PROPERTIES

• Properties can be refer to relationships

between application or service conditions
imposed on a material and response of that
material against the imposed conditions.

• Service conditions are expressed in terms of

energy inputs to the material and response is
expressed in terms of energy outputs and or state
changes.
 PROPERTIES

• ‘State changes’ can be “internal” such as

compositional or “structural”, and/or
physical, such as size change, deformation,
fracture or deterioration.
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
• Mechanical properties describe the
behaviour of a material under the
application of mechanical force or load.
• Materials used in load bearing applications
are called structural materials and the
applications are called structural
applications or structural member.
• Materials can be metallic, ceramic or
polymeric.
 Structure Sensitive Properties
• Electrical conductivity
• Thermal conductivity
• Semiconductor properties
• Yield strength
• Tensile strength
• Ductility
• Fracture strength
• Fatigue strength
• Creep strength
• Toughness/Impact toughness
• Some magnetic properties
 Structure Insensitive Properties

• Melting point
• Density
• Elastic modulus
• Specific heat
• Coefficient of thermal expansion
 Selection of Material
• Selection of a material for a given structural
application is not an easy task. Based on
mechanical properties there can be
alternative materials with varying cost.
• In addition to mechanical properties as
prime requirement, one should also
consider the behaviour of the material
under service environment while making its
selection for a given application.
 Selection of Material
• The material which meets an optimum
combination of mechanical properties and
environmental requirement, if any, coupled
with reasonable cost is elected for the given
structural member.
PERFECT CRYSTAL VS IMPERFECT CRYSTAL

• Perfect (or ideal) crystal consists of a periodicity of

arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in three
dimensional space.

• An imperfect (or real) crystal is one which is

associated with disturbance in the periodicity of
atomic arrangement of atoms/ions/molecules. That
is, either there is missing of host atom(s) or there is
presence of foreign atom(s) in the lattice.
 Crystal defects:
• These are the mistakes in the arrangement of
atoms in 3-D space.

Impurities are invariably present in a real

crystalline solid which arise during processing of
the material.

Crystal imperfections:
• Crystal defects together with impurities constitute
crystal imperfections
IMPERFECTIONS IN METALS

• Point imperfections or defects

• Line imperfections/ Dislocations

• Surface imperfections

• Volume imperfections
 POINT IMPERFECTIONS

• Vacancy defect

• Impurity atom defect

• Interstitialcy atom defect

 SURFACE IMPERFECTIONS

• Grain boundaries

• Stacking faults

• Twin boundaries
Imperfections in SC lattice
Distortion in lattice due to the presence of a
residual solute atmosphere
 Twin

Boundary Boundary

Schematic diagram of twin boundaries. The atomic

arrangement on one side of a twin boundary is a mirror
image of that on the other side.
 Stacking Fault

SF is a discrepancy in the stacking sequence

of atomic planes of high density as in FCC
and HCP crystals.
 A
A A
C
C C
B B B
A A A
C B C
B A B
A A
C
C C
B
B B
A
A A

Stacking fault in face-centred cubic lattice. The normal stacking

sequence of (1 1 1) planes is denoted by ......ABCABC...... Dotted
line represent the faulty planar region in which C-layer atoms are
missing. As a consequence there is a break in the stacking
sequence. The sequence becomes ......ABCAB ABCA ...... .
 Role of Imperfections
Vacancies
Assist diffusion process thereby helping in
• homogenisation process,
• precipitation process,
• creep process,
• case hardening processes,
• doping process, etc.
 Role of Imperfections, (contd…)
Solute atoms
• impart strengthening
• may improve fatigue strength
• may improve creep strength
• increase electrical resistivity
• may improve semiconductivity
• may decrease thermal conductivity
Role of Imperfections, (contd…)
Dislocations

Can be viewed as missing row of atoms

 Role of Imperfections, (contd…)
Dislocations
• may be responsible for plastic deformation
depending on their nature,
• may cause strengthening, may decrease
electrical conductivity & thermal
conductivity,
• improve magnetic properties of hard
magnets,
• decrease corrosion resistance
 Role of Imperfections, (contd…)
Grain boundaries
• impart strengthening,
• improve magnetic properties of hard
magnets,
• sources for and sink for vacancies,
• become weak at high temperature and assist
creep,
• reduce corrosion resistance
Role of Imperfections, (contd…)
Stacking faults, depending on their nature
• may assist plastic deformation or
• resist plastic deformation
• may resist fatigue (as in brass)

Twin boundaries improve strength to some

extent
Role of Imperfections, (contd…)
• Voids

• Precipitates

• Microcracks
 TYPES OF STRESSES

• Tensile

• Compressive

• Shear
 Force P

Internal force of resistance = s A

offered by the body

• Illustration of internal resistance (σA) offered by the material

under an applied force P. This resistance per unit cross-
sectional area of the body is expressed as stress
 DISLOCATIONS
• A dislocation is a line imperfection created
due to missing row of atoms, i.e. it is a kind
of clustering of vacancies in a row.

• The term line imperfection or line defect

obtains its name because it propagates as
line or as two-dimensional net in the crystal.
 DISLOCATIONS (Contd…)

• Dislocations may be present in metals in as

cast or as rolled condition and even when
metals deform plastically. In this sense,
dislocation is a defect responsible for
phenomenon of slip, by which most metals
deform permanently.
 Dislocations (Contd…)

• Therefore one way of thinking about a

dislocation is to consider that it is the region
of localised lattice disturbance separating
the slipped and unslipped regions of a
crystal.
 DISLOCATION DENSITY
• The total length of dislocation lines in mm
(or m) present in a unit volume mm3 (or m3)
of the crystal with unit of dislocation
density being mm/mm3 (or m/m3).

• In other words, it is the number of

dislocations piercing a unit area of the
crystal with unit “lines mm-2 (or m-2)”.
 SHEAR STRENGTH OF
AN IDEAL CRYSTAL AND
REAL CRYSTAL
• Shear stress () is a function of the
displacement, x, i.e.
x
  mSin2
b
• where m is the maximum shear stress
corresponding to the amplitude of the sine
wave and `b’ is the period.
• For small displacement, x
x
  G  G
a
• In the above Eq. ‘a’ is the interplanar
spacing. For small values of x/b, we can
write,
x
  m 2
b
• m can be written as:

Gb
m 
2a
• For many metals, b = a, then
G G
m  
2 6
• m is the maximum shear stress required for
plastic deformation to occur in a perfect crystal.
In this case the plastic deformation involves
sliding of one atomic plane over another as a unit.
The process requires large magnitude of force to
simultaneously break all the atomic bonds across
the slip plane. Thus, m is the theoretical shear
strength of a perfect crystal.
• G for most of the materials varies in the
range 104-105, accordingly m ≈ 2000 MPa to
20000 MPa.
•  Here τm is the maximum theoretical shear
stress required for plastic deformation to

occur in a perfect crystal.

• However, the observed values of τm to

initiate plastic deformation are much lower
than theoretical values.
• The actual values of τm required to produce
plastic deformation in metal single crystals
are in the range 0.64 MPa to 70 MPa.

• The value of τm for an FCC metal  G/16,

that for an NaCl crystal  G/8 and

• For a covalently bonded diamond structure

 G/4
• Real crystals deform at much less than
theoretical value of shear stress calculated
for an ideal crystal.

• This discrepancy between the theoretical and

observed values of shear stress is found to be
due to the presence of defects, in particular,
the dislocations.
GEOMETRY OF DISLOCATIONS
Fig:- The dislocation line D produced when the crystal undergoes plastic shear.
The dislocation line at A is screw in nature whereas it is edge in character at b. 
is shear stress.
• Features of an Edge dislocation:
• There is an additional/extra half plane of
atoms in some part of the crystal. The edge
of which is regarded as edge dislocation.

• The process of formation of this dislocation

can be thought as that pulling the lattice
apart and inserting an additional atomic
plane in it.

• Such a plane is termed as extra half plane.

• Positive edge dislocation, designated by the
symbol ┴ , i.e. inverted T

• Negative edge dislocation, designated by the

symbol ‘┬’

• In these symbols the single vertical leg

represents the direction of the extra half
plane and the horizontal line shows the
horizontal plane containing slip direction.
BURGERS VECTOR, BURGERS CIRCUIT
AND DISLOCATION LOOP
• Burgers vector b is one of the most
important properties of a dislocation.

• It is a measure of the atomic displacement

associated with its motion.

• That is, it represents the magnitude and

direction of slip or plastic deformation.
• Dislocations in real crystals are rarely
straight lines and rarely lie in a single plane.

• They generally exist in the form of a curve

or a loop located within the crystal.

• The loop has the same Burgers vector at all

positions but its character changes
continuously along the loop as edge, screw
or mixed.
• A dislocation loop having the same
orientation at all points can also form.
• Such a dislocation can form when
vacancies are clustered in the form of a
disc on a close packed plane.
• Here, the Burgers vector is perpendicular
to the plane of the loop so that the
dislocation has pure edge character over
its entire length. This dislocation loop is
called prismatic loop.
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE FEATURES
OF DISLOCATIONS

• A dislocation can be characterised by the

relationship between its Burgers vector and
the tangent vector. For edge dislocations, b
┴ t; whereas for screw dislocations, b ║ t
and for mixed dislocation the Burgers
vector and the tangent vector are oriented
at an angle between 0° and 90°.
• The plane containing both the vectors b
and t, allows dislocation motion (called
dislocation glide) to take place on it. This
plane is generally the plane with highest
atomic packing density.
• For any dislocation, the Burgers vector is
invariant (i.e. constant) and does not vary
from position to position.
• A dislocation cannot end inside the crystal.
It can end at the surface of the crystal, on
itself and form a loop or on another
dislocation
 MOVEMENT OF DISLOCATIONS
Concept of Slip:

• There are two ways in which dislocation

motion can occur:
• The process of glide or conservative
motion in which the dislocation moves in
the surface defined by its line and Burgers
vector.
• The process of climb or non-
conservative motion in which dislocation
moves out of the glide plane.
 SLIP PLANES & DIRECTIONS

• Plastic deformation in a crystal occurs by

the movement or sliding of one plane of
atoms over another. These planes are
called slip planes.
• Slip occurs easily in certain directions lying
in the slip planes. These directions are
called slip directions.
• A slip plane together with a slip direction
constitutes a slip system.
 Angle Between Directions in
Cubic Crystals
•  
  
•  
  
•  
• For slip to take place a characteristic
shear stress called resolved shear stress,
 must be applied. Shear stress is the
actual stress operating on the slip system
(in the slip plane in the slip direction)
resulting from the application of a simple
tensile stress, s on a cylindrical single
crystal sample.
• The resolved shear stress t is given as:
• t = s cos f cos l
• where, f and l are the angles which the
tensile axis makes with the slip direction
and slip plane normal, respectively. s is
the normal stress.
• Thus, a normal stress applied to a single
crystal causes a shear stress on the slip
plane along the slip direction.
• This component of stress, called the
Resolved Shear Stress (RSS) can cause
slip only when it is large enough and
exceeds a critical value.
• This critical value of shear stress at which
plastic deformation occurs is called Critical
Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS), tCRSS,
which is a constant for a given slip system
in a given crystal.
• The critical normal stress sc, corresponding
to CRSS can be determined using the
following relationship:

 
• The above equation is known as
Schmid’s law.

• The normal stress required to initiate slip,

sc, is a function of the crystal orientation
with respect to the direction of applied
force on the crystal axis.
• SLIP BY DISLOCATION MOVEMENT

• When a sufficiently large magnitude of

shear stress is applied parallel to a slip
plane in a real crystal, the dislocations on
it will move and produce plastic
deformation.
• CONCEPT OF LATTICE FRICTIONAL
STRESS (also called PEIERLS AND
NABARRO STRESS)

• This stress is much less than the theoretical

shear stress required to produce slip in a
perfect crystal.

• However, this stress varies with periodicity

of atoms in the plane.
• Thus, a dislocation can move only when
the applied shear stress is greater than the
lattice frictional stress.

• CRSS of real crystal is much lower than

the theoretical value of shear stress
required for plastic deformation.

• The dislocation motion described above is

called dislocation glide.
• Both edge and screw dislocations can
move by the process of glide.

• A screw dislocation is less restricted in its

motion than an edge dislocation.
• A screw dislocation can change the plane
by the process of cross-slip from one
valid plane to another valid plane.

• An edge dislocation can change the plane

by the process of climb from one plane to
adjacent parallel plane.
Lattice frictional stress (or force)
• Lattice frictional stress/force represents
the resistance to passage of a dislocation
through a normal lattice, and/or the
resistance set up by a very high jog
density in dislocation lines (the movement
of jogs in a dislocation necessitates the
creation of vacancies or interstitial atoms –
a process which requires high energy).
• The increase in energy involved in the
motion of dislocations under such
conditions (as with dislocations containing
jogs) may be more than that required to
initiate and propagate cracks; thus brittle
fracture may occur.
 ENERGY OF A DISLOCATION
• The strain energy associated with a
dislocation is composed of two parts. So
the total strain energy is given as:
• Etotal = Ecore + Ee.s.
• Where Ecore is the energy of the core and Ee.s.. is the elastic strain

energy.

• Ecore varies from about 0.5 to 1.5 eV only.

 Energy of a dislocation
• The energy of a screw dislocation is:
E  lGb2
The energy of an edge dislocation is:
2
E lGb
1 

Where  is the Poisson’s ratio. If  = 1/3, the

energy of an edge dislocation is about 3/2 that of a
screw dislocation of the same length.
• Since the energy of edge and screw
dislocations is proportional to b2, the most
stable dislocations are those with
minimum/shortest Burgers vectors (those in
close-packed directions).

• The above equations also show that the energy

of a dislocation is proportional to its length;
just as surface energy is equivalent to a
surface tension, a line energy is equivalent to
a line tension.
• Thus, a curved dislocation line will have a
“line tension, T”, a vector acting along the
dislocation line so that

• T  Gb2

• The stress field associated with a screw

dislocation is symmetric about the dislocation
whereas the stress field associated with an
edge dislocation is asymmetric about the
dislocation.
 DISLOCATIONS IN FCC, BCC AND HCP
METALS
• In FCC structure, the shortest vector joining
equivalent lattice positions occurs in the close packed
directions and these correspond to one half of any
face diagonal. The notation of such a vector is (a/2)<1
1 0>. The strength of such a Burgers vector is given
as:

(a/2)[12+12+02]1/2 = (a/2)√2 = a/√2

•  
 FORCES on a DISLOCATION
• If a crystal is subjected to a sufficiently high
magnitude of stress such that dislocations
move and produce plastic deformation by slip.

• The work is said to be done on the crystal

through the movement of dislocations. Under
such conditions a force must act on each
dislocation to move it forward.
• The force on a dislocation is generally defined
as the force per unit length of dislocation line
and is expressed as:
F = b
• Under a given shear stress, the force F is
perpendicular to the dislocation line and is
same at every point along the dislocation line
(if  is constant, and b is invariant) and is
directed towards the unslipped region of the
slip plane.
 LINE TENSION
• Every dislocation is associated with it a
tension which tends to keep it to a minimum
length and hence to minimise its energy (Eelastic
 lb2, called Frank’s rule).
• This tension is called line tension.
• The line tension T, is a vector that acts along
the dislocation line and is the same as unit
tangent vector.
• Thus, the line tension may also be defined as
the increase in energy dE per unit length dl, of
a dislocation, that is:
T = dE/dl
• Let  is the shear stress required to produce a
force on the dislocation line which maintain it
curved with a radius of curvature R and b is
the Burgers vector, then

•  = Gb/2R
• This is equivalent to the force required to bend
the dislocation line to a radius R.

• This also shows the magnitude of the shear

stress required increases as R becomes smaller.
• Calculate the elastic strain energy of a screw
dislocation per unit length of Fe crystal if r 0 =
2b and R = 2000b.
• Solution:
(Es/l) = (Gb2/4)ln(R/r0)
Putting the values of r0 and R we get:
(Es/l) = (Gb2/4)ln(2000b/2b)
Or (Es/l) = (Gb2/4)ln1000
Or (Es/l) = (Gb2/4) x 6.908 = 0.5497Gb2
Or (Es/l)  Gb2/2
• Let us consider a typical case in which the
dislocation line bows out between pinning
points such as a pair of precipitate particles
or inert particles which act as obstacles to
its gliding.

• These precipitate particles are not as easily

sheared by the dislocation line as in the
matrix phase and therefore these particles
act as obstacles to dislocation motion.
  bl

P Q
P r e c ip it a t e
p a r t ic le


T T sin  T
T sin 
l
 b l = 2 T sin 
• The applied shear stress,  produces a normal
force “bl” on the dislocation line segment
between the pair of particles. This force tends
to bow out the dislocation line segment
between the pinned points P and Q separated
by a distance l.
• This force is balanced by the parallel
component of the dislocation line tension T, so
that
• bl = 2Tsin
• The shear stress  is given as:
 = (2Tsin)/bl

• (Putting T = Gb2/2 approximated for both

screw and edge dislocations),  is written as:
 = (Gbsin)/l

Two major conclusions are drawn from the

above equation.
• (i) The shear stress required to bend dislocation line
more and more between the pair of particles (because
 becomes larger) until the dislocation line becomes
semicircular. At this stage  = 90º and  takes the
maximum value, i.e.
•  = Gb/l
• (ii) A dislocation which does not offer any obstacle
(sin = 0 as  is 0º) should be capable of moving at
negligibly small stress. If it offers obstacles, the 
required to overcome these obstacles increases as l
reduces. This fact plays a very important role in
strengthening of materials such as precipitation and
dispersion hardening.
• A dislocation can avoid obstacles by changing
the plane by the process of cross slip or climb
as the case may be.
FORCES BETWEEN DISLOCATIONS

• Dislocations may attract or repel each other

depending on whether the stress fields cancel
or reinforce (i.e. combine together)
respectively.
• Screw dislocations of opposite sign having the
same b will attract with a force
 F  equal to  Gb  with negative sign.
2

  
 

 l   2r 
• If these dislocations do not offer any obstacle,
they approach each other and annihilate,
leaving behind perfect lattice.

• Screw dislocations of the same sign with the

same b will repel each other with the same
magnitude of force per unit length
 Gb 
2
 of +   but with opposite sign.
F
 
 l   2r 
• Edge dislocations have unsymmetrical field
around them, so various different interactions
occur between parallel edge dislocations
depending on whether these are of the same
kind or of different kind.
• If these are of different kind, then whether
these lie on the same plane or on parallel
planes.

• If these lie on parallel planes, then what is the

angle between them.
 Situation I
•  
•  
•  
 SITUATION II
•  
 SITUATION III
• When parallel edge dislocations of the
same sign rest on different slip planes.
• With this situation the dislocations may
either attract or repel each other
depending on the angle between the slip
direction and the line joining them.
• If the said angle is less than 45º, the
dislocations repel each other.
• If the angle is greater than 45º, the
dislocations attract each other.
• As the angle approach 90º, the
dislocations will be aligned as an array.
This results in the formation of low angle
tilt boundary.
 SITUATION IV
• Two parallel edge dislocations of opposite
kind instead of lying on the same slip
plane, lie on nearby planes.
•  

F Cb1  b2
  
 l r r
• The angular force (per unit length)
component (F/l)q (i.e. the tangent force
component) is zero for screw dislocations
(as screw dislocations have only radial
stress field) and for edge dislocations it is
given as:

F Cb1  b2 sin 2

  
 l  r
• where, C is equal to G/2p for screw dislocations
and G/2π(1-ν) for edge dislocations. q is the
angle between the slip plane and the line joining
both the dislocation lines and r is the distance of
separation of the dislocation lines.
• It is apparent from above equations that the
force is proportional to the dot product of the two
Burgers vectors.
• The force of attraction or repulsion increases
with decreasing r, as the case may be.
 UNIT DISLOCATIONS
• A dislocation with its Burgers vector equals
one lattice spacing (lattice constant in
Simple Cubic Structure) is called a Unit
dislocation.
• It is the dislocation of unit strength and is
equal to the smallest lattice vector ‘a’, for
SC crystal.
• The close pack direction in which this
vector lies is [1 0 0].
• Thus the Burgers vector of dislocation in
SC crystal is given as a[1 0 0].
• The strength of the Burgers vector a[1 0 0]
is given as: a[12+02+02]1/2 = a[unit] , i.e. the
Burgers vector in SC crystal has a
strength equal to unity.
• In general, if the Burgers vector of a
dislocation is a[u v w], its strength or
magnitude is given as a[u2 + v2 + w2]1/2.
• A unit dislocation is also called a perfect
or total (full) dislocation because
translation equal to one Burgers vector
produces identity translation, i.e. a full
dislocation is one for which the Burgers
vector is an integral multiple of a lattice
translation.
 PARTIAL DISLOCATIONS
• A dislocation, while passing through the
crystal, shifts only by a fractional amount
to a lattice site which is not the equilibrium
lattice site, is called a Partial dislocation
or Imperfect dislocation as its Burgers
vector is a fraction of a lattice translation.
• In other word, a dislocation for which the
Burgers vector is a fraction of a lattice
translation is called a partial dislocation.
• A partial dislocation while moves, leaves
an imperfect area behind it which has a
fault in the stacking sequence of atoms.
• A dislocation may dissociate into two
partial dislocations coupled through a
stacking fault if the sum of energy
associated with partials is lower than the
elastic energy of the original single
dislocation
 EDGE VS SCREW DISLOCATION

• W.R.T. Burgers vector b

• W.r.t movement of dislocation
• W.r.t. symbol of representation
• W.r.t. stress field
• W.r.t. elastic energy associated with
dislocation
• W.r.t. change of plane
 DISLOCATION REACTIONS

• Two dislocations approaching each other

may react to form a new dislocation if the
energy of the product dislocation is less
than the sum of the energies of the
reacting dislocations.
Using Frank’s criterion:
b12 + b22 > b32
• Similarly, a dislocation with Burgers vector
b1 can dissociate into a pair of dislocations
having Burgers vectors b2 and b3
provided that:

b12 > b22 + b32

• Thus, using the Frank’s criterion one can

determine whether a dislocation reaction
will occur in the forward direction.
•   Dislocations and their Reaction in
FCC Crystals
• The partial dislocations on either ends of
stacking fault region are called Shockley
partial dislocations.
• Since stacking fault region is a surface,
the SFE is a surface energy and it
functions like a surface tension which tries
to pull the Shockley partial dislocations
together so as to reduce stacking fault
region and hence the energy associated
with it.
• The equilibrium spacing ds, between
partial dislocations is expressed as,
G (b .b )
ds = 24
1 2

Gb 2
ds = 24 s

Since the atomic planes above and below

the SF surface are elastically strained, the
SFs are coherent interfaces and their
energies are < GB energies.
• SFE plays a vital role in the plastic
deformation of metals. An undissociated
screw dislocation is capable of gliding from
one valid plane to another.
• However, an extended screw dislocation,
owing to its edge character, can move only
on the plane containing the stacking fault.
The partial dislocations tend to move as a
unit maintaining the equilibrium ribbon
width.
• Thus, the process of cross-slip becomes
difficult for an extended screw dislocation.
• At ordinary temperatures, a greater
magnitude of stress is required for
constriction in extended screw dislocation
to occur.
• Thus, in metals such as Cu, Au and Ag,
which have lower stacking fault energy
and a wide stacking fault ribbon, cross-slip
is difficult as constriction is difficult.
• The SFE of copper is about 40 ergs/cm2
and the width of the stacking fault ribbon is
of the order of 5b, the cross-slip in Copper
is difficult.
 FRANK PARTIAL DISLOCATIONS

• In addition to Shockley type partial

dislocations, another type of partial
dislocations observed in FCC crystals are
the Frank partial dislocations.
• Geometrically the Frank partial
dislocations can be formed by inserting
or removing one close packed plane of
atoms from the stacking sequence
….ABCABCABC……
• The boundary between the fault and the
perfect crystal is a partial dislocation, the
Burgers vector of which is perpendicular to
the plane of the fault.
• The strength of this Burgers vector equals
the change in spacing produced by one
close packed layer, i.e. (a/3)[1 1 1].
• Thus, the Frank partial dislocation is an
edge dislocation since its Burgers vector
is perpendicular to the plane of the fault.
• Now since the Burgers vector of Frank
partial does not lie in a close packed
plane, it can not glide conservatively (i.e.
by glide) under the action of the applied
stress.
• Such a dislocation is said to be Sessile. A
sessile dislocation, of this type, however,
can move by the process of climb (i.e. by
non-conservative movement).
• Dislocation climb results in either the
expansion or the contraction of the
dislocation loop.
• By convention the Frank partial dislocation
shown Fig. (b) above is called a negative
Frank sessile dislocation.
• In contrast to above, a positive Frank
sessile dislocation may be produced by
the precipitation of a close packed disc of
interstitialcy atoms on one of the {1 1 1}
planes, [Figure (c) above]. As a
consequence, a new plane is added in the
normal stacking sequence of atomic
planes.
• A sessile dislocation acts as an obstacle
to the free glide of other dislocations.

• A Sessile dislocation in FCC crystals can

also be produced when two parallel
moving dislocations meet and react at the
intersection of the slip planes.
 PEIERLS–NABARRO STRESS AND
DISLOCATION WIDTH
• Peierls and Nabarro (P–N) stress is the
lattice frictional stress which a dislocation
must overcome in order to displace from
one position to next.
• The magnitude of P–N stress depends
mainly on two factors:
• (1) the periodicity of atoms, and
• (2) the width w, of the dislocation.
• The P–N stress is low on close packed
planes and in close packed directions.
• Thus P–N stress is greatly dependent on
the type of crystal structure.
• The dependence of P–N stress on the
dislocation width and its Burgers vector is
evident from the following relationship,
 2w
 P  N  G exp
b
• where τP-N is the shear stress required to move
a dislocation. w is the width of dislocation.
• The width ‘w’ is related to the spacing ‘a’,
between the slip planes according to the
following relationship:
a
w
1 

• where, ν is the Poisson’s ratio.

• Since τP-N is exponentially related to width w,
So P-N stress is highly sensitive to ‘w’ and ‘b’.
• The width of a dislocation is a measure of the
distance on either side of the dislocation, up to
which the stress-relaxing displacements are
appreciable, i.e., the atoms on either side of the
dislocation line are displaced elastically from
their equilibrium positions.

• A dislocation is said to be wide, if the extent of

elastic distortion on either side of the dislocation
is appreciable and more evenly distributed
among the bonds around it. In this case the
dislocation is said to be relaxed.
• A dislocation is said to be narrow if there is
no relaxing displacement of atoms in the
adjacent planes surrounding the
dislocation region.
• In this case the bond lengths are normal
around the dislocation except in the region
below the extra half plane, where the
bonds are virtually broken.
 DISLOCATION INTERSECTION
• It is well established that even an
annealed crystal has a very large number
of dislocations.
• Thus every slip plane is likely to be
threaded by dislocations and a moving
dislocation in slip plane is most likely to
intersect these threaded dislocations
which are crossing it.
• The latter are known as forest dislocations
• The forest dislocations may provide
obstacles to the moving dislocations and
thus affect the deformation behaviour of
the crystal.
• In general, intersection of two dislocations
results in the formation of a jog or a kink in
one or both dislocations with equivalent
Burgers vector. As a consequence the
length of the dislocation line, and hence
the energy of the dislocation, which
receives the jog, is increased.
• Thus the intersection of dislocations
involves expenditure of additional energy.
• In addition, movement of jogged
dislocations in the crystal is more difficult
than dislocations having no jogs.

• There are many possible combinations of

dislocation intersection.
Intersection of two edge dislocations lying
on planes perpendicular to each other and
having Burgers vector perpendicular to
each other.
• The jog EF is parallel to b1 and its length is
also equal to b1, but its Burgers vector is
the same as that of the dislocation line CD
as it is a part of the dislocation line CD.
• Clearly the jog EF is edge in character and
is capable of gliding in the plane KLMN
with the rest of the dislocation line CD
extended on parallel slip planes.
• Thus the jog EF is called a glissile jog (i.e.
able to glide).
 Consider a situation in which the jogs are
formed when two perpendicular edge
dislocations with parallel Burgers vector
intersect each other.
• Jogs are formed in both the dislocation
lines AB and CD as both the lines are
perpendicular to the Burgers vectors b2
and b1, respectively.
• The jogs PP’ and QQ’ are screw in nature
and lie in the original slip planes of the
dislocations rather than on a neighbouring
plane as in the previous case.
• Jogs of this type which lie in the slip plane
instead of normal to it are usually called
kinks.
 Both the screw jogs are more mobile than
the edge dislocations to which they
belong.
 In an another situation consider the
intersection of an edge dislocation and a
screw dislocation.
• Intersection produces a jog with an edge
orientation on the edge dislocation and a
kink with an edge orientation on the screw
dislocation.
• The jog PP’ will not impede the motion of
the edge dislocation XX’, whereas the kink
QQ’ will impede the motion of the screw
dislocation YY’.
• Intersection of two screw dislocations
results in jogs of edge in character on both
the original screw dislocations.
• This is the most important type of
intersection from the point of view of
plastic deformation.
• The jogs PP’ and QQ’ are capable of
moving in a plane which contains the
individual one.
• Let us consider the case of screw
dislocation YY’ containing the jog QQ’.
• The jog QQ’ with Burgers vector b2 is
capable of moving in the plane QQ’Y’Z
when a shear stress is applied parallel to
b2.
• This is possible only if the screw segments
YQ and Q’Y’ are displaced parallel to b2.
• However, these screw segments can
move only in the direction perpendicular to
b2, i.e. towards the positions DE and FG.
• The only way the jog QQ’ can follow along
the plane EFQ’Q is by non-conservative
motion involving vacancy-assisted
dislocation climb.
• Such process requires additional energy,
with the result that the jog cannot move as
fast as the rest of the dislocation and so
tends to become elongated.
• Dislocation climb is a thermally assisted
process and therefore the movement of
jogged screw dislocation will be
temperature-dependent.
• At temperatures where climb cannot occur,
the motion of screw dislocations will be
impeded by jogs.
• This is consistent with experimental
observation that screw dislocations
containing jogs of edge kind move more
slowly through a crystal than jogged edge
dislocation.
 ELASTIC DEFORMATION
• Any elongation or compression of a crystal
in one direction caused by an axial force
results in a corresponding change in
dimension at right angles to the force.
• A small contraction occurs at right angles
to the tensile force.
• The negative ratio between the lateral
strain and the direct tensile strain is
commonly called Poisson’s ratio.
• Consider the application of pure shear
stress on cubic face of a crystal.
• In Fig. 5.2, shear stress, τ acting on the
cubic face decreases the angle A from 90⁰
by a small amount α.
• The angular change in the right angle is
known as shear stain and is expressed as
the displacement ‘a’ divided by the
spacing between the planes l
• In other words, application of a shear
stress results in a displacement of one
plane of atoms with respect to the
adjacent plane of atoms.
• The ratio a/lis also a tangent of the shear
angle α through which the element has
been rotated. Thus, shear strain, is
expressed mathematically as:
a
   tan 
l
• For a small shear angle α, tan α = α
 Therefore,  
• Thus shear strain can also be expressed
as the angle of rotation. The shear
modulus G of a material is defined as the
 ,
ratio of shear stress,τ to shear strain
i.e.

G


The term shear modulus is also called as

the modulus of rigidity and is different
from modulus of elasticity E.
• The two are related according to the
following relationship:
E
G
2(1  )

• Since Poisson’s ratio , in general, varies

between 0.25 and 0.50; the value of G is
approx. 35% of E, i.e. G = 0.35 E.
• A third elastic modulus, the bulk modulus
K, is also observed in materials and it is
defined as the reciprocal of the
compressibility β of the material, i.e.