INTRODUCTION TO

MATERIALS SCIENCE

Introduction
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Materials

make modern life possiblefrom the

polymers in the chair youre sitting on, the metal
ball-point pen youre using, and the concrete that
made the building you live or work in to the
materials that make up streets and highways and
the car you drive.
All these items are products of materials science
and technology

Materials science and engineering

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Materials

Science investigating relationships that

exist between the structure and properties of
materials.
Materials Engineering on the basis of these
structure-property correlations, designing or
engineering the structure of a material to produce a
pre-determined set of properties

The

combination of physics, chemistry, and the focus

on the relationship between the properties of a
material and its microstructure is the domain of
Materials Science.
The development of this science allowed designing
materials and provided a knowledge base for the
engineering applications (Materials Engineering).

Evolution of materials
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The world of materials

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2003 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning

Approach in Materials Science

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Materials, process and shape

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2003 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning

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2003 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning

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2003 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning

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2003 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning

Structure
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At

the atomic level: arrangement of atoms in

different ways (different properties for graphite
than diamond both forms of carbon.)
At the microscopic level: arrangement of small
grains of material that can be identified by
microscopy (different optical properties to
transparent vs. frosted glass.)

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graphite

diamond

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Materials, processes and choice

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Engineers

make things out of materials; to make

something out of a material you also need a
process;
Not just any processthe one you choose has to be
compatible with the material you plan to use.

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E.g.

the materials have to support loads, to insulate

or conduct heat and electricity, to accept or reject
magnetic flux, to transmit or reflect light, to survive
in often-hostile surroundings, and to do all these
without damage to the environment or costing too
much.

Why do we study MSE

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Material properties
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Mechanical

properties
Thermal properties
Electrical, magnetic and optical properties
Chemical properties

 Properties
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are the way the material responds to the

environment; for instance, the mechanical, electrical and
magnetic properties are the responses to mechanical,
electrical and magnetic forces, respectively.
Other important properties are thermal (transmission of
heat, heat capacity), optical (absorption, transmission
and scattering of light), and the chemical stability in
contact with the environment (like corrosion resistance).

Mechanical properties
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The

properties of a material are those that reveal

its elastic and inelastic (plastic) behavior when force
is applied.
Thereby, those properties will indicate its suitability
for mechanical (load-bearing) application, fatigue
limit, hardness, modulus of elasticity, tensile strength,
and yield strength.

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Thermal properties
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Thermal

properties are
dependent on temperature;
therefore they are related to,
or caused by heat.

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This

means that there is a limiting temperature

called the maximum service temperature, Tmax,
above which its use is impractical.
Stainless steel has a high Tmaxit can be used up to
800C; most polymers have a low Tmax and are
seldom used above 150C.

Electrical, magnetic and optical properties

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Electricity

and magnetism are closely linked.

Electric currents induce magnetic fields; a moving
magnet induces, in any nearby conductor, an electric
current.

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response of most materials to magnetic fields is

too small to be of practical value.
Materials respond to light as well as to electricity
and magnetismhardly surprising, since light itself
is an electromagnetic wave.
Materials that are opaque reflect light; those that
are transparent refract it, and some have the ability
to absorb some wavelengths (colors) while allowing
others to pass freely

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Chemical properties
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chemical property is any of a material's

properties that becomes evident during a chemical
reaction; that is, any quality that can be established
only by changing a substance's chemical identity.
Chemical properties cannot be determined just by
viewing or touching the substance; the substance's
internal structure must be affected for its chemical
properties to be investigated.

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Design-limiting properties
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The

performance of a component is limited by certain

of the properties of the materials of which it is made.
This means that, to achieve a desired level of
performance, the values of the design-limiting
properties must meet certain targetsthose that fail to
do so are not suitable.
Materials are chosen by identifying the design-limiting
properties and applying limits to them, screening out
those that do not meet the limits.

Material family
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The process tree

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Process with shaping tree

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Process with joining and surface treatment tree

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Management for materials and processes

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Steel manufacturing process

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Typical mechanical properties

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The first two digits indicate carbon steel and the last two digits indicate the nominal carbon content in hundred of a percent

Example process: video

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Powder Processing
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Powder

processing relies on the semi-fluid character

of a powder to flow and fill a die at room
temperature, taking on the die shape.
Unlike machining where there is wasted material
and expense associated with mass removal, powder
approaches simply form the needed mass of
powder into the desired shape in a single step.

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Different

from casting, which is only applied to

lower melting temperature metals, powder
techniques are applicable to all materials, including
diamonds, ceramics, and various compounds such as
tungsten carbide.
Indeed, many of the products formed using powders
are not available as castings.

Powder injection molding

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A stainless steel pump

housing showing the
shape complexity
possible with powder
injection molding
and the size change
between molding (left
component) and sintering
(right component).

Powder-binder extrusion
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Powder-binder extrusion
is used to form a
product that is long and
thin with a constant cross
section, such as a rod,
tube, honeycomb, or
twist drill.

Other powder method

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A slurry cast bronze statue formed

using a wax-polymer binder, bronze
powder, and rubber tooling. After
the slurry was cast and cooled, the
shape was placed in a furnace and
slowly heated to burn out the binder
and sinter the particles. This
technology is ideal for smaller
production quantities, such as
encountered in the art field.

Ceramics Processing
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Ceramics injection molding

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Uniaxial pressing
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Uniaxial (die) pressing

involves the compaction
of powder into a rigid
die by applying
pressure along a single
axial direction through
a rigid punch,plunger,
or piston.

Isostatic compaction
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Isostatic pressing, which is

also known as isopressing,
hydrostatic pressing, and
cold isostatic pressing (CIP),
provides a means of
manufacturing complex
shapes such as tubes and
spark plug bodies, and
larger volume parts that are
not easily dry pressed.

Extrusion
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Extrusion of (a) a rod and (b) a tube.

Injection molding
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Slip Casting
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Tape casting
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Polymer processing
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One

of the most outstanding features of plastics is

the ease with which they can be processed.
In some cases semi-finished articles such as sheets or
rods are produced and subsequently fabricated
into shape using conventional methods such as
welding or machining.

 In
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the majority of cases, however, the finished article,

which may be quite complex in shape, is produced in a
single operation.
The processing stages of heating, shaping and cooling
may be continuous (e.g. production of pipe by
extrusion) or a repeated cycle of events (e.g.
production of a telephone housing by injection molding)
but in most cases the processes may be automated and
so are particularly suitable for mass production.

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is a wide range of processing methods which may

be used for plastics.
In most cases the choice of method is based on the
shape of the component and whether it is thermoplastic
or thermosetting.
It is important therefore that throughout the design
process, the designer must have a basic understanding
of the range of processing methods for plastics since an
ill-conceived shape or design detail may limit the choice
of molding methods.

Screw extruder
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Extrusion stretch blow molding

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Neck ring stretch blow molding

Injection blow molding process

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Extrusion coating process

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References
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B.S.

Mitchell: An Introduction to Materials

Engineering and Science: for Chemical and
Materials Engineers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Hoboken, NJ, 2004
W.D. Callister, Jr.. Fundamentals of Materials
Science and Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
New York, 2001