Solid solution strengthening

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Solid solution strengthening" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In metallurgy, solid solution strengthening is a type of alloying that can be used to improve the strength of a pure metal.^[1] The technique works by adding atoms of one element (the alloying element) to the crystalline lattice of another element (the base metal), forming a solid solution. The local nonuniformity in the lattice due to the alloying element makes plastic deformation more difficult by impeding dislocation motion through stress fields. In contrast, alloying beyond the solubility limit can form a second phase, leading to strengthening via other mechanisms (e.g. the precipitation of intermetallic compounds).