Materials of Industry

Nature of Metals and Alloys

Chapter 2
 Structure-Property Relationship
• Primitive cultures were often limited to the
naturally occurring materials and their
properties
• Materials can now be processed and their
properties can be altered and possibly
enhanced
• Alloying and heat treatment of materials are
example of techniques that can substantially
alter the properties of a material
 Structure-Property Relationship

• Early success in altering materials was

merely accidental
• We now know that engineering properties of
a material is a direct result of the structure of
that material
 Structure-Property Relationship

• All materials are comprised of the same basic

components
– Protons
– Neutrons
– Electrons
• The variation of materials and properties are
a result of the many combinations of these
units in a macroscopic assembly
 Structure-Property Relationship

• The ability to control these structures through

processing, and the ability to develop new
structures has given engineers a variety of
materials with an almost unlimited range of
properties.
 Atomic Structure

• Atoms consist of a relatively dense nucleus

composed of positively charged protons and
neutrally charged neutrons. Surrounding the
nucleus are the negatively charged electrons.
 Atomic Structure

• Distinct grouping of these basic particles are known as elements.

• The electrons that surround the nucleus play a significant role in
determining material properties.
• Electrons are arranged in a structure consisting of shells and
subshells.
• By absorbing energy an electron can jump to a higher energy
shell farther from the nucleus and visa versa.
 Atomic Structure

• Each shell and subshell is most stable when

completely filled.
• For atoms containing electrons in the third shell, 8
electrons are required for stability.
• If a normal atom has slightly less than the number of
electrons required for stability it will readily accept an
electron from another atom.
 Atomic Structure
• If an atom accepts an electron from another
source it will now have more electrons than
protons giving it a negative charge
– This is called a Negative Ion
• Conversely if an atom has an excess of electrons
in the outer most shell, more than what is
required for stability, it will easily give up
electrons giving it a positive charge
– This is called a Positive Ion
 Atomic Structure
• The number of electrons surrounding the
nucleus of a neutral atom is called the Atomic
Number.
• The most important electrons are those in the
outermost shell called the Valence Electrons
• Valence electrons are important in
determining chemical properties, electrical
conductivity, some mechanical properties,
nature of interatomic bonding, atom size, and
optical characteristics.
 Atomic Structure
• Atoms are rarely found floating free, they are
usually linked to other atoms as a result of
interatomic forces.
• The electron structure plays a strong role in
determining the nature of the bond.
• There are generally 3 types of primary bonds that
are recognized.
– Ionic, Covalent, & Metallic
 Ionic Bonding
• The simplest bond, atoms are present with
excess electrons in their outermost shell and
also atoms with insufficient number of
electrons in the outermost shell are present
• The excess electrons break free from the
atom producing a positive ion
• This excess electron is then donated to
another atom to complete their deficient
outermost shell producing a negative ion.
• The positive and negative ions have a strong,
natural attraction for each other, producing a
strong bonding force.
Ionic Bonding
 Ionic Bonding

• General characteristics of materials joined by

ionic bonding are…
– Moderate to high strengths
– High hardness
– Brittleness
– High melting point
– Low electrical conductivity
 Covalent Bonding
• The atoms involved in covalent bonding find it
impossible to complete the shells by electron
transfer, but achieve the same goal by
electron sharing.
• Adjacent atoms share outer-most electrons
so that each the atoms in the assembly
achieves a stable electron configuration
• Atoms in the assembly need not be identical
and the sharing does not have to be equal
Covalent Bonding
 Covalent Bonding
• General characteristics of materials joined by
covalent bonding are…
– High strength
– High melting point
– Brittleness
 Metallic Bonding
• This third type of atomic bonding can form
when a complete outer shell cannot be
formed by either electron transfer (ionic) or
electron sharing (covalent)
• These atoms have only a few electrons in the
outermost shell (1-3), these electrons can be
easily removed while the others are held
firmly to the nucleus.
• The resulting structure is one of positively
charged ions surrounded by a “cloud” of free
floating electrons.
Metallic Bonding
 Metallic Bonding
• The highly-mobile , “free” electrons account
for high thermal and electrical conductivity
values observed in metals
• Most significant characteristic is the positive
ions can move within the structure without
breaking the atomic bonds, materials formed
by metallic bonds can be deformed by atom
movement and still produce a deformed
material every bit as strong as the original.
• This is the basis of metal plasticity and
ductility
 Secondary Bonds
• Secondary bonds known as van der Waals
forces can form between molecules that
posses a nonsymmetrical distribution of
charge.
• Some portions of the molecule tend to have
more positive or negative charge
• The negative part of one molecule attracts
the positive part of another forming a very
weak bond.
 Atom Arrangements
• As atoms bond to form aggregates, we find
that the particular arrangement of the atoms
has significant effect on material properties.
• Depending on this atom arrangement,
materials are classified as having either…
– Molecular structures
– Crystal Structures
– Or Amorphous structures
 Atom Arrangements

• Molecular and amorphous structures are

weak and are typical of liquids, gases and
some solids such as glass
• We will concentrate our study to the Crystal
Structures which form the geometric arrays
called lattices that are that are common for
metals
 Metals
• More than 50 of the known elements are
classified as metals
• Of these 50, 40 are of commercial
importance.
• Metals are classified by the metallic bond
• The fact that metals posses a variety of
properties simply expand their use as an
engineering material.
 Crystalline Structure
• When metals go from a liquid to a solid
(solidify) they form a crystalline structure
• This means the atoms arrange themselves in
a geometric lattice
• There are 14 basic types of crystal structures
(lattices), Fortunately nearly all of the
commercially important metals fit into one of
the three most common types of lattice
structures.
– Body-centered Cubic
– Face-centered Cubic
– Hexagonal Close-packed
 Crystalline Structure
• To start, consider the Simple Cubic Structure
• Single Atoms on all corners of a cube
• If the atoms were solid spheres only 52% of
available space would be occupied
• Direct contact with only 6 neighbors
• Not favorable for a metallic bond, where high-
efficiency packing is desired
 Body-centered Cubic
• Expand the simple cubic and put an atom in the
center, this would result in the Body-centered
Cubic
• Eight nearest neighbors
• 68% of all available space is occupied
• Examples: Iron, Chromium, Manganese, etc.
 Face-centered Cubic
• Now we enter into a atomic stacking sequence
known as Close-packed Planes
• An example of close-packed planes would be
putting ping pong balls (atoms) in a box and
agitating it until a stable arrangement occurs
• We would find the structure to be of layered
close-packed planes
 Face-centered Cubic
• Expand the Simple Cubic and put an atom in the
center of each of the six faces.
• Close-packed planes, 12 nearest neighbors 74% filled
• Preferred structure of the engineering materials
• Tend to provide exceptionally high formability
• Examples: Iron, Aluminum, Copper, etc.
 Hexagonal Close-packed
• Another stacking sequence of close-packed planes
• Metals with this structure have poor formability
• Difficult to process
• 12 nearest neighbors, 74% occupied
• Examples: Magnesium, Zinc, Zirconium, etc.
 Allotropic Materials
• Most metals only exist in one lattice form
• Some can exist in the solid state in two or more
lattice forms
• The particular form depends on the conditions of
the temperature and pressure.
• Allotropic or Polymorphic materials are said to be
able to change from one lattice form to another.
• This is termed an Allotropic Transformation
• Iron is one good example, by heat treating iron
we can change the lattice structure and its
mechanical properties
 Developing Grain Structure
• When a metal goes from a liquid to a solid it
begins with a small particle solidifying with the
lattice structure characteristic of that material.
• The atomic particle then acts as a seed or
nucleus and grows as other atoms in the vicinity
attach themselves
• The basic crystalline structure is repeated and
repeated
• In reality there are many seeds or nucleation sites
taking place independently at various locations
 Developing Grain Structure
• Each particle grows at random orientations to
each other until they begin to interfere with each
other.
• They are not sufficiently orientated to produce a
single continuous structure.
• The small continuous growths of solid are called
Crystals or Grains and the surface that divide the
grains are called Grain Boundaries.
• Grains are the smallest of the structural units in a
metal that are observable with ordinary light
microscopy.
– Polish and etch
 Grain Structure as Metal
Solidifies
Molten Metal

Nucleus
Grains
Boundaries

Solid Metal
Grains
 Grain Structure
• The number and size of the grains in a metal vary
with the rate of nucleation and the rate of growth
• The greater the nucleation rate, the smaller the
resulting grains
• The greater the rate of growth the larger the
grain.
– The longer it takes to solidify the larger the grains will
grow and visa versa.
• The resulting grain structure will influence certain
mechanical and chemical properties, it is an
important property for an engineer to control and
specify.
ASTM –Grain Size Number
The American Society for Testing and Materials

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8
Mechanical Properties of Crystals
• Mechanical properties of a material are a
reflection of their crystal structure.
• Mechanical behavior is dependant on…
– Type of lattice
– Interatomic forces
– Spacing between the planes of atoms
– Density of atoms on various planes
• When applied loads are low, the crystal
responds by simply stretching or compressing
the distance between the atoms.
– Basic lattice doesn’t change and the atoms
stay in their original position.
Mechanical Properties of Crystals
• The atoms assume a new equilibrium
spacing under the applied light load…

…once the load is removed the atoms return to

their original position. Elastic Deformation
Mechanical Properties of Crystals

• As the load is increased, the distortion

increases to a point where the atoms must
1. Break the bonds to produce a fracture
2. Slide over one another to produce a
permanent shift of atom positions
• This result is termed Plastic Deformation
– The shearing of atomic planes over one
another to produce a net displacement
 Plastic Deformation
• With crystal structures it is possible to link the
atoms into flat planes
• Plastic deformation tends to occur along planes
having the highest atom density and the greatest
separation.
 Plastic Deformation
• If sliding occurs to one of the close-packed
directions the atoms simply follow one
another rather than having to negotiate its
own path.
• Thus plastic deformation tends to occur by
the preferential sliding of maximum-density
planes in the direction of closest packing.
• The specific combination of plane and
direction is known as Slip System and the
shear deformation is known as Slip
Mechanical Properties of Crystals
• Considering what we just covered, lets look at
our three most common crystal structures.
1. Body-centered Cubic, there are no close-
packed planes.
• Slip occurs on the planes with the greatest spacing.
• 48 ways to plastically deform
• Force must be great to plastically deform
• Materials with this structure posses high strength
with moderate ductility
2. Face-centered Cubic, four close-packed planes.
• 3 close packed directions on each of those planes
• 12 possible ways to plastically deform
• Force may be low
• Materials with FCC are relatively weak with great
ductility
Mechanical Properties of Crystals
3. Hexagonal Close-packed,only one close-packed
plane within each lattice
• Each plane has 3 close-packed directions
• Force required is rather low
• Materials with HCP tend to have low ductility and
often appear to be brittle.
 Dislocation

• Theoretical calculations based from the fact

that entire atomic planes slip over one
another produces yield strength of around 3
million psi!
• Actual strengths are typically 100 to150 times
less than this value.
• The explanation is that the entire plane does
not move all at once , but instead more of a
progressive slippage of a localized disruption
called a Dislocation
 Dislocation

Theory

Dislocation
 Strain Hardening
• As stated in the last module, most materials
become stronger when plastically deformed
• The phenomenon of strain hardening can be
explain by discussing dislocations.
• Plastic deformation is accomplished by the
motion of dislocations
• As dislocations move, they are likely to encounter
other dislocations or crystalline defects
• This produces a resistance to further movement
• This resistance to movement provides an
increase in strength
 Fracture of Metals
• Ductile fracture is when the plastic
deformation is exceeded too far, the metal
ultimately fractures
• Brittle fracture is where fracture precedes
plastic deformation, occurring in a sudden
catastrophic manner, moving rapidly through
the material
– Most common with metals having bcc or hcp
crystal structures
 Recrystallization
• The process of heating a metal after plastic
deformation to lower the internal energy caused
by dislocations
– This will allow the formation of new crystals and return
ductility to the area of strain hardening
• Cold Working a material is plastically deforming it
below its recrystallization temperature
• Hot Working is plastically deforming a material
above its recrystallization temperature
– Deformation and recrystallization take place
simultaneously
 Alloys
• Up to this point the discussion has been
based around metals in their pure form
• Most manufacturing applications use metals
that are made up of two or more elements or
a combination of a metallic and a nonmetallic.
These are termed Alloys
• Alloys will be covered in depth when we
discuss specific metallic materials and their
alloys in later chapters