Introduction to Materials

This section will provide a basic introduction to

materials and material fabrication processing. It is
important that NDT personnel have some background
in material science for a couple of reasons. First,
nondestructive testing almost always involves the
interaction of energy of some type (mechanics, sound,
electricity, magnetism or radiation) with a
material. To understand how energy interacts with a
material, it is necessary to know a little about the material. Secondly, NDT often
involves detecting manufacturing defects and service induced damage and, therefore,
it is necessary to understand how defects and damage occur.
This section will begin with an introduction to the four common types of engineering
materials. The structure of materials at the atomic level will then be considered, along
with some atomic level features that give materials their characteristic properties.
Some of the properties that are important for the structural performance of a material
and methods for modifying these properties will also be covered.
In the second half of this text, methods used to shape and form materials into useful
shapes will be discussed. Some of the defects that can occur during the
manufacturing process, as well as service induced damage will be highlighted. This
section will conclude with a summary of the role that NDT plays in ensuring the
structural integrity of a component.
General Material Classifications
There are thousands of materials available for use in engineering applications. Most
materials fall into one of three classes that are based on the atomic bonding forces of
a particular material. These three classifications are metallic, ceramic and polymeric.
Additionally, different materials can be combined to create a composite material.
Within each of these classifications, materials are often further organized into groups
based on their chemical composition or certain physical or mechanical properties.
Composite materials are often grouped by the types of materials combined or the way
the materials are arranged together. Below is a list of some of the commonly
classification of materials within these four general groups of materials.
Metals Polymeric

• Ferrous metals and alloys (irons, • Thermoplastics plastics

carbon steels, alloy steels, stainless • Thermoset plastics
steels, tool and die steels) • Elastomers
• Nonferrous metals and alloys
(aluminum, copper, magnesium,
nickel, titanium, precious metals,
 refractory metals, superalloys)

Ceramics Composites

• Glasses • Reinforced plastics

• Glass ceramics • Metal-matrix composites
• Graphite • Ceramic-matrix composites
• Diamond • Sandwich structures
• Concrete

Each of these general groups will be discussed in more detail in the following pages.

Metals
Metals account for about two thirds of all the elements and about 24% of the mass of
the planet. Metals have useful properties including strength, ductility, high melting
points, thermal and electrical conductivity, and toughness. From the periodic table, it
can be seen that a large number of the elements are classified as being a metal. A few
of the common metals and their typical uses are presented below.

Common Metallic Materials

• Iron/Steel - Steel alloys are used for strength critical applications
• Aluminum - Aluminum and its alloys are used because they are easy to
form, readily available, inexpensive, and recyclable.
• Copper - Copper and copper alloys have a number of properties that
 make them useful, including high electrical
and thermal conductivity, high ductility, and
good corrosion resistance.
• Titanium - Titanium alloys are used for
strength in higher temperature (~1000° F)
application, when component weight is a
concern, or when good corrosion resistance is
required
• Nickel - Nickel alloys are used for still
higher temperatures (~1500-2000° F)
applications or when good corrosion
resistance is required.
• Refractory materials are used for the highest temperature (> 2000° F)
applications.

The key feature that distinguishes metals from non-metals is their bonding. Metallic
materials have free electrons that are free to move easily from one atom to the next.
The existence of these free electrons has a number of profound consequences for the
properties of metallic materials. For example, metallic materials tend to be good
electrical conductors because the free electrons can move around within the metal so
freely. More on the structure of metals will be discussed later.

Ceramics
A ceramic has traditionally been defined as “an inorganic, nonmetallic solid that is
prepared from powdered materials, is fabricated into products through the application
of heat, and displays such characteristic properties as hardness, strength, low
electrical conductivity, and brittleness." The word ceramic comes the from Greek
word "keramikos", which means "pottery." They are typically crystalline in nature
and are compounds formed between metallic and nonmetallic elements such as
aluminum and oxygen (alumina-Al2O3), calcium and oxygen (calcia - CaO), and
silicon and nitrogen (silicon nitride-Si3N4).
Depending on their method of formation, ceramics can be dense or lightweight.
Typically, they will demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties; however,
they are often brittle in nature. Ceramics can also be formed to serve as electrically
conductive materials or insulators. Some ceramics, like superconductors, also display
magnetic properties. They are also more resistant to high temperatures and harsh
environments than metals and polymers. Due to ceramic materials wide range of
properties, they are used for a multitude of applications.
The broad categories or segments that make up the ceramic industry can be classified
as:
• Structural clay products (brick, sewer pipe, roofing and wall tile, flue
linings, etc.)
• Whitewares (dinnerware, floor and wall tile, electrical porcelain, etc.)
• Refractories (brick and monolithic products used in metal, glass,
cements, ceramics, energy conversion, petroleum, and chemicals industries)
• Glasses (flat glass (windows), container glass (bottles), pressed and
blown glass (dinnerware), glass fibers (home insulation), and
advanced/specialty glass (optical fibers))
• Abrasives (natural (garnet, diamond, etc.) and synthetic (silicon carbide,
diamond, fused alumina, etc.) abrasives are used for grinding, cutting,
polishing, lapping, or pressure blasting of materials)
• Cements (for roads, bridges, buildings, dams, and etc.)
• Advanced ceramics
• Structural (wear parts, bioceramics, cutting tools, and engine
components)
• Electrical (capacitors, insulators, substrates, integrated circuit
packages, piezoelectrics, magnets and superconductors)
• Coatings (engine components, cutting tools, and industrial wear
parts)
• Chemical and environmental (filters, membranes, catalysts, and
catalyst supports)
The atoms in ceramic materials are held together by a chemical bond which will be
discussed a bit later. Briefly though, the two most common chemical bonds for
ceramic materials are covalent and ionic. Covalent and ionic bonds are much stronger
than in metallic bonds and, generally speaking, this is why ceramics are brittle and
metals are ductile.
Polymers
A polymeric solid can be thought of as a material that contains many chemically
bonded parts or units which themselves are bonded together to form a solid. The
word polymer literally means "many parts." Two industrially important polymeric
materials are plastics and elastomers. Plastics are a large and varied group of
synthetic materials which are processed by forming or molding into shape. Just as
there are many types of metals such as aluminum and copper, there are many types of
plastics, such as polyethylene and nylon. Elastomers or rubbers can be elastically
deformed a large amount when a force is applied to them and can return to their
original shape (or almost) when the force is released.
Polymers have many properties that make them attractive to use in certain conditions.
Many polymers:
 • are less dense than metals or
ceramics,
• resist atmospheric and other forms of
corrosion,
• offer good compatibility with human
tissue, or
• exhibit excellent resistance to the
conduction of electrical current.
The polymer plastics can be divided into two
classes, thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics,
depending on how they are structurally and
chemically bonded. Thermoplastic polymers
comprise the four most important commodity
materials – polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. There
are also a number of specialized engineering polymers. The term ‘thermoplastic’
indicates that these materials melt on heating and may be processed by a variety of
molding and extrusion techniques. Alternately, ‘thermosetting’ polymers can not be
melted or remelted. Thermosetting polymers include alkyds, amino and phenolic
resins, epoxies, polyurethanes, and unsaturated polyesters.
Rubber is a natural occurring polymer. However, most polymers are created by
engineering the combination of hydrogen and carbon atoms and the arrangement of
the chains they form. The polymer molecule is a long chain of covalent-bonded
atoms and secondary bonds then hold groups of polymer chains together to form the
polymeric material. Polymers are primarily produced from petroleum or natural gas
raw products but the use of organic substances is growing. The super-material known
as Kevlar is a man-made polymer. Kevlar is used in bullet-proof vests,
strong/lightweight frames, and underwater cables that are 20 times stronger than
steel.
Composites
A composite is commonly defined as a combination of two or more distinct materials,
each of which retains its own distinctive properties, to create a new material with
properties that cannot be achieved by any of the components acting alone. Using this
definition, it can be determined that a wide range of engineering materials fall into
this category. For example, concrete is a composite because it is a mixture of Portland
cement and aggregate. Fiberglass sheet is a composite since it is made of glass fibers
imbedded in a polymer.
Composite materials are said to have two phases. The reinforcing phase is the fibers,
sheets, or particles that are embedded in the matrix phase. The reinforcing material
and the matrix material can be metal, ceramic, or polymer. Typically, reinforcing
materials are strong with low densities
while the matrix is usually a ductile, or
tough, material.
Some of the common classifications of
composites are:
• Reinforced plastics
• Metal-matrix composites
• Ceramic-matrix composites
• Sandwich structures
• Concrete
Composite materials can take many forms
but they can be separated into three
categories based on the strengthening
mechanism. These categories are dispersion strengthened, particle reinforced and
fiber reinforced. Dispersion strengthened composites have a fine distribution of
secondary particles in the matrix of the material. These particles impede the
mechanisms that allow a material to deform. (These mechanisms include dislocation
movement and slip, which will be discussed later). Many metal-matrix composites
would fall into the dispersion strengthened composite category. Particle reinforced
composites have a large volume fraction of particle dispersed in the matrix and the
load is shared by the particles and the matrix. Most commercial ceramics and many
filled polymers are particle-reinforced composites. In fiber-reinforced composites, the
fiber is the primary load-bearing component. Fiberglass and carbon fiber composites
are examples of fiber-reinforced composites.
If the composite is designed and fabricated correctly, it combines the strength of the
reinforcement with the toughness of the matrix to achieve a combination of desirable
properties not available in any single conventional material. Some composites also
offer the advantage of being tailorable so that properties, such as strength and
stiffness, can easily be changed by changing amount or orientation of the
reinforcement material. The downside is that such composites are often more
expensive than conventional materials.
Structure of Materials
It should be clear that all matter is made of atoms. From the periodic table, it can be
seen that there are only about 100 different kinds of atoms in the entire Universe.
These same 100 atoms form thousands of different substances ranging from the air
we breathe to the metal used to support tall buildings. Metals behave differently than
ceramics, and ceramics behave differently than polymers. The properties of matter
depend on which atoms are used and how they are bonded together.
The structure of materials can be classified by the general magnitude of various
features being considered. The three most common major classification of structural,
listed generally in increasing size, are:
Atomic structure, which includes features that cannot be seen, such as the types of
bonding between the atoms, and the way the atoms are arranged.
Microstructure, which includes features that can be seen using a microscope, but
seldom with the naked eye.
Macrostructure, which includes features that can be seen with the naked eye)
The atomic structure primarily affects the chemical, physical, thermal, electrical,
magnetic, and optical properties. The microstructure and macrostructure can also
affect these properties but they generally have a larger effect on mechanical
properties and on the rate of chemical reaction. The properties of a material offer
clues as to the structure of the material. The strength of metals suggests that these
atoms are held together by strong bonds. However, these bonds must also allow
atoms to move since metals are also usually formable. To understand the structure of
a material, the type of atoms present, and how the atoms are arranged and bonded
must be known. Let’s first look at atomic bonding.
 Atomic Bonding
(Metallic, Ionic, Covalent, and van der Waals
Bonds)
From elementary chemistry it is known that the
atomic structure of any element is made up of a positively charged nucleus
surrounded by electrons revolving around it. An element’s atomic number indicates
the number of positively charged protons in the nucleus. The atomic weight of an
atom indicates how many protons and neutrons in the nucleus. To determine the
number of neutrons in an atom, the atomic number is simply subtracted from the
atomic weight.
Atoms like to have a balanced electrical charge. Therefore, they usually have
negatively charged electrons surrounding the nucleus in numbers equal to the number
of protons. It is also known that electrons are present with different energies and it is
convenient to consider these electrons surrounding the nucleus in energy “shells.” For
example, magnesium, with an atomic number of 12, has two electrons in the inner
shell, eight in the second shell and two in the outer shell.
All chemical bonds involve electrons. Atoms will stay close together if they have a
shared interest in one or more electrons. Atoms are at their most stable when they
have no partially-filled electron shells. If an atom has only a few electrons in a shell,
it will tend to lose them to empty the shell. These elements are metals. When metal
atoms bond, a metallic bond occurs. When an atom has a nearly full electron shell, it
will try to find electrons from another atom so that it can fill its outer shell. These
elements are usually described as nonmetals. The bond between two nonmetal atoms
is usually a covalent bond. Where metal and nonmetal atom come together an ionic
bond occurs. There are also other, less common, types of bond but the details are
beyond the scope of this material. On the next few pages, the Metallic, Covalent and
Ionic bonds will be covered in more detail.

Ionic Bonds
Ionic bonding occurs between charged particles. These may be atoms or groups of
atoms, but this discuss will be conducted in terms of single atoms. Ionic bonding
occurs between metal atoms and nonmetal atoms. Metals usually have 1, 2, or 3
electrons in their outermost shell. Nonmetals have 5, 6, or 7 electrons in their outer
shell. Atoms with outer shells that are only partially filled are unstable. To become
stable, the metal atom wants to get rid of one or more electrons in its outer shell.
Losing electrons will either result in an empty outer shell or get it closer to having an
empty outer shell. It would like to have an empty outer shell because the next lower
energy shell is a stable shell with eight electrons.

Since electrons have a negative charge, the atom that gains electrons becomes a
negatively charged ions (aka anion) because it now has more electrons than protons.
Alternately, an atom that loses electrons becomes a positively charged ion (aka
cations). The particles in an ionic compound are held together because there are
oppositely charged particles that are attracted to one another.
The images above schematically show the process that takes place during the
formation of an ionic bond between sodium and chlorine atoms. Note that sodium has
one valence electron that it would like to give up so that it would become stable with
a full outer shell of eight. Also note that chlorine has seven valence electrons and it
would like to gain an electron in order to have a full shell of eight. The transfer of the
electron causes the previously neutral sodium atom to become a positively charged
ion (cation), and the previously neutral chlorine atom to become a negatively charged
ion (anion). The attraction for the cation and the anion is called the ionic bond.
Generally, solid materials with ionic bonds:
• are hard because particles cannot easily slide past one another.
• are good insulators because there are no free electrons or ions (unless
 dissolved or melted).
• are transparent because their electrons are not moving from atom to atom
and less likely to interact with light photons.
• are brittle and tend to cleave rather than deform because bonds are
strong.
• have high melting point because ionic bonds are relatively strong.
Covalent Bonding
Where a compound only contains nonmetal atoms, a covalent bond is formed by
atoms sharing two or more electrons. Nonmetals have 4 or more electrons in their
outer shells (except boron). With this many electrons in the outer shell, it would
require more energy to remove the electrons than would be gained by making new
bonds. Therefore, both the atoms involved share a pair of electrons. Each atom gives
one of its outer electrons to the electron pair, which then spends some time with each
atom. Consequently, both atoms are held near each other since both atoms have a
share in the electrons.

More than one electron pair can be formed with half of the electrons coming from
one atom and the rest from the other atom. An important feature of this bond is that
the electrons are tightly held and equally shared by the participating atoms. The
atoms can be of the same element or different elements. In each molecule, the bonds
between the atoms are strong but the bonds between molecules are usually weak.
This makes many solid materials with covalent bonds brittle.
Many ceramic materials have covalent bonds.
Compounds with covalent bonds may be solid, liquid or gas at
room temperature depending on the number of atoms in the
compound. The more atoms in each molecule, the higher a
compound’s melting and boiling temperature will be. Since
most covalent compounds contain only a few atoms and the
forces between molecules are weak, most covalent compounds have low melting and
boiling points. However, some, like carbon compounds, can be very large. An
example is the diamond in which carbon atoms each share four electrons to form
giant lattices.
Some Common Features of Materials with Covalent Bonds:
• Low enthalpies of fusion and vaporization
• Good insulators
• Solids can be soft or brittle
• If brittle often transparent and cleave rather than deform
Metallic Bonding
A common characteristic of metallic elements is they contain only one to three
electrons in the outer shell. When an element has only one, two or three valence
electrons (i.e. electrons in the outer shell), the bond between these electrons and the
nucleus is relatively weak. So, for example, when aluminum atoms are grouped
together in a block of metal, the outer electrons leave individual atoms to become
part of common “electron cloud.” In this arrangement, the valence electrons have
considerable mobility and are able to conduct heat and electricity easily. Also, the
delocalized nature of the bonds, make it possible for the atoms to slide past each
other when the metal is deformed instead of fracturing like glass or other brittle
material.
Since the aluminum atoms lose three electrons, they end up having a positive charge
and are designated Al3+ ions (cations). These ions repel each other but are held
together in the block because the negative electrons are attracted to the positively
charged ions. A result of the sharing of electrons is the cations arrange themselves in
a regular pattern. This regular pattern of atoms is the crystalline structure of metals.
In the crystal lattice, atoms are packed closely together to maximize the strength of
the bonds. An actual piece of metal consists of many tiny crystals called grains that
touch at grain boundaries.
Some Common Features of Materials with Metallic Bonds:
• Good electrical and thermal conductors due to their free valence
electrons
• Opaque
• Relatively ductile
Van der Waals Bond
The van der Waal bonds occur to some extent in all materials but are particularly
important in plastics and polymers. These materials are made up of a long string
molecules consisting of carbon atoms covalently bonded with other atoms, such as
hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine. The covalent bonds within the molecules are
very strong and rupture only under extreme conditions. The bonds between the
molecules that allow sliding and rupture to occur are called van der Waal forces.
When ionic and covalent bonds are
present, there is some imbalance in the
electrical charge of the molecule. Take
water as an example. Research has
determined the hydrogen atoms are
bonded to the oxygen atoms at an angle
of 104.5°. This angle produces a positive
polarity at the hydrogen-rich end of the
molecule and a negative polarity at the
other end. A result of this charge
imbalance is that water molecules are
attracted to each other. This is the force
that holds the molecules together in a
drop of water.
This same concept can be carried on to plastics, except that as molecules become
larger, the van der Waal forces between molecules also increases. For example, in
polyethylene the molecules are composed of hydrogen and carbon atoms in the same
ratio as ethylene gas. But there are more of each type of atom in the polyethylene
molecules and as the number of atoms in a molecule increases, the matter passes
from a gas to a liquid and finally to a solid.
Polymers are often classified as being either a thermoplastic or a thermosetting
material. Thermoplastic materials can be easily remelted for forming or recycling and
thermosetting material cannot be easily remelted. In thermoplastic materials consist
of long chainlike molecules. Heat can be used to break the van der Waal forces
between the molecules and change the form of the material from a solid to a liquid.
By contrast, thermosetting materials have a three-dimensional network of covalent
bonds. These bonds cannot be easily broken by heating and, therefore, can not be
remelted and formed as easily as thermoplastics.
Solid State Structure
In the previous pages, some of the mechanisms that bond together the multitude of
individual atoms or molecules of a solid material were discussed. These forces may
be primary chemical bonds, as in metals and ionic solids, or they may be secondary
van der Waals’ forces of solids, such as in ice, paraffin wax and most polymers. In
solids, the way the atoms or molecules arrange themselves contributes to the
appearance and the properties of the materials.
Atoms can be gathered together as an aggregate through a number of different
processes, including condensation, pressurization, chemical reaction,
electrodeposition, and melting. The process usually determines, at least initially,
whether the collection of atoms will take to form of a gas, liquid or solid. The state
usually changes as its temperature or pressure is changed. Melting is the process most
often used to form an aggregate of atoms. When the temperature of a melt is lowered
to a certain point, the liquid will form either a crystalline solid or and amorphous
solid.
Amorphous Solids
A solid substance with its atoms held apart at equilibrium spacing, but with no long-
range periodicity in atom location in its structure is an amorphous solid. Examples of
amorphous solids are glass and some types of plastic. They are sometimes described
as supercooled liquids because their molecules are arranged in a random manner
some what as in the liquid state. For example, glass is commonly made from silicon
dioxide or quartz sand, which has a crystalline structure. When the sand is melted and
the liquid is cooled rapidly enough to avoid crystallization, an amorphous solid called
a glass is formed. Amorphous solids do not show a sharp phase change from solid to
liquid at a definite melting point, but rather soften gradually when they are heated.
The physical properties of amorphous solids are identical in all directions along any
axis so they are said to have isotropic properties, which will be discussed in more
detail later

.
Crystalline Solids
More than 90% of naturally occurring and artificially prepared solids are crystalline.
Minerals, sand, clay, limestone, metals, carbon (diamond and graphite), salts ( NaCl,
KCl etc.), all have crystalline structures. A crystal is a regular, repeating arrangement
of atoms or molecules. The majority of solids, including all metals, adopt a
crystalline arrangement because the amount of stabilization achieved by anchoring
interactions between neighboring particles is at its greatest when the particles adopt
regular (rather than random) arrangements. In the crystalline arrangement, the
particles pack efficiently together to minimize the total intermolecular energy.
The regular repeating pattern that the atoms arrange in is called the crystalline lattice.
The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) makes it possible to image the electron
cloud associated individual atoms at the surface of a material. Below is an STM
image of a platinum surface showing the regular alignment of atoms.

Courtesy: IBM Research, Almaden Research Center.

Crystal Structure
Crystal structures may be conveniently specified by describing the arrangement
within the solid of a small representative group of atoms or molecules, called the
‘unit cell.’ By multiplying identical unit cells in three directions, the location of all
the particles in the crystal is determined. In nature, 14 different types of crystal
structures or lattices are found. The simplest crystalline unit cell to picture is the
cubic, where the atoms are lined up in a square, 3D grid. The unit cell is simply a box
with an atom at each corner. Simple cubic crystals are relatively rare, mostly because
they tend to easily distort. However, many crystals form body-centered-cubic (bcc) or
face-centered-cubic (fcc) structures, which are cubic with either an extra atom
centered in the cube or centered in each face of the cube. Most metals form bcc, fcc
or Hexagonal Close Packed (hpc) structures; however, the structure can change
depending on temperature. These three structures will be discussed in more detail on
the following page.
Crystalline structure is important because it contributes to the properties of a
material. For example, it is easier for planes of atoms to slide by
each other if those planes are closely packed. Therefore, lattice
structures with closely packed planes allow more plastic
deformation than those that are not closely packed. Additionally,
cubic lattice structures allow slippage to occur more easily than
non-cubic lattices. This is because their symmetry provides
closely packed planes in several directions. A face-centered cubic crystal structure
will exhibit more ductility (deform more readily under load before breaking) than a
body-centered cubic structure. The bcc lattice, although cubic, is not closely packed
and forms strong metals. Alpha-iron and tungsten have the bcc form. The fcc lattice is
both cubic and closely packed and forms more ductile materials. Gamma-iron, silver,
gold, and lead have fcc structures. Finally, HCP lattices are closely packed, but not
cubic. HCP metals like cobalt and zinc are not as ductile as the fcc metals
Primary Metallic Crystalline Structures
(BCC, FCC, HCP)
As pointed out on the previous page, there are 14 different types of crystal unit cell
structures or lattices are found in nature. However most metals and many other solids
have unit cell structures described as body center cubic (bcc), face centered cubic
(fcc) or Hexagonal Close Packed (hcp). Since these structures are most common, they
will be discussed in more detail.
Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) Structure
The body-centered cubic unit cell has atoms at each of the eight corners of a cube
(like the cubic unit cell) plus one atom in the center of the cube (left image below).
Each of the corner atoms is the corner of another cube so the corner atoms are shared
among eight unit cells. It is said to have a coordination number of 8. The bcc unit cell
consists of a net total of two atoms; one in the center and eight eighths from corners
atoms as shown in the middle image below (middle image below). The image below
highlights a unit cell in a larger section of the lattice.

The bcc arrangement does not allow the atoms to pack together as closely as the fcc
or hcp arrangements. The bcc structure is often the high temperature form of metals
that are close-packed at lower temperatures. The volume of atoms in a cell per the
total volume of a cell is called the packing factor. The bcc unit cell has a packing
factor of 0.68.
Some of the materials that have a bcc structure include lithium, sodium, potassium,
chromium, barium, vanadium, alpha-iron and tungsten. Metals which have a bcc
structure are usually harder and less malleable than close-packed metals such as gold.
When the metal is deformed, the planes of atoms must slip over each other, and this is
more difficult in the bcc structure. It should be noted that there are other important
mechanisms for hardening materials, such as introducing impurities or defects which
make slipping more difficult. These hardening mechanisms will be discussed latter.
Face Centered Cubic (FCC) Structure
The face centered cubic structure has atoms located at each of the corners and the
centers of all the cubic faces (left image below). Each of the corner atoms is the
corner of another cube so the corner atoms are shared among eight unit cells.
Additionally, each of its six face centered atoms is shared with an adjacent atom.
Since 12 of its atoms are shared, it is said to have a coordination number of 12. The
fcc unit cell consists of a net total of four atoms; eight eighths from corners atoms
and six halves of the face atoms as shown in the middle image above. The image
below highlights a unit cell in a larger section of the lattice.

In the fcc structure (and the hcp structure) the atoms can pack closer together than
they can in the bcc structure. The atoms from one layer nest themselves in the empty
space between the atoms of the adjacent layer. To picture packing arrangement,
imagine a box filled with a layer of balls that are aligned in columns and rows. When
a few additional balls are tossed in the box, they will not balance directly on top of
the balls in the first layer but instead will come to rest in the pocket created between
four balls of the bottom layer. As more balls are added they will pack together to fill
up all the pockets. The packing factor (the volume of atoms in a cell per the total
volume of a cell) is 0.74 for fcc crystals. Some of the metals that have the fcc
structure include aluminum, copper, gold, iridium, lead, nickel, platinum and silver.
Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) Structure
Another common close packed structure is the hexagonal close pack. The hexagonal
structure of alternating layers is shifted so its atoms are aligned to the gaps of the
preceding layer. The atoms from one layer nest themselves in the empty space
between the atoms of the adjacent layer just like in the fcc structure. However,
instead of being a cubic structure, the pattern is hexagonal. (See image below.) The
difference between the HCP and FCC structure is discussed later in this section.

The hcp structure has three layers of atoms. In each the top and bottom layer, there
are six atoms that arrange themselves in the shape of a hexagon and a seventh atom
that sits in the middle of the hexagon. The middle layer has three atoms nestle in the
triangular "grooves" of the top and bottom plane. Note that there are six of these
"grooves" surrounding each atom in the hexagonal plane, but only three of them can
be filled by atoms.
As shown in the middle image above, there are six atoms in the hcp unit cell. Each of
the 12 atoms in the corners of the top and bottom layers contribute 1/6 atom to the
unit cell, the two atoms in the center of the hexagon of both the top and bottom layers
each contribute atom and each of the three atom in the middle layer contribute 1
atom. The image on the right above attempts to show several hcp unit cells in a larger
lattice.
The coordination number of the atoms in this structure is 12. There are six nearest
neighbors in the same close packed layer, three in the layer above and three in the
layer below. The packing factor is 0.74, which is the same as the fcc unit cell. The
hcp structure is very common for elemental metals and some examples include
beryllium, cadmium, magnesium, titanium, zinc and zirconium.
Similarities and Difference Between the
FCC and HCP Structure
The face centered cubic and hexagonal close packed structures both have a packing
factor of 0.74, consist of closely packed planes of atoms, and have a coordination
number of 12. The difference between the fcc and hcp is the stacking sequence. The
hcp layers cycle among the two equivalent shifted positions whereas the fcc layers
cycle between three positions. As can be seen in the image, the hcp structure contains
only two types of planes with an alternating ABAB arrangement. Notice how the
atoms of the third plane are in exactly the same position as the atoms in the first
plane. However, the fcc structure contains three types of planes with a ABCABC
arrangement. Notice how the atoms in rows A and C are no longer aligned.
Remember that cubic lattice structures allow slippage to occur more easily than non-
cubic lattices, so hcp metals are not as ductile as the fcc metals.

The table below shows the stable room temperature crystal structures for several
elemental metals.
Metal Crystal Structure Atomic Radius (nm)
0.1431
Aluminum FCC
Cadmium HCP 0.1490
Chromium BCC 0.1249
Cobalt HCP 0.1253
Copper FCC 0.1278
Gold FCC 0.1442
Iron (Alpha) BCC 0.1241
Lead FCC 0.1750
Magnesium HCP 0.1599
Molybdenum BCC 0.1363
Nickel FCC 0.1246
Platinum FCC 0.1387
 Silver FCC 0.1445
Tantalum BCC 0.1430
Titanium (Alpha) HCP 0.1445
Tungsten BCC 0.1371
Zinc HCP 0.1332
A nanometer (nm) equals 10-9 meter or 10 Angstrom units.
Solidification
The crystallization of a large amount of material from a single point of nucleation
results in a single crystal. In engineering materials, single crystals are produced only
under carefully controlled conditions. The expense of producing single crystal
materials is only justified for special applications, such as turbine engine blades, solar
cells, and piezoelectric materials. Normally when a material begins to solidify,
multiple crystals begin to grow in the liquid and a polycrystalline (more than one
crystal) solid forms.
The moment a crystal begins to grow is know as nucleation and the point where it
occurs is the nucleation point. At the solidification temperature, atoms of a liquid,
such as melted metal, begin to bond together at the nucleation points and start to form
crystals. The final sizes of the individual crystals depend on the number of nucleation
points. The crystals increase in size by the progressive addition of atoms and grow
until they impinge upon adjacent growing crystal.

a) Nucleation of crystals, b) crystal growth, c) irregular grains form as crystals grow

 together, d) grain boundaries as seen in a
microscope.
In engineering materials, a crystal is usually
referred to as a grain. A grain is merely a crystal
without smooth faces because its growth was
impeded by contact with another grain or a
boundary surface. The interface formed between
grains is called a grain boundary. The atoms
between the grains (at the grain boundaries) have
no crystalline structure and are said to be
disordered.
Grains are sometimes large enough to be visible
under an ordinary light microscope or even to the
unaided eye. The spangles that are seen on newly
galvanized metals are grains. Rapid cooling generally results in more nucleation
points and smaller grains (a fine grain structure). Slow cooling generally results in
larger grains which will have lower strength, hardness and ductility.
Dendrites
In metals, the crystals that form in the liquid during freezing generally follow a
pattern consisting of a main branch with many appendages. A crystal with this
morphology slightly resembles a pine tree and is called a dendrite, which means
branching. The formation of dendrites occurs because crystals grow in defined planes
due to the crystal lattice they create. The figure to the right shows how a cubic crystal
can grow in a melt in three dimensions, which correspond to the six faces of the cube.
For clarity of illustration, the adding of unit cells with continued solidification from
the six faces is shown simply as lines. Secondary dendrite arms branch off the
primary arm, and tertiary arms off the secondary arms and etcetera.
During freezing of a polycrystalline material, many dendritic crystals form and grow
until they eventually become large enough to impinge upon each other. Eventually,
the interdendriticspaces between the dendrite arms crystallize to yield a more regular
crystal. The original dendritic pattern may not be apparent when examining the
microstructure of a material. However, dendrites can often be seen in solidification
voids that sometimes occur in castings or welds, as shown to the right..
Shrinkage
Most materials contract or shrink during solidification and cooling. Shrinkage is the
result of:
• Contraction of the liquid as it cools prior to its solidification
• Contraction during phase change from a liquid to solid
• Contraction of the solid as it continues to cool to ambient temperature.
Shrinkage can sometimes cause cracking to occur in component as it solidifies. Since
the coolest area of a volume of liquid is where it contacts a mold or die, solidification
usually begins first at this surface. As the crystals grow inward, the material
continues to shrink. If the solid surface is too rigid and will not deform to
accommodate the internal shrinkage, the stresses can become high enough to exceed
the tensile strength of the material and cause a crack to form. Shrinkage cavitation
sometimes occurs because as a material solidifies inward, shrinkage occurred to such
an extent that there is not enough atoms present to fill the available space and a void
is left.
Anisotropy and Isotropy
In a single crystal, the physical and mechanical properties often differ with
orientation. It can be seen from looking at our models of crystalline structure that
atoms should be able to slip over one another or distort in relation to one another
easier in some directions than others. When the properties of a material vary with
different crystallographic orientations, the material is said to be anisotropic.
Alternately, when the properties of a material are the same in all directions, the
material is said to be isotropic. For many polycrystalline materials the grain
orientations are random before any working (deformation) of the material is done.
Therefore, even if the individual grains are anisotropic, the property differences tend
to average out and, overall, the material is isotropic. When a material is formed, the
grains are usually distorted and elongated in one or more directions which makes the
material anisotropic. Material forming will be discussed later but let’s continue
discussing crystalline structure at the atomic level.
Crystal Defects
A perfect crystal, with every atom of the same type in the correct position, does not
exist. All crystals have some defects. Defects contribute to the mechanical properties
of metals. In fact, using the term “defect” is sort of a misnomer since these features
are commonly intentionally used to manipulate the mechanical properties of a
material. Adding alloying elements to a metal is one way of introducing a crystal
defect. Nevertheless, the term “defect” will be used, just keep in mind that crystalline
defects are not always bad. There are basic classes of crystal defects:
• point defects, which are places where an atom is missing or irregularly
placed in the lattice structure. Point defects include lattice vacancies, self-
interstitial atoms, substitution impurity atoms, and interstitial impurity atoms
• linear defects, which are groups of atoms in irregular positions. Linear
defects are commonly called dislocations.
• planar defects, which are interfaces between homogeneous regions of the
material. Planar defects include grain boundaries, stacking faults and external
surfaces.
It is important to note at this point that plastic
deformation in a material occurs due to the
movement of dislocations (linear defects).
Millions of dislocations result for plastic
forming operations such as rolling and
extruding. It is also important to note that any
defect in the regular lattice structure disrupts
the motion of dislocation, which makes slip or
plastic deformation more difficult. These
defects not only include the point and planer
defects mentioned above, and also other
dislocations. Dislocation movement produces
additional dislocations, and when dislocations
run into each other it often impedes movement
of the dislocations. This drives up the force
needed to move the dislocation or, in other
words, strengthens the material. Each of the
crystal defects will be discussed in more detail
in the following pages.
Point Defects
Point defects are where an atom is missing or is in an irregular place in the lattice
structure. Point defects include self interstitial atoms, interstitial impurity atoms,
substitutional atoms and vacancies. A self interstitial atom is an extra atom that has
crowded its way into an interstitial void in the crystal structure. Self interstitial atoms
occur only in low concentrations in metals because they distort and highly stress the
tightly packed lattice structure.
A substitutional impurity atom is an atom of a different type than the bulk atoms,
which has replaced one of the bulk atoms in the lattice. Substitutional impurity atoms
are usually close in size (within approximately 15%) to the bulk atom. An example of
substitutional impurity atoms is the zinc atoms in brass. In brass, zinc atoms with a
radius of 0.133 nm have replaced some of the copper atoms, which have a radius of
0.128 nm.

Interstitial impurity atoms are much smaller than the atoms in the bulk matrix.
Interstitial impurity atoms fit into the open space between the bulk atoms of the
lattice structure. An example of interstitial impurity atoms is the carbon atoms that
are added to iron to make steel. Carbon atoms, with a radius of 0.071 nm, fit nicely in
the open spaces between the larger (0.124 nm) iron atoms.
Vacancies are empty spaces where an atom should be, but is missing. They are
common, especially at high temperatures when atoms are frequently and randomly
change their positions leaving behind empty lattice sites. In most cases diffusion
(mass transport by atomic motion) can only occur because of vacancies.
Linear Defects - Dislocations
Dislocations are another type of defect in crystals. Dislocations are areas were the
atoms are out of position in the crystal structure. Dislocations are generated and move
when a stress is applied. The motion of dislocations allows slip – plastic deformation
to occur.
Before the discovery of the dislocation by Taylor, Orowan and Polyani in 1934, no
one could figure out how the plastic deformation properties of a metal could be
greatly changed by solely by forming (without changing the chemical composition).
This became even bigger mystery when in the early 1900’s scientists estimated that
metals undergo plastic deformation at forces much smaller than the theoretical
strength of the forces that are holding the metal atoms together. Many metallurgists
remained skeptical of the dislocation theory until the development of the transmission
electron microscope in the late 1950’s. The TEM allowed experimental evidence to
be collected that showed that the strength and ductility of metals are controlled by
dislocations.

There are two basic types of dislocations, the edge dislocation and the screw
dislocation. Actually, edge and screw dislocations are just extreme forms of the
possible dislocation structures that can occur. Most dislocations are probably a hybrid
of the edge and screw forms but this discussion will be limited to these two types.
Edge Dislocations
The edge defect can be easily visualized as an extra half-plane of atoms in a lattice.
The dislocation is called a line defect because the locus of defective points produced
in the lattice by the dislocation lie along a line. This line runs along the top of the
extra half-plane. The inter-atomic bonds are significantly distorted only in the
immediate vicinity of the dislocation line.
Understanding the movement of a dislocation is key to understanding why
dislocations allow deformation to occur at much lower stress than in a perfect crystal.
Dislocation motion is analogous to movement of a caterpillar. The caterpillar would
have to exert a large force to move its entire body at once. Instead it moves the rear
portion of its body forward a small amount and creates a hump. The hump then
moves forward and eventual moves all of the body forward by a small amount.

As shown in the set of images above, the dislocation moves similarly moves a small
amount at a time. The dislocation in the top half of the crystal is slipping one plane at
a time as it moves to the right from its position in image (a) to its position in image
(b) and finally image (c). In the process of slipping one plane at a time the dislocation
propagates across the crystal. The movement of the dislocation across the plane
eventually causes the top half of the crystal to move with respect to the bottom half.
However, only a small fraction of the bonds are broken at any given time. Movement
in this manner requires a much smaller
force than breaking all the bonds across
the middle plane simultaneously.
Screw Dislocations
There is a second basic type of dislocation,
called screw dislocation. The screw
dislocation is slightly more difficult to
visualize. The motion of a screw
dislocation is also a result of shear stress,
but the defect line movement is
perpendicular to direction of the stress and
the atom displacement, rather than parallel.
To visualize a screw dislocation, imagine a
block of metal with a shear stress applied
across one end so that the metal begins to
rip. This is shown in the upper right image.
The lower right image shows the plane of
atoms just above the rip. The atoms
represented by the blue circles have not yet
moved from their original position. The
atoms represented by the red circles have
moved to their new position in the lattice
and have reestablished metallic bonds. The atoms represented by the green circles are
in the process of moving. It can be seen that only a portion of the bonds are broke at
any given time. As was the case with the edge dislocation, movement in this manner
requires a much smaller force than breaking all the bonds across the middle plane
simultaneously.
If the shear force is increased, the atoms will continue to slip to the right. A row of
the green atoms will find there way back into a proper spot in the lattice (and become
red) and a row of the blue atoms will slip out of position (and become green). In this
way, the screw dislocation will move upward in the image, which is perpendicular to
direction of the stress. Recall that the edge dislocation moves parallel to the direction
of stress. As shown in the image below, the net plastic deformation of both edge and
screw dislocations is the same, however.
The dislocations move along the densest planes of atoms in a material, because the
stress needed to move the dislocation increases with the spacing between the planes.
FCC and BCC metals have many dense planes, so dislocations move relatively easy
and these materials have high ductility. Metals are strengthened by making it more
difficult for dislocations to move. This may involve the introduction of obstacles,
such as interstitial atoms or grain boundaries, to “pin” the dislocations. Also, as a
material plastically deforms, more dislocations are produced and they will get into
each others way and impede movement. This is why strain or work hardening occurs.
In ionically bonded materials, the ion must move past an area with a repulsive charge
in order to get to the next location of the same charge. Therefore, slip is difficult and
the materials are brittle. Likewise, the low density packing of covalent materials
makes them generally more brittle than metals.
Planar Defects
Stacking Faults and Twin Boundaries
A disruption of the long-range stacking sequence can produce two other common
types of crystal defects: 1) a stacking fault and 2) a twin region. A change in the
stacking sequence over a few atomic spacings produces a stacking fault whereas a
change over many atomic spacings produces a twin region.

A stacking fault is a one or two layer interruption in the stacking sequence of atom
planes. Stacking faults occur in a number of crystal structures, but it is easiest to see
how they occur in close packed structures. For example, it is know from a previous
discussion that face centered cubic (fcc) structures differ from hexagonal close
packed (hcp) structures only in their stacking order. For hcp and fcc structures, the
first two layers arrange themselves identically, and are said to have an AB
arrangement. If the third layer is placed so
that its atoms are directly above those of the
first (A) layer, the stacking will be ABA.
This is the hcp structure, and it continues
ABABABAB. However it is possible for the
third layer atoms to arrange themselves so
that they are in line with the first layer to
produce an ABC arrangement which is that
of the fcc structure. So, if the hcp structure
is going along as ABABAB and suddenly
switches to ABABABCABAB, there is a
stacking fault present.
Alternately, in the fcc arrangement the pattern is ABCABCABC. A stacking fault in
an fcc structure would appear as one of the C planes missing. In other words the
pattern would become ABCABCAB_ABCABC.
If a stacking fault does not corrects itself immediately but continues over some
number of atomic spacings, it will produce a second stacking fault that is the twin of
the first one. For example if the stacking pattern is ABABABAB but switches to
ABCABCABC for a period of time before switching back to ABABABAB, a pair of
twin stacking faults is produced. The red region in the stacking sequence that goes
ABCABCACBACBABCABC is the twin plane and the twin boundaries are the A
planes on each end of the highlighted region.
Grain Boundaries in Polycrystals
Another type of planer defect is the grain boundary. Up to this point, the discussion
has focused on defects of single crystals. However, solids generally consist of a
number of crystallites or grains. Grains can range in size from nanometers to
millimeters across and their orientations are usually rotated with respect to
neighboring grains. Where one grain stops and another begins is know as a grain
boundary. Grain boundaries limit the lengths and motions of dislocations. Therefore,
having smaller grains (more grain boundary surface area) strengthens a material. The
size of the grains can be controlled by the cooling rate when the material cast or heat
treated. Generally, rapid cooling produces smaller grains whereas slow cooling result
in larger grains. For more information, refer to the discussion on solidification
Bulk Defects
Bulk defects occur on a much bigger scale than the rest of the crystal defects
discussed in this section. However, for the sake of completeness and since they do
affect the movement of dislocations, a few of the more common bulk defects will be
mentioned. Voids are regions where there are a large number of atoms missing from
the lattice. The image to the right is a void in a piece of metal The image was
acquired using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Voids can occur for a number
of reasons. When voids occur due to
air bubbles becoming trapped when a
material solidifies, it is commonly
called porosity. When a void occurs
due to the shrinkage of a material as it
solidifies, it is called cavitation.
Another type of bulk defect occurs
when impurity atoms cluster together
to form small regions of a different
phase. The term ‘phase’ refers to that
region of space occupied by a
physically homogeneous material.
These regions are often called
precipitates. Phases and precipitates
will be discussed in more detail latter.
Elastic/Plastic Deformation
When a sufficient load is applied to a
metal or other structural material, it
will cause the material to change
shape. This change in shape is called deformation. A temporary shape change that is
self-reversing after the force is removed, so that the object returns to its original
shape, is called elastic deformation. In other words, elastic deformation is a change in
shape of a material at low stress that is recoverable after the stress is removed. This
type of deformation involves stretching of the bonds, but the atoms do not slip past
each other.
When the stress is sufficient to permanently deform the metal, it is called plastic
deformation. As discussed in the section on crystal defects, plastic deformation
involves the breaking of a limited number of atomic bonds by the movement of
dislocations. Recall that the force needed to break the bonds of all the atoms in a
crystal plane all at once is very great. However, the movement of dislocations allows
atoms in crystal planes to slip past one another at a much lower stress levels. Since
the energy required to move is lowest along the densest planes of atoms, dislocations
have a preferred direction of travel within a grain of the material. This results in slip
that occurs along parallel planes within the grain. These parallel slip planes group
together to form slip bands, which can be seen with an optical microscope. A slip
band appears as a single line under the microscope, but it is in fact made up of closely
spaced parallel slip planes as shown in the image.
Fatigue Crack Initiation
While on the subject of dislocations, it is appropriate to briefly discuss fatigue.
Fatigue is one of the primary reasons for the failure of
structural components. The life of a fatigue crack has two parts, initiation and
propagation. Dislocations play a major role in the fatigue crack initiation phase. It has
been observed in laboratory testing that after a large number of loading cycles
dislocations pile up and form structures called persistent slip bands (PSB). An
example of a PSB is shown in the micrograph image to the right.
PSBs are areas that rise above (extrusion) or fall below (intrusion) the surface of the
component due to movement of material along slip planes. This leaves tiny steps in
the surface that serve as stress risers where fatigue cracks can initiate. A crack at the
edge of a PSB is shown in the image below taken with a scanning electron
microscope (SEM).
Diffusion

Diffusion is the migration of atoms from a region

of high concentration to a region of low
concentration. In a homogeneous material, atoms
are routinely moving around but the movement is
random (i.e. there is always an equal number of
atoms moving in all directions). In an
inhomogeneous material, all the atoms are moving near
randomly, but there is a migration of atoms to areas where their
concentrations are lower. In other words, there is a net diffusion.
Atom diffusion can occur by the motion of host or substitutional
atoms to vacancies (vacancy diffusion), or interstitial impurities
atoms to different interstitial positions (interstitial diffusion). In order to move, an
atom must overcome the bond energy due to nearby atoms. This is more easily
achieved at high temperatures when the atoms are vibrating strongly. Carburizing,
which will be discussed later, is an example of diffusion is used.
Property Modification

Many structural metals undergo some special treatment to modify their properties so
that they will perform better for their intended use. This treatment can include
mechanical working, such as rolling or forging, alloying and/or thermal treatments.
Consider aluminum as an example. Commercially pure aluminum (1100) has a
tensile strength of around 13,000 psi, which limits its usefulness in structural
applications. However, by cold-working aluminum, its strength can be approximately
doubled. Also, strength increases are obtained by adding alloying metals such as
manganese, silicon, copper, magnesium and zinc. Further, many aluminum alloys are
strengthened by heat treatment. Some heat-treatable aluminum alloys obtain tensile
strengths that can exceed 100,000 psi.
Strengthening/Hardening Mechanisms

As discussed in the previous section, the ability of a crystalline material to plastically

deform largely depends on the ability for dislocation to move within a material.
Therefore, impeding the movement of dislocations will result in the strengthening of
the material. There are a number of ways to impede dislocation movement, which
include:
• controlling the grain size (reducing continuity of atomic planes)
• strain hardening (creating and tangling dislocations)
• alloying (introducing point defects and more grains to pin dislocation)
Control of Grain Size
The size of the grains within a material also has an
effect on the strength of the material. The boundary
between grains acts as a barrier to dislocation
movement and the resulting slip because adjacent
grains have different orientations. Since the atom
alignment is different and slip planes are
discontinuous between grains. The smaller the
grains, the shorter the distance atoms can move
along a particular slip plane. Therefore, smaller
grains improve the strength of a material. The size
and number of grains within a material is controlled
by the rate of solidification from the liquid phase.
Strain Hardening
Strain hardening (also called work-hardening or cold-working) is the process of
making a metal harder and stronger through plastic deformation. When a metal is
plastically deformed, dislocations move and additional dislocations are generated.
The more dislocations within a material, the more they will interact and become
pinned or tangled. This will result in a decrease in the mobility of the dislocations and
a strengthening of the material. This type of strengthening is commonly called cold-
working. It is called cold-working because the plastic deformation must occurs at a
temperature low enough that atoms cannot rearrange themselves. When a metal is
worked at higher temperatures (hot-working) the dislocations can rearrange and little
strengthening is achieved.
Strain hardening can be easily demonstrated with piece of wire or a paper clip. Bend
a straight section back and forth several times. Notice that it is more difficult to bend
the metal at the same place. In the strain hardened area dislocations have formed and
become tangled, increasing the strength of the material. Continued bending will
eventually cause the wire to break at the bend due to fatigue cracking. (After a large
number of bending cycles, dislocations form structures called Persistent Slip Bands
(PSB). PSBs are basically tiny areas where the dislocations have piled up and moved
the material surface out leave steps in the surface that act as stress risers or crack
initiation points.)

It should be understood, however, that increasing the strength by cold-working will

also result in a reduction in ductility. The graph to the right shows the yield strength
and the percent elongation as a function of percent cold-work for a few example
materials. Notice that for each material, a small amount of cold-working results in a
significant reduction in ductility.

Effects of Elevated Temperature on Strain Hardened Materials

When strain hardened materials are
exposed to elevated temperatures,
the strengthening that resulted from
the plastic deformation can be lost.
This can be a bad thing if the
strengthening is needed to support a
load. However, strengthening due
to strain hardening is not always
desirable, especially if the material
is being heavily formed since
ductility will be lowered.
Heat treatment can be used to
remove the effects of strain
hardening. Three things can occur
during heat treatment:
1. Recovery
2. Recrystallization
3. Grain growth
Recovery
When a stain hardened material is held at an elevated temperature an increase in
atomic diffusion occurs that relieves some of the internal strain energy. Remember
that atoms are not fixed in position but can move around when they have enough
energy to break their bonds. Diffusion increases rapidly with rising temperature and
this allows atoms in severely strained regions to move to unstrained positions. In
other words, atoms are freer to move around and recover a normal position in the
lattice structure. This is known as the recovery phase and it results in an adjustment
of strain on a microscopic scale. Internal residual stresses are lowered due to a
reduction in the dislocation density and a movement of dislocation to lower-energy
positions. The tangles of dislocations condense into sharp two-dimensional
boundaries and the dislocation density within these areas decrease. These areas are
called subgrains. There is no appreciable reduction in the strength and hardness of the
material but corrosion resistance often improves.

Recrystallization
At a higher temperature, new, strain-free grains nucleate and grow inside the old
distorted grains and at the grain boundaries. These new grains grow to replace the
deformed grains produced by the strain hardening. With recrystallization, the
mechanical properties return to their original weaker and more ductile states.
Recrystallization depends on the temperature, the amount of time at this temperature
and also the amount of strain hardening that the material experienced. The more
strain hardening, the lower the temperature will be at which recrystallization occurs.
Also, a minimum amount (typically 2-20%) of cold work is necessary for any amount
of recrystallization to occur. The size the new grains is also partially dependant on the
amount of strain hardening. The greater the stain hardening, the more nuclei for the
new grains, and the resulting grain size will be smaller (at least initially).

Grain Growth
If a specimen is left at the high temperature beyond the time needed for complete
recrystallization, the grains begin to grow in size. This occurs because diffusion
occurs across the grain boundaries and larger grains have less grain boundary surface
area per unit of volume. Therefore, the larger grains lose fewer atoms and grow at the
expense of the smaller grains. Larger grains will reduce the strength and toughness of
the material.
Alloying

Only a few elements are widely used commercially in their pure form. Generally,
other elements are present to produce greater strength, to improve corrosion
resistance, or simply as impurities left over from the refining process. The addition of
other elements into a metal is called alloying and the resulting metal is called an
alloy. Even if the added elements are nonmetals, alloys may still have metallic
properties.
Copper alloys were produced very early in our history. Bronze, an alloy of copper
and tin, was the first alloy known. It was easy to produce by simply adding tin to
molten copper. Tools and weapons made of this alloy were stronger than pure copper
ones. The typical alloying elements in some common metals are presented in the
table below.
Alloy
Composition
Brass
Copper, Zinc
Bronze
Copper, Zinc, Tin
Pewter
Tin, Copper, Bismuth, Antimony
Cast Iron
Iron, Carbon, Manganese, Silicon
Steel
Iron, Carbon (plus small amounts of other elements)
Stainless Steel
Iron, Chromium, Nickel
The properties of alloys can be manipulated by varying composition. For example
steel formed from iron and carbon can vary substantially in hardness depending on
the amount of carbon added and the way in which it was processed.
When a second element is added, two basically different structural changes are
possible:
1. Solid solution strengthening occurs when the atoms of the new element
form a solid solution with the original element, but there is still only one phase.
Recall that the term ‘phase’ refers to that region of space occupied by a
physically homogeneous material.
2. The atoms of the new elements form a new second phase. The entire
microstructure may change to this new phase or two phases may be present.
Solid Solution Strengthening
Solid solution strengthening involves the addition of other metallic elements that will
dissolve in the parent lattice and cause distortions because of the difference in atom
size between the parent metal and the solute metal. Recall from the section on crystal
point defects that it is possible to have substitutional impurity atoms, and interstitial
impurity atoms. A substitutional impurity atom is an atom of a different type than the
bulk atoms, which has replaced one of the bulk atoms in the lattice. Substitutional
impurity atoms are usually close in size (within approximately 15%) to the bulk
atom. Interstitial impurity atoms are much smaller than the atoms in the bulk matrix.
Interstitial impurity atoms fit into the open space between the bulk atoms of the
lattice structure.
Since the impurity atoms are smaller or larger than the surrounding atoms they
introduce tensile or compressive lattice strains. They disrupt the regular arrangement
of ions and make it more difficult for the layers to slide over each other. This makes
the alloy stronger and less ductile than the pure metal. For example, an alloy of 30%
nickel raises the cast tensile strength of copper from 25,000 PSI to 55,000 PSI.
Multiphase Metals
Still another method of strengthening the metal is adding elements that have no or
partial solubility in the parent metal. This will result in the appearance of a second
phase distributed throughout the crystal or between crystals. These secondary phases
can raise or reduce the strength of an alloy. For example, the addition of tin, zinc, or
aluminum to copper will result in an alloy with increased strength, but alloying with
lead or bismuth with result in a lower strength alloy. The properties of a polyphase
(two of more phase) material depend on the nature, amount, size, shape, distribution,
and orientation of the phases. Greek letters are commonly used to distinguish the
different solid phases in a given alloy.

Phases can be seen on a microscopic scale with an optical microscope after the
surface has been properly polished and etched. Below is a micrograph take at 125x of
lead-tin alloy composed of two phases. The light colored regions are a tin-rich phase
and the dark colored regions are a lead-rich phase.
Alloying (continued)

Phase Diagrams
As previously stated, the phase diagram is simply a map showing the structure of
phases present as the temperature and overall composition of the alloy are varied. It is
a very useful tool for understanding and controlling the structures of polyphase
materials. A binary phase diagram shows the phases formed in differing mixtures of
two elements over a range of temperatures. When an alloy exhibits more than two
phases, a different type of phase diagram must be used, such as a ternary diagram for
three phase alloys. This discussion will focus on the binary phase diagram.
On the binary phase diagram, compositions run from 100% Element A on the left,
through all possible mixtures, to 100% Element B on the right. The composition of an
alloy is given in the form A - x%B. For example, Cu - 20%Al is 80% copper and
20% aluminum. Weight percentages are often used to specify the proportions of the
alloying elements, but atomic percent are sometimes used. Weight percentages will
be used throughout this text.
Alloys generally do not have a single melting point, but instead melt (or alternately
solidify) over a range of temperatures. At each end of the phase diagram only one of
the elements is present (100% A or 100% B) so a specific melting point does exists.
Additionally, there is sometimes a mixture of the constituent elements which
produces melting at a single temperature like a pure element. This is called the
eutectic point.
At compositions other than at the pure A, pure B and the eutectic points, when the
alloy is cooled from a high temperature it will begin to solidify at a certain
temperature but will remain in a mushy (liquid plus solid) condition over a range of
temperatures. If experiments are conducted over a range of compositions to
determine the temperature at which the alloys start to solidify, this data can be potted
on the phase diagram to produce a curve. This “start of solidification curve” will join
the three single solidification points and is called the liquidus line.
Up to a few percent of composition, it is
possible for one element to remain dissolve
in another while both are in the solid state.
This is called solid solubility and the
solubility limit normally changes with
temperature. The extent of the solid
solubility region can be plotted onto the
phase diagram. In this example, the alpha
phase is the region of solid solution where
some of B atoms have dissolved in a matrix
of A atoms. The beta phase is the region where a small percentage of A atoms have
dissolved in a matrix of B atoms. It is important to note that some elements have zero
solid solubility in other elements. An example is aluminum/silicon alloys, where
aluminum has zero solid solubility in silicon.
If an alloy's composition does not place it within the alpha or beta solid solution
regions, the alloy will become fully solid at the eutectic temperature. The eutectic
line on the phase diagram indicates where this transformation will occur over the
range of compositions. At alloy compositions and temperatures between the liquidus
temperature and the eutectic temperature, a mushy mix of either alpha or beta phase
will exist as solid masses within a liquid mixture of A and B. These are the alpha plus
liquid and the beta plus liquid areas on the phase diagram. The region below the
eutectic line, and outside the solid solution region, will be a solid mixture of alpha
and beta.
Alloying (continued)

Tie and Lever Rules

Simply by looking at a phase diagram it is possible to tell what phase or phases an
alloy will have at a given temperature. But, it is also possible to get quantitative
information from the diagram. Consider the alloy at the temperature shown on the
phase diagram. It is easy to see that at this temperature, it is a mixture of alpha and
liquid phases. Using a tie line it is also possible to determine the composition of the
phases at this temperature. A tie line is an isothermal (constant temperature) line
drawn through the alloy's position on the phase diagram when it is in a two phase
field. The points where the ends of the tie line intersect the two adjacent solubility
curves indicate the compositions of the two phases that exist in equilibrium at this
temperature. In this example, the tie line shows that the alpha phase is 5.2%B and the
liquid phase is34.5%B at this temperature. It is important to keep in mind that the tie
rule addresses the determination of the compositions of the constituent phases within
the sample and it does not address the overall chemical composition of the sample,
which remains unchanged.
It is also possible to determine how much of each phase exists at the given
temperature using the lever rule. It is important to know the amounts of each phase
present because the properties of the alloy depend on the amount of each phase
present. The lever rule uses the tie line and the basic scientific principle of the
conservation of mass to determine the ratio of the two phases present. The tie-line
gives the chemical compositions of each of the two phases, and the combined
amounts of these two compositions must add up to the alloy's overall composition
(Co), which is known. In other words, Co must be composed of the appropriate
amount of α at composition Cα and of liquid at Cliq. So basically, the proportions of
the phases present are given by the relative lengths of the two sections of the tie line.
The fraction of alpha phase present is the given by the ratio of the Co to Cliq portion
of the tie line and the total length of the tie line (Cliq to Cα). Mathematically the
relationships can be written as fα << (Cliq – Co)/(Cliq - Cα). The fraction of liquid
phase present is given by the ratio of the Co to Cα portion of the tie line and the total
length of the tie line (Cliq to Cα). Mathematically this relationships can be written as
fliq << (Co - Cα)/(Cliq - Cα). Of course, the two values must total to equal one.
Note that the right side of the tie line gives the proportion of the phase on the left (α
phase in this example) and left side of the tie line gives the proportion of the phase to
the right (liquid phase in this example). It is easy to keep this relationship straight by
simply considering what the ratio would be near one of the tie line intersect points.
For example, if Co were near the liquidus line the ratio of the liquid section of the
line to the total length of the line will be nearly one.
Alloying (continued)

Composition, Microstructure, and the Phase Diagram

Let’s finish this discussion on phase diagrams by briefly looking at three different
compositions of elements A and B, and how their microstructures will differ because
of their positions on the phase diagram. First a eutectic alloy, which is an alloy with
composition right at the eutectic point, will be considered. Then compositions on
both sides of the eutectic point will be discussed. An alloy with a composition that
lies to the left of the eutectic point on the phase diagram is called a hypoeutectic
alloy, and an alloy with a composition that lies to the right of the eutectic point is
called hypereutectic alloy. At this point, only the condition of slow cooling, which
will allow the alloy to solidify into it equilibrium condition, will be considered. The
microstructure can be controlled by manipulating the speed of cooling the alloy, but
this will be covered in the section on heat treatments.
Eutectic Alloys
First, consider the eutectic alloy of
elements A and B as it is cooled from a
temperature at location 1 to location 4 on
the phase diagram. At location 1, the alloy
is at a high enough temperature to make the
mixture fully liquid. The circles below
show a representation of the alloy's
microstructure at each of the locations
numbered on the phase diagram.
At location 1, there is nothing of interest as the alloy is completely liquid. As the
alloy is slow cooled, it remains liquid until it reaches the eutectic temperature
(location 2) where it starts to solidify at any favorable nucleation sites. From the
microstructure image 2, it can be see that as the alloy solidifies it forms into alternate
layers of alpha and beta phase. This layered microstructure is known as lamellar
microstructure and the layers are often only of the order of 1 micron across. The
reason that a eutectic alloy forms in this way has to do with the diffusion times
required to form the solid.

The grains grow by adding alpha to alpha and beta to beta until they encounter
another grain (location 3). Further nucleation sites will also continue to form within
the liquid parts of the mixture. This solidification happens very rapidly as any given
volume of liquid in the melt reaches the eutectic temperature. Remember that a
eutectic composition solidifies at a single temperature like a pure element and not
over a temperature range.
As the now sold alloy cools to location 4, the composition of the layers of alpha and
beta continue to change as it cools. Atoms of A and B will diffuse between the two
phases to produce the equilibrium compositions of alpha and beta phase at a given
temperature. By drawing tie lines at various temperatures the eutectic point on the
phase diagram, it can be seen that the solubility of A in the beta phase and B in the
alpha phase decreases as the temperature decreases. Since this phase composition
change is due to diffusion, which is a relatively a slow process), it is important that
eutectic alloys be allowed to cool slowly to produce the correct microstructure.
Hypoeutectic Alloys
Next, consider an alloy of A and B that has an overall composition that places it to
the left of the eutectic point. When an alloy falls to the left of the eutectic point it is
called a hypoeutectic alloy. At location 1, the alloy is at a temperature that is high
enough to put it in a fully liquid phase.
When the alloy is cooled, it remains in the liquid state until it reaches the temperature
where it crosses the liquidus line (location 2). At this temperature, the alpha phase
starts to solidify at any favorable nucleation sites. The alpha solidifies as dendrites
which grow to become grains of alpha. The first solid phase to form is called the
primary phase so, in this case, primary alpha is formed.

As the alloy continues to cool (location 3) the existing nucleation sites will grow as
dendrites and further nucleation sites will form within the liquid part of the mixture.
The melt will have that mushy consistency of chunks in liquid while it is in the
“alpha + liquid” region of the phase diagram. Since the alpha phase is mostly element
A (with a small amount of B atoms in solid solution), the remaining liquid becomes
slightly richer in B as the liquid cools, which is indicated by the liquidus line. The
composition of the solid alpha phase also becomes slightly richer in B atoms as the
solid solution line shows.
This primary alpha phase growth and the accompanying phase composition shifts
continue until enough A atoms have been removed so that the remaining liquid is of
eutectic composition. This composition is achieved at the point where the
temperature crosses the eutectic line (location 4). At this point the primary alpha
phase stops forming. The remaining liquid starts to solidify into the lamellar
(alternating layers of alpha and beta phases) structure of a eutectic composition. The
eutectic structure will grow; adding alpha to the layers of alpha and beta to the layers
of beta in the eutectic regions, and new solidification sites will continue to form.
Remember that solidification occurs rapidly and without the need for a further
decrease in temperature once the liquid reaches the eutectic line. At this point, the
entire alloy has solidified into a mixture comprised of grains of alpha and grains of
eutectic mixture (alpha and beta). The microstructure from this point at the eutectic
line down to ambient temperature will look something like that shown in micro 5.
Diffusion occurs as the alloy cools since the amount of element B in the alpha phase
changes with temperature. This occurs exactly like it did for the eutectic alloy.
Diffusion must also occur in the grains of pure alpha, as the composition of alpha
phase also changes with temperature.
Hypereutectic
Finally, consider an alloy of A and B that
has an overall composition that places it to
the right of the eutectic point. When an
alloy falls to the right of the eutectic point it
is called a hypereutectic alloy. This alloy
will solidify like the hypoeutectic alloy did
except it will pass through the “beta +
liquid” region of the phase diagram rather
than the “alpha + liquid” region. This will
result in a microstructure comprised of grains of beta and grains of eutectic mixture
(alpha and beta) rather than grains of alpha and grains of eutectic mixture (alpha and
beta) as the hypoeutectic alloy had.
At location 1, the alloy is at a temperature that is high enough to put it in a fully
liquid phase. When the alloy is cooled, it remains in the liquid state until it reaches
the temperature where it crosses the liquidus line (location 2). At this temperature, the
beta phase starts to solidify at any favorable nucleation sites. The beta solidifies as
dendrites which grow to become grains of beta. The first solid phase to form is called
the primary phase so, in this case, primary beta is formed.

As the alloy continues to cool (location 3) the existing nucleation sites will grow as
dendrites and further nucleation sites will form within the liquid part of the mixture.
Since the beta phase is mostly element B (with a small amount of A atoms in solid
solution), the remaining liquid becomes richer in A as the liquid cools, which is
indicated by the liquidus line. The composition of the solid beta phase also becomes
slightly richer in A atoms as the solid solution line shows.
This primary beta phase growth and the accompanying phase composition shifts
continue until enough B atoms have been removed so that the remaining liquid is of
eutectic composition. This composition is achieved at the point where the
temperature crosses the eutectic line (location 4). At this point the primary beta phase
stops forming. The remaining liquid starts to solidify into the lamellar (alternating
layers of alpha and beta phases) structure of a eutectic composition. The eutectic
structure will grow; adding alpha to the layers of alpha and beta to the layers of beta
in the eutectic regions, and new solidification sites will continue to form. At this
point, the entire alloy quickly solidifies into a mixture of beta grains and eutectic
mixture (alpha and beta) grains. The microstructure from this point at the eutectic line
down to ambient temperature will look something like that shown in micro 5.
Diffusion occurs as the alloy cools since the amount of element B in the alpha phase
changes with temperature. This occurs exactly like it did for the eutectic alloy.
Diffusion must also occur in the grains of pure alpha, as the composition of alpha
phase also changes with temperature.
Thermal Treatments (Heat-Treating)

In the previous pages on the subjects of alloying and the binary phase diagram, the
microstructures of alloys that were allowed to solidify by slow cooling were
considered. It should also be known, however, that it is possible to modify the
microstructure of an alloy by subjecting it to various thermal treatments. Heat-
treating is a term used to describe all of the controlled heating and cooling operations
performed on a material in the solid state for the purpose of altering its microstructure
and/or properties. The focus of this discussion will be on metals but is should be
noted that heat-treatment is also used on ceramics and composites to modify their
properties.
The major objectives of the different kinds of thermal treatments are:
1. Soften the material for improved workability.
2. Increase the strength or hardness of the material.
3. Increase the toughness or resistance to fracture of the material.
4. Stabilize mechanical or physical properties against changes that might
occur during exposure to service environments.
5. Insure part dimensional stability.
6. Relieve undesirable residual stresses induced during part fabrication.
Different metals respond to treatment at different temperatures. Each metal has a
specific chemical composition, so changes in physical and structural properties take
place at different, critical temperatures. Even small percentages of elements in the
metal composition, such as carbon, will greatly determine the temperature, time,
method and rate of cooling that needs to be used in the heat treating process.
Depending on the thermal treatment used, the atomic structure and/or microstructure
of a material may change due to movement of dislocations, an increase or decrease in
solubility of atoms, an increase in grain size, the formation of new grains of the same
or different phase, a change in the crystal structure, and others mechanisms.

Since there are so many ways in which metals are heat treated, it is not practical to
discuss them all. But, as an example, let’s look at how heat treatment is used to
strengthen a copper aluminum alloy.
Precipitation Hardening
In designing alloys for strength, an approach often taken is to develop an alloy with a
structure that consists of particles (which impede dislocation movement) dispersed in
a ductile matrix. Such a dispersion can be obtained by choosing an alloy that is a
single phase at elevated temperature but on cooling will precipitate another phase in
the matrix. A thermal process is then developed to produce the desired distribution of
precipitate in the matrix. When the alloy is strengthened by this thermal treatment, it
is called precipitation strengthening or hardening.
Precipitation hardening consists of three main steps: solution treatment, quenching,
and aging. Solution treatment involves heating the alloy to a temperature that allows
the alloying atoms (called the solute) to dissolve into the solution. This results in a
homogeneous solid solution of one phase. Quenching rapidly cools the solution and
freezes the atoms in solution. In more technical terms, the quenching cools the
material so fast that the atoms of the alloying elements do not have time to diffuse out
of the solution. In the as-quenched condition, the solute is supersaturated meaning
that the lattice is overly stressed by the alloying atoms. Aging is the process where
the solute particles diffuse out of solution and into clusters that distort and strengthen
the material.
The precipitation hardening process for a copper-aluminum alloy is shown
graphically in the image below. On the right is phase diagram, which is a very useful
tool for understanding and controlling polyphase structures. The phase diagram is
simply a map showing the structure of phases present as the temperature and overall
composition of the alloy are varied. The images on the right in the image show the
resulting microstructure at each step in the process.

Common Heat Treating Processes

A few of the more common terms used in heat treating are introduced below. It
should be noted that not all of the term are applicable to all alloys.
Age Hardening is a relatively low-temperature heat treatment process that strengthens
a material by causing the precipitation of components or phases of alloy from a
super-saturated solid solution condition.
Annealing is a softening process in which metals are heated and then allowed to cool
slowly. The purpose of annealing is to soften the material for improve machinability,
formability, and sometimes to control magnetic properties.
Normallizing is much like annealing, but the cooling process is much faster. This
results in increased strength but less ductility in the metal. Its purpose is to refine
grain structure, produce more uniform mechanical properties, and sometimes to
relieve internal and surface stresses.
Precipitation Heat Treatment is the three step process of solution treating, quenching,
and age hardening to increase the strength or hardness of an alloy.
Solution Heat Treatment involves heating the material to a temperature that puts all
the elements in solid solution and then cooling very rapidly to freeze the atoms in
place.
Stress Relieving is a low temperature heat treat process that is used to reduce the
level of residual stresses in a material.
Tempering involves gently heating a hardened metal and allowing it to cool slowly
will produce a metal that is still hard but also less brittle. This process is known as
tempering.
Quenching is the rapid cooling of a hot material. The medium used to quench the
material can vary from forced air, oil, water and others. Many steels are hardened by
heating and quenching. Quenching results in a metal that is very hard but also brittle.
More information on heat treatment can be found in the material (ie aluminum, steel,
titanium, etc.) sections
Ceramic Structures

As discussed in the introduction, ceramics and related materials cover a wide range of
objects. Ceramics are a little more complex than metallic structures, which is why
metals were covered first. A ceramic has traditionally been defined as “an inorganic,
nonmetallic solid that is prepared from powdered materials and is fabricated into
products through the application of heat. Most ceramics are made up of two or more
elements. This is called a compound. For example, alumina (Al2O3) is a compound
made up of aluminum atoms and oxygen atoms.
The two most common chemical bonds for ceramic materials are covalent and ionic.
The bonding of atoms together is much stronger in covalent and ionic bonding than
in metallic. This is why ceramics generally have the following properties: high
hardness, high compressive strength, and chemical inertness. This strong bonding
also accounts for the less attractive properties of ceramics, such as low ductility and
low tensile strength. The absence of free electrons is responsible for making most
ceramics poor conductors of electricity and heat.
However, it should be noted that the crystal structures of ceramics are many and
varied and this results in a very wide range of properties. For example, while
ceramics are perceived as electrical and thermal insulators, ceramic oxide (initially
based on Y-Ba-Cu-O) is the basis for high temperature superconductivity. Diamond
and silicon carbide have a higher thermal conductivity than aluminum or copper.
Control of the microstructure can overcome inherent stiffness to allow the production
of ceramic springs, and ceramic composites which have been produced with a
fracture toughness about half that of steel. Also, the atomic structures are often of low
symmetry that gives some ceramics interesting electromechanical properties like
piezoelectricity, which is used in sensors and transducers.
The structure of most ceramics varies from relatively simple to very complex. The
microstructure can be entirely glassy (glasses only); entirely crystalline; or a
combination of crystalline and glassy. In the latter case, the glassy phase usually
surrounds small crystals, bonding them together. The main compositional classes of
engineering ceramics are the oxides, nitrides and carbides.
Ceramic Structures (continued)

Ceramic Glass
Ceramics with an entirely glassy structure have certain properties that are quite
different from those of metals. Recall that when metal in the liquid state is cooled, a
crystalline solid precipitates when the melting freezing point is reached. However,
with a glassy material, as the liquid is cooled it becomes more and more viscous.
There is no sharp melting or freezing point. It goes from liquid to a soft plastic solid
and finally becomes hard and brittle. Because of this unique property, it can be blown
into shapes, in addition to being cast, rolled, drawn and otherwise processed like a
metal.
Glassy behavior is related to the atomic structure of the material. If pure silica (SiO2)
is fused together, a glass called vitreous silica is formed on cooling. The basic unit
structure of this glass is the silica tetrahedron, which is composed of a single silicon
atom surrounded by four equidistant oxygen atoms. The silicon atoms occupy the
openings (interstitials) between the oxygen atoms and share four valence electrons
with the oxygen atoms through covalent bonding. The silica atom has four valence
electrons and each of the oxygen atoms has two valence electrons so the silica
tetrahedron has four extra valence electrons to share with adjacent tetrahedral. The
silicate structures can link together by sharing the atoms in two corners of the
SiO2 tetrahedrons, forming chain or ring structures. A network of silica tetrahedral
chains form, and at high temperatures these chains easily slide past each other. As the
melt cools, thermal vibrational energy decreases and the chains can not move as
easily so the structure becomes more rigid. Silica is the most important constituent of
glass, but other oxides are added to change certain physical characteristics or to lower
the melting point.
Ceramic Crystalline or Partially Crystalline Material
Most ceramics usually contain both metallic and
nonmetallic elements with ionic or covalent bonds.
Therefore, the structure the metallic atoms, the
structure of the nonmetallic atoms, and the balance of
charges produced by the valence electrons must be
considered. As with metals, the unit cell is used in
describing the atomic structure of ceramics. The cubic
and the hexagonal cells are most common.
Additionally, the difference in radii between the metallic and nonmetallic ions plays
an important role in the arrangement of the unit cell.
In metals, the regular arrangement of atoms into densely packed planes led to the
occurrence of slip under stress, which gives metal their characteristic ductility. In
ceramics, brittle fracture rather than slip is common because both the arrangement of
the atoms and the type of bonding is different. The fracture or cleavage planes of
ceramics are the result of planes of regularly arranged atoms.
The building criteria for the crystal structure are:
• maintain neutrality
• charge balance dictates chemical formula
• achieve closest packing
A few of the different types of ceramic materials outside of the glass family are
described below.
Silicate Ceramics
As mentioned previously, the silica structure is the basic structure for many ceramics,
as well as glass. It has an internal arrangement consisting of pyramid (tetrahedral or
four-sided) units. Four large oxygen (0) atoms surround each smaller silicon (Si)
atom. When silica tetrahedrons share three corner atoms, they produce layered
silicates (talc, kaolinite clay, mica). Clay is the basic raw material for many building
products such as brick and tile. When silica tetrahedrons share four comer atoms,
they produce framework silicates (quartz, tridymite). Quartz is formed when the
tetrahedra in this material are arranged in a regular, orderly fashion. If silica in the
molten state is cooled very slowly it crystallizes at the freezing point. But if molten
silica is cooled more rapidly, the resulting solid is a disorderly arrangement which is
glass.
Cement
Cement (Portland cement) is one of the main ingredients of concrete. There are a
number of different grades of cement but a typical Portland cement will contain 19 to
25% SiO2 , 5 to 9% Al2O3, 60 to 64% CaO
and 2 to 4% FeO. Cements are prepared by
grinding the clays and limestone in proper
proportion, firing in a kiln, and regrinding.
When water is added, the minerals either
decompose or combine with water, and a
new phase grows throughout the mass. The
reaction is solution, recrystallization, and
precipitation of a silicate structure. It is
usually important to control the amount of
water to prevent an excess that would not
be part of the structure and would weaken
it. The heat of hydration (heat of reaction in the adsorption of water) in setting of the
cement can be large and can cause damage in large structures.
Nitride Ceramics
Nitrides combine the superior hardness of ceramics with high thermal and
mechanical stability, making them suitable for applications as cutting tools, wear-
resistant parts and structural components at high temperatures. TiN has a cubic
structure which is perhaps the simplest and best known of structure types. Cations
and anions both lie at the nodes of separate fcc lattices. The structure is unchanged if
the Ti and N atoms (lattices) are interchanged.
Ferroelectric Ceramics
Depending on the crystal structure, in some crystal lattices, the centers of the positive
and negative charges do not coincide even without the application of external electric
field. In this case, it is said that there exists spontaneous polarization in the crystal.
When the polarization of the dielectric can be altered by an electric field, it is called
ferroelectric. A typical ceramic ferroelectric is barium titanate, BaTiO3. Ferroelectric
materials, especially polycrystalline ceramics, are very promising for varieties of
application fields such as piezoelectric/electrostrictive transducers, and electrooptic.
Phase Diagram
The phase diagram is important in understanding the formation and control of the
microstructure of the microstructure of polyphase ceramics, just as it is with
polyphase metallic materials. Also, nonequilibrium structures are even more
prevalent in ceramics because the more complex crystal structures are more difficult
to nucleate and to grow from the melt.
Imperfections in Ceramics
Imperfections in ceramic crystals include point defects and impurities like in metals.
However, in ceramics defect formation is strongly affected by the condition of charge
neutrality because the creation of areas of unbalanced charges requires an
expenditure of a large amount of energy. In ionic crystals, charge neutrality often
results in defects that come as pairs of ions with opposite charge or several nearby
point defects in which the sum of all charges is zero. Charge neutral defects include
the Frenkel and Schottky defects. A Frenkel-defect occurs when a host atom moves
into a nearby interstitial position to create a vacancy-interstitial pair of cations. A
Schottky-defect is a pair of nearby cation and anion vacancies. Schottky defect
occurs when a host atom leaves its position and moves to the surface creating a
vacancy-vacancy pair.
Sometimes, the composition may alter slightly to arrive at a more balanced atomic
charge. Solids such as SiO2, which have a well-defined chemical formula, are called
stoichiometric compounds. When the composition of a solid deviates from the
standard chemical formula, the resulting solid is said to be nonstoichiometric.
Nonstoichiometry and the existence of point defects in a solid are often closely
related. Anion vacancies are the source of the nonstoichiometry in SiO2-x,
Introduction of impurity atoms in the lattice is likely in conditions where the charge
is maintained. This is the case of electronegative impurities that substitute a lattice
anion or electropositive substitutional impurities. This is more likely for similar ionic
radii since this minimizes the energy required for lattice distortion. Defects will
appear if the charge of the impurities is not balanced.
Polymer Structure

Engineering polymers include natural materials such as rubber and synthetic

materials such as plastics and elastomers. Polymers are very useful materials because
their structures can be altered and tailored to produce materials 1) with a range of
mechanical properties 2) in a wide spectrum of colors and 3) with different
transparent properties.
Mers Mer –
The repeating unit in a polymer chain
Monomer –
A single mer unit (n=1)
Polymer –
Many mer-units along a chain (n=103 or more)
Degree of Polymerization –
The average number of mer-units in a chain.
A polymer is composed of many simple molecules that are repeating structural units called
monomers. A single polymer molecule may consist of hundreds to a million monomers and may
have a linear, branched, or network structure. Covalent bonds hold the atoms in the polymer
molecules together and secondary bonds then hold groups of polymer chains together to form the
polymeric material. Copolymers are polymers composed of two or more different types of
monomers.
Polymer Chains (Thermoplastics and Thermosets)
A polymer is an organic material and the
backbone of every organic material is a
chain of carbon atoms. The carbon atom
has four electrons in the outer shell. Each
of these valence electrons can form a
covalent bond to another carbon atom or
to a foreign atom. The key to the polymer
structure is that two carbon atoms can
have up to three common bonds and still
bond with other atoms. The elements
found most frequently in polymers and
their valence numbers are: H, F, Cl, Bf, and I with 1 valence electron; O and S with 2
valence electrons; n with 3 valence electrons and C and Si with 4 valence electrons.
The ability for molecules to form long chains is a vital to producing polymers.
Consider the material polyethylene, which is made from ethane gas, C2H6. Ethane
gas has a two carbon atoms in the chain and each of the two carbon atoms share two
valence electrons with the other. If two molecules of ethane are brought together, one
of the carbon bonds in each molecule can be broken and the two molecules can be
joined with a carbon to carbon bond. After the two mers are joined, there are still two
free valence electrons at each end of the chain for joining other mers or polymer
chains. The process can continue liking more mers and polymers together until it is
stopped by the addition of anther chemical (a terminator), that fills the available bond
at each end of the molecule. This is called a linear polymer and is building block for
thermoplastic polymers.

The polymer chain is often shown in two dimensions, but it should be noted that they
have a three dimensional structure. Each bond is at 109° to the next and, therefore,
the carbon backbone extends through space like a twisted chain of TinkerToys. When
stress is applied, these chains stretch and the elongation of polymers can be
thousands of times greater than it is in crystalline structures.

The length of the polymer chain is very important. As the number of carbon atoms in
the chain is increased to beyond several hundred, the material will pass through the
liquid state and become a waxy solid. When the number of carbon atoms in the chain
is over 1,000, the solid material polyethylene, with its characteristics of strength,
flexibility and toughness, is obtained. The change in state occurs because as the
length of the molecules increases, the total binding forces between molecules also
increases.

It should also be noted that the molecules are not generally straight but are a tangled
mass. Thermoplastic materials, such as polyethylene, can be pictured as a mass of
intertwined worms randomly thrown into a pail.
The binding forces are the result of van der Waals
forces between molecules and mechanical
entanglement between the chains. When
thermoplastics are heated, there is more molecular
movement and the bonds between molecules can be easily broken. This is why
thermoplastic materials can be remelted.
There is another group of polymers in which a single large network, instead of many
molecules is formed during polymerization. Since polymerization is initially
accomplished by heating the raw materials and brining them together, this group is
called thermosetting polymers or plastics. For this type of network structure to form,
the mers must have more than two places for boning to occur; otherwise, only a
linear structure is possible. These chains form jointed structures and rings, and may
fold back and forth to take on a partially crystalline structure.
Since these materials are essentially comprised of one giant molecule, there is no
movement between molecules once the mass has set. Thermosetting polymers are
more rigid and generally have higher strength than thermoplastic polymers. Also,
since there is no opportunity for motion between molecules in a thermosetting
polymer, they will not become plastic when heated.

• Types of polymers
• Commodity plastics
• PE = Polyethylene
• PS = Polystyrene
• PP = Polypropylene
 • PVC =
Poly(vinyl
chloride)
• PET =
Poly(ethylene
terephthalate)
• Specialty or
Engineering Plastics
• Teflon
(PTFE) = Poly(tetrafluoroethylene)
• PC = Polycarbonate (Lexan)
• Polyesters and Polyamides (Nylon)
Composite Structures

Components of Composite Materials

• Matrix phase: bulk materials such as:
MetalsCeramicsPolymers• Reinforcement: fibers and particulates such
as:GlassCarbonKevlarSilicon CarbideBoronCeramicCeramicMetallicAggregate• Interface: area of
mechanical
A composite material is basically a combination of two or more materials, each of
which retains it own distinctive properties. Multiphase metals are composite
materials on a micro scale, but generally the term composite is applied to materials
that are created by mechanically bonding two or more different materials together.
The resulting material has characteristics that are not characteristic of the components
in isolation. The concept of composite materials is ancient. An example is adding
straw to mud for building stronger mud walls. Most commonly, composite materials
have a bulk phase, which is continuous, called the matrix; and a dispersed, non-
continuous, phase called the reinforcement. Some other examples of basic composites
include concrete (cement mixed with sand and aggregate), reinforced concrete (steel
rebar in concrete), and fiberglass (glass strands in a resin matrix).
In about the mid 1960’s, a new group of composite materials, called advanced
engineered composite materials (aka advanced composites), began to emerge.
Advanced composites utilize a combination of resins and fibers, customarily
carbon/graphite, kevlar, or fiberglass with an epoxy resin. The fibers provide the high
stiffness, while the surrounding polymer resin matrix holds the structure together. The
fundamental design concept of composites is that the bulk phase accepts the load
over a large surface area, and transfers it to the reinforcement material, which can
carry a greater load. The significance here lies in that there are numerous matrix
materials and as many fiber types, which can be combined in countless ways to
produce just the desired properties. These materials were first developed for use in
the aerospace industry because for certain application they have a higher stiffness to
weight or strength-to-weight ratio than metals. This means metal parts can be
replaced with lighter weight parts manufactured from advanced composites.
Generally, carbon-epoxy composites are two thirds the weight of aluminum, and two
and a half times as stiff. Composites are resistant to fatigue damage and harsh
environments, and are repairable.
Composites meeting the criteria of having mechanical bonding can also be produced
on a micro scale. For example, when tungsten carbide powder is mixed with cobalt
powder, and then pressed and sintered together, the tungsten carbide retains its
identity. The resulting material has a soft cobalt matrix with tough tungsten carbide
particles inside. This material is used to produce carbide drill bits and is called a
metal-matrix composite. A metal matrix composite is a type of metal that is
reinforced with another material to improve strength, wear or some other
characteristics. Phase Transformation Temperatures
Physical and Chemical Properties
Physical properties are those that can be observed without changing the identity of
the substance. The general properties of matter such as color, density, hardness, are
examples of physical properties. Properties that describe how a substance changes
into a completely different substance are called chemical properties. Flammability
and corrosion/oxidation resistance are examples of chemical properties.
The difference between a physical and chemical property is straightforward until the
phase of the material is considered. When a material changes from a solid to a liquid
to a vapor it seems like them become a difference substance. However, when a
material melts, solidifies, vaporizes, condenses or sublimes, only the state of the
substance changes. Consider ice, liquid water, and water vapor, they are all simply
H2O. Phase is a physical property of matter and matter can exist in four phases –
solid, liquid, gas and plasma.
Some of the more important physical and chemical properties from an engineering
material standpoint will be discussed in the following sections.
• Phase Transformation Temperatures
• Density
• Specific Gravity
• Thermal Conductivity
• Linear Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
• Electrical Conductivity and Resistivity
• Magnetic Permeability
• Corrosion Resistance
Phase Transformation Temperatures
When temperature rises and pressure is held
constant, a typical substance changes from
solid to liquid and then to vapor.
Transitions from solid to liquid, from liquid
to vapor, from vapor to solid and visa versa
are called phase transformations or
transitions. Since some substances have
several crystal forms, technically there can
also be solid to another solid form phase
transformation.
Phase transitions from solid to liquid, and
from liquid to vapor absorb heat. The phase
transition temperature where a solid changes to a liquid is called the melting point.
The temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals 1 atm (101.3 kPa) is
called the boiling point. Some materials, such as many polymers, do not go simply
from a solid to a liquid with increasing temperature. Instead, at some temperature
below the melting point, they start to lose their crystalline structure but the molecules
remain linked in chains, which results in a soft and pliable material. The temperature
at which a solid, glassy material begins to soften and flow is called the glass
transition temperature.
Density
Mass can be thinly distributed as in a pillow, or tightly packed as in a block of lead.
The space the mass occupies is its volume, and the mass per unit of volume is its
density.
Mass (m) is a fundamental measure of the amount of matter. Weight (w) is a measure
of the force exerted by a mass and this force is force is produced by the acceleration
of gravity. Therefore, on the surface of the earth, the mass of an object is determined
by dividing the weight of an object by 9.8 m/s2 (the acceleration of gravity on the
surface of the earth). Since we are typically comparing things on the surface of the
earth, the weight of an object is commonly used rather than calculating its mass.
The density (r) of a material depends on the phase it is in and the temperature. (The
density of liquids and gases is very temperature dependent.) Water in the liquid state
has a density of 1 g/cm3 = 1000kg/m3 at 4o C. Ice has a density of 0.917 g/cm3 at
0oc, and it should be noted that this decrease in density for the solid phase is unusual.
For almost all other substances, the density of the solid phase is greater than that of
the liquid phase. Water vapor (vapor saturated air) has a density of 0.051 g/cm3.
Some common units used for expressing density are grams/cubic centimeter,
kilograms/cubic meter, grams/milliliter, grams/liter, pounds for cubic inch and
pounds per cubic foot; but it should be obvious that any unit of mass per any unit of
volume can be used.
Substance
Density (g/cm3)
Air 0.0013
Gasoline 0.7
Wood 0.85
Water (ice) 0.92
Water (liquid) 1.0
Aluminum 2.7
Steel 7.8
Silver10.5
Lead 11.3
Mercury 13.5
Gold 19.3
Specific Gravity
Specific gravity is the ratio of density of a substance compared to the density of fresh
water at 4°C (39° F). At this temperature the density of water is at its greatest value
and equal 1 g/mL. Since specific gravity is a ratio, so it has no units. An object will
float in water if its density is less than the density of water and sink if its density is
greater that that of water. Similarly, an object with specific gravity less than 1 will
float and those with a specific gravity greater than one will sink. Specific gravity
values for a few common substances are: Au, 19.3; mercury, 13.6; alcohol, 0.7893;
benzene, 0.8786. Note that since water has a density of 1 g/cm3, the specific gravity
is the same as the density of the material measured in g/cm3.
The Discovery of Specific Gravity
The discovery of specific gravity makes for an interesting story. Sometime around
250 B.C., the Greek mathematician Archimedes was given the task of determining
whether a craftsman had defrauded King Heiro II of Syracuse. The king had provided
a metal smith with gold to make a crown. The king suspected that the metal smith had
added less valuable silver to crown and kept some of the gold for himself. The crown
weighed the same as other crowns but due to its intricate designs it was impossible to
measure the exact volume of the crown so its density could be determined. The king
challenged Archimedes to determine if the crown was pure gold. Archimedes had no
immediate answer and pondered this question for sometime.
One day while entering a bath, he noticed that water spilled over the sides of the pool,
and realized that the amount of water that spilled out was equal in volume to the
space that his body occupied. He realized that a given mass of silver would occupy
more space than an equivalent mass of gold. Archimedes first weighed the crown and
weighed out an equal mass of pure gold. Then he placed the crown in a full container
of water and the pure gold in a container of water. He found that more water spilled
over the sides of the tub when the craftsman’s crown was submerged. It turned out
that the craftsman had been defrauding the King! Legend has it that Archimedes was
so excited about his discovery that he ran naked through the streets of Sicily shouting
Eureka! Eureka! (Which is Greek for “I have found it!”).

Thermal Conductivity
Thermal conductivity (λ) is the intrinsic property of a material which relates its
ability to conduct heat. Heat transfer by conduction involves transfer of energy within
a material without any motion of the material as a whole. Conduction takes place
when a temperature gradient exists in a solid (or stationary fluid) medium.
Conductive heat flow occurs in the direction of decreasing temperature because
higher temperature equates to higher molecular energy or more molecular movement.
Energy is transferred from the more energetic to the less energetic molecules when
neighboring molecules collide.
Thermal conductivity is defined as the quantity of heat (Q) transmitted through a unit
thickness (L) in a direction normal to a surface of unit area (A) due to a unit
temperature gradient (∆T) under steady state conditions and when the heat transfer is
dependent only on the temperature gradient. In equation form this becomes the
following:
Thermal Conductivity = heat × distance / (area × temperature gradient)

λ = Q × L / (A × ∆T)
Approximate values of thermal conductivity for some common materials are
presented in the table below.

Thermal Conductivity Thermal Conductivity

Material
W/m, oK (cal/sec)/(cm2, oC/cm)

Air at 0 C 0.024 0.000057

Aluminum 205.0 0.50

Brass 109.0 -

Concrete 0.8 0.002

Copper 385.0 0.99

Glass, ordinary 0.8 0.0025

Gold 310 -

Ice 1.6 0.005

Iron - 0.163

Lead 34.7 0.083

Polyethylene HD 0.5 -
 Polystyrene expanded 0.03 -

Silver 406.0 1.01

Styrofoam 0.01 -

Steel 50.2 -

Water at 20 C - 0.0014

Wood 0.12-0.04 0.0001

Linear Coefficient of Thermal Expansion

When heat is added to most materials, the average amplitude of the atoms' vibrating
within the material increases. This, in turn, increases the separation between the
atoms causing the material to expand. If the material does not go through a phase
change, the expansion can be easily related to the temperature change. The linear
coefficient of thermal expansion ( a) describes the relative change in length of a
material per degree temperature change. As shown in the following equation, a is the
ratio of change in length ( Dl) to the total starting length (li) and change in
temperature ( DT).

By rearranging this equation, it can be seen that if the linear coefficient of thermal
expansion is known, the change in components length can be calculated for each
degree of temperature change. This effect also works in reverse. That is to say, if
energy is removed from a material then the object's temperature will decrease causing
the object to contract.
Thermal expansion (and contraction) must be taken into account when designing
products with close tolerance fits as these tolerances will change as temperature
changes if the materials used in the design have different coefficients of thermal
expansion. It should also be understood that thermal expansion can cause significant
stress in a component if the design does not allow for expansion and contraction of
components. The phenomena of thermal expansion can be challenging when
designing bridges, buildings, aircraft and spacecraft, but it can be put to beneficial
uses. For example, thermostats and other heat-sensitive sensors make use of the
property of linear expansion
Linear Coefficient of Thermal Expansion for a Few Common Materials
a
Material a (mm/m/oK)
(m/m/oK)

Aluminum 23.8 x 10-6 0.0238

Concrete 12.0 x 10 -6 0.011

Copper 17.6 x 10 -6 0.0176

Brass 18.5 x 10 -6 0.0185

Steel 12.0 x 10 -6 0.0115

Timber 40.0 x 10 -6 0.04

Quartz Glass 0.5 x 10 -6 0.0005

Polymeric Materials 40-200 x 10 -6 0.040-0.200

Acrylic 75.0 x 10 -6 0.075

Electrical Conductivity and Resistivity

It is well known that one of the subatomic particles of an atom is the electron. The
electrons carry a negative electrostatic charge and under certain conditions can move
from atom to atom. The direction of movement between atoms is random unless a
force causes the electrons to move in one direction. This directional movement of
electrons due to an electromotive force is what is known as electricity.
Electrical Conductivity
Electrical conductivity is a measure of how well a material accommodates the
movement of an electric charge. It is the ratio of the current density to the electric
field strength. Its SI derived unit is the Siemens per meter, but conductivity values are
often reported as percent IACS. IACS is an acronym for International Annealed
Copper Standard, which was established by the 1913 International Electrochemical
Commission. (More Information on the IACS.) The conductivity of the annealed copper
(5.8001 x 107S/m) is defined to be 100% IACS at 20°C . All other conductivity
values are related back to this conductivity of annealed copper. Therefore, iron with a
conductivity value of 1.04 x 107S/m, has a conductivity of approximately 18% of
that of annealed copper and this is reported as 18% IACS. An interesting side note is
that commercially pure copper products now often have IACS conductivity values
greater than 100% IACS because processing techniques have improved since the
adoption of the standard in 1913 and more impurities can now be removed from the
metal.
Conductivity values in Siemens/meter can be converted to % IACS by multiplying
the conductivity value by 1.7241 x10-6. When conductivity values are reported in
microSiemens/centimeter, the conductivity value is multiplied by 172.41 to convert to
the % IACS value.
Electrical conductivity is a very useful property since values are affected by such
things as a substances chemical composition and the stress state of crystalline
structures. Therefore, electrical conductivity information can be used for measuring
the purity of water, sorting materials, checking for proper heat treatment of metals,
and inspecting for heat damage in some materials.
Electrical Resistivity
Electrical resistivity is the reciprocal of conductivity. It is the is the opposition of a
body or substance to the flow of electrical current through it, resulting in a change of
electrical energy into heat, light, or other forms of energy. The amount of resistance
depends on the type of material. Materials with low resistivity are good conductors of
electricity and materials with high resistivity are good insulators.
The SI unit for electrical resistivity is the ohm meter. Resistivity values are more
commonly reported in micro ohm centimeters units. As mentioned above resistivity
values are simply the reciprocal of conductivity so conversion between the two is
straightforward. For example, a material with two micro ohm centimeter of resistivity
will have ½ microSiemens/centimeter of conductivity. Resistivity values in microhm
centimeters units can be converted to % IACS conductivity values with the following
formula:
172.41 / resistivity = % IACS
Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity
As noted above, electrical conductivity values (and resistivity values) are typically
reported at 20 oC. This is done because the conductivity and resistivity of material is
temperature dependant. The conductivity of most materials decreases as temperature
increases. Alternately, the resistivity of most material increases with increasing
temperature. The amount of change is material dependant but has been established for
many elements and engineering materials.
The reason that resistivity increases with increasing temperature is that the number of
imperfection in the atomic lattice structure increases with temperature and this
hampers electron movement. These imperfections include dislocations, vacancies,
interstitial defects and impurity atoms. Additionally, above absolute zero, even the
lattice atoms participate in the interference of directional electron movement as they
are not always found at their ideal lattice sites. Thermal energy causes the atoms to
vibrate about their equilibrium positions. At any moment in time many individual
lattice atoms will be away from their perfect lattice sites and this interferes with
electron movement.
When the temperature coefficient is known, an adjusted resistivity value can be
computed using the following formula:
R1 = R2 * [1 + a * (T1–T2)]
Where: R1 = resistivity value adjusted to T1
R2 = resistivity value known or measured at temperature T2
a = Temperature Coefficient
T1 = Temperature at which resistivity value needs to be known
T2 = Temperature at which known or measured value was obtained
For example, suppose that resistivity measurements were being made on a hot piece
of aluminum. Normally when measuring resistivity or conductivity, the instrument is
calibrated using standards that are at the same temperature as the material being
measured, and then no correction for temperature will be required. However, if the
calibration standard and the test material are at different temperatures, a correction to
the measured value must be made. Presume that the instrument was calibrated at
20oC (68oF) but the measurement was made at 25oC (77oF) and the resistivity value
obtained was 2.706 x 10-8 ohm meters. Using the above equation and the following
temperature coefficient value, the resistivity value corrected for temperature can be
calculated.
R1 = R2 * [1 + a * (T1–T2)]
Where: R1 = ?
R2 = 2.706 x 10-8 ohm meters (measured resistivity at 25 oC)
a = 0.0043/ oC
T1 = 20 oC
T2 = 25 oC

R1 = 2.706 x 10-8ohm meters * [1 + 0.0043/ oC * (20 oC – 25 oC)]

R1 = 2.648 x 10-8ohm meters
Note that the resistivity value was adjusted downward since this example involved
calculating the resistivity for a lower temperature.
Since conductivity is simply the inverse of resistivity, the temperature coefficient is
the same for conductivity and the equation requires only slight modification. The
equation becomes:
s1 = s2 / [1 + a * (T1–T2)]
Where: s1 = conductivity value adjusted to T1
s2 = conductivity value known or measured at temperature T2
a = Temperature Coefficient
T1 = Temperature at which conductivity value needs to be known
T2 = Temperature at which known or measured value was obtained
In this example let’s consider the same aluminum alloy with a temperature coefficient
of 0.0043 per degree centigrade and a conductivity of 63.6% IACS at 25 oC. What
will the conductivity be when adjusted to 20 oC?
s1= 63.6% IACS / [1 + 0.0043 * (20 oC – 25 oC)]
s1= 65.0% IASC
The temperature coefficient for a few metallic elements is shown below.

Material Temperature Coefficient (/ oC)

Nickel 0.0059
Iron 0.0060
Molybdenum 0.0046
Tungsten 0.0044
Aluminum 0.0043
Copper 0.0040
Silver 0.0038
Platinum 0.0038
Gold 0.0037
Zinc 0.0038

Magnetic Permeability
Magnetic permeability or simply permeability is the ease with which a material can
be magnetized. It is a constant of proportionality that exists between magnetic
induction and magnetic field intensity. This constant is equal to approximately 1.257
x 10-6 Henry per meter (H/m) in free space (a vacuum). In other materials it can be
much different, often substantially greater than the free-space value, which is
symbolized µ0.
Materials that cause the lines of flux to move farther apart, resulting in a decrease in
magnetic flux density compared with a vacuum, are called diamagnetic. Materials
that concentrate magnetic flux by a factor of more than one but less than or equal to
ten are called paramagnetic; materials that concentrate the flux by a factor of more
than ten are called ferromagnetic. The permeability factors of some substances
change with rising or falling temperature, or with the intensity of the applied
magnetic field.
In engineering applications, permeability is often expressed in relative, rather than in
absolute, terms. If µ o represents the permeability of free space (that is, 4p X10-7H/m
or 1.257 x 10-6 H/m) and µ represents the permeability of the substance in question
(also specified in henrys per meter), then the relative permeability, µr, is given by:
µr = µ / µ0
For non-ferrous metals such as copper, brass, aluminum etc., the permeability is the
same as that of "free space", i.e. the relative permeability is one. For ferrous metals
however the value of µ r may be several hundred. Certain ferromagnetic materials,
especially powdered or laminated iron, steel, or nickel alloys, have µr that can range
up to about 1,000,000. Diamagnetic materials have µr less than one, but no known
substance has relative permeability much less than one. In addition, permeability can
vary greatly within a metal part due to localized stresses, heating effects, etc.
When a paramagnetic or ferromagnetic core is inserted into a coil, the inductance is
multiplied by µr compared with the inductance of the same coil with an air core. This
effect is useful in the design of transformers and eddy current probes.

Corrosion
Corrosion involves the deterioration of a material as it reacts with its environment.
Corrosion is the primary means by which metals deteriorate. Corrosion literally
consumes the material reducing load carrying capability and causing stress
concentrations. Corrosion is often a major part of maintenance cost and corrosion
prevention is vital in many designs. Corrosion is not expressed in terms of a design
property value like other properties but rather in more qualitative terms such as a
material is immune, resistant, susceptible or very susceptible Partial Electromotive Force Series

to corrosion.
Electrode Reaction
Standard Potential
The corrosion process is usually electrochemical in nature, (at 25oC), V-SHE

Au3+ + 3e- -> Au 1.498

having the essential features of a battery. Corrosion is a
Pd2+ + 2e- -> Pd 0.987
natural process that commonly occurs because unstable
Hg2+ + 2e- -> Hg 0.854
materials, such as refined metals want to return to a more
Ag+ + e- -> Au 0.799
stable compound. For example, some metals, such as gold Cu+ + e- -> Cu 0.521
and silver, can be found in the earth in their natural, metallic Cu2+ + 2e- -> Cu 0.337
state and they have little tendency to corrode. Iron is a 2H+ + 2e- -> H 2 0.000 (Ref.)
moderately active metal and corrodes readily in the presence Pb2+ + 2e- -> Pb -0.126
of water. The natural state of iron is iron oxide and the most Sn2+ + 2e- -> Sn -0.136

common iron ore is Hematite with a chemical composition of Ni2+ + 2e- -> Ni -0.250

Fe203. Rust, the most common corrosion product of iron, Co2+ + 2e- -> Co -0.277

Cd2+ + 2e- -> Cd -0.403

also has a chemical composition of Fe2O3.
Fe2+ + 2e- -> Fe -0.440

Cr3+ + 3e- -> Cr -0.744

The difficulty in terms of energy required to extract metals
Cr2+ + 2e- -> Cr -0.910
from their ores is directly related to the ensuing tendency to
Zn2+ + 2e- -> Zn -0.763
corrode and release this energy. The electromotive force Mn2+ + 2e- -> Mn -1.180
series (See table) is a ranking of metals with respect to their Ti2+ + 2e- -> Ti -1.630
inherent reactivity. The most noble metal is at the top and has Al3+ + 3e- -> Al -1.662
the highest positive electrochemical potential. The most Be2+ + 2e- -> Be -1.850

active metal is at the bottom and has the most negative Mg2+ + 2e- -> Mg -2.363

electrochemical potential. Li+ + e- -> Li -3.050

Note that aluminum, as indicated by its position in the series, is a relatively reactive metal; among structural metals,
only beryllium and magnesium are more reactive. Aluminum owes its excellent corrosion resistance to the barrier oxide
film that is bonded strongly to the surface and if damaged reforms immediately in most environments. On a surface
freshly abraded and exposed to air, the protective film is only 10 Angstroms thick but highly effective at protecting the
metal from corrosion.

Corrosion involve two chemical processes…oxidation and reduction. Oxidation is the

process of stripping electrons from an atom and reduction occurs when an electron is
added to an atom. The oxidation process takes place at an area known as the anode.
At the anode, positively charged atoms leave the solid surface and enter into an
electrolyte as ions. The ions leave their corresponding negative charge in the form of
electrons in the metal which travel to the location of the cathode through a conductive
path. At the cathode, the corresponding reduction reaction takes place and consumes
the free electrons. The electrical balance of the circuit is restored at the cathode when
the electrons react with neutralizing positive ions, such as hydrogen ions, in the
electrolyte. From this description, it can be seen that there are four essential
components that are needed for a corrosion reaction to proceed. These components
are an anode, a cathode, an electrolyte with oxidizing species, and some direct
electrical connection between the anode
and cathode. Although atmospheric air is
the most common environmental
electrolyte, natural waters, such as seawater
rain, as well as man-made solutions, are the
environments most frequently associated
with corrosion problems.
A typical situation might involve a piece of
metal that has anodic and cathodic regions
on the same surface. If the surface
becomes wet, corrosion may take place
through ionic exchange in the surface water
layer between the anode and
cathode. Electron exchange will take place
through the bulk metal. Corrosion will proceed at the anodic site according to a
reaction such as
M → M++ + 2e-
where M is a metal atom. The resulting metal cations (M++) are available at the
metal surface to become corrosion products such as oxides, hydroxides, etc. The
liberated electrons travel through the bulk metal (or another low resistance electrical
connection) to the cathode, where they are consumed by cathodic reactions such as
2H+ + 2e- → H 2
The basic principles of corrosion that were just covered, generally apply to all
corrosion situation except certain types of high temperature corrosion. However, the
process of corrosion can be very straightforward but is often very complex due to
variety of variable that can contribute to the process. A few of these variable are the
composition of the material acting in the corrosion cell, the heat treatment and stress
state of the materials, the composition of the electrolyte, the distance between the
anode and the cathode, temperature, protective oxides and coating, etc.
Types of Corrosion
Corrosion is commonly classified based on the appearance of the corroded material.
The classifications used vary slightly from reference to reference but there is
generally considered to be eight different forms of corrosion. There forms are:
Uniform or general – corrosion that is distributed more or less uniformly over a
surface.
Localized – corrosion that is confined to small area. Localized corrosion often occurs
due to a concentrated cell. A concentrated cell is an electrolytic cell in which the
electromotive force is caused by a concentration of some components in the
electrolyte. This difference leads to the
formation of distinct anode and
cathode regions.
• Pitting – corrosion that is
confined to small areas and take
the form of cavities on a surface.
• Crevice – corrosion
occurring at locations where
easy access to the bulk
environment is prevented, such as the mating surfaces of two components.
• Filiform – Corrosion that occurs under some coatings in the form of
randomly distributed threadlike filaments.
Intergranular – preferential corrosion at or along the grain boundaries of a metal.
• Exfoliation – a specific form of corrosion that travels along grain
boundaries parallel to the surface of the part causing lifting and flaking at the
surface. The corrosion products expand between the uncorroded layers of metal
to produce a look that resembles pages of a book. Exfoliation corrosion is
associated with sheet, plate and extruded products and usually initiates at
unpainted or unsealed edges or holes of susceptible metals.
Galvanic – corrosion associated primarily with the electrical coupling of materials
with significantly different electrochemical potentials.
Environmental Cracking – brittle fracture of a normally ductile material that occurs
partially due to the corrosive effect of an environment.
• Corrosion fatigue – fatigue cracking that is characterized by
uncharacteristically short initiation time and/or growth rate due to the damage
of corrosion or buildup of corrosion products.
• High temperature hydrogen attack – the loss of strength and ductility of
steel due to a high temperature reaction of absorbed hydrogen with carbides.
The result of the reaction is decarburization and internal fissuring.
• Hydrogen Embrittlement – the loss of ductility of a metal resulting from
absorption of hydrogen.
• Liquid metal cracking – cracking caused by contact with a liquid metal.
• Stress corrosion – cracking of a metal due to the combined action of
corrosion and a residual or applied tensile stress.
Erosion corrosion – a corrosion reaction accelerated by the relative movement of a
corrosive fluid and a metal surface.
Fretting corrosion – damage at the interface of two contacting surfaces under load but
capable of some relative motion. The damage is accelerated by movement at the
interface that mechanically abraded the surface and exposes fresh material to
corrosive attack.
Dealloying – the selective corrosion of one or more components of a solid solution
alloy.
• Dezincification – corrosion resulting in the selective removal of zinc
from copper-zinc alloys.
Mechanical Properties

The mechanical properties of a material are those properties that involve a reaction to an applied
load. The mechanical properties of metals determine the range of usefulness of a material and
establish the service life that can be expected. Mechanical properties are also used to help classify
and identify material. The most common properties considered are strength, ductility, hardness,
impact resistance, and fracture toughness.

Most structural materials are anisotropic, which means that their material properties
vary with orientation. The variation in properties can be due to directionality in the
microstructure (texture) from forming or cold working operation, the controlled
alignment of fiber reinforcement and a variety of other causes. Mechanical properties
are generally specific to product form such as sheet, plate, extrusion, casting, forging,
and etc. Additionally, it is common to see mechanical property listed by the
directional grain structure of the material. In products such as sheet and plate, the
rolling direction is called the longitudinal direction, the width of the product is called
the transverse direction, and the thickness is called the short transverse direction. The
grain orientations in standard wrought forms of metallic products are shown the
image.
The mechanical properties of a material are not constants and often change as a function
of temperature, rate of loading, and other conditions. For example, temperatures below
room temperature generally cause an increase in strength properties of metallic alloys;
while ductility, fracture toughness, and elongation usually decrease. Temperatures above
room temperature usually cause a decrease in the strength properties of metallic alloys.
Ductility may increase or decrease with increasing temperature depending on the same
variables

It should also be noted that there is often significant variability in the values obtained
when measuring mechanical properties. Seemingly identical test specimen from the same
lot of material will often produce considerable different results. Therefore, multiple tests
are commonly conducted to determine mechanical properties and values reported can be
an average value or calculated statistical minimum value. Also, a range of values are
sometimes reported in order to show variability.
Loading
The application of a force to an object is known as loading. Materials can be
subjected to many different loading scenarios and a material’s performance is
dependant on the loading conditions. There are five fundamental loading conditions;
tension, compression, bending, shear, and torsion. Tension is the type of loading in
which the two sections of material on either side of a plane tend to be pulled apart or
elongated. Compression is the reverse of tensile loading and involves pressing the
material together. Loading by bending involves applying a load in a manner that
causes a material to curve and results in compressing the material on one side and
stretching it on the other. Shear involves applying a load parallel to a plane which
caused the material on one side of the plane to want to slide across the material on the
other side of the plane. Torsion is the application of a force that causes twisting in a
material.

If a material is subjected to a constant force, it is called static loading. If the loading

of the material is not constant but instead fluctuates, it is called dynamic or cyclic
loading. The way a material is loaded greatly affects its mechanical properties and
largely determines how, or if, a component will fail; and whether it will show
warning signs before failure actually occurs.
Stress and Strain
Stress
The term stress (s) is used to express the loading in terms of force applied to a certain
cross-sectional area of an object. From the perspective of loading, stress is the
applied force or system of forces that tends to deform a body. From the perspective of
what is happening within a material, stress is the internal distribution of forces within
a body that balance and react to the loads applied to it. The stress distribution may or
may not be uniform, depending on the nature of the loading condition. For example, a
bar loaded in pure tension will essentially have a uniform tensile stress distribution.
However, a bar loaded in bending will have a stress distribution that changes with
distance perpendicular to the normal axis.
Simplifying assumptions are often used to represent stress as a vector quantity for
many engineering calculations and for material property determination. The
word "vector" typically refers to a quantity that has a "magnitude" and a "direction".
For example, the stress in an axially loaded bar is simply equal to the applied force
divided by the bar's cross-sectional area.

Some common measurements of stress are:

Psi = lbs/in2 (pounds per square inch)
ksi or kpsi = kilopounds/in2 (one thousand or 103 pounds per square inch)
Pa = N/m 2 (Pascals or Newtons per square meter)
kPa = Kilopascals (one thousand or 103 Newtons per square meter)
GPa = Gigapascals (one million or 106 Newtons per square meter)
*Any metric prefix can be added in front of psi or Pa to indicate the multiplication
factor
It must be noted that the stresses in most 2-D or 3-D solids are actually more complex
and need be defined more methodically. The internal force acting on a small area of a
plane can be resolved into three components: one normal to the plane and two
parallel to the plane. The normal force component divided by the area gives the
normal stress (s), and parallel force components divided by the area give the shear
stress (t). These stresses are average stresses as the area is finite, but when the area is
allowed to approach zero, the stresses become stresses at a point. Since stresses are
defined in relation to the plane that passes through the point under consideration, and
the number of such planes is infinite, there appear an infinite set of stresses at a point.
Fortunately, it can be proven that the stresses on any plane can be computed from the
stresses on three orthogonal planes passing through the point. As each plane has three
stresses, the stress tensor has nine stress components, which completely describe the
state of stress at a point.

Strain
Strain is the response of a system to an applied stress. When a material is loaded with
a force, it produces a stress, which then causes a material to deform. Engineering
strain is defined as the amount of deformation in the direction of the applied force
divided by the initial length of the material. This results in a unitless number,
although it is often left in the unsimplified form, such as inches per inch or meters per
meter. For example, the strain in a bar that is being stretched in tension is the amount
of elongation or change in length divided by its original length. As in the case of
stress, the strain distribution may or may not be uniform in a complex structural
element, depending on the nature of the loading condition.
If the stress is small, the material may only strain a small amount and the material
will return to its original size after the stress is released. This is called elastic
deformation, because like elastic it returns to its unstressed state. Elastic deformation
only occurs in a material when stresses are lower than a critical stress called the yield
strength. If a material is loaded beyond it elastic limit, the material will remain in a
deformed condition after the load is removed. This is called plastic deformation.

Engineering and True Stress and Strain

The discussion above focused on engineering stress and strain, which use the fixed,
undeformed cross-sectional area in the calculations. True stress and strain measures
account for changes in cross-sectional area by using the instantaneous values for the
area. The engineering stress-strain curve does not give a true indication of the
deformation characteristics of a metal because it is based entirely on the original
dimensions of the specimen, and these dimensions change continuously during the
testing used to generate the data.
Engineering stress and strain data is commonly used because it is easier to generate
the data and the tensile properties are adequate for engineering calculations. When
considering the stress-strain curves in the next section, however, it should be
understood that metals and other materials continues to strain-harden until they
fracture and the stress required to produce further deformation also increase.
Stress Concentration
When an axial load is applied to a piece of
material with a uniform cross-section, the
norm al stress will be uniformly distributed
over the cross-section. However, if a hole is
drilled in the material, the stress distribution
will no longer be uniform. Since the material
that has been removed from the hole is no
longer available to carry any load, the load
must be redistributed over the remaining
material. It is not redistributed evenly over
the entire remaining cross-sectional area but
instead will be redistributed in an uneven
pattern that is highest at the edges of the hole
as shown in the image. This phenomenon is
known as stress concentration.

Tensile Properties
Tensile properties indicate how the material will react to forces being applied in
tension. A tensile test is a fundamental mechanical test where a carefully prepared
specimen is loaded in a very controlled manner while measuring the applied load and
the elongation of the specimen over some distance. Tensile tests are used to determine
the modulus of elasticity, elastic limit, elongation, proportional limit, reduction in
area, tensile strength, yield point, yield strength and other tensile properties.
The main product of a tensile test is a load versus elongation curve which is then
converted into a stress versus strain curve. Since both the engineering stress and the
engineering strain are obtained by dividing the load and elongation by constant
values (specimen geometry information), the load-elongation curve will have the
same shape as the engineering stress-strain curve. The stress-strain curve relates the
applied stress to the resulting strain and each material has its own unique stress-strain
curve. A typical engineering stress-strain curve is shown below. If the true stress,
based on the actual cross-sectional area of the specimen, is used, it is found that the
stress-strain curve increases continuously up to fracture.
Linear-Elastic Region and Elastic Constants
As can be seen in the figure, the stress and strain initially increase with a linear
relationship. This is the linear-elastic portion of the curve and it indicates that no
plastic deformation has occurred. In this region of the curve, when the stress is
reduced, the material will return to its original shape. In this linear region, the line
obeys the relationship defined as Hooke's Law where the ratio of stress to strain is a
constant.
The slope of the line in this region where stress is proportional to strain and is called
themodulus of elasticity or Young's modulus. The modulus of elasticity (E) defines
the properties of a material as it undergoes stress, deforms, and then returns to its
original shape after the stress is removed. It is a measure of the stiffness of a given
material. To compute the modulus of elastic , simply divide the stress by the strain in
the material. Since strain is unitless, the modulus will have the same units as the
stress, such as kpi or MPa. The modulus of elasticity applies specifically to the
situation of a component being stretched with a tensile force. This modulus is of
interest when it is necessary to compute how much a rod or wire stretches under a
tensile load.
There are several different kinds of moduli depending on the way the material is
being stretched, bent, or otherwise distorted. When a component is subjected to pure
shear, for instance, a cylindrical bar under torsion, the shear modulus describes the
linear-elastic stress-strain relationship.
Axial strain is always accompanied by lateral strains of opposite sign in the two
directions mutually perpendicular to the axial strain. Strains that result from an
increase in length are designated as positive (+) and those that result in a decrease in
length are designated as negative (-). Poisson's ratio is defined as the negative of the
ratio of the lateral strain to the axial strain for a uniaxial stress state.

Poisson's ratio is sometimes also defined as the ratio of the absolute values of lateral
and axial strain. This ratio, like strain, is unitless since both strains are unitless. For
stresses within the elastic range, this ratio is approximately constant. For a perfectly
isotropic elastic material, Poisson's Ratio is 0.25, but for most materials the value lies
in the range of 0.28 to 0.33. Generally for steels, Poisson’s ratio will have a value of
approximately 0.3. This means that if there is one inch per inch of deformation in the
direction that stress is applied, there will be 0.3 inches per inch of deformation
perpendicular to the direction that force is applied.
Only two of the elastic constants are independent so if two constants are known, the
third can be calculated using the following formula:
E = 2 (1 + n) G.
Where: E = modulus of elasticity (Young's modulus)
n = Poisson's ratio
G = modulus of rigidity (shear modulus).
A couple of additional elastic constants that may be encountered include the bulk
modulus (K), and Lame's constants (m and l). The bulk modulus is used describe the
situation where a piece of material is subjected to a pressure increase on all
sides. The relationship between the change in pressure and the resulting strain
produced is the bulk modulus. Lame's constants are derived from modulus of
elasticity and Poisson's ratio.
Yield Point
In ductile materials, at some point, the stress-strain curve deviates from the straight-
line relationship and Law no longer applies as the strain increases faster than the
stress. From this point on in the tensile test, some permanent deformation occurs in
the specimen and the material is said to react plastically to any further increase in
load or stress. The material will not return to its original, unstressed condition when
the load is removed. In brittle materials, little or no plastic deformation occurs and
the material fractures near the end of the linear-elastic portion of the curve.
With most materials there is a gradual transition from elastic to plastic behavior, and
the exact point at which plastic deformation begins to occur is hard to determine.
Therefore, various criteria for the initiation of yielding are In Great Britain, the yield
used depending on the sensitivity of the strain strength is often referred to
measurements and the intended use of the data. (See as the proof stress. The
Table) For most engineering design and specification offset value is either 0.1%
applications, the yield strength is used. The yield strength or 0.5%
is defined as the stress required to produce a small,
amount of plastic deformation. The offset yield strength is the stress corresponding to
the intersection of the stress-strain curve and a line parallel to the elastic part of the
curve offset by a specified strain (in the US the offset is typically 0.2% for metals and
2% for plastics).
To determine the yield strength using this offset, the point is found on the strain axis
(x-axis) of 0.002, and then a line parallel to the stress-strain line is drawn. This line
will intersect the stress-strain line slightly after it begins to curve, and that
intersection is defined as the yield strength with a 0.2% offset. A good way of
looking at offset yield strength is that after a specimen has been loaded to its 0.2
percent offset yield strength and then unloaded it will be 0.2 percent longer than
before the test. Even though the yield strength is meant to represent the exact point at
which the material becomes permanently deformed, 0.2% elongation is considered to
be a tolerable amount of sacrifice for the ease it creates in defining the yield strength.
Some materials such as gray cast iron or soft copper exhibit essentially no linear-
elastic behavior. For these materials the usual practice is to define the yield strength
as the stress required to produce some total amount of strain.
• True elastic limit is a very low value and is related to the motion of a few
hundred dislocations. Micro strain measurements are required to detect strain
on order of 2 x 10 -6 in/in.
• Proportional limit is the highest stress at which stress is directly
proportional to strain. It is obtained by observing the deviation from the
straight-line portion of the stress-strain curve.
• Elastic limit is the greatest stress the material can withstand without any
measurable permanent strain remaining on the complete release of load. It is
determined using a tedious incremental loading-unloading test procedure. With
the sensitivity of strain measurements usually employed in engineering studies
(10 -4in/in), the elastic limit is greater than the proportional limit. With
increasing sensitivity of strain measurement, the value of the elastic limit
decreases until it eventually equals the true elastic limit determined from micro
strain measurements.
• Yield strength is the stress required to produce a small-specified amount
of plastic deformation. The yield strength obtained by an offset method is
commonly used for engineering purposes because it avoids the practical
difficulties of measuring the elastic limit or proportional limit.
Ultimate Tensile Strength
The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) or,
more simply, the tensile strength, is the
maximum engineering stress level reached
in a tension test. The strength of a material
is its ability to withstand external forces
without breaking. In brittle materials, the
UTS will at the end of the linear-elastic
portion of the stress-strain curve or close
to the elastic limit. In ductile materials,
the UTS will be well outside of the elastic
portion into the plastic portion of the
stress-strain curve.
On the stress-strain curve above, the UTS is the highest point where the line is
momentarily flat. Since the UTS is based on the engineering stress, it is often not the
same as the breaking strength. In ductile materials strain hardening occurs and the
stress will continue to increase until fracture occurs, but the engineering stress-strain
curve may show a decline in the stress level before fracture occurs. This is the result
of engineering stress being based on the original cross-section area and not
accounting for the necking that commonly occurs in the test specimen. The UTS may
not be completely representative of the highest level of stress that a material can
support, but the value is not typically used in the design of components anyway. For
ductile metals the current design practice is to use the yield strength for sizing static
components. However, since the UTS is easy to determine and quite reproducible, it
is useful for the purposes of specifying a material and for quality control purposes.
On the other hand, for brittle materials the design of a component may be based on
the tensile strength of the material.
Measures of Ductility (Elongation and Reduction of Area)
The ductility of a material is a measure of the extent to which a material will deform
before fracture. The amount of ductility is an important factor when considering
forming operations such as rolling and extrusion. It also provides an indication of
how visible overload damage to a component might become before the component
fractures. Ductility is also used a quality control measure to assess the level of
impurities and proper processing of a material.
The conventional measures of ductility are the engineering strain at fracture (usually
called the elongation ) and the reduction of area at fracture. Both of these properties
are obtained by fitting the specimen back together after fracture and measuring the
change in length and cross-sectional area. Elongation is the change in axial length
divided by the original length of the specimen or portion of the specimen. It is
expressed as a percentage. Because an appreciable fraction of the plastic deformation
will be concentrated in the necked region of the tensile specimen, the value of
elongation will depend on the gage length over which the
measurement is taken. The smaller the gage length the greater
the large localized strain in the necked region will factor into the
calculation. Therefore, when reporting values of elongation , the
gage length should be given.
One way to avoid the complication from necking is to base the
elongation measurement on the uniform strain out to the point at
which necking begins. This works well at times but some
engineering stress-strain curve are often quite flat in the vicinity
of maximum loading and it is difficult to precisely establish the
strain when necking starts to occur.
Reduction of area is the change in cross-sectional area divided
by the original cross-sectional area. This change is measured in the necked down
region of the specimen. Like elongation, it is usually expressed as a percentage.
As previously discussed, tension is just one of the way that a material can be loaded.
Other ways of loading a material include compression, bending, shear and torsion,
and there are a number of standard tests that have been established to characterize
how a material performs under these other loading conditions. A very cursory
introduction to some of these other material properties will be provided on the next
page.
Compressive, Bearing, & Shear Properties
Compressive Properties
In theory, the compression test is simply the opposite of the tension test with respect
to the direction of loading. In compression testing the sample is squeezed while the
load and the displacement are recorded. Compression tests result in mechanical
properties that include the compressive yield stress, compressive ultimate stress, and
compressive modulus of elasticity.
Compressive yield stress is measured in a manner identical to that done for tensile
yield strength. When testing metals, it is defined as the stress corresponding to 0.002
in./in. plastic strain. For plastics, the compressive yield stress is measured at the
point of permanent yield on the stress-strain curve. Moduli are generally greater in
compression for most of the commonly used structural materials.
Ultimate compressive strength is the stress required to rupture a specimen. This value
is much harder to determine for a compression test than it is for a tensile test since
many material do not exhibit rapid fracture in compression. Materials such as most
plastics that do not rupture can have their results reported as the compressive strength
at a specific deformation such as 1%, 5%, or 10% of the sample's original height.
For some materials, such as concrete, the compressive strength is the most important
material property that engineers use when designing and building a
structure. Compressive strength is also commonly used to determine whether a
concrete mixture meets the requirements of the job specifications.
Bearing Properties
Bearing properties are used when designing mechanically fastened joints. The
purpose of a bearing test is to determine the the deformation of a hole as a function of
the applied bearing stress. The test specimen is basically a piece of sheet or plate
with a carefully prepared hole some standard distance from the edge. Edge-to-hole
diameter ratios of 1.5 and 2.0 are common. A hardened pin is inserted through the
hole and an axial load applied to the specimen and the pin. The bearing stress is
computed by dividing the load applied to the pin, which bears against the edge of the
hole, by the bearing area (the product of the pin diameter and the sheet or plate
thickness). Bearing yield and ultimate stresses are obtained from bearing tests. BYS
is computed from a bearing stress deformation curve by drawing a line parallel to the
initial slope at an offset of 0.02 times the pin diameter. BUS is the maximum stress
withstood by a bearing specimen.
Shear Properties
A shearing stress acts parallel to the stress plane, whereas a tensile or compressive
stress acts normal to the stress plane. Shear properties are primarily used in the
design of mechanically fastened components, webs, and torsion members, and other
components subject to parallel, opposing loads. Shear properties are dependant on the
type of shear test and their is a variety of different standard shear tests that can be
performed including the single-shear test, double-shear test, blanking-shear test,
torsion-shear test and others. The shear modulus of elasticity is considered a basic
shear property. Other properties, such as the proportional limit stress and shear
ultimate stress, cannot be treated as basic shear properties because of “form factor”
effects.
Hardness
Hardness is the resistance of a material to localized deformation. The term can apply
to deformation from indentation, scratching, cutting or bending. In metals, ceramics
and most polymers, the deformation considered is plastic deformation of the surface.
For elastomers and some polymers, hardness is defined at the resistance to elastic
deformation of the surface. The lack of a fundamental definition indicates that
hardness is not be a basic property of a material, but rather a composite one with
contributions from the yield strength, work hardening, true tensile strength, modulus,
and others factors. Hardness measurements are widely used for the quality control of
materials because they are quick and considered to be nondestructive tests when the
marks or indentations produced by the test are in low stress areas.
There are a large variety of methods used for determining the hardness of a
substance. A few of the more common methods are introduced below.
Mohs Hardness Test
One of the oldest ways of measuring hardness was devised by the German
mineralogist Friedrich Mohs in 1812. The Mohs hardness test involves observing
whether a materials surface is scratched by a substance of known or defined hardness.
To give numerical values to this physical property, minerals are ranked along the
Mohs scale, which is composed of 10 minerals that have been given arbitrary
hardness values. Mohs hardness test, while greatly facilitating the identification of
minerals in the field, is not suitable for accurately gauging the hardness of industrial
materials such as steel or ceramics. For engineering materials, a variety of
instruments have been developed over the years to provide a precise measure of
hardness. Many apply a load and measure the depth or size of the resulting
indentation. Hardness can be measured on the macro-, micro- or nano- scale.
Brinell Hardness Test
The oldest of the hardness test methods in common use on engineering materials
today is the Brinell hardness test. Dr. J. A. Brinell invented the Brinell test in Sweden
in 1900. The Brinell test uses a desktop machine to applying a specified load to a
hardened sphere of a specified diameter. The Brinell hardness number, or simply the
Brinell number, is obtained by dividing the load used, in kilograms, by the measured
surface area of the indentation, in square millimeters, left on the test surface. The
Brinell test is frequently used to determine the hardness metal forgings and castings
that have a large grain structures. The Brinell test provides a measurement over a
fairly large area that is less affected by the course grain structure of these materials
than are Rockwell or Vickers tests.
A wide range of materials can be tested using a Brinell test simply by varying the test
load and indenter ball size. In the USA, Brinell testing is typically done on iron and
steel castings using a 3000Kg test force and a 10mm diameter ball. A 1500 kilogram
load is usually used for aluminum castings. Copper, brass and thin stock are
frequently tested using a 500Kg test force and a 10 or 5mm ball. In Europe Brinell
testing is done using a much wider range of forces and ball sizes and it is common to
perform Brinell tests on small parts using a 1mm carbide ball and a test force as low
as 1kg. These low load tests are commonly referred to as baby Brinell tests. The test
conditions should be reported along with the Brinell hardness number. A value
reported as "60 HB 10/1500/30" means that a Brinell Hardness of 60 was obtained
using a 10mm diameter ball with a 1500 kilogram load applied for 30 seconds.
Rockwell Hardness Test
The Rockwell Hardness test also uses a machine to apply a specific load and then
measure the depth of the resulting impression. The indenter may either be a steel ball
of some specified diameter or a spherical diamond-tipped cone of 120° angle and 0.2
mm tip radius, called a brale. A minor load of 10 kg is first applied, which causes a
small initial penetration to seat the indenter and remove the effects of any surface
irregularities. Then, the dial is set to zero and the major load is applied. Upon
removal of the major load, the depth reading is taken while the minor load is still on.
The hardness number may then be read directly from the scale. The indenter and the
test load used determine the hardness scale that is used (A, B, C, etc).
For soft materials such as copper alloys, soft steel, and aluminum alloys a 1/16"
diameter steel ball is used with a 100-kilogram load and the hardness is read on the
"B" scale. In testing harder materials, hard cast iron and many steel alloys, a 120
degrees diamond cone is used with up to a 150 kilogram load and the hardness is read
on the "C" scale. There are several Rockwell scales other than the "B" & "C" scales,
(which are called the common scales). A properly reported Rockwell value will have
the hardness number followed by "HR" (Hardness Rockwell) and the scale letter. For
example, 50 HRB indicates that the material has a hardness reading of 50 on the B
scale.
A -Cemented carbides, thin steel and shallow case hardened steel
B -Copper alloys, soft steels, aluminum alloys, malleable iron, etc.
C -Steel, hard cast irons, pearlitic malleable iron, titanium, deep case hardened
steel and other materials harder than B 100
D -Thin steel and medium case hardened steel and pearlitic malleable iron
E -Cast iron, aluminum and magnesium alloys, bearing metals
F -Annealed copper alloys, thin soft sheet metals
G -Phosphor bronze, beryllium copper, malleable irons
H -Aluminum, zinc, lead
K, L, M, P, R, S, V -Bearing metals and other very soft or thin materials,
including plastics.

Rockwell Superficial Hardness Test

The Rockwell Superficial Hardness Tester is used to test thin materials, lightly
carburized steel surfaces, or parts that might bend or crush under the conditions of the
regular test. This tester uses the same indenters as the standard Rockwell tester but
the loads are reduced. A minor load of 3 kilograms is used and the major load is
either 15 or 45 kilograms depending on the indenter used. Using the 1/16" diameter,
steel ball indenter, a "T" is added (meaning thin sheet testing) to the superficial
hardness designation. An example of a superficial Rockwell hardness is 23 HR15T,
which indicates the superficial hardness as 23, with a load of 15 kilograms using the
steel ball.
Vickers and Knoop Microhardness Tests
The Vickers and Knoop Hardness Tests are a modification of the Brinell test and are
used to measure the hardness of thin film coatings or the surface hardness of case-
hardened parts. With these tests, a small diamond pyramid is pressed into the sample
under loads that are much less than those used in the Brinell test. The difference
between the Vickers and the Knoop Tests is simply the shape of the diamond pyramid
indenter. The Vickers test uses a square pyramidal indenter which is prone to crack
brittle materials. Consequently, the Knoop test using a rhombic-based (diagonal ratio
7.114:1) pyramidal indenter was developed which produces longer but shallower
indentations. For the same load, Knoop indentations are about 2.8 times longer than
Vickers indentations.
An applied load ranging from 10g to 1,000g is used. This low amount of load creates
a small indent that must be measured under a microscope. The measurements for hard
coatings like TiN must be taken at very high magnification (i.e. 1000X), because the
indents are so small. The surface usually needs to be polished. The diagonals of the
impression are measured, and these values are used to obtain a hardness number
(VHN), usually from a lookup table or chart. The Vickers test can be used to
characterize very hard materials but the hardness is measured over a very small
region.
The values are expressed like 2500 HK25 (or HV25) meaning 2500 Hardness Knoop
at 25 gram force load. The Knoop and Vickers hardness values differ slightly, but for
hard coatings, the values are close enough to be within the measurement error and
can be used interchangeably.
Scleroscope and Rebound Hardness Tests
The Scleroscope test is a very old test that involves dropping a diamond tipped
hammer, which falls inside a glass tube under the force of its own weight from a
fixed height, onto the test specimen. The height of the rebound travel of the hammer
is measured on a graduated scale. The scale of the rebound is arbitrarily chosen and
consists on Shore units, divided into 100 parts, which represent the average rebound
from pure hardened high-carbon steel. The scale is continued higher than 100 to
include metals having greater hardness. The Shore Scleroscope measures hardness in
terms of the elasticity of the material and the hardness number depends on the height
to which the hammer rebounds, the harder the material, the higher the rebound.
The Rebound Hardness Test Method is a recent advancement that builds on the
Scleroscope. There are a variety of electronic instruments on the market that measure
the loss of energy of the impact body. These instruments typically use a spring to
accelerate a spherical, tungsten carbide tipped mass towards the surface of the test
object. When the mass contacts the surface it has a specific kinetic energy and the
impact produces an indentation (plastic deformation) on the surface which takes
some of this energy from the impact body. The impact body will lose more energy
and it rebound velocity will be less when a larger indentation is produced on softer
material. The velocities of the impact body before and after impact are measured and
the loss of velocity is related to Brinell, Rockwell, or other common hardness value.
Durometer Hardness Test
A Durometer is an instrument that is commonly used for measuring the indentation
hardness of rubbers/elastomers and soft plastics such as polyolefin, fluoropolymer,
and vinyl. A Durometer simply uses a calibrated spring to apply a specific pressure to
an indenter foot. The indenter foot can be
either cone or sphere shaped. An
indicating device measures the depth of
indentation. Durometers are available in a
variety of models and the most popular
testers are the Model A used for
measuring softer materials and the Model
D for harder materials.
Barcol Hardness Test
The Barcol hardness test obtains a
hardness value by measuring the
penetration of a sharp steel point under a spring load. The specimen is placed under
the indenter of the Barcol hardness tester and a uniform pressure is applied until the
dial indication reaches a maximum. The Barcol hardness test method is used to
determine the hardness of both reinforced and non-reinforced rigid plastics and to
determine the degree of cure of resins and plastics.
Creep and Stress Rupture Properties
Creep Properties
Creep is a time-dependent deformation of a material while under an applied load that
is below its yield strength. It is most often occurs at elevated temperature, but some
materials creep at room temperature. Creep terminates in rupture if steps are not
taken to bring to a halt.
Creep data for general design use are usually obtained under conditions of constant
uniaxial loading and constant temperature. Results of tests are usually plotted as
strain versus time up to rupture. As indicated in the image, creep often takes place in
three stages. In the initial stage, strain occurs at a relatively rapid rate but the rate
gradually decreases until it becomes approximately constant during the second
stage. This constant creep rate is called the minimum creep rate or steady-state creep
rate since it is the slowest creep rate during the test. In the third stage, the strain rate
increases until failure occurs.

Creep in service is usually affected by changing conditions of loading and

temperature and the number of possible stress-temperature-time combinations is
infinite. While most materials are subject to creep, the creep mechanisms is often
different between metals, plastics, rubber, concrete.

Stress Rupture Properties

Stress rupture testing is similar to creep testing except that the stresses are higher than
those used in a creep testing. Stress rupture tests are used to determine the time
necessary to produce failure so stress rupture testing is always done until
failure. Data is plotted log-log as in the chart above. A straight line or best fit curve
is usually obtained at each temperature of interest. This information can then be used
to extrapolate time to failure for longer times. A typical set of stress rupture curves is
shown below.

Toughness
The ability of a metal to deform plastically and to absorb energy in the process before
fracture is termed toughness. The emphasis of this definition should be placed on the
ability to absorb energy before fracture. Recall that ductility is a measure of how
much something deforms plastically before fracture, but just because a material is
ductile does not make it tough. The key to toughness is a good combination of
strength and ductility. A material with high strength and high ductility will have more
toughness than a material with low strength and high ductility. Therefore, one way to
measure toughness is by calculating the area under the stress strain curve from a
tensile test. This value is simply called “material toughness” and it has units of
energy per volume. Material toughness equates to a slow absorption of energy by the
material.
There are several variables that have a profound influence on the toughness of a
material. These variables are:
• Strain rate (rate of loading)
• Temperature
• Notch effect
A metal may possess satisfactory toughness under static loads but may fail under
dynamic loads or impact. As a rule ductility and, therefore, toughness decrease as the
rate of loading increases. Temperature is the second variable to have a major
influence on its toughness. As temperature is lowered, the ductility and toughness
also decrease. The third variable is termed notch effect, has to due with the
distribution of stress. A material might display good toughness when the applied
stress is uniaxial; but when a multiaxial stress state is produced due to the presence of
a notch, the material might not withstand the simultaneous elastic and plastic
deformation in the various directions.
There are several standard types of toughness test that generate data for specific
loading conditions and/or component design approaches. Three of the toughness
properties that will be discussed in more detail are 1) impact toughness, 2) notch
toughness and 3) fracture toughness.
Impact Toughness
The impact toughness (AKA Impact
strength) of a material can be determined
with a Charpy or Izod test. These tests are
named after their inventors and were
developed in the early 1900’s before
fracture mechanics theory was available.
Impact properties are not directly used in
fracture mechanics calculations, but the
economical impact tests continue to be used
as a quality control method to assess notch
sensitivity and for comparing the relative
toughness of engineering materials.
The two tests use different specimens and
methods of holding the specimens, but both tests make use of a pendulum-testing
machine. For both tests, the specimen is broken by a single overload event due to the
impact of the pendulum. A stop pointer is used to record how far the pendulum
swings back up after fracturing the specimen. The impact toughness of a metal is
determined by measuring the energy absorbed in the fracture of the specimen. This is
simply obtained by noting the height at which the pendulum is released and the
height to which the pendulum swings after it has struck the specimen . The height of
the pendulum times the weight of the pendulum produces the potential energy and the
difference in potential energy of the pendulum at the start and the end of the test is
equal to the absorbed energy.
Since toughness is greatly affected by temperature, a Charpy or Izod test is often
repeated numerous times with each specimen tested at a different temperature. This
produces a graph of impact toughness for the material as a function of temperature.
An impact toughness versus temperature graph for a steel is shown in the image. It
can be seen that at low temperatures the material is more brittle and impact toughness
is low. At high temperatures the material is more ductile and impact toughness is
higher. The transition temperature is the boundary between brittle and ductile
behavior and this temperature is often an extremely important consideration in the
selection of a material.

Notch-Toughness
Notch toughness is the ability that a material possesses to absorb energy in the
presence of a flaw. As mentioned previously, in the presence of a flaw, such as a
notch or crack, a material will likely exhibit a lower level of toughness. When a flaw
is present in a material, loading induces a triaxial tension stress state adjacent to the
flaw. The material develops plastic strains as the yield stress is exceeded in the region
near the crack tip. However, the amount of plastic deformation is restricted by the
surrounding material, which remains elastic. When a material is prevented from
deforming plastically, it fails in a brittle manner.
Notch-toughness is measured with a variety of specimens such as the Charpy V-notch
impact specimen or the dynamic tear test specimen. As with regular impact testing
the tests are often repeated numerous times with specimens tested at a different
temperature. With these specimens and by varying the loading speed and the
temperature, it is possible to generate curves such as those shown in the graph.
Typically only static and impact testing is conducted but it should be recognized that
many components in service see intermediate loading rates in the range of the dashed
red line.

Fracture Toughness
Fracture toughness is an indication of the amount of stress required to propagate a
preexisting flaw. It is a very important material property since the occurrence of flaws
is not completely avoidable in the processing, fabrication, or service of a
material/component. Flaws may appear as cracks, voids, metallurgical inclusions,
weld defects, design discontinuities, or some combination thereof. Since engineers
can never be totally sure that a material is flaw free, it is common practice to assume
that a flaw of some chosen size will be present in some number of components and
use the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach to design critical
components. This approach uses the flaw size and features, component geometry,
loading conditions and the material property called fracture toughness to evaluate the
ability of a component containing a flaw to resist fracture.
A parameter called the stress-
intensity factor (K) is used to
determine the fracture toughness of
most materials. A Roman numeral
subscript indicates the mode of
fracture and the three modes of
fracture are illustrated in the image
to the right. Mode I fracture is the
condition in which the crack plane
is normal to the direction of largest
tensile loading. This is the most
commonly encountered mode and,
therefore, for the remainder of the
material we will consider KI
The stress intensity factor is a function of loading, crack size,
and structural geometry. The stress intensity factor may be represented by the
following equation:

Where: KI is the fracture toughness in

s is the applied stress in MPa or psi
a is the crack length in meters or inches
is a crack length and component geometry factor that is different for
B
each specimen and is dimensionless.
Role of Material Thickness
Specimens having standard proportions but different absolute size produce different
values for KI. This results because the stress states adjacent to the flaw changes with
the specimen thickness (B) until the thickness exceeds some critical dimension. Once
the thickness exceeds the critical dimension, the value of KI becomes relatively
constant and this value, KIC , is a true material property which is called the plane-
strain fracture toughness. The relationship between stress intensity, KI, and fracture
toughness, KIC, is similar to the relationship between stress and tensile stress. The
stress intensity, KI, represents the level of “stress” at the tip of the crack and the
fracture toughness, KIC, is the highest value of stress intensity that a material under
very specific (plane-strain) conditions that a material can withstand without fracture.
As the stress intensity factor reaches the KIC value, unstable fracture occurs. As with
a material’s other mechanical properties, KIC is commonly reported in reference
books and other sources.
 Plane Strain - a condition of a
body in which the displacements
Plane-Strain and Plane-Stress of all points in the body are
When a material with a crack is loaded in tension, the parallel to a given plane, and the
values of theses displacements do
materials develop plastic strains as the yield stress is not depend on the distance
exceeded in the region near the crack tip. Material perpendicular to the plane
within the crack tip stress field, situated close to a
Plane Stress – a condition of a
free surface, can deform laterally (in the z-direction body in which the state of stress is
of the image) because there can be no stresses normal such that two of the principal
to the free surface. The state of stress tends to biaxial stresses are always parallel to a
given plane and are constant in the
and the material fractures in a characteristic ductile normal direction.
manner, with a 45o shear lip being formed at each
free surface. This condition is called “plane-stress"
and it occurs in relatively thin bodies where the stress
through the thickness cannot vary appreciably due to
the thin section.
However, material away from the free surfaces of a
relatively thick component is not free to deform
laterally as it is constrained by the surrounding
material. The stress state under these conditions tends
to triaxial and there is zero strain perpendicular to
both the stress axis and the direction of crack propagation when a material is loaded
in tension. This condition is called “plane-strain” and is found in thick plates. Under
plane-strain conditions, materials behave essentially elastic until the fracture stress is
reached and then rapid fracture occurs. Since little or no plastic deformation is noted,
this mode fracture is termed brittle fracture.
Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness Testing
When performing a fracture toughness test, the most common test specimen
configurations are the single edge notch bend (SENB or three-point bend), and the
compact tension (CT) specimens. From the above discussion, it is clear that an
accurate determination of the plane-strain fracture toughness requires a specimen
whose thickness exceeds some critical thickness (B). Testing has shown that plane-
strain conditions generally prevail when:

is the minimum thickness that produces a condition where plastic strain

Where: B
energy at the crack tip in minimal
KIC is the fracture toughness of the material
sy is the yield stress of material
When a material of unknown fracture toughness is tested, a specimen of full material
section thickness is tested or the specimen is sized based on a prediction of the
fracture toughness. If the fracture toughness value resulting from the test does not
satisfy the requirement of the above equation, the test must be repeated using a
thicker specimen. In addition to this thickness calculation, test specifications have
several other requirements that must be met (such as the size of the shear lips) before
a test can be said to have resulted in a KIC value.
When a test fails to meet the thickness and other test requirement that are in place to
insure plane-strain condition, the fracture toughness values produced is given the
designation KC. Sometimes it is not possible to produce a specimen that meets the
thickness requirement. For example when a relatively thin plate product with high
toughness is being tested, it might not be possible to produce a thicker specimen with
plain-strain conditions at the crack tip.
Plane-Stress and Transitional-Stress States
For cases where the plastic energy at the crack tip is not negligible, other fracture
mechanics parameters, such as the J integral or R-curve, can be used to characterize a
material. The toughness data produced by these other tests will be dependant on the
thickness of the product tested and will not be a true material property. However,
plane-strain conditions do not exist in all structural configurations and using
KIC values in the design of relatively thin areas may result in excess conservatism
and a weight or cost penalty. In cases where the actual stress state is plane-stress or,
more generally, some intermediate- or transitional-stress state, it is more appropriate
to use J integral or R-curve data, which account for slow, stable fracture (ductile
tearing) rather than rapid (brittle) fracture.
Uses of Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness
KIC values are used to determine the critical crack length when a given stress is
applied to a component.

Where: sc is the critical applied stress that will cause failure

KIC is the plane-strain fracture toughness

Y is a constant related to the sample's geometry

is the crack length for edge cracks
a
or one half crack length for internal crack
KIC values are used also used to calculate the critical stress value when a crack of a
given length is found in a component.
 is the crack length for edge cracks
Where: a
or one half crack length for internal crack
s is the stress applied to the material

KIC is the plane-strain fracture toughness

Y is a constant related to the sample's geometry

Orientation
The fracture toughness of a material commonly varies with grain direction.
Therefore, it is customary to specify specimen and crack orientations by an ordered
pair of grain direction symbols. The first letter designates the grain direction normal
to the crack plane. The second letter designates the grain direction parallel to the
fracture plane. For flat sections of various products, e.g., plate, extrusions, forgings,
etc., in which the three grain directions are designated (L) longitudinal, (T)
transverse, and (S) short transverse, the six principal fracture path directions are: L-T,
L-S, T-L, T-S, S-L and S-T.

Fatigue Properties
Fatigue cracking is one of the primary damage mechanisms of structural components.
Fatigue cracking results from cyclic stresses that are below the ultimate tensile stress,
or even the yield stress of the material. The name “fatigue” is based on the concept
that a material becomes “tired” and fails at a stress level below the nominal strength
of the material. The facts that the original bulk design strengths are not exceeded and
the only warning sign of an impending fracture is an often hard to see crack, makes
fatigue damage especially dangerous.
The fatigue life of a component can be expressed as the number of loading cycles
required to initiate a fatigue crack and to propagate the crack to critical size.
Therefore, it can be said that fatigue failure occurs in three stages – crack initiation;
slow, stable crack growth; and rapid fracture.
As discussed previously, dislocations play a major role in
the fatigue crack initiation phase. In the first stage,
dislocations accumulate near surface stress concentrations
and form structures called persistent slip bands (PSB) after
a large number of loading cycles. PSBs are areas that rise
above (extrusion) or fall below (intrusion) the surface of the
component due to movement of material along slip planes.
This leaves tiny steps in the surface that serve as stress
risers where tiny cracks can initiate. These tiny crack (called
microcracks) nucleate along planes of high shear stress which is often 45o to the
loading direction.
In the second stage of fatigue, some of the tiny microcracks join together and begin to
propagate through the material in a direction that is perpendicular to the maximum
tensile stress. Eventually, the growth of one or a few crack of the larger cracks will
dominate over the rest of the cracks. With continued cyclic loading, the growth of the
dominate crack or cracks will continue until the remaining uncracked section of the
component can no longer support the load. At this point, the fracture toughness is
exceeded and the remaining cross-section of the material experiences rapid fracture.
This rapid overload fracture is the third stage of fatigue failure.
Factors Affecting Fatigue Life
In order for fatigue cracks to initiate, three basic factors are necessary. First, the
loading pattern must contain minimum and maximum peak values with large enough
variation or fluctuation. The peak values may be in tension or compression and may
change over time but the reverse loading cycle must be sufficiently great for fatigue
crack initiation. Secondly, the peak stress levels must be of sufficiently high value. If
the peak stresses are too low, no crack initiation will occur. Thirdly, the material must
experience a sufficiently large number of cycles of the applied stress. The number of
cycles required to initiate and grow a crack is largely dependant on the first to factors.
In addition to these three basic factors, there are a host of other variables, such as
stress concentration, corrosion, temperature, overload, metallurgical structure, and
residual stresses which can affect the propensity for fatigue. Since fatigue cracks
generally initiate at a surface, the surface condition of the component being loaded
will have an effect on its fatigue life. Surface roughness is important because it is
directly related to the level and number of stress concentrations on the surface. The
higher the stress concentration the more likely a crack is to nucleate. Smooth surfaces
increase the time to nucleation. Notches, scratches, and other stress risers decrease
fatigue life. Surface residual stress will also have a significant effect on fatigue life.
Compressive residual stresses from machining, cold working, heat treating will
oppose a tensile load and thus lower the amplitude of cyclic loading
The figure shows several types of loading that could initiate a fatigue crack. The
upper left figure shows sinusoidal loading going from a tensile stress to a
compressive stress. For this type of stress cycle the maximum and minimum stresses
are equal. Tensile stress is considered positive, and compressive stress is negative.
The figure in the upper right shows sinusoidal loading with the minimum and
maximum stresses both in the tensile realm. Cyclic compression loading can also
cause fatigue. The lower figure shows variable-amplitude loading, which might be
experienced by a bridge or airplane wing or any other component that experiences
changing loading patterns. In variable-amplitude loading, only those cycles
exceeding some peak threshold will contribute to fatigue cracking.
S-N Fatigue Properties
There are two general types of fatigue tests
conducted. One test focuses on the nominal
stress required to cause a fatigue failure in
some number of cycles. This test results in
data presented as a plot of stress (S) against
the number of cycles to failure (N), which is
known as an S-N curve. A log scale is
almost always used for N.
The data is obtained by cycling smooth or
notched specimens until failure. The usual
procedure is to test the first specimen at a
high peak stress where failure is expected in
a fairly short number of cycles. The test stress is decreased for each succeeding
specimen until one or two specimens do not fail in the specified numbers of cycles,
which is usually at least 107 cycles. The highest stress at which a runout (non-failure)
occurs is taken as the fatigue threshold. Not all materials have a fatigue threshold
(most nonferrous metallic alloys do not) and for these materials the test is usually
terminated after about 108 or 5x108 cycles.
Since the amplitude of the cyclic loading has a major effect on the fatigue
performance, the S-N relationship is determined for one specific loading amplitude.
The amplitude is express as the R ratio value, which is the minimum peak stress
divided by the maximum peak stress. (R=σmin/σmax). It is most common to test at
an R ratio of 0.1 but families of curves, with each curve at a different R ratio, are
often developed.
A variation to the cyclic stress controlled fatigue test is the cyclic strain controlled
test. In this test, the strain amplitude is held constant during cycling. Strain controlled
cyclic loading is more representative of the loading found in thermal cycling, where a
component expands and contracts in response to fluctuations in the operating
temperature.
It should be noted that there are several short comings of S-N fatigue data. First, the
conditions of the test specimens do not always represent actual service conditions.
For example, components with surface conditions, such as pitting from corrosion,
which differs from the condition of the test specimens will have significantly
different fatigue performance. Furthermore, there is often a considerable amount of
scatter in fatigue data even when carefully machined standard specimens out of the
same lot of material are used. Since there is considerable scatter in the data, a
reduction factor is often applied to the S-N curves to provide conservative values for
the design of components.
Fatigue Crack Growth Rate Properties
For some components the crack propagation life is
neglected in design because stress levels are high,
and/or the critical flaw size small. For other
components the crack growth life might be a
substantial portion of the total life of the assembly.
Moreover, preexisting flaws or sharp design
features may significantly reduce or nearly
eliminate the crack initiation portion of the fatigue
life of a component. The useful life of these
components may be governed by the rate of
subcritical crack propagation.
Aircraft fuselage structure is a good example of
structure that is based largely on a slow crack
growth rate design. Many years ago, the USAF
reviewed a great number of malfunction reports
from a variety of aircraft. The reports showed that
the preponderance of structural failures occurred from 1) built-in preload stresses, 2)
material flaws and 3) flaw caused by in-service usage. These facts led to a design
approach that required the damage tolerance analysis to assume a material flaw exists
in the worst orientation and at the most undesirable location. The analysis helps to
ensure that structures are designed that will support slow stable crack growth until the
crack reaches a length where it can reliable be detected using NDT methods.
The rate of fatigue crack propagation is determined by subjecting fatigue-cracked
specimens, like the compact specimen used in fracture toughness testing, to constant-
amplitude cyclic loading. The incremental increase in crack length is recorded along
with the corresponding number of elapsed load cycles acquire stress intensity (K),
crack length (a), and cycle count (N) data during the test. The data is presented in an
“a versus N” curve as shown in the image to the right. Various a versus N curves can
be generated by varying the magnitude of the cyclic loading and/or the size of the
initial crack.
The data can be reduced to a single curve by presenting the data in terms of crack
growth rate per cycle of loading (Da/ DN or da/dN) versus the fluctuation of the
stress-intensity factor at the tip of the crack (DKI). DKI is representative of the
mechanical driving force, and it incorporates the effect of changing crack length and
the magnitude of the cyclic loading. (See the page on fracture toughness for more
information on the stress-intensity factor.) The most common form of presenting
fatigue crack growth data is a log-log plot of da/dN versus DKI.
The fatigue crack propagation behavior of many materials can be divided into three
regions as shown in the image. Region I is the fatigue threshold region where the Dk
is too low to propagate a crack. Region II encompasses data where the rate of crack
growth changes roughly linearly with a change in stress intensity fluctuation. In
region III, small increases in the stress intensity amplitude, produce relatively large
increases in crack growth rate since the material is nearing the point of unstable
fracture.