44/04 AMME 2302/5302- Materials 1.

Semester 2, 2009
SsThe University of Sydney
Examination Paper
Faculty of Engineering & Information Technologies
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
November 2009 Time Allowed: Two Hours
Answer all 5 questions. Marks for each question and parts of a question are
given in the brackets.
Question 1 (20 Marks)
(a) What is the critical transfer length of a fibre? Describe its role in fibre reinforcement of
composites. (3 marks)
(b) Explain why in brittle materials, such as ceramics and glasses, (i) there are significant
scatters in fracture strength, and (ii) why the fracture strength decreases with increasing
specimen size. (3 marks)
(c) Compare and contrast thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers in terms of (i)
mechanical properties upon heating, and (ii) molecular structures. (4 marks)
(d) The following figure shows the influence of cold work on the stress-strain behaviour of a
low carbon steel. Curves are shown for 0%, 4%, and 24% cold work. Please explain why
cold work (i) increases the strength, and (ii) reduces the ductility of the low-carbon steel.
(5 marks)
600
500
rn400
a..
:::iE
~ 3 0 0
lJl
~
U5 200
100
0.2 0.25
(e) The AI-rich side of the AI-Cu phase diagram is shown on the left-hand side below.
(i) Please specify the range of compositions over which AI-Cu alloys may be
precipitation hardened. (2 marks)
(ii) A heat treatment procedure for the composition Co includes three stages - solution
treatment, cold work and precipitation, as shown schematically on the right-hand side
below. Please explain the purpose of each stage and choose a temperature for the solution
treatment. (3 marks)
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- 44/04 AMME 2302/5302 - Materials 1. Semester 2, 2009 Examination Paper
Time
Precipitation
Cold work
Temperature
Solution treatment
50 40 30
a+ tJ
Compositton (wt ~ ! l ' ) Cu}
20 10
Question 2 (20 Marks)
(a) Define ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT). Hence explain why, on 15 April
1912, the Titanic sank when it hit an iceberg. (5 marks)
(b) The following true stresses produce the corresponding.true.plastic strains for a brass alloy:
True stress (MPa) True strain
410 0.15
480 0.25
What true stress is necessary to produce a true plastic strain of 0.21 ? Assume the brass alloy
obeys the true stress-true strain relationship given by: aT = k (ET) n,where k and n are
constants. (10 marks)
(c) What is the "homologous temperature"? Explain why at room temperature lead pipes
creep but steel pipes do not. (5 marks)
Question 3 (20 Marks)
(a) A thick high strength steel plate contains a crack of total length (2a) equal to 10 mm,
which runs perpendicular to the applied stress. For this steel, the plain strain fracture
toughness (Klc) is 105 MPa-Vm, and the yield stress (ay) is 700 MPa. If the applied stress
is increased steadily, will the plate fail by brittle fracture or by general yielding? [Hint:
The fracture toughness equation is: K1c = acY(xa)1/2, where ac is fracture stress and Y=1.0]
(7 marks)
(b) An aluminium unidirectional composite is reinforced with 40% by volume of steel wires
with 2.00 mm diameter. The two materials have elastic moduli of70 GPa and 210 GPa,
and yield strengths of75 MPa and 300 MPa, respectively.
(i) If this composite is loaded in tension, which material (aluminium or steel) will
yield first? (3 marks)
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44/04 AMME 2302/5302 - Materials 1. Semester 2, 2009 Examination Paper 44/04 AMME 2302/5302 - Materials 1. Semester 2, 2009 Examination Paper
(d) The following figure shows the isothermal transformation diagram for an iron-carbon
alloy of eutectoid composition: A = austenite; B = bainite; M = martensite; and P = pearlite.
What are the final microstructures (in terms of the microconstituents and approximate
percentages of each) for each of the following five cooling conditions? Assuming the
specimen begins with the equilibrium structure at 760C (1400F). (5 marks)
z
(ii) How much stress can the composite carry in tension without plastic yielding?
(5 marks)
(iii) What is the elastic modulus of the composite? (2 marks)
(iv) What is the thermal expansion coefficient of the composite given these coefficient
values for aluminium and steel are 23xl0-
6
1C and 12xl0-
6
/C, respectively.
(3 marks)
Question 4 ( 15 Marks)
(a) A unit cell is shown schematically below. Determine the index of vector DB and the index
of plane ABcO. Note that point D is located at the a/2 position of the X-axis. (5 marks)
1200
400
1400
200
600
- 1000
B
p
10
2
10
3
10
4
10
5
Time(s)
10
.....

A
A .,,-- Eutectoid temperature
.......--. ...,-.. __ ....__ .... -.............Af_.... . .... ......-- ... _
700
800 --....-------...----...-----.-----.
600
200
100 ---
300.-
500
e
<I>
:5
1 400 -."
E
(l)
I-
(i) Cool rapidly to 350C, hold for 10
3
s, then quench to room temperature.
(ii) Rapidly cool to 600C, hold for 4 s,
rapidly cool to 500C, hold for lOs,
then quench to room.temperature.
(iii) Rapidly cool to 600C, hold for 4 s,
rapidly cool to 450C, hold for lOs,
then quench to room temperature.
(iv) Rapidly cool to room temperature,
and then reheat the specimen to 400C
for 1 h.
(v) Rapidly cool to 300C, hold for 10 s,
then quench to room temperature.
(b) A hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystal structure with cia = 1.633 is shown below.
Calculate the atomic packing factor of the structure (Hint: use the hard sphere model and the
volume of a sphere is {1lr
3
, where r is the sphere radius) (5 marks)
T
c
1
Bsites
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44/04 AMME 2302/5302 - Materials 1. Semester 2, 2009 Examination Paper 44/04 AMME 2302/5302 - Materials 1. Semester 2, 2009 Examination Paper
50 20
TB ... """ .......... _."" ..... _""."'<"' ..... ..
..
la
I
I. Csolid)

I
i: I
1200
and
1300
(b) Part of the Cu-Ni equilibrium phase diagram is shown below. Prove that the weight
fractions of the liquid phase and the solid a phase at temperature TB can be expressed by:
Please do not directly apply the lever rule to
this question. (5 marks)
Q
spacing
between
_____- ........ ..... planes
extra
distance
travelled
.s-.. ... s
. Monochromatic
+'r. 0/1 ........ coherent



(c) X-ray diffraction is used to determine crystal structures based on Bragg's law:
2dsin8 = nA (see the schematic diagram below), in which d is inter-planar distance, 8 is the
incident angle of X-rays relative to the plane normal, Ais the wavelength of the X-rays and n
= 1, 2, 3, ... Please explain why the X-ray wavelength Amust be smaller than the inter-planar
distances of a crystal in order to determine the structure of the crystal using X-ray diffraction.
(5 marks)
Question 5 (25 Marks)
(a) A portion of the Cu-AI equilibrium phase diagram is shown below. Please write down the
equations of the phase transition at points 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 when the system is cooled down
from high temperature. (5 marks)
(c) A hypothetical eutectic phase diagram is shown below. The eutectic composition is 36
wt% A-64 wt% B. The composition of the a phase at the eutectic temperature is 88 wt% A-12
wt% B. Determine
B
Composition (wt% B)
(8)
Cl
A
(7)
(3) (4)
( 6) ( 5)
(i) the composition of an alloy that will
yield primary pand total pmass fractions of
0.367 and 0.768, respectively, and the
composition of the pphase at the eutectic
temperature (8 marks)
(ii) the equilibrium structure of the alloy
at the temperature immediately below the
eutectic temperature by selecting the correct
number in the parentheses under the 8
schematic structures below. (2 marks)
16 12 8 4 o
(Cu)
400 .10-"".."." ; ;.. .. .. .,...;;..Ir; .
900
,.-.....
U
0
800 ..........,
<D
'-
:J
...
ca 700
'-
Q)
a.
12 E
600
CD
I-
5=00
Composition (wt% AI)
1000 :t--:......................................: " 1: 1, .. ;; ;.
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