Material Classifications.

There are thousands of materials available for use in engineering applications. Most materials fall into one of
three classes that are based on the atomic bonding forces of a particular material. These three classifications
are metallic, ceramic and polymeric. Additionally, different materials can be combined to create a composite
material. Within each of these classifications, materials are often further organized into groups based on their
chemical composition or certain physical or mechanical properties. Composite materials are often grouped by
the types of materials combined or the way the materials are arranged together. Below is a list of some of the
commonly classification of materials within these four general groups of materials.

Metals Polymeric
• Ferrous metals and alloys (irons, carbon • Thermoplastics plastics
steels, alloy steels, stainless steels, tool • Thermoset plastics
and die steels) • Elastomers
• Nonferrous metals and alloys (aluminum,
copper, magnesium, nickel, titanium,
precious metals, refractory metals,
superalloys)

Ceramics Composites
• Glasses • Reinforced plastics
• Glass ceramics • Metal-matrix composites
• Graphite • Ceramic-matrix composites
• Diamond • Sandwich structures
• Concrete

Metals
Metals account for about two thirds of all the elements and about 24% of the mass of the planet. Metals
have useful properties including strength, ductility, high melting points, thermal and electrical conductivity,
and toughness. From the periodic table, it can be seen that a large number of the elements are classified as
being a metal. A few of the common metals and their typical uses are presented below.

Common Metallic Materials

• Iron/Steel - Steel alloys are used for strength critical applications

• Aluminum - Aluminum and its alloys are used because they are easy to form, readily available,
inexpensive, and recyclable.

• Copper - Copper and copper alloys have a number of properties that make them useful, including
high electrical and thermal conductivity, high ductility, and good corrosion resistance.

• Titanium - Titanium alloys are used for strength in higher temperature (~1000° F) application, when
component weight is a concern, or when good corrosion resistance is required

• Nickel - Nickel alloys are used for still higher temperatures (~1500-2000° F) applications or when
good corrosion resistance is required.

• Refractory materials are used for the highest temperature (> 2000° F) applications.
The key feature that distinguishes metals from non-metals is their bonding. Metallic materials have free
electrons that are free to move easily from one atom to the next. The existence of these free electrons has
a number of profound consequences for the properties of metallic materials. For example, metallic materials
tend to be good electrical conductors because the free electrons can move around within the metal so freely.

Ceramics
A ceramic has traditionally been defined as “an inorganic, nonmetallic solid that is prepared from powdered
materials, is fabricated into products through the application of heat, and displays such characteristic
properties as hardness, strength, low electrical conductivity, and brittleness." The word ceramic comes the
from Greek word "keramikos", which means "pottery." They are typically crystalline in nature and are
compounds formed between metallic and nonmetallic elements such as aluminum and oxygen (alumina-
Al2O3), calcium and oxygen (calcia - CaO), and silicon and nitrogen (silicon nitride-Si3N4).

Depending on their method of formation, ceramics can be dense or lightweight. Typically, they will
demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties; however, they are often brittle in nature. Ceramics
can also be formed to serve as electrically conductive materials or insulators. Some ceramics, like
superconductors, also display magnetic properties. They are also more resistant to high temperatures and
harsh environments than metals and polymers. Due to ceramic materials wide range of properties, they are
used for a multitude of applications.
The broad categories or segments that make up the ceramic industry can be classified as:

• Structural clay products (brick, sewer pipe, roofing and wall tile, flue linings, etc.)

• Whitewares (dinnerware, floor and wall tile, electrical porcelain, etc.)

• Refractories (brick and monolithic products used in metal, glass, cements, ceramics, energy
conversion, petroleum, and chemicals industries)

• Glasses (flat glass (windows), container glass (bottles), pressed and blown glass (dinnerware), glass
fibers (home insulation), and advanced/specialty glass (optical fibers))

• Abrasives (natural (garnet, diamond, etc.) and synthetic (silicon carbide, diamond, fused alumina,
etc.) abrasives are used for grinding, cutting, polishing, lapping, or pressure blasting of materials)

• Cements (for roads, bridges, buildings, dams, and etc.)

• Advanced ceramics

o Structural (wear parts, bioceramics, cutting tools, and engine components)

o Electrical (capacitors, insulators, substrates, integrated circuit packages, piezoelectrics,

o Coatings (engine components, cutting tools, and industrial wear parts)

o Chemical and environmental (filters, membranes, catalysts, and catalyst supports)

The atoms in ceramic materials are held together by a chemical bond which will be discussed a bit later.
Briefly though, the two most common chemical bonds for ceramic materials are covalent and ionic. Covalent
and ionic bonds are much stronger than in metallic bonds and, generally speaking, this is why ceramics are
brittle and metals are ductile.

Polymers
A polymeric solid can be thought of as a material that contains many chemically bonded parts or units which
themselves are bonded together to form a solid. The word polymer literally means "many parts." Two
industrially important polymeric materials are plastics and elastomers. Plastics are a large and varied group
of synthetic materials which are processed by forming or molding into shape. Just as there are many types
of metals such as aluminum and copper, there are many types of plastics, such as polyethylene and nylon.
Elastomers or rubbers can be elastically deformed a large amount when a force is applied to them and can
return to their original shape (or almost) when the force is released.

Polymers have many properties that make them attractive to use in certain conditions. Many polymers:

• are less dense than metals or ceramics,

• resist atmospheric and other forms of corrosion,

• offer good compatibility with human tissue, or

• exhibit excellent resistance to the conduction of electrical current.

The polymer plastics can be divided into two classes, thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics, depending
on how they are structurally and chemically bonded. Thermoplastic polymers comprise the four most
important commodity materials – polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. There
are also a number of specialized engineering polymers. The term ‘thermoplastic’ indicates that these
materials melt on heating and may be processed by a variety of molding and extrusion techniques.
Alternately, ‘thermosetting’ polymers can not be melted or remelted. Thermosetting polymers include
alkyds, amino and phenolic resins, epoxies, polyurethanes, and unsaturated polyesters.

Rubber is a natural occurring polymer. However, most polymers are created by engineering the combination
of hydrogen and carbon atoms and the arrangement of the chains they form. The polymer molecule is a long
chain of covalent-bonded atoms and secondary bonds then hold groups of polymer chains together to form
the polymeric material. Polymers are primarily produced from petroleum or natural gas raw products but
the use of organic substances is growing. The super-material known as Kevlar is a man-made polymer. Kevlar
is used in bullet-proof vests, strong/lightweight frames, and underwater cables that are 20 times stronger
than steel.
Composites
A composite is commonly defined as a combination of two or more distinct materials, each of which retains
its own distinctive properties, to create a new material with properties that cannot be achieved by any of
the components acting alone. Using this definition, it can be determined that a wide range of engineering
materials fall into this category. For example, concrete is a composite because it is a mixture of Portland
cement and aggregate. Fiberglass sheet is a composite since it is made of glass fibers imbedded in a polymer.

Composite materials are said to have two phases. The reinforcing phase is the fibers, sheets, or particles
that are embedded in the matrix phase. The reinforcing material and the matrix material can be metal,
ceramic, or polymer. Typically, reinforcing materials are strong with low densities while the matrix is usually
a ductile, or tough, material.

Some of the common classifications of composites are:

• Reinforced plastics

• Metal-matrix composites

• Ceramic-matrix composites

• Sandwich structures

• Concrete

Composite materials can take many forms but they can be separated into three categories based on the
strengthening mechanism. These categories are dispersion strengthened, particle reinforced and fiber
reinforced. Dispersion strengthened composites have a fine distribution of secondary particles in the matrix
of the material. These particles impede the mechanisms that allow a material to deform. (These mechanisms
include dislocation movement and slip, which will be discussed later). Many metal-matrix composites would
fall into the dispersion strengthened composite category. Particle reinforced composites have a large
volume fraction of particle dispersed in the matrix and the load is shared by the particles and the matrix.
Most commercial ceramics and many filled polymers are particle-reinforced composites. In fiber-reinforced
composites, the fiber is the primary load-bearing component. Fiberglass and carbon fiber composites are
examples of fiber-reinforced composites.

If the composite is designed and fabricated correctly, it combines the strength of the reinforcement with
the toughness of the matrix to achieve a combination of desirable properties not available in any single
conventional material. Some composites also offer the advantage of being tailorable so that properties, such
as strength and stiffness, can easily be changed by changing amount or orientation of the reinforcement
material. The downside is that such composites are often more expensive than conventional materials.