Line defects (Extended defects)

Dislocations
• Dislocations are linear defects around which some of the atoms
are misaligned

Dislocations in two-dimensional bubble rafts

Deforming Solids

Force

Elastic Deformation
Returns to starting
length Plastic Deformation
(Does not return to
starting length)

Length

How does this work?

 Slip in crystal

Initial Final

Theoretical strength of crystals would be between 3 and 30 GPa

= 3 x 109 Nm-2
 logy
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Dislocations
• Deformation of material is brought about by the dislocation
movement
• Blocking of dislocations makes the material hard and brittle
• For Frenkel and schottky defects , the energy to form a defect is
offset by the entropy of the disordered state
• Dislocations also increase entropy, but dislocation formation
energy is much higher than that of point defects
• Therefore , dislocations are never in thermodynamic equilibrium
state with surrounding
• Dislocations are thus extrinsic defects and can be removed
through sample preparation
Edge dislocation

• Consist of an extra half plane of atoms

inserted into the crystal
• Dislocation is described by the line
running perpendicular to the plane
(Dislocation line)
Edge dislocation: Burgers vector
• Burgers Vector : represents the
magnitude and direction of the
lattice distortion resulting from a
dislocation in a crystal lattice
• Burgers vector can be determined
by drawing a closed circuit of the
crystal (Burgers circuit)
• Draw a Burgers circuit in a perfect
crystal in a clockwise direction
• Make an identical circuit in a region
surrounding the dislocation. The
vector required to close the loop
(last to start atom) is Burgers vector
• Burgers vector is perpendicular to
dislocation line
Edge dislocation: movement and slip plane
• Dislocation movement called as glide is restricted to planes containing
both the Burgers vector and the dislocations
• The process by which plastic deformation is produced by dislocation
motion is termed as Slip
• Crystallographic plane along which dislocation line traverses is the Slip
Plane
Understanding the Edge dislocation
❑ The edge dislocation is NOT the ‘extra half-plane’, it is neither the ‘missing
half-plane’
→ it is the line between the ‘extra’ and the ‘missing’ half-planes.
❑ The regions far away from the dislocation line are perfect → all the ‘deformation’ is
concentrated around the dislocation line.
❑ However, the stress field of the dislocation is a ‘long range’ field.

Note:
▪ The Burgers vector has been drawn away form the
dislocation line (sometimes it may be drawn close to
dislocation line for convenience).
▪ The edge dislocation line is between the ‘missing’
and ‘extra’ half-plane.
 Edge dislocation

❑ Often to visualize the edge dislocation, only the extra ‘half’-plane and slip plane are
shown. The remaining crystal is hidden away.
❑ The intersection of the extra half-plane and slip plane can be visualized as the
dislocation line (one of the two possible directions is represents the line vector- shown
in blue colour).

Dislocation line
Screw dislocation

Dislocation line is
perpendicular to the ABCD
face and into the solid

D
Slip Plane

C
Screw dislocation
• Fault resembling a spiral stair case
• Burgers vector formed similar to edge
dislocation
• Burger vector is parallel to the dislocation
line
• Movement of a screw dislocation is
perpendicular to burgers vector and
dislocation glide is along the slip plane
• For edge: glide is limited to a single plane
• For screw: no unique plane is defined . It can
move from one slip plane to another
(Cross-slip)
Screw dislocation: movement and slip plane

Edge dislocation line

moves parallel to
applied stress

Screw dislocation line

moves perpendicular to
applied stress

Net movement is similar

For mixed dislocations, direction of motion is in between parallel

and perpendicular to the applied shear stress
Dislocations
• Dislocations are surrounded by displaced atoms → strain fields
→near sites of dislocation
• Strain field will depend upon the
• Type of dislocation
• Width
• Burgers Vector
Strain fields around dislocations
• Influential in determining mobility of the dislocations and their
ability to intensify.
• On plastic deformation: fraction of the energy is retained
internally (strain energy).
• Presence of lattice distortion along dislocation line

Edge dislocations: compressive,

tensile, and shear lattice strains,

Screw dislocations: shear strain

only
Dislocations have strain fields
arising from distortions at their
cores.
Strain drops radially with distance
from the dislocation core.
Interactions between dislocations
• Strain fields around dislocations cause them to interact
• When dislocations are in the same plane, they
✔ Repel, if they have the same sign (direction of Burger’s vector)
✔ Attract, if they have opposite signs
Dislocations leaving the slip plane
❑ ‘First step’ of plastic deformation is the motion of a dislocation leaving the
crystal (or to some other interface bounding the crystal) → leading to the
formation of a step.
❑ For continued plastic deformation it is necessary that dislocations continue
to move and leave the crystal. Hence, any impediments to the motion of a
dislocation will lead to ‘hardening’ of the crystal and would ‘stall’ plastic
deformation (the pinning of a dislocation).

❑ Once a dislocation has been pinned it can either

‘break down the barrier’ or ‘bypass’ the barrier.
❑ Bypassing the barrier can take place by
mechanisms like:
⮚ Climb ⮚ Cross Slip
❑ In climb and cross slip the dislocation
leaves/changes its ‘current’ slip plane and moves
to another slip plane thus avoiding the barrier
 Climb of Edge Dislocation

Positive climb Negative climb

Removal of a row of atoms Addition of a row of atoms
Screw dislocation: Cross Slip
❑ Dislocation moving on Slip Plane 1
❑ If the dislocation is ‘pinned’ in slip plane-1, cross slip of a screw dislocation line from
SP1 to Slip plane-2 (SP2) may occur.
❑ SP1 & SP2 are (usually) crystallographically equivalent, i.e. if SP1 is (111)CCP Crystal
then SP2 can be (–111)CCP Crystal.
Geometric properties of dislocations
▪ In a edge dislocation : b is perpendicular to t.
▪ In a screw dislocation : b is parallel to t.
▪ Other properties are as in the table below.

Type of dislocation
Dislocation Property
Edge Screw
Relation between dislocation line (t) and b ⊥ ||
Slip direction
|| to b || to b
(& the ‘direction’ of step created when dislocation leaves the crystal)

Direction of dislocation line movement relative to

|| ⊥
b
Process by which dislocation may leave slip
climb Cross-slip
plane*

* Note: edge dislocations cannot cross slip & screw dislocations cannot climb.
Mixed dislocation
Mixed dislocation

• In a curved dislocation the edge and

screw character change from point to
point.
• Typically in a dislocation loop only
‘points’ have pure edge or pure screw
character

E Except for points S and E the

remaining portion of the
S
dislocation line has a mixed
character

Pure screw Pure Edge

 Edge and Screw components of a Mixed Dislocation

Screw component

The b vector is resolved into components:

‘parallel to t’ → screw component and
‘perpendicular to t’ → edge component
Edge component

Edge component

Components of the
mixed dislocation at P
Screw Component
Slip system
• Slip Plane: planes with the highest density of atoms (the greatest
planar density).
• Slip directions: direction in the slip plane wherein atoms are most
closely spaced (highest linear density).
• Slip system: a slip plane and slip direction in the plane constitute
a slip system .
• Describes the set of symmetrically identical slip planes and associated family
of slip directions for which dislocation motion can easily occur and lead to
plastic Deformation
Slip system: Face centred cubic

4 unique {111} planes and three independent <110> directions = 12 Slip systems
Slip system: Body centred cubic
• BCC not close-packed
• Slip predominantly occurs in {110} planes which have highest
atomic density
• Slip direction <111>
Slip systems

FCC and BCC crystals → more slip systems → more ways for dislocations to
move → more ductile
Slip formation
• The extent of slip in a single crystal
depends on
– Magnitude of shear stress
– Geometry of the crystal
– Number of active slip plane in the shear stress
direction.

• Applied stress has a component of shear

stress at all but the parallel or
perpendicular alignments to the stress
direction.
Resolved shear stress (τR)
Area of slip plane A’ = A/cos φ
Force in slip plane A’ = P cos λ

Resolved shear stress is given by

φ = normal to the slip plane and the applied stress

direction
λ = slip and stress direction

Schmidt
Factor
Resolved shear stress (τR)

32
Critical resolved shear stress (τCRSS)
• A single crystal has a number
of different slip systems Condition for
capable of operating. The τR dislocation motion:
also varies depending on the λ
and φ angles
• When the resolved shear
stress becomes sufficiently
large, the crystal will start to
yield (dislocations start to
move along the most
favourably oriented slip
system).
• The minimum shear stress
required to initiate slip is
termed τCRSS
Critical resolved shear stress (τCRSS)
• Single crystal plastically deforms (yields) when τR (max) = τCRSS
• Magnitude of this applied stress required for yielding can be
calculated through

• Minimum stress required to initiate yielding occurs at

maximum value of (cosφ cosλ)

Slip will occur first in slip systems oriented close to these angles
(φ = λ = 45) with respect to the applied stress
Slip in a single crystal

• For a single crystal in tension, slip

will occur along a number of
equivalent and most favorably
oriented planes and directions at
various positions along the
specimen.
• Each step results from the
movement of a large number of
dislocations along the same slip
plane.
Evidence of slip systems
Evidence of slip systems
Multiplication of dislocations
• Dislocations can form by a number of
different mechanism
• Trapping of dislocations becomes a
common form.
• Dislocations becomes trapped, or
pinned in the crystal. This prevents
glide to occur
• Frank – Read Source
• The dislocation loops continues to be
generated as long as the high stress is
maintained.
Multiplication of dislocations
Multiplication of dislocations
• Dislocation loop can also be generated by aggregation of
vacancies or interstitials in a crystal
• More vacancies at high temperatures
• If held at temperatures for vacancies to migrate, then strain
fields may reduce by aggregation of defects
• Vacancies cluster to form higher order vacancies
Multiplication of dislocations
• The planar aggregation of vacancies can collapse and results in
dislocation loop PRISMATIC DISLOCATION LOOP
• Similar effect from interstitials defects