Lecture 5

Lecture 5.1: Beyond elasticity: crystal imperfections

Ideal monocrystal material: all atoms perfectly packed, no imperfections, leading to ideal strength
Defects in metals and ceramics prevent materials from achieving their ideal strength
Common defects:
- Vacancies
- Solute atoms on interstitial and substitutional sites
- Dislocations
- Grain boundaries
Vacancies
A vacancy is a site at which an atom is missing.
Play a role in diffusion of atoms, creep, and sintering; they do not influence strength
Solute atoms (Solid solution)
Different to the matrix deliberately (alloys) or process-related (impurities)
Substitutional solid solution – dissolved atoms replace those of the host
Interstitial solid solution – dissolved atoms squeeze into space or ‘interstices’ between the host
atoms
Dissolved atoms rarely have the same size as the host material, so the surrounding lattice is distorted
Dislocations (a line defect)
A dislocation is an extra ‘half-plane’ of atoms in the crystal, dislocations distort the lattice
Dislocations have elastic energy associated which makes metals: soft and ductile
Grain boundaries
Grain boundaries form when differently oriented crystals meet.
In alloys as in pure metals
Lecture 5.2: Beyond elasticity: dislocations relation to plastic flow
Dislocation types (edge and screw dislocation)
The edge dislocation is made by cutting, slipping, and rejoining bonds across a slip plane
The dislocation line separates the part of the plane that has slipped from the part that has not
(b) represents the resulting atomic configuration- called an edge dislocation because it is formed by
the edge of the extra half-plane
Screw dislocation
In a screw dislocation, the upper part of the crystal is displaced parallel to the edge of the cut rather
than normal to it. Properties similar to edge dislocation but shear stress is parallel.
All dislocation are either edge or screw or mixed, meaning they are made up of little steps of edge
and screw

Why does shear stress move dislocations?

Crystals resist the motion of dislocations with a friction-like resistance f per unit length

Dislocations move from an applied shear stress  - as they move the upper half of the crystals shifts
relative to the lower half

Dislocations in action

When a dislocation moves it makes the material above slip

relative to the material below

(a) initially perfect crystal

(b)-(d) the passage of the dislocation across the slip plane

shears the upper part of the crystal over the lower part by
the slip vector b

When it leaves (e), the crystal has suffered a shear strain ()

As a result: dislocations control plastic strain and are

responsible for non-ideal strength

For a dislocation to move, only bonds along the line must be broken - much easier than all the bonds
in the plane

There are preferred planes and direction for dislocation movement – called slip planes and slip
directions

Slip displacements are tiny however many dislocations on many slip planes can lead to macroscopic
deformation

The macroscopic implication of dislocations

Result of dislocations: the material deforms plastically at a stress much lower than the ideal strength

The newly formed material does not lose strength  ductility

Yielding of materials

A high yield point means: the product can be used over a wide stress range

A low yield point means: product can be permanently shaped using a small force applied

Lecture 5.3: Beyond elasticity: manipulating strength

Manipulating strength

The way to strengthen crystalline materials is to make it harder for dislocations to move

Add obstacles to the dislocation movement

G = shear modulus

Obstacles to motion

Pinning points (roughen the slip plane)

Solution hardening

Substitutional solid solution hardening – a different atom in the crystal lattice

Concentration of the solute expressed as an atom fraction

Spacing of the atoms in the slip plane

Contribution of solid solution to the shear strength required to move the dislocation
Precipitation and dispersion hardening

Disperse particles of high Tm in a molten matrix by in-situ precipitation using heat treatment

More effective than solution hardening

Contribution of dispersion and precipitation hardening to the shear stress required to move the
dislocation

Work hardening

Caused by the accumulation of dislocations generated by plastic deformation

Dislocation density is defined as the length of the dislocation line per unit volume

After yield strength: work hardening plastic deformation; dislocations accumulate

Pinning force exerted on dislocations by jogs

Contribution of work hardening to the shear stress required to move the dislocation

Grain boundary hardening

Dislocations cannot slide from one grain to the next cause the slip planes do not line up

Hence, dislocations line up at the boundary

Effect of grain boundaries on shear stress required to move the dislocation

Approximation total yield strength based on strengthening mechanisms

Strengthening polymers

Dislocations do not play a role – instead the relative slippage of two segments in the polymer chain
must be considered

Impeding this slippage can be done through bending, drawing, cross-linking and by reinforcement
with particles, fibre, and fabrics