Bulk Defects

Bulk defects occur on a much bigger scale than the rest of the crystal defects discussed in this section. However, for the sake of completeness and since they do affect the movement of dislocations, a few of the more common bulk defects will be mentioned. Voids are regions where there are a large number of atoms missing from the lattice. The image to the right is a void in a piece of metal The image was acquired using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Voids can occur for a number of reasons. When voids occur due to air bubbles becoming trapped when a material solidifies, it is commonly called porosity. When a void occurs due to the shrinkage of a material as it solidifies, it is called cavitation.

Another type of bulk defect occurs when impurity atoms cluster together to form small regions of a different phase. The term ‘phase’ refers to that region of space occupied by a physically homogeneous material. These regions are often called precipitates. Phases and precipitates will be discussed in more detail latter.