Tutoring of

METALLURGY

Matter states
gaseous
liquid
solid
Amorphous

Atoms are placed without

a particular order.

Metals
Crystalline

Atoms
are
placed
according to a precise
geometrical order.

Chemical bonds:
Van der Waals: related to the small variations of atoms
electronical charge.
Ionic : electrostatic bond between ions
Covalent: due to interaction of atomic orbitals
Metallic: the atoms valence electrons create an electronic
cloud on the whole lattice.
Electronic gas

high bond energy

The Body Cubic Centred Lattice (BCC)

Iron (untill 912C); Iron (from 1394C to 1538C); Chromium; Molibdenum;

Number of atoms per cell = 1 + 8*1/8 = 2

Volume of a single cell= a3 = 12.32 r3
Diagonal= 3 a = 4 r
Vatomi = 2

FC =

4
r 3 = 8.38 r 3
3

a=

4r
3

r = 0.124 nm (Iron)

Volume of atoms inside a single cell

Vatoms
= 0.68
Vcell

The Face Cubic Centred Lattice (FCC)

Iron (from 912C to 1394C); Alluminium; Nickel; Copper

Number of atoms per cell = 6*1/2 + 8*1/8 = 4

Volume of a single cell = a3 = 22.63 r3
4r
a=
Diagonal= 2 a = 4 r
2
Vat om i = 4

FC =

4
r 3 = 16.75 r 3
3

r = 0.124 nm (Iron)

Volume of atoms inside a single cell

Vatoms
= 0.74
Vcell

BCC

FCC

Cell Volume

12.32 r3

22.63 r3

Numbers of atoms

Available Volume
per atom

6.16 r3

5.66 r3

FC

68 %

74%

Hexagonal Lattice

Magnesium, Zinc, Titanium (untill about 882C)

Number of atoms per cell = 12*1/6 + 2*1/2+3 = 6

FC =

Vatoms
= 0.74
Vcell

Crystal

grans

Grain boundary

Defects inside crystal lattice:

point defects

Vacancies: some atoms are lacking inside the ordered

lattice
interstitial atoms: atoms, different from the lattice
ones, are placed inside void spaces inside the lattice
itself
Substitutional atoms: some atoms, different from the
lattice ones, replaces one or more atoms inside the
lattice.

Defects inside crystal lattice:

line defects

edge dislocation
screw dislocation
Edge Dislocation

The plastic deformation in metals is related to the dislocations

movement.

Thanks to the dislocations its possible to deform a material with

stresses much lower than a perfect crystal.

The grab
movement

The edge dislocation

moves parallel to force
direction.

The macroscopic plastic deformation of a metal is related

to the movement of a very high number of dislocations

Plastic deformation of polycrystalline metals

The shear bends, along which the dislocations movement
occurs, can be different depending on the kind of lattice.
The deformation of a crystal depends even on the
deformability of neighbour crystals.
The dislocation movement is obstructed by grain boundaries.

So, as the number of the grains increases, the dislocation

movement becomes harder and harder

Its more difficult to plastically deform a fine grained material,

even if, on the other side, this results in higher mechanical
properties

Strengthening Mechanisms
A metal can deform if the dislocations can move. So, in order
to make it stronger, we can do something to change its
condition.
Strengthening Mechanisms
Make the grain finer
Strain hardening
Alloying

Strain Hardening

If we deform at low temperature (for example room

temperature) soft materials, their mechanical properties
improve.
The strain hardening is due to the increased dislocation
density during plastic deformation

The dislocations can obstruct one each other during their movement

Strengthening due to chemical composition (alloying)

A metal alloy is a material with metal properties and made by at
least two chemical elements; at least one of these two element must
be a metal.
Heterogeneous
Alloy
Combination of different
solid phases (pure metals,
solid solutions, compounds)

Homogeneous

Solid solution

Substitutional

Interstitial

Compounds

Intermetallic

Interstitial

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 Solid Solution = macroscopically homogeneous mixture created by

the addition of a solute inside a pure metal that is the solvent. The
lattice is quite the same of the solvent one.
substitutional: the solute atoms replace solvent atoms inside the
solvent lattice

Ordered

Not ordered

interstitial: the solute atoms (usually of small dimensions) go

inside the void places inside solvent lattice; this can create a small
deformation of the lattice itself

Compound = its a solid solution with a certain chemical

composition that can be expressed as AxBy
intermetallics: they are made by different metals
linked by strong chemical bonds (ionic or covalent);
their properties are not metallic. Ex.: Mg2Pb, Mg2Sn
interstitial: they are made by metals togheter with
small dimensions atoms placed in lattice void spaces
Ex.: TiC, TaC, Fe4N, Fe3C.

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The strengthening by alloying is due to the lattice deformation

caused by solute atoms; this can obstruct dislocation movement

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