Materials Science: An Introduction

Dr Sanjay Panwar
Professor

School of Basic & Applied Sciences

Maharaja Agrasen University
Atal Shiksha Kunj, Kalujhanda,
Near Barotiwala,Solan – 174103 (HP)

1
 Materials by themselves do nothing;
yet without materials man can do
nothing.

Nature itself is a self-ordered

structure which developed through
time by the utilization of the same
properties of atomic hierarchy that
man presides over in his simple
2
constructions.
 Not only are we consuming materials more rapidly, but we
are using an increasing diversity of materials.
A great new range of materials has opened up for the use of
20th-century man: refractory metals, light alloys, plastics,
and synthetic fibers, for example.
Some of these do better, or cheaper, what the older ones did;
others have combinations of properties that enable entirely
new devices to be made or quite new effects to be achieved.
We now employ in industrial processes a majority of the
ninety-two elements in the periodic table which are found in
nature, whereas until a century ago, all but 20, if known at
all, were curiosities of the chemistry laboratory.
Not only are more of nature’s elements being put into
service, but completely new materials are being
synthesized in the laboratory.

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 Materials have somewhat the quality of letters in
the alphabet in that they can be used to compose
many things larger than themselves;
• amber, gold jewelry, and iron ore inspired
commerce and the discovery of many parts of
the world;
• improvements in optical glass lies behind all the
knowledge revealed by the microscope;
• conductors, insulators, and semiconductors
were needed to construct new communication
systems which today affect the thought, work,
and play of everyone.
• Alloy steel permitted the development of the
automobile;
• titanium the space program.
4
 The transitions from, say, stone to bronze and from
bronze to iron were revolutionary in impact, but they
were relatively slow in terms of the time scale.

The changes in materials innovation and application

within the last half century occur in a time span
which is revolutionary rather than evolutionary.

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 The Substance of civilization: Materials and Human History
by Stephen L Sass

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Materials and civilisation
Copper age
Stone age
(5000 - 3000 BC)
(Before 5000 BC)

Bronze age
(3000 - 800 BC)

Iron age
(800 BC - 40 AD)

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Plastic age ?
 Types of materials

Metal Polymer
Cerami
c
Semiconductors Biomaterials
Composites

Molecular materials
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 Materials Science and Engineering
 The word 'materials' here does not refer to all matter in the Universe.
 If this were so, it would include all the physical sciences and the life
sciences- from astronomy to zoology!
 By including the word 'inanimate' in the definition, we can exclude the
life sciences from our purview.
 Further, we can restrict the definition only to matter useful to mankind.
 Even here, the range is too broad for the purposes of the engineer. For
example, we can list a large number of things useful to man, such as
food, medicines, explosives, chemicals, water, steel, plastics and
concrete, only some of which qualify as engineering materials.
 We then have to be more specific and define materials as that part of
inanimate matter, which is useful to the engineer in the practice of his
profession.
 In the currently understood sense of the term, materials refer only to
solid materials, even though it is possible to quote a number of
examples of liquid and gaseous materials such as sulphuric acid and
steam, which are useful to the engineer

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 • The word 'science' refers to the physical sciences, in
particular to chemistry and physics. As we confine
ourselves mainly to solids in materials science, the
subject is related to solid state chemistry and solid state
physics.
• The word 'engineering indicates that the engineering
usefulness of the matter under study is always kept in
mind, irrespective of whether the basic laws of science
can be applied rigorously or not.
• Where the basic laws cannot be applied, the materials
engineer does not give up what is important to him from a
practical point of view. He uses the best possible
approximation, develops empirical rules, and
extrapolates available information to unknown situations.
• In this respect, materials science and engineering draws
heavily from the engineering sciences such as
metallurgy, ceramics and polymer science.
• These in their own time, have grown out of their
interaction with the basic sciences of chemistry and
physics.

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 Classification of Engineering Materials
We can classify them in three broad groups according to their
1)nature:
Metals and alloys
Metals are familiar objects with a characteristic appearance; they
are capable of changing their shape permanently, and have good
thermal and electrical conductivity.
An alloy is a combination of more than one metal.
Examples: Steels, aluminium, copper, silver, gold Brasses,
bronzes, manganin, Ga invar G Superalloys Boron rare earth
magnetic alloys
2) Ceramics and glasses
Nonmetallic inorganic substances, which are brittle and have good
thermal and electrical insulating properties.
Examples: MgO, CdS, Al,O3, SiC, BaTiO3 Silica, soda-lime-
glass, Concrete, cement, Ferrites and garnets Ceramic
superconductors
3) Organic polymers
Relatively inert and light, and generally have a high degree of
plasticity.
Other examples include materials which lie between two groups are:
Examples: Plastics:
Metal-reinforced PVC,, Glass
plastics PTFE,fibre-reinforced
Polyethylene Fibres: terylene,
plastics ,
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nylon, cotton, Natural and synthetic
Si, Ge, GaAs, Boride –reinforced steel rubbers Leather.
 An alternative way of classifying materials is according to the three major
areas in which they are used:
1) Structures (not to be confused with the internal structure of a material)
refer to the objects without moving parts erected by engineers, such as a
concrete dam, a steel melting furnace, a suspension bridge and an oil
refinery tower.
2) Machines include lathes, steam and gas turbines, engines, electric motors
and generators.
3) Devices are the most recent addition to engineering materials and refer to
such innovations as a transistor, a photoelectric cell, piezoelectric pressure
gauges, ceramic magnets and lasers.

Each category of applications, may include materials from all the three
groups.

For example, an aircraft structure is built of aluminium alloys and plastics;

Steel melting furnace is built of refractory oxides and structural steel;
12 Safety helmets are made of glass-reinforced plastics.
 The block diagram showing interplay between material groups and
categories of applications

Metals and
Alloys, Structures,
Ceramics and Machines,
Glasses, Devces
Polymers

Engineering
Applications
Materials

Each category of engineering application requires materials from any or

all of the three groups of materials.
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 Levels of Structure
 The internal structure of a material, simply called the structure, can be studied at
various levels of observation.
 The magnification and resolution of the physical aid used are a measure of the
level of observation.
 The higher the magnification, the finer is the level.
 The details that are disclosed at a certain level of observation are generally
different from the details disclosed at some other level.

Depending on the level, we can classify the structure of materials as:

• Macrostructure
• Microstructure
• Substructure
• Crystal structure
• Electronic structure
• Nuclear structure.

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 Macrostructure
• examined with naked eye or under a low magnification.
• The internal symmetry of the atomic arrangements in a crystalline
material may reflect in the external form of a crystal such as quartz.
• Large individual crystals of a crystalline material may be visible to the
naked eye, as in a brass doorknob by the constant polishing and
etching action of the human hand and sweat.

Microstructure
• generally refers to the structure as observed under the optical
microscope.
• This microscope can magnify a structure up to about 1500 times linear,
without loss of resolution of details of the structure.
• The limit of resolution of the human eye is about 0.1 mm (10 -4m), that is,
the eye can distinguish two lines as separate lines, only when their
distance of separation is more than 0.1 mm.
• The optical microscope can resolve details down to a limit of about 0.1
15
um (10-7 m).
 Substructure

 Refers to the structure obtained by using a microscope with a much higher

magnification and resolution than the optical microscope.
 In an electron microscope, a magnification of 10,00,000 times linear is
possible.
 By Virtue of the smaller wavelength of electrons as compared to visible light,
the resolving power also increases correspondingly so that much finer details
show up in the electron microscope.
 We can obtain a wealth of additional information on very fine particles or on
crystal imperfections such as dislocations in a transmission electron
microscope.
 Here, electrons pass through a thin foil of the specimen and the associated
diffraction effects produce the image.
 The electron diffraction patterns obtained along with the photograph of the
substructure greatly aid in understanding the processes taking place in materials
on such a minute scale.
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 In a scanning electron microscope, an electron beam is scanned across the
surface of the specimen, which must be conducting. Back scattered electrons
at each point are collected and displayed at the same scanning rate on a
cathode ray tube. The result is an image, much like a television image, of the
surface features of the specimen. This image has a very great depth of field
so that even a fractured surface without any polishing can be imaged.
Magnifications range from 10 x to 50 000 x.

In the electron probe microanalyzer, a beam of electrons bombards the

specimen surface. X-rays that have wavelengths characteristic of the
elements in the specimen are emitted. Using suitable standards, elements
present in the specimen can be identified and their concentration determined
from the X-ray intensity. Thus this technique allows microchemical analysis
on spots as small as 1 um.

Another modern microscope is the field ion microscope. It produces images

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of individual atoms and imperfections in atomic arrangements.
 Crystal structure tells us the details of the atomic arrangement within a
Crystal. It is usually sufficient to describe the arrangement of a few atoms
within what is called a unit cell. The crystal consists of a very large number
of unit cells forming regularly repeating patterns in space. The main
technique employed for determining the crystal structure is the X-ray
diffraction.

The electronic structure of a solid usually refers to the electrons in the

outermost orbitals of individual atoms that constitute the solid. Spectroscopic
techniques are very useful in determining the electronic structure.

Nuclear structure is studied by nuclear spectroscopic techniques such as

nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Mossbauer studies.

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 Structure-Property Relationships in Materials
Our knowledge of the internal structure of materials and how this
structure correlates with the properties has rapidly advanced in recent
decades.
So, it is more interesting and appropriate to study some of the key
factors that determine the structure-property relationships, rather
than go for a fully descriptive account of a large number of materials.
The levels of structure which are of the greatest interest in materials
science and engineering are the microstructure, the substructure and
the crystal structure.
The chemical, mechanical, electrical and magnetic
properties are among the most important engineering
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properties.
 We first develop the basic concepts pertaining to the levels of structure.
 These include concepts in equilibrium and kinetics, the geometry of
crystals, the arrangement of atoms in the unit cell of crystalline materials,
the substructural imperfections in crystals, and the microstructure of
single phase and multi-phase materials.
 We then discuss how changes in the structure are brought about and how
they can be controlled to the best possible advantage.

The gross composition of a material is important in determining its

structure. Yet, for a given gross composition, radical changes in the
structure and properties can be brought about by subtle changes in the
concentration and distribution of minute quantities of impurities. The
same may also be possible haw a thermal or a mechanical treatment that
involves no change in the overall composition of the material.
Materials Science and Engineering deals more with this
kind of changes rather than with the effect of gross
20 composition on the properties.
 CERAMICS
 A ceramic material is an inorganic, non-metallic, often crystalline
oxide, nitride or carbide material.
 Some elements, such as carbon or silicon, may be considered
ceramics.
 Ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, and weak
in shearing and tension.
 They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in other materials
subjected to acidic or caustic environments.
 Ceramics generally can withstand very high temperatures, ranging
from 1,000°C to 1,600°C. 
 Glass is often not considered a ceramic because of its amorphous
 (noncrystalline) character. However, glassmaking involves several
The of
steps term
the“ceramic” comesand
ceramic process, fromits the Greek word
mechanical keramikos,
properties are similar
towhich means
ceramic “burnt stuff,” indicating that desirable properties
materials.
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of these materials are normally achieved through a high-
temperature heat treatment process called firing.
 Traditional ceramic raw materials include:
• Clay minerals such as kaolinite,
• Recent materials include aluminium oxide, commonly known as 
alumina.
• The modern ceramic materials, which are classified as advanced
ceramics, include silicon carbide and tungsten carbide. Both are
valued for their abrasion resistance and hence find use in
applications such as the wear plates of crushing equipment in
mining operations.
• Advanced ceramics are also used in the medicine, electrical,
electronics any
A ceramic is industries and body
of the various hard,armor.
brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-
resistant materials made by shaping and then firing a nonmetallic mineral,
such as clay, at a high temperature.
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Examples: earthenware, porcelain, and brick.
 • The earliest ceramics made by humans were pottery objects
(i.e. pots or vessels) or figurines made from clay, either by
itself or mixed with other materials like silica, hardened
and sintered in fire.
• Later ceramics were glazed and fired to create smooth,
colored surfaces, decreasing porosity through the use of
glassy, amorphous ceramic coatings on top of the
crystallinenow
Ceramics ceramic substrates.
include domestic, industrial and building
products, as well as a wide range of ceramic art.
New ceramic materials were developed in the 20th
century, for use in advanced ceramic engineering, such
as in semiconductors.

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 History
• Human beings appear to have been making their own ceramics for at least
26,000 years, subjecting clay and silica to intense heat to fuse and form
ceramic materials.
• The earliest known pottery was made by mixing animal products with
clay, and baked in kilns at up to 800 °C. While actual pottery fragments
have been found up to 19,000 years old, it was not until about ten thousand
years later that regular pottery became common.
• An early people that spread across much of Europe is named after its use
of pottery, the Corded Ware culture. These early Indo-European peoples
decorated their pottery by wrapping it with rope while still wet. When the
ceramics were fired, the rope burned off but left a decorative pattern of
Thecomplex
inventiongrooves in the surface. led to the production of smoother, more even
of the wheel eventually
pottery using the wheel-forming technique, like the pottery wheel.
Early ceramics were porous, absorbing water easily. It became useful for more items with
the discovery of glazing techniques, coating pottery with silicon, bone ash, or other
materials that could melt and reform into a glassy surface, making a vessel less pervious
24 to water.
 Properties …………..
The physical properties of any ceramic substance are a direct result of its
crystalline structure and chemical composition.
Mechanical properties
Mechanical properties are important in structural and building materials as well as
textile fabrics.
Ceramic materials are usually ionic or covalent bonded materials, and can be 
crystalline or amorphous. A material held together by either type of bond will tend to 
fracture before any plastic deformation takes place, which results in poor toughness in
these materials.
Additionally, because these materials tend to be porous, the pores and other
microscopic imperfections act as stress concentrators, decreasing the toughness further,
and reducing the tensile strength. These combine to give catastrophic failures, as
opposed to the more ductile failure modes of metals.
These materials do show plastic deformation. However, because of the rigid structure
of the crystalline materials, there are very few available slip systems for dislocations to
move, and so they deform very slowly. With the non-crystalline (glassy) materials, 
viscous flow is the dominant source of plastic deformation, and is also very slow. It is
25 therefore neglected in many applications of ceramic materials.
 Electrical properties
Some ceramics are semiconductors. Most of these are transition metal oxides
 that are II-VI semiconductors, such as zinc oxide.

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 GLASSES
The glasses are a familiar group of ceramics; containers, lenses,
and fiberglass represent typical applications.
They are noncrystalline silicates containing other oxides, notably
CaO, Na2O, K2O, and Al2O3, which influence the glass properties.
A typical soda–lime glass consists of approximately 70 wt% SiO 2,
the balance being mainly Na2O (soda) and CaO (lime).
Possibly the two prime assets of these materials are their optical
transparency and the relative ease with which they may be
fabricated.

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 GLASS–CERAMICS
Most inorganic glasses can be made to transform from a
noncrystalline state to one that is crystalline by the proper high-
temperature heat treatment. This process is called crystallization,
and the product is a fine-grained polycrystalline material which is
often called a glass–ceramic.
The formation of these small glass-ceramic grains is, in a sense, a
phase transformation, which involves nucleation and growth
stages.
As a consequence, the kinetics (i.e., the rate) of crystallization may
be described using the same principles that were applied to phase
transformations for metal systems.
A nucleating agent (frequently titanium dioxide) is often added to
the glass to promote crystallization.The presence of a nucleating
28 agent shifts the begin and end transformation curves to shorter
 Properties and Applications of Glass–Ceramics
• Glass-ceramic materials have been designed to have relatively high
mechanical strengths; low coefficients of thermal expansion (to avoid
thermal shock); relatively high temperature capabilities; good
dielectric properties (for electronic packaging applications); and good
biological compatibility.
• Some glass–ceramics may be made optically transparent; others are
opaque.
• Possibly the most attractive attribute of this class of materials is the
ease with which they may be fabricated; conventional glass-forming
techniques may be used conveniently in the mass production of nearly
pore-free ware.
• Glass–ceramics are manufactured commercially under the trade
names of Pyroceram™, Corningware™, Cercor™, and Vision™.
• The most common uses for these materials are as ovenware,
29 tableware, oven windows, and rangetops—primarily because of their
strength and excellent resistance to thermal shock.They also serve as
 •
POLYMERS
The earliest synthetic polymer was developed in 1906, called Bakelite.

• The development of modern plastics started in 1920s using raw material

extracted from coal and petroleum products (Ethylene). Ethylene is called a
building block.
• Polymers are long-chain molecules and are formed by polymerization process,
linking and cross linking a particular building block (monomer, a unit cell).

• The term polymer means many units repeated many times in a

chainlike structure.
• Most monomers are organic materials, atoms are joined in covalent bonds
(electron-sharing) with other atoms such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur,
chlorine,….

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 Products from Bakelite

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 Polymer Building Blocks
 Hydrogen
 Carbon (key)
 Oxygen
 Nitrogen
 Fluorine
 Silicon
 Sulfur
 Chlorine

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 Monomer to Polymer

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 Polymer Microstructure
• The word (poly)-(mer) means (many)-(parts) and refers to
molecules consisting of many elementary units, called
monomers (an unreacted small molecule capable of
polymerizing).
• Monomers are structural repeating units of a polymer that
are connected to each other by covalent bonds.
• Since monomer can mean anything that repeats along the
chain, two types of monomers are important.
• Chemical monomers are the repeating unit that
corresponds to the small molecules that were linked
together to make the polymer chain.
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 • The entire structure of a polymer is generated
during polymerization, the process by which
elementary units (chemical monomers) are
covalently bonded together.
• The number of monomers in a polymer molecule is
called its degree of polymerization N
• The molar mass of a polymers is equal to its degree
of polymerization N times the molar mass M mon of its
chemical monomer:
• M = NMmon.
• Repeat unit of the polymer is usually equivalent or
nearly equivalent to the monomer, e.g. repeat unit of
Ploy Vinyl Chloride (PVC) is - CH 2 CHCl- , its
35 monomer is vinyl chloride CH2 = CHCl
 • Polymers are used as dielectrics.
• The length of polymer chain is specified as the number
of repeat unit in the chain and this is called the Degree
of Polymerization (DP), i.e.,
• Degree of polymerization = length of polymer chain
= number of repeat units
• The molecular weight of a polymer is the product of
the molecular weight of the repeat unit and the DP;
e.g., the mole. Wt. of PVC having DP=1000 is 63 x
1000 = 63000.
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 • Most high polymers useful for plastics, rubbers or
fibres have monomer species are used to form the
molecular weight between 104 & 106
• Polymers were first called anomalous because their
properties were different from those of linear
molecular weight compounds.
• If only one type of monomer is used to form the
polymer, the resulting molecule is called
homopolymer, whereas, when different monomer
species are used to form the polymer, it is called
copolymer.
• Polymers are also called tailor made materials.
• Polymer molecules are many times larger than those
37 of ordinary substances
 • If the repeat units are arranged in a single stranded structure, the
molecule is said to be linear

• If the linear chain has side-chain appendages, where each molecule is

still separate and discrete from its neighbours, the molecule is said to be
nonlinear and referred to as branched polymer. Sometimes there are
chains attached to the backbone chain which are comparable in
length to that backbone chain. This is called a branched polymer.
Some polymers, like polyethylene, can be made in linear or
branched versions.

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 • The branch chains have some strange habits.
Sometimes, both ends of the branch chains are attached to the
backbone chains of separate polymer molecules.
• If enough branch chains are attached to two polymer molecules, it
can happen that all of the polymer backbone chains in a sample
will be attached to each other in one giant network! When this
happens, the sample is in fact one single molecule, a molecule large
enough to pick up. Polymers like this are called crosslinked
polymers.
• Many types of rubber, such as polyisoprene and polybutadiene,
are crosslinked.

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The repeating units are joined in a 3-dimensional array
 HYDROCARBONS
• A class of substances containing only the chemical elements
carbon and hydrogen (C & H); e.g., CH4, C2H6.
• The molecular formula is CH
• n 2n+2
C1 – C4 => Normal gases
• C5 – C12 => Volatile liquids (e.g.
There is a smooth
gasoline)
change in the
• C13 – C18 => Higher boiling point liquids
physical properties
(e,g. aviation fuel,
of the individual kerosene)
hydrocarbons as the • C19 – C38 => heavy oils and waxes
chain length
• C38 ------ => Waxes may have weak
increases. Thus
mechanical properties.
• If C > 100 to 1000 => polyethylene
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 HYDROCARBON POLYMERS
1. Polyethylene 2. Polystyrene (PS) Cheap moulded
object, expanded with pentane to
make plastic form, highly sensitive,
hard

3. Polypropylene (PP): Polypropylene,

also known as polypropene, is a
thermoplastic polymer used in a wide
variety of applications including packaging
and labeling, textiles, stationery, plastic
parts and reusable containers 

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 COMPOSITE
 A composite is composed of two (or more) individual
S ceramics, and polymers.
materials, viz., metals,
 The design goal of a composite is to achieve a combination of
properties that is not displayed by any single material, and also
to incorporate the best characteristics of each of the component
materials.
 A large number of composite types exist that are represented by
different combinations of metals, ceramics, and polymers.
 Furthermore, some naturally-occurring materials are also
considered to be composites—for example, wood and bone.
 One of the most common and familiar composites is fiberglass,
The glass fibers
in which are
small relatively
glass fibers arestrong
embeddedandwithin
stiff a(but also brittle),
polymeric
material
whereas the(normally
polymer an is
epoxy or polyester).
ductile (but also weak and flexible).
Thus, the resulting fiberglass is relatively stiff, strong, flexible,
and ductile. In addition, it has a low density. Fiber glass is
42 sometimes also termed a “glass fiber-reinforced polymer”
 Another of these technologically important materials is the
“carbon fiber reinforced polymer” (or “CFRP”) composite—
carbon fibers that are embedded within a polymer. These materials
are stiffer and stronger than the glass fiber-reinforced materials,
yet they are more expensive.
The CFRP composites are used in some aircraft and aerospace
applications, as well as high-tech sporting equipment (e.g.,
bicycles, golf clubs, tennis rackets, and skis/snowboards).

43
  A composite, is a multiphase material that is artificially made, as opposed to one
that occurs or forms naturally.
 In addition, the constituent phases must be chemically dissimilar and separated by
a distinct interface.
 Thus, most metallic alloys and many ceramics do not fit this definition because
their multiple phases are formed as a consequence of natural phenomena.
 In designing composite materials, scientists and engineers ingeniously combine
various metals, ceramics, and polymers to produce a new generation of
extraordinary materials.
 Most composites have been created to improve combinations of mechanical
characteristics such as stiffness, toughness, and ambient and high-temperature
strength.
Many composite materials are composed of just two phases; one is termed the
matrix, which is continuous and surrounds the other phase, often called the
dispersed phase. The properties of composites are a function of the properties
of the constituent phases, their relative amounts, and the geometry of the
44 dispersed phase. “Dispersed phase geometry” in this context means the shape of
the particles and the particle size, distribution, and orientation.
 Figure. Schematic representations of the various geometrical
and spatial characteristics of particles of the dispersed phase
that may influence the properties of composites: (a)
concentration, (b) size, (c) shape, (d) distribution, and (e)
45
orientation.
 Classification scheme for the various composite
materials

46
 Particle-Reinforced Composites
The dispersed phase for particle-reinforced composites is equiaxed (i.e., particle
dimensions are approximately the same in all directions). The particulate phase is
harder and stiffer than the matrix. These reinforcing particles tend to restrain
movement of the matrix phase in the vicinity of each particle. In essence, the
matrix transfers some of the applied stress to the particles, which bear a fraction of
the load. The degree of reinforcement or improvement of mechanical behavior
depends on strong bonding at the matrix–particle interface.
Examples: Cermet, Concrete, Portland Cement Concrete, Reinforced Concrete
Fiber-Reinforced Composites
The dispersed phase is in the form of a fiber. Design goals of fiber-reinforced
composites often include high strength and/or stiffness on a weight basis. These
characteristics are expressed in terms of specific strength and specific modulus
parameters, which correspond, respectively, to the ratios of tensile strength to
specific gravity and modulus of elasticity to specific gravity. Fiber-reinforced
composites with exceptionally high specific strengths and moduli have been
47 produced that utilize low-density fiber and matrix materials.
 Structural Composites
A structural composite is normally composed of both homogeneous
and composite materials, the properties of which depend not only on
the properties of the constituent materials but also on the geometrical
design of the various structural elements.
Laminar composite is composed of two-dimensional sheets or panels
that have a preferred high-strength direction such as is found in wood
and continuous and aligned fiber-reinforced plastics.
Sandwich panel consists of two outer sheets, or faces, that are
separated by and adhesively bonded to a thicker core. The outer sheets
are made of a relatively stiff and strong material, typically aluminum
alloys, fiber-reinforced plastics, titanium, steel, or plywood; they
impart high stiffness and strength to the structure, and must be thick
enough to withstand tensile and compressive stresses that result from
48
loading. The core material is lightweight, and normally has a low
 Semiconductors
Semiconductors have electrical properties that are intermediate
between the electrical conductors (viz. metals and metal alloys) and
insulators (viz. ceramics and polymers).
Furthermore, the electrical characteristics of these materials are
extremely sensitive to the presence of minute concentrations of
impurity atoms, for which the 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 (not to mention our lives) over the past three decades.

49
 HIGH TC SUPERCONDUCTORS
The discovery of superconductivity aroused considerable interest in this field
since the materials with no electrical resistance, and hence negligible het losses,
could be exploited to fabricate powerful and economical devices, which
consume very small amount of electrical energy.
However, due to requirement of very low temperature, it was not feasible to
manufacture such devices. It is both difficult and expensive to attain the liquid
helium temperature and maintain it for a long time.
Thus, tremendous efforts were made to develop the superconducting material
having s high critical temperature as possible. A number of materials including
various metals, alloys, intermetallic and interstitial compounds, and ceramics
were employed.
Despite all these efforts, a TC of maximum 23 K was achieved in 1977 in
Nb3Ge and intermetallic compound of niobium and Ge.
Thus, the scientist have given up the hope of producing superconducting
devices to have a superconductor with the transition temperature equal to higher
50
than 77 K, the liquid nitrogen temperature.
 In 1986, Bednorz and Muller discovered a new class of oxide
ceramic superconductors with critical temperature higher that
30K, which ushered a new era in the development of
superconductivity. There are called high TC superconductors.
The first group of such superconductors was La 2-xMxCuO4(M =
Ba, Sr, Ca) with Tc ranging from 25 to 40 K and referred to as
214 system. This system possesses K 2NiF4 structure with an
orthorhombic distortion.
Another discovery took place with system having general formula
LnBa2Cu3O7-x(Ln = Y, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy,Ho, Er, Tm, Yb) with
x ~0.2. This is called 123 system with an orthorhombic structure.
In 1988, several other non rare-earth based copper oxide systems
involving Bi and Tl were discovered which showed
51
superconductivity between 60 K and 125 K
 Properties of some selected superconductors in chronological order
Year TC (K) Material Class Crystal Structure Type Hc (MAm-l)  
1911 4.2 Hg Metal Tetragonal I 0.033  
1913 6.2 Pb Metal fcc I 0.064  
1930 9.25 Nb Metal bcc II 0.164  
1940 15 NbN Interstitial compound NaCI II 12.2  
1950 17 V3Si Intermetallic compound β-tungsten (W30) II 12.4  
1954 18 NbSn Intermetallic compound W3O II 18.5
 
1960 10 Nb-Ti Alloy bcc II 11.9  
1964 0.7 SrTiO Ceramic Perovskite II Small  
1970 20.7 Nb3 (Al, Ge) Intermetallic compound W3O II 34.0  
1977 23 Nb3Ge Intermetallic compound W3O II 29.6

1986 34 La1.85Ba0.15CuO4 Ceramic Tetragonal II 43

1987 90 YBa2Cu3O7 Ceramic Orthorhombic II 111

1988 108 Bi cuprates Ceramic Orthorhombic II --
1988 125 Tl cuprates Ceramic Orthorhombic II --

52
 Many of the properties of these conventional high-TC, superconductors are
identical to those of conventional low-TC metallic superconductors. These
include, for example, the existence of energy gap over the entire Fermi
surface below TC and the Josephson tunnelling.
These superconductors, however, possess certain properties which do not
match with those of conventional ones. These are, for example, small
isotope effect, small coherence lengths (a few lattice spacings) and
unconventional temperature dependencies of normal state response
functions.
Also, the pressure is found to increase the transition temperature in high-T C
superconductors, whereas usually an opposite effect is observed in
conventional superconductors.
Thus there appears to be something essentially new in these high-T C,
superconductors which has not yet been clearly understood.
The identification of the possible conduction mechanism in the high-T C,
superconductors is perhaps the most challenging problem in condensed
53
matter physics these days
 LIQUID CRYSTALS
 These are liquids in which the molecular structure has a certain degree of order.
 Owing to the ordered arrangement of molecules, liquid crystals occupy an
intermediate position between crystals and common liquids with disordered
molecules.
 Liquid crystals are fluid as common liquids, but on the other hand, exhibit
anisotropic properties as crystals.
 A large number of liquid crystals are known today; important among them are
certain organic substances with molecules of an elongated form. On melting,
these elongated molecules are arranged in a certain order by virtue of some
pecularities in molecular interaction.
 The intermediate state of a liquid crystal with ordered structure
is retained in the temperature interval from the melting point to
a transition point at which the liquid crystal changes to
isotropic liquid.
 During this transition, thermal oscillations increase and the ordered molecular
54 structure disappears completely, making the substance transparent. This is why,
 From structure point of view, liquid crystals can be classified into three classes:
(i) nematic (ii) smectic and (iii) cholesteric. These are shown in Fig. 3.58.

 In class I (Fig. a), molecules are arranged into

chains and the direction of preferable
orientations of molecules is the optic axis of a
liquid crystal.
 In type II (Fig. b), molecules form parallel
layers which can be easily displaced relative to
one another
 In type III (Fig. c), the structure is more
complex, with molecules arranged on a spatial
Long molecules form parallel layers, with each
spiral.
layer having the structure of a liquid crystal of
type-I. The direction of preferable orientation
Structure of Liquid Crystals varies smoothly from one layer to another, thus
forming a spiral of a definite pitch.
55
 The structure of liquid crystals, is changed easily under the action of pressure,
electric fields or heating.
The ability of type-I and type-III liquid crystals to change their optical properties
under the action of electric fields and at temperature variations is widely utilized
in instrument engineering.
A structural change in a liquid crystal caused by an external action is
accompanied with displacements of molecules which take 1–10 ms; a still longer
time, 20-200 ms, is required to restore their original state upon removal of the
external action.
This pecularity of liquid crystals restricts their applications to low frequencies
(not more than 2–5 kHz).
Type-I liquid crystals exhibit the electro-optical effect of dynamical light
scattering. When an electric field of a sufficient intensity is applied, the
original order of molecules is disturbed, molecules are stirred turbulently,
and the substance becomes more transparent.
On heating, the spiral pitch increases in liquid crystals of type-III. This changes
56 the conditions of light interference on the crystals, resulting in a different colour
of reflected light.
  Liquid crystals are used in colour indicators and other colour
devices. Colour pictures are obtained by mixing liquid crystals
with certain pigments whose molecules are also of an elongated
form.
 At a low field intensity, liquid crystal molecules are arranged
perpendicular to the cell electrodes and cause pigment
molecules to arrange in the same order. In this position of
molecules, pigmenting is not observed. When, however,
molecules are rotated by the field of a higher intensity, pigment
molecules produce a certain colour image.
 The optical characteristics of liquid crystals are quite diverse,
but the wavelength of reflected light changes on the average by
1–2 nm on heating per degree C.
57
 Liquid crystals find use in
 clinical thermometers,
 temperature sensors for control of overheating of machine parts
and units, and transducers of invisible infrared rays into visible
light. In the last application, a liquid crystal absorbs infrared
light and gets heated so that the colour of the reflected light is
changed.
 Liquid crystals also find applications in modulators,
information displays: calculators, watches, etc., instruments
of automobiles, devices for deviation of light flow, etc.

58
 Quasicrystal
Also called quasi-periodic crystal, matter formed
atomically in a manner somewhere between the 
amorphous solids of glasses (special forms of metals
and other minerals, as well as common glass) and the
precise pattern of crystals.
Like crystals, quasicrystals contain an ordered
structure, but the patterns are subtle and do not recur at
precisely regular intervals.
Rather, quasicrystals appear to be formed from two
different structures assembled in a nonrepeating array,
the three-dimensional equivalent of a tile floor made
59
from two shapes of tile and having an orientational
 Although when first discovered such structures surprised the
scientific community, it now appears that quasicrystals rank
among the most common structures in alloys of aluminum with
such metals as iron, cobalt, or nickel. While no major
commercial applications yet exploit properties of the
quasicrystalline state directly, quasicrystals form in compounds
 noted for their high strength and light weight, suggesting
potential applications in aerospace and other industries.

60
 LUMINESCENCE
• The emission of light from a body from any cause other than
high temperature is called luminescence.
• Luminescence can be stimulated by the incidence of light,
bombardment of electrons or positive ions, passage of an
electric current, chemical reaction, mechanical strain or heating,
• This radiation persists for times considerably longer than the
periods of radiation in the optical range of the spectrum.
• If the emission of radiation occurs within 10-8 s of the
incidence of the excitation, the process is called fluorescence.
• If the luminescence persists for times greater than 10 -8 s after
the stimulating process has ceased to exist, it is called
phosphorescence. Phosphorescence may persist for time
10-8 s is chosen because it is the order of the lifetime of an atomic
intervals ranging from a few microseconds to hours
state for an allowed transition in the visible spectrum.
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 Solids which convert other forms of energy into light energy with high efficiency are
called phosphors. Today phosphors are very widely used in television screens,
fluorescent lamps, cathode ray oscilloscopes, particle detectors and counters.
The ability for luminescence with high efficiency is acquired by the material when
certain types of atoms called the activators, are present in the material.
Properties and applications of some of the luminescent materials
Host Activator Wavelength of Wavelength of Application
the absorption the emission
spectrum(Å) spectrum (Å)
ZnS Ag 3410 -- Cathode ray
tubes
ZnS Cu 3410 6700  
Cds Ag 5100 --  
Calcium Sb 2537 4900 Phosphorescent
62
Halophosphat Mn -- 6000 mercury lamp
 The sulphide phosphors like ZnS:Cu, ZnS:Ag, Cds:Ag are used in cathode ray tubes. In
these materials the kinetic energy of the electrons is converted into light. The process
occurs as follows.
The energy given to the phosphor by the electrons in the cathode ray beam creates an
electron-hole pair as shown in Fig. 15.9 for ZnS: Cu. The hole and electron begin to move
in their respective bands.
Figure:The emission of light in a sulphide phosphor
like ZnS: Cu. (1) An electron impinging on the
phosphor generates an electron-hole pair. (2) The
hole wanders in the valence band and comes near the
Cu1+ impurity atom. (3) The hole is captured and a
photon of energy hν is emitted (4) The electron
wanders in the conduction band. (5) Electron is
captured by the impurity copper atoms. (introduction
to Solid State Physics by C. Kittel, copyright 1956,
second edition, Wiley Interscience Inc)

63
 • Apart from activator based luminescent materials there are
semiconductors which convert electrical energy into light
directly. This phenomenon is called electro-luminescence.
There are two basic mechanisms for its occurrence.
• In some semiconducting crystals like CdS, SiC, Ge, Si, etc.,
when a current flows in the forward direction of a p-n junction,
electrons from the n region are brought into the p region where
they recombine with holes and give rise to visible radiation. In
the second process impurity atoms are excited by electrons when
a current is made to flow through them and give rise to photon
emission while returning to the ground state. This type of
ęxcitation occurs in ZnS : Cu.
64
 OPTOELECTRONICS (OR OPTRONICS)
The study and application of electronic devices and systems that
source, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of 
photonics. In this context, light often includes invisible forms of
radiation such as gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared, in
addition to visible light.
• Optoelectronic devices are electrical-to-optical or optical-to-
electrical transducers, or instruments that use such devices in
their operation. 
• Electro-optics is often erroneously used as a synonym, but is a
wider branch of physics that concerns all interactions between
light and electric fields, whether or not they form part of an
electronic device.
• Optoelectronics is based on the quantum mechanical effects of 
65 light on electronic materials, especially semiconductors,
 Optoelectronic materials have been known for nearly a century. In the
late years, the interest in this material is attributed to the discovery of
electroluminescence in molecular crystals and conducting polymers.
Optoelectronic materials at include:
1. Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC): Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs) is
low-cost solar cell belonging to the category of thin-film solar cells. It is
based on a semiconductor formed between an electrolyte and a photo-
sensitized anode. DSSC has many attractive features: it is easy to make use
of conventional roll-printing techniques, and most of the materials used are
low-cost

66
 2. Electrode: An electrode is an electrical conductor for making
contact with a non-metallic portion of a circuit. Electrodes are
used to provide current through non-metallic object and to
measure the electrical conductivity for many applications, such
as fuel cells, EEG (for recording brain activity),
electrophysiology techniques in biomedical research and so on.
3. Flexible Printed Electronics: Flexible print electronics
combines the microelectronics, electronics assembly and
printing industries. This technology makes it possible to print
circuits, sensors, memories, batteries and displays onto thin,
lightweight, flexible substrates.

67
 4. Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED): An organic light-
emitting diode (OLED) is a light-emitting diode (LED) in
which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of
organic compound that emits light in response to an electric
current. The layers are situated between two electrodes.
OLEDs are used in manufacturing digital displays in devices
such as television screens, computer monitors, mobile
phones and PDAs.

68
 5. Organic Photovoltaic (OPV): Organic photovoltaic (OPV)
solar cells are designed to provide earth-rich and low-energy
photovoltaic (PV) solutions. This technology has the
theoretical potential to provide electricity at low cost.
6. Organic Thin-Film Transistor (OTFT): Organic thin film
transistor (OTFT) technology involves the use of organic
semiconductor compounds, particularly computer displays.
These displays have high brightness, vivid colors, and are easy
to read in most ambient lighting environments.
7. Perovskite Solar Cells: A perovskite solar cell is the solar cell
that includes a perovskite structure compound, in which a
hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material is
used as a light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials
69
such as methylammonium halides are inexpensive to produce.
 LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)
 A light emitting diode is a solid state device which emits light
when it is suitably activated. It is in fact a diode which emits light
when it is forwardbiased when it is in reverse bias it does not
conduct and hence does not emit light.
 When a p-n junction diode is forward biased, electrons move from
the n-side to the p-side of the junction. In making this transition
the electrons drop through the energy gap, E g, that separates the
two bands. This energy is given off in the form of light. In an
ordinary rectifier diode this energy is released as heat. The
wavelength of the radiated energy is given by
λ (Å) = 12380/Eg (eV)
where Eg, is expressed in electron-volts and λ in Angstrom units.
70
For Si and Ge the energy gap, Eg, is 1.14 and 0.67 eV respectively. The
emitted radiation has a wavelength of 10,620 Å for Si and 18,000 Å for Ge.
 Some LEDs and wavelengths of light emitted by them

Composition Wavelength(Å Colour

)
GaAs:Zn 9000 infrared
GaAs: P 6600 red
GaP: N 5600 green
GaAsP: N 5900 yellow
The LED differs from the conventional rectifying diodes in the following
GaAs: P
three distinct ways: 6100 amber
1. The maximum dc forward current is limited to about 100 mA.
2. The maximum reverse voltage is limited to about 5 V which is
low compared to the ordinary rectifying diodes.
3. The forward voltage drop varies from 1.65 to 2.22 V depending
on the type and colour of the LED.
71
 LEDs are nowadays used in almost all instruments.
 They are used as general-purpose indicators, display
devices, in entertainment electronics, etc.
 These have been developed in various shapes, sizes
and colours to suit different requirements.
 On account of their attractive look, small
requirement of space and long life, LEDs are fast
replacing incandescent indicating lamps used earlier.

72