Crystal defects that shape materials

At a glance

Category

Materials graphical abstracts

Method

Graphical abstract

Key result

3-nm-grain nickel yields at ≈4.2 GPa in a diamond anvil cell, ten times commercial nickel (Zhou et al. 2020); a Ti-4Al-5Mo-3V-5Cr-1Fe alloy with α-nanoprecipitates in ultrafine β-subgrains yields at ≈1929 MPa (Zhao et al. 2025)

Figure

1920 × 1080 px (16:9), 203 editable layers, 8 generated objects

Step by step

1. 0D · Point defectsVacancies enable diffusion; interstitial C, B or N gather at dislocations and pin them (Cottrell atmospheres) (Korte-Kerzel et al. 2026). Substitutional phosphorus donors in silicon, placed atom by atom, make single-atom transistors and qubits (Hofmann et al. 2023)
2. 1D · DislocationsLine defects that move readily under applied stress: the vehicle for plastic slip; in thermoelectrics they scatter phonons and lower the lattice thermal conductivity (Korte-Kerzel et al. 2026)
3. 2D · Grain boundariesYield stress rises linearly with the inverse square root of grain size (Hall–Petch) (Mourchid et al. 2021); the relation has been reported to break down near 10–15 nm grains (Zhou et al. 2020)
4. 3D · Precipitates and voidsNanoprecipitates impede dislocations (sheared or bypassed by Orowan looping) but often cost ductility (Zhang et al. 2025; Akçakale et al. 2026); voids nucleate at particles and lattice defects, grow and coalesce into ductile fracture (Wciślik & Lipiec 2022)

Papers this template follows

1. Korte-Kerzel, Rupert, Gianola, Sandlöbes-Haut & Xie, “Defect phases beyond grain boundaries”, MRS Bull. 2026. doi:10.1557/s43577-025-01044-0review
2. Zhou et al., “High-pressure strengthening in ultrafine-grained metals”, Nature 2020. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2036-zprimary
3. Hofmann, Stock, Warschkow, Conybeare, Curson & Schofield, “Room temperature incorporation of arsenic atoms into the germanium (001) surface”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023. doi:10.1002/anie.202213982primary
4. Mourchid, Boucenna & Carn, “Mechanical strength enhancement by grain size reduction in a soft colloidal polycrystal”, Soft Matter 2021. doi:10.1039/d1sm01486bprimary
5. Zhang et al., “Chemical short-range ordering in nanoprecipitates modulates planar faults to enhance mechanical properties”, Nano Lett. 2025. doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01602primary
6. Akçakale, Ishtiaq, Varol & Rizi, “Nanodefect-mediated strengthening and deformation mechanisms in magnesium alloys: a critical review”, Nanomaterials 2026. doi:10.3390/nano16110699review
7. Wciślik & Lipiec, “Void-induced ductile fracture of metals: experimental observations”, Materials 2022. doi:10.3390/ma15186473review
8. Zhao et al., “Designing ductile 2-GPa yielding titanium alloys via multifunctional subgrain boundaries and nanoprecipitates”, Adv. Sci. 2025. doi:10.1002/advs.202519918primary
9. Gammer & An, “Conditions near a crack tip: advanced experiments for dislocation analysis and local strain measurement”, MRS Bull. 2022. doi:10.1557/s43577-022-00377-4further reading

Drawn by LabCanvas after Korte-Kerzel et al., MRS Bull. 2026 (doi:10.1557/s43577-025-01044-0); Zhou et al., Nature 2020 (doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2036-z); Hofmann et al., Angew. Chem. 2023 (doi:10.1002/anie.202213982); Mourchid et al., Soft Matter 2021 (doi:10.1039/d1sm01486b); Zhang et al., Nano Lett. 2025 (doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01602); Akçakale et al., Nanomaterials 2026 (doi:10.3390/nano16110699); Wciślik & Lipiec, Materials 2022 (doi:10.3390/ma15186473); Zhao et al., Adv. Sci. 2025 (doi:10.1002/advs.202519918); Gammer & An, MRS Bull. 2022 (doi:10.1557/s43577-022-00377-4).

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