Slip (materials science)

In materials science, slip is the large displacement of one part of a crystal relative to another part along crystallographic planes and directions.^[1] Slip occurs by the passage of dislocations on close/packed planes, which are planes containing the greatest number of atoms per area and in close-packed directions (most atoms per length). Close-packed planes are known as slip or glide planes. A slip system describes the set of symmetrically identical slip planes and associated family of slip directions for which dislocation motion can easily occur and lead to plastic deformation. The magnitude and direction of slip are represented by the Burgers vector, b.

An external force makes parts of the crystal lattice glide along each other, changing the material's geometry. A critical resolved shear stress is required to initiate a slip.^[2]