BSP 170 - Materials Science

Welcome!

Floyd Banda
[email protected]
[email protected]

Office: Mechanical Engineering Dept – School of Engineering

BSP 170 - Materials Science
Course Objectives
• Introduce fundamental concepts in MSE, selection of
materials, their safety and reliability
You will learn about
• Material structure
• How structure dictates properties
• how processing can change
structure This course will help you to:
• Use materials properly
• Realize new design opportunities with materials
Recommended text

• Ashly M F, James D R H, Engineering materials I, An

introduction to their properties and application, Pergamon,
1982
• Flinn R A, Trojan P K, Engineering Materials and
their applications, Wiley, 1995
• William D. Callister Jr, Material Science and Engineering-
An introduction, 7th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007
• Russell C. Hibbeler, Mechanics of Materials, 8th Edition,
Prentice Hall, 2010
• J. W Martin, Materials for Engineering, 3rd Edition,
Bentham Press, 2004
Methods of student

Exam
60%

Course work
assignment and test,
labs, quizzes 40%
Suggestions for success in this

1. Read the relevant material in the book (preferably

before the lecture topic)
2. Review and understand the examples given in the book.
3. Do the assigned homework. If you are having difficulty with
a particular concept, work additional problems given in the
book on that topic that have the answers given in the back of
the book.
4. Seek help from your colleagues.
5. Make an appointment with the lecturer

Academic success is directly proportional to the amount of

time devoted to study.
The road you will take will determine your destination
 Historical perspective
Beginning of the Material Science - People began to make tools
from stone.
Natural materials:. stone, wood, clay, skins, etc.[stone age]
Then came the introduction of bronze in the far east. Bronze is an
alloy (a metal made up of more than one element), copper + <
25% of tin + other elements.
Bronze: can be hammered or cast into a variety of shapes,
can be made harder by alloying, corrode only slowly after a
surface oxide film forms.[bronze age]

Followed by Iron age. Use of iron and steel, a stronger and

cheaper material changed drastically daily life of a common
person.
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• Age of Advanced materials: throughout the Iron Age many
new types of materials have been introduced (ceramics,
semiconductors, polymers, composites…).
• Understanding of the relationship among structure,
properties, processing, and performance of materials.
Intelligent design of new materials.

• A better understanding of structure-composition-

properties relations has lead to a remarkable progress in
properties of materials.
• Example is the dramatic progress in the strength to
density ratio of materials, that resulted in a wide variety
of new products, from dental materials to tennis racquets

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 What is Material Science and
Processing
Materials
Optimization Loop

Structure
Observational Properties

• Material science is the investigation of the

relationship among processing, structure, properties,
and performance of materials.
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 What is Material Science and

Materials Science
• The discipline of investigating the relationships that
exist between the structures and properties of
materials.
Materials Engineering
• The discipline of designing or engineering the structure
of a material to produce a predetermined set of
properties based on established structure-property
correlation.
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Our Role in Engineering Materials then is to understand the
application and specify the appropriate material to do the
job as a function of:
• Strength: yield and ultimate
• Ductility, flexibility
• Weight/density
• Working Environment
• Cost: Lifecycle expenses, Environmental impact*

* Economic and Environmental Factors often are the most

important when making the final decision!
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Example of Materials Engineering Work – Hip Implant

• With age or certain illnesses joints deteriorate. Particularly

those with large loads (such as hip).

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 Example: Hip

Requirements
• Mechanical strength (many

cycles)
• Good lubricity

• Biocompatibility

Adapted from Fig. 22.24, Callister

7e.

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 Example: Hip

Adapted from Fig. 22.24, Callister 7e.

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 Solution: Hip

Key Problems to overcome

• Fixation agent to hold

• Acetabular cup

• Cup lubrication material

• Femoral stem – fixing agent (“glue”)

• Must avoid any debris in cup

• Must hold up in body chemistry

• Must be strong yet flexible

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 Propertie
Properties are the way the material responds to the environment
and external forces.

• Mechanical properties – response to mechanical

forces, strength, etc.
• Electrical and magnetic properties - response to electrical
and magnetic fields, conductivity, etc.
• Thermal properties are related to transmission of heat
and heat capacity.
• Optical properties include absorption, transmission
and scattering of light.
• Chemical stability in contact with the environment -
corrosion resistance.

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 Types or Ranges of
• The complete range of materials includes; metals, polymers,
ceramics and inorganic glasses and composites. Other sub-
classifications include the following:
(1) Metals
Valence electrons are detached from atoms and spread in an
‘electron sea’ that glues the ions together. Metals are;
• Strong
• Ductile
• Conduct electricity and heat well
• Are shiny if polished
(2) Semiconductors
• Electrical properties between conductors and insulators
• Electrical properties can be precisely
controlled Examples: Si (silicon), Ge (germanium),
Ga (gallium), As (arsenic).
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Intel Pentium
 Metal

Several uses of steel and pressed

aluminium

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 Ceramic

Examples of ceramic materials ranging from household to

high performance combustion engines which utilize both
metals and ceramics.

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Semiconductors have electrical properties that are intermediate
between the electrical conductors and insulators.
 Electrical characteristics of these materials are extremely
sensitive to the presence of minute concentrations of impurity
atoms, which concentrations may be controlled over very small
spatial regions.
 Semiconductors have made possible the advent of integrated
circuitry that has totally revolutionized the electronics and
computer industries over the past two decades.
(3) Ceramics
Atoms behave like either positive or negative ions, and are
bound by Coulomb forces. They are usually combinations of
metals or semiconductors with oxygen, nitrogen or carbon
(oxides, nitrides, and carbides).
• Hard, brittle
• Insulators
Examples: glass, porcelain

(4) Biomaterials
• Implanted in human body
• Compatible with body tissues

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 Semiconductors

Micro-Electrical-Mechanical
Systems (MEMS)

Si wafer for computer chip

devices.

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 Biomaterials are employed in components
implanted into the human body for replacement of
diseased or damaged body parts.
 These materials must not produce toxic substances
and must be compatible with body tissues (i.e., must
not cause
adverse biological reactions).
 All of the above materials—metals, ceramics,
polymers, composites, and semiconductors—may be used
as biomaterials.
(5) Polymers
Are bound by covalent forces and also by weak van der Waals

moderate temperatures (100 − 400𝑜𝐶), and are lightweight.

forces, and usually based on C and H. They decompose at

Examples: plastics, rubber.

(6) Composites
 These are multi-phase materials which have been developed to
overcome some of the deficiencies of members of a particular
class of materials or improve properties of constituent materials
 Continuous phase is matrix while other phases produce
reinforcement
 They may include ceramic/metal; polymer/ceramic and
metal/polymer.
• Examples: fibre glass, cermets, etc.
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 Polymer

Polymers include “Plastics” and

rubber materials

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 Composite

Polymer composite materials: reinforcing glass fibers in a

polymer matrix.

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 (7) Smart Materials
 Properties or shape change in response to
external stimulus
 Materials that are utilized in high-technology (or high-
tech) applications are sometimes termed smart or
advanced materials.
 High technology involves a device or product that operates
or functions using relatively intricate and sophisticated
principles; eg electronic equipment, computers, fiberoptic
systems, spacecraft, aircraft, and military rocketry.

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Smart materials:
– Converts energy between physical domains

• Electrical Magnetic

• Mechanical Thermal

• Chemical Radiation

– Change happens by Design!

– Magnitude of response tends to be large

– Sudden and rapid

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 Advanced materials are typically either traditional materials
whose properties have been enhanced or newly developed, high-
performance materials.
 Furthermore, they may be of all material types (e.g., metals,
ceramics, polymers), and are normally relatively expensive.
 Examples include materials that are used for lasers, integrated
circuits, magnetic information storage, liquid crystal displays
(LCDs), fiber optics, and the thermal protection system for the
Space Shuttle Orbiter.
 What materials are ‘smart’?

The Copperbelt University

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 Material
Different materials exhibit different crystal structures and
resultant Properties

force

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 Material
Design

Selection

Materials Manufacture

 A series of complex interactions between three elements

of materials, manufacturing and design
 Material
 Rough size and shape of a component design will have an
influence on both process route and the choice of
material
 If die-casting or injection moulding are considered as the best
methods to produce the desired shape, then the choice of
possible materials is restricted to the lower melting point
metals and melt processable thermoplastics.
 Type of material will influence design decisions. Details of
design will differ between, say metals and polymers
 Properties of a material exert major influences on methods
of manufacture
 During material selection for a particular design and product,
many aspects ensuring component or assembly is manufactured
within available resources, product will function satisfactorily
and all at acceptable cost are considered.
 Material Selection: Parameters to be
Parameters to be considered include the following:
 Material properties:
mechanical (elastic modulus, stiffness, yield strength,
ductility, etc.)
physical (density, electrical conductivity, thermal stability,
etc.)
chemical (corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance,
weathering resistance, etc.)
 Manufacturing characteristics: castability,
formability, machinability
 Cost and availability: material cost, manufacturing
cost, availability, price stability, etc.
 Material Selection: the systematic
A systematic approach to the problem of materials selection is
necessary and the following is one possible approach:

Stage 1
 Analyse fully the product specification and determine
the minimum acceptable values for all the relevant
materials

Stage 2
 Make first selection by eliminating all materials which do
not possess all the minimum criteria

Stage 3
 Assess the degree of relative importance of the various required
properties from essential through to desirable, and for each
property place the potential materials in ranking order
 Material Selection: the systematic
Stage 4
 Evaluate the material and process costs for each material

Stage 5
 On the basis of the decisions made in Stage 3 and the data from
Stage 4, optimize to determine the materials which give the
best overall combination of properties for the least cost.
End of Lesson 1