Deformation of metal

The change produced in the shape of the metal piece under the action of action of a single force or a set of the force is known as deformation or mechanical deformation. Classification of metal deformation : Elastic deformation Plastic deformation

ELASTIC DEFORMATION The term elastic deformation may be defined as the process of deformation which appears and disappears simultaneously with the application and removal of stress. It has been observed that whenever a stress of low magnitude is applied to piece of metal , it cause displacement of atoms from their original positions. But on the removal of the stress, the atom takes spring back and occupy the original positions. In the elastic deformation the tensile strain is due to a slight elongation of the unit cell in the direction of the tensile load. The compressive strain is due to a slight contraction of the unit cell in the direction of the compressive load.

ELSTIC DEFORMATION

With tensile load

PLASTIC DEFORAMATION
The term plastic deformation may be defined as the process of permanent deformation which exist in a metal even after removal of the stress. It is due to this property that the metal may be subjected to various operation like forging , drawing, spinning etc. The plastic deformation in crystalline material occurs at temperature lower than 0.4 Tm

Comparison between Elastic and Plastic deformation Sr. Elastic deformation No .

1 It is a deformation which appears and disappears with the application and removal of stress. The elastic deformation is the beginning of the progress of deformation

Plastic Deformation
It is permanent deformation which exist even after the removal of stress. The plastic deformation takes place after the elastic deformation has stopped Over a wide range of stress strain diagram.

It takes place over short range of stress strain curve.

Modes of plastic deformation: The plastic deformation may occur, Slip Twinning Slip: The term slip , may be defined as a shear deformation ,which moves the atoms through many inter-atomic distances, relative to their initial positions. The deformation by slip is as shown in fig.

Before slip Slip plane

After slip

Slip line

Mechanics of Slip: Fig shows the simplified mechanics of slip.in this case the slip is shown to occur by the translation of one plane of atom over another. Fig(1) shows the position of atoms in two adjacent planes of a hypothetical crystal before slip. While fig(2) shows the movement of atom of the upper plane towards left on the application of shear stress that shows new position of atom after the slip has taken place.

 The value of shear stress required for such movement of atoms in a perfect lattice (called theoretical shear strength ) is approximately equal to the value of shear modulus divided by 6 In actual practice the value of shear stress is required is 100 times less than the theoretical value. The experimental evidence shows that the mechanism of slip is actually due to the movement of dislocation in the crystal lattice. Since the mechanics of slip requires the growth and movement of dislocation line ,there fore energy is required for this purpose. The energy of a dislocation line is given by the relation, E l.G.b2, Wr, l= length of dislocation line, G= shear modulas , b=unit slip or berger vector.

Twinning: The term twinning , may be defined as the plastic deformation, which takes place along two planes due to a set of forces applied on a given metal piece. The process of twinning shown in fig.
A C

B
D

 It may be noted that process of deformation b/w the two planes AB and CD is similar to that of slip . Whereas the arrangement of the atoms on either side of the twinning planes (i.e., towards left of AB and right CD) remains unaffected . It has been observed that a metal , usually , deforms by twinning only if it is unable to slip. Moreover , the deformation produced by twinning is small.

 Mechanism of twinning:
In twinning process ,the movement of atoms is only a fraction of inter-atomic distance. The line AB and CD represents the planes of symmetry, from wr the twinning starts and ends respectively. These planes are known as twinning planes. It has been observed that the crystals twin about the twinning planes. And the atoms in the regions to the left of the twinning plane AB and right of the twinning planes CD remains undisturbed wr as in the twinned region, each atoms moves by a distance proportional to its distance from the twinning plane AB.

 Comparison between slip and twinning

Sr.N o. Slip Twinning

The deformation takes place due to the sliding of atomic planes over the others. however the orientation of the crystal above and below the slip plane is the same after deformation as before.
the atomic movement are over large distances. It requires lower stress for atomic movements It occurs on widely spaced

The deformation takes place due to orientation of one part of the crystal with respect to the other. the twinned portion is mirror image of the original lattice.

The atomic movement are over a fraction of atomic spacing. It requires higher stress for atomic movements. It occurs on every atomic plane

Work hardening: it is also called strain hardening . The term work hardening may be defined as a process of deforming a metal at room temperature to improve its hardness , tensile and fatigue strength etc. .we know that whenever a metallic piece is subjected to a load , beyond its elastic limit , some plastic deformation takes place. As matter of fact ,this deformation takes place due to slipping of the atomic planes. it has been observed that the slipping takes place more easily in those planes which has favorable orientation i.e. This decreases the resistance of metal against plastic deformation and the work piece is known to be work hardened or strain hardened. It has been observed that the work hardening produces internal stresses in the metal.These stresses are produced due to : pilling up of dislocations grain boundaries Distorsion of grains due to loading. It will be interesting to know that the work hardening improves the hardness, strength of metals like iron ,cu,Al ,nickel,etc.

 It decreases the ductility and electrical conductivity of the metals.

 During cold working a certain amount of work done on the metal is stored internally in the form of strain energy. This energy produces internal stresses in a cold worked metal, which leads to the cracking of the metals. In order to relieve the metal from internal stresses , a particular process heat treatment called annealing is used. In this process , the metal is heated to a temperature below the melting point. In doing so the metal loses its stored energy and comes back to its strain free conditions. It has been observed that the metal losses its stored energy in the following three stages:

Annealing of a cold worked metal

 Recovery Recrystallisation Grain growth

Recovery
The term recovery may define as the process of removing internal stresses , in a metal by heating it to relatively low temperature which is , usually , below the melting point. It has been observed that the recovery process does not effect the grain structure but it removes the internal stresses only. Moreover ,the recovery process does effect the hardness and strength. But it increases the ductility of the material. As a result of the cold working , the dislocation pileup at the grain boundaries. During the process of recovery , dislocations start reducing and rearranged themselves . They do so through mechanism known as polygonization. In this mechanism ,the dislocation line out of their slip plane and rearranged themselves in a lower energy configuration.

Recrystallisation
The terms recrystallisation may be define as the process of forming strain free new grains, in a metal , by heating it to a temperature known as recrystallisation temperature. It may be noted that the recrystallisation is , usually , the temperature at which abut 50% of the cold worked metal recrystallises in one hour. It has been observed that the formation of new grains in recrystallisation takes place through the following three processes. Nucleation Primary grain growth secondary grain growth It will be interesting to know ,that during the nucleation , small strain free nuclei are formed at the grain boundaries wr the deformation is very high these nuclei grow in to strain free grains during primary grain growth . These grains meet each other and replaced the old grains by the new ones. during the secondary grain growth , these new grain grow at the expense of others . At the end of its stage , the grains are , usually , of very small size but of the same shape.

 The factors which affect the recystallisation process , are time of heating , temperature prior to deformation , impurity and alloy etc

Grain growth
The term grain growth may define as the process of forming strain free grains larger in size in metal by heating it to a temperature above that of recrystallization. It may be noted that the recrystallisation produces strain free new grains. These grains are of smaller size , but of equal shape. When the temperature is increased above recrystallisation , these grains grow in size and the growth of grains takes place even during the recrystallisation. but the growth rate is slow and becomes rapid with the increases of temperature. The grain growth takes place due to the combination of individuals grains, thereby reducing their boundary area . As a result of this ,the total energy decreases and the grains become stable.

 The factors , which affect the growth rate , are time of heating ,temperature , degree of cold work and addition of impurities. It has been observed that the grain growth results in the decrease of hardness and strength as well as increases in ductility.

Variation of mechanical properties