Materials Science and Engineering

Course Code: BMEE209L

Vivek Kumar Barnwal, PhD

Associate Professor, SMEC, VIT-Vellore
[email protected]
CBMR Building, 102J
Recommended Books

 William D. Callister Jr., David G. Rethwisch, Callister's Materials Science and

Engineering, 2018, 10th edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., United states

 Raghavan V, Materials Science and Engineering, 2015, 6th edition, Prentice Hall
India Learning Private Limited, United Kingdom

 Sidney Avner, Introduction to Physical Metallurgy, 2017, 2nd edition, McGraw Hill
Education

12 August 2025 Materials Science and Engineering 2

Importance of materials

vs Natural materials

Synthetic materials
vs +
Knowledge of processing

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 Why to study
materials?

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 History of materials development

 Knowledge and development of materials describe our civilizational era

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 Materials Science and Materials Engineering
Combines physics,
chemistry and
engineering

 Materials science – deals with structural Inclined towards

details and behavior of materials research

 Materials engineering – to make best Inclined towards

and efficient use of materials applications

Design, innovations,
performance,
structure-property
correlations

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 Materials Science Engineering
 Overall, materials science and engineering is concerned
with developing new materials and improving existing
materials

By understanding

1. Structure
2. Property
3. Processing
4. Performance

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 Materials tetrahedron: Structure
 Understanding the arrangement of a
material's components from an atomic
to a macro scale Imaging techniques
played a key role

 Macrostructure, Microstructure,
Nanostructure, Crystal structure,
Atomic structure
requires

 Physics
 Chemistry
 Engineering
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 Materials tetrahedron: Processing
Processing is referred to the way a material/product is realized
Solidification Processing – Requires heating and cooling;
alloys are created in the molten state; used for metals, glasses
and some polymers
Powder Processing - Involves consolidation of particulate to
form a green body. Followed by sintering for densification
Deposition Processing - modifies a surface chemically, usually
by depositing a chemical vapor or ions onto a surface. It is used
in semiconductor processing and for decorative or protective
coating
Machining Processing – By removing the material
Deformation Processing - One of the most common processes
is the deformation of a solid to create a desired shape
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 Materials tetrahedron: Properties
Understanding the intrinsic behavior of material
Mechanical Properties: Tensile strength, fracture toughness,
fatigue strength, creep strength, hardness, shock resistance
Electrical Properties: Conductivity or resistivity, ionic
conductivity, mobility of holes and electrons
Magnetic Properties: Magnetic susceptibility, Curie
Temperature, Neel Temperature, saturation magnetization
Optical and Dielectric Properties: Polarization, capacitance,
permittivity, refractive index, absorption
Thermal Properties: Coefficient of thermal expansion, heat
capacity, thermal conductivity
Environmental Related Properties: Corrosion behavior, wear
behavior
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 Materials tetrahedron: Performance
How the material behaves in actual service conditions
 Very important for selection of material for a particular application
 Cost is an important consideration while deciding a material

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Classification of materials

Materials
Metals Non-metals Combinations

 Ferrous – Constitutes iron  Ceramics – metallic oxides  Alloys - homogeneous

 Non-ferrous – No iron  Organic polymers – inert,  Composites – non-
light with high plasticity homogeneous
in general

 Semiconductor
Advanced materials  Bio-materials
 Smart materials
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Metals
Characteristics
 Metallic bonds
 Position of atoms well defined – Crystalline structure
Examples
 Good conductors of electricity and heat
 Lustrous appearance  Ferrous – Iron and steel
 Susceptible to corrosion  Non ferrous – Al, Cu, Ti, Ag, Mg, Pt etc.
 Strong, dense and deformable

Applications
 Structures, machines, devices, tools

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 Ceramics
Characteristics
 Composed of metallic and non-metallic elements
 Inorganic crystalline materials with covalent (between two non-metals) or ionic bond (between metal and non-
metal)
 Hard, brittle and withstands high temperature

Applications
 Cutting tools – Silicon carbide, alumina
 Glasses
 Bricks, sever pipes, roofing, lining of furnaces, refractory materials
 Cements
 Casings, insulators, substrates
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Polymers
Characteristics
 Organic materials with primary covalent and secondary bonds
 Very large molecules made up of small repeating units
 Low density, light weight materials
 Relatively low strength, high strength to weight, and temperature sensitive material
 High plasticity, transparent, semi-transparent, non-transparent
 Thermo-plastic and thermo-setting plastics
 Nylon, polystyrene, Teflon, bakelite, polycarbonate etc.

Applications
 All around us

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Composites
Characteristics
 Composed of two or more different materials
 Matrix + reinforcement = composite
 Properties can be tailored by varying the proportion of constituents

Applications
 Sports equipment (Golf club shafts, Tennis racket, bicycle frame)
 Aerospace
 Day-to-day life
 Concrete

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Advanced materials
Smart materials
 Piezoelectric materials – converts one form of energy into another
 Shape memory alloys – retains its original shape under certain conditions
 Chromoactive and Photoactive materials – respond to temperature, light

Bio-materials
 For components implanted into human body for the replacement of diseased/damaged body parts
 Must not produce toxic substance and must be compatible with human body
 Example: Hydroxy apetite, Polylactic acid, Bioactive glass, titanium alloys

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 Advanced materials
Semiconductor materials
 Electrical properties that are intermediate between electrical conductors and insulators
 Electrical properties are extremely sensitive to the presence of minute concentration of impurity atom (doping)
 Extremely controlled chemical purity – adjustable conductivity of electricity
 Opaque to visible light
 Shiny appearance
 Some have an electrical response to light
 Examples – Silicon, Germanium, Gallium Arsenide
 Applications – Mobile phones, laptops, refrigerator etc.

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 Objective

To learn about basics of crystal structure

 Mechanical properties: strength, ductility etc.

Because  Physical properties: density, melting point
it affects  Electrical and thermal properties: conductivity, melting point
 Magnetic properties

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How atoms are arranged?

Crystalline structure Non-crystalline/Amorphous structure

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 Crystalline structure Non-crystalline structure
Long range periodicity, repetitive pattern Entangled chain, no periodicity

Well-defined crystal structure Varying structure

Higher density Usually lower density
Sharp melting point Melts over a temperature range
Usually metals Usually non-metals

Can a material have two

different structures?

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What is crystal structure?
A time-invariant, 3D arrangement of atoms/molecule on a lattice is called crystal structure

Lattice : An array of points such that each point has exactly same surrounding

Possible only if number of points are infinite

 Possible to have 1D, 2D and 3D arrays

a a a a  Only one type of lattice

1-D lattice  Only one lattice parameter is required to
a a a
describe the lattice

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2-D lattice  They are infinite in two dimensions

b γ
a

 Three lattice parameters are required to describe the lattice

 Five types of lattice

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 a

Square Rectangle Centered rectangle

Rhombus Parallelogram
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3-D lattice  They are infinite in three dimensions

c
a b Space lattice : An infinite array of points in 3D space in which
each point is located identically with respect to the other

described by six parameters

3 distances (a, b, c) + 3 angles (α, β, γ)

Similar to 2-D lattices, there are several types of 3D lattices also

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 Basis/motif : The way of filling-up of points in a space lattice by the atoms. Each point may be
occupied by one or more than one atom

Types of unit cells (based

Unit cell = Space lattice + Basis/Motif
on basis)
 Monoatomic
Unit cell – Smallest building block or basic structure unit formed by  diatomic
joining identically spaced points is referred as a unit cell  multiatomic
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Sequence of structure

atoms Unit crystal grain bulk

cell

 A grain having only one crystal is

called single crystal or mono-crystal
 Difficult to achieve but possible

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Unit cells and crystals
Unit cells – Smallest and basic building block in the composition of material

Crystals – When unit cells repeat in a three-dimensional space, it results in a crystal

The structure of the crystal is defined by the structure of the unit cell

The combination of six lattice parameters (3 distance and 3 angles) result in seven crystal

systems

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Unit cell

Unit cell – Smallest building block or basic structure unit formed by joining identically spaced points is
referred as a unit cell

Unit cell = Space lattice + Basis/Motif

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Crystal

Crystals – When unit cells repeat in a three-dimensional space, it results in a crystal

The structure of the crystal is defined by the structure of the unit cell

Variables involved with unit cells are its geometry and position of atoms

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Bravais crystal system
Bravais classified 14 space lattices into 7 crystal systems, called Bravais crystal system
S.N. Unit cell Geometry Space lattice Example
Simple (SC) Po
1. a=b=c Points at the eight corners of the unit cell

Cubic Body centred (BCC) Fe, Na, V, Ta, Cr, W

α = β = γ = 90° Points at the eight corners and at the body centre
Face centred (FCC)
Points at the eight corners and at the six face centres Ni, Pt, Cu, Al, Au

a=b=c
2. Simple (SH) La, Pr, Nd,
Hexagonal α = β = 90°, γ = 120° Points at the eight corners outlined by a regular line Graphite

Simple (ST) Pa, In

3. a=b≠c Points at the eight corners of the unit cell
White Sn,
Tetragonal Body centred (BCT)
α = β = γ = 90° Points at the eight corners and at the body centre U (between 668°C - 774°C)

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 S.N. Unit cell Geometry Space lattice Example

4. a=b=c Simple (SR) B, SiO2

Points at the eight corners of the unit cell
Rhombohedral α = β = γ ≠ 90°
(or trigonal)
Simple (SO)
Points at the eight corners of the unit cell As, Sb, Bi
a≠b≠c End centred (ECO)
5. Points at the eight corners and at the face centres
Orthorhombic opposite to each other
CaSO4
α = β = γ = 90° Body centred (BCO)
Points at the eight corners and at the body centre
Face centred (FCO)
Points at the eight corners and at the six face centres S, Ga
6.
a≠b≠c Simple (SM)
Monoclinic NaSO4, CaSO4
Points at the eight corners of the unit cell
α = β = 90° ≠ γ End centred (ECM)
Points at the eight corners and at the face centres
opposite to each other
S

a≠b≠c Simple (STC) Kr Cr2 O7,

7. Points at the eight corners of the unit cell
α ≠ β ≠ γ ≠ 90° CuSO4
Triclinic

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Illustration of a few important systems

Effective number of
1.
atoms (Ne)= 1
Simple cubic
(SC)

2. Effective number of
Body centred atoms (Ne)= 2
cubic (BCC)

3.
Effective number of
Face centred
atoms (Ne)= 4
cubic (BCC)

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Important information
 Primitive cells – Those cells which contain atoms at corner lattice points only. Remaining cells are called non-
primitive unit cells

 Coordination number – Number of nearest and equidistant atoms with respect to any other atom in a unit cell

Coordination numbers
 SC – 6
 BCC – 8
 FCC – 12

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  How to calculate the density of a given metal?

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Atomic packing factor (APF)
volume of atom s in a unit cell
APF =
volume of unit cell
 Let us denote radius of atom with ‘r’ and lattice parameter with ‘a’

1. Simple cubic 2. BCC 3. FCC

D
r r
a r 2r
a 2r
a
r r C r
A B
a = 2r AD2
= AC2
+ CD2
AD2 = AB2 + BC2 + CD2 (4r)2 = a2 + a2
(4r)2 = a2 + a2 + a2 a = (2 2)r
4
a= r
3 APF = 0.74
APF = 0.52 APF = 0.68
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Theoretical density

mass 𝐦 mass of one atom × effective number of atoms in a unit cell (N )

density 𝛒 = =
volume 𝐯 volume of unit cell (V )

atomic weight (A)

mass of one atom =
Avogadro s number (N )

A
(N )N AN
or 𝛒 = or
V N V
where,
A – atomic weight (g/mol)
Ne – effective number of atoms per unit cell
Vc – volume of unit cell (cm3/unit cell)
NA – Avogadro’s number (6.022 X 1023 atoms/mol)

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Theoretical density
Question – Density of aluminum was measured in lab and found to be 2.75 g/cm3. If the atomic radius of
aluminum is 0.143 nm and atomic weight 26.98 g/mol, find the percentage error.

26.98 × 4
or 𝛒𝐭𝐡 =
2 2 × 1.43 × 10 × 6.022 × 10
𝛒𝐭𝐡 =2.708g/cm3

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Sequence of structure

atoms Unit crystal grain bulk

cell

 A grain having only one crystal is

called single crystal or mono-crystal
 Difficult to achieve but possible

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 Objective
 Miller indices
 Linear and Planar density

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Crystallographic directions and their family
 For certain crystal structures, several nonparallel directions with different indices have identical
spacing of atoms

 Such equivalent directions are grouped together into a family, and labeled in an angle bracket.
 For example, in cubic crystals, directions represented by [100], [010], [001], [100], [010], and [001]
are equivalent and represented by <100>
 Furthermore, directions in cubic crystals having the same indices without regard to order or sign—
for example, [123] and [ 213 ]— are equivalent.
z z [011]
[001]
[100] [101]

[010]
[010] y y
[100]
x x [110]
[001]
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Crystallographic Planes
 Crystallographic planes are specified by three Miller indices as (hkl)
 Decide the origin in such a way that origin should not be on the plane
 The length of the planar intercept for each axis is determined in terms of the lattice parameters a, b,
and c.
 The reciprocals of these numbers are taken. A plane that parallels an axis may be considered to have
an infinite intercept, and, therefore, a zero index.
 If necessary, these three numbers are changed to the set of smallest integers by multiplication or
division by a common factor.
 Finally, the integer indices, not separated by commas, are enclosed within parentheses, thus: (hkl).

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Important to know
 In case of direction, origin should be taken in such a way that the indices should pass through it

 For every problem, a new unit cell and a convenient origin can be considered

 Two parallel directions will have same indices

 Draw followings in a cubic unit cell

[121], (120), (013), [102], [211], (110), (100), (311)

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Crystallographic planes and their family
 Several nonparallel planes with different indices have identical atomic packing
 Such equivalent planes are grouped together into a family and labeled in a curly bracket
 For example, in cubic crystals, planes represented by (100), (010), (001), (100), (010), and (001) are
equivalent and represented by {100}
 Furthermore, planes in cubic crystals having the same indices without regard to order or sign—for
example, (123) and (213)— are equivalent.
 For hexagons, hkil indices are used for a four-coordinate system comprising a1, a2, a3 and c axes.

Relationship between Directions and Planes

 [uvw] is perpendicular to (hkl) if h = u, k = v and l = w

 If a plane (hkl) contains a direction [uvw] or if [uvw] is parallel to (hkl), then as per Weiss Zone

Law: hu + kv + lw = 0
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Interplanar spacing
 The spacing between a plane (hkl) and the other parallel plane passing through the origin is called
interplanar spacing d{hkl}

 For a cubic unit cell, d{hkl} = 𝑑 =

√( )
where, a is lattice constant and h, k, l are miller indices
 Members of the family of planes have same interplanar spacing

d{hkl}
y

x
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Linear density and planar density

number of atoms on the direction vector

Linear densit𝑦, 𝐿𝐷 =
length of the direction vector

number of atoms on the plane

Planar density, PD =
area of the plane

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Exercise
Calculate the linear density of [110] and planar density of (110) for bcc crystal.

1. Planar density of (110) for bcc

√2a
z
Number of atoms = 1 + [ × 4] = 2
a
a
Planar density, PD = 2/a.√2a = 2/√2a2
y
x

2. Linear density of [110] for bcc

a
z
Number of atoms = [ × 2] = 1
a
a
y Linear density, LD = 1/√2a
x

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LD and PD of important unit cells
Linear density
Crystal structure
SC BCC FCC
<100> 1/a 1/a 1/a
<110> 1/√2a 1/√2a √2/a
<111> 1/√3a 2/√3a 1/√3a

Planar density
Crystal structure
SC BCC FCC
{100} 1/a2 1/a2 2/a2
{110} 1/√2a2 √2/a2 √2/a2
{111} 1/√3a2 1/√3a2 4/√3a2

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 Objective
 Crystallographic defects

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 Defects (or imperfections)
Defects are inevitable particularly in polycrystalline solids; some properties are affected positively and
some negatively

1. Point Defect 2. Line Defect 3. Surface Defect 4. Volume Defect

1. Vacancy
i. Inclusion
2. Interstitial defect 1. Edge dislocation 1. Grain boundary
ii. Crack
3. Substitutional 2. Screw dislocation 2. Twin boundary
iii. Void
4. Frenkel 3. Mixed dislocation 3. Stacking fault
iv. Precipitates
5. Schottky

zero dimensional One dimensional Two dimensional Three dimensional

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 Point defects
Vacancy – Random missing of atom without any rule
n – number of vacancies/mole
N – Avogadro’s number
= exp(− ) where Qv – energy required for vacancy formation
k – Boltzmann’s constant
T – absolute temperature in Kelvin

Interstitial – An extra atom (usually foreign atom) occupies a void space

 If the interstitial atom > the site, the lattice experiences compression
 If the interstitial atom < the site, the lattice experiences tension

Vacant sites – vacancy

Substitutional – when a foreign atom substitutes a parent atom at its site
Substituting foreign atom – solute; Parent atom - solvent
– Interstitial  If the solute > solvent, the lattice experiences compression
 If the solute < solvent, the lattice experiences tension
, – Substitutional
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Point defects
Frenkel’s defect – An ion displaced from its regular position to an
interstitial location in an ionic solid. Electrical neutrality remains the
same.

Schottky’s defect – A pair of anion and cation goes missing in an ionic

crystal. Electrical neutrality remains the same.

Common source of point defects

– Anion – negative charged ion
 Mechanical deformation
– Cation – positive charged ion
 Thermal fluctuations and thermal shock
 High energy particle bombardment

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Line defects (Dislocations) – a one-dimensional defect around which some of the atoms
are misaligned

a 2a a
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Line defects (Dislocations)
Extra-half plane

a 2a a
half plane missing
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Line defects (Dislocations)

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Line defects (Dislocations)
Dislocations are region of localized lattice disturbance separating the slipped and unslipped region

 Edge dislocation: an extra half plane or missing half-plane of

atoms inserted into a perfect crystal
 The bottom edge of the half plane is the dislocation line
 The plane containing the dislocation is the slip plane

Edge dislocation

What is Burger’s vector?

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Dislocations and plastic deformation
 Usually, theoretical strength of metals is approximately shear modulus (G)/2π
 A lesser amount of stress for plastic deformation is required because of dislocations
 The movement of dislocations is called slip that actually causes plastic deformation
 Dislocations move along the slip plane
 Slip occurs in most closed packed direction over most closed packed plane
 Any thing that prevents the motion of dislocations results in hardening of the material

τ τ τ τ τ

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Line defects (Dislocations)

 Edge dislocation: burgers vector ⊥ dislocation line

 Screw dislocation: burgers vector ∥ dislocation line
 Mixed dislocation: burgers vector is inclined to
dislocation line
 Always remember line separating slipped and
unslipped line is called dislocation line

Screw dislocation

 A combination of edge dislocation and screw dislocation is

called mixed dislocations
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Edge dislocation vs screw dislocation

2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
1 2 2
1
1
2
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 1

Edge dislocation Screw dislocation

 Direction and magnitude of slip is characterized by the Burgers vector of the dislocation

Characteristic Edge dislocation Screw dislocation

Dislocation line Perpendicular to Burger’s vector Parallel to Burger’s vector
Slip direction Parallel to Burger’s vector Perpendicular to Burger’s vector

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 + =
Positive edge dislocation

Negative edge dislocation

+ =
 In edge dislocation – extra plane of atoms above the slip plane is considered positive edge dislocation
whereas extra plane of atoms below the slip plane is considered negative edge dislocation

Slip lines in Copper @ 500 X

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Useful information
 Sources of dislocation – Solidification, plastic deformation and thermal stresses (rapid cooling)
 Dislocation is measured in terms of dislocation density; unit – (length)-2

Repulsion Attraction

Edge dislocation Edge dislocation

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Movement of dislocations
Shear stress
B

C
A
D

Edge dislocation
What is cross-slip
Shear stress
and climb?

D
A C
B

Screw dislocation
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Slip systems
 Movement of dislocations is easier on certain planes and in certain directions
 The preferred plane – slip plane, preferred direction – slip direction
 Combination of slip planes and slip directions is called slip system
 slip plane – most dense atomic packing i.e. greatest planar density
 slip direction – most closely packed direction (highest linear density) in the slip plane

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FCC crystal

Slip plane: {111} Slip directions: <110>

Slip system: {111}<110>

Effective number of slip systems: 4 {111} X 3 <110> = 12

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Slip system for different crystal systems

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 Objective
 Slip system and plastic deformation of a single crystal

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Slip systems
For FCC crystal
 Movement of dislocations is easier on certain
planes and in certain directions
 The preferred plane – slip plane, preferred
direction – slip direction
 Combination of slip planes and slip directions is Slip plane: {111}
called slip system
 Slip plane – most dense atomic packing i.e.
greatest planar density
 Slip direction – most closely packed direction
(highest linear density) in the slip plane Slip direction: <110>

Slip system: {111}<110>

Effective no. of slip systems: 4 {111} X 3 <110> = 12
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Slip system for different crystal systems

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Resolved shear stress

 Dislocations move due to shear stresses applied along a slip plane and in a slip
direction
 Shear components exist at all but parallel or perpendicular alignments to the stress
direction. These are termed resolved shear stresses
 The magnitude of resolved shear stresses depend on the applied stress, crystal
structure and orientation of both the slip plane and direction
 Slip begins when the shear stress on the slip plane in the slip direction reaches a
critical value called as critical resolved shear stress

Single crystal
of zinc
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 Critical resolved shear stress and Schmid law
Let us assume for a single crystal
the angle between the normal to the slip plane and the tensile axis - Φ
the angle between the slip direction and tensile axis - λ

then
area of the slip plane = A/cos Φ
the component of the axial load acting in the slip plane in slip direction = P cosλ

𝑷𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝀 𝑷
and critical resolved shear stress (CRSS), 𝝉𝑹 = 𝑨 = 𝑨 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝓𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝀 = 𝝈𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝓𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝀
𝒄𝒐𝒔𝝓

𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜑𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜆 is called Schmid factor and inverse of Schmid factor is called Taylor factor

CRSS is maximum when φ = λ = 45° Schmid law – Slip occurs when the shear stress acting on the slip plane
in the slip direction reaches a threshold value. This critical stress is
CRSS is zero when φ or λ = 90° related to the stress required to move dislocations across the slip plane
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Calculation of angles

If, [u1v1w1] is tensile axis, [u2v2w2] slip direction and (hkl) is slip plane

𝑢 𝑢 +𝑣 𝑣 +𝑤 𝑤
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜆 =
𝑢 +𝑣 +𝑤 . 𝑢 +𝑣 +𝑤

𝑢 ℎ+𝑣 𝑘+𝑤 𝑙
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜙 =
𝑢 +𝑣 +𝑤 . ℎ +𝑘 +𝑙

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Exercise
 Determine the tensile stress that is applied along the [110] axis of a
silver crystal to cause slip on the (111) [011] system. The critical
resolved shear stress is 6 MPa

𝑢 𝑢 +𝑣 𝑣 +𝑤 𝑤 cos λ = 1/2
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜆 =
𝑢 +𝑣 +𝑤 . 𝑢 +𝑣 +𝑤

𝑢 ℎ+𝑣 𝑘+𝑤 𝑙 cos φ = 2/√6

𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜙 =
𝑢 +𝑣 +𝑤 . ℎ +𝑘 +𝑙

𝛕𝐑 = 𝛔𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝛟𝐜𝐨𝐬𝛌 σ = 14.7 MPa

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 Objective
Different types of surface defects and volume
defects

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Surface defects – 2-dimensional defects

External (or free) surface

Grain boundary

Twinning

Stacking fault etc.

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External (free) surface
 The crystal structure terminates along the external surface. Hence, surface atoms are bonded with
relatively lesser of neighbors and comprise higher energy state than the atoms at interior positions

Top and bottom layer atoms have

less number of neighbors

 To reduce this energy, materials tend to minimize, if at all possible, the total surface area
 For example, liquids assume a shape having a minimum area—the droplets become spherical
 Of course, this is not possible with solids, which are mechanically rigid

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Grain Boundary
 Polycrystalline solids are composed of a collection
of many small crystals or grains
 Some atomic mismatch exists within the region
where two grains meet; this area is called a grain
Tiny crystalline nuclei Growth of crystallites
boundary
 A grain boundary is a region of atomic disorder in
the lattice only a few atomic diameter wide
 Grain boundaries impede the motion of dislocations
Grain structure under Irregular grains
microscope
Fine grain size results in high strength Stages in the solidification of a polycrystalline material

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 Grain Boundary
 Crystallographic misalignment between adjacent grains < 10° is called
low angle grain boundary; otherwise high angle grain boundary
 Similar to the surface energy, grain boundary energy exists due to
atoms being bonded less regularly along a grain boundary
 For high-angle boundaries, the magnitude of this energy is larger
 Grain boundaries are chemically more reactive than the grains
themselves as a consequence of this boundary energy
 The total interfacial energy is lower in large or coarse-grained
materials than in fine-grained ones, because there is less total
boundary area in the former

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 Phase Boundary

 Phase boundaries exists in multiphase materials

 Two crystals having different crystalline
configurations result in interphase boundary
 Phase boundaries play an important role in
determining the mechanical characteristics of some
multiphase metal alloys

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Stacking fault
 The fcc and hcp structures can both be built from a stacking of close-packed planes of spheres
 Stacking faults are found in FCC metals when there is an interruption in the ABCABCABC . . . stacking
sequence of close-packed planes

A A A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B
C C C C C C
A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B B B
C C C C C C C
A A A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B
C C C C C C
A A A A A A A A A A

Stacking sequence – ABCABCABC… Stacking sequence – ABABABABAB…

Crystal type - FCC Crystal type - HCP
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Twin Boundary
 A twin boundary is a special type of grain boundary across
which atoms on one side of the boundary are located in
mirror-image positions of the atoms on the other side
 The region of material between these boundaries is
appropriately termed a twin.
 Mechanical twins - Mechanical shear forces;
 Annealing twins – annealing heat treatment following
deformation
 Twinning occurs on a definite crystallographic plane and in
a specific direction, both of which depend on the crystal
structure

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Twin Boundary
 The twins correspond to those regions having relatively straight and parallel sides and a different
visual contrast than the untwinned regions of the grains within which they reside.

12 August 2025 Materials Science and Engineering 81

Volume defect – 3-dimensional defects
Examples – Cracks, precipitates, inclusion, voids etc.

12 August 2025 Materials Science and Engineering 82

Volume defect – 3-dimensional defects

12 August 2025 Materials Science and Engineering 83

 Thank you

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 Objective
Grain size determination

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Grain Boundary – a boundary that distinguishes grains
 Grain boundary and grain size are directly related with each other
 Grain size affects the strength of a polycrystalline metal
 As per Hall-petch equation:

𝜎 = 𝜎 +𝑘 𝑑

where, σy – yield strength

σ0 – yield strength for a crystal with no
grain boundary
k1 – material constant
d – grain size diameter

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 Grain size determination
1. Intercept method
 Several straight lines of the same length are drawn through the micrograph that show the grain structure
 The grains intersected by each line segment are counted

𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 =
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠

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Grain size determination
2. ASTM (American society for testing and material) method
 The ASTM has prepared several standard comparison charts, all having different average grain sizes
 To each is assigned a number ranging from 1 to 10, which is termed the grain size number
 The grain structure is photographed at a magnification of 100x. Grain size is expressed as the grain
size number of the chart that most nearly matches the grains in the micrograph

where N – average grains per square inch at 100x

𝑁=2 n – ASTM Grain size

Average grain diameter, d = 1/√𝑁

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 Exercise
 Determine the ASTM grain size number if a micrograph reveals 75 grains per square inch at
100x. How many grains per square inch will be there if micrograph was taken at 70x.

𝑁=2
or log 𝑁 = 𝑛 − 1 𝑙𝑜𝑔2
log N
or 𝑛 = +1
log 2
or 𝑛 = 7.23

 At magnification other than 100x, 𝑀 where M – magnification

𝑁 =2 Nm – average number of grains per
the equation changes to 100
square inch at magnification M

therefore; N = 153.06 grains/inch

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 Exercise
 A micrograph was captured at 100x magnification and is shown below in Fig. 1. The dash lines in
the micrograph represent grain boundaries. Determine the ASTM grain size number for the
given micrograph.

 Grains terminated at the boundary are

counted as 0.5. Hence-
 Total number of grains = 5.5+10=15.5 grains
 Area of micrograph – 0.9 X 0.6 = 0.54 inch2
 Number of grains per square inch = 28.70 grains
 Because 𝑁 = 2
 ASTM grain size, n = 5.84

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 Thank you
and
Your questions?