Comparison between edge and screw dislocation

S. Edge dislocation Screw dislocation

NO
1 These dislocations arise due to A screw dislocation provides for easy
introduction or elimination of an crystal growth because additional
extra row of atoms. atoms and unit cells can be added to
step of the screw.
2 Tensile, compressive and shear stress Only shear stress field exists.
fields may be present.
3 Region of lattice disturbance Region of lattice disturbance extends
extends along an dislocation line. in two separate planes at right angles
to each other.
4 Burger’s vector is always perpendicular Burger’s vector is parallel to the
to the dislocation line dislocation line.
5 These dislocation are formed during These dislocations are also formed
deformation and during crystallisation. during deformation and during
crystallisation.
6 An edge dislocation (pure) can glide A screw dislocation can glide only.
and climb

LINE DEFECTS

Line imperfections are called dislocations. A linear disturbance of the atomic arrangement, which can
move very easily on the slip plane through the crystal, is known as dislocation. The dislocation may be
caused during growth of crystals from a melt or form a vapor or they may occur during a slip.

The defect which takes place due to

dislocation of atoms along a line in same direction is called line defects. The line defects also takes place
when a central portion of a crystal lattice slips without affecting the outer portion. These are two types of
line defects:

a. Edge Dislocation
b. Screw Dislocation.

Both these defects are the most striking imperfections and are responsible for the useful property of
ductility in metals, ceramics and crystalline polymers.
Whenever the atoms are displaced in two separate planes perpendicular to each other then the defect so
produced is known as screw dislocation. Fig a: represents an isometric view of a perfect crystal. Fig b:
shows the displacement of atoms appear like that of a screw or helical surfaces.

In this type of dislocation shear stresses are associated with adjacent atoms and extra energy is
involved, along the dislocation. The successive atom planes are transformed into the surface of the helix of
screw by this dislocation which accounts for its name as screw dislocation. A screw dislocation has its
displacement of Burger's vector parallel to the linear defect but there is distortion of the plane.

Edge Dislocation

An edge dislocation may be described as an extra plane of atoms within a crystal structure. It
is accompanied by zones of compression and of tension so that there is a net increase in energy along a
dislocation.
The displacement distance for atoms around the dislocation is called 'burger's vector'. This vector is
at right angle to the edge dislocation.
 Whenever a half plane of atom is inserted between the planes of atoms in a perfect crystals then this
defect is produced Fig a: Shows a cross section of a crystal where dots represent atoms arranged in an
orderly manner. Fig b: Shows the displacement of atoms when an extra half plane is inserted from the top.
It may be noted from this Fig that top and bottom of the crystal above and below the line X-Y appears
perfect. If the extra half plane is inserted from top the defect so produced is represented by ┴ [inverted T]
as shown in Fig. and if the extra half plane is inserted from the bottom, the defect so produced is
represented by T.

The criterion of distortion is what is called the burgers vector. It can be determined if a closed
contour is drawn around a zone in an ideal crystal by passing from one site to another as shown in Fig. (a)
and then the procedure is repeated a zone in a real crystal containing a dislocation. As may be seen from
Fig. (b), the contour described in real crystal turns out to be unclosed. The vector required for the closing
the contour is the Burgers vector. The Burger's vector of an edge dislocation is equal to the inter atomic
space and perpendicular to the dislocation line.

Surface Defects:These are two dimensional imperfections that lies in the metal with polycrystalline
structures or they are also called as interfacial defects can be defined as boundaries that have two
dimensional imperfections in crystalline solids, and have different crystal structures and/or crystallographic
orientations on either side of them. They refer to the regions of distortions that lie about a surface having
thickness of a few atomic diameters. For example: external surfaces, grain boundaries, twin boundaries,
stacking faults, and phase boundaries. These imperfections are not thermodynamically stable, rather they
are meta-stable imperfections. They arise from the clustering of line defects into a plane.
External surface: The environment of an atom at a surface differs from that of an atom in the bulk;
especially the number of neighbors (coordination) at surface is less. Thus the unsaturated bonds of surface
atoms give rise to a surface energy. This result in relaxation (the lattice spacing is decreased) or
reconstruction (the crystal structure changes). To reduce the energy, materials tend to minimize, if
possible, the total surface area.
Grain boundaries: Crystalline solids are, usually, made of number of grains separated by grain boundaries.
Grain boundaries are several atoms distances wide, and there is mismatch of orientation of grains on either
side of the boundary as shown in figure-3.6. When this misalignment is slight, on the order of few degrees
(< 10°), it is called low angle grain boundary. These boundaries can be described in terms of aligned
dislocation arrays. If the low grain boundary is formed by edge dislocations, it is called tilt boundary, and
twist boundary if formed of screw dislocations. Both tilt and twist boundaries are planar surface
imperfections in contrast to high angle grain boundaries. For high angle grain boundaries, degree of
disorientation is of large range (> 15°). Grain boundaries are chemically more reactive because of grain
boundary energy. In spite of disordered orientation of atoms at grain
boundaries, polycrystalline solids are still very strong as cohesive forces present within and across the
boundary.

Twin boundaries: It is a special type of grain boundary across which there is specific mirror lattice
symmetry. Twin boundaries occur in pairs such that the orientation change introduced by one boundary is
restored by the other (figure-). The region between the pair of boundaries is called the twinned region.
Twins which forms during the process of recrystallization are called annealing twins, whereas deformation
twins form during plastic deformation. Twinning occurs on a definite crystallographic plane and in a specific
direction, both of which depend on the crystal structure. Annealing twins are typically found in metals that
have FCC crystal structure (and low stacking fault energy), while mechanical/deformation twins are
observed in BCC and HCP metals. Annealing twins are usually broader and with straighter sides than
mechanical twins. Twins do not extend beyond a grain boundary.
Stacking faults: They are faults in stacking sequence of atom planes. Stacking sequence in an FCC crystal is
ABC ABC ABC …, and the sequence for HCP crystals is AB AB AB…. When there is disturbance in the stacking
sequence, formation of stacking faults takes place. Two kinds of stacking faults in FCC crystals are: (a) ABC
AC ABC…where CA CA represent thin HCP region which is nothing but stacking fault in FCC, (b) ABC ACB
CABC is called extrinsic or twin stacking fault. Three layers ACB constitute the twin. Thus stacking faults in
FCC crystal can also be considered as submicroscopic twins. This is why no microscopic twins appear in FCC
crystals as formation of stacking faults is energetically favorable. Stacking fault energy varies in range 0.01-
0.1 J/m2. Lower the stacking fault energy, wider the stacking fault, metal strain hardens rapidly and twin
easily. Otherwise, metals of high stacking fault energy i.e. narrower stacking faults show a deformation
structure of banded, linear arrays of dislocations.
Phase boundaries exist in multiphase materials across which there is sudden change in physical/chemical
characteristics.
The top and bottom faces of the unit cell consist of six atoms that form regular hexagons and surround a
single atom in the center. Another plane that provides three additional atoms to the unit cell is situated
between the top and bottom planes. The atoms in this mid-plane have as nearest neighbors atoms in both
of the adjacent two planes. The equivalent of six atoms is contained in each unit cell; one-sixth of each of
the 12 top and bottom face corner atoms, one-half of each of the 2 center face atoms, and all 3 mid-plane
interior atoms. If a and c represent, respectively, the short( basal) and long 9 height) parameters of unit cell
dimensions of Fig a, the c/a ratio should be 1.633 . The coordination number and the atomic packing factor
for the HCP crystal structure are the same as for FCC: 12 and 0.74, respectively

Volume defects: as name suggests are defects in 3-dimensions. These include pores, cracks, foreign
inclusions and other phases. These defects are normally introduced during processing and fabrication
steps. All these defects are capable of acting as stress raisers, and thus deleterious to parent metal’s
mechanical behaviour. However, in some cases foreign particles are added purposefully to strengthen the
parent material. The procedure is called dispersion hardening where foreign particles act as obstacles to
movement of dislocations, which facilitates plastic deformation. The second-phase particles act in two
distinct ways – particles are either may be cut by the dislocations or the particles resist cutting and
dislocations are forced to bypass them. Strengthening due to ordered particles is responsible for the good
high-temperature strength on many super-alloys. However, pores are detrimental because they reduce
effective load bearing area and act as stress concentration sites.