ME 3215

Crystal Structure of
Metals
Defects or Imperfections of Crystal
 CRYSTAL DEFECTS AND IMPERFECTIONS

In real materials it was found Crystalline Defects or

lattice irregularity. Most real materials have one or
more “errors in perfection” with dimensions on the
order of an atomic diameter to many lattice sites

 Metals are not perfect neither at the macro level and

nor at the micro level
 Contain a number of different types of crystalline
defects (at the atomic level)
 Defects are important in many processes e.g.
diffusion, deformation
CRYSTAL DEFECTS AND IMPERFECTIONS

The study of imperfections has a two fold

purpose, namely,
A better understanding of crystals and how they
affect the properties of metals.
Exploration of possibilities of minimizing or
eliminating these defects.
 The term “defect” or “imperfection” is
generally used to describe any deviation from
the perfect periodic array of atoms in the crystal.
TYPES OF IMPERFECTIONS
• Vacancy atoms
• Interstitial atoms Point defects
• Substitutional atoms

• Dislocations Line defects

• Grain Boundaries Surface or Area defects

• Twins, Precipitate Volume defects

CLASSIFICATION OF DEFECTS BASED ON DIMENSIONALITY

0D 1D 2D 3D
(Point defects) (Line defects) (Surface / Interface) (Volume defects)

Surface Twins
Vacancy Dislocation
Interphase Precipitate
Impurity Disclination
boundary
Faulted
Frenkel Dispiration Grain
region
defect boundary
Twin Voids /
Schottky
boundary Cracks
defect
Stacking Thermal
faults vibration
Anti-phase
boundaries
 Vacancy
Interstitial
Non-ionic
crystals
Impurity Substitutional

0D
(Point defects) Frenkel defect

Ionic
Other ~
crystals

Schottky defect

 Imperfect point-like regions in the crystal about the size of 1-2 atomic
diameters
 A. POINT DEFECTS OR ZERO-DIMENSIONAL DEFECTS
•The simplest of the point defect is a vacancy, or vacant lattice site. All crystalline
solids contain vacancies.
• Principles of thermodynamics is used explain the necessity of the existence of
vacancies in crystalline solids. The presence of vacancies increases the entropy
(randomness) of the crystal.

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In pure metals In alloys

1. VACANCY 1. SUBSTITUTIONAL IMPURITY

2. SELF-INTERSTITIAL 2. INTERSTITIAL IMPURITY

Important in diffusion Important in strengthening

 Vacancy

 Missing atom from an atomic site

 Atoms around the vacancy displaced
 Tensile stress field produced in the vicinity
If an atom is missing from its normal site in the matrix, the defect is
called a vacancy defect. It may be a single vacancy, di-vacancy or a tri-
vacancy.

Vacancy
Distortion
of planes

Vacancies:
Tensile Stress
-vacant atomic sites in a structure. Fields ?
Self-Interstitials: self-
interstitial
distortion
of planes
Tensile Stress
-"extra" atoms positioned between atomic Compressive stress fields Fields
sites

Interstitial
Impurity
Substitutional

 SUBSTITUTIONAL IMPURITY
 Foreign atom replacing the parent atom in the crystal
 E.g. Cu sitting in the lattice site of FCC-Ni
 INTERSTITIAL IMPURITY
 Foreign atom sitting in the void of a crystal
 E.g. C sitting in the octahedral void in HT FCC-Fe
 SELF-INTERSTITIAL: very rare occurrence
• This defect occurs when an atom from the crystal occupies the
small void space (interstitial site) that under ordinary circumstances
is not occupied.
• In metals, a self-interstitial introduces relatively (very!) large
distortions in the surrounding lattice.

An interstitial defect arises when an atom occupies a definite

position in the lattice that is not normally occupied in the perfect
crystal.

In crystals, packing density is always less than 1.

If a small sized atom occupies the void space in the parent crystal
without disturbing the parent atoms from their regular sites, then it is
called as ‘interstitial impurity’.
 Ionic Crystals/Defects in Ceramic Structures
Frenkel defect
 Cation (being smaller get displaced to
interstitial voids)
A cation is out of place. e.g. AgI, CaF2

Schottky defect
 Pair of anion and cation vacancies
 e.g. Alkali halides
Mechanism of diffusion

VACANCY
Point Defects in Alloys
Two outcomes if impurity (B) added to host (A):
• Solid solution of B in A (i.e., random dist. of point defects)

OR

Substitutional solid soln. Interstitial solid soln.

(e.g., Cu in Ni) (e.g., C in Fe)
• Solid solution of B in A plus particles of a new
phase (usually for a larger amount of B)
Second phase particle
--different composition
--often different structure.
 LINE DEFECTS
Dislocations:
• are line defects,
• cause slip between crystal plane when they move,
• produce permanent (plastic) deformation.

Schematic of a Zinc (HCP):

• before deformation • after tensile elongation

slip steps

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Linear Defects (Dislocations)
 Are one-dimensional defects around which atoms are
misaligned
 Edge dislocation:
 extra half-plane of atoms inserted in a crystal structure
 b (the berger’s vector) is  (perpendicular) to dislocation
line
 Screw dislocation:
 spiral planar ramp resulting from shear deformation
 b is  (parallel) to dislocation line

Burger’s vector, b: is a measure of lattice distortion and is

measured as a distance along the close packed directions in
the lattice
 Edge Dislocation

An edge dislocation
results from a mismatch in
the rows of atoms, as if an
extra plane of atoms was
inserted.
The burger’s vector, b,
represents how far we
would have to move an
atom to bring it back into
registry. The burgers
vector is perpendicular to
the dislocation line.
Definition of the Burgers vector, b, relative to
an edge dislocation. (a) In the perfect crystal,
an m× n atomic step loop closes at the starting
point. (b) In the region of a dislocation, the
same loop does not close, and the closure
vector (b) represents the magnitude of the
structural defect. For the edge dislocation, the
Burgers vector is perpendicular to the
dislocation line.
 Screw Dislocation

Screw dislocations result from “shearing” in the

crystal. The burgers vector, b, is parallel to the
slip plane
Screw dislocation. The spiral stacking of crystal planes leads to
the Burgers vector being parallel to the dislocation line.
Mixed Dislocation

Dislocations
virtually never are
purely “edge” or
“screw” type.

They are usually

combinations of
the two, or
“mixed”
Mixed dislocation. This dislocation has both edge and screw
character with a single Burgers vector consistent with the pure
edge and pure screw regions.
 Edge, Screw, and Mixed Dislocations
Mixed

Edge

Adapted from Fig. 4.5, Callister 7e.

Screw
AREA DEFECTS: GRAIN BOUNDARIES
Grain boundaries:
• are boundaries between crystals.
• are produced by the solidification process, for example.
• have a change in crystal orientation across them.
• impede dislocation motion. Metal Ingot
Schematic ~ 8cm

grain
boundaries

heat
flow
Adapted from Fig. 4.7, Callister 6e.

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 Low angle grain boundary

Low angle grain

boundaries are
made up of equally
spaced dislocation
to accommodate the
mismatch in lattices
between two grains
 Volume Defects - twins

Twins occur when atoms jump

from one site to a “mirror” site

Twins can occur because of

thermal treatment (annealing
twins) or mechanical
Plane jumps to
mirror image { deformation
Effect of Imperfections

 Pure metal: dislocation

 Solid solutions
 Solute atoms of slightly different size distort the lattice and
makes dislocation propagation more difficult, thus strength
increases without necessarily reducing ductility.
 Interstitial elements play a similar role in impeding dislocation
mobility although they can have an embrittling effect.
 Interfaces, inclusions, gases
FIGURE: Schematic illustration of the effects of recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth on mechanical
properties and on the shape and size of grains. Note the formation of small new grains during
recrystallization. Source: After G. Sachs.
Thanks