STRENGTHENING MECHANISM IN

METALS
Background Knowledge
Metals “yield” when dislocations start to move (slip).
Yield Strength
“Yield” means permanently change shape.

Slip Systems
• Slip plane: the plane on which deformation occurs, possess the highest atomic
density.
• Slip direction: the direction within the slip plane and is always along a line of the
highest atomic density
• Slip systems: a crystal deforms by motion of a dislocation on a slip plane and in a
certain direction
slip system = slip plane + slip direction
 [110] Example: Slip systems in FCC
Slip planes: {111} plane family in FCC possesses the
[011] highest atomic planar density
Slip directions: <110> direction family in FCC possesses
the highest atomic density
[101]
{111}: eight octahedral planes in a cube, only 4 of them need to be considered (the
other 4 are parallel planes).
<110>: total six, but, only three lie in each of the {111} slip plane.
Ex: (111) slip plane contains the [011], [101], &[110]
Therefore, 4 {111}planes x 3 <110>directions = 12 slip systems
 Macroscopic slips in a single crystal
Slips in a zinc single crystal

Deformation of polycrystals
Slip occurs in well-defined crystallographic planes within each grain,
but more than one slip plane is possible and likely.
In different grains, the slip planes will have different orientations
because of the random nature of the crystal orientations.
Microscope photograph of actual shear offsets in
different grains, on surface of a copper bar.
 Plastic Deformation in Polycrystals

Before, undeformed The plastic deformation

equiaxial grains has produced elongated
grains
 Slip in Single Crystals: Resolved Shear Stress
Angle : between F & slip direction
Angle : between F & the normal direction of slip
plane
The resolved force in slip direction Fs
Fs = F cos 
The area of the slip plane
As = A/cos 
Resolved shear stress
  Fs  F cos    cos  cos 
As A/ cos 
Metal single crystal – a number of potential slip planes exists
One generally orientated most favorably – largest resolved shear stress
 max   cos  cos max
Slip occurs when (crss = critical resolved shear stress)  max   CRSS
• Concomitant applied normal stress  crss
y 
(cos  cos  ) max

• Minimum stress to introduce yielding occurs when     45o

• Then

Example 1:
 y  2 crss
Given: Single Crystal BCC iron
Tensile stress applied along [010] direction
Required:
Compute the resolved shear stress along the (110) plane and [1 11] direction when
a tensile stress of 52 MPa (7,500 psi) is applied.
If slip occurs on (110) plane and in a [111] direction, and resolved shear stress is
30 MPa (4,500 psi), calculate applied tensile stress to initiate yielding.
 Solution:

 angle between (110) plane normal and the [010] direction is 450
From triangle ABC = tan-1 (a 2/a) = 54.70
R =  cos cos = (52MPa)(cos 45)(cos 54.7) = 21.3 MPa (3,060psi)
30 MPa
y  0 0
 73.4 MPa (10,600 psi)
(cos 45 )(cos 54.7 )
Example 2
Problem: A FCC crystal yields under a normal stress of 2MPa applied in the
[123] direction. The slip plane is (111) & slip direction is [101]. Determine
critical resolved shear stress.
Solution:
[1 2 3]  (1 1 1) 1 2  3
cos    0.617
(1) 2  2 2  32 12 12 12 14 3
[1 2 3] [1 0 1] 1 3
cos     0.756
(1) 2  2 2  32 (1) 2 12 14 2
 c   y cos  cos  2  0.617 0.756  0.933MPa
 Mechanisms of Strengthening
• The ability of a metal to plastically deform depends on the ability of
dislocations to move
• Reducing or inhibiting mobility of dislocations enhances mechanical
strength
These can be used for increasing the material strength, but
ductility may be lost.

When Slip is Inhibited ? Dislocation motion may be inhibited by:

Other dislocations (entangling)
Dislocation forest
Grain boundaries
Point defect (solution hardening)
Other phases - Precipitates
 Strengthening of Metals
There are 4 major ways to strengthen metals, and all work because they make
dislocation motion more difficult. They also reduce the ductility:
1)Cold work (Strain Hardening)
2)Reduce grain size (Strengthening by Grain Size Reduction)
3)Add other elements in solid solution (Solid Solution Strengthening)
4)Add second phase particles (Precipitation or Age Hardening)

•These mechanisms may be combined.

•For example, the world’s strongest structural material (with some ductility) is
steel piano wire. It combines all four strengthening mechanisms, and can have a
yield strength of 500,000 psi. One wire, 0.1” in diameter, can hold up a 4,000 lb
Ford Explorer.
 STRAIN HARDENING
• Ductile material becomes harder and stronger as it is plastically deformed
• The dislocation density – expressed as total number dislocation length per unit
volume – mm/mm3 increases from 105 to 106 mm-2 for a heat treated metal to 109
to 1010 mm-2 for a heavily deformed metal.
– Dislocation strain field interactions
– Dislocation density increases with deformation or cold working
– Dislocations are positioned closer together
– On average, dislocation-dislocation strain fields are repulsive

n ~ 0.5 (FCC)  T  K n
T
n ~ 0.2 (BCC)
n ~ 0.05 (HCP)
n = strain hardening exponent – measures the ability
of a metal to harden

 flow   0  k disl
Where disl: dislocation density
crss versus density
Cold Working
Cold working: plastic deformation
of a metal or alloy at a
temperature where dislocations
are created faster than they are
annihilated

  Ad 
%CW  
0
A
   A0  100

Where, %CW: percent of cold work

A0: original cross-sectional area
Ad: area after deformation
Influence of Cold Working
on Mechanical Properties

As the yield strength and the

tensile strength increases with
increasing amount of cold
working, the ductility of the
metal decreases.
Example:
Given : Copper rod is cold worked such that its diameter is reduced from 15.2
mm to 12.2 mm.
Determine its tensile strength and ductility
2 2
 15   12 

 
.2 2  .2
 2 
% CW  x 100  35 .6%
  
15
2

  
 2 
.2

From Figure TS vs CW TS = 340 MPa

From Figure ductility vs CW % EL = 7 %
Effects of plastically deformed polycrystalline metal at temperature less than Tm:
•Change in grain shape
•Strain hardening
•Increased dislocation density
•Stored energy
When metals are plastically deformed about 5% of deformation energy is
retained internally associated with dislocations. The properties of the cold
worked metal (partially or totally) can be restored by:
Recovery and/or Recrystallization and Grain Growth
Recovery
Some of the stored internal strain energy is relieved by virtue of dislocation
motion as a result of enhanced atomic diffusion at elevated temperature.
Effects of recovery in cold worked metals:
•Ductility increases
•Yield and tensile strength decreases slightly
•Hardness decreases slightly.
•Metal toughness increases.
•Electrical and thermal conductivity of the metal is recovered to their precold-
worked states.
•There is no apparent change in the microstructure of the deformed material.
 Recrystallization
Cold worked material Recrystallized material
• high dislocation density • low dislocation density
• lot of stored energy process • no stored energy
• very strong • weak
• not very ductile • ductile

•After recovery – grains remain at relatively high energy states

•Recrystallization – formation of a new set of strain-free and equiaxed grains,
low dislocation densities
•Driving force – difference in internal energy between strained and unstrained
material
•New grains form as small nuclei – grow and replace parent material – short –
range diffusion
•The process is a heat treating process called annealing. Annealing requires
high temperature.
 4s at 580oC 8s at 580oC
33%CW Brass

Grain Growth after 15

min; and after 10min at
700oC
Recrystallization Temperature
•Temperature at which recrystallization just
reaches completion in one hour.
•450oC for the above example.
•Typically between 0.5 to 0.33 the melting
point of the metal.
•Depends on the amount of cold work and
of the impurity level of the alloy.
•There is a critical degree of cold work
below which recrystallization can not be
made to occur.
Notes on Recrystallization:
• The amount of cold work controls the initial recrystallized grain size. More
cold work ® more stored energy  easier nucleation  more nucleation
sites  smaller grain size.
• The temperature and time of annealing controls the final grain size, if there
is substantial growth after recrystallization. Grain growth requires
diffusion, and diffusion is faster at higher temperatures. The time at
temperature controls the total amount of diffusion.
•A fine grain size has many benefits beyond strength.
•In general, finer grain sizes are more resistant to fatigue and fracture failures, and
have more reproducible and homogeneous mechanical properties.
•Finally, in general, metals with fine grain size are also more easily formed in
metalworking operations than metals with coarse grain sizes.

Grain Growth
• Grains continue to grow following recrystallization at elevated temperatures
• Energy is reduced as grains grow in size
• As large grains grow – small grains shrink
• Boundary motion – short-range diffusion of atoms from one side of the
boundary to the other.
• At a constant temperature
d  d  Kt
n
0
n

d0 – initial grain diameter at time (t) = 0

K and n are time independent constants
n is generally ~2
 STRENGTHENING BY GRAIN SIZE REDUCTION
• Dislocations cannot penetrate grain
boundaries, because the crystal planes
are discontinuous at the grain
boundaries.

• Therefore, making a smaller grain size

increases strength (more obstacles and
shorter mean slip distance.)
• This can be quantified by the so-called “Hall-Petch Equation:

• where y is the yield strength, d is the grain size, and o and ky are material
constants.
• The increases in strength at very small grain sizes can be enormous. One are
of current research is on so-called “nanostructured metals”, which have grain
sizes from 20 to 200 nm. They can have very high strength.
Influence of grain size on yield strength (brass)
Strength triples as grain size goes
from 100 m to 5 m.
100 m
5 m

As d, ys and the ductility or  or it is constant

 SOLID SOLUTION STRENGTHENING
• Impurity atoms that go into solid solution impose lattice strains on surrounding
host atoms
• Lattice strain field interactions between dislocations and impurity atoms result
in restriction of dislocation movement
• This is one of the most powerful reasons to make alloys, which have higher
strength than pure metals.
• Example: 24k gold is too soft. If we put in 16% silver and 9% copper, we get
an alloy that looks just like pure gold, but is much more strong and durable.
We call this 18k gold.
(18/24 = 75% gold)
 Why it works

Small atoms like to live here. (they reduce

lattice strain caused by the dislocation).

Big atoms (or interstitials) like to live here

(there is more space.)

Atoms of either type diffuse to dislocations during high temperature

processing, then exert forces on the dislocation later to keep them stuck.
• Small impurity atoms exert tensile
strains (see figure below)
• Large impurity atoms exert
compressive strains
• Solute atoms tend to diffuse and
segregate around dislocations to
reduce overall strain energy – cancel
some of the strain in the lattice due to
 Compressive Strains Imposed
by Larger Substitutional
Atoms

Add nickel to copper, strength goes up, ductility goes down - for the same
reason: dislocation mobility is decreased.
Note: trade-off in properties