ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

COLLAGE BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

ASSIGNMENT ON ENGINEERING MATERIALS

GROUP NAME ID NO

ALEMU MOSISA ETS 0102/09

ASCHALEWU WONDE ETS 0144/09

BIRHANU MOLLA ETS 0248/09

MULUSEWU ALEHEGN ETS 0739/09

WALELIGN DINKU ETS 0972/09

KINDIYE YALEWU ETS 0593/09

Submitted to: - DR YOHANIS

1. Explain why atoms form bonds?

For stability:

Atoms form bonds to make their outer electron shells more stable. For example the noble gas
exists as a single atom and stable because they have a full outer shell of elector hence they don’t
need to form chemical bond. The type of chemical bond maximizes the stability of the atoms that
form it. An ionic bond, where one atom essentially donates an electron to another, forms when
one atom becomes stable by losing its outer electrons and the other atoms become stable (usually
by filling its valence shell) by gaining the electrons. Covalent bonds form when sharing atoms
results in the highest stability. Other types of bonds besides ionic and covalent chemical bonds
exist, too. Shortly atoms are stable when they have a near full outer of shell electron, very near
full outer of shell electron and full outer shell of electron but to say atoms are definitely stable
they must have full outer shell of electron therefore to have a full outer shell of electron atoms
must be bonded.

One of the best ways to predict whether atoms will bond with each other and what type of bonds
they will form is to compare the electronegativity values of the atoms. Electronegativity is a
measure of the attraction an atom has to electrons in a chemical bond.

A large difference between electronegativity values between atoms indicates one atom is
attracted to electrons, while the other can accept electrons. These atoms usually form ionic bonds
with each other. This type of bond forms between a metal atom and a nonmetal atom.

If the electronegativity values between two atoms are comparable, they may still form chemical
bonds to increase the stability of their valence electron shell. These atoms usually form covalent
bonds.

You can look up electronegativity values for each atom to compare them and decide whether an
atom will form a bond or not. Electronegativity is a periodic table trend, so you can make general
predictions without looking up specific values. Electronegativity increases as you move from left
to right across the periodic table (except for the noble gases). It decreases as you move down a
column or group of the table. Atoms on the left-hand side of the table readily form ionic bonds

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with atoms on the right side (again, except the noble gases). Atoms in the middle of the table
often form metallic or covalent bonds with each other.

2. Discuss why polymeric materials are generally softer than metals and ceramic materials?

Most polymers are organic and are composed of hydrocarbons with interatomic forces that are
represented as covalent bonds. Polymers generally have a very large molecular weight. These
molecular chains tend to have many kinking, bending, and coiling along with entanglement with
neighboring chains may occur. This causes the outcome material to be very elastic. Polymer
chains can have side groups which cause different configurations based on which side and with
what regularity they bond. They can present a level of crystallinity similar to the packing of the
molecular chains to create an ordered atomic array. This crystal structure can be much more
complex than metallic crystal structures. Defects in polymers also differ from those found in
metals and ceramics. Defects in polymers are linked to the chain ends because they are slightly
different than the chain itself and emerge from the segments of the crystal. Polymers are very
sensitive to strain rate, temperature, and chemical nature of the environment. Different polymers
can exhibit different stress strain behavior depending on the complexity of the molecular chain.
Certain polymers display a level of is brittle where fracture occurs before elastic deformation
which is very similar in the case of ceramics. Another type of polymers is very similar to metals
where elastic deformation takes place first followed by yielding and plastic deformation. A third
type is exhibited by elastomers which have totally elastic and recoverable deformation. Polymers
generally have a lower modulus of elasticity and tensile strength than metals. Some Polymers
can be stretched up to ten times longer than its original state where metals and ceramics cannot
easily accomplish. Polymers exhibit viscoelasticity at temperatures between where elastic and
liquid like behaviors are prevalent. In both ceramics and polymers, creep depends on time and
temperature. Polymers may be ductile or brittle depending on temperature, strain rate, specimen
geometry, and way of loading which is very similar to the properties of metals. Polymers are
brittle at low temperatures and have somewhat low impact strengths. Polymers can experience
fatigue under a repetitive loading. They are generally softer than metals and ceramics and unlike
metals and ceramics, polymer melting occur over a range of temperatures instead at a specific
temperature.

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Generally consider the following tables 1.1 that describe the general properties of materials.

Polymers are along chain of molecule of monomer in which the interaction between monomers is
mostly covalent, but the chains themselves are held together by weak hydrogen or Van der
Walls bonds. This indicates that the chains can be “easily” detached from one another since
secondary bonds are weaker than that of primary bond.

In general polymers are more elastic then ceramic and metals

Polymers are mostly very flexible and soft, meaning that they bend very well: therefor as we can
see from the above listed general properties of materials polymer has higher elasticity than
ceramic and metals. This means when we apply equal force to polymer and other material
(metals & ceramics) polymers will deform and regain their shape and size after removal of the
force whereas ceramics and metals will be deform permanently.

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3. α-Fe has a BCC structure at room temperature. α-Fe has an atomic radius of 0.1241 nm. How
many atoms and unit cells you would approximately expect in a 1cm x 1cm x 1cm cube α-Fe.
Assume α-Fe is a defect-free material (although the assumption is wrong!).

SOLUTIONA

BCC crystal structure has two atoms in each unit cell and eight coordination number. BCC unit
cell, one complete atom and two atom eighths touch each other along the cube diagonal. Let us
see the diagram of BCC structure of alpha iron.

Fig 1.1 Body diagram of BCC

The cube diagonal =4R where Length of side = a

By photograms theorem, (4R) ^2=3 (a) ^2

16R^2= 3a^2 from this a = 4R/√3

This geometry translates into the relationship √3 a = 4 R from the given R = 0.1241 nm.

a = 4R/√3 = 4*0.1241nm/√3 = 0.2794 nm = 0.2794*10-9 cm

Volume unit cell = number unit cell (a) ^3 = number of unit cell (4R)3/ (√3)3=64R3/ 33/2=
(0.2794*10-9 )3 cm3 = number of unit cell *0.02182*10-27 cm3

Volume unit cell = number of unit cell *0.02182*10-27 cm3

This volume is a smaller volume sized by unit cell. by using the given side length, we calculate
the larger volume.

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Volume = (side)3= 1cn*1cm*1cm

Volume = 1cm3

The larger volume = number unit cell *Volume unit cell

The larger volume = number of unit cell *0.02182*10-27 cm3

1cm3 == number of unit cell *0.02182*10-27 cm3

number of unit cell = 1cm3/0.02182*10-27 cm3

number of unit cell = 4.5829*1028

BCC crystal structure has two atoms in each unit cell. So,

1unit cell = 2 atoms

4.5829*1028-unit cell = X atoms

X is contained =9.1658*1028 atoms.

We would expect that These BCC crystal structure has 9.1658*1028 atoms and 4.5829*1028-unit
cell with that cube

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4. Mention and discuss the factors that can affect the properties of materials. If possible, illustrate
your answer with practical examples?

Composition:

This is the variety constitute of atoms or molecules in the material. For example:

 Few 10s of ppm of Oxygen in Cu can degrade its conductivity

 Fe becomes stronger by adding

Phase & Distribution

Phase: This indicates that how the portion of system that has uniform chemical and physical
characteristics

Phase distribution: The sequence, the arrangement or the diffusion of this uniform chemical and
physical characteristic though out the material can severely affect the material properties.

For example

 Diamond (carbon) is harder than graphite (carbon)-this is due to the nature of phase and
phase distribution but both are the same material (carbon).
 Cementite (Fe3C) along grain boundaries can cause steels to have lower impact toughness
than that of Cementite in the lattice

Defects

It is any imperfection in the regular packing of atoms which can be created during deformation
of the solid, rapid cooling from high temperature etc.

These dislocations can severely weaken material properties (specifically crystal)

For example while a single crystal Al203 is transparent, a polycrystal Al203 is translucent

Residual Stress

Improving the toughens of a steel by inducing compressive stress (for example via shot peening)
is one of the residual stress effect on material.

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Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) is also the another well-known example

Temperature

The application of stain less steels in the temperature range of 1000 to1550°F results in the
precipitation of carbides and the formation of sigma and chi phases. The morphology of carbides
and the carbon solubility vary greatly over the temperature range cited. Therefore, heat treatment
for times of l000 to 3000 hrs. will produce vastly different structures. The relative importance of
carbides versus the chi or sigma phases is difficult to determine. At the higher temperatures one
should consider short-time tensile, creep, stress-rupture, and fatigue properties.