Crystal Plasticity

Abstract

Metals and igneous rocks are most common materials with crystalline microstructures. Their elastoplastic properties are attributed to the existence of slip planes. The face-centered cubic (f.c.c.) structure has slip planes along (111) directions, while body-centered cubic (b.c.c.) crystals have slip planes in the (110) family. Because of their denser packing, materials with a f.c.c. structure, such as aluminum, copper, gold, and silver, tend to be more ductile than materials with a b.c.c. structure, such as iron, chromium, tungsten, and niobium. But packing alone does not determine the absolute ductility of a given material.