Lecture 2

Engineering
Materials and
Their Properties

Jayant Jain

Assistant Professor,
Department of Applied Mechanics,
IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, 110016
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Recap
Historically, we have gone through a long way, many choices of
materials are available today.

However the challenge is to select the best for a given application.

Understanding of materials properties and tailoring them for need
is one of the key aspect in the future of materials development

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Materials are the food of design

It is not necessarily a
material that we seek, but a
certain profile of properties
the one that best meets the
needs of the design
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Menu of Engineering Materials

The members of a
material family
have certain
features in
common: similar
properties, similar
processing routes,
and, often, similar
applications

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Examples of Each Material Family

Our daily life uses most of them in some form

or the other!!
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon

Ceramics

Stiff high E
Hard
Abrasion resistant
Good high temperature strength
Good corrosion resistance
Brittle

Glasses

Hard
Corrosion resistant
Electrically insulating
Transparent
Brittle low KIC

Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon

Polymers

Light low
Easily shaped
High strength per unit weight (/)
Lack stiffness low E (50X less than metals)
Properties highly sensitive to temperature

Elastomers
Lack stiffness low E (500 5000X less than
metals)
Able to retain initial shape after being stretched
Relatively strong and tough
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon

Metals

Tough high KIC

Stiff high E
Ductile
Wide range of strengths depending on composition and
processing
Thermally and electrically conductive
Reactive low corrosion resistance

Hybrids
Expensive
Difficult to shape and join
Properties dependent on combination of
materials
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon

Material Properties and Their Units

Each material can be thought
of as having a set of
attributes or properties
The combination that
characterizes a given
material is its property
profile
It is the favorable property
profile that qualifies the
material to be as one of the
potential choice
Figure 3.3
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Density of solids
rmetals > rceramics > rpolymers

Why metals are heavy??

Why polymers are light??
Why ceramics are slightly lighter than
metals

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Density of engineering materials

Factors that affect the density of solid

1. Mass and size of the atoms that make them up

2. Efficiency with which they are packed to fill the space
Metals: atoms are heavy and close packed

Polymers: less close packed, C, H, O atoms are light

Ceramics: also contains light atoms O, N and C, atoms are
packed closely
Composites: densities are average of the materials of which
they are made
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

How do we measure the density of solids?

Hydrostatic weighing method: Archimedes
principle

Elastic moduli
It is resistance of material to elastic or springy deformation
Stretching rubber band as opposed to steel piece

Hookes law

Do we get this response for all materials?

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

Non-linear elastic solids

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby

How do we measure elastic modulus of materials?

Tensile test
Need a precise measurement of elastic strain, stretching of
test fixture: data needs to be compliance corrected,
cannot be used for all materials
3 point bend test

Particularly good for brittle materials

As you cannot load them in tension

Measure the velocity of sound wave in the material

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, 2010 Michael Ashby