Quiz 2 Practice Selected Problems
1. The following equation gives the equilibrium vacancy concentration.
- Briefly describe the definition of vacancy.
- Rearrange the equation to be expressed with a linear relation. Sketch the graph
to show the linear relation along with labelled axes and the meaning of the slope.
Ans Apply natural logarithm to both sides of the equation and rearrange them
into a linear y = mx + c equation.
Ev Ev
ln(nv ) = ln (Nexp {- }) = lnN + ln (exp {- })
kT kT
Ev nv -Ev 1
ln(nv ) = lnN - rearrange into ln ( ) = ( )
kT N k T
- From the graph showing the vacancy concentration of two materials, which line
shows the material with higher vacancy formation energy (activation energy)?
Ans The black line shows material with higher vacancy formation energy.
- Given a piece of crystalline material, compare the vacancy and self-interstitial defect
concentration. Briefly justify your reason.
2. Copper (Cu) and platinum (Pt) both have the FCC crystal structure, and Cu forms a
substitutional solid solution for concentrations up to approximately 6 wt% Cu at
room temperature. Determine the concentration in weight percent of Cu that must
be added to Pt to yield a unit cell edge length of 0.390 nm.
Ans Compute the average atomic weight and density, assuming 100 g of the alloy.
malloy 100 g
davg = = ⋯ (1)
Valloy
CCu CPt
( g )+ ( g )
8.94 21.45
cm3 cm3
100 g
4×( )
CCu CPt
( g )+( g )
n × Aavg 63.55 195.08
davg = = mol mol ⋯ (2)
a3 × Na -7 3
(0.390 × 10 cm) × NA
Form (1) = (2), and substitute CCu + Cpt = 100 to solve the linear equation.
CCu = 5 wt% and CPt = 95 wt%
3. Cite the key differences between alloy and solid solution.
4. Aluminium AA1050 is observed under an optical microscope and the image (a) is
shown below.
If Aluminium AA1050 is etched by a strong base such as sodium hydroxide or
potassium hydroxide, what is the expected appearance of the etched surface under
an optical microscope? Justify the change in terms of defects in crystalline materials
and their properties.
Ans The strong base will etch off the materials along the reactive grain boundaries.
The corroded area will be seen under a microscope, revealing the pattern of grain
boundaries.
5. Cite the relative Burgers vector–dislocation line orientations for edge, screw, and mixed
dislocations.
6. Compute the radius r of an impurity atom that will just fit into an FCC octahedral site in
terms of the atomic radius R of the host atom (without introducing lattice strains)
7. Briefly describe twin boundaries.
8. A cylindrical specimen of a metal alloy 10 mm in diameter is stressed elastically in
tension. A force of 15,000 produces a reduction in specimen diameter of 0.007 mm.
Compute the Posson’s ratio for this material if its elastic modulus is 100 GPa.
9. The figure below shows the tensile engineering stress-strain behaviour for a
cylindrical specimen of a steel alloy with an unknown diameter and length of 80 mm.
- Identify/Calculate modulus of elasticity, yield strength, modulus of resilience, tensile
strength, and stress at fracture.
- What is the diameter of the specimen if it goes through yielding as the load reaches
15,000 N?
- What is the strain and elongation when a load of 7,000 N is applied?
