Engineering Materials

Introduction

The Families of Engineering Materials

It is helpful to classify the materials of engineering into the six broad families
shown in Figure below: metals, polymers, elastomers, ceramics, glasses, and
hybrids. The members of a family have certain features in common: similar
properties, similar processing routes, and, often, similar applications.

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Metals have relatively high moduli. Most, when pure, are soft and easily
deformed. They can be made strong by alloying and by mechanical and heat
treatment, but they remain ductile, allowing them to be formed by deformation
processes. Partly because of their ductility, metals are prey to fatigue and of all the
classes of material, they are the least resistant to corrosion.

Ceramics too, have high moduli, but, unlike metals, they are brittle. Their
‘‘strength’’ in tension means the brittle fracture strength; in compression it is the
brittle crushing strength, which is about 15 times larger. Ceramics are not as easy
to design with as metals. Despite this, they have attractive features. They are stiff,
hard, and abrasion resistant (hence their use for bearings and cutting tools); they
retain their strength to high temperatures; and they resist corrosion well.

Glasses are non-crystalline (‘‘amorphous’’) solids. The commonest are the soda-
lime and boro-silicate glasses familiar as bottles and ovenware, but there are many
more. Metals, too, can be made non-crystalline by cooling them sufficiently
quickly. The lack of crystal structure suppresses plasticity, so, like ceramics,
glasses are hard, brittle and vulnerable to stress concentrations.

Polymers are at the other end of the spectrum. They have moduli that are low,
roughly 50 times less than those of metals, but they can be strong—nearly as
strong as metals. They creep, even at room temperature, meaning that a polymer
component under load may, with time, acquire a permanent set. And their
properties depend on temperature so that a polymer that is tough and flexible at
20ºC may be brittle at the 4ºC of a household refrigerator, yet creep rapidly at the
100ºC of boiling water. Few have useful strength above 200ºC. When
combinations of properties, such as strength per unit weight, are important,
polymers are as good as metals. They are easy to shape: complicated parts

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performing several functions can be molded from a polymer in a single operation.
Polymers are corrosion resistant and have low coefficients of friction.

Elastomers are long-chain polymers above their glass-transition temperature, Tg.

The covalent bonds that link the units of the polymer chain remain intact, but the
weaker Van der Waals’ and hydrogen bonds that, below Tg, bind the chains to each
other, have melted. This gives elastomers unique property: Young’s moduli as low
as 10-3 GPa (105 time less than that typical of metals) that increase with
temperature (all other solids show a decrease), and enormous elastic extension.
Their properties differ so much from those of other solids that special tests have
evolved to characterize them.

Hybrids are combinations of two or more materials in a pre-determined

configuration and scale. They combine the attractive properties of the other
families of materials while avoiding some of their drawbacks. The family of
hybrids includes fiber and particulate composites, sandwich structures, lattice
structures, foams, cables, and laminates. And almost all the materials of nature -
wood, bone, skin, leaf- are hybrids. Fiber-reinforced composites are, of course, the
most familiar. Most of those at present available to the engineer have a polymer
matrix reinforced by fibers of glass, carbon or Kevlar (an aramid). They are light,
stiff and strong, and they can be tough. They, and other hybrids using a polymer as
one component, cannot be used above 250º C because the polymer softens, but at
room temperature their performance can be outstanding. Hybrid components are
expensive and they are relatively difficult to form and join. So despite their
attractive properties the designer will use them only when the added performance
justifies the added cost. Today’s growing emphasis on high performance and fuel
efficiency provides increasing drivers for their use.

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 Engineering Materials

Part1. Basic Properties

1- Thermal properties

The three thermal properties generally relevant to the choice of a solid material in
engineering are a consequence of a heated material 'absorbing' heat and increasing
its temperature, expanding and transmitting heat. The three properties are
described by:

1.1 Specific heat capacity (c). The specific heat capacity is a measure of the
amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of unit mass of the material by one
degree. It has units (J kg-1 K-1), and is defined by the equation

1.2 Thermal Expansion. The linear expansivity or coefficient of linear expansion is

a measure of the amount by which a unit length of the material will expand when
the temperature rises by one degree. It has units (K-1), and is defined by the
equation

1.3 Thermal Conductivity (λ). It is a measure of the rate at which heat will flow
through the material; the higher the conductivity, the greater the rate at which heat
will flow through the material. Thermal conductivity has units (W m-1 K-1), and is
defined by the equation

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The main characteristic of metals is their high thermal conductivity, while
polymers and ceramics have much lower values. Thus if heat insulation is required
polymers and ceramics are feasible, while if good heat conduction is required
metals are appropriate. Polymers have a high linear expansivity and thus an
increase in temperature can cause quite marked changes in dimensions of
polymeric products. Unlike metals, the expansion of polymers is not usually linear
with temperature and the linear expansivity increases with increasing temperature.

2- Electrical Properties

One of the principal characteristics of materials is their ability (or lack of ability) to
conduct electrical current. Indeed, materials are classified by this property, that is,
they are divided into conductors, semiconductors, and nonconductors. (The latter
are often called insulators or dielectrics.)

The main electrical properties that are likely to be of relevance in the choice of
materials for a general engineering application are:

2.1 Electrical resistivity (ρ) and conductivity (σ). The electrical resistivity is a
measure of the electrical resistance (R) of the material, being defined by the
equation

The electrical conductivity is a measure of electrical conductance of the material;

the bigger the conductance, the greater the current for a particular potential
difference. It is defined by the following equation, being the reciprocal of
resistivity:

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2.2 Dielectric Strength - this is a measure of the highest potential difference an
insulating material can withstand without electrical breakdown. Its units (V/m),
being defined by the equation

A high value of dielectric strength is a vital requirement for an electrical insulator.

Dielectrics:

Dielectric materials, that is, insulators, possess a number of important electrical

properties which make them useful in the electronics industry. When a voltage is
momentarily applied to two parallel metal plates which are separated by a distance,
L, as shown in Figure below, then the resulting electric charge essentially remains
on these plates even after the voltage has been removed (at least as long as the air
is dry). This ability to store an electric charge is called the capacitance, C, which is
defined to be the charge, Q, per applied voltage, V. That is:

Where capacitance is given in farad (F), charge is given in coulomb (C), and
voltage is given in volt (V).

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 Two metal plates, separated by a
distance, L, can store electric energy
after having been charged
momentarily by a battery.

The capacitance is higher, if the larger the area (A) of the plates and the smaller the
distance (L) between them. Further, the capacitance depends on the material that
may have been inserted between the plates, according to equation

Where,

is dielectric constant (absolute permittivity) of a medium.

is relative permittivity.

is permittivity of empty space (or of vacuum), having the value of 8.85*10-12

farad per meter (F/m).

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3- Magnetic Properties

Many modern technological devices rely on magnetism and magnetic materials;

these include electrical power generators and transformers, electric motors, radio,
television, telephones, computers, and components of sound and video
reproduction systems. Iron, some steels, and the naturally occurring mineral
lodestone are well-known examples of materials that exhibit magnetic properties.
Not so familiar, however, is the fact that all substances are influenced to one
degree or another by the presence of a magnetic field.

The externally applied magnetic field, sometimes called the magnetic field
strength, is designated by H. If the magnetic field is generated by means of a
cylindrical coil (or solenoid) consisting of N closely spaced turns having a length l
and carrying a current of magnitude I, by equation

The units of H are amperes per meter.

The magnetic induction, or magnetic flux density, denoted by B, represents the

magnitude of the internal field strength within a substance that is subjected to an H
field. The units for B are tesla [or weber per square meter (Wb/m2)]. The magnetic
field strength and flux density are related according to equation

B= μ H and μ = μr μo

The parameter μ is called the permeability, which is a property of the specific

medium through which the H field passes and in which B is measured. The
permeability has dimensions of weber per ampere-meter (Wb/A m) or henrie per
meter (H/m). And

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μr is relative permeability

μo is permeability of free space (or vacuum) which has a value of 1.257*10-6 H/m.

The figure below illustrates cases of empty and filled spaces.

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According to μr value, materials can be grouped into three categories:

1- Diamagnetic materials. These have relative permeability slightly below 1, like

copper.

2- Paramagnetic materials. These have relative permeability slightly greater than 1,

like aluminum.

3- Ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials. These have relative permeability

considerably greater than 1. Ferromagnetic materials being metals like iron cobalt
and nickel. While ferrimagnetic materials being ceramics like iron oxide Fe3O4 and
nickel ferrite NiFe2O3.

The B-versus-H curve in Figure below represents a hysteresis loop taken to

saturation. Of course, it is not necessary to increase the H field to saturation before
reversing the field direction. A hysteresis effect is produced in which the B field
lags behind the applied H field, or decreases at a lower rate. At zero H field (point
R on the curve), there exists a residual B field that is called the remanence, or
remanent flux density, Br; the material remains magnetized in the absence of an
external H field. To reduce the B field within the specimen to zero (point C on
Figure 18.14), an H field of magnitude -Hc must be applied in a direction opposite
to that of the original field; Hc is called the coercivity, or sometimes the coercive
force.

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Hard and Soft Magnetic Materials

The size and shape of the hysteresis curve for ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic
materials are of considerable practical importance. Both ferromagnetic and
ferrimagnetic materials are classified as either soft or hard on the basis of their
hysteresis characteristics. Soft magnetic materials are used in devices that are
subjected to alternating magnetic fields and in which energy losses must be low;
one familiar example consists of transformer cores. For this reason the relative area
within the hysteresis loop must be small; it is characteristically thin and narrow.
Hard magnetic materials are used in permanent magnets, which must have a high
resistance to demagnetization. In terms of hysteresis behavior, a hard magnetic
material has high remanence, coercivity, and saturation flux density, as well as
low initial permeability and high hysteresis energy losses.
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4- Optical Properties

Optical property refers to a material’s response to exposure to electromagnetic

radiation and, in particular, to visible light. Visible light lies within a very narrow
region of the electromagnetic spectrum, with wavelengths ranging between about
0.4 μm (4*10-7 m) and 0.7 μm. The perceived color is determined by wavelength;
for example, radiation having a wavelength of approximately 0.4 μm appears
violet, whereas green and red occur at about 0.5 and 0.65 μm, respectively.

All electromagnetic radiation traverses a vacuum at the same velocity, that of light
namely, 3*108 m/s (186,000 miles/s).This velocity, c, is related to the electric
permittivity of a vacuum εo and the magnetic permeability of a vacuum μo by
equation

Light Interactions with Solids

When light proceeds from one medium into another (e.g., from air into a solid
substance), several things happen. Some of the light radiation may be transmitted
through the medium, some will be absorbed, and some will be reflected at the
interface between the two media. The intensity I0 of the beam incident to the
surface of the solid medium must equal the sum of the intensities of the
transmitted, absorbed, and reflected beams, denoted as IT, IA, and IR, respectively

I0 = IT + IA + IR and T+A+R=1

Where T, A, and R represent, respectively, the transmissivity (IT/I0), absorptivity

(IA/I0), and reflectivity (IR/I0), or the fractions of incident light that are transmitted,

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absorbed, and reflected by a material; their sum must equal unity because all the
incident light is transmitted, absorbed, or reflected.

Materials that are capable of transmitting light with relatively little absorption and
reflection are transparent (one can see through them). Translucent materials are
those through which light is transmitted diffusely; that is, light is scattered within
the interior to the degree that objects are not clearly distinguishable when viewed
through a specimen of the material. Materials that are impervious to the
transmission of visible light are termed opaque.

Bulk metals are opaque throughout the entire visible spectrum; that is, all light
radiation is either absorbed or reflected. On the other hand, electrically insulating
materials can be made to be transparent. Furthermore, some semiconducting
materials are transparent, whereas others are opaque.

Index of Refraction

Refraction is bending of a light beam upon passing from one medium into
another; the velocity of light differs in the two media.

The absolute index of refraction nx of material (x) is defined as the ratio of the
velocity in a vacuum c to the velocity in the medium.

nx = sin i /sin r = c /vx = constant.

The relative index of refraction AnB between two materials A and B (when light is
passing from A to B) is defined as the ratio of the light velocity in A to the light
velocity in B.

An B = sin øA /sin øB= vA/vB

An B= nB/ nA and nB/ nA = sin øA /sin øB

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6- Physical Properties

Density: The density of a material is an important factor when the weight of a

component is critical, as for example in aircraft or where a low weight makes a
product a more attractive proposition, e.g. domestic appliances which need to be
light and easy to move. What is often required is a combination of strength or
stiffness with low weight and thus the important factor is tensile strength/density or
tensile modulus/density.

Table below shows some values of densities and these ratios for typical
engineering materials. Magnesium is the lightest metal and, though magnesium
alloys have relatively low strengths, the strength to density ratio is better than that
of steels and makes them an attractive proposition in situations where low weight
is required. Titanium alloys have lower densities than steels and strengths which
compare with the best of steels. They thus have an exceptionally high strength to
density ratio. Composites can also be designed to have very high strength to
density ratios.

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Selected Problems:

1- In an electrical capacitor, there is a sheet of polythene (dielectric) of

thickness 0.1 mm between capacitor plates having area of 10 mm2. What is
the greatest amount of charge (Q) that can be stored before electrical
breakdown of the dielectric? The polythene has dielectric strength of 4*107
V/m, relative permittivity of 2.3, the absolute permittivity is 8.85*10-12 F/m.
2- Find the critical angle for light incident on interface of glass-cladding in an
optical fiber, if the core (glass) has an absolute refractive index of 1.45, and
the cladding has an absolute refractive index of 1.43, also determine the light
velocity in core and cladding mediums. The light velocity in vacuum is
299792458 m/s.
3- If the temperature changes from 40 to 20° C, what is the change in length of
a 100 mm strip of (1)alumina, (2)aluminum, (3) polythene? The linear
expansivities are 8*10-6 K-1, 24*10-6 K-1, 150*10-6 K-1 respectively.
4- A 1m length wire of Nichrome alloy with a diameter of 1mm was used in
electrical application. Determine its electrical conductivity, electrical
conductance, and electrical resistance. The resistivity of Nichrome alloy is
108*10-8 Ω.m.

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