Materials & Processing

Materials Science
Dr Ben Thomas
Design Framework
Level C
20016-17

www.bournemouth.ac.uk
 Four Major Families of Materials

There are four major families of materials:

• Polymers (plastics)

• Ceramics

• Metals

• Composites

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 Four Major Families of Materials

Within these there are some notable sub-classes:

• Polymers (plastics)
• Thermoplastics
• Thermoset plastics
• Ceramics
• Metals
• Composites
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 Four Major Families of Materials

Within these there are some notable sub-classes:

• Polymers (plastics)
• Ceramics
• Structural ceramics (concrete)
• Electrical ceramics (capacitors, insulators, etc.)
• Metals
• Composites
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 Four Major Families of Materials

Within these there are some notable sub-classes:

• Polymers (plastics)
• Ceramics
• Metals
• Ferrous metals (contain Iron)
• Non ferrous metals (all other metals)
• Composites
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 Four Major Families of Materials

Within these there are some notable sub-classes:

• Polymers (plastics)
• Ceramics
• Metals
• Composites
• Man-made materials
• Natural materials
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 Periodic Table of Elements

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 Properties of Materials

• For a given design problem you will need a material with certain
material properties

• It is possible to group materials according to their properties rather

than their materials families.

• One goal of materials engineering is to select materials with

suitable properties for a given application, so it’s a sensible
approach.

• Just as for classes of materials, there is some overlap among the

properties, so the divisions are not always clearly defined

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 Properties of Materials

For example you can select suitable materials based on the following
mechanical properties:

• Elasticity and stiffness (recoverable stress vs. strain)

• Tensile Strength
• Toughness (ability of a material to absorb energy)
• Fatigue
• Density
• Hardness
What kind of applications would need each of the material properties
above?
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 Properties of Materials

Similarly, you can select suitable materials based on the following

electrical properties:

• Conductivity
• Resistivity
• Capacitance
• Semiconductor properties

What kind of applications would need each of the material properties

above?

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 Properties of Materials

Similarly, you can select suitable materials based on the following

thermal properties:

• Melting point
• Specific heat capacity
• Thermal conductivity
• Thermal expansion coefficient

What kind of applications would need each of the material properties

above?

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 Other Materials Properties

• The main classes of properties we will be looking at are Mechanical,

Thermal and Electrical
• However there are many classes of materials properties, e.g.

• Optical properties
• Impact properties
• Processing properties
• Environmental (Eco) properties
• Durability properties

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 Guided by Properties: Ashby Plots

Ashby plots are a way for designers and engineers to select the most
suitable materials for a given application

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 Guided by Properties: Ashby Plots

An Ashby plot is a chart of two (or more) material

properties with ALL eligible materials on it

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 Guided by Properties: Ashby Plots

In order to use these effectively you need to know the critical material
properties for your given application
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 Guided by Properties: Ashby Plots

Once you know the critical material properties for your given application an
Ashby plot allows you to select ALL the materials that meet this specification
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 Guided by Properties: Ashby Plots

You can generate Ashby plots for whichever materials properties are critical
to your design problem using CES*
*CES = Cambridge Engineering selector – software available on all design CAD PC’s
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 Materials Science & Engineering in a Nutshell
Performance
Materials Engineering
Designing the structure to achieve specific
properties of materials.

Structure Processing

• Processing
Properties
• Structure
Materials Science
• Properties
Investigating the relationship between structure and
properties of materials. • Performance

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 What is Materials Science & Engineering?
• Extrusion
• Casting Processing • Calcinating
• Forging • Sintering
Texturing, Temperature,
• Stamping
Time, Transformations
• Layer-by-layer growth
(nanotechnology)
Properties
characterization MatSE Physical behavior
Crystal structure Response to environment
Defects
Microstructure
• Mechanical (e.g., stress-strain)
• Thermal
• Microscopy: Optical, transmission • Electrical
electron, scanning tunneling • Magnetic
• X-ray, neutron, e- diffraction • Optical
• Spectroscopy • Corrosive
• Deteriorative characteristics
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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Metals
Distinguishing features
• Atoms arranged in a regular repeating structure (crystalline)
• Relatively good strength
• Dense
• Malleable or ductile: high plasticity
• Resistant to fracture: tough
• Excellent conductors of electricity and heat
• Opaque to visible light
• Shiny appearance

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Metals
• Thus, metals can be formed and machined easily, and are usually long-
lasting materials (excepting corrosion).

• They do not react easily with other elements in their pure form

• However, metals such as Fe and Al do form compounds readily (such as

ores) so they must be processed to extract base metals.

• One of the main drawbacks is that metals can react with chemicals in
the environment, such as iron-oxide (rust).

• Many pure metals do not have high melting points, making them
useless for many applications.
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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Metals
• Most engineering metals are sold as Alloys
• An Alloy is a mixture of a metal with another metal or compound
• Common alloys:
• Steel (Iron & Carbon)
• Less brittle/stronger than iron
• Stainless steel (Iron, Carbon & Chromium)
• Corrosion resistance
• Brass (Copper & Zinc)
• Malleability/castability
• Bronze (copper & tin)
• harder and more durable than previous materials
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 Classes and Properties: Metals

Elemental metals are found on the left hand side of the Periodic Table (yellow)

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Metals Typical Applications

• Electrical wiring
• Structures: buildings, bridges, etc.
• Automobiles: body, chassis, springs, engine block, etc.
• Airplanes: engine components, fuselage, landing gear assembly, etc.
• Trains: rails, engine components, body, wheels
• Machine tools: drill bits, hammers, screwdrivers, saw blades, etc.
• Shape memory materials: eye glasses frames
• Magnets
• Catalysts

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Metals
Typical Applications
• Metals are a wide ranging materials family with a huge breadth of
mechanical properties
• NOT all metals are strong
• NOT all metals are tough
• NOT all metals are cheap
• The exact grade and alloy of metal you will need depends on the
application

You DO need to show that you know this:

• ‘metal’ is not a suitable material for any application, its too vague!
• Need to refer to Steel, Aluminium alloys etc.

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Ceramics
Distinguishing features
• Atoms are regularly arranged (crystalline) – with the notable exception of
Glass
• Composed of a mixture of metal and nonmetal atoms
• Ceramics are COMPOUNDS
• Lower density than most metals
• Stronger than many pure metals
• Low resistance to fracture: low toughness or brittle
• Low ductility or malleability: low plasticity
• High melting point
• Poor conductors of electricity and heat
• Single crystals are often transparent
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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Ceramics
Where metals react readily with chemicals in the environment and have
low application temperatures in many cases, ceramics do not suffer
from these drawbacks.

Ceramics have high-resistance to environment as they are essentially

metals that have already reacted with the environment, e.g. Alumina
(Al2O3) and Silica (SiO2, Quartz).

Ceramics are heat resistant. Ceramics form both in crystalline and non-
crystalline phases because they can be cooled rapildy from the molten
state to form glassy materials.

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 Classes and Properties: Ceramics

Elements occurring in ceramics are in blue

– note: ALL ceramics are composed of one or more element

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Ceramics Typical Applications

• Electrical insulators
• Abrasives
• Thermal insulation and coatings
• Windows, television screens, optical fibers (glass)
• Corrosion resistant applications
• Electrical devices: capacitors, varistors, transducers, etc.
• Highways and roads (concrete)
• Biocompatible coatings (fusion to bone)
• Self-lubricating bearings
• household crockery
• Optical components

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Ceramics
Typical Applications
• Ceramics are a far more closely defined materials family than
Metals in terms of their mechanical, electrical and thermal
properties

Because of this you can assume that:

• ALL ceramics are Hard
• ALL ceramics are Brittle
• ALL ceramics are Insulators
• Etc.
ONE key material property that does vary though is opacity

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Polymers
Distinguishing features

• Composed primarily of C and H (hydrocarbons)

• Low melting temperature.
• Some are crystalline, many are not, crystallinity can depend on the
manufacturing process.
• Most are poor conductors of electricity and heat.
• Most have high plasticity.
• A few have good elasticity.
• Some are transparent, some are opaque
• Plastics are typically easy to mass manufacture using injection
moulding or similar

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Polymers
• Polymers are attractive because they are usually lightweight and inexpensive to
make, and usually very easy to process, either in moulds, as sheets, or as
coatings.

• Because of their ease of mass manufacture, low cost and attractive finish they
are often used for mass produced consumer products

• Most are very resistant to the environment (note UV degradation however)

• They are poor conductors of heat and electricity, and tend to be easy to bend,
which makes them very useful as insulation for electrical wires.

• They are easy to recycle (thermosets) or incinerate for energy recovery

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 Classes and Properties: Polymers
Two main types of polymers are thermosets and thermoplastics.

• Thermosets are cross-linked polymers that form 3-D networks, hence are strong and rigid.

• Thermoplastics are long-chain polymers that slide easily past one another when heated,
hence, they tend to be easy to form, bend, and break.

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 Classes and Properties: Polymers

Two main types of polymers are thermosets and thermoplastics.

• The primary physical difference is that thermoplastics can be re-melted

back into a liquid, whereas thermoset plastics always remain in a
permanent solid state.
• Think of thermoplastics as butter – butter can be melted and cooled
multiple times to form various shapes
• Think of thermosets as a kind of glue, once they are formed the ‘set’
hard and will not soften and melt when heated, they will just burn

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 Classes and Properties: Polymers

Two main types of polymers are thermosets and thermoplastics.

Physical differences:

• Thermosets have higher temperature resistance than thermoplastics

• Thermosets are usually stronger than thermoplastics

• Thermosets are usually more brittle than thermoplastics

• Thermosets are not as easy to mass manufacture as thermoplastics

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 Classes and Properties: Polymers

Two main types of polymers are thermosets and thermoplastics.

• Typical thermoplastics include Polyethylene (PE), ABS, Polystyrene

(PS) Polypropylene (PP) etc.

• Typical uses are a wide range of mass produced household goods

• Consumer products
• Food containers
• Casings

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 Classes and Properties: Polymers

Two main types of polymers are thermosets and thermoplastics.

• Typical thermosets include Polyurethane (PU), Phenolic resin, Epoxy

resin etc.

• Typical uses depend on material properties but are usually

strength/heat related compared to thermoplastics
• Carbon & Glass fibre matrix (phenolic/epoxy)
• Electrical plug casings (phenolic)
• Skateboard wheels (PU)

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 Classes and Properties: Polymers

Elements that compose polymers: limited

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:
Polymers
Typical Applications
• Adhesives and glues
• Containers
• Moldable products (computer casings, telephone handsets, disposable razors)
• Clothing and upholstery material (vinyls, polyesters, nylon)
• Water-resistant coatings (latex)
• Biodegradable products (corn-starch packing “peanuts”)
• Biomaterials (organic/inorganic intefaces)
• Liquid crystals
• Low-friction materials (teflon)
• Synthetic oils and greases
• Gaskets and O-rings (rubber)
• Soaps and surfactants
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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Polymers
Typical Applications
• Polymers can be split into two categories, ALL thermoplastics tend
to have similar material properties, and ALL thermosets tend to
have similar material properties

Because of this you can assume that:

• ALL thermoplastics are easy to manufacture
• ALL thermoplastics are relatively weak
• Etc.

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Polymers
Typical Applications
• Polymers can be split into two categories, ALL thermoplastics tend
to have similar material properties, and ALL thermosets tend to
have similar material properties

Because of this you can assume that:

• ALL thermosets have relatively high temperature resistance
• ALL thermosets are relatively expensive
• Etc.

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Composites
Distinguishing features

• Composed of two or more different materials (e.g.,

metal/ceramic, polymer/polymer, etc.)

• Properties depend on amount and distribution of each type of

material.

• Collective properties more desirable than possible with any

individual material
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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Composites
Applications and Examples

• Sports equipment (golf club shafts, tennis rackets, bicycle frames)

• Aerospace materials

• Thermal insulation

• Concrete

• "Smart" materials (sensing and responding)

• Brake materials

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 Materials Families and Typical Properties:

Composites
Examples

• Fiberglass (glass fibers in a polymer)

• Space shuttle heat shields (interwoven ceramic fibers)

• Paints (ceramic particles in latex)

• Tank armor (ceramic particles in metal)

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 Controlling Processing - Structure -
Properties - Performance

Realistically engineering materials: Trade-off

• Properties (What do we need or want?)
• Deterioration (How long will it last?) Men’s gym shoes last longer! Why?
• Cost (What’s the biggest bang for the buck?)
• Resource depletion (How to find new reserves, develop new
environmentally-friendly materials, and increase recycling?)

How to decide what materials to use?

• Pick Application  Required Properties (mech., electrical, thermal, …)
• Properties  Required Materials (type, structure, composition)
• Material  Required Processing (changes to structure and desired shape,
via casting, annealing, joining, sintering, mechanical, …)

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 Goals
• Understand the origin and relationship between
“processing, structure, properties, and performance.”

• Use “the right material for the right job”.

• Help recognize within your discipline the design

opportunities offered by “materials selection.”

While nano-, bio-, smart- materials can make technological

revolution, conservation and re-use methods and policies can
have tremendous environmental and technological impacts!
Hybrid cars in 2004 are as efficient as fuel-cell cars of tomorrow!
Considering reforming, or energy needed to produce hydrogen, or
that gasoline has much more energy density than hydrogen.

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 Motivation: Materials and Failure

Without the right material, a good engineering design is

wasted. Need the right material for the right job!

• Materials properties then are responsible for helping

achieve engineering advances.

• Failures advance understanding and material’s design.

• Some examples to introduce topics we will learn.

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 Lecture 4

Thank you…

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