Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2015 Paper 1 7 c Solution 2026-10-20
Orowan bypass bows a dislocation around an unshearable obstacle and leaves a loop. A dislocation line-tension estimate for a segment with tension gives the limiting shear-stress scalewhere is a free obstacle gap on the slip plane. For an FCC perfect dislocation,Using and the simple gap estimate givesConverting to tensile stress requires an orientation factor. With an explicitly assumed polycrystalline FCC Taylor factor ,The graph and spacing approximations do not justify a precise last digit. A favorably oriented single crystal with Schmid factor1/2 would instead give , around110MPa.
This is a line-tension estimate. A true slip-plane obstacle distribution, line character, logarithmic elastic corrections and precipitate size distribution are not specified. If the quoted pitch is used directly as an effective free spacing, neglecting diameter, the same simplified calculation gives and . The larger gap-corrected estimate explicitly uses the size inferred above; the tensile factor and spacing convention must not be silently treated as provided measurements.