Physics of Elasticity and Crystal Defects

This textbook is a modern take on an old subject at the heart of materials physics. Properties of crystalline materials are almost always controlled by structural defects within them. Until relatively recently these defects were studied theoretically using continuum elasticity theory which ignores the atomic structure of the host material. This book introduces the concepts of elasticity in the traditional continuum way and also in terms of atomic interactions. It goes on to present point (impurities, missing atoms), line (dislocations) and planar (faults, cracks) defects at both the continuum level and the atomic level. This novel approach will be new to most engineers and it will appeal to physicists. There are exercises for the student to work through, with complete solutions free to course instructors from the OUP website.

1 - Strain
2 - Stress
3 - Hooke's Law and Elastic Constants
4 - The Green's Function in Linear Elasticity
5 - Point Defects
6 - Dislocations
7 - Hybrid Models of Dislocations
8 - The Force on a Defect
9 - Cracks
10 - Open Questions

Educated in materials science at the Universities of Oxford and Pennsylvania, Adrian P. Sutton has worked for more than 40 years on theory and simulation of defects in crystalline materials. He has published more than 230 papers on electronic, atomistic and continuum level modelling of defects. In 2005 he was appointed to a Chair in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London. In 2009 he established and led the renowned Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) on Theory and Simulation of Materials at Imperial College. This book is based in part on a course he gave in the CDT for 10 years. He was elected to the Royal Society in 2003.