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Philosophical Magazine
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To cite this article: G. W. Groves & A. Kelly (1963): Independent slip systems in crystals,
Philosophical Magazine, 8:89, 877-887
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786436308213843
[ 877
ABSTRACT
The slip systems observed in a number of crystal structures common
amongst metals and simple ceramic materials are examined t o me whether they
allow the crystal to undergo an arbitrary strain without change of volume.
For most materials, other than f.c.0. and b.c.c. metals, there are insufficient
independent slip systems. The condition under which cross slip can give
rise to extra independent systems is stated. The results explain in a natural
way recent experimental Gndings on the ductility of polycrystals with the
sodium chloride structure.
Q 1. INTRODUCTION
von Mises (1928) first pointed out that for a crystal to be able to undergo
a general homogeneous strain by slip, five independent slip systems are
necessary. This result is often quoted in the literature and it has been
used in studies of face-centred cubic metals in connection with the number
of slip systems found to operate near grain boundaries (Livingston and
Chalmers 1957, Kocks 1958, Hauser and Chalmers 1961) and in theoretical
attempts to deduce the polycrystalline stress-strain curve from that of a
single crystal (Taylor 1938, 1956, Bishop and Hill 1951 a, b, Bishop 1953).
von Mises also gave a simple method of determining whether or not slip
systems are independent. Nowhere in the literature is there an account of
the application of this to crystals with structures other than those of the
f.c.c. metals.
I n view of the growing volume of work on plasticity of materials with
crystal structures and slip systems quite different from those of f.c.c.
metals it seems worth while to describe von Mises method and the results
of testing a number of simple crystal structures to see hoy many independent slip systems they usually possess. Further, the number of slip
systems observed in a given crystal structure can alter with temperature.
This can lead to a sudden change in the mechanical properties which
finds a ready explanation in terms of von Mises result. I n the course of
this work we have also found that the results for f.c.c. metals have a simple
geometrical interpretation.
Q 2. VON MISES RESULT
Slip or glide leads on a macroscopic scale (i.e. if one considers a volume
containing many slip bands) to the translation of one part of a crystal
relative to another by a motion corresponding to a simple shear. A
single simple shear determines the value of one of the independent components of the strain tensor. Since plastic flow usudly occurs without a
P.M.
3 M
878
Ex
+ cy + c2= 0.
von Mises (1928) noted that since the operation of one slip system produces
only one independent component of the strain tensor, then five independent
slip systems are needed to produce a general, small, homogeneous strain
without change in volume.
To determine whether a given crystal possesses sufficient slip systems we
proceed as follows (von Mises 1928, Bishop 1953). Write down the components of the strain tensor produced by an arbitrary amount of glide on a
given slip system. Call these components cZ', ey , eZ , eXyI , e X 2,
. Do
the same thing for four other slip systems, referring the strain tensor to the
same set of axes as before. Finally, since the three tensile strains are not
independent of one another, form the five by five determinant of the
quantities ex' ey' - e Z1, c X y 1 , eZBI, c y z l ; exa - cyU, E ~ " E;,
%yl' *
If this determinant has a value other than zero, then the five chosen slip
systems are independent of one another, since the determinant will equal
zero if any row can be expressed as a linear combination of other rows.
Provided then that the value of the determinant is other than zero, one has
chosen five slip systems which are independent of one another in the sense
that the operation of one of them produces components of the strain tensor
which cannot be expressed as linear combinations of the components
produced by the operation of the other slip systems.
Physically, the above amounts to saying that a slip system is independent
of others provided its operation produces a change in shape of a crystal
which cannot be produced by a suitable combination of amounts of slip
on those other systems.
Since five independent slip systems suffice to produce an arbitrary strain
without change in volume, it is apparent that a crystal cannot possess more
than five independent systems.
I
5 3.
EXPRESSION
FOR THE STRAIN
COMPONENTS
We need a simple method for writing down the components of the strain
tensor produced by glide on a given slip system. The following method is
convenient (Bishop 1953, Livingston and Chalmers 1957). We define a
glide system by a unit vector n normal to the glide plane, with components
nx, ny, n, parallel to a n orthogonal set of axes x, y, z, and by a unit vector
p in the glide direction with corresponding components px, &,, pa. The
components of the strain tensor are then:
e x = m X p x;
ey = an,& ;
+ n,Bx) ;
Exy =
2B,y.(
EVE=
-2 (n,Bz + nsB,)
and
c, = olnzpz;
Exz =
a (nxB2+%Px)
879
5 4. RESULTS
4.1. F.C.C. Metals
Consider a f.c.c. metal crystal. The usual slip systems are the family
{ 1 1 1}( 110). There are 12 physically different slip systems. We evaluate
the components of the strain tensor referred to axes parallel to the conventional cell edges. For the slip system (lll)[lIO] we have for the components of n and p :
sy=o,
Ex,=
--
22/6 '
EyZ=
61
22/6
'
Proceeding similarly one can write down the components of the strain
tensor produced by operation of any of the physically different slip systems
in the { 11 1}( 110) family. Only five of these are independent. The
selection of five independent ones can be made in a number of ways. This
selection can be illustrated in terms of Thompson's tetrahedron, which is a
regular tetrahedron with vertices A, B, C, D and a, 8, y, 6 the midpoints
of the opposite faces respectively. A slip direction corresponds to an edge
of the tetrahedron and a slip plane normal can be designatsd by one of the
letters 01, /3, y , 6. Thus (AB), corresponds to slip in the [Oll] direction on
the ( i i l ) plane. A possible set of five independent slip systems is (AC),,
(AB),, (AD),, (AC),, (AB),. I n this crystal structure each slip direction lies
in two slip planes ; we might designate these the primary and the crossslip plane.
P.M.
3"
880
Any slip system can be expressed in terms of two others with either the
same primary slip plane or with the same cross-slip plane. Thus, for
example, we can write :
(DB),+(BC),+(CD),=O . . . . . (4.1a)
and
. . . . (4.1b)
(DB),+(BC),+(CD),=O.
These equations mean that equal shears on the three slip systems produce
zero net distortion of the crystal. It can be visualized that the operation
of the first set of shears (4-1a) produces no net displacement at any point,
while the operation of the second set (4-1b ) merely rotates the crystal about
the direction ALY,the normal t o the plane containing the slip vectors.
There is a third group of dependent sets, similar to those of (4.1b ) , for
example
. . . (4.lc)
(CD), (DC), (AB), (BA), = 0.
Again the slip vectors are co-planar and sum to zero, and their slip planes
are equally inclined to the plane containing the slip vectors. The application of this set merely rotates the crystal about the normal t o this plane,
i.e. about a (100).
In choosing five independent slip systems the above sets, and combinations of them, must be avoided. There are 384 different ways of doing
this (BishopandHill 1951 b).
Crystals with the sodium chloride structure possess the family of slip
systems {110}( 1TO). There are six physically distinct slip systems.
However, there are only two independent ones. Consider first (loi)[ioi].
Following the procedure in Q 3, and taking axes parallel to (001 ),
nz= 1 / 4 2 , n y = O ,
ns= 1 / 4 2 ,
Pz= - 1 / 4 2 ,
&=O,
jgB= 1 / 4 2 .
88 1
Whence ez= - a12, ez= 0~12. All other components of the strain tensor
are zero. Since 01 is an arbitrary constant defining the amount of slip we
Figure illustrating slip planes and directions for { l l O ) t l T l > slip in a cubic
crystal. 0 is the centroid of the reguIar tetrahedron ABCD. Slip
planes are planes such as AOC, COD, etc. Slip directions are directions
Aa, Bp, etc., the normals to the faces of the tetrahedron. If (110) ( n o )
slip is considered, the slip planes are the same but the slip directions are
the edges of the tetrahedron, AB, BC, etc.
can put it equal to 2. Proceeding similarly for the systems ( o l l ) [ o i i ] and
( ~ l o ) [ i l o we
] find for the respective components of the strain tensor :
It is clear that only two of these are independent and thus the change of
shape produced by slip on any one of these systems can be produced by a n
appropriate amount of slip on the other two. Since the three remaining
physically distinct slip systems merely correepond t o the interchange of
slip plane and direction with those we have just considered, there are in all
only two independent systems. A general deformation is thus not possible
by slip. I n particular the off-diagonal terms of the strain tensor are always
zero, so a deformation tending to change the angle between the crystal axes
cannot occur, e.g. a crystal slipping only on these systems cannot be twisted
about a (001 ) axis, nor extended along (1 11 ).
3NZ
882
The equivalence of slip on the various systems which reduces the number
of independent slip systems can again be seen from the figure, where now
the slip directions are the edges of the tetrahedron and the slip planes are
planes such as AOB, COD. There is only one slip direction in each slip
plane. Thus a symbol such as (AB),, represents slip in the direction AB
on the plane AOB, of which the normal is CD. It is immediately verified by
substituting in the relations of Q 3 that
(AB),,=(CD),,,
. . . . . . . (4.2)
and also that
(DB),,+(BC),D+(CD),,=O.
, . . . . (4.3)
(4.3) is the analogue in this structure of ( 4 . l b ) for f.c.c. metals. The
remaining relation, which with (4.2) and (4.3) ensures that no more than
two independent systems can be chosen, is :
(AC),,+(AD),,+(,4B),,=O.
. . . . . (4.4)
(4.4) is obtained by interchanging slip plane normal and slip direction in
(4.3).
There are 12 different pairs of independent slip systems in the NaCl
structure.
4.4. CsCl Structure
The family of slip systems is {100}(010) (Rachinger and Cottrell 1956).
These yield three independent systems. A general deformation is impossible. I n particular extensions parallel to the crystal axes cannot be produced. There are eight different ways of choosing three independent slip
systems.
883
5 5.
884
ill-defined and slip appears to be taking place upon any plane of which
the slip direction is zone axis. We shall call such a situation pencil glide.
Then it is easily seen by substitution in the relations given in Q 3 that glide
in any given slip direction will produce two independent components of the
strain tensor. There is, however, an important physical stipulation which
must be obeyed if two truly independent components of the strain tensor
are to be produced. This is best illustrated by an example. Suppose
pencil glide occurs in a crystal with the NaCl structure. Consider the slip
direction [ O l i ] . At low temperatures this possesses the slip plane (011)
and the components of the strain tensor produced are, for a strength of
deformation a,
Downloaded by [Stanford University Libraries] at 20:45 22 May 2012
-:I*
[: ;
When pencil glide occurs we can resolve the shears on to (011 ) and any other
plane in the zone with axis [OlT]. Suppose we take the second plane to be
(100). Then the components of the strain tensor due to the second shear
will be :
all2
-alp
a1/2
-a'/2
0
0
0O
1-
These two slip systems produce then two independent components of the
strain tensor, if and only if there is no necessary connection between a and
a'. Whether or not there is a connection between a and a' depends upon
the physical process by which pencil glide is produced. This may be
important for instance in deciding whether prismatic glide and basal glide
are independent in, for instance, magnesium.
There is a good deal of evidence from electron microscope and etch-pit
observations of the occurrence of a microscopic form of cross slip involving
essentially the motion of a screw dislocation out of its primary slip plane
for a short distance upon another slip plane, of indeterminate indices but
with zone axis along the screw, and subsequent cross slip of the screw
back onto the primary slip plane. Gilman and Johnston (1960) first
discovered this and called it multiple cross glide. As far as one can tell at
present the amounts of slip on primary and cross-slip plane are not independent of one another and hence there is a connection between a and 01'.
Such a process does not appear to provide two slip systems corresponding
to each slip direction.
When pencil glide occurs then a crystal need only possess, in general,
three non-coplanar slip directions in order for a general strain to be
possible.
$ 6. DISCUSSION
The analysis in Q 2 is valid for infinitesimally small strains. It may still
be applied to the large strains produced in plastic deformation by viewing
885
the components of the strain tensor as strain rates multiplied by a n infinitesimal length of time (von Mises 1928). This device avoids comparing a n
instantaneous configuration with an initial one and merely compares the
instantaneous configuration with one neighbouring in time. This is
usually done in theories of plasticity to avoid the mathematical difficulties
associated with a treatment of large strains.
The most obvious application of these results is to the deformation of
polycrystalline specimens. It is usually assumed, following Taylor, that
the deformation of a polycrystalline specimen can only proceed in general
without the production of voids provided the grains can undergo a general
strain. If this change in shape is to be produced by slip then five independent slip systems are necessary. As a very general rule it appears to be
found that when five slip systems are not available voids are formed during
plastic deformation of a polycrystalline aggregate. For example, a t low
temperature magnesium slips mainly on (OOOl} in a (1120) direction with
some (lOiO}( 1120) slip. Voids are formed a t very small strains (Hauser
et al. 1955).
The most convincing experimental evidence that five independent slip
systems are necessary for polycrystalline ductility comes from experiments
on crystals with the NaCl structure. At low temperatures where only
(1 lo}( 110) slip operates, polycrystals and even bicrystals are found to be
very brittle (Stokes and Li 1963). I n a compressed bicrystal there are in
general five conditions to be satisfied by the strains within the grains if they
are to remain in contact whilst deforming homogeneously : the two tensile
strains and the shear strain in the plane of the boundary must match in each
grain, and the strains along the compression axis must equal the imposed
strain (Livingston and Chalmers 1957). Since only four independent slip
systems are available, two from each grain, a general bicrystal cannot
deform so as to maintain contact a t the grain boundary. I n practice,
both bicrystals of MgO (Johnston et al. 1962,Westwood 1961) and polycrystals (Stokes and Li 1963, private communication) are observed to
fracture from a crack which forms at a grain boundary where a slip band
runs into it. The deformation of a general boundary produced by a slip
band in one grain cannot be accommodated by {llO}(liO) slip in the
neighbouring grain, since the three strain components in the boundary
plane, which must be matched, cannot, in general, be produced by the two
independent slip systems which are available. Stokes and Li (1963)also
show clearly that in silver chloride, sodium chloride and magnesium oxide,
a t low temperatures, the rate of strain hardening after the yieldpoint (which
corresponds to plastic flow occurring in some of the grains) is extremely
rapid. This can be understood since the total plastic strain obtainable
before fracture will only be of the same order as the elastic strain. Similar
behaviour is found for LiF (Budworth and Pask 1963). Stokes and Li
(1962)have also shown that when large amounts of pencil glide are observed
in silver chloride and sodium chloride then appreciable plastic extensions
of a polycrystal are obtained. The same is true of LiF (loc. cit.). All
886
887
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