MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

An Introduction

MATERIALS SCIENCE
Part of & A Learner’s Guide
ENGINEERING
AN INTRODUCTORY E-BOOK
Anandh Subramaniam & Kantesh Balani
Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur- 208016
Email: [email protected], URL: home.iitk.ac.in/~anandh
ANANDH SUBRAMANIAM http://home.iitk.ac.in/~anandh/E-book.htm
Materials Science and Engineering
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR
Kanpur- 110016
Ph: (+91) (512) 259 7215, Fax: (+91) (512) 259 7505
[email protected]
http://home.iitk.ac.in/~anandh/
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 Prof. Rajesh Prasad (Applied Mechanics, IITD)
has been the source of knowledge for many a ‘fundas’ in this book and I (Anandh Subramaniam)
have been fortunate to have learnt a lot of teaching skills from him.

REFERENCES

Few major references are included here. Other references may be found in individual chapters.
 Materials Science and Engineering, V. Raghavan,
Fifth Edition, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2004.
 Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, William D. Callister
John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
ONLINE
http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/overview_main.html

Caution Note: In any chapter, amongst the first few pages (say 5 pages) there will be some ‘big picture’
overview information. This may lead to ‘overloading’ and readers who find this ‘uncomfortable’ may skip
particular slides in the first reading and come back to them later.
 PREFACE

 The contents of the current book will deviate markedly from the treatment of ‘usual’
textbooks.
 Fresh perspective will be presented on all topics.
(Students are requested to consult other references keeping this in mind– i.e. there might be considerable differences in some places)
 Effort will be made to present as much visual information as possible → students should
spend time over the figures/videos/etc. for effective learning.
 Lengthy paragraphs have been replaced with bulleted points.
 Most of the detailed material (for inquisitive / advanced students) appear as hyperlinks to
the main chapters. However, if some advanced material does appear in the main chapter it
is marked with a Red Box in one of the corners of the slide (e.g. as below) (students may choose to
skip these in the first reading).
 Important slides are marked with a Green Box in one of the corners of the slide (e.g. as below).
 The entire book is intended for learning and understanding of the subject matter (and not merely for ‘exams’ or
‘syllabus coverage’ points of view).
What are the kind of questions that a student of materials science would like answers for?
 Why is glass brittle, while copper is ductile? What is meant by a ductile material?
 If we take two rods, one of Al and one of steel, why is it easier to bend the Al rod as
compared to the steel rod?
 How can I change properties like hardness, without changing the composition (say of 0.8% C steel)?
 Why is wire of copper conducting, while piece of brick or wood non-conducting?
 Why is glass transparent, while any typical metal is opaque?
 Why does the electrical conductivity of Cu decrease on heating, while that of Si increases?
 Why does Iron corrode easily, while Aluminium does not (or does not seem to?!)?
 How come I can hold a molten material in the liquid state below the melting point (e.g. water
can be held at sub-zero (C) temperatures), for at least some time (in many cases this is not difficult)?
 How come bubbles tend to form in a aerated drink glass around the straw and glass walls?
 What is the melting point? Is it different from the freezing point?

 Usually, good thermal conductors are also good electrical conductors. Why is this so?
Why is diamond a good thermal conductor, but not a good electrical conductor?
 If I pull a spring and then release the load, it ‘comes back’ to its original shape. However, a if
I bend an aluminium rod, does not come back to its original shape. How can one understand
these observations?
What will you learn in this chapter?
 Where does Materials Science lie in the broad scheme of things?
 What are the common types of materials?
 What are the Scientific and Engineering parts of Materials Science & Engineering?
 What is the important goal of Materials Science?
 What determines the properties of Materials?
(We will list the important points which will put the issues involved in perspective)

The full implication of the aspects presented in this introductory chapter will only become clear after the student has
covered major portions of this course. Hence, students are encouraged to return to this chapter many times during
his/her progress through the course.
A Broad Overview Skip the next slide if it makes you nervous!
 We shall start with a broad overview of .. well...almost everything! (the next slide)
 The typical domain of materials science is enclosed in the ellipse. (next slide)
 Traditionally materials were developed keeping in view a certain set of properties and were
used for making components and structures.
 With the advancement of materials science, materials are expected to perform the role of an
‘intelligent’ structure or a mechanism.
A good example of this would be applications of shape memory alloys:
● they can be used to make deployable antennas (STRUCTURE) or
● actuators (MECHANISM).
 Though it will not be practical to explain all aspects of the diagram (presented in the next
slide) in this elementary course, the overall perspective should be kept at the back of one’s
mind while comprehending the subject.
 A point to be noted is that one way of classification does not clash with another.
E.g. from a state perspective we could have a liquid which is a metal from the band
structure perspective. Or we could have a metal (band structure viewpoint) which is
amorphous (structural viewpoint).
 Entropic force
UNIVERSE STRONG
WEAK
HYPERBOLIC ELECTROMAGNETIC
EUCLIDEAN SPACE ENERGY GRAVITY
SPHERICAL
nD + t
PARTICLES FIELDS

METAL
ATOMIC NON-ATOMIC
SEMI-METAL BAND STRUCTURE
SEMI-CONDUCTOR
INSULATOR STATE / VISCOSITY

LIQUID CRYSTALS
GAS SOLID LIQUID
Solid Electrolytes
STRUCTURE

AMORPHOUS QUASICRYSTALS RATIONAL CRYSTALS

APPROXIMANTS
SIZE

NANO-QUASICRYSTALS NANOCRYSTALS

Note: Some fields are hyperlinks

Materials Science
Please spend time over this figure and its implications (notes in the next slide)
METAL The Materials Zone
SEMI-METAL
BAND STRUCTURE ATOMIC
SEMI-CONDUCTOR
INSULATOR
STATE / VISCOSITY

LIQUID CRYSTALS
GAS SOLID LIQUID
Solid Electrolytes
STRUCTURE

AMORPHOUS QUASICRYSTALS RATIONAL CRYSTALS

APPROXIMANTS
SIZE

NANO-QUASICRYSTALS NANOCRYSTALS

Faceted glass objects are

sometimes called
Strange? crystals!
A polycrystalline vessel for drinking fluids is sometimes referred to as GLASS!
And, a faceted glass object is sometimes referred to as a crystal!

Continued…
  Based on state (phase) a given material can be Gas, Liquid or Solid
(based on the thermodynamic variables: P, T,…).
Intermediate/coexistent states are also possible (i.e clear demarcations can get blurred).
(Kinetic variables can also affect how a material behaves: e.g. at high strain rates some materials may
behave as solids and as a liquid at low strain rates)
 Based on structure (arrangement of atoms/molecules/ions) materials can be
Crystalline, Quasicrystalline or Amorphous.
Intermediate states (say between crystalline and amorphous; i.e. partly
crystalline) are also possible. Polymers are often only partly crystalline.
 Liquid Crystals (‘in some sense’) are between Liquids and Crystals.
 Similarly Solid Electrolytes (also known as* fast ion conductors and superionic conductors) are also
between crystals and liquids. These materials have a sublattice which is ‘molten’
and the ions in this sublattice are highly mobile (these materials are similar to liquid electrolytes in this sense).
 Based on Band Structure we can classify materials into Metals, Semi-metals,
Semiconductors and Insulators.
 Based on the size of the entity in question we can Nanocrystals,
Nanoquasicrystals etc.
 There are other classifications we will encounter during the course (readers may want to check this out: Slide 7).

* Though these other terms are misnomers.

Funda Check

One way of classification does not interfere with another

 From a state perspective we could have a liquid, which is a metal from the band
structure/conductivity perspective
 Hg is liquid metal at room temperature.
 Or we could have a metal (band structure viewpoint), which is amorphous (structural
viewpoint (atomic ordering))
 ZrTiCuNiBe bulk metallic glass.
 Or we could have a ferromagnetic material (from spontaneous spin alignment point of
view- a physical property), which is amorphous (e.g.) (structural viewpoint)
 amorphous Co-Au alloys are ferromagnetic.
A Common Description
 Let us consider the common types of Engineering Materials.
 These are Metals, Ceramics, Polymers and various types of composites of these.
 A composite is a combination of two or more materials which gives a certain benefit to at least one
property → A comprehensive classification is given in the next slide. The term Hybrid is a superset of
composites.
 The type of atomic entities (ion, molecule etc.) differ from one class to another, which in turn gives
each class a broad ‘flavour’ of properties.
● Like metals are usually ductile and ceramics are usually hard & brittle Bonding and structure are key
factors in determining the
● Polymers have a poor tolerance to heat, while ceramics can withstand high temperatures properties of materials
● Metals are opaque (in bulk), while silicate glasses are transparent/translucent
● Metals are usually good conductors of heat and electricity, while ceramics are poor in this aspect.
● If you heat semi-conductors their electrical conductivity will increase, while for metals it will decrease
● Ceramics are more resistant to harsh environments as compared to Metals
 Biomaterials are a special class of materials which are compatible with the body of an organism
(‘biocompatible’). Certain metals, ceramics, polymers etc. can be used as biomaterials.

Diamond is poor electrical

conductor but a good thermal
Common type of materials conductor!! (phonons are
responsible for this)

Metals Ceramics Polymers

& Glasses

Hybrids (Composites)
 Materials
Composites: have two (or more)
solid components; usually one is a
Monolithic Hybrids
matrix and other is a reinforcement
Metals
(& Metallic Alloys) Composite
Sandwich structures: have a
Ceramics and ceramic alloys material on the surface (one
& Glasses or more sides) of a core
Sandwich
material
Polymers (& Elastomers)
Lattice* Structures: typically a
Lattice combination of material and space
(e.g. metallic or ceramic forms,
aerogels etc.).
Segment Hybrids are
designed to improve
Segmented Structures: are divided in 1D, 2D certain properties of
or 3D (may consist of one or more materials). monolithic materials

Q&A What are functionally graded materials?

 In functionally graded materials (FGM) the property varies from one side of the material (structure) to the other.
 E.g the outer surface may be made hard and abrasion resistant, while the interior could be made tough.
 The gradation in function could be obtained by composition changes, microstructure differences (via heat
treatment), etc.
Gradation of function

*Note: this use of the word 'lattice' should not be confused with the use of the word in connection with crystallography.
Also known by other names: foams, cellular materials)
Common materials: with various ‘viewpoints’

Graphite
Glass: amorphous
Ceramics

Crystal
Metals Polymers
 Common materials: examples

 Metals and alloys  Cu, Ni, Fe, NiAl (intermetallic compound), Brass (Cu-Zn alloys)
 Ceramics & glasses (usually oxides, nitrides, carbides)  Alumina (Al2O3), Zirconia (Zr2O3)
 Polymers (thermoplasts, thermosets) (Elastomers) Polythene, Polyvinyl chloride, Polypropylene

Based on Electrical Conduction

 Conductors  Cu, Al, NiAl
 Semiconductors  Ge, Si, GaAs
 Insulators  Alumina, Polythene*

Based on Ductility
 Ductile  Metals, Alloys
 Brittle  Ceramics, Inorganic Glasses, Ge, Si

* some special polymers could be conducting

 The broad scientific and technological segments of Materials Science are shown
in the diagram below.
 To gain a comprehensive understanding of materials science, all these aspects
have to be studied.

MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

Science of Metallurgy

 Thermodynamics  Kinetics

PHYSICAL MECHANICAL ELECTRO- TECHNOLOGICAL

CHEMICAL
• Extractive
• Structure • Casting
• Deformation • Corrosion
• Physical • Metal Forming
Behaviour
Properties • Welding
• Powder Metallurgy
• Machining
The Materials Tetrahedron
 A materials scientist has to consider four ‘intertwined’ concepts, which are schematically shown
as the ‘Materials Tetrahedron’.
  When a certain performance is expected from a component (and hence the material
constituting the
same), the ‘expectation’ is put forth as a set of properties.
 The material is synthesized and further made into a component by a set of processing methods
(casting, forming, welding, powder metallurgy etc.).
 The structure (at various lengthscales*) is determined by this processing.
 The structure in turn determines the properties, which will dictate the performance of the
component.
 Hence each of these aspects is dependent on the others.

The broad goal of Materials Science &

Engineering is to understand and
‘engineer’ this tetrahedron The Materials Tetrahedron

* this aspect will be considered in detail later

 What determines the properties of materials?
 Cannot just be the composition!
 Few 10s of ppm of Oxygen in Cu can degrade its conductivity (that is why we have Oxygen free high conductivity
copper (OFHC))

 Cannot just be the amount of phases present!

 A small amount of cementite along grain boundaries can cause the material to have poor impact
toughness
 Cannot just be the distribution of phases!
 Dislocations can severely weaken a crystal
 Cannot just be the defect structure in the phases present!
 The presence of surface compressive stress toughens glass

 The following factors put together determines the properties of a material:

 Composition
 Phases present and their distribution
 Defect Structure (in the phases and between the phases)
 Residual stress (can have multiple origins and one may have to travel across lengthscales)
 These factors do NOT act independent of one another (there is an interdependency)

Phases & Their

Distribution
Composition Residual Stress
Defect Structure Click here to ‘understand stress’

Hence, one has to traverse across lengthscales and look at various aspects to understand the properties of materials.
  Properties of a material are determined by two important characteristics*:
 Atomic structure
(The way atoms, ions, molecules arranged in the material).
 Electromagnetic structure – the bonding character
(The way the electrons**/charge are distributed and spin associated with electrons).
(Bonding in some sense is the simplified description of valence electron density distributions).

 Essentially, the electromagnetic structure and processing determine the atomic structure.

Atomic structure

Properties influenced by

Electromagnetic structure
(Bonding characteristics)

* Both these aspects are essentially governed by (properties of) electrons and how they talk to each other!
** Including sharing of electrons.
 In the next three slides we will traverse across lengthscales to demarcate the usual
domain of Materials Science.
 Many of the terms and concepts in the slide will be dealt with in later chapters.
 As we shall see the scale of Microstructures is very important and in some sense
Materials Scientists are also ‘Microstructure Engineers’!
(Material scientists are microstructure engineers who ‘worry’ about
mechanisms).
 There could be issues involved at the scale of the component (i.e. design of the
component or its meshing with the remainder of the system), which are
traditionally not included in the domain of Materials Science.
E.g. sharp corners in a component would lead to stress concentration during loading, which could lead to crack
initiation and propagation, leading to failure of the component.
● The inherent resistance of the material to cracks (and stress concentrations) would
typically be of concern to materials scientists and not the design of the component.
 Diamond cubic • Casting
• Metal Forming
• Welding
Thermo-mechanical • Powder Processing
Crystal Treatments • Machining

Atom Structure Microstructure Component

Electro-
magnetic

Processing determines shape and microstructure of

a component
 Materials Science • Casting
Thermo-mechanical
• Metal Forming
Treatments
• Welding
Crystal • Powder Processing
• Machining

Atom Structure Microstructure Component

Electro-
magnetic Phases + Defects + Residual Stress
& their distributions
• Vacancies
• Dislocations
• Twins
• Stacking Faults
• Grain Boundaries
• Voids
• Cracks
Processing determines shape and microstructure of a component

Please spend time over this figure and its implications (notes in the next slide)
  Structure could imply two types of structure:
 Crystal structure
 Electromagnetic structure
 Fundamentally these aspects are two sides of the same coin
 Microstructure can be defined as:
(Phases* + Defect Structure + Residual Stress) and their distributions
(more about these in later chapters)

 Microstructure can be ‘tailored’ by thermo-mechanical treatments

 A typical component/device could be a hybrid with many materials and having
multiple microstructures
E.g. a pen cap can have plastic and metallic parts

Click here to know more about microstructures

* Including aspects like morphology of phases

Funda Check What determines the properties of materials?

 There are microstructure ‘sensitive’ properties (often called structure sensitive properties)
and microstructure insensitive properties (note the word is sensitive and not dependent).
  Microstructure ‘sensitive’ properties → Yield stress, hardness, Magnetic coercivity…
 Microstructure insensitive properties → Density, Elastic modulus…
 Hence, one has to keep in focus:
 Atomic structure
Electronic Interactions
 Electromagnetic structure/Bonding
In materials
 Microstructure
to understand the properties. Bonding Structure
Weak Strong
Interactions Interactions
Hydrogen bond COVALENT

Etc. IONIC
Van der Waals
METALLIC

 From an alternate perspective:

Electronic interactions are responsible for most the material properties.
From an understanding perspective this can be broken down into Bonding and Structure.
 Effect of Bonding on properties: a broad flavour
 Two important contributing factors to the properties of materials is the nature of bonding
and the atomic structure.
 Both of these are a result of electron interactions and resulting distribution in the material.

Bond Melting Hardness Electrical

Bond Examples
Energy eV point (Ductility) Conductivity
5 Diamond, Graphite,
Covalent High Hard (poor) Usually Low
(8×1019 J) Ge, Si
Ionic 1-3 High Hard (poor) Low NaCl, ZnS, CsCl

Metallic 0.5 Varies Varies High Fe, Cu, Ag

Van der
0.001-0.1 Low Soft (poor) Low Ne, Ar, Kr
Waals
Hydrogen Low Soft (poor) Usually Low Ice

* For comparison thermal energy at RT (300K) is 0.03 eV

Funda Check What are the four founding pillars of materials science?

 The four pillars of Materials Science and Engineering are (a simplified view!!!):
(i) Physical structure→ Atomic structure (+ Microstructure)
(ii) Electromagnetic Structure→ Electronic and Magnetic structure
(iii) Thermodynamics
(iv) Kinetics
 If one gains understanding of these four pillars, one can comprehend most aspects of
Material behaviour and engineer materials for applications. Physical Structure

Electromagnetic structure

Kinetics
Thermodynamics

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Material usage strategies
 There are basically three strategies* available for the use of materials for specific purposes.
 Design a material with better properties
(e.g. materials with better creep resistance at high temperatures).
 Protect the material with surface coatings, cooling etc.
(e.g. paint the material to avoid corrosion).
 Use ‘sacrificial materials’ to protect the key component
(e.g. use of sacrificial anodes to prevent corrosion).
 The obvious has not been stated above i.e. use more “quantity” of material.
 Also, we could do a better design of the component/mechanism/machine/… itself (so that
the “load” on the material is not as much) .

* Note: in a given situation, only one/some of these strategies may work.

Modern material (/component) design: smart materials*
Examples of smart materials, structures and ‘components’ (/organs) are abound in the biological world.
Many of the ‘stuff’ found in the biological world have amazing design strategies, some of which we are just
able to copy (biomimetic materials) and further use the ‘inspiration’ to design newer materials (biognostic
materials). Some of the important qualities, which a smart material can have are listed below.
Self reporting: lets us know of changes occurring in the material e.g. damage accumulation can lead to
magnetization.
Responsive: responds to the environment and alters its properties (e.g. photochromatic lenses which
darken on exposure to sun light).
Responsive and self healing: responds to the environment or changes within the material and can heal any
deleterious changes (e.g. if cracks grow material is released to heal the cracks).
Self cleaning: this is like the ‘gecko effect’, where the surface cleans itself.
Self lubricating: an old concept, wherein the material puts up a surface layer which acts like a lubricant
(e.g. Al-graphite composites, wherein the graphite acts like a lubricant).
Multi-functional: the material performs multiple roles in a single structure or component. E.g.: (i) the
cover of a mobile can be its power cell too, (ii) an antenna made of shape memory alloy can be transported
in collapsed form and extends itself on heating on-site (envisaged for space applications), (iii) ferroelectric
and ferromagnetic.

* Also applicable to all students !!!!

Summary
 The goal of Materials Science and Engineering is to design materials with a certain set of properties,
which gives a certain desired performance. Using suitable processing techniques the material can be
synthesized and processed. The processing also determines the microstructure of the material.
 The material is expected to be used in a structure (e.g. bridge, truss, bolt) or a component (e.g. gear
wheel, battery, computer chip, filament of a light bulb).
 To understand the microstructure the material scientist has to traverse across lengthscales and has to
comprehend the defect structure in the material along with the phases and their distribution. The
residual stress state in the material is also very important.
 Common types of materials available to an engineer are: Metals, Ceramics and Polymers. A hybrid
made out of these materials may serve certain engineering goals better.
 Materials are also classified based on Band Structure (Metals, Semi-metals, Semiconductors,
Insulators) or Atomic Structure (Crystals, Quasicrystals, Amorphous phases).

The chapter technically ends here but the inquisitive reader may
continue to read the slides which follow.
 Some excursions into a broader picture

Basic Overview Fundas

 The coming slides puts together some ‘Overview Fundas’.
 These technically do not fit into any chapter or topic hence they have been
included in this chapter.
 Some of the concepts involved may be advanced for a beginner however he/she
may have a cursory look at these and recollect them when the appropriate topics
have been understood.
Linear versus Angular
 For every linear (visualized as a straight arrow) entity there is usually an angular
counterpart (visualized as a arc of a circle with an arrow).
 Note: ‘Proper perspective’ is required to make the connection.

 For law of conservation of linear momentum, there is the angular counterpart

 the law of conservation of angular momentum.
 For the edge dislocation, there is the screw dislocation.
 For electric field, there is the magnetic field arising from ‘spinning’ (or
revolving) charges. [Electron is associated charge and magnetic moment].
 For linear frequency (), there is angular frequency ( = 2).

 We often want to convert linear ‘stuff’ to angular or vice-versa. Some examples are:
 A solenoid ‘converts’ ‘circular magnetic fields’ to linear fields.
 A spring converts linear loading into torsional loading of the material.
 In Bragg’s diffraction experiment (say XRD) linear information (d-spacing between atomic planes) is converted
to angular information (the diffraction angle).
 The crank of a ‘steam locomotive’ converts linear motion of a piston to circular motion (of the wheel).
Ode to the electron
 Fundamental particles have important properties associated with them (not all have all the
properties as below):

Size, Mass, Charge, Spin, Angular Momentum (arising from spin), Magnetic
Moment (arising from spin of charged particles), etc.
 The electron in spite of being a familiar ‘entity’, is perhaps one of the most
mysterious ‘objects’ around.
 It has no known size to less than about 1015 m  it is as close as we can get to a
geometrical point.
 Yet it has Mass, Charge and Spin (and hence angular and magnetic moments).
 It can behave a like a particle or a wave (hence used in electron microscopy).
Global versus local
 Often for an event to take place the necessary and sufficient conditions must be satisfied.
 For many processes taking place in materials science, one has to ‘worry’ about a picture
involving a global criterion and a local criterion*. In many circumstances the global
criterion is the necessary condition and local is a sufficient one.
 Let us take an example of a crack in a body loaded in tension (Fig. below). For the crack to grow,
there must be sufficient elastic energy stored in the body (global, necessary condition), but
this is not enough. The stresses at the crack tip (which depends on the crack tip radius or
‘sharpness’) must be sufficient to break the bonds at the crack tip (local, sufficient condition) and
lead to the propagation of the crack.
 In many situations the global criterion is energy based, while the local is stress based.
 Other examples include: grain growth, formation of interfacial misfit dislocation during the
growth of precipitate or epitaxial film, nucleation of second phase, etc.


A crack in a material

Crack tip stresses are higher than the  applied

* For now we assume that just one criterion needs to be satisfied.

 Q&A What is ‘residual stress’ and how can it arise in a material (/component)?

 The stress present in a material/component in the absence of external loading/forces or constraints (i.e.
in a free-standing body) is called residual stress.
 Residual stress can ‘be’ in the macro-scale or micro-scale and can be deleterious or beneficial
depending on the context (diagram below).
 Residual stress may have multiple origins as in the diagrams below.

Macro-scale • Residual stress can be beneficial (+) or detrimental (–)

Residual • E.g.
Stress Based on scale   Stress corrosion cracking
 + Residual Surface Stress in toughened glass
Micro-scale
+ 2.44
All values are in GPa
+ 1.00

+ 0.67

Due to a dislocation Residual stresses due to an coherent precipitate

+ 0.33

0.00
(a crystallographic defect) − 0.33
Stress state (plot of y) due to a coherent -Fe precipitate
in a Cu–2 wt.%Fe alloy aged at 700 C for (a) 30 min. − 0.67

Residual y

x
Simulated σy contours
− 1.00

− 1.16
z

Stress
• Thermal
Physical properties • Magnetic
Defects • Vacancies, Dislocations, Voids, Cracks • Ferroelectric
Residual
Origins/Related to
Phase Transformation & reactions Stress
Thermal origin • Mismatch in coefficient of Geometrical entities
thermal expansion
 Q&A What is the difference between homogeneous and isotropic?

 In a homogeneous material the properties do not change from one position to another. A piece of Cu or
an solid solution of Ni in Cu are examples of homogeneous materials, wherein the composition and
structure is the same at each point in the material.
 On the other hand in heterogeneous material, the material composition or structure varies from one
place to another, which further implies a change in the properties (from one place to another).
 From a practical standpoint, we usually consider a ‘lengthscale’ at which the homogeneity is
considered. E.g. there might be some compositional variations (and hence local property variations) at
the level of a few nanometers, but at the lengthscale of micrometers (microns) these heterogeneities
even out and material can be considered homogeneous.
 In an isotropic material a given property is NOT direction dependent, while in an anisotropic a given
property is direction dependent. A material could be isotropic w.r.t. to one property, while could be
anisotropic with respect to another. E.g. A single crystal of Cu is isotropic w.r.t. electrical conductivity
a second order tensor property; while is anisotropic w.r.t. elastic modulus a forth order tensor
property. Click here to know more. (Also see next slide).
 Q&A How can isotropy arise in a material? (or) How can a material be isotropic?

 A material can be isotropic (with respect to a property) in three ways.

 These can arise from:
 (i) structure at the atomic level,
 (ii) structure at the microstructural level or
 (iii) tonsorial nature of the property in conjunction with the symmetry of structure (& Neumann’s
principle). These are explained below.
 (i) The material is disordered (amorphous/glass) and hence all directions are equivalent in the material
(on an average). Such a material is truely isotropic.
 (ii) The may be crystalline, but the crystallites may be oriented randomly (like in a polycrystal) and
hence at the lengthscale of the material (which is assumed to be much larger than the crystallite/grain
size) the material appears to be isotropic.
 (iii) Even single crystals an be isotropic w.r.t. a given property. This depends on the tensorial nature of
the property (i.e. is it a second order tensor or a higher order tensor), in conjunction with the symmetry
of the crystal (& the Neumann’s principle). This point is difficult to explain here and readers may click on the link at the bottom of the
page.

Atomic and
microstructural Amorphous atomic structure
Origins of isotropy in
materials Origin of Isotropy (In single crystals) The order of the
tensor in conjunction with the
symmetry of the crystal
Amorphous material
Microstructure level
Click here to know more Randomly oriented crystallites