EFFECT OF CRYSTAL DEFECTS ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATTER

Made By -: Akshay Agarwal DTU/2K12/ME/022

INTRODUCTION
A perfect crystal, with every atom of the same type in the correct position, does not exist. All crystals have some defects. Defects contribute to the mechanical properties and corrosion of materials. In fact, using the term defect is sort of a misnomer since these features are commonly intentionally used to manipulate the mechanical properties of a material.

Adding alloying components to a material is one way of introducing a crystal defect. Nevertheless, the term defect is used.

Types Of Crystal Defects

There are basic classes of crystal defects: 1 Point Defects- Which are places where an atom is missing or irregularly placed in the lattice structure. Point defects include lattice vacancies, selfinterstitial atoms, substitution impurity atoms, and interstitial impurity atoms.

2 Linear Defects- Which are groups of atoms in irregular positions. Linear defects are commonly called dislocations. 3 Planar Defects- Which are interfaces between homogeneous regions of the material. Planar defects include grain boundaries, stacking faults and external surfaces. 4 Bulk or Volume defects- These include pores, cracks, foreign inclusions and other phases. These defects are normally introduced during processing and fabrication steps. The plastic deformation in a material occurs due to the movement of dislocations (linear defects). Millions of dislocations result for plastic forming operations such as rolling and

extruding. For both scientific and practical reasons, much of the research on crystal defects is directed toward the dynamic properties of defects under particular conditions, or defect chemistry. Much of the motivation for this arises from the often undesirable effects of external influences on material properties, and a desire to minimize these effects. Examples of defect chemistry abound, including one as familiar as the photographic process, in which incident photons cause defect modifications in silver halides or other materials. Properties of materials in nuclear reactors is another important case.

Effect of Crystal

Defects On Corrosion
Corrosion is the chemical reaction of a molecule (in this case, in the lattice), with elements in the environment. Oxidation is a prime example, and one of the most common types of corrosion. This usually happens at the surface of the material, or at grain boundaries, where the atoms aren't in an equilibrium state (bonded to one another ideally, with zero net charge). This is why nano-crystalline materials tend to corrode at a much higher rate than materials with a larger grain size (nano-crystalline materials have much more grain boundary volume).

When there's a defect, it means that

the lattice is no longer perfect, the order has been broken. It can be taken from this that there might now be areas in which atoms will exist with a certain charge, making them more susceptible to forming chemical bonds with elements in the environment.

Effects Of Dislocations On Mechanical Properties

The simplest extended structural defect is the dislocation. An edge dislocation is a line defect which may be thought of as the result of adding or subtracting a half-plane of atoms. A screw dislocation is a line defect which can be thought of as the result of cutting partway through the crystal and displacing it parallel to the edge of the cut. Dislocations are of great importance in determining the mechanical properties of crystals. A dislocation-free crystal is resistant to shear, because atoms must be displaced over high-potentialenergy barriers from one equilibrium

position to another.

It takes relatively little energy to move a dislocation (and thereby shear the crystal), because the atoms at the dislocation are barely in stable equilibrium. Such plastic deformation is known as slip.

Miscellaneous Effects Of Crystal Defects On Properties Of Matter

The presence of point defects or disorder in a crystal can profoundly alter the character of the normal modes of vibration of the crystal, and consequently those crystalline properties in which the lattice vibrations play the dominant role. Natural crystals always contain defects, due to the uncontrolled conditions under which they were formed. The presence of defects which affect the color can make these

crystals valuable as gems, as in ruby (Cr replacing a small fraction of the Al in Al2O3). Crystals prepared in the laboratory will also always contain defects, although considerable control may be exercised over their type, concentration, and distribution. The importance of defects depends upon the material, type of defect, and properties which are being considered. Some properties, such as density and elastic constants, are proportional to the concentration of defects, and so a small defect concentration will have a very small effect on these. Other properties, such as the conductivity of a semiconductor crystal, may be much more sensitive to the presence of small numbers of defects.

Indeed, while the term defect carries with it the connotation of undesirable qualities, defects are responsible for many of the important properties of materials, and much of solid-state physics and materials science involves the study and engineering of defects so that solids will have desired properties. A defect-free silicon crystal would be of little use in modern electronics; the use of silicon in devices is dependent upon small concentrations of chemical impurities

such as phosphorus and arsenic which give it desired electronic properties.

REFERENCES

1 www.wikipeda.com 2 www.sciencedirect.com 3 www.nptel.com 4 www.berkeley.edu 5 www.virginia.edu 6

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