In: Mechanical Engineering
It is observed that polycrystalline chromium has a higher tensile strength than single crystalline chromium. Propose a reason for this difference in tensile strength
Polycrystalline means Aggregate of several crystals or grains.The boundary between the grain is the grain boundary across which the orientation of the crystal changes.A general relationship between mechanical properties and grain size is given by the Hall-Petch equation .Finer grain size means more grain boundaries or higher grain boundary area per unit volume. Deformation in metals takes place by dislocation motion and grain boundaries act as obstacles to dislocation motion. Hence, presence of more grain boundaries (finer grain size) will increase the resistance to deformation and enhance the tensile strength.but in case of single crystalline chromium dislocattionz takes place very easily because of single grain boundary