STRUCTURE OF METALS Metals account for about two thirds of all the elements and about 24% of the

mass of the planet. They are all around us in such forms as steel structures, copper wires, aluminum foil, and gold jewelry. Metals are widely used because of their properties: strength, ductility, high melting point, thermal and electrical conductivity, and toughness. These properties also offer clues as to the structure of metals. As with all elements, metals are composed of atoms. The strength of metals suggests that these atoms are held together by strong bonds. A reasonable model would be one in which atoms are held together by strong, but delocalized, bonds. Coordination Number The coordination numbers of the four structures of metals are summarized in the table below. It is easy to understand why metals pack in hexagonal or cubic closest-packed structures. Not only do these structures use space as efficiently as possible, they also have the largest possible coordination numbers, which allows each metal atom to form bonds to the largest number of neighboring metal atoms. Coordination Numbers for Common Crystal Structures Structure simple cubic body-centered cubic hexagonal closest-packed cubic closest-packed Coordination Stacking Number Pattern 6 8 12 12 AAAAAAAA. . . ABABABAB. . . ABABABAB. . . ABCABCABC. . .

Types of Metal Structure Simple Cubic Packing When a solid crystallizes, the particles that form the solid pack as tightly as possible. To illustrate this principle, let's try to imagine the best way of packing spheres, such as ping-pong balls, into an empty box. Each sphere in this structure touches four identical spheres in the same plane. It also touches one sphere in the plane above and one in the plane below. Each atom in this structure can form bonds to

its six nearest neighbors. Each sphere is therefore said to have a coordination number of 6. A simple cubic structure is not an efficient way of using space. Only 52% of the available space is actually occupied by the spheres in a simple cubic structure. The rest is empty space. Because this structure is inefficient, only one element polonium crystallizes in a simple cubic structure. Body- centered Cubic Packing Each sphere touches four spheres in the plane above and four more in the plane below, arranged toward the corners of a cube. Thus, the repeating unit in this structure is a cube of eight spheres with a ninth identical sphere in the center of the body in other words, a body-centered cube, as shown in the figure below. The coordination number in this structure is 8.

Closest-Packed Structures Each sphere touches three spheres in the plane above, three spheres in the plane below, and six spheres in the same plane, as shown in the figure below. Thus, the coordination number in a hexagonal closest-packed structure is 12.

Cubic Closest-Packed Structure Each sphere in this structure touches six others in the same plane, three in the plane above, and three in the plane below, as shown in the figure below. Thus, the coordination number is still 12.

MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR, TESTING PROPERTIES 1. Tensile Testing Tensile tests are usually carded out on wire, strip or machined samples with either circular or rectangular cross section. Test pieces are screwed into or gripped in jaws and stretched by moving the grips apart at a constant rate while measuring the load and the grip separation. 2. Impact Strength Impact strength is measured by allowing a pendulum to strike a grooved machined test piece and measuring the energy absorbed in the break (AS1544). The Izod test is at ambient temperature while the temperature controlled Charpy test (AS1544.2) uses typically 10x10mm, rectangular cross section samples cut at specified orientations to the material axes. The absorbed energy decreases at lower temperatures. Absorbed energies >27J are generally considered satisfactory. In ferrous materials a low ductile to brittle transition temperature is important for structures such as LPG tanks so that they will not suffer catastrophic brittle failure when chilled. 3. Hardness Testing Hardness is not an intrinsic property of a material. The values ascribed are due to a complex combination of deformation and elastic behaviour. Types of Testing Vickers (AS1817) which uses a microscope to measure the depression caused on a polished surface by a diamond indenter with a load of kilograms. Brinell (AS1816) which uses large loads (up to 3000kg) on a rough polished surface and gives impressions from 2 to 6mm. Rockwell (AS1815) which forces a pointed probe into the surface and measures the increase in penetration when the load is increased from one level (minor load) to another (major load). The penetration is in tens of micrometres and if the sample deforms or moves, significant errors may arise. Rebound (AS2731) where the bounce of a ball indicates the resistance to surface deformation (i.e. hardness).

Electronic rebound (ASTM A956) which uses the ratio of spring driven impact velocity to rebound velocity to give an LD value which is converted into conventional hardness numbers, and Microhardness where loads less then 1kg are used for Vickers or Knoop indenters. Knoop indenters are common in the USA where they are used for thin sheet. There is good evidence that loads of less than 100gm give significant inaccuracies in results. Scratch (Mohs) or file tests are fairly qualitative and imprecise. All of these hardness techniques deform the surface and if the surface is non uniform or there are variations in hardness through the material or an indent is too close to an edge or another impression, then inaccuracies occur. A practical check on all but the Rockwell and rebound methods, is that the impression on the surface is clear and symmetrical. When hardness values are used to estimate ultimate strength, errors will occur if the material is cold worked or, in the case of steel, austenitic. The conversion does not give an estimate of yield strength. 4. Corrosion Resistance Testing Corrosion tests are not usually required unless the material is to be used for the carriage of dangerous goods or it is a corrosion resistant alloy (usually a stainless steel) in which case tests may be carried out on as-supplied and as-finished material.

Mechanical Properties of Materials 1. Strength Strength has several definitions depending on the material type and application. Before choosing a material based on its published or measured strength it is important to understand the manner in which strength is defined and how it is measured. When designing for strength, material class and mode of loading are important considerations.

2. Elastic limit The elastic limit is the highest stress at which all deformation strains are fully recoverable. For most materials and applications this can be considered the practical limit to the maximum stress a component can withstand and still function as designed. Beyond the elastic limit permanent strains are likely to deform the material to the point where its function is impaired. 3. Proportional limit The proportional limit is the highest stress at which stress is linearly proportional to strain. This is the same as the elastic limit for most materials. Some materials may show a slight deviation from proportionality while still under recoverable strain. In these cases the proportional limit is preferred as a maximum stress level because deformation becomes less predictable above it. 4. Yield Strength The yield strength is the minimum stress which produces permanent plastic deformation. This is perhaps the most common material property reported for structural materials because of the ease and relative accuracy of its measurement. The yield strength is usually defined at a specific amount of plastic strain, or offset, which may vary by material and or specification. The offset is the amount that the stress-strain curve deviates from the linear elastic line. The most common offset for structural metals is 0.2%.

Ultimate Tensile Strength The ultimate tensile strength is an engineering value calculated by dividing the maximum load on a material experienced during a tensile test by the initial cross section of the test sample. When viewed in light of the other tensile test data the ultimate tensile strength helps to provide a good indication of a material's toughness but is not by itself a useful design limit. Conversely this can be construed as the minimum stress that is necessary to ensure the failure of a material. 5. Ductility Ductility is a measure of how much deformation or strain a material can withstand before breaking. The most common measure of ductility is the percentage of change in length of a tensile sample after breaking. This is generally reported as % El or percent elongation. The R.A. or reduction of area of the sample also gives some indication of ductility. 6. Toughness Toughness describes a material's resistance to fracture. It is often expressed in terms of the amount of energy a material can absorb before fracture. Tough materials can absorb a

considerable amount of energy before fracture while brittle materials absorb very little. Neither strong materials such as glass or very ductile materials such as taffy can absorb large amounts of energy before failure. Toughness is not a single property but rather a combination of strength and ductility. 7. Fatigue ratio The dimensionless fatigue ratio f is the ratio of the stress required to cause failure after a specific number of cycles to the yield stress of a material. Fatigue tests are generally run through 107 or 108 cycles. A high fatigue ratio indicates materials which are more susceptible to crack growth during cyclic loading.

REFERENCES http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch13/structure.php http://depts.washington.edu/matseed/mse_resources/Webpage/Metals/metalstructure.htm http://engineershandbook.com/Materials/mechanical.htm