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Classification of Engineering Materials Metal alloys The study of metal alloys is a significant part of materials science. Of all the metallic alloys in use today, the alloys of iron (steel, stainless steel, cast iron, tool steel, alloy steels) make up the largest proportion both by quantity and commercial value. Iron alloyed with various proportions of carbon gives low, mid and high carbon steels. For the steels, the hardness and tensile strength of the steel is directly related to the amount of carbon present, with increasing carbon levels also leading to lower ductility and toughness. The addition of silicon and graphitization will produce cast irons (although some cast irons are made precisely with no graphitization). The addition of chromium, nickel and molybdenum to carbon steels (more than 10%) gives us stainless steels. Other significant metallic alloys are those of aluminium, titanium, copper and magnesium. Copper alloys have been known for a long time (since the Bronze Age), while the alloys of the other three metals have been relatively recently developed. Due to the chemical reactivity of these metals, the electrolytic extraction processes required were only developed relatively recently. The alloys of aluminium, titanium and magnesium are also known and valued for their high strength-to-weight ratios and, in the case of magnesium, their ability to provide electromagnetic shielding. These materials are ideal for situations where high strength-to-weight ratios are more important than bulk cost, such as in the aerospace industry and certain automotive engineering applications. Polymers Polymers are also an important part of materials science. Polymers are the raw materials (the resins) used to make what we commonly call plastics. Plastics are really the final product, created after one or more polymers or additives have been added to a resin during processing, which is then shaped into a final form. Polymers which have been around, and which are in current widespread use, include polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, polystyrene, nylons, polyesters, acrylics, polyurethanes, and polycarbonates. Plastics are generally classified as "commodity", "specialty" and "engineering" plastics. PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) is widely used, inexpensive, and annual production quantities are large. It lends itself to an incredible array of applications, from artificial leather to electrical insulation and cabling, packaging and containers. Its fabrication and processing are simple and well-established. The versatility of PVC is due to the wide range of plasticisers and other additives that it accepts. The term "additives" in polymer science refers to the chemicals and compounds added to the polymer base to modify its material properties. Polycarbonate would be normally considered engineering plastic . Engineering plastics are valued for their superior strengths and other special material properties. They are usually not used for disposable applications, unlike commodity plastics. Specialty plastics are materials with unique characteristics, such as ultra-high strength, electrical conductivity, electro-fluorescence, high thermal stability, etc.

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The dividing lines between the various types of plastics are not based on material but rather on their properties and applications. For instance, polyethylene (PE) is a cheap, low friction polymer commonly used to make disposable shopping bags and trash bags, and is considered a commodity plastic, whereas Medium-Density Polyethylene MDPE is used for underground gas and water pipes, and another variety called Ultra-high Molecular Weight Polyethylene UHMWPE is an engineering plastic which is used extensively as the glide rails for industrial equipment and the low-friction socket in implanted hip joints. Ceramics and glasses Another application of the material sciences is the structures of glass and ceramics, typically associated with the most brittle materials. Bonding in ceramics and glasses are using covalent and ionic-covalent types with SiO2, silica or sand, as a fundamental building block. Ceramics are as soft as clay and as hard as stone and concrete. Usually, they are crystalline in form. Most glasses contain a metal oxide fused with silica. At high temperatures used to prepare glass, the material is a viscous liquid. The structure of glass forms into an amorphous state upon cooling. Windowpanes and eyeglasses are important examples. Fibers of glass are also available. Diamond and carbon in its graphite form are considered to be ceramics. Engineering ceramics are known for their stiffness, high temperature, and stability under compression and electrical stress. Alumina, silica carbide, and tungsten carbide are made from a fine powder of their constituents in a process of sintering with a binder. Hot pressing provides higher density material. Chemical vapor deposition can place a film of a ceramic on another material. Cermets are ceramic particles containing some metals. The wear resistance of tools is derived from cemented carbides with the metal phase of cobalt and nickel typically added to modify properties. Composite materials Another application of material science in industry is the making of composite materials. Composite materials are structured materials composed of two or more macroscopic phases. Applications range from structural elements such as steel-reinforced concrete, to the thermally insulative tiles which play a key and integral role in NASA's Space Shuttle thermal protection system which is used to protect the surface of the shuttle from the heat of reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. One example is Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC), The light gray material which withstands re-entry temperatures up to 1510 C (2750 F) and protects the Space Shuttle's wing leading edges and nose cap. RCC is a laminated composite material made from graphite rayon cloth and impregnated with a phenolic resin. After curing at high temperature in an autoclave, the laminate is pyrolized to convert the resin to carbon, impregnated with furfural alcohol in a vacuum chamber, and cured/pyrolized to convert the furfural alcohol to carbon. In order to provide oxidation resistance for reuse capability, the outer layers of the RCC are converted to silicon carbide. Other examples can be seen in the "plastic" casings of television sets, cell-phones and so on. These plastic casings are usually a composite material made up of a thermoplastic matrix such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) in which calcium carbonate chalk, talc, glass fibres or carbon fibres have been added for added strength, bulk, or electro-static

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dispersion. These additions may be referred to as reinforcing fibres, or dispersants, depending on their purpose. Semi-Conductors A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. Semiconductor materials are the foundation of modern electronics, including radio, computers, telephones, and many other devices. Such devices include transistors, solar cells, many kinds of diodes including the light-emitting diode, the silicon controlled rectifier, and digital and analog integrated circuits. Similarly, semiconductor solar photovoltaic panels directly convert light energy into electrical energy. In a metallic conductor, current is carried by the flow of electrons. In semiconductors, current is often schematized as being carried either by the flow of electrons or by the flow of positively charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material. Actually, however, in both cases only electron movements are involved. Common semiconducting materials are crystalline solids, but amorphous and liquid semiconductors are known. These include hydrogenated amorphous silicon and mixtures of arsenic, selenium and tellurium in a variety of proportions. Such compounds share with better known semiconductors intermediate conductivity and a rapid variation of conductivity with temperature, as well as occasional negative resistance. Such disordered materials lack the rigid crystalline structure of conventional semiconductors such as silicon and are generally used in thin film structures, which are less demanding for as concerns the electronic quality of the material and thus are relatively insensitive to impurities and radiation damage. Organic semiconductors, that is, organic materials with properties resembling conventional semiconductors, are also known. Silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially. Dozens of other materials are used, including germanium, gallium arsenide, and silicon carbide. A pure semiconductor is often called an intrinsic semiconductor. The electronic properties and the conductivity of a semiconductor can be changed in a controlled manner by adding very small quantities of other elements, called dopants, to the intrinsic material. In crystalline silicon typically this is achieved by adding impurities of boron or phosphorus to the melt and then allowing the melt to solidify into the crystal. This process is called "doping" Biomaterials Biomaterials are employed in components implanted in the human body for replacement of deceased or damaged body parts. These materials must not produce toxic substances and must be compatible with the body tissue (i.e. must not cause adverse biological reactions).All of the above materials metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and semiconductors-may be used as biomaterials.

Properties of Materials

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Acoustical properties Acoustical absorption Speed of sound

Atomic properties Atomic mass Atomic number - applies to pure elements only Atomic weight - applies to individual isotopes or specific mixtures of isotopes of a given element.

Chemical properties Corrosion resistance Hygroscopy pH Reactivity Specific internal surface area Surface energy Surface tension

Electrical properties Conductivity Dielectric constant Dielectric strength Electrical conductivity Permeability Permittivity Piezoelectric constants Seebeck coefficient

Environmental properties Embodied energy Embodied water RoHS compliance

There are a variety of other properties to consider in an environmental impact assessment that effect the ecological or human environment that may be difficult to quantify (unlike most of the properties listed on this page) including pollution (extraction, transportation, manufacture), scarcity/abundance, habitat destruction, renewability, recyclability, wars fought over materials, labor exploitation, etc. These can be subjective, dependent on context, or inadequately measured. Magnetic properties Curie Point Diamagnetism

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Hysteresis Permeability

Manufacturing properties Castability Extruding temperature and pressure Hardness Machinability rating Machining speeds and feeds

Mechanical properties Compressive strength Density Ductility Fatigue limit Flexural modulus Flexural strength Fracture toughness Hardness Poisson's ratio Shear modulus Shear strain Shear strength Softness Specific modulus Specific weight Tensile strength Yield strength Young's modulus

Optical properties Absorptivity Color Luminosity Photosensitivity Reflectivity Refractive index Scattering Transmittance

Radiological properties Neutron cross-section Specific activity

Sensorial properties

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Brightness Smell Softness Warmth

Thermal properties Autoignition temperature Binary phase diagram Boiling point Coefficient of thermal expansion Critical temperature Curie point Emissivity Eutectic point Flammability Flash point Glass transition temperature Heat of fusion Heat of vaporization Inversion temperature Melting point Phase diagram Pyrophoricity Specific heat Thermal conductivity Thermal diffusivity Thermal expansion Seebeck coefficient Triple point Vapor Pressure Vicat softening point