Some Bulk properties of metals/materials in

general

Bulk properties are mainly mechanical, thermal, optical, we will learn in depth
about mechanical properties of materials
Some Bulk properties of metals/materials
(mechanical)

Here, Nominal stress (tensile) is force divided by original

cross sectional area , unlike true stress which is force
divided by current cross sectional area
Some Bulk properties of metals/materials
(mechanical)
• The value of plastic strain required to break the material
defines the ductility
• The stress at which departure from a linear stress–strain
relationship occurs is known as the proportional limit
• Resilience is a measure of the elastic energy that can be
stored in a unit volume of stressed material.
• Toughness is a measure of the energy required to deform a
unit volume of material to its breaking point
Some Bulk properties of metals/materials
(mechanical) • For materials in which permanent deformation (and the attendant shape
change) is acceptable, failure may be deemed to occur when a noticeable
“neck” (constriction) develops in the material. The effect of the neck is to
concentrate the load on a smaller area; therefore, the load that can be
supported by the sample is decreased
• A material attains UTS at necking region
• A neck will be stable if its formation
• is accompanied by sufficient work hardening, i.e., increase the resistance of
the material to further deformation
Some Bulk properties of metals/materials
(mechanical)
Yield strength is stress at which noticeable
plastic strain occurs. In this context, “noticeable” is
often taken to be a value of 0.002 (0.2%) for metals

Tensile strength/Breaking strength is stress at

point of fracture
 Strengthening mechanism in metals
• Sometimes, metals need to be processed to have specific mechanical characteristics, such as having
greater metallic strengths
• Macroscopic plastic deformation corresponds to the motion of large numbers of dislocations, the ability
of a metal to deform plastically depends on the ability of dislocations to move.
• The hardness and strength are related to the ease of plastic deformation formation
• By reducing the mobility of dislocations, the mechanical strength may be enhanced (both tensile and
yield)
• Virtually all strengthening techniques rely on this simple principle: Restricting or hindering dislocation
motion renders a material harder and stronger.
Strengthening mechanism in metals
Mechanisms for strengthening of metals are :

1. Grain strengthening
2. Solid solution strengthening
3. Work/strain hardening
4. Precipitation hardening
Grain Strengthening
• During plastic deformation dislocation motion must take place across grain boundary—say,

from grain A to grain B. The grain boundary acts as a barrier to dislocation motion for two

reasons:

1. Because the two grains are of different orientations, a dislocation passing into grain B

must change its direction of motion

2. The atomic disorder within a grain boundary region results in a discontinuity of slip

planes from one grain into the other.

For a larger angle of misalignment, dislocation cannot pass from one grain to another,

rather pile up at the boundary, introducing stress concentration, and new dislocation at

adjacent grains

• For a larger angle of misalignment, dislocation cannot pass from one grain to another, rather

pile up at the boundary, introducing stress concentration, and new dislocation at adjacent

grains
 Grain Strengthening

• Either way, increasing grain boundaries increase the strength of a metal

• Smaller grains in a metal have a higher total grain boundary area.

 Grain Strengthening

• For many materials, the yield strength σy varies with grain size according to Hall Petch Equation

Hall Petch Equation

Here, d is the average grain diameter, and
σ0 and ky are constants for a particular material.
σ0 is yield strength at infinite grain size (single crystal)
ky is Hall Petch constant
 Effect of defect(Interaction between two
dislocations)
• The strain fields surrounding dislocations in close proximity to one another may interact such that forces are
imposed on each dislocation by the combined interactions of all its neighboring dislocations.
• In short, dislocations prefer to be in a lower energy state

The compressive and tensile strain fields

for both lie on the same side of the slip Two dislocations of opposite sign and having the
plane; the strain field interaction is such same slip plane are attracted to one another and
that there exists between these two dislocation annihilation occurs when they meet.
isolated dislocations a mutual repulsive That is, the two extra half-planes of atoms align
force that tends to move them apart. and become a complete plane
Solid Solution Strengthening
• Just like dislocations, alloying elements impose localized lattice strain in the host lattice due to the
difference in size.

• Alloying material interact with dislocations and impede their motions

tension compression
compression

tension

stresses around an edge dislocation small substitutional atom large substitutional atom

stresses around an impurity atom

 Solid Solution Strengthening
• Alloying material interact with dislocations and impede their motions. Stopping the propagation of
dislocation

• By relieving tensile or compressive strain in the lattice, the solute size mismatch can put the dislocation in a
lower energy state, a dislocation in a lower energy state is less prone to movement

Smaller impurity atoms with their tensile strains Larger impurity atoms with their compressive
tend to congregate in the compressive area strains tend to congregate in the tensile area
above the slip plane below the slip plane
Solid Solution Strengthening
• Net result is, partial cancellation of impurity-dislocation lattice strains, and increase the stress
required to move dislocations (resistance to slip is increased)
• Resulting in higher strength

Smaller impurity atoms with their tensile strains Larger impurity atoms with their compressive
tend to congregate in the compressive area strains tend to congregate in the tensile area
above the slip plane below the slip plane
 Work/strain hardening
• Strain hardening is the phenomenon by which a ductile metal becomes harder and stronger as it is
plastically deformed. Sometimes it is also called work hardening, or, cold working because the
temperature at which deformation takes place is “cold” relative to the absolute melting temperature of
the metal

• The dislocation density (no of dislocation in a unit volume) in a metal increases with deformation or
cold work because of dislocation multiplication or the formation of new dislocations, as noted
previously. Consequently, the average distance of separation between dislocations decreases—the
dislocations are positioned closer together

• On the average, dislocation–dislocation strain interactions are repulsive. The net result is that the
motion of a dislocation is hindered by the presence of other dislocations.
Work/strain hardening
• It is sometimes convenient to express the degree of plastic
deformation as percent cold work. Percent cold work (%CW) is
defined as

A0 is the original area of the cross section that experiences deformation and Ad
is the area after deformation
Common Cold working process
Strength and ductility
• When we increase the strength of a material, its ductility reduced, as strength is the ability of
resist deformation and ductility is the ability to deform
Recovery, Recrystallization and grain growth
• A metal which underwent strengthening can be turned into its original state by using heat
treatment (annealing)

• Annealing is heating a metal to a certain temperature, then holding it for a certain time followed
by cooling

• Annealing involves three stages : recovery, recrystallization and grain growth

• Recovery and recrystallization brings the metal to its original state, and grain growth further
enhances its properties (increasing ductility and decreasing strength)
Recovery, Recrystallization and grain growth
Recovery :
Atoms start diffusion and some of the stored internal strain energy is relieved due to
movement of dislocation
Recrystallization :
Even after recovery is complete, the grains are still in a relatively high strain energy
state. Due to the difference in internal energy between the strained and unstrained
material, recrystallization occurs, which is the formation of a new set of strain-free
and equiaxed grains. Formation of atom cluster to make a larger grain is called
nucleation
Grain growth :
After recrystallization is complete, the strain-free grains will continue to grow if the
metal specimen is left at the elevated temperature, this phenomenon is called grain
growth. This may happen with or without recovery or recrystallization.
Grain boundary have a higher energy states, increase in grain size decreases total
boundary area, thereby reducing internal energy, this reduction is favorable.
Mathematical problems

Tensile strength
Reference
Chapter 7