Materials Science

What you'll learn

• Relate processing, structure, properties and performance, classify engineering materials, and explain how ionic, covalent, metallic and secondary bonds set melting point, stiffness and thermal expansion.
• Describe FCC, BCC and HCP structures, calculate packing factors and theoretical densities, index directions and planes, and use Bragg's law to interpret X-ray diffraction patterns.
• Identify point, line, planar and volume defects, calculate equilibrium vacancy fractions, and apply Fick's laws and the error-function solution to diffusion problems such as carburizing.
• Reduce tensile test data to modulus, yield strength, tensile strength, ductility, resilience and toughness, convert to true stress and strain, and use hardness to estimate strength.
• Explain plastic deformation by dislocation glide, apply Schmid's law, and describe grain-size, solid-solution, strain and particle strengthening and the effects of annealing.
• Analyze ductile and brittle fracture with fracture mechanics, describe the ductile-to-brittle transition, assess fatigue with endurance limits, notch factors and crack growth, and estimate creep life.
• Read binary phase diagrams, apply the phase rule, tie lines and the lever rule, and describe the microstructures of isomorphous and eutectic alloys.
• Use the iron–iron carbide diagram and isothermal transformation diagrams to explain pearlite, bainite and martensite, tempering, hardenability and common heat treatments of steel.
• Describe aluminium, magnesium, titanium, copper and nickel alloys, explain precipitation hardening and overaging, and recognize galvanic corrosion risks.
• Describe polymer structure, molecular weight and crystallinity, explain the glass transition and viscoelastic creep and relaxation, and relate processing to polymer properties.
• Explain the brittle behaviour of ceramics using flaw-controlled fracture and Weibull statistics, and predict composite properties with the rule of mixtures and the critical fibre length.
• Select materials using constraints, objectives and material indices, include cost and life-cycle carbon in the decision, and justify a recommendation with sensitivity checks.