Unit 1

Fundamentals
a) Structure of Materials
b) Mechanical Properties and their
Testing
 SYLLABUS

Structure of Materials Mechanical Properties and their Testing

• Tensile test,
• Crystal structures,
• engineering stress-strain curve,
• indexing of lattice planes,
• true stress-strain curve,
• Imperfections in crystals-point defects,
• types of stress-strain curves,
• line defects, • compression test,
• Mechanism of plastic deformation, • formability,

• plastic deformation of polycrystalline materials. • hardness testing, and different hardness tests-Vickers,
Rockwell, Brinnel, Impact test.
 INTRODUCTION

• The various properties of materials are related with structure.

• The structures are of many types such as crystal structure, macrostructure, microstructure etc.
• All above types of structures affect the properties of metals and alloys, hence it is necessary to
study these structures.
• In this chapter we are going to study crystal structures and the related terms.
 INTRODUCTION

• The study of crystal structure is usually done by X-ray

and electron microscopy.

A powder X-ray diffractometer

Electron microscope
 CRYSTAL STRUCTURES

• Crystal structures deal with the atomic arrangement in

solids.
• Crystal structures are regular three dimensional
patterns of atoms in space.
• This regularity of atomic arrangement in solids comes
due to geometrical conditions which are imposed by
directional bonding and close packing of atoms
The most stable atomic arrangement of atoms in a crystal will be that arrangement:
• Which minimises the energy per unit volume
• Satisfies the directionality and discreteness of all covalent bonds
• Minimises strong ion-ion repulsion
• Packs the atoms as closely as possible
 SPACE LATTICE
• The crystal structures observed in solids are described in terms of
an idealised geometric concept called a space lattice
• Space lattice is a three dimensional pattern of points in space.
• Space lattice is also called point lattice
• Every point in the space lattice has identical surrounding with that
of every other point
Space lattice or point lattice
• The points in space lattice with identical surroundings are called as
lattice points
• Identical surrounding means the appearance of a lattice point when
viewed in a particular direction will be the same to the appearance
of any other lattice point when viewed in other direction
 BRAVAIS LATTICES

• The lattice points can be arranged in only 14 different arrangements or arrays which are called
Bravais Lattices
• The actual crystal structures will be similar to these 14 Bravais Lattices .
• The actual crystal structures can be obtained by assuming atoms or group of atoms at the
position of lattice points.
• It is important to note that for every atom or group of atoms at a lattice point, there must be an
identical atom or group of atoms with the same orientation at every other lattice point.
 UNIT CELL
• Since the structure of a perfect crystal is a regular pattern of atoms,
distributed on a space lattice. The atomic arrangements can be described
completely by specifying atom positions in some repeating unit of the
space lattice. Such a repeating unit of the space lattice is called unit cell.
• The size and shape of the unit cell can be described by three vectors a, b
and c drawn from one of the corner of the cell taken as origin.
• These vectors define the cell and are called the crystallographic axes of
the cell.
• The size and shape of the unit cell can also be described in terms of their
lengths (a, b, c) and angles between them (α, β, γ).
• These lengths and angles are the lattice constants and lattice parameters
of the unit cell.
 UNIT CELL
• By giving a special values to the axial lengths and angles, we get the
unit cells of different shapes.
• If the vectors which define the cell are chosen so that the lattice
points are only at corners of the cell, such a unit cell is called Primitive cell
primitive cell .
• Primitive cell has only one lattice point per cell
• Various crystal systems are the result of translational repetition of
these primitive unit cells in space, and in all such systems come out
to be 7.

Primitive cell has only one lattice

point per cell
 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

1. CUBIC
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
Cubic Three equal axes at right angles Simple P
Body-centered I
Face-centered F
 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

2. TETRAGONAL
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
Tetragonal Three axes at right angles, two Simple P
equal, Body-centered I
 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

3. ORTHORHOMBIC
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
orthorhombic Three unequal axes at right angles, Simple P
Body-centered I
Base centered C
Face centered F

Simple Base centered Body centered Face centered

 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

4. RHOMBOHEDRAL OR TRIGONAL
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
Rhombohedral Three unequal axes equally inclined, Simple R
 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

5. HEXAGONAL
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
Hexagonal Two equal coplanar axes at 120o, Simple P
third axis at right angles,
 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

6. MONOCLINIC
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
Monoclinic Three unequal axes, one pair not at Simple P
right angles, Body centered C

Simple Base centered

 CRYSTAL SYSTEMS AND BRAVAIS LATTICES

7. TRICLINIC
System Axial lengths and angles Bravais lattice Lattice symbol
Triclinic Three unequal axes, unequally Simple P
inclined and none at right angles
 BRAVAIS LATTICES

• We have seen that, in the primitive cell, the lattice points are only at the
corners of the cell.
• However, there are other arrangements of points which satisfies the
requirement of point lattice i.e. the condition of identical surrounding.
• A French physicist Auguste Bravais demonstrated that in all such lattices are
14 and these are called as Bravais Lattices
14 BRAVAIS LATTICES

• The actual crystal structures are obtained by placing atoms at

Bravais lattice points.
• The most common structures observed in metals are body centred
cubic , face centred cubic and hexagonal close packed structures
 INDEXING OF LATTICE PLANES
• The orientation of a plane in a lattice is indicated by the index of the plane.
• The method of marking the planes symbolically was made popular by English
Crystallographer William Hallowes Miller and hence the indices of the planes
are called Miller Indices.
• Miller indices are the reciprocals of the fractional intercepts which the plane
makes with the crystallographic axes.
• These reciprocals of fractional intercepts are converted to minimum whole
numbers by common multiplication with certain number.
• The number of planes are enclosed in brackets e.g. (1 1 1). It is read as one
one one.
• Negative indices are written with a bar over the number.
Procedure to find Miller Indices of any Plane
1) Find the intercepts (x, y, z) on the three axes in
multiples or fractions of the unit- distances on each axis. If
a plane is parallel to an axis it intersects it at infinity.
2) Take the reciprocals of these numbers.
3) Reduce to the three smallest integers having same ratio,
by multiplying or dividing each with their LCM.
4) Enclose in parenthesis (hkl) and this represents the
indices of the given plane.
 EXAMPLE

• Intercepts (x, y, z) for the above shaded plane are (1, 1, 1)

• Reciprocals of these numbers are (1/1,1/1,1/1)
• Here, it can be reduced into smallest integer by multiplying by 1.
It becomes (1, 1, 1)
• Therefore Miller Indices for the above plane are (1, 1, 1)
• Find the Miller Indices for the plane given below.

  x y z
Intercepts 1 ∞ ∞
Reciprocals 1 0 0
Miller Indices of Plane (1, 0, 0)
• Find the Miller Indices for the plane given below.

  x y z
Intercepts 1 1 ∞
Reciprocals 1 1 0
Miller Indices of Plane (1, 1, 0)
 DRAWING A PLANE FROM GIVEN MILLER
INDICES
The procedure for drawing a plane from given Miller indices is the reverse of that of obtaining
Miller indices from given plane.
• Take a reciprocals of Miller indices.
• Mark theses reciprocals as intercepts on the axes.
• Draw a plane through these points.
 PLANES PERPENDICULAR TO EACH OTHER

• Any two planes with indices (h1 k1 l1) and (h2 k2 l2) will be perpendicular to each other if;
 PLANES OF ZONE

• Planes of zone are the planes which are parallel to one line. That line is called zone axis.
• The zone i.e. set of planes is specified by giving the indices of the zone axis.
• If the zone axis has indices [u v w], then any plane belongs to that zone whose indices (h k l)
satisfy the relation ;
 NON-PARALLEL PLANES

• Any two non-parallel planes are the planes of a zone because both the planes are parallel to their
line of intersection.
• If the indices of these non-parallel planes are (h1 k1 l1) and (h2 k2 l2) then the indices of their zone
axis [u v w] are given by the relations:
 INTERPLANAR SPACING

• The various sets of planes in a lattice have various values of interplanar spacing.
• The planes of large spacing have low indices and more atomic density.
• The planes of small spacing have high indices and less atomic density.

• The interplanar spacing dhkl, measured at right angles to the planes, is a function of the plane
indices (h k l) and the lattice constants (a b c and α β γ).
• For cubic and tetragonal systems, the relations are;
 STRUCTURE OF COMMON METALLIC
MATERIALS
• In metals, the arrangement of the atoms is highly symmetrical with dense packing.
• The common types of unit cells with which the metallic elements crystallize are;
• Body Centred Cubic (BCC)
• Face Centred Cubic (FCC)
• Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP)
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OF STRUCTURE OF
MATERIALS
• Atomic Radius
• It is defined as half the distance between the nearest atoms in crystal.

• Coordination Number
Atomic Radius
• An atom in a crystalline structure is surrounded by many other atoms and the
number of atoms surrounding a central atom is definite.
• The coordination number is the number of nearest atoms surrounding the
given atom.
• The greater the coordination number, the more closely packed will be the
structure.

Coordination number
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OF STRUCTURE OF
MATERIALS
• Density Packing Factor
• It is the ratio of volume occupied by the atoms in a unit cell to the total volume of unit cell.
• It is also called Packing Factor
• , Where, v – vol. of atoms in the unit cell, V- vol. of the unit cell.