Imperfections in the Atomic

Arrangements
 Outcomes and Expectations

Learn the three basic types of

imperfections

Understand how plastic deformation

occurs at microscopic scale

Understand how the defects influence

the plastic deformation of metals
CRYSTAL DEFECTS

Point defects
 CRYSTAL DEFECTS
Responsible for many properties

Vacancies

-atom missing from a site

-simplest defect
they exist because of entropy
- increase in temperature creates vacancies because
atomic vibration amplitude increases with temp;
-atomic vibrations can displace atoms
Equilibrium number of vacancies, Nv, increases with
temp, T:
Qv
N v N exp( ) activation energy
kT (energy required to
total number
move atom out of a
of atomic sites
Boltzmann's const crystallographic
site)

(just below M.Pt., 1 out of 10000 atom sites will be

empty)
Impurities in solids
Impurities are always present
(purest metals are 99.9999%pure)
because of
entropy

(major recycling problem)

Note:
impurities are not deliberate additions

Impurities can form solid solutions or second phases

depending on concentration and temperature.
solid solution: (substitutional or interstitial)
impurity has completely intermixed with the parent or
host atoms
(the impurity is the 'solute', the parent element is the
solvent)
compositionally homogenous
(i.e. impurity atoms completely and randomly
distributed.)
second phase
impurity has formed another phase
(different crystal structure and/or compound),
either with the host atoms and/or with other
impurities.
 interstitial atoms

Vacancies

Substitutional atoms
Solid solutions

Interstitial solid solution

Small impurity atoms can fit in interstices
(= interstitial atom)
Atom size should be lower than host interstitial
spacing.
Since metals have high APFs, few elements are
small enough to be ideal interstitials
But many impurity atoms can squeeze into
interstitial sites that are a little too small.
High lattice distortion
results;
gives low max interstitial
concn.
(max. allowable
interstitial concentration
is less than 10%)
Substitutional solid solution

Large atoms
(i.e. somewhat larger than interstitial site)
can sit in a lattice site, substituting for a
parent or matrix atom
(= substitutional atom)
 Second Phase
Favoured if:
-concentration too 'high, as determined by:
- difference between atomic radii = 15% or more
- difference in electronegativity is high; this leads to
formation of a compound
- host has a lower valency than the solute
- crystal structures are different
e.g. Cu and Ni are completely (i.e. mutually) soluble
(same crystal structure-close in periodic table)
Alloys
Elements can be deliberately added to
change the properties of the metal.
These additions are alloying elements.

(Interstitial and substitutional alloying

elements are used)
 Specification of Alloy Composition
(relative concentrations)
By weight (wt %)
Wt of A
Concentration of element A in wt %, CA = x100
Total wt of alloy
By atom (at %)
Concentration of element A in atm %
' Number of moles of A
C =
A x100
Total number of moles of all elements in the alloy

mass in grams of A
N m ( A) number of moles of element A=
Atomic weight of A
 Line Defects
Dislocations:
1-D defect which displaces atoms in it's proximity
Edge dislocation is the easiest to visualize
Symbol for Extra half plane of
dislocation atoms inserted

Defect free lattice

Edge of half
Lattice plane is
strains dislocation
line
Alternative view of an edge dislocation
Defect free lattice

sheared
Lattice strains due to edge dislocation
Bond in compression
Defect free above the line
lattice

Bond in tension
below the line
Screw Dislocation
Edge dislocation created by
introducing an extra half plane
of atoms
screw dislocation involves
shearing of the lattice by one
atom distance at D
name derived from the spiral
created around the dislocation
line
slip plane coincides with the
dislocation line
dislocation is parallel to the
direction of slip
 Movement of Edge Dislocations
Applied stress causes extra plane of atoms to move
from left to right
atomic bonds are only broken in region of dislocation
therefore required stress is much lower than shearing
whole lattice
the process is called slip and the occurs at the slip plane

Edge dislocation Unit cell

of slip
Shear Shear
stress stress

Shear Shear
stress stress

Slip
plane
 Caterpillar or Rug Analogy
The caterpillar would require a large force (energy) to
slide its complete body along
it is much easier for it to move one part of its body at
a time
this analogous to the shearing of the lattice by
movement of an edge dislocation
another analogy is the sliding of a rug across a floor

V V V V
v v
v v v v v v v v v v v v
v
v v v vv v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v vv vv v v v v v v
 Movement of Edge and Screw Dislocations
Edge dislocation Shear of lattice from
front to back and
perpendicular to the
shear stress ()
this creates one unit of
slip
macroscopic slip (plastic
deformation) is due to
Direction of
motion
Screw dislocation many slip events by both
edge and screw
dislocations
can have mixed
dislocations which are
combination of both edge
and screw dislocations
 dislocations are intrinsic
defects like vacancies
Compressive strain field
dislocation density is the
total dislocation length/unit
volume Compression
units: mm/mm3 or mm-2
annealed metal: 105-106 mm-2
deformed: 109-1010 mm-2
atoms above slip plane are in Tension
compression
atoms below slip plane are in
tension
creates a strain field Tensile strain field
around the dislocation
dislocations contain stored
energy
 Dislocation Interaction
Repulsion dislocations multiply during
C C plastic deformation
dislocations can either repel
or attract one another
depends on orientation or
T T sign (positive or negative)
important since deformation
and dislocation density
Attraction increases work hardening
C T this is a strengthening
mechanism
Attraction

+ = Dislocation annihilation
T C
(Perfect crystal)
+ve + -ve 0
 Slip Systems (in FCC)
A
Dislocations slip on close or
closest packed planes and
directions
C
B
highest planar density
F highest linear density
E
D minimizes lattice distortion
in FCC metals these are
{111} planes and <110>
A directions
both are close packed
B C
there 12 independent slip
systems for FCC
D E F
 independent systems in BCC are very numerous (12)
both FCC and BCC metals are ductile
pure HCP metals have only a limited number of slip systems (3
or 6) at room temperature brittle behaviour
number of operational slip systems change with temperature
for both BCC and HCP metals
number of slip systems increases with temperature e.g. HCP
metals ductile high temperature)
Number of
Metals Slip Plane Slip Direction Slip Systems
Face-Centered Cubic
Cu, Al, Ni, Ag, Au {111} <110> 12
Body-Centered Cubic
-Fe, W, Mo {110} <111> 12
-Fe, W {211} <111> 12
-Fe, K {321} <111> 24
Hexagonal Close-Packed
Cd, Zn, Mg, Ti Be {0001} <1120> 3
Ti, Mg, Zr {1010} <1120> 6
Ti, Mg {1011} <1120> 6
 Single Crystal Deformation
Tensile or compressive stresses
create resolved shear stresses (R)
magnitude depends on
applied stress level
orientation of slip planes and
directions

R cos cos

Slip plane where:

= angle between normal to
the slip plane and the applied
stress ()
= the angle between the
slip and stress directions
 Depending on the orientation,
different slip systems are
more favourable for slip y
one slip system is usually
favourably oriented:
Rmax = (cos cos)max
when stress reaches the F7.8
critical resolved shear stress
(CRSS)
Rmax = CRSS and yielding occurs

CRSS
y
(cos cos ) max
when = = 45o then:
y = 2 CRSS
y
Planar (2-D) Defects
Grain Boundaries (GBs)
Interfaces between crystals
characterized by relative differences in crystal
orientation
high angle boundary

Low angle boundary

Grain Boundaries
Occurs due to the
crystallographic mismatch
when two grains meet
when mis-orientation is large
high angle grain boundary
when mis-orientation is
small,
low angle grain boundary
atoms are less bonded and
the atomic packing is lower
than in the grain (lower co-
ordination)
the result is an energy
difference
interfacial surface
energy or grain boundary
energy
 LOW ANGLE BOUNDARIES (CONT.)

Low angle
boundary is
an array of
dislocations
 Grain boundary energy
Lack of complete bonding means GBs increase energy of
material

-still pretty close packed, so grains strongly bonded

( density largely unaffected, for example).
-small grains will coarsen (if given the chance)
-this lowers total energy of system.
(BUT fine grained material is often better)
 Twin Boundary
Boundary separating mirror images of crystals

(180 deg
translation about
the twin axis)

Annealing twins in FCC, mechanical twins in BCC and HCP

Occur on definite planes in definite directions (depending
on crystal structure)
Revealed as parallel lines in micrographs
 Grain Size Determination
properties are affected by grain size
measurement of grain volume, diameter
and area
average grain diameter can be determined 1mm
using the linear intercept method
lines of same length placed on micrograph
measure number of grains intercepting each
line average grain diameter

ASTM grain size (n) based number of grains/square inch

(N)
use comparison charts to determine size of microstructure
of interest at x100 magnification simple to implement
expression relating two parameters:
N =2n-1
 Grain Size Control
Grain boundaries impede the
motion of dislocations:
dislocation changes direction on
moving from grain A to B
grain boundary is a
discontinuity in the lattice
small grain size high grain
boundary surface area and
high yield strength (y )
Hall-Petch equation:
y = o + kyd-1/2
where: d = average grain
diameter and o and ky are Brass
constants
Bulk or volume defects (macro defects?)
Pores, foreign inclusions, cracks.
Very influential and detrimental category
of defect.
Processing of materials can avoid these,
but sometimes cannot be avoided.
If present, will override props of
materials.
 Importance of Defects

We can control the strength of a metallic

material by controlling the number and
type of imperfections:
Strain hardening
Solid-solution strengthening
Grain-size strengthening
 Suggested lectures

Callister (7th edidion)

Sections 4.2-4.3; 4.5-4.6;4.11; 7.2-7.6; 7.8
 Problems
1. CsCl has a crystalline structure like a BCC but the atoms at the corner are Cl and the atom at the center is
Cs. Compute the density of this structure knowing that the diameter of Cl and Cs are respectively equal to
0.362 nm and 0.330 nm.

2. Calculate the number of vacancies per cm 3 expected in copper at 800 oC. The energy for vacancy
formation is 84 000 J/mol.

3. How many grams of aluminum, with a dislocation density of 1010 cm/cm 3, are required to give a total
dislocation length that would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles (4800 km)?

4. A single crystal of a BCC metal is oriented so the [001] direction is parallel to the applied stress. If the
critical resolved shear stress required for slip is 83 MPa, calculate the magnitude of the applied stress
required to cause slip to begin in the [111] direction on the (110), (011) and (101) slip planes.

5. Determine the ASTM grain size number if 20 grains/in 2 are observed at a magnification of 400X.

Grain size (mm) Yield Strength (MPa)

6. A copper-zinc alloy has the following properties:
0.015 170
0.025 158
0.035 151
0.050 145

Determine: (a) the constant in the Hall-Petch equation and (b) the grain size required to obtain a strength
of 200 MPa