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Lecture 1: Chapter 1
James P. Schaffer, Ashok Saxena,
Stephen D. Antolovich, Thomas H.
Sanders, Jr. and Steven B.
Warner, The Science and Design
of Engineering Materials,
Second Edition, Irwin, Chicago,
IL, 1999.
Materials Science and
Engineering
Types of materials
Structure-Property-Process
relationships
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Role of Materials
Technology determines prosperity and power
Breakthroughs in technology are linked to the
development of new materials and processes
[examples: weapons (from swords to modern energetic materials to shock absorbing materials),
electronics (Si-based transistors in computers, phones, play stations), aircraft and space shuttles
(efficient engines, lightweight frames, temperature insulation), telecommunications (optical fibers),
solar cells, etc.]
Stone Age
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Silicon Age & Polymer Age
Without courtesy of the owner
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Other viewpoints
Organic materials, vs. Inorganic materials
Crystalline vs. Amorphous
Application: Electronic materials, Magnetic materials, Optical
materials, Structural materials, Bio materials etc.
1. Major classes of materials (our textbook)
Metals
Ceramics
Polymers
Semiconductors
Composites
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Structure of Materials
All matters are composed of atoms
All atoms are composed of
nucleus and electrons
Properties of an atom are determined by:
(1) number of electrons or protons in a neutral atom;
(2) mass;
(3) distribution of electrons in orbits;
(4) energy of electrons;
(5) ease of adding or removing electrons to create a charged ion
All nuclei consist of protons and neutrons
Properties of materials depend on what atoms they are made of and how
these atoms are arranged
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Structure of Materials
How atoms are held together?
By primary (ionic, covalent, metallic) or
secondary (van der Waals) bonds
What is the difference between primary and secondary bonds?
Primary bonds involve either the transfer of electrons from
one atom to another or sharing electrons between atoms
Secondary bonds occur only due to interaction between
electrical dipoles (center of positive
charge is different from the center of
negative charge; the dipole can be
either permanent, induced, or temporary)
Primary bonds are much stronger
Can we predict the bonding type?
Yes, will discuss next time
Is bonding important for understanding
materials?
Yes, it will determine materials properties
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Metals
Copper (used for over 7,000 years initially as tools
and now as cables and heat conductors)
Gold (used for over 7,000 years as jewelry, coins,
and now cables and heat conductors)
Silver (used for over 6,000 years as coins, jewelry,
cables, medicine)
Iron (used for over 3,000 years as tools and weapons)
Aluminum (used for over 200 years: cables,
rockets, airplanes, cans)
Titanium (used for over 60 years: rockets,
airplanes, marines, armor, consumer, etc)
time
Stone age
(tools from stones,
wood, bones)
Bronze age
(Copper-tin alloy produced
By melting Cu over fire: it
is harder & stronger than
pure Cu)
3300 BC 1200 BC
Iron age
(harder and stronger
than bronze)
? 500,000 BC 20
th
century
Si age
(electronics)
???
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Metals
Iron
Gold
Common properties
Mechanical: Strong and tough, but have high density
Metals resist brittle fracture by deformation - ductile
Thermal:
Could be good thermal conductors (e.g. Cu, Au)
Moderate temperature resistance (melting T: Al 660, Ag 900;
Au 1060, Cu 1080, Fe 1540, Ti 1670, and Mo 2625 C)
Electrical:
Structure has free electrons making metals good
electrical conductors
Structural:
Atoms are located in regularly defined, repeating
positions - a crystal:
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Metals
Ion cores of
2+ charge
Delocalized cloud
of valence electrons
Part of the electrons are delocalized and shared by all the atoms, forming
a cloud or sea of free electrons
Free electrons are responsible for high conductivity of metals
Electron cloud shields positively charged atomic cores from each other
and repulsive forces do not develop during high impact stress, preventive
fractures and making metals ductile (will discuss later)
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Ceramics
Sand
Cements (used for over 8,000 years, now
believed that tops of Egyptian pyramids
were cast from cement)
Clays (used for over 25,000 years
for sculpture, pottery, bricks, tiles)
Glass (used for over 5,000 years)
Thermal & electrical insulation
Graphite
Mica?
X
2
Y
46
Z
8
O
20
(OH,F)
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in which X is K, Na, or Ca or less commonly Ba, Rb, or Cs;
Y is Al, Mg, or Fe or less commonly Mn, Cr, Ti, Li, etc.;
Z is chiefly Si or Al but also may include Fe
3+
or Ti.
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Common properties
Mechanical: Strong, have moderate density
Ceramics bend little before they break - brittle
Thermal:
Could have high (AlN) or low (ZrO
2
) thermal conductivity
High temperature stability, chemically resistant
Electrical:
Structure has no free electrons thus poor electrical
conductivity (used as insulators)
Structural:
Ceramics
Combination of metallic and non-metallic atoms
Many but not all ceramics are crystalline:
SiO
2
: disordered
(glass) or ordered
(crystal) structure
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Polymers
Amber (mineralized resin, used for
over 6,000 years as jewelry)
Latex (used for over 3,000 years by
Mayan who discovered methods for
treating natural rubber that were not
reproduced until 19
th
century; modern
use: over 200 years)
Cellulose (wood fiber; used in paper and textiles)
Polystyrene (used since 1931 for a variety of objects as fairly rigid,
economical plastic, as a foam it is used in virtually all meat and poultry trays)
Nylon (used since 1939 for fishing line, toothbrush bristles, stockings, track
pants, shorts, swimwear, active wear, windbreakers, bedspread and draperies)
Teflon (used since 1946 for coating on cookware, soil and stain repellant
for fabrics and textiles, chemical industries).
Kevlar (used since 1965 for body armor, bicycles: five times stronger than
the same weight of steel)
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Common properties
Mechanical: Low density
Can be ductile or brittle
Commonly relatively low strength
Thermal:
Commonly low thermal conductivity
Temperature sensitive
Electrical:
Most polymers electrical insulators;
Structural:
Polymers
Long chain molecules with repeating groups
Easy to form into complex shapes
Disordered or semi-crystalline
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Composites
2 or more materials are combined to achieve unique
combination of properties (e.g. rigidity, strength, and
low density)
Adobe brick (straw is mixed with mud or clay, an adhesive with strong compressive
strength to achieve smaller and uniform more cracks in the clay, greatly improving the
strength).
Plywood (used for over 5500 years: thin slabs of wood held together by a strong
adhesive, making the structure stronger than just the wood itself)
Carbon/Carbon (used for over 30 years: highly-ordered graphitic carbon fibers embedded
in a carbon matrix to achieve lightweight material with low thermal expansion coefficient,
thus highly resistant to thermal shock, or fracture due to rapid and extreme changes in
temperature)
Carbon/Epoxy (used for over 30 years: highly-ordered graphitic carbon embedded in
epoxy dramatically improve its mechanical properties, including strength and toughness)
Cermet (composite of ceramics and metal: high temperature electronic components,
resistors, capacitors)
McLAREN F1: all Carbon-Carbon
composite car body structure
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Composites
Carbon composite body panels of Porsche 980
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Semiconductors
is the materials that have
1. a completely filled valence band at 0 K
2. a band gap smaller than 2.5 eV.
Silicon (the 2
nd
most abundant element in the earths crust; used in semiconductor devices, incl.
integrated circuits)
Germanium (in 1871 Dmitri Mendeleev predicted it to exist as a missing analogue to Si; the element
was discovered in 1886; originally used in transistor industry instead of Si; now employed in infrared
spectroscopes and other optical equipment which require extremely sensitive infrared detector)
GaAs (used in diodes incl. light-emitting diodes (LEDs), transistors, integrated circuits (ICs), and analog
devides such as oscillators and amplifiers)
CdTe (used in solar cells, as an infrared optical material for optical windows and lenses)
SiC (used in high temperature high power electronics, as substrates for nitrides growth, in cutting tools,
as abrasives, in jewelry)
Bonding similar to ceramics
Mechanical properties similar to ceramics
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Representative strengths of the various
material types
From: D. R. Askeland, The Science and Engineering of Materials
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Increase in Strength-to-Density Ratio over time
Committee on Materials Science and Engineering, Solid State Sciences Committee, Board on Physics and Astronomy, Commission on Physical
Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources, and National Materials Advisory Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National
Resource Council. (1989). Materials science and engineering for the 1990s: maintaining competitiveness in the age of materials.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Retrieved September 5, 2006, from http://www.nap.edu/books/0309039282/html/index.html
Increasing sophistication of human manipulation of materials
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Structure-Property-Process
relationship
Structure
Atomic / Nano / Micro / Macro
Property
Mechanical
Physical (electrical, magnetic, optical, thermal,
elastic, chemical)
Process
Material history
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The Periodic Table