CHAPTER FIVE

DISLOCATIONS AND
STRENGTHING MECHANISIMS
 Deformation
 Application of external force on a crystalline solid
results in distortion of the lattice structure.
 If the applied force is small, the distortion called elastic
deformation can take place. At the removal of the force,
the crystal structure comes to original shape.
 If the applied force exceeds a certain limit, the
deformation undergone by the solid is called plastic
deformation – as the deformation remains even after
removal of load or force.
 Modes of deformation
 Slip

 Twinning
 Slip
 Slip is the prominent mechanism of plastic deformation in
metals. It involves sliding of blocks of crystal over one other
along definite crystallographic planes, called slip planes.
 In physical words it is analogous to a deck of cards when it is
pushed from one end.
 Slip occurs when shear stress applied exceeds a critical value.
During slip each atom usually moves same integral number of
atomic distances along the slip plane producing a step, but the
orientation of the crystal remains the same.
 Steps observable under microscope as straight lines are called
slip lines.
 Dislocations move on a certain crystallographic plane: slip plane
 Dislocations move in a certain crystallographic direction: slip
direction
 The combination of slip direction and slip plane is called a slip
system
 Cont’d…
 Different crystals have different slip systems.
 For example, for FCC structured metals, there are 12 slip
systems, and for BCC metals there are 48 slip systems.
However, out of 48 slip systems only some are active.
 FCC metals have higher strength than BCC metals generally.
 Slip always happens along planes of maximum atomic
density.
 Less number of slip systems in HCP – only three – makes
materials with HCP more brittle. Slip is also caused by the
movement of edge and screw dislocations in materials.
 Movement of an edge dislocation can be analogous to the
motion of a caterpillar.
Table-6.1: Slip systems for different crystal
structures
Crystals Occurrence Slip planes Slip Directions
FCC {111} <110>
BCC More common {110} <111>
Less common
{112},{123}
HCP More common Basal plane Close packed
Less common Prismatic & directions
Pyramidal
planes
NaCl {110} <110>
 Slip systems

Crystal Slip plane Slip Total Active

system direction number of slip
slip systems
systems
fcc {111} <110> 12 5

hcp {0001} <2110> 3 2/3

bcc {110} <111> 48 2

{100}
Deformation of Crystals
Monocrystals
•They are elastically
and plastically
Polycrstals
•In the absence of texture can be
treated as isotropic material.
•Deformation on only one slip system

anisotropic. is not possible because various grains

•They can undergo
have to be compatible.
•It is inherently inhomogeneous (it
deformation in one varies from grain to grain.
single slip system. •Dislocation movement is hindered
because it is restricted to one grain.

•When a crystal is surrounded by other crystals of different

crystallographic orientation, deformation of the crystal can not start at
the primary system as the strain taking place need to be compatible at
the boundary with the strain in the other crystals(no discontinuities
along the grain boundary).
 Deformation of Single crystals

 In single crystals there are preferred planes where dislocations move

(slip planes). Within the slip planes there are preferred
crystallographic directions for dislocation movement (slip directions).
 The set of slip planes and directions constitute slip systems.
 BCC and FCC crystals have more slip systems as compared to HCP,
there are more ways for dislocation to propagate ⇒ FCC and BCC
crystals are more ductile than HCP crystals.
 Dislocations move in particular directions on particular planes (the slip
system) in response to shear stresses applied along these planes and
directions ⇒ we need to determine how the applied stress is resolved
onto the slip systems.
  Let us define the resolved shear stress, τR, (which produces plastic deformation)
that result from application of a simple tensile stress, σ.
 The minimum shear stress required to initiate slip is termed the critical resolved
shear stress:
 When the resolved shear stress becomes sufficiently large, the crystal will start to
yield (dislocations start to move along the most favorably oriented slip system). The
onset of yielding corresponds to the yield stress, σy. The corresponding shear stress
is critical resolved shear stress.

Where σ is the tensile stress applied on the crystal, θ is angle between normal to slip plane
and axis of the tensile stress, Φ is angle between slip direction and the tensile axis.
Cont’d…
 CRSS is a material property which depends on the type
of structure and temperature.
 For iron, the CRSS value is given at room temperature
as 27.5 MPa, for nickel it is 5.7 MPa, for zinc it is 0.18.
As seen here, Zn being hcp, has low CRSS.
 Alloying can increase the critical resolved shear stress.
 If there are more dislocations, impurities, solutes, the
CRSS value of the metal increases, due to increased
resistance to dislocation movement.
 Dislocation interaction
Positive Positive

  Repulsion

Positive Negative
Attraction
&
 Annihilation

Note: More positive-positive interactions in reality

Positive-positive dislocation interaction

 Results in more stress to move

dislocations (or cause plastic
deformation):called work hardening
 This type of interaction also leads to
dislocation multiplication which leads to
more interactions and more work
hardening
 Plastic Deformation of Polycrystalline Materials
 Polycrystalline materials have defects in the crystal structure, which
considerably reduce their strength.
 Basic mechanisms causing plastic deformation in crystall stress.ine
solids are slip and twinning.
 Larger plastic deformation corresponds to elongation of grains along
direction of applied
 Slip directions vary from
crystal to crystal ⇒ Some
grains are unfavorably
oriented with respect to the
applied stress (i.e. cosφ cosλ
low)

 Dislocations cannot easily cross grain boundaries because of changes

in direction of slip plane and disorder at grain boundary.
 Cont’d…
 Slip in polycrystalline material involves generation, movement and
(re-)arrangement of dislocations.
 Because of dislocation motion on different planes in various
directions, they may interact as well.
 This interaction can cause dislocation immobile or mobile at higher
stresses.
 During deformation, mechanical integrity and coherency are
maintained along the grain boundaries; that is, the grain boundaries
are constrained, to some degree, in the shape it may assume by its
neighboring grains.
 Once the yielding has occurred, continued plastic deformation is
possible only if enough slip systems are simultaneously operative so
as to accommodate grain shape changes while maintaining grain
boundary integrity.
 Cont’d…
 According to von Mises criterion, a minimum of five
independent slip systems must be operative for a polycrystalline
solid to exhibit ductility and maintain grain boundary integrity.
 This arises from the fact that an arbitrary deformation is
specified by the six components of strain tensor, but because of
requirement of constant volume, there are only independent
strain components.
 Crystals which do not possess five independent slip systems are
never ductile in polycrystalline form, although small plastic
elongation may be noticeable because of twinning or a favorable
preferred orientation.
 Cont’d…
 Plastic deformation of crystalline solids causes an increase in
dislocation population.
 Dislocation density – defined as total length of dislocation per
unit volume in cold-worked materials can be as high as 1012.
 Dislocation entanglements and obstruction to slip movement of
dislocations during deformation can cause increase in strength of
a metal.
 This is called strain hardening or work hardening.
 Twinning

 Twinning is the other mechanism of plastic deformation.

 Twinned structure is a mirror image of atoms across a plane of
twinning.
 Common in hcp and bcc structures
 In HCP and bcc materials twinning may take place causing
cracking sound during failure.
 Limited deformation but help in plastic deformation in hcp and
bcc crystals
 Occurs on specific twinning planes and twinning directions
 Compare slip and twinning

SLIP TWINNING

HOMOGENEOUS LOCALIZED

COMMON IN FCC COMMON IN HCP &

BCC

OCCURS UNDER OCCURS UNDER

STATIC LOADING SHOCK LOADING
 Twinning Cont’d…
 Each atom in the twinned region moves by a homogeneous shear
a distance proportional to its distance from the twin plane.
 The lattice strains involved in twinning are small, usually in
order of fraction of inter-atomic distance, thus resulting in very
small gross plastic deformation.
 The important role of twinning in plastic deformation is that it
causes changes in plane orientation so that further slip can
occur.
 If the surface is polished, the twin would be still visible after
etching because it possesses a different orientation from the
untwined region.
 This is in contrast with slip, where slip lines can be removed by
polishing the specimen.
 Mechanism of twinning:

 Twins may be produced by mechanical deformation or as the result of annealing

following plastic deformation. The first type is known as mechanical twins; the latter
are called annealing twins.
 Mechanical twins are produced in BCC or HCP metals under conditions of rapid
rate of loading (shock loading) and decreased temperature.
 FCC are not considered to be deformed by mechanical twinning.
 Twinning Cont’d…
 Twinning also occurs in a definite direction on a specific
plane for each crystal structure.
 However, it is not known if there exists resolved shear
stress for twinning.
 Twinning generally occurs when slip is restricted, because
the stress necessary for twinning is usually higher than
that for slip.
 Thus, some HCP metals with limited number of slip
systems may preferably twin. Also, BCC metals twin at low
temperatures because slip is difficult.
 Of course, twinning and slip may occur sequentially or
even concurrently in some cases.
Strengthening Mechanisms
 Strengthening Mechanism
 The ability of a metal to deform depends on the ability of dislocations to
move.
 Restricting dislocation motion makes the material stronger.
 Thus, material can be increased by hindering dislocation, which is responsible
for plastic deformation.
 Different ways to hinder dislocation motion/Strengthening mechanisms:
• In single-phase materials
» Grain size reduction
» Solids solution strengthening
» Strain hardening
• In multi-phase materials
» Precipitation strengthening
» Dispersion strengthening
» Fiber strengthening
» Martensite strengthening
 Strengthening by Grain Size Reduction
 It is based on the fact that dislocations will experience hindrances while trying to
move from a grain into the next because of abrupt change in orientation of planes.
 Grain boundary barrier to dislocation motion: slip plane discontinues or change
orientation.
 Hindrances can be two types: forcible change of slip direction, and discontinuous
slip plane.
 Smaller the grain size, often a dislocation encounters a hindrance. Yield strength of
material will be increased.
 Yield strength is related to grain size(diameter, d) as Hall-Petch relation:

where σo and ky are constants for a particular material, d is the average grain diameter

 yield   o  k y d 1 / 2

 Grain size can be tailored by controlled cooling or by plastic deformation followed

by appropriate heat treatment.
 Grain size refinement

 Small grains result in higher strength

 Small grains is equivalent to a large

number of grain boundaries in the same
volume

 Grain boundaries act as barriers to

dislocation motion
Mechanism:

• Smaller grains have more boundary area and hence more barriers to
dislocation motion
• Small angle grain boundaries are not very effective in blocking
dislocations.
• High-angle grain boundaries block slip and increase strength of the
material. A stress concentration at end of a slip plane may trigger
new dislocations in an adjacent grain.
Grain size refinement Cont’d…
 Grain size reduction improves not only strength, but also the toughness of
many alloys.
 Grain size can also be measured by comparing the grain sat a fixed
magnification with standard grain size charts (use of ASTM grain size
number (Z). )
 It is related to grain diameter, D(in mm) as follows:
 Solid Solution Strengthening
 Alloys are usually stronger than pure metals of the solvent.
 Interstitial or substitutional impurities in a solution cause lattice strain. As a
result, these impurities interact with dislocation strain fields and hinder
dislocation motion.
 Impurities tend to diffuse and segregate around the dislocation core to find
atomic sites more suited to their radii. This reduces the overall strain energy
and “anchor” the dislocation.
 Motion of the dislocation core away from the impurities moves it to a region
of lattice where the atomic strains are greater (i.e. the dislocation strains are
no longer compensated by the impurity atoms).
 SSS Cont’d…
 A larger substitutional solute atom will impose a compressive
stress while a smaller interstitial atom will cause tensile stresses
in the lattice .
 Interstitial atoms are often bigger than the interstitial space they
occupy, resulting in a compressive stress field.

 Smaller and larger substitutional impurities tend to diffuse into strained regions
around the dislocation leading to partial cancellation of impurity-dislocation lattice
strains.
 SSS Cont’d…
 Dislocations have strain field at their cores due to lattice distortion
 Solute atoms with a tensile strain field will diffuse to the dislocation
core to nullify part of the compressive strain field of the dislocation to
reduce the strain energy.
 This hinders motion of the dislocation and hence, the strength
increases.
Precipitation & Dispersion hardening

 Precipitates are second-phase particles

 Hard precipitates act as barriers to

dislocation motion

 Applicable only to some alloy systems

 Precipitation & Dispersion Hardening
 Foreign particles can be introduced in two ways– precipitation
and mixing-and- dispersion technique.
 In dispersion hardening, fine second particles are mixed
with matrix powder, consolidated, and processed by powder
metallurgy techniques.
 For dispersion hardening, second phase need to have very
low solubility at all temperatures.
E.g.: oxides, carbides, nitrides, borides, etc.
 Foreign particles can also obstructs movement of dislocations i.e.
increases the strength of the material.
 Precipitation hardening is also called age hardening because
strength increases with time.
 Requisite for precipitation hardening is that second phase must
be soluble at an elevated temperature but precipitates upon
quenching and aging at a lower temperature.
E.g.: Al-alloys, Cu-Be alloys, Mg-Al alloys, Cu-Sn alloys
Aging
 If aging occurs at room temperature – Natural
aging
 If material need to be heated during aging –
Artificial aging.
 Dislocation moving through matrix embedded
with foreign particles can either cut through the
particles or bend around and by pass them.
 Cutting of particles is easier for small particles which
can be considered as segregated solute atoms.
 Effective strengthening is achieved in the bending
process, when the particles are submicroscopic in
size.
  Stress (τ) required to bend a dislocation is
inversely proportional to the average interspacing
(λ) of particles:

τ = Gb/ʎ
• Interspacing (λ) of spherical particles: where r –
particle radius, f - volume fraction:

•Optimum strengthening occurs during:

Smaller the particles, dislocations can cut through the at
lower stresses
 larger the particles the will be distributed at wider
distances.
Fiber strengthening
 Second phase can be introduced into matrix in fiber form
too.
 Requisite for fiber strengthening:
 Fiber material –high strength and high modulus
 Matrix material –ductile and non-reactive with fiber
material
E.g. fiber material: Al2O3, boron, graphite,
metal, glass, etc.
matrix material: metals, polymers
 Mechanism of strengthening is different from other
methods.
 Higher modulus fibers carry load, ductile matrix distributes
load to fibers. Interface between matrix and fibers thus
plays an important role.
 Strengthening analysis involves application of continuum,
not dislocation concepts as in other methods of
strengthening.
Fiber strengthening
 To achieve any benefit from presence of fibers,
critical fiber volume which must be exceeded for
fiber strengthening to occur:

Where σm u– strength of strain hardened matrix, σ’m–flow

stress of matrix at a strain equal to fiber breaking stress,
σfu– ultimate tensile strength of the fiber.

•Minimum volume fraction of fiber which must be exceeded

to have real reinforcement:
Martensite strengthening
 This strengthening method is based on formation of
martensitic phase from the retained high temperature
phase at temperature slower then the equilibrium in
variant transformation temperature.
 Martensite forms as aresult of shearing of lattices.
 Martensite plate lets assumes characteristic lenticular
shape that minimizes the elastic distortion in the
matrix. These platelets divide and subdivide the
grains of the parent phase.
 Always touching but never crossing one another.
 Martensite platelets grow at very high speeds (1/3rd of
sound speed) i.e. activation energy for growth is less.
 Thus volume fraction of martensite exist is controlled
by its nucleation rate.
 Martensite strengthening Cont’d…
 Martensite platelets attain their shape by two successive shear
displacements first displacement is a homogeneous shear
throughout the plate which occurs parallel to a specific plane in
the parent phase known as the habit plane, second displacement,
the lesser of the two, can take place by one of two mechanisms:
slip as in Fe-C Martensite or twinning as in Fe-Ni Martensite.
 Martensite formation occurs in many systems.
E.g.: Fe-C, Fe-Ni, Fe-Ni-C, Cu-Zn,Au Cd, and even in pure
metals like Li, Zr and Co. However, only the alloys based on Fe
and C show a pronounced strengthening effect.
 High strength of Martensite is attributed to its characteristic
twin structure and to high dislocation density. In Fe-C system,
carbon atoms are also involved in strengthening.
 Cold Working Cont’d…
 Ductile metals become stronger when they are deformed plastically at
temperatures well below the melting point. (temperatures below 0.4 Tm .
 The reason for strain hardening is the increase of dislocation density with
plastic deformation. The average distance between dislocations decreases and
dislocations start blocking the motion of each other.
 Dislocation density increases from 106/cm2 to 1010-12/cm2.
 High dislocation density results in a large number of dislocation interactions
which results in high strength and hardness
 Increasing strength and hardness by plastic deformation is called strain
hardening or work hardening.
 Extent of strain hardening increases with degree of cold working (% area
reduction).
 Since the metal is deformed in a certain direction, grains are elongated in the
direction of working.
 Cold Working Cont’d…
 The percent cold work (%CW) is often used to express the degree of plastic
deformation:

• Yield strength and hardness are

increasing as a result of
strain hardening but ductility is
decreasing (material becomes
more brittle).
Cold Working Cont’d…
 Cold Hardening
Cold working/Strain WorkingStrengthening
Cont’d… Cont’d…

Examples
 Summary
 Deformation
 Slip
 Twinning
 Deformation of single crystals
 Deformation of poly crystal
 Strengthening Mechanisms:
 Grain Size reduction
– Solid solution strengthening
– Precipitation and dispertion strengthening
– Fiber strengthening
– Martensite strengthening
– Cold working
 Quiz
1. What is critical resolve shear stress? Derive the expression
for CRSS.

2. Calculate the resolved shear stress for an Ni single crystal

on the (111) [01 1] slip system if a stress of 15 MPa is applied in [001]

direction.

3. A stress of 5 MPa is applied to a single crystal FCC metal in the [0 01] direction.
Calculate the CRSS on (1 11) plane in [1 01], [011] and [1 1 0]
directions.

4. What is the mechanism of grain refinement strengthening?

5. Show that strength is proportional to D-1/2 (D = grain dia).

6. An iron rod has a grain size of 0.01 mm and yield strength of 230 MPa. The
strength is 275 MPa at a grain size of 0.006 mm. In order achieve a yield
strength of 310 MPa what should be the grain size?

7. Why is strain hardening also called cold working?

8. What kind of microstructure develops after cold working?

 Quiz
9. Why does hardness and strength increase on clod working?
What is the effect of cold working on ductility?

10. How is dislocation density related to strength?

11. What is the mechanism of strengthening by solid solution?

12. What kind of strain field interstitial atoms generally introduce?

13. What kind of strain fields are associated with dislocations?

14. What are the different stages of precipitation hardening?

15. What kind of alloy system hardens by precipitation?

16. Will precipitation hardening occur if the alloy is cooled slowly from the single
phase region?

17. What is supersaturated solid solution?

18. How does the strength increase by precipitation?

19. What is coherent and incoherent precipitate?

20. What is the main strengthening phase in Al-Cu alloys.