1

Objective

Microstructure-Properties: I
Materials Properties:
Strength, Ductility

Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

27-301
Lecture 3
Fall, 2007
Profs. A. D. Rollett,
M. de Graef

Processing

Microstructure

Performance

Properties

Objective

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The objective of this lecture is to remind you of what a

material property is.
Strength and ductility are defined and used to illustrate the
relationship between materials properties and microstructure.
The measurement of a stress-strain curve is described.
More specifically, this lecture explains the Taylor Equation
that relates yield strength to dislocation content of a material
(and other obstacles to dislocation flow):

y = M G b
Look at www.steeluniversity.org, or
http://www.steeluniversity.org/content/html/eng/default.asp?ca
tid=1&pageid=1016899460,
and specifically Tensile Test, Hardness Test, for selflearning guides

Notation

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

L, l :=
:=
G (or ) :=
b :=
r :=
f VV() :=
:=
:=
u :=
A :=
:=
:=
<L3> :=
:=
F :=
A :=
m :=
M :=
2 :=
, :=

specimen length
strain
shear modulus
Burgers vector
Particle size (radius)
volume fraction (of precipitates)
stress (macroscopic)
shear stress (critical value, in some cases)
displacement
area (cross section of specimen)
geometrical constant (~1)
angle between dislocation and line perpendicular to the obstacle line
mean intercept length (of precipitates)
mean spacing (of dislocations, precipitates)
force
area (cross section of specimen)
Schmid factor
Taylor factor
nearest neighbor distance
angles between tensile axis and slip direction, slip plane normal,
respectively

Key Concepts

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Stress, yield strength, typical values, extreme values

Strain, engineering versus logarithmic strain
Stress-strain curves
Ductility, necking limit, relationship to hardening parameters,
Considres Criterion
Dislocation loops, obstacle spacings
Critical resolved shear stress, relationship to shear modulus
Schmid factors, average Taylor factor for polyxtal

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

What is a Material Property?

A Material Property is some quantifiable behavior of
a material.
For a property to be a material property, it should
be a characteristic of the material, not the
configuration in which it is used.
Example: the load carrying capacity of a beam
depends on the cross-section of the beam,
therefore is not a material property.
The yield strength is a material property because it
is the same no matter how the material is tested.

Properties & Microstructure

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Why are [some] properties dependent on microstructure?

Many properties are controlled by the propagation of defects
within the material.
The defect propagation is an example of a mechanism that
controls the property.
Example: yield strength measures the resistance to plastic
flow, which is controlled by the mechanism of dislocation
motion. Dislocations are line defects whose motion is more
sensitive to precipitates, grain boundaries etc. than to the
lattice. The latter constitutes microstructure, as previously
discussed.

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Issues, new ideas, so far

The following new ideas or concepts have been
introduced.
1. Strength
Properties
2. Hardness
3. Ductility
4. Military non-diffusional transformations
5. Martensite (a lower symmetry crystal structure,
formed as a result of a military transformation)
6. The Fe-C phase diagram (not completely new)
7. Diffusional transformations, decomposition
8. Pearlite (a two-phase structure, formed as a result
of a diffusional transformation)
Processes
9. Tempering

Strength

Objective

Example
Strength

Hardness
Ductility

Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Strength is very basic to the value of a structural material. We

measure it in terms of force per unit area: = F/A
Strength means resistance to irreversible deformation or, if
you prefer, the upper limit of elastic stress that is safe to apply
to a material.
Strength is highly dependent on microstructure because it is
proportional to the difficulty of moving dislocations through
(and between) the grains.
Typical values? Most useful structural metals have strengths
in the range 100-1000 MPa; ultra-high strength steel wire can
be produced up to 5,500 MPa!
Engineers are often taught strength as being related to
(chemical) composition. Materials engineers study
strengthening mechanisms and therefore understand how to
control strength.
Strength is typically measured in a tension test, but we will
also examine this test when we discuss ductility.

Comparisons

http://www.time-travellers.org/Historian/Rome2001/romephotos.html

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness

SOFT:
SOFT Lead piping
(Roman!)

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

HARD: Comparison of high

strength (pearlitic) steels,
used for bridges, tyre cord
Processing and mechanical behavior
of hypereutectoid steel wires, D.
Lesuer et al., Metallurgy, Processing
and Applications of Metal Wires, TMS,
1996.
www.brantacan
.co.uk
uk// suspension.htm
www.brantacan.co.
suspension.htm

Types of Strength

10

Objective
Example

Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Later in the course, we will study stress and strength as tensor

quantities. For now, we will treat them as scalar quantities,
i.e. a single number.
There are different modes of loading materials:

Yield Strength: ambient conditions, low strain rate

Dynamic Strength: ambient conditions, high strain rate
Creep Strength: high temperature strength, low strain rate
Torsion Strength: strength in twisting
Fatigue Strength: alternating stresses

The strength value is highly dependent on the loading mode.

Each type of strength is controlled by a variety of
strengthening mechanisms.

11

Yield strength
A yield strength is boundary between elastic and
plastic flow.

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield

Example: tensile stress

=0
elastic

plastic

Polyxtal
Yield

= yield

Ductility

12

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Ductility measures the ability of a material to undergo plastic

deformation without fracture intervening.
Ductility is the hallmark of structural materials because it
makes structures damage tolerant. If one element of a
structure is overloaded, it will deform before it breaks and thus
not jeopardize the entire structure.
We cannot discuss ductility without first defining strain and
then examining stress-strain behavior.
Ranges of ductility: most oxides break (in tension) before they
yield plastically. Useful structural metals have at least 5%
ductility. Superplastic materials (not just metals!) can exhibit
enormous ductilities, >500%!

High strain rate superplasticity of an Fe-Cr-Ni-Mo dualphase stainless steel. Grain refinement of (+) duplex
structure up about 1m has established a large
elongation over 1000% even at high-strain rates in the
order of 0.1 s-1.

http://hightc.mtl.kyotou.ac.jp/english/laboratory/m
icrostructure/microstructure
.htm

Strain

13

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Strain measures the change in shape of a body. If

you apply a force to a body, naturally there is a
change in size. By normalizing the change in a
given dimension by the original dimension, one
arrives at a quantity that again can be used to
characterize the properties of a material. For now,
we'll simply state that strain, properly described is
also a second rank tensor.

strain = [change in length]/[original length]

=L/L0=(L-L0)/L0.
Reminder: strain is a tensor because a body can
change shape in all three directions at once.

14

Strain - diagram

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Courtney

Strain - notes

15

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

A better definition of strain is that of a gradient in displacement

of points in a body. Take a tensile strain as an example: if we
fix one end of the body and apply a tensile force, then the
fixed point does not move. The point at the other end of the
body moves the most. The change in position, i.e. the
displacement, is then proportional to the distance away from
the fixed point. The strain can then be defined as the gradient
in displacement, u; = du/dx, where x is the position along the
body.
In order to measure strain, one must choose points on a
specimen, measure their spacing, perform the test, and then
re-measure.
Since strain is always a ratio of lengths then it is
dimensionless. Per-cent (%) is useful because many
materials have ductilities less than 50%. Fractional strain is
also used, however.

Stress-Strain: measurement

16

Objective
Example

Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The measurement of the stress-strain characteristics of a

material, which we will perform in the second laboratory in
301, requires us to examine some practical aspects.
At ambient conditions and easily attained strain rates (room
temperature, one atmosphere of air, strain rates between 10-5
and 100 per second), the most straightforward test is the
tensile test. A bar of constant cross section [area] is stretched
at controlled displacement rate. The load required for the
stretch is recorded.
Essentially all materials exhibit a maximum strain, beyond
which failure (fracture) occurs.
Note that, although strength is a tensor quantity, one can only
measure in one direction at once. In many cases, it is
reasonable to assume isotropy.

Stress-strain curves

17

If one applies a large enough load to a ductile

material (of uniform cross-section) plastic
deformation will result in the following (typical)
behavior.

Objective
Example
Strength

Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The elastic strain can be

subtracted from the total strain in
order to produce a curve of stress
versus plastic strain only, which is
useful for many problems. A
linear stress-(elastic) strain
response is assumed; for each
data point, the elastic strain
corresponding to that stress
(stressmodulus) is subtracted
(translate to the left, parallel to
the strain axis).
This procedure can also be used
to correct for machine
compliance.

Plastic

Elastic

Courtney

Compliance Correction

18

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Often, a tensile testing machine is

not perfectly stiff and the lack of
stiffness is evident in the test results
as an apparent elastic modulus that
is lower than the expected value (i.e.
what you find in a handbook). The
reason is that applying a load to the
specimen produces elastic
displacements in the machine as
well as in the specimen.
Displacement is measured at the
cross-head and so additional,
apparent strain occurs. This can be
corrected for in a straightforward
manner by measuring the difference
in slope between the measured,
Emeasuredl, and the known elastic
modulus, Ematerial. The permits a
machine displacement to be
computed at any given load, and the
resulting strain subtracted from the
measured strain value.

"actual = "measured # "correction ($ )

= "measured #
= "measured

$e

M machine
% 1
1 (
# $ e'
#
*
E
E
& measured
material )

Stress-strain characteristics

19

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The initial part of the curve represents the elastic regime of the
material. If the load is released, the strain of the specimen will return
to zero and no permanent deformation occurs. The slope of this part
of the curve is called Young's modulus or Modulus of Elasticity.
Further imposed strain results in a drastic change in slope of the
curve which signals the onset of permanent plastic deformation. The
yield strength is a measure of the stress required for permanent
plastic flow. The usual definition of this property is the offset yield
strength determined by the stress corresponding to the intersection
of the curve and a line parallel to the elastic part but offset by a
specific strain (usually 0.2%). Beyond this point, the material work
hardens until the ultimate tensile strength is attained. At this point,
the incremental increases in stress due to decrease in crosssectional area becomes greater than the increase in load carrying
ability due to strain hardening. Starting at this point, all further strain
is concentrated in the "necked" portion of the specimen.

Ductility measures

20

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The reduction of area at fracture and the elongation to fracture

are used as percent reduction of the original area and
percentage increase of the original gage length. The
percentage reduction of area at fracture is only slightly
affected by the shape of the tensile test specimen. As long as
the ratio of the width to thickness does not exceed about 5:1,
for a rectangular cross-section, the percent reduction of area
remains the same as for circular cross-sections.
Elongation to failure = f = (lfinal-l0)/l0 x 100%
Reduction in Area = (Afinal-A0)/A0 x 100%
The reduction of area is usually larger than the elongation to
fracture.

Derived Quantities

21

Objective

Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The Gauge Length is the length between the shoulders of the

specimen
Elongation to fracture is usually measured by fitting the broken
specimen back together and measuring the distance between
punch or scribe marks. Elongation may also be calculated
from the load-extension diagram; the two do not necessarily
agree. Elongation is so much affected by the gauge length
over which it is measured that the gauge length must always
be specified when reporting data.
Tensile Strength, or, Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) is the
maximum stress that the material experiences during the test.
Work Hardening or Strain Hardening is the increase in stress
during the test.

Engineering Stress, Strain

22

Objective

Example
Strength
Hardness

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

One important technical issue in tensile (and compression)

tests arises from the change in area.
Load-displacement curves are all that can be measured in a
tensile test. Load must be divided by area to arrive at stress.
Displacement must be divided by an initial length (such as a
gauge length) to arrive at a strain.
If the initial cross-sectional area, A0, is used to calculate
stress, then this is known as nominal or engineering stress.
n = F/A0
Engineering stress -strain plots are useful because they show
the maximum load carrying capacity of the material by the
change in sign of the slope (peak in the curve at dn/d=0).
Similarly, use of linear strain based on the initial length is
known as nominal or engineering strain.
n = l / l0

23

True Stress, Logarithmic Strain

Objective
Example

Strength
Hardness
Ductility

Al = A0l0

Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

If the stress is divided by the current area, A, then the current,

or true stress is obtained. The current area is easily obtained
from the length.
Constancy of volume: it is an experimental fact that the
volume change experienced in ductile flow is negligible. This
is a result of plastic flow being accommodated by shear/slip.
Therefore,
This permits us to write,

= F / A = Fl / A0l0 = F(l0+l) / A0l0 = F(1+n) / A0 =

n(1+n)

True, or logarithmic strain is defined as,

#l&
dl
! = " = ln%% ((
l
$ l0 '
l0
l

! = ln(1+ ! n )

Why Ductility?

24

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Why do materials exhibit ductility? The reason for ductility in

metals is that they work harden.
The key concept is the re-distribution of strain. That is to say,
if one sub-region of a material hardens as a result of the
accumulation of dislocations then its load carrying capacity is
higher than that of the neighboring regions. More specifically,
the flow stress is lower in the non-hardened regions than in the
hardened region. Therefore plastic flow is larger in the nonhardened region(s) and, in effect, the strain is redistributed to a
different part of the specimen.
Many polymer systems also exhibit bulk ductility because the long
chain molecules are present in folded form, either regularly arranged
as in the semi-crystalline polymers, or irregularly as in the
amorphous polymers. This conformation of the long chain molecules
allows for considerable stretching during plastic deformation and
often to a few hundred percent.

Why is Ductility limited?

25

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Ductility is limited because the rate of work hardening

decreases with strain.
Straining does not continue indefinitely. There are several ways
in which plastic deformation will cease; collectively, the various
phenomena are discussed as fracture. One limit to straining
comes when the material exhausts its ability to redistribute strain.
This exhaustion is dependent on the geometry of the test,
however. For example, the tensile deformation results in a
steady decrease in the cross section which sets up a competition
between strain hardening and geometric softening from the
perspective of load carrying capacity of a given element of
material. When the strain hardening no longer "keeps up with"
the geometric softening then strain redistribution ceases and a
neck will start to form.

Analysis of ductility

26

Consider the load on the tensile specimen:

F=A

Objective
Example
Strength

Hardness

dF = dA + dA

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Differentiate:

The criterion for instability is that the increase in load in any

given element of material is less than or equal to zero, dF=0.
The load increase is positive from work hardening (and
dominates at first) but negative from the change in area. Note
that we must work with current values, i.e. the true stress.

Analysis, contd.

27

dF = 0 dA + dA = 0
dT/T = -dA/A

Objective

= ln(A0/A)
d = -dA/A
dT/T = d
dT/d = T

Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

In words, the hardening rate (of the true stress) is equal to the
(true) stress at the point at which the material can no longer
support an increasing load. Beyond this point on the stressstrain curve, the deformation will tend to localize in a (diffuse)
neck.

Considres Criterion

28

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Considre developed an
elegant geometrical
construction for determining
the maximum load in a
tensile test. The true stress
is plotted against the
engineering strain. A straight
line is drawn through the
point A, (-1,0), and tangent to
the curve. The stress at the
tangent point is the maximum
stress/load.
If the stress-strain curve can
be described as a power-law
relationship with exponent n,
T = Kn ,
then the engineering strain at
the maximum load, eu = n.

Dieter: fig. 8-8, p290.

29

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Ductility-Microstructure
How does microstructure influence ductility?
Provided that dislocations move easily through the
material and macroscopic instabilities (such as
necking) do not intervene, ductility can be very large.
Any microstructural element that leads to local
cracking will tend to lower ductility by decreasing the
load carrying capacity of the material.
Inclusions, second phase particles, grain boundaries,
for example, are all potential fracture sites.
Qualitatively, cleaner, purer materials have higher
ductility.

30

Example Problem

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

[Courtney]

31

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Summary (intermediate)
Tensile strength and ductility have been explained.
Standards methods of calculating these quantities
from the load-displacement curve from a tensile
testing machine have been described.

32

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Dislocation Motion
Dislocations control most aspects of strength and
ductility in structural (crystalline) materials.
Our objective in reviewing the characteristics of
dislocations is so that we can understand and control
strengthening mechanisms.
The strength of a material is controlled by the
density of defects (dislocations, second phase
particles, boundaries).
For a polycrystal:

yield = <M> crss = <M> G b

Dislocation glide

33

Objective
Example

Recall the effect of dislocation motion in a crystal:

passage causes one half of the crystal to be
displaced relative to the other. This is a shear
displacement, giving rise to a shear strain.

Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

[Dieter]

34

Objective

Dislocations & Yield

Straight lines are not a good approximation for the
shape of dislocations, however: dislocations really
move as expanding loops.

Example
Strength

[Dieter]

Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The essential feature of yield strength is the density

of obstacles that dislocations encounter as they
move across the slip plane. Higher obstacle
density higher strength.

Why is there a yield stress?

35

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness

One might think that dislocation flow is something like

elasticity: larger stresses imply longer distances for dislocation
motion. This is not the case: dislocations only move large
distances once the stress rises above a threshold or critical
value (hence the term critical resolved shear stress).
Consider the expansion of a dislocation loop under a shear
stress between two pinning points (Frank-Read source).

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield
[Dieter]

36

Orowan bowing stress

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

If you consider the three consecutive

1
2r
positions of the dislocation loop, it is
not hard to see that the shear stress
!
required to support the line tension of
the dislocation is roughly equal for positions 1 and 3, but
higher for position 2. Moreover, the largest shear stress
required is at position 2, because this has the smallest radius
of curvature. A simple force balance (ignoring edge-screw
differences) between the force on the dislocation versus the
line tension force on each obstacle then gives
maxb = (Gb2/2), max = Gb/
where is the separation between the obstacles (strictly
speaking one subtracts their diameter), b is the Burgers vector
and G is the shear modulus (Gb2/2 is the approximate
dislocation line tension).

37

Orowan Bowing Stress, contd.

Objective
Example

Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

To see how the force balance applies,

consider the relationship between the
shape of the dislocation loop and the
force on the dislocation.
Line tension = Gb2/2
Force resolved in the vertical direction
= 2cos Gb2/2
Force exerted on the dislocation per
unit length (Peach-Koehler Eq.) = b
Force on dislocation per obstacle (only
the length perpendicular to the shear
stress matters) = b
At each position of the dislocation, the
forces balance, so
= cos Gb2/b
The maximum force occurs when the
angle = 0, which is when the
dislocation is bowed out into a
complete semicircle between the
obstacle pair:
= Gb/

Gb2/2

Gb2/2

Gb2/2

Gb2/2

=0

MOVIES: http://www.gpm2.inpg.fr/axes/plast/MicroPlast/ddd/

Critical stress

38

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

It should now be apparent that dislocations will only move

short distances if the stress on the crystal is less than the
Orowan bowing stress. Once the stress rises above this value
then any dislocation can move past all obstacles and will
travel across the crystal or grain. This explains why plastic
deformation is highly non-linear.
This analysis is correct for all types of obstacles, including
second phase particles (precipitates) and dislocations (that
intersect the slip plane). For weak obstacles, the shape of the
critical configuration is not the semi-circle shown above (to be
discussed later) - the dislocation does not bow out so far
before it breaks through.

Arrays of Obstacles

39

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness

In reality, obstacles are not uniformly distributed and so there is a

spectrum of obstacle strengths. Again, it turns out that this makes a
relatively minor difference to the critical resolved shear stress, crss,
which can be estimated from a knowledge of the average obstacle
spacing, , the Burgers vector magnitude, b, and the shear modulus,
G, of the material, and a geometrical factor, , that takes account of
the flexibility of the dislocations (i.e. that they do not have to bow out
to the maximum stress semi-circular position:

crss = Gb/.

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Hull & Bacon

- What is this distance, ?

For dislocations that are flexible (or, the
obstacles are strong), we need the
nearest neighbor distance, 2.
- The geometrical factor, , is generally
taken to be 0.5. This is a because
dislocations break through obstacles, on
average, at an angle, , less than 90.

40

Stereology: Nearest Neighbor Distance

Objective

Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The nearest neighbor distance

(in a plane), 2, can be
obtained from the point density
in a plane, PA.
The probability density, P(r), is
given by considering
successive shells of radius, r:
the density is the shell area,
multiplied by the point density ,
PA, multiplied by the remaining
fraction of the cumulative
probability.
For strictly 1D objects such as
dislocations, 2 may be used
as the mean free distance
between intersection points on
a plane.

Not examinable

P(r)dr = 1 ! " P(r)dr PA 2#rdr

0

P(r)dr = 2#rPAe

!#r 2 PA

$ 2 = "0 rP(r)dr
$2 =

1
2 PA

r
dr
Ref: Underwood, pp 84,85,185.

Dislocations as obstacles

41

Objective

Example
Strength
Hardness

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing

Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Dislocations can be considered either as a set of

randomly oriented lines within a crystal, or as a
set of parallel, straight lines. The latter is easier
to work with whereas the former is more realistic.
Dislocation density, , is defined as either line
length per unit volume, LV. It can also be defined
by the areal density of intersections of
dislocations with a plane, PA.
For randomly oriented dislocations, use standard
stereology:
= LV = 2PA; 2 = (2PA)-1/2;
thus = (2{LV/2})-1 (2{/2})-1.
is the obstacle spacing in any plane.
Straight, parallel dislocations: use
= L V = PA
where PA applies to the plane perpendicular to the
dislocation lines only; 2=(PA)-1/2;
thus = 1/LV 1/
where is the obstacle spacing in the plane
orthogonal to the dislocation lines only.
Thus, we can write crss

= G b

42

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility

Single Crystal Deformation

To make the connection between dislocation
behavior and yield strength as measured in tension,
consider the deformation of a single crystal.
Given an orientation for single slip, i.e. the resolved
shear stress reaches the critical value on one
system ahead of all others, then one obtains a
pack-of-cards straining.

Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield
[Dieter]

43

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Resolved Shear Stress

Geometry of slip: how big an
applied stress is required for slip?
To obtain the resolved shear
stress based on an applied tensile
stress, take the component of
the stress along the slip direction
which is given by Fcos, and divide
by the area over which the (shear)
force is applied, A/cos. Note that
the two angles are not complementary unless the
slip direction, slip plane normal and tensile direction
happen to be co-planar.
= F/A cos cos = cos cos = m
Schmid factor = m

44

Critical Resolved Shear Stress

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The experimental evidence of Schmids Law is that there is a

critical resolved shear stress. This is verified by measuring
the yield stress of single crystals as a function of orientation.
The example below is for Mg which is hexagonal and slips
most readily on the basal plane (all other crss are much
larger).

= /coscos

Soft orientation,
with slip plane at
45to tensile axis
Hard orientation,
with slip plane at
~90to tensile axis

45

Determining Schmid Factors

Objective
Example
Strength

Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

This brief review of single slip in crystals raises the question of how to
determine the Schmid factor for an arbitrarily oriented crystal.
Recall the general formula for how to resolve a general (tensor) stress onto a
slip plane: = b n = bi ij nj
Then simplify this formula for the case where the stress is a tensile stress
parallel to a direction, A: = bA nA = cos cos
It is best to use a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel), or a Math program such as Mathematica or
Maple, and make a list of all possible combinations of slip plane (111, -111, 1-11, -111) and slip direction (e.g. 111 is orthogonal to 110, -101 and 0-11), taking only
positive versions of each (unit) vector. This will give you a table with 12 rows, one
for each slip system (3 X 4 = 12 combinations of plane and direction). Then calculate
the dot products of the tensile axis, A, with each combination of plane+direction in
turn in order to obtain cos and cos respectively (2 more columns). Then calculate
the Schmid factor as cos*cos (1 more column). Finally, identify the row with the
largest absolute value of the Schmid factor in it (i.e. positive or negative).
You can expand the table to include the negatives of each slip direction in addition:
this will give you 24 rows (e.g. 111 is orthogonal to 110, -101, 0-11, 1-10, 10-1 and
01-1). If you use the 24 row version, you will find that you obtain a pair of positive
and negative Schmid factors for each pair of positive and negative slip directions.
This positive/negative pairing corresponds to positive and negative directions of slip.

46

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Polycrystal Deformation
Consider how a polycrystal deforms with slips in
individual grains, each of which has a different
orientation.
(a) undeformed
(b) single slip, leading to
gaps and overlaps
(hypothetical)
(c) creation of geometrically
necessary dislocations
(d) compatible deformed
grains
Note varying orientations of slip planes
[Dieter]

Polycrystals: Taylor factor

47

Objective

Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility

Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

In a later discussion, we will see in more detail how slip at the

single crystal level is related to (ductile) deformation of a
polycrystal.
In polycrystals, each grain must deform in multiple slip,
meaning that several slip systems have to be active at once in
order for an individual grain to change shape in the same way
as the bulk material.
Each grain has a Taylor factor, M, which is analogous to (but
generally larger than) the reciprocal of the Schmid factor, 1/cos
cos = 1/m. The Taylor factors can be averaged over all the
grains.
For a polycrystal, yield = <M> crss = M G b
Typical value of <> = 3.1, i.e. the apparent hardness of the
polycrystal is approximately three times the critical resolved
shear stress.

Work Hardening

48

Objective

Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Where does the stress-strain curve come from? Why does the
flow stress (critical resolved shear stress) increase with strain?
As slip takes place in a crystal, even in cases where only one
slip system appears to be active (macroscopically), more than
one system (or set of dislocations) is in fact active. Whenever
two slip systems cross each other (intersect), the dislocations
react with each other, leading to tangling. This tangling up of
dislocations means that dislocation line length is left behind in
the crystal, thus generating more obstacles to dislocation
motion (and raising the critical resolved shear stress).
Work hardening is still a very difficult theoretical problem, so
we rely on empirical descriptions such as the power law
mentioned earlier:

T = yield + Kn

49

Summary of Plastic Deformation

Objective
Example

Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The following points are useful as a summary of important

features of plasticity from a material perspective.
Stress-strain curves provide a straightforward way to measure
yield stress, ultimate tensile stress and ductility.
The maximum load and maximum uniform elongation are
predictable from the stress-strain curve (e.g. power law),
which is known as Considres construction.
Single crystal behavior reflects the anisotropy of the crystal for
both elastic (see lecture on elasticity) and plastic behavior.
Single crystal plastic behavior is controlled by dislocation
movement; deformation twinning can supplement dislocation
glide, however, and is more common in lower symmetry
crystals.
The presence of dislocations that can glide at low (critical
resolved) shear stresses means that metals yield plastically at
stresses far below the theoretical strength.

Summary, contd.

50

Objective

elastic< coscos applied (or, elastic< bappliedn).

Example

Strength

Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

There is a critical shear stress for dislocation flow on any given slip
system; this phenomenon is known as Schmid's Law. The response is
elastic if all resolved shear stresses are less than the critical value:

Mechanical tests on single crystals generally activate only one slip

system and work hardening is low.
Larger strains in single crystal tests, or coincidence of the principal
stress with a high symmetry axis leads to multiple slip (slip on more
than one system); in this case the stress-strain behavior is polycrystallike.
A polycrystals can be thought of as a composite of single crystals.
The appropriate model for this composite is the iso-strain model
(equivalent to the affine deformation assumption discussed previously
for polymers). By averaging the stresses (or strains) required for
multiple slip in each crystal, an average for the "inverse Schmid
factor", or (more usually) "Taylor factor", can be obtained whose value
is 3.07 for cubic materials deformed in tension or compression with
{111}<110> (or {110}<111>) slip systems.

51

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Summary
The concept of material property has been
explored.
An illustration of the dependence of structural
properties on microstructure has been given.
Basic mechanical properties (strength, hardness,
ductility) have been defined and illustrated with
respect to practical methods for measurement.
The Taylor Equation that relates yield strength to
dislocation content of a material has been
explained.

Sample Problem

52

Objective

Example
Strength

Hardness
Ductility

Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

From Dieter, p219 (adapted):

Question: Al-4%Cu (by wt.) has a yield stress of 600MPa. Estimate the
particle size and spacing.
Solution: recognize that this stress relates to age hardening beyond the
peak hardness. Therefore use the Orowan bowing stress to estimate
the stress.
= <M> crss = <M> Gb/
G=27.6GPa; b=0.25nm; <M>=3.1:
spacing = 3.1*27,600*0.25.10-9/ 600= 35.7 nm
Now we must estimate the volume fraction of particles for which we use
the phase diagram, assuming that we are dealing with the equilibrium
phase, , which is 54 w/o Cu, and the in equilibrium with it, 0.5 w/o
Cu.
Wt. % Al = (54-4)/(54-0.5) = 93.5; wt. % = 4-0.5/(54-0.5)=6.5
Volume of = 93.5gm/2.7 gm/cm3 =34.6 cm3
Volume of = 6.5/ 4.443 gm/cm3 = 1.5 cm3
Volume fraction of = 0.96; volume fraction of = 0.04.
Use =4r(1-f)/3f (slide 22): r =3*0.04*35.7/4/(1-0.04) = 1.12 nm.

Mean Free Distance

53

" = L3

Objective
Example

Strength

Hardness

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

1# (VV )$

(VV )$

=4

(VV )$ 1# (VV )$
(SV )$ (VV )$

=4

(VV )$ D$ 1# (VV )$
6(VV )$ (VV )$

2 1# (VV )$ 2 D$
= D$
%
3
3 (VV )$
(VV )$

If the dislocations are relatively inflexible and therefore straight (or the
obstacles are weak) then we need the mean free distance, , between
obstacles, instead of the nearest neighbor distance. This applies to any
kind of obstacle (dislocations or particles).
The mean free distance, , between particle edges is given by the above
equation. Note that it is closely related to the mean intercept distance,
<L3>. Finite volume fraction, (Vv), or f, decreases the distance between
particle edges.
Alpha () represents the particle phase.
Thus, for mono-disperse spheres we can write for the c.r.s.s.:

crss = Gb3f/2D.

Compare with the nearest neighbor distance for particles:

crss = Gb2(6f/)/D.

These two formulae differ only by a numerical factor, and the presence of
the volume fraction in a square root term.
Ref: Underwood, pp 80-85.

54

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

References
Materials Principles & Practice, Butterworth
Heinemann, Edited by C. Newey & G. Weaver.
G.E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, McGrawHill,
3rd Ed.
D. Hull and D. J. Bacon (1984). Introduction to
Dislocations, Oxford, UK, Pergamon.
T. H. Courtney (2000). Mechanical Behavior of
Materials, Boston, McGraw-Hill.

Summary: 3

55

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness

Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The variation of mechanical behavior with temperature and strain

rate depends on the kind of obstacle that dislocations have to move
past. In fcc metals, yield is dominated by other dislocations (the
"forest hardening model") such that the strain rate/temperature
variation is dominated by the (weak) variation in shear modulus
(with temperature) through the "Taylor equation", =MGb.
In bcc metals, yield at low temperatures is dominated by lattice
friction (i.e. the Peierls stress) and large strain rate/temperature
sensitivities are observed.
Most ceramics follow the bcc model because they too have high
lattice frictions at low temperatures (but become plastic and ductile
at elevated temperatures).
Single crystals are important because many high temperature
applications require single crystal or coarse polycrystals in order to
maximize creep resistance, i.e. by minimizing grain boundary area.
Microelectronic applications use single crystals of Si where the
absence of grain boundaries is not important unless MEMS devices
are being designed.

Summary: 4

56

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

The work hardening behavior of single crystals is summarized by four

stages: stage I is known as "easy glide"; stage II as "linear, athermal
hardening"; stage III as "dynamic recovery"; and stage IV as "linear
hardening".
For a polycrystal to exhibit ductility, it must be possible for every grain
to deform plastically in an arbitrary manner. This is summarized as von
Mises criterion which states that a minimum of five independent systems
are required for ductility. This can be understood most easily by
considering that an arbitrary strain has five independent components:
there is an equation (linear) that links the slip on an individual slip
system (or twinning system) to the macroscopic shape change (i.e.
strain); therefore five independent systems are needed in order to satisfy
the five independent strain components.

Summary: 5

57

Objective
Example
Strength
Hardness
Ductility
Orowan
Bowing
Single
Crystal
Yield
Polyxtal
Yield

Dislocation flow in a polycrystal is quite heterogeneous. Dislocations get

entangled in one another as they expand over their slip planes. The major
consequence of this is that any dislocation motion (over a distance larger than the
mean spacing) leaves behind a certain amount of dislocation; this is called
dislocation storage and hardens the crystal. By a combination of collapse of
tangles and cross-slip (switching of slip planes by screw-configuration
segments), however, dislocations of opposite sign can meet and annihilate; this is
called dynamic recovery (because it only happens during continuing straining)
and decreases the hardening rate (i.e. the net storage rate of dislocations
decreases because of dynamic recovery). Eventually dynamic recovery balances
storage and the flow stress saturates, or nearly so.
At high temperatures, dynamic recovery occurs early on in straining and, with
the ease of non-conservative motion (climb), the work hardening becomes
negligible. With rapid dynamic (and static) recovery, the dislocation structure
becomes a sub-grain structure with well defined, low angle boundaries. If a
single crystal is bent, then the dislocations left behind after the deformation tend
to re-arrange themselves into walls of edge dislocations of the same type and
sign. Such a recovered or polygonized structure is a clear example of
geometrically necessary dislocations.