CLL141-Introduction to materials

About material science and engineering

Hariprasad Kodamana
IIT DELHI

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Materials science and engineering
An interdisciplinary field concerned with inventing new materials
and improving previously known materials by developing a
deeper understanding of the
microstructure-composition-synthesis-processing
relationships.
Composition - the chemical make-up of a material.
Structure - the description of the arrangement of atom
Synthesis - how materials are made from naturally occurring or
man-made chemicals
Processing - how materials are shaped into useful components.
The structure of materials has a profound influence on many
properties of materials, even if the overall composition does not
change
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Tetrahedron of materials - ceramic
superconductors

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Classification of materials

Metals and alloys

Ceramics, glasses, and glass-ceramics;
Polymers (plastics);
Soft materials;
Semiconductors; and
Composite materials.

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Classification of materials (contd...)

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Strength of materials

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Strength of materials (Contd...)
Stress - load or force per unit area
Strain- elongation or change in dimension divided by original
dimension
Application of stress causes strain
If the strain goes away after the load or applied stress is
removed, the strain is said to be elastic
If the strain remains after the stress is removed, the strain is said
to be plastic
When the deformation is elastic, stress and strain are linearly
related, the slope of the stress-strain diagram is known as the
elastic or Young’s modulus.
A level of stress needed to initiate plastic deformation is known
as yield strength
The maximum percent deformation we can get is a measure of
the ductility of a metallic material.
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Metals and Alloys

Eg. - steels, aluminum, magnesium, zinc, cast iron, titanium,

copper, and nickel.
In general, metals have good electrical and thermal conductivity.
Metals and alloys have relatively high strength, high stiffness,
ductility or formability, and shock resistance.
They are particularly useful for structural or load- bearing
applications
Although pure metals are occasionally used, combinations of
metals called alloys provide improvement in a particular desirable
property

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Ceramics
Ceramics can be defined as inorganic crystalline materials
Beach sand and rocks are examples of naturally occurring
ceramics
Advanced ceramics are materials made by refining naturally
occurring ceramics and other special processes
Advanced ceramics are used in substrates that house computer
chips, sensors and actuators, capacitors, spark plugs, inductors,
and electrical insulation, catalysts support
Traditional ceramics are used to make bricks, tableware,
sanitaryware, refractories (heat-resistant material), and abrasives
Ceramics must also be heated to very high temperatures before
they can melt
Ceramics are strong and hard, but also very brittle due to the
presence of porosity (small holes)
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Glasses and Glass-Ceramics

Glass is an amorphous material, often, but not always, derived

from molten silica
The term amorphous refers to materials that do not have a
regular, periodic arrangement of atoms.
Glasses can be thermally treated (tempered) to make them
stronger
Forming glasses and nucleating (creating) small crystals within
them by a special thermal process creates materials that are
known as glass- ceramics.
Glasses and glass-ceramics are usually processed by melting and
casting.

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Plastics
Polymers are typically organic materials produced using a
process known as polymerization
Polymeric materials include rubber (elastomers) and many types
of adhesives.
Many polymers have very good electrical resistivity
They can also provide good thermal insulation
Although they have lower strength, polymers have a very good
strength-to-weight ratio
They are typically not suitable for use at high temperatures.
Many polymers have very good resistance to corrosive chemicals.
The term plastics is used to describe polymeric materials
containing additives that enhance their properties.
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Plastics (contd...)

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Semiconductors and Composite
Materials
Silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide-based semiconductors
are part of a broader class of materials known as electronic
materials
The electrical conductivity of semiconducting materials is
between that of ceramic insulators and metallic conductors.
In many applications, we need large single crystals of
semiconductors. These are grown from molten materials.
Composite Materials The main idea in developing composites is
to blend the properties of different materials
The composites are formed from two or more materials,
producing properties not found in any single material
Concrete, plywood, and fiberglass are examples of composite
materials
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Functional classification of materials

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Material classification based on
structure
structure - arrangement of a material’s atoms; the structure at a
microscopic scale is known as microstructure
Some materials may be crystalline (where the material’s atoms
are arranged in a periodic fashion) or they may be amorphous
(where the material’s atoms do not have a long-range order).
Some crystalline materials may be in the form of one crystal and
are known as single crystal
Others consist of many crystals or grains and are known as
polycrystalline
The characteristics of crystals or grains (size, shape, etc.) and
that of the regions between them, known as the grain
boundaries, also affect the properties of materials
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Environmental effects - temperature

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Environmental effects

Most metals and polymers react with oxygen or other gases,

particularly at elevated temperatures
Metals and ceramics may disintegrate and polymers and
nonoxide ceramics may oxidize
Materials are also attacked by corrosive liquids, leading to
premature failure
When we do load and unload the material thousands of times,
small cracks may begin to develop and materials fail as these
cracks grow. This is known as fatigue failure.

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 Thank you!

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