrease the
strength.
• The increase arises due to:
– Short range ┴ ‐ solute interactions
– Long range ┴ ‐ solute interactions
• Dislocations will interact with solutes that lie on, above, and
below slip planes. The most intense interactions will occur in close
proximity to the slip plane.
•Small impurity atoms exert tensile strains (see figure below)
•Large impurity atoms exert compressive strains
•Solute atoms tend to
diffuse and segregate
around dislocations to
reduce overall strain energy
– cancel some of the strain
in the lattice due to the
dislocations.
Compressive Strains
Imposed by Larger
Substitutional Atoms
Add nickel to copper, strength goes
up, ductility goes down ‐ for the
same reason: dislocation mobility is
decreased.
Note: trade‐off in properties
The usual effect of solute addition is
to raise the yield stress and the level
of stress‐strain curve as a whole.
Since solute atoms affect the entire stress‐strain curve, these atoms have more
influence on the frictional resistance to the dislocation motion than on the static
locking of the dislocations.
According to their strengthening effect solute atoms fall into two
broad categories:
•Solute atoms that produce dilatational strains or spherical or
symmetrical distortions, such as substitute atoms. Their relative
contribution to the strengthening is low G/10.
•Solute atoms that produce distortional (shear) strains or non‐
spherical or non‐symmetrical distortions, such as the interstitial
atoms. Their relative contribution to the strengthening is high 3G.
Elements in solid solution usually strengthen crystals.
For substitutional solutions, the yield strength increases Δτ 4
in proportion to their concentration of solutes. = CG ε 3
Δc
Where c is the concentration of solute expressed as an δa
atomic fraction, ε is the misfit parameter, C is a constant ε = a
and G is the shear modulus. δc
The effect of substitutional solutes is mainly attributable to interaction
of the solutes with the dilatational stress field around edge
dislocations. Substitutional solutes have little interaction with screw
dislocations.
Hence, substitutional and interstitial solutes are often consider to
function as local elastic distortions within alloys.
The interaction of the solutes with the dislocations depends on the
character of the elastic strain field around the dislocation. The elastic
strain fields of edge and screw dislocations are profoundly different.
For a screw dislocation with a z‐axis For an edge dislocation with a z‐axis
parallel to the dislocation line. parallel to the dislocation line.
The graph below shows how different alloying additions affect the yield strength of a
ferrite + pearlite structural steel.
Strengthening due to different defects
(Typical Values)
The more potent strengtheners are the defects that produce
non‐symmetrical strain fields (i.e., those with large shear components)
The strengthening potency of interstitials is usually much greater Δτ
than that of substitutional solutes. The solubility of interstitials is
normally very small. The strengthening potency is expressed as: c
Where c is the fraction of interstitial solute and Δτ = τ − τ ini
The strengthening potency for interstitial solutes is at least an
order of magnitude greater than that for substitutional
strengthening.
The magnitude of the misfit strain also plays a role
Δa
τ = τ initial + ξGε f
misfit c g
ε=
a
• Solid solution strengthening is dominated by type 1 and 2
interactions.
• Type 1, 2, and 6 interactions are “long range,” which means that
they are relatively insensitive to temperature and are strong up to
~0.6 – 0.7TMP.
• Type 3, 4, and 5 interactions are “short range,” which means that
they will contribute strongly to flow stress at low temperatures.
The Size Effect & Interstitial
Strain Field Shape
• The shape of the strain fields
caused by defects and those around Big
dislocations have a significant Substitutional
impact on the strength of a solid.
• Substitutional solutes generally
stretch the lattice uniformly
producing hydrostatic (spherical) Small
strain fields around the solutes. Substitutional
• These hydrostatic strain fields are
relative “weak” obstacles to
further dislocation motion in
comparison to shear strain fields.
Edge dislocations have both
dilatational and shear (i.e.,
distortional) strain fields.
Screw dislocations only have
shear strain fields.
• There is an interaction between the strain fields around solute
atoms and the strain fields around dislocations. This interaction is
based on reducing the strain energy associated with dislocations and
solute atoms.
• Using an edge dislocation in this example, the region above an edge
dislocation is in compression. The region below the core is in tension.
Solute atoms with dilatational strain fields will interact with these
regions to cancel out strain and thus reduce the elastic strain energy
of the system.
• Both attractive and repulsive forces between solutes and
dislocations will inhibit the motion of dislocations, thus increasing
strength.
Strain fields around solutes
• FCC lattice : Substitutional solute: dilatational strain. Interstitial
solute: dilatational strain.
• BCC lattice : Substitutional solute: dilatational strain. Interstitial
solute: distortional (shear) strain. This component is asymmetric!
• What interactions might be expected between solutes and
dislocations in different lattices?
• FCC Lattice: Screw dislocations – little or no interactions with
solutes. Edge dislocations – strong interactions with both types of
solutes
• BCC Lattice: Edge dislocations – strong interactions with both types
of solutes. Screw dislocations – strong interactions with interstitial
solutes
• Considering these interactions, what do you think might happen in
an HCP lattice? Which solutes will cause the most potent hardening?
Modulus interaction
Since solute atoms generally have different shear moduli than the
solvent atoms, they impose additional strain fields on the lattice of the
surrounding matrix.
Modulus interactions occur if the presence of a solute atom changes
the local modulus of the crystal.
When solutes with smaller shear moduli than the solvent (i.e., Gsolute <
Gsolvent), the energy of the strain fields around dislocations will be
reduced (i.e., elastic strain energy is reduced) which causes an
attraction between the solutes and the dislocations.
Both edge and screw dislocations are subject to this interaction.
Size and modulus effects are detailed in some of Fleischer’s classic
papers: (a) R.L. Fleischer, “Solution Hardening,” Acta Metallurgica, 9 (1961) pp. 996‐1000.
(b) R.L. Fleischer, “Solution Hardening by Tetragonal Distortions: Application to Irradiation
Hardening in Face Centered Cubic Crystals,” Acta Metallurgica, 10 (1962) pp. 835‐842.(c) R.L.
Fleischer, “Substitutional Solution Hardening,” Acta Metallurgica, 11 (1963) pp. 203‐210.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of solid solution strengthening depends upon the size
mismatch and the modulus mismatch between foreign atoms and parent atoms.
Strains induced by lattice and modulus mismatch
Lattice misfit strains are proportional to the local 1 δa
change in lattice parameter per unit concentration of ε Lattice =
solute. This can be expressed as (where a is the lattice a δc
parameter of the solute and c is the concentration of
solute). 1 δG
ε Modulus =
The equation describing the modulus interaction is G δc
similar:
The modulus interaction energy can be either positive
or negative depending upon the sign of εmodulus. ε S = ε mod ulus − βε Lattice
l
Common examples of tetragonal defects include interstitial solutes
in BCC metals and interstitial‐vacancy pairs in FCC metals.
Hardening by interstitials is about 50 times more efficient than
hardening by substitutional atoms.
The general strengthening equation for “conventional” 3
substitutional solid solution strengthening has been τ Gε S2
y = c
estimated by Fleischer. It is: 700
Solid‐Solution Strengthening: Size‐ and Modulus‐ effect
Cu modulus effect εs ≅| εG − 3εb | Tetragonal distortion for Cu
1 dG 1 da
εG = εb =
G dc a dc
4πr 3
δV ~ (3εb )
3
R. Flescher, Acta Metall. 11, 203 (1963)
Tetragonal defects are “strong” obstacles to dislocation glide.
Substitutional atoms produce spherical/uniform lattice strains and are
“weak” obstacles.
Other types of solid solution strengthening/hardening
• Stacking Fault Energy (SFE) ; In materials containing stacking faults,
solute atoms can preferentially segregate to the stacking fault (e.g.,
Suzuki atmospheres) or may be repelled away from them.
This lowers the SFE for the solid which can lead to hardening.
• Order hardening ; Atomic ordering can also produce significant
strengthening. Short range order interaction arises from the
tendency of solute atoms to arrange themselves so that they have
more than the equilibrium number of dissimilar neighbors. The
opposite of short‐range‐order is clustering where the solute atoms
tend to group together in regions of the lattice.
Long range order arises from alloys that form superlattices (long
range periodic arrangement of dissimilar atoms). The movement of
dislocations through the superlattice creates regions of disorder
called anti‐phase boundaries (APB) because the atoms across the slip
plane have become out‐of‐phase.
Mechanical Effects Associated with Solid Solutions
Well defined Yield Point in the stress‐strain curve
Curve characteristic for annealed low‐carbon steel. There are two main
theories (a) Cottrell‐Bilby: Dislocations in annealed steels (~107cm‐2)
are locked by solute atoms (C and N have a greater mobility). When
the stress is increased it reaches a point when the dislocation is unlock.
The stress required to move an unlocked dislocation is less than the
stress necessary to free them causing a yield drop.
Without yield point With yield point
A: Yield stress (offset) E: Rupture stress*
B: Upper yield point F: Uniform strain
C: Lower yield point* G: Strain‐to‐failure*
D: Yield stress (proportional) H: Lüders strain
D’: Ultimate tensile Strength Area under curve:* Work of fracture,
Toughness (not same as Fracture
Toughness)
Yield Point Phenomenon
Metals, particularly low‐carbon steel, show a localized heterogeneous
transition from elastic to plastic deformation. Yield point elongation.
The load after the upper yield point suddenly drop to approximately
constant value (lower yield point) and then rises with further strain.
The elongation which occurs at constant load is called the yield‐point
elongation, which are heterogeneous deformation.
Lüder bands or stretcher
strains are formed at
approximately 45o to
the tensile axis during
yield point elongation
and propagate over the
specimen.
Plateau in the stress‐strain curve after the well‐defined Yield Point
or Luders Bands
In the stress‐strain curve a plateau region in which the load fluctuates
around a certain value follows the load drop. The elongation that
occurs in this plateau is called the yield‐point elongation. It
corresponds to a region of non‐homogeneous deformation. A
deformation band appears and it propagates through the test sample.
The deformation is restricted to the interface.
This deformation band is known as the Luders Band.
Luders band formation during the stamping of low carbon steels
lead to irregularities in the final sheet thickness. It can be overcome
by (a) Changing the alloy composition to eliminate the yield point
(steel with small additions of Ti, Al, V, Nb, etc); (b) pre‐stressing the
sheet above its yield point.
The upper yield point
The onset of general yielding occurs at a stress where tha average
dislocation sources can create slip bands through a good volume of the
material. σ = σ + σ
y s i
The upper yield point is associated with small amounts of interstitial or
substitutional impurities. The solute atoms (C or N) in low carbon steel,
lock the dislocations, raise the initial yield stress.
The breakaway stress required to pull a dislocation line away from a line
of solute atoms is A
σ≈ 2 2 A = 4Gba ε 3
b ro
a is the atomic radius; ro is the distance from the line of the
dislocation to the solute atom; ε is the misfit strain and b the Burger’s
vector ;
When the dislocation is pulled free from the solute atoms, slip can
occur at lower stress. The lower yield point.
The magnitude of the yield‐point effect depends on interaction
energy, concentration of solute atoms.
Strain Ageing
A steel subjected to a tensile test was stopped unloaded and reloaded
immediately. Upon reloading the sample did not show a well‐defined
yield‐point. However, on reloading after waiting for certain time (3
hours) the stress‐strain curve showed a well defined yield point and a
plateau. This phenomenon is known as strain ageing. It is explained by
the migration of interstitial atoms to the dislocation during the test
stoppage, leading to dislocation.
Strain ageing is a phenomenon in which the metal increase in strength
while losing ductility after being heated at relatively low temperature
or cold‐working.
This reappearance of the yield point is due to the diffusion of C and N
atoms to anchor the dislocations.
N has more strain ageing effect in iron than C due to a higher
solubility and diffusion coefficient.
Stretcher strains
Strain ageing should be eliminated in deep drawing steel since it leads
to surface marking or stretcher strains.
To solve the problem, the amount of C and N should be lowered by
adding elements such as Al, V, Ti, B to form carbides or nitrides.
H = yield‐point
elongation
Serrated Stress‐Strain Curve
This are manifestations of the Portevin‐Le Chatelier Effect. These
irregularities can be caused by the interaction of solute atoms with
dislocations, mechanical twinning, stress assisted martensitic
transformation. The first type is known as the P‐LeCh effect. It occurs
within a specific temperature and strain rate range. Solute atoms being
able to diffuse in the sample at a speed greater than the displacement
speed of the dislocations.
Blue Brittleness
Carbon steels heated in the range 230 and 370oC show a notable
reduction in elongation. This phenomenon is due to the interaction of
dislocations in motion with the solute atoms (C and N). When the
speed of the interstitial atoms is more than that of the dislocations,
the latter are continually capture by the former.
Blue brittleness occurs in plain carbon steel in which discontinuous
yielding appears in the temperature range 500 to 650 K.
During this blue brittleness region, steels show
• Decreased tensile ductility.
• Decreased notched‐impact resistance.
• Minimum strain rate sensitivity.
Note: This is just an accelerated strain aging by temperature.
STRENGTHENING BY GRAIN SIZE REDUCTION
The strengthening in polycrystals due to
grain boundaries has been experimentally
established ever since Hall (Hall 1951; Petch Before
1953) proposed his relation between the deformation
grain size and the yield stress.
After deformation
All of the stretching is away from the
grain boundaries.
Dislocation motion takes place when a
critical resolved shear stress is reached.
Dislocations cannot penetrate grain
boundaries, because the crystal planes
are discontinuous at the g.b..
Therefore, making a smaller grain size
increases strength (more obstacles and
shorter mean slip distance).
Adapted from Fig. 7.12, Callister 6e.
•Grain boundaries are barriers to slip. (Fig. 7.12 is from A Textbook of Materials Technology, by Van
Vlack, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.)
•Barrier "strength“ increases with
misorientation.
slip plane B
•Smaller grain size: more barriers to in
a
slip. gr
grain A
gr
• Hall‐Petch Equation:
ain
−1/ 2
σ yield = σo + k y d
bo
u
Why?
nd
ar
y
Dislocation‐G.B. Interactions
G.B. impede motion of dislocations along
entire length of disl. Line.
• Expect G.B. to be more efficient at
pinning than dislocation obstacles.
Stress to activate dislocation motion for a
given grain increases with number of
dislocations pile‐up at the GB due to
stress concentration.
For infinite grain, YS is intrinsic value of single crystal slip.
For finite and decreasing grain size, YS increases. From Ian Robertson, UIUC
Influence of grain size on yield
strength (brass)
Strength triples as grain size
goes from 100 μm to 5 μm.
0.75mm
Fig. 4.11(c), Callister 6e.
d = grain size
Note how intercept depends on
temperature. Slope doesn’t.
N.J. Petch, Fracture, Proceedings of Swampscott Conference 1959, p. 54.
Of the different models to explain the Hall‐Petch behaviour, three
fundamentally different approaches can be identified, namely pile‐
up models, dislocation density models and composite models.
Pile‐Up Model (Hall‐1951, with subsequent modifications by Petch‐1953 and Cottrell‐1964).
The basic idea is that dislocations are assumed to pile‐up against a
grain boundary, thereby causing a stress concentration. When the
stress concentration equals a critical stress, assumed to activate
new dislocation sources, yielding starts in the next grain. The
simplest pile‐up we can imagine is a single‐layer pile‐up, as
illustrated in the figure below.
The number of dislocations in a single‐layer pile‐up, as a function of
the applied stress and pile‐up length, has been derived by Eshelby et
al. (Eshelby, Frank et al. 1951). The pile‐up length is then proportional
to the grain size and going through the algebra we can write the
tensile shear stress as:
Attractive features of this theory.
(a)It gives an explanation for the sharp yield point behavior in low‐
carbon steels.
(b)it is consistent with the inhomogeneous nature of plastic
yielding in these steels.
Major drawbacks is that it is not really applicable to all systems
(e.g. fcc‐metals) and there are no direct observations of pile‐ups
reported in the literature.
Dislocation Pileup
d
Grain boundary
Force on lead dislocation
= Nb2τ
Frank‐Read source
τ Frank‐Read source stops
N ……. 3 2 1 emitting dislocations when
back‐stress caused by
source dislocation loops becomes
sufficiently high to shut
τ down source.
Dislocation Pileup
Super‐dislocation, with
d Burgers vector = Nb
When this condition is met,
τ
the dislocation source shuts
down:
N ……. 3 2 1 τ I +τ * = τ
This condition determines
source number of dislocations
τ generated by source.
G ( Nb)
Stress field around dislocation σ ~ Gb / 2πr τr ≈
2πr *
τ * = friction stress
τ I = back stress caused by dislocation pileup
G ( Nb) d/4 Nb
≈
2π(d/ 4 )
Nb
Physical picture # 2: yielding begins when stress from pileup
activates source in neighboring grain
Number of dislocations in
pileup (superdislocation) : Physical picture:
πd (τ − τ *) f*: force on leading dislocation
N= necessary to allow it to escape
2Gb
At yielding,
f* f * = Nb(τ −τ *)
πd (τ −τ *)2
=
2G
τ y = τ * +(2 f * G / π )d −1 / 2
= τ * +k y d −1 / 2
Physical picture # 2: yielding begins when stress from pileup
activates source in neighboring grain
s*: source
s* Stress at source in neighboring
grain due to pileup:
r*
d /2
τ r ≈ (τ − τ *)
r*
Yielding begins once stress
at source reaches threshold:
τ y = τ * +τ r (2r * / d )
y 1/ 2
= τ * +k y d −1 / 2
d = grain size
At low T, yielding results in cracks
Effect of grain size: Both yield & fracture stress are increased;
Ductile‐brittle transition sent to lower T.
Fracture stress at T2<T1
T
σ
Fracture stress at T1
Yield stress at T2<T1
Yield stress at T1
brittle ductile
−1 / 2
d
Dislocation Density Models
They are all based on Ashby's original model (Ashby 1970).
Assume that the strengthening due to dislocations can be separated
into two different contributions, namely that from statistically stored
dislocations ρS, and that from geometrically necessary dislocations ρG.
ρS is grain‐size independent while ρG depends on the grain size.
m
Where is the average Taylor factor and d is the grain size. The
dislocation density ρS is governed by the geometrical slip distance LS,
in the interior of the grains where the deformation is assumed to be
uniform.
The non‐uniform deformation in the grain
boundary region is accommodated by the
introduction of geometrically necessary
dislocations. These can be seen as the strain
bearers needed to account for the plastic
incompatibilities in‐between grains (Ashby
1970).
Deformation of polycrystal grains in an uniform manner, causing voids and overlaps (top right), this
are corrected by the introduction of geometrically necessary dislocations (bottom right), taken from
Ashby (Ashby 1970).
The flow stress can then, in the usual fashion, be expressed as
proportional to the square root of the total dislocation density, which
leads to:
In the case where grain boundary strengthening
dominates, LS>>C1b, i.e. the deformation is
inhomogeneous, (i.e. ρG > ρS) the above equation
reduces to,
Composite Flow Stress Models
A third type of approach is the idea of describing the flow stress as the
sum of the contribution from grain boundaries and the contribution
from grain interiors. A number of different variants have been
proposed (Hirth 1972; Thompson, Baskes et al. 1973; Meyers and
Ashworth 1982).
Thompson et al. (Thompson and Baskes 1973; Thompson, Baskes et al.
1973; Thompson 1975; Thompson 1975) developed a model to
describe the Hall‐Petch behavior of fcc‐metals by combining concepts
from Ashby's model with a composite‐type model (Hirth 1972). They
assumed the dislocation density in the grain boundary region ρG, to be
inversely proportional to the grain size but independent of strain. In
their expression, the statistical density of dislocations was estimated
to be inversely proportional to the geometrical slip distance, LS. The
contributions to the flow stress from the different area fractions were
then added, using a rule of mixtures. Assuming the area of the grain
boundary region as LS/d, this leads to the following expression for the
flow stress:
When LS approaches d, the grain size, i.e. at very small strains, the
above expression reduces to the traditional form, with K2 equal to k.
The physical significance of K2 is not very clear, but it should basically
have the same meaning as C2 in Ashby's model although the
interpretation is not as straightforward.