Mechanical Properties

Of
Metals - II

6-1
 Plastic Deformation in Single Crystals
• Plastic deformation of single crystal results in step markings
on surface slip bands.
• Atoms on specific crystallographic planes (slip planes)
slip to cause slip bands.

Slip bands

6-29
 Slip Bands and Slip Planes
• Slip bands in ductile metals are uniform (occurs in many slip
planes).
• In single crystals of ductile FCC metals like copper and
aluminum, slip occurs on multiple slip planes, as a result the
slipband pattern on the surface of metal is more uniform.

6-30
 Slip Bands and Slip Planes
• Slip has occurred on many slip planes within the slipbands.
• These fine steps are called slip lines and are usually about 50
to 500 atoms apart, whereas slipbands are commonly
separated by 10,000 atom diameters.
 Slip Mechanism
• During shear, atoms do not slide over each other in large
perfect metal crystals.
• The slip occurs due to movement of dislocations.
Wall of high dislocation density

Dislocation cell structure in lightly

deformed Aluminum
6-31
 Slip in Crystals
• Slip occurs in densely or close packed planes.
• Lower shear stress is required for slip to occur in densely
packed planes.
• If slip is restricted in close-packed planes due to local high
stress, then less dense planes Close packed
become operative. plane

• Less energy is required

to move atoms along
denser planes.

Non-close-packed
plane

6-32
 Slip Systems
• Slip systems are combination of slip planes and slip
direction.
• Each crystal has a number of characteristic slip systems.
• In FCC crystal, slip takes place in {111} octahedral planes
and <110> directions.
4 (111) type planes and 3 [110] type directions.
4 x 3 = 12 slip systems.

6-33
 Slip Systems in BCC Crystal

• BCC crystals are not close packed. The slip

predominantly occurs in {110} planes that has highest
atomic density.
• Higher shear stress is necessary for BCC than in FCC.
6-34
 Slip Systems in HCP Crystal

• If HCP crystals have high c/a ratio, slip occurs along basal
planes {0001}. For crystals with low c/a ratio, slip also
occurs in {1010} and {1011} planes.

6-35
 Critical Resolved Shear Stress
• Critical resolved shear stress is the stress required to
cause slip in pure metal single crystal.
• Depends upon
 Crystal Structure
 Atomic bonding characteristics
 Temperature
 Orientation of slip planes relative to shear stress
• Slip begins when shear stress in slip plane in slip
direction reaches critical resolved shear stress.
• This is equivalent to yield stress.
• Example :- Zn HCP 99.999% pure 0.18MPa
Ti HCP 99.99% pure 13.7 MPa
Ti HCP 99.9% pure 90.1 Mpa
6-36 Ag FCC 99.99% pure 0.48MPa
 Schmid’s Law
• The relationship between uniaxial stress action on a single
cylinder of pure metal single crystal and resulting resolved
shear stress produced on a slip system is give by

Shear Force
Normal to
Slip plane 
τr= τr= Shear Area

Fr F .Cos F
   Cos.Cos
A1 A0 / Cos A0 Slip
A1=Area of direction

  .Cos.Cos Slip plane

Fr
F r 
 A1
A0
6-37
• Calculate the resolved shear stress on the (111) [0 1 1] slip
system of a unit cell in an FCC nickel single crystal if a stress of
13.7MPa is applied in the [001] direction of a unit cell.
Solution:
By geometry the angle  between the applied stress and the slip
direction is 45 , as shown in Fig. EP6.9a. In the cubic system
the direction indices of the normal to a crystal plane are the
same as the Miller indices of the crystal plane. Therefore, the
normal to the (111) plane that is the slip plane is the [111]
direction. From Fig. EP6.9b,

3a

2a
Solution:
By geometry the angle  between the applied stress and the slip
direction is 45 , as shown in Fig. EP6.9a. In the cubic system
the direction indices of the normal to a crystal plane are the
same as the Miller indices of the crystal plane. Therefore, the
normal to the (111) plane that is the slip plane is the [111]
direction. From Fig. EP6.9b,

a 1
cos   
3a 3
  54.74
Tr   cos  cos 
 (13.7MPa )(cos 45) cos(54.74)
 5.6MPa
 Twinning
• In twinning, a part of atomic lattice is deformed and
forms mirror image of lattice next to it.
• Distance moved by atoms is proportional to their
distance from twinning plane.
• Deformation from
twinning is small.
• Twinning reorient
the slip system.
• Twining is important
for deformation in
HCP crystals due to its
small number of slip
systems.

6-38
 Twinning

slip twinning
 Effects of Grain Boundaries on Strength
• Grain boundaries stop dislocation movement and hence
strengthen the metals.
• Fine grain size is desirable, and hence metals are produced
with finer grains.

Figure 5.40 Figure 5.40 Figure 5.40

Stress-strain curve of single Slip bands in polycrystalline Dislocations piled up
and polycrystalline copper aluminum grains against grain boundaries
in stainless steel
6-39
 Hall Petch Equation
• Finer the grains, superior are the mechanical
properties (at room temperature).
 More isotropic properties
 Less resistant to corrosion and creep

Hall-Petch equation - Empirical

y = o + k / (d)1/2 y = Yield strength
d = average grain diameter

o and k are constants for a metal.

o  70 Mpa and k = 0.74 Mpa.m1/2 for mild steel.
• Hall-Petch equation does not apply to (1) extremely
fine or coarse grain size and (2) metals used at
elevated temperature.
 Effects of Plastic Deformation
• Plastic deformation results in
shearing of grains relative to each other.
• The grains elongate in rolling direction.
• Dislocations get rearranged.

Grain structure at
different regions of
cartridge brass
rolled into a wedge

6-40
 Effects of Plastic Deformation
• Grain shape changes with plastic deformation. E.g.
With the increase of cold rolling, the grains are more
elongated in the rolling direction.

Cold-rolled 30% Cold-rolled 50%

 Effect of Cold Work on Tensile Strength
• Number of dislocations are increased by cold work.
• Dislocation movements are hindered by both grain
boundaries and other dislocations Strain Hardening

• In cold working, new

dislocations are created by the
cold deformation and interact
with those already existing,
create “forest of dislocations”.

Cold working is used for

strengthening some metals.

6-41
We wish to produce a 0.040-in thick sheet of oxygen free copper
with a tensile strength of 45ksi. What percent cold work must
the metal be given? What must the starting thickness of the
metal be before cold rolling?

Percent of cold work  25%

let x be the starting thickness ,
x  0.040in.
 0.25
x
x  0.053in.
 Solid Solution Strengthening
• Addition of one or more metals can increase the
strength of metals.
• Solute atoms, on case of substitutional solid
solution, create stress fields around themselves
and hinder the dislocation movement.
• Distortion of lattice and clustering of like atoms
also impede dislocation movement.
• Example: Solid solution of 70 wt % Cu & 30 wt %
Zn (cartridge brass) has tensile strength of 500
MPa. Tensile strength of unalloyed copper is 330
MPa

6-42
Recovery and Recrystallization of Plastically
Deformed Metal
• The reduced ductility of the cold-worked metal is
undesirable, thus, a softer metal is required through
reheating.
• When metal is reheated in a sufficiently high
temperature for a long enough time, the cold-
worked metal will go through a series of changes : (1)
recovery, (2) recrystallization, (3)grain growth
• This reheating treatment that softens a cold-worked
metal is called annealing.
Recovery and Recrystallization of Plastically
Deformed Metal
Recovery and Recrystallization of Plastically
Deformed Metal

Stress-relieved at 302
degree Celsius for 1 hour

Annealed at 316 degree

Celsius for 1 hour
Recovery and Recrystallization of Plastically
Deformed Metal
• When cold-worked metal is heated in the recovery
temperature, internal stress in the metal are relieved.
• During recovery, thermal energy is supplied to allow
dislocations to rearrange themselves into lower energy
configurations.
• Upon heating at high temperature, new strain-free
grains are nucleated in the recovered metal structure
and begin to grow recrystallized structure.
• Important factors that affect recrystallization process
are: (1) amount of prior deformation of the metal, (2)
temperature, (3) time, (4) initial grain size, (5)
composition of the metal or alloy.
Recovery and Recrystallization of Plastically
Deformed Metal
• A minimum amount of deformation of metal is
necessary for recrystallization to be possible.
• Increase of temperature for recrystallization
decreases the time necessary to complete it.
• The larger the original gain size, the greater the
amount of deformation required to produce an
equivalent recrystallization structure.
• The recrystallization temperature decreases with
increasing purity of the metal.
 Recovery and Recrystallization of Plastically
Deformed Metal

1018-Cold Rolled

1018-Annealed

Stress-Strain curves of 1018 steel

6-41
 Superplasticity in Metals
• At elevated temperature and slow loading rate,
some alloys deform 2000%.
• Annealed Ti alloy
 Elongates 12% at room temperature
 Elongates up to 1170% at 870oC and 1.3x10-4/s
loading rate.

• Conditions: very fine grain size (5-10 microns)

* Highly strain sensitive
* Temperature above 0.5 Tm
* Slow strain rate
 Mechanism of Superplasticity
• Very limited dislocation activity
• Deformation mechanism:
 Grain boundary sliding
 Grain boundary diffusion
 Sliding and rotation of individual grains.
• Applications: Metal
forming operations.
 Blow forming to
produce automobile
hoods.

Grains before and after deformation

Superplasticity in Metals
 Nanocrystalline Metals
• Average grain diameter < 100 nm
• Results in high strength and hardness, and
Superplasticity
• If grain diameter reduces from 10 microns to 10
nm, yield strength of copper increases 31 times.
• Very difficult to produce nanocrystalline metals.
• If d < 5 nm, elastic modulus drops as more atoms
are in grain boundary
• Hall-Petch equation is invalid in lower
nanocrystalline range.
 Material Failure
• Failure may be defined as the inability of a
material to (1) perform the intended function ,
(2) meet performance criteria although it may
still be operational (3) perform safely and reliably
even after deterioration.
• Fracture of material and its potential effect on
productivity, safety, and other economical issues
are important aspects for material design and
selection.
• Safety factor are used in analysis and essentially
overdesigning the component or machine.
 Fracture of Metals – Ductile Fracture
• Fracture results in separation of stressed solid into two
or more parts.
• Ductile fracture : High plastic deformation & slow crack
propagation.
• Three steps :
 Specimen forms neck and
cavities within neck.
 Cavities form crack and
crack propagates towards
surface, perpendicular to stress.
 Direction of crack changes to
450 resulting in cup-cone
fracture.

7-7
Fracture of Metals – Ductile Fracture
 Brittle Fracture
• No significant plastic deformation before fracture.
• Common at high strain rates and low temperature.
• Three stages:
 Plastic deformation concentrates
dislocation along slip planes.
 Microcracks nucleate due to shear
stress where dislocations are blocked.
 Crack propagates to fracture. SEM of ductile fracture

• Example: HCP Zinc ingle crystal

under high stress along {0001}
plane undergoes brittle fracture.

SEM of brittle fracture

7-8
Ductile and Brittle Fractures

Ductile fracture Brittle Fracture

 Brittle Fractures (cont..)
• Brittle fractures are due to defects like
 Folds
 Undesirable grain flow
 Porosity
 Tears and Cracks
 Corrosion damage
 Embrittlement due to atomic hydrogen
• At low operating temperature, ductile to brittle
transition takes place.
 Toughness and Impact Testing
• Toughness is a measure of energy absorbed before failure.
• Impact test measures the
ability of metal to absorb
impact.
Toughness is measured
using impact testing
machine

Place a Charpy V-notch specimen

across parallel jaws in the machine, then
release a heavy pendulum from a known height.

7-9
 Impact testing (Cont…)
• Also used to find the temperature range for ductile to
brittle transition.

Figure 6.15 Figure 6.16

• Sinking of Titanic: Titanic was made up of steel which
has ductile brittle transition temperature 320C. On the
day of sinking, sea temperature was –20C which made
the structure highly brittle and susceptible to more
damage.
7-10 (After J.A.Rinebolt and W.H. Harris, Trans. ASM, 43: 1175(1951))
 How is the Charpy Impact Energy used?
• The charpy impact test can be used to assess the relative toughness of different
materials, e.g. steel and aluminum, as a tool for materials selection in design. It
may also be used for quality control, to ensure that the material being produced
reaches a minimum specified toughness level.

• Difficulties arise when you attempt to answer questions such as "What impact
toughness must my steel have if I'm to make an oil rig which will be subjected to
have impact in the North Sea at sub-zero temperatures?"

• Design problems such as this can be tackled by the use of a minimum impact
energy for the service temperature, which is based on previous experience. For
example, it was found that fractures of the steel plate in Liberty ships in the 1940's
only occurred at sea temperatures for which the impact energy of the steel was
20J. This data was used to select steels for future ship designs. This approach is
often still used to specify minimum impact energy for material selection, though
the criteria are also based on correlations with fracture mechanics measurements
and calculations.

» It's interesting to note that the impact energy of steel recovered

from the Titanic was found to be very low (brittle) at -2°C. This
was the estimated sea temperature at the time of the iceberg
impact.
 Design Strategy:
Stay above the DBTT!
• Pre-WWII: The Titanic • WWII: Liberty ships

Reprinted w/ permission from R.W. Hertzberg, Reprinted w/ permission from R.W. Hertzberg,
"Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering "Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering
Materials", (4th ed.) Fig. 7.1(a), p. 262, John Wiley and Materials", (4th ed.) Fig. 7.1(b), p. 262, John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., 1996. Sons, Inc., 1996.

• Problem: Used a type of steel with a Ductile to

Brittle Transition Temperature ~ Room temp
 Fracture Toughness
• Cracks and flaws cause stress concentration.

K1  Y a
K1 = Stress intensity factor.
σ = Applied stress.
a = edge crack length
Y = geometric constant.

KIc = critical value of

stress intensity Example:
Al 2024 T851 26.2MPam1/2
factor.(Fracture toughness) 4340 alloy steel 60.4MPam1/2
 Y f a
7-11
 Measuring Fracture Toughness
• A notch is machined in a specimen of sufficient thickness B.
• B>>a plain strain condition.
• B = 2.5(KIc/Yield strength)2
• Specimen is tensile tested.
• Higher the KIc value, more
ductile the metal is.
• Used in design to find
allowable flaw size.

Figure 6.18
7-12 Courtesy of White Shell research)
 Fatigue of Metals
• Metals often fail at much lower stress at cyclic loading
compared to static loading.
• Crack nucleates at region of stress concentration and
propagates due to cyclic loading.
• Failure occurs when
cross sectional area
of the metal too small
to withstand applied Fracture started here
load.

Fatigue fractured
surface of keyed
shaft
Final rupture
7-13 (After “Metals Handbook,” vol 9, 8th ed., American Society of Metals, 1974, p.389)
 Fatigues Testing
• Alternating compression and tension load is applied on
metal piece tapered towards center.

Figure 6.21

Figure 6.20

• Stress to cause failure S

and number of cycles
required N are plotted
to form SN curve.
7-14 (After H.W. Hayden, W.G. Moffatt, and J.Wulff, “The structure and Properties of Materials,” vol. III, Wiley, 1965, p.15.)
 Cyclic Stresses
• Different types of stress cycles are possible (axial, torsional
and flexural).

Figure 6.24

 max   min  max   min

Stress amplitude =  a 
Mean stress =  m  2
2

Stress range =  r   max   min  min

Stress range = R 
 max
7-15
 Structural Changes in Fatigue Process
• Crack initiation first occurs.
• Reversed directions of crack initiation caused surface
ridges and groves called slipband extrusion and
intrusion.
• Crack growth changes
direction to be perpendi-
cular to maximum tensile
stress (rate microns/sec).
• Sample ruptures when
remaining cross-sectional area Persistent slip bands
In copper crystal
is small to withstand the stress.

Figure 6.26
7-16 Courtesy of Windy C. Crone, University of Wisconsin
 Factors Affecting Fatigue Strength
• Stress concentration: Fatigue strength is
reduced by stress concentration.
• Surface roughness: Smoother surface
increases the fatigue strength.
• Surface condition: Surface treatments like
carburizing and nitriding increases fatigue
life.
• Environment: Chemically reactive
environment, which might result in
corrosion, decreases fatigue life.

7-17
 Fatigue Crack Propagation Rate
• Notched specimen used.
• Cyclic fatigue action is generated.
• Crack length is measured by change in potential
produced by crack opening.

7-18(After “Metals Handbook,” Vol 8, 9th ed., American Society of Metals, 1985, p.388.)
 Stress & Crack Length Fatigue
Crack Propagation.
• When ‘a’ is small, da/dN
is also small.
• da/dN increases with inc-
σ2 σ1 reasing crack length.
Δa • Increase in σ increases
ΔN  da 
Δa   crack growth rate.
ΔN  da   dN 2
 
 dN 1
da = fatigue crack growth
da dN rate.
α f(σ,a)
dN ΔK = Kmax-Kmin = stress
 AK m
intensity factor range.

A, m = Constants depending on material, environment, frequency

temperature and stress ratio.
7-19
 Fatigue Crack Growth rate Versus ΔK

 da 
Log    Log ( AK m )
 dN 
 m.Log ( K )  Log ( A)
Straight line with slope m

Limiting value of ΔK below

Which there is no measurable
Crack growth is called stress
intensity factor range
threshold ΔKth

Figure 6.29

7-20 (After P.C. Paris et al. Stress analysis and growth of cracks, STP 513 ASTM, Philadelphia, 1972, PP. 141-176
 Fatigue Life Calculation
da
 AK m
dN
But K  Y a
m m

Therefore K m  y m m 2 a 2
m m
da
Therefore  A( y m m 2 a 2 )
dN
Integrating from initial crack size a0 to final crack size af
at number of fatigue cycles Nf
af m m Nf

     dN
m m 2 2
da A y a m m
( ) 1 ( ) 1
a0 0 af 2  a0 2
Integrating and solving for Nf Nf  m
m
(Assuming Y is independent of crack length) Ay   ( 
m m 2
 1)
2
7-21
• A large flat plate is subjected to constant-
amplitude uniaxial cyclic tensile and
compressive stresses of 120 and 35MPa,
respectively. If before testing the largest
surface crack is 1.00 mm and the plain-strain
fracture toughness of the plate is 35 MPa m ,
estimate the fatigue life of the plate in cycles
to failure. Assume for the plate, 3.5,
5.0X 10-12,and 1.3.
 Creep in Metals
• Creep is a progressive deformation under constant stress
over a period of time.
• Important in high temperature applications.
• Primary creep: creep rate
• decreases with time due
to strain hardening.
• Secondary creep: Creep
rate is constant due to
simultaneous strain hard-
ening and recovery process.
• Tertiary creep: Creep rate
increases with time leading
to necking and fracture.

7-22
 Creep Test
• Creep test determines the effect of temperature and
stress on creep rate.
• Metals are tested at constant stress at different
temperature & constant temperature with different
stress.

High temperature
or stress


Medium temperature Creep rate=
or stress t
Low temperature Creep strength: Stress to produce
or stress Minimum creep rate of 10-5%/h
At a given temperature.

7-23
 Creep Test (Cont..)
• Creep rupture test is same as creep test but aimed at failing
the specimen.
• Plotted as log stress
versus log rupture time.
• Time for stress rupture
decreases with increased
stress and temperature.

7-24 (After H.E. McGannon [ed]. “ The making, shaping and Treating of Steel,” 9 th ed., United States Steel, 1971, p. 1256
 Larsen Miller Parameter
• Larsen Miller parameter is used to represent creep-stress
rupture data.
P(Larsen-Miller) = T[log tr + C]
T = temperature(K), tr = stress-rupture time h
C = Constant (order of 20)

Also, P(Larsen-Miller) = [T(0C) + 273(20+log tr)]

or P(Larsen-Miller) = [T(0F) + 460(20+log tr)]

• At a given stress level, the log time to stress rupture plus

constant multiplied by temperature remains constant for a
given material.

7-25
 Larsen Miller Parameter
If two variables of time to
rupture, temperature and
stress are known, 3rd parameter
that fits L.M. parameter can be
determined.
Example:
For alloy CM, at 207 MPa,
LM parameter is 27.8 x 103 K
Then if temperature is known,
time to rupture can be found.

7-26 (After “Metals Handbook,” vol 1, 10th ed., ASM International, 1990, p.998.)
 L.M. Diagram of several alloys
Example: Calculate time to cause 0.2% creep strain in gamma
Titanium aluminide at 40 KSI and 12000F. Given P=38000, Larsen
Miller Equation: P(Larsen-Miller) = [T(0F) + 460(20+log tr)]

P(Larsen-Miller) = [T(0F) + 460(20+log tr)]

38000 = (1200 + 460) (log t0.2% + 20)
t=776 h

7-27After N.R. Osborne et. al., SAMPE Quart, (4)22;26(1992)

 Case Study – Analysis of Failed Fan Shaft
• Requirements
 Function – Fan drive support
 Material 1045 cold drawn steel
 Yield strength – 586 Mpa
 Expected life – 6440 Km (failed at 3600 km)
• Visual examination (avoid additional damage)
 Failure initiated at two points near fillet
 Characteristic of reverse bending fracture
 Failed Shaft – Further Analysis

• Tensile test proved yield strength to be 369 MPa

(lower than specified 586 MPa).
• Metallographic examination revealed grain
structure to be equiaxed ( cold drawn metal has
elongated grains).
• Conclusion: Material is not cold drawn – it is hot
rolled !.
 Lower fatigue strength and stress raiser
caused the failure of the shaft.
Recent Advances: Strength + Ductility

A schematic of the stress strain diagrams for microcrystalline (curve A),

nanocrystalline (curve B), and mixed grain (curve C) pure copper
Recent Advances: Strength + Ductility
• Coarse grained – low strength, high ductility
• Nanocrystalline – High strength, low ductility (because
of failure due to shear bands).
• Ductile nanocrystalline copper : Can be produced by
 Cold rolling at liquid nitrogen temperature
 Additional cooling after each pass
 Controlled annealing

• Cold rolling creates dislocations

and cooling stops recovery
• 25 % microcrystalline grains
in a matrix of nanograins.