DISLOCATIONS

 Edge dislocation
 Screw dislocation
 Plastic Deformation in Crystalline Materials

Slip Twinning Phase Transformation Creep Mechanisms

(Dislocation
motion)

Grain boundary sliding

Vacancy diffusion

Dislocation climb
 Plastic deformation of a crystal by shear
S h ear stress

m
S h earin g stress ( )

Sinusoidal
relationship

Realistic curve

D isp lacem en t
As a first approximation the  2x 
stress-displacement curve can be    m Sin 
written as  b 
At small values of displacement x
Hooke’s law should apply
  G  G
a
 2x 
 For small values of x/b  m 
 b 
Hence the maximum shear G b
stress at which slip should occur
m 
2 a
G
If b ~ a m 
2
 The shear modulus of metals is in the range 20 – 150 GPa

G
m   The theoretical shear stress will be
2 in the range 3 – 30 GPa

 Actual shear stress is 0.5 – 10 MPa

 I.e. (Shear stress)theoretical > 100 * (Shear stress)experimental !!!!

DISLOCATIONS

Dislocations weaken the crystal

Carpet
Pull
 DISLOCATIONS

EDGE MIXED SCREW

 Usually dislocations have a mixed character and Edge and Screw

dislocations are the ideal extremes

DISLOCATIONS

Random Structural
 Geometrically necessary dislocations
 Dislocation is a boundary
between the slipped and the
unslipped parts of the crystal
lying over a slip plane

Slipped Unslipped
part part
of the of the
crystal crystal
A dislocation has associated with it two vectors:


t  A unit tangent vector along the dislocation line

b  The Burgers vector
 Burgers Vector
Edge dislocation

Crystal with edge dislocation

Perfect crystal

RHFS:
Right Hand Finish to Start
convention
 Edge dislocation


Direction of tt vector
dislocation line vector


b vector
Direction of b
 Dislocation is a boundary between the slipped and the unslipped parts
of the crystal lying over a slip plane
 The intersection of the extra half-plane of atoms with the slip plane
defines the dislocation line (for an edge dislocation)
 Direction and magnitude of slip is characterized by the Burgers vector
of the dislocation
(A dislocation is born with a Burgers vector and expresses it even in
its death!)
 The Burgers vector is determined by the Burgers Circuit
 Right hand screw (finish to start) convention is used for determining
the direction of the Burgers vector
 As the periodic force field of a crystal requires that atoms must move
from one equilibrium position to another  b must connect one
lattice position to another (for a full dislocation)
 Dislocations tend to have as small a Burgers vector as possible
 The edge dislocation has compressive stress field above and tensile
stress field below the slip plane
 Dislocations are non-equilibrium defects and would leave the crystal
if given an opportunity
Compressive stress
field

Tensile stress
field
Positive edge dislocation
Negative edge dislocation

ATTRACTION Can come together and cancel

one another

REPULSION
 Conservative Motion of dislocations
(Glide) On the slip plane

Motion of
Edge
dislocation

Non-conservative Motion of dislocation

(Climb)  to the slip plane

 For edge dislocation: as b  t → they define a plane → the slip plane

 Climb involves addition or subtraction of a row of atoms below the
half plane
► +ve climb = climb up → removal of a plane of atoms
► ve climb = climb down → addition of a plane of atoms
 Edge Dislocation Glide

Shear stress

Surface
step
 Edge Climb

Positive climb Negative climb

Removal of a row of atoms Addition of a row of atoms
 Screw dislocation

[1]

[1] Bryan Baker

chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/ topicreview/bp/materials/defects3.html -
 Slip plane 2 Screw dislocation cross-slip

b

Slip plane 1

The dislocation is shown cross-slipping from the blue plane to the green plane
The dislocation line ends on:
 The free surface of the crystal
 Internal surface or interface
 Closes on itself to form a loop
 Ends in a node

 A node is the intersection point of more than two dislocations

 The vectoral sum of the Burgers vectors of dislocations meeting at a

node = 0
 Geometric properties of dislocations

Type of dislocation
Dislocation Property
Edge Screw
Relation between dislocation
 ||
line (t) and b
Slip direction || to b || to b
Direction of dislocation line
|| 
movement relative to b
Process by which dislocation
climb Cross-slip
may leave slip plane
 Mixed dislocations

b t

b

Pure screw Pure Edge

 Motion of a mixed dislocation

[1]

We are looking at the plane of the cut (sort of a semicircle centered in the lower left corner). Blue circles denote
atoms just below, red circles atoms just above the cut. Up on the right the dislocation is a pure edge dislocation
on the lower left it is pure screw. In between it is mixed. In the link this dislocation is shown moving in an
animated illustration.

[1] http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/kap_5/backbone/r5_1_2.html
 Energy of dislocations

 Dislocations have distortion energy associated with them

 E per unit length
 Edge → Compressive and tensile stress fields
Screw → Shear strains

Elastic E
Energy of dislocation
Non-elastic (Core) ~E/10

1 2
Energy of a dislocation / unit length E  Gb
2
G → () shear modulus
b → |b|
 1 2
E  Gb  Dislocations will have as small a b as possible
2

Full b → Full lattice translation

Dislocations
(in terms of lattice translation)
Partial b → Fraction of lattice
translation
 Dissociation of dislocations

Consider the reaction:

2b → b + b
Change in energy:
G(2b)2/2 → 2[G(b)2/2]
G(b)2
 The reaction would be favorable
 FCC
1 1
b2   211 b3   12 1 
(111) 6 6
1
1 b1   110 
b3   12 1  2
6 C
1 B
b2   211
6 A (111)
(111) 1
 110 
b1 
Slip plane 2
Some of the atoms are omitted for clarity

1  1  1 

 2
[110] 
(111)
→ 
 6
[12 1] 
(111) +  [211] 
6 (111)
(111)

1 
 [12 1]  1 
Shockley Partials 6 (111)  [211] 
 6 (111)

b12 > (b22 + b32)

½>⅓
FCC Pure edge dislocation
Dislocation line vector
Extra half plane
1 
 [1 12]  (1 10)
2 (111),(1 10)

Slip plane (111)

1 
 [1 1 0] 
2 (111)
Burger’s vector

The extra- “half plane” consists of two ‘planes’ of atoms

BCC Pure edge dislocation Dislocation line vector

1 
 [1 12] 
2 (1 10),(111)
1 
 [1 1 1] 
2 (1 10)

Burger’s vector

Extra half plane (1 10)

(111) Slip plane

1
111
1 2
 1 12 
2

(1 10)
 Dislocations in Ionic crystals

 In ionic crystals if there is an extra half-plane of atoms contained only

atoms of one type then the charge neutrality condition would
be violated  unstable condition
 Burgers vector has to be a full lattice translation
CsCl → b = <100> Cannot be ½<111>
NaCl → b = ½ <110> Cannot be ½<100>
 This makes Burgers vector large in ionic crystals
Cu → |b| = 2.55 Å
NaCl → |b| = 3.95 Å

CsCl
 Formation of dislocations (in the bulk of the crystal)

 Due to accidents in crystal growth from the melt

 Mechanical deformation of the crystal

 Annealed crystal: dislocation density () ~ 108 – 1010 /m2

 Cold worked crystal:  ~ 1012 – 1014 /m2
 Burgers vectors of dislocations in cubic crystals

Crystallography determines the Burgers vector

fundamental lattice translational vector lying on the slip plane

Monoatomic FCC ½<110>

Monoatomic BCC ½<111>

Monoatomic SC <100>

NaCl type structure ½<110>

CsCl type structure <100>

DC type structure ½<110>

“Close packed volumes tend to remain close packed,

close packed areas tend to remain close packed &
close packed lines tend to remain close packed”
 Slip systems

Crystal Slip plane(s) Slip direction

FCC {111} <110>

HCP (0001) <1120>

BCC
{110}, {112}, {123} [111]
Not close packed

Anisotropic No clear choice

 Wavy slip lines
 Role of Dislocations

Creep Diffusion
Fatigue (Pipe)
Fracture
Slip
Structural

Incoherent Twin

Grain boundary
(low angle)

Semicoherent Interfaces

Disc of vacancies
~ edge dislocation