Imperfections in Crystalline Solids
Imperfections in Crystalline Solids
Imperfections in Crystalline Solids
Chapter 4
TYPES OF IMPERFECTIONS
Point Defects
Line Defects
Edge Dislocations Screw Dislocations
Planar Defects
Grain Boundaries Tilt Boundaries Twin Boundaries Micro Cracks
POINT DEFECTS
A Point Defect involves a single atom change to the normal crystal array. There are three major types of point defects: vacancies,interstitials and impurities They may be built-in with the original crystal growth or activated by heat. They may be the result of radiation or electric current etc.,
VACANCIES:
A vacancy is the absecnce of an atom from a site normally occupied in the lattice.
INTERSTITIALS:
An interstitial is an atom on a non-lattice site. Theres need to be enough room for it, so this type of defect occurs in open covalent structures, or mettalic structures with large atoms.
IMPURITIES:
An impurity is the substitution of regular lattice atom with an atom that does not normally occupy that site. The atom may come from within the crystal,(e.g. a chlorine atom on a sodium site in a Nacl crystal) or from the addition of impurities.
Screw Dislocation:
BURGERS VECTOR
Burgers vector b is defined by burgers circuit. Looking along the positive direction of the dislocation of the line, make a clockwise circuit along the dislocation core of an equal number of steps to the right, down, to the left and up. The vector required to bring you back to your starting point is the Burgers Vector. The plane defined by the Burgers Vector and the line direction is the glide plane. Both the line direction and the burgers vector can be represented by miller indices .
EDGE DISLOCATION
An edge disloaction in a metal may be regarded as insertion or removal of an extra half plane of atoms in the crystal structure. The only severe disruption to the crystal structure occurs along the dislocation line (perpendicular to the page). Note that the perpendicular to the page, the line may step up or down.These steps are known as jogs.
SCREW DISLOCATION
Screw dislocation changes the character of the atom planes. The atom planes no longer exist separately from eachother. They form a single surface, like screw thread, which spirals from one end of the crystal to other. It is actually a helical structure because it winds up in 3D, not like a spiral that is flat. In the average crystal structure, there are ~1012 m of dislocation lines per m3 of crystal
PLANAR DEFECTS
A planar defect is a discontinuity of the perfect crystal structure across a plane. There are mainly four types of planar defects:
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
A Grain Boundary is a general planar defect that separates regions of different crystalline orientation (i.e. grains) within a polycrystalline solid. The atoms in the grain boundary will not be in perfect crystalline arrangement. Grain boundaries are usually the result of uneven growth when the solid is crystallising. Grain sizes vary from 1 m to 1 mm.
TILT BOUNDARIES
A Tilt Boundary, between two slightly mis-aligned grains appears as an array of edge dislocations.
TWIN BOUNDARIES
A Twin Boundary happens when the crystals on either side of a plane are mirror images of each other. The boundary between the twinned crystals will be a single plane of atoms. There is no region of disorder and the boundary atoms can be viewed as belonging to the crystal structures of both twins. Twins are either grown-in during crystallisation, or the result of mechanical or thermal work.
MICRO CRACKS
A Micro crack occurs where internal broken bonds create new surfaces. They are about 10 m in size and there is a tendancy to form on the surface of a solid rather than in the bulk. They also form at grain boundaries and other regions of disorder. The region across which the bonds are broken is known as the separation plane. Micro cracks are formed when there is abrasion (or impacts) with dust particles. They are important in determining how, and where, a solid may fracture. When a crystal has more than one type of atom, there will be Chemical as well as Physical disorder in the grainboundaries.
VOLUME DEFECTS
Volume defects are Voids, i.e. the absence of a number of atoms to form internal surfaces in the crystal. They have similar properties to micro cracks because of the broken bonds at the surface.
THE END
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