Slip (materials Science)

Slip (materials Science)

In materials science, slip is the process by which a dislocation motion produces plastic deformation. An external force makes parts of the crystal lattice glide along each other, changing the material's geometry. Depending on the type of lattice, different slip systems are present in the material. More specifically, slip occurs between planes containing the smallest Burgers vector. The picture on the right shows a schematic view of the slip mechanism.The slip planes and slip directions in a crystal have specific crystallographic forms. The slip planes are normally the planes with the highest density of atoms, i.e., those most widely spaced, and the direction of the slip is the direction in the slip plane that corresponds to one of the shortest lattice translation vectors. Often, this is the direction in which atoms are most closely spaced. A slip plane and a slip direction constitute a slip system. A characteristic shear stress is required to initiate a slip. Slip is an important mode of deformation mechanism in crystals. Slip induces plasticity in most of the metals.