MME 291: Lecture 04

Dislocation Motion and

Yielding in Crystals

Department of MME
BUET, Dhaka
 Today’s Topics
Strength of a perfect crystal
Motion of dislocations in response to
stress
Slip Systems
Plastic deformation in single and
polycrystalline materials
Reference:
1. WD Callister, Jr. Materials Science and Engineering: An
Introduction, 7th Ed., Ch. 7, pp.174-185
 Strength of a Perfect
Crystal
Stress at which bond rupture takes place at the end
of elastic deformation is called the ideal strength.
 Estimated value of ideal strength  E/15.
 A material cannot be stronger than this.

Glasses and some ceramics and polymers have strength

values close to their respective ideal strengths values.

All metals, however, have yield strengths far below than

their ideal strengths – as much as a factor of 105 lower.
Why ?
 Strength of a Perfect
Crystal
Crystals are not perfect.
They have defects, which limit the strength of
crystal and the material.

The presence and motion of large number of

dislocations allow materials to deform plastically
at stress levels much smaller than ideal strength.

If dislocations don’t move,

plastic deformation doesn’t happen !!
Dislocations: A Review
Dislocations are linear imperfections in a crystal
structure for which a row of atoms have a local
structure that differs from the surrounding crystal.

Generally caused by:

 Mechanical stress & deformation
 Imperfections during crystal growth

Two types of dislocations:

 Edge dislocations
 Screw dislocations
Dislocations: A Review

dislocati
on line Burger
dislocation vector,
line b
Edge Dislocation Screw Dislocation
Mixed Dislocation
 Characteristics of
Dislocations
Lattice Strain
Edge dislocations introduce
compressive, tensile, and
shear lattice strains.
Screw dislocations introduce
shear strain only.
Dislocations have strain fields
arising from distortions at their
cores.
Strain drops radially with
distance from dislocation core
The strain fields around dislocations cause them
to interact with each other
 Characteristics of
Dislocations
Interactions between dislocations
When they are in the same plane, they repel each other if they
have the same sign (direction of the Burgers vector) and
attract/annihilate if they have opposite signs.

Repulsion of Dislocations Attraction of Dislocations

C C C T

T T T C
The number of dislocations increases Dislocation
dramatically during plastic deformation. annihilation
(formation
of perfect
crystal)
Motion of Dislocations

Edge dislocation line moves parallel to applied stress

Screw dislocation line moves perpendicular to applied

stress
Motion of Dislocations
Metals: Easier dislocation motion

Covalent Ceramics: (Si, Diamond)

Ionic Ceramics: (NaCl)

 Slip
Slip is the movement of large numbers of dislocations
to produce macroscopic plastic deformation.
Slip allows deformation without breaking  ductility
Though individual bonds must be broken for dislocation to move,
new bonds are formed throughout the slip process
Analogy — caterpillars, carpets, worms
 Slip
During fracture of material, all bonds are broken
instantaneously, which requires much larger force.

During propagation of dislocation, only a small fraction

of bonds are broken along a particular plane at any
given time, requiring much lesser force.
 The Slip System
Dislocations do not move with the same degree of ease
on all crystallographic planes and in all crystallographic
directions.
 In single crystals there are preferred planes where
dislocations move (slip planes). Within the slip planes
there exist some preferred crystallographic directions for
dislocation movement (slip directions).
 The set of slip planes and directions constitutes the slip
system.

The slip planes and directions are those of highest

packing density.
 Factors Favouring
Slip
Materials Characteristics External Conditions
1.5 or more slip systems 1.High temperature
3 in HCP crystals some materials are brittle at
12 in FCC crystals low T, while more ductile at
48 (nearly close-packed planes) high T (new slip systems
in BCC crystals (most of which become operative)
operates at high temperatures) 2. Type of stress
2.Non-directionality in shear & compression –
bonding encourage slip
metallic (not covalent) uniaxial tension – permits
slip
triaxial tension – discourage
slip
 Slip in Single
Crystals
Dislocations move along the
slip plane in response to shear
F
A
stresses applied along these Normal
planes and directions. to slip
The resolved shear stress, R ,
plane 

resulting from the applied tensile
stress, σ. Shear
R =  cos cos force, FR
Slip plane,
AR
and
R = FR/AR Slip direction
+ ≠ 90
FR = F cos ; AR = A/cos since slip planes
may not be
R = (F cos) / (A/cos) normal to the
tensile axis. F
 Slip in Single
When the resolvedCrystals
shear stress becomes sufficiently
large, the crystal will start to yield
dislocations start to move along the most favorably
oriented slip system, which produces the maximum
resolved shear stress.
The onset of yielding corresponds to the yield stress, σy.

The minimum shear stress required to initiate slip is

termed the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS):

R (max) = (y cos cosmax =

CRSS
 ResolvedSlip
Shearin Single
Stress and Stress-to-
Initiate-Yielding Computations
Crystals
Consider a single crystal of BCC iron oriented such
that a tensile stress is applied along a [010] direction.
a) Compute the resolved shear stress along a (110)
plane and in a [ ‾111] direction when a tensile
stress of 52 MPa (7500 psi) is applied.
b) If slip occurs on a (110) plane and in a [‾111]
direction, and the critical resolved shear stress is
30 MPa (4350 psi), calculate the magnitude of the
applied tensile stress necessary to initiate yielding.
 ø is the angle between the normal to the (110) slip plane (i.e., the
[110] direction) and the [010] direction.

λ represents the angle between [‾111]and [010] directions.
In general ,for cubic unit cells, an angle θ between directions 1 and 2 ,
represented by [ u1 v1 w1 ] and [ u2 v2 w2 ] ,repectively, is equal to
 Slip in Single
Crystals

The min. stress necessary to introduce yielding occurs for single crystal
when  =  = 45, and under these conditions,  y = 2 CRSS
Slip in Single
Crystals
stretched
Zn crystal

Each step (shear band) is

resulted from the generation of
a large number of dislocations
and their propagation in the
slip system with maximum
resolved shear stress
 Slip in Polyrystalline
Materials
Random grain orientations with respect to applied stress
makes slipping more complex.

 Slip directions vary from crystal to crystal

some grains are favourably oriented than
the others.
 Dislocation cannot easily cross grain
boundaries
due to the change in slip plane directions
and disorder at the grain boundary.
Slip lines in deformed
polycrystalline Cu
As a result, polycrystalline metals are stronger than single
crystals.
the exception is the perfect single crystal without any defects, as in
whiskers
 Next Class
MME 291: Lecture 5

Strengthening
Mechanisms