Material Science (1361)

Lecture (4)

Imperfections in solid materials

Dr. Ghada Abd El Zaher El Gamal

Class Agreement
 Remember !

• We stopped last week at ………………………….

 Polymorphism and allotropy
Polymorphism:
Some metals, as well as nonmetals, may have more than
one crystal structure, a phenomenon known as
polymorphism. When found in elemental solids, the
condition is often termed allotropy.
Allotropy:
The ability of a solid material to change its crystal structure
at different temperatures or pressure.

One familiar example is found in carbon: graphite is the

stable polymorph at ambient conditions, whereas diamond is
formed at extremely high pressures.

A familiar example is found in pure iron and its alloys.

Crystallographic points, directions
and planes
In crystalline materials, it often necessary to specify
a particular point within a unit cell, a crystallographic
direction, or some crystallographic plane of atoms.
Three numbers (or indices) used to designate points,
directions (lines) or planes, based on basic
geometric notions.
The three indices are determined by placing the
origin at one of the corners of the unit cell, and the
coordinate axes along the unit cell edges.
Crystallographic points, directions and planes
Crystallographic planes
Crystallographic planes are specified by three Miller indices
as (hkl).
Any two planes parallel to each other are equivalent and
have identical indices.
The procedure used to determine the h, k, and l index
numbers is as follows:
1) If the plane passes through the selected origin, either another
parallel plane must be constructed by a translation, or a new origin
must be established at the corner of another unit cell.
2) Determine intercepts of planes on each of the axes in terms of unit
cell edge lengths (lattice parameters). Note: if plane has no
intercept to an axis (i.e., it is parallel to that axis), intercept is infinity
Crystallographic points, directions and planes
3) Determine reciprocal of the three intercepts

4) If necessary, these three numbers are changed to the set of

smallest integers by multiplication or division by a common
factor.

5) The integer indices, not separated by commas, are

enclosed within parentheses, thus: (hkl).

6) If any of the indices is negative, a bar is placed in top of that

index.
Crystallographic points, directions and planes
Three important crystal planes

( 1 0 0) (1 1 0) (1 1 1)
Crystallographic points, directions and planes
Three important crystal planes
Crystallographic points, directions and planes
EXAMPLE: CRYSTAL PLANES

Construct a (0,-1,1) plane

Hexagonal Crystallographic points, directions and planes
Hexagonal Crystallographic points, directions and planes
 Metallic crystal structures
Density computations
Atomic planar density (APD)
By analogy to APF we may define the atomic planar
 density (APD) as “ the ratio of the projected area of atoms in a plane to the total area of the
plane”

To obtain APD only atoms whose centers

 lie in the plane are counted.

Metallic crystal structures
Density computations
Atomic planar density (APD)
For BCC crystal structure:
The cube face in the BCC lattice contains
the equivalent of a single atom because
each of the four corner atoms is shared by
four similar squares (i.e., 4 x ¼ = 1).

1 r2
APD BCC 2
0.589
a
Metallic crystal structures
Density computations
Atomic planar density (APD)
For FCC crystal structure:
The In the case of the FCC cube face,
there are the equivalent of two atoms.

2
2 r
APD FCC 2
0.785
a
Metallic crystal structures
Density computations
Theoretical density :
A knowledge of the crystal structure of a metallic solid
permits computation of its theoretical density through the
relationship:

Where:
Density = mass/volume
mass = number of atoms per unit cell x mass of each atom
mass of each atom = atomic weight/avogadro’s number
Imperfections in solid materials
Topics
Why study imperfections in solids?

Defects in solids

Point defects

Line defects

Interfacial defects

Bulk or volume defects

Why study imperfections in solids?
Reasons for studying imperfections in solids are as follows:
The properties of some materials are influenced by the
presence of imperfections.

The mechanisms of hardening and strengthening for steel

alloys involve a crystalline defect called a dislocation.

Development of the desirable mechanical properties for

steel alloys relies on the presence of specific impurities.

For the processing of silicon as a semiconducting material, it

is important to specify impurity concentration in appropriate
units.
Why study imperfections in solids?
Reasons for studying imperfections in solids are as follows:
Defect does not necessarily imply a bad thing

addition of C to Fe to make steel

addition of Cu to Ni to make thermocouple wires
addition of Cr to Fe for corrosion resistance
introduction of grain boundaries to strengthen materials
……and so on

“Defect” (in this context) can be either desirable or

undesirable.
Crystalline defect
It is a lattice irregularity having one or more of its
dimensions on the order of an atomic dimension.

There are 4 major categories of crystalline defects:

Zero dimensional: Point defects

One dimensional: Linear defects (dislocations)
Two dimensional: Planar (surface) defects
Three dimensional: Volume (bulk) defects
 Classification of defects based on dimensionality

0D 1D 2D 3D
(Point defects) (Line defects) (Surface / Interface) (Volume defects)

Vacancy Edge Grain Pores

Dislocation boundary
Interstitial Precipitate
Screw Twin
Substitutional Dislocation boundary Inclusion

Mixed Stacking
Dislocation Cracks
faults
1) Point defects
Point Defects are the irregularities or deviations from ideal
arrangement around a point or an atom in a crystalline
substance.

There are three basic kinds of point defects:

Vacancies

Interstitial defects

Substitutional defects
a) Vacancies
The simplest of the point defects is a vacancy , or vacant
lattice site. Vacancy is produced when an atom or ion is
missing from its normal site in the crystal structure.

All crystalline materials have vacancy defects. Vacancies are

introduced into metals and alloys during solidification.

Number of vacancy defects depend on temperature.

The presence of vacancies increases the entropy (i.e., the

randomness) of the crystal, which increases the
thermodynamic stability of a crystalline material.
a) Vacancies

Vacancy

distortion
of planes

Missing atom
 b) Interstitial defects
An interstitial defect is formed when an extra atom or ion is
inserted into the crystal structure at a normally unoccupied
position (interstitial site).

Interstitial atoms or ions, although much smaller than the

atoms or ions located at the lattice points, are still larger than
the interstitial sites that they occupy; consequently, the
surrounding crystal region is compressed and distorted.

Interstitial atoms (such as H, C, N) may be present as

impurities or intentionally added, e.g. C added to Fe to
produce steel.
The introduction of interstitial atoms is one important way of
increasing the strength of metallic materials.
b) Interstitial defects

Self-interstitial

distortion
of planes

Interstitial atom
 c) Substitutional defects
A substitutional defect is formed when one atom or ion is
replaced by a different type of atom or ion.

The substitutional atoms or ions occupy the normal lattice

site.
Substitutional atoms or ions may either be larger than the
normal atoms or ions in the crystal structure, in which case the
surrounding interatomic spacing are reduced, or smaller
causing the surrounding atoms to have larger interatomic
spacing. In either case, the substitutional defects disturb the
surrounding crystal.

Again, the substitutional defect can be found either as an

impurity or as a deliberate alloying addition.
c) Substitutional defects

Substitutional
Equilibrium Concentration: (Point Defects)
The equilibrium number of vacancies for a given quantity
of material depends on and increases with temperature
according to: Qv N A
N v N exp( ) N
Where: KT A
Nv : no. of vacancies or defects
N : is the total number of atomic sites
Qv :is the energy required for the formation of a vacancy
T : is the absolute temperature in kelvins, and
K: is the gas or Boltzmann’s constant.
k = 1.38 x 10 -23 J/atom. K, or K= 8.62 x10 -5 eV/atom K,
depending on the units of Qv.
Thus, the number of vacancies increases exponentially
with temperature.
2) Linear defects (Dislocations)
A line defect is a lattice distortion created about a line
formed by the solidification process, plastic deformation,
vacancy condensation or atomic mismatch in solid solutions.

A dislocation is a linear or one-dimensional defect around

which some of the atoms are misaligned.

Virtually, all crystalline materials contain some dislocations

that were introduced during solidification, plastic deformation,
and as a consequence of thermal stresses that result from
rapid cooling.

Dislocations are particularly useful in explaining deformation

and strengthening mechanisms in metallic materials.
2) Linear defects (Dislocations)
There are three types of dislocations:
(1) Edge Dislocation.
Edge dislocation is an extra portion of a plane of atoms, or
half-plane, the edge of which terminates within the crystal.

It is a linear defect that centers on the line that is defined

along the end of the extra half-plane of atoms. This is
sometimes termed the dislocation line.

Around the dislocation line there is some localized

distortion. Atoms above dislocation line are in compression,
and those below are in tension.
2) Linear defects (Dislocations)
(a) Edge Dislocation. Symbol

Edge Dislocation.
2) Linear defects (Dislocations)
(b) Screw Dislocation.
Screw dislocation is being formed by a shear stress that is
applied to produce the atomic distortion.

The upper front region of the crystal is shifted one atomic

distance to the right relative to the bottom portion.

The atomic distortion associated with a screw dislocation is

also linear and a long a dislocation line (line AB in the Figure)
(b) Screw Dislocation.

Symbol

The screw dislocation

Screw Dislocation. as viewed from above
2) Linear defects (Dislocations)
(c ) Mixed Dislocation.
Mixed dislocation have both edge and screw components,
with a transition region between them.

Most dislocations found in crystalline materials are probably

neither pure edge nor pure screw, but exhibit components of
both types.

Dislocations can be observed in crystalline materials using

electron-microscopic techniques.
3) Interficial defects
Interfacial defects are two-dimensional defects.

Interfacial defects are boundaries that normally separate

regions of the materials that have different crystal structures
and/or crystallographic orientations.

It represents a planar or area defects.

These imperfections include external surfaces, grain

boundaries, phase boundaries, twin boundaries, and stacking
faults.
a) Grain boundaries
The grain boundary is the boundary separating two small
grains or crystals having different crystallographic orientations
in polycrystalline materials.

Within the boundary region, there is some atomic mismatch

in a transition from the crystalline orientation of one grain to
that of an adjacent one.

Atoms at grain boundaries are less regularly arranged, and

so have high energies.

Caused during solidification or thermal treatment of material.

a) Grain boundaries

grain
boundaries
b) Twin boundaries
A twin boundary is a special type
of grain boundary across which
there is a specific
 symmetry; lattice
mirrorthat is, atoms on one side of the boundary are located in
image positions of the atoms on the other side.

Twins result from atomic

displacements that are produced
from applied mechanical shear
forces (mechanical twins), and also
during annealing heat treatments
following deformation (annealing
twins).
b) Twin boundaries

Applied stress to a perfect crystal (a) may cause a displacement of the

atoms, (b) causing the formation of a twin. Note that the crystal has
deformed as a result of twinning.
4) Bulk or volume defects
Other defects exist in all solid
materials that are much larger than
previous defects.

These include pores, cracks,

foreign inclusions, and other phases.

They are normally introduced

during processing and fabrication
steps. Cluster of microcracks
Activity: Identify the crystal defects in the schematic
below.