Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Chapter 1: Introduction to
Materials Science & Engineering

ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
• What is materials science and engineering?

• Why are materials important?

• Why is it important for engineers to understand

materials ?

Chapter 1 - 1

What is Materials Science & Engineering?

•  Materials science
–  Investigate relationships between structures and
properties of materials
–  Design/develop new materials

•  Materials engineering
–  Create products from existing materials
–  Develop materials processing techniques

Chapter 1 - 2

Why Are Materials Important?

•  Materials drive advancements in our society
–  Stone Age
–  Bronze Age
–  Iron Age

•  What is today’s material age?

–  Silicon (Electronic Materials) Age?
–  Nanomaterials Age?
–  Polymer Age?

Chapter 1 - 3

1
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Why is it Important for Engineers to

Understand Materials?
•  Products/devices/components that engineers
design are all made of materials

•  To select appropriate materials and

processing techniques for specific
applications engineers must
–  have knowledge of material properties and
–  understand the structure-property relationships

Chapter 1 - 4

Relationships Among Processing,

Structure, & Properties
• Processing (e.g., cooling rate of steel from high
temperature) affects structure (microstructure)
• Structure in turn effects hardness

Structure (d)
Property
6 00
Hardness (BHN)

30 µm
5 00 (c)
Data obtained from Figs. 10.32(a) and
4 00 (b) 10.33 with 4 wt% C composition, and from
(a) Fig. 11.18, Callister & Rethwisch 10e.
Micrographs adapted from (a) Fig. 10.19;
4 µm
3 00 (b) Fig. 9.30; (c) Fig. 10.34; and (d) Fig.
10.22, Callister & Rethwisch 10e. (Figures
30 µm 10.19, 10.22, & 10.34 copyright 1971 by United
2 00 30 µm States Steel Corporation. Figure 9.30 courtesy
of Republic Steel Corporation.)

100
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 Processing
Cooling Rate (ºC/s)
Chapter 1 - 5

Types of Materials
•  Metals:
–  Strong, ductile
–  High thermal & electrical conductivities
–  Opaque, reflective

•  Polymers/plastics: compounds of non-metallic elements

–  Soft, ductile, low strengths, low densities
–  Low thermal & electrical conductivities
–  Opaque, translucent or transparent

•  Ceramics: compounds of metallic & non-metallic elements

(oxides, carbides, nitrides, sulfides)
–  Hard, Brittle
–  Low thermal & electrical conductivities
–  Opaque, translucent, or transparent

Chapter 1 - 6

2
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Materials Selection
Engineers often solve materials selection problems.
Procedure:
1. For a Specific Application Determine Required Properties
•  Properties: mechanical, electrical, thermal,
magnetic, optical, deteriorative.

2. From List of Properties Identify Candidate Material(s)

3. Best Candidate Material Specify Processing technique(s)

•  To provide required set of properties
•  To produce component having desired shape and size
•  Example techniques: casting, mechanical forming, welding,
heat treating

Chapter 1 - 7

Material Property Types

Properties of materials fall into six categories as

follows:
• Mechanical
• Electrical
• Thermal
• Magnetic
• Optical
• Deteriorative

Chapter 1 - 8

Mechanical Properties
Affect of carbon content on the hardness of a
common steel:
Fig. 10.31, Callister & Rethwisch 10e.
[Data taken from Metals Handbook: Heat
320 Treating, Vol. 4, 9th edition, V. Masseria
(Managing Editor), 1981. Reproduced by
Brinell hardness

permission of ASM International, Materials Park,

OH.]

240

160

80
0 0.5 1 wt%C

• Increasing carbon content increases hardness of steel.

Chapter 1 - 9

3
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Electrical Properties
Factors that affect electrical resistivity – for copper:
6 Fig. 18.8, Callister & Rethwisch 9e.
i
a t%N [Adapted from: J.O. Linde, Ann Physik 5, 219

5 .32
(1932); and C.A. Wert and R.M. Thomson,
3 Physics of Solids, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill
u+ i Company, New York, 1970.]
Resistivity, ρ

C
t%N
(10-8 Ohm-m)

4 16 a t%N
i
+ 2. 12 a
Cu + 1 .
3 u
dC
rme i
defo t%N
2 12 a
+ 1.
Cu
1 Cu
re”
“Pu
0
-200 -100 0 T (°C)
• Increasing temperature increases resistivity.
• Increasing impurity content (e.g., Ni) increases resistivity.
• Deformation increases resistivity.
Chapter 1 - 10

Thermal Properties
Thermal Conductivity – measure of a material’s ability to
conduct heat

400
Thermal Conductivity

300 Fig. 19.4, Callister & Rethwisch 10e.

(W/m-K)

[Adapted from Metals Handbook: Properties

and Selection: Nonferrous alloys and Pure

200 Metals, Vol. 2, 9th ed., H. Baker, (Managing

Editor), ASM International, 1979, p. 315.]

100

0
0 10 20 30 40
Composition (wt% Zinc)

•  Increasing impurity content (e.g., Zn in Cu) decreases

thermal conductivity.
Chapter 1 - 11

Thermal Properties (continued)

Highly porous materials are Material used for space
poor conductors of heat shuttle
Courtesy of Lockheed Aerospace Ceramics

Courtesy of Lockheed Missiles and Space

Systems, Sunnyvale, CA

Company, Inc.

100 µm

• Ceramic Fibers: • Demonstration:

– significant void space – low thermal conductivity
– low thermal conductivity of this material

Chapter 1 - 12

4
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Magnetic Properties
• Magnetic Storage: • Magnetic Permeability
-- Recording medium is vs. Composition:
magnetized by recording -- Adding 3 atomic % Si makes
write head. Fe a better recording medium!
Fe+3%Si

Magnetization
Fe

Magnetic Field
Adapted from C.R. Barrett, W.D. Nix, and
Fig. 20.23, Callister & Rethwisch 10e. A.S. Tetelman, The Principles of Engineering
(Courtesy of HGST, a Western Digital Company.) Materials, Fig. 1-7(a), p. 9, 1973.
(Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson
Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.)

Chapter 1 - 13

Optical Properties
• The light transmittance of some materials depend on their
structural characteristics:
Aluminum oxide Aluminum oxide
Aluminum oxide single
polycrystalline material polycrystalline
crystal (high degree of
(having many small material having some
perfection)—is optically
grains)—is optically porosity—is optically
transparent
translucent opaque
(Specimen preparation, P.A. Lessing)

Chapter 1 - 14

Deteriorative Properties
• Small cracks formed in steel bar that was simultaneously
stressed and immersed in sea water
- Form of stress-corrosion cracking

Cracks

Fig. 17.21, Callister & Rethwisch 10e.

(from Marine Corrosion, Causes, and Prevention, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1975.)
Chapter 1 - 15

5
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Deteriorative Properties (cont.)

• For stress-corrosion cracking, rate of crack growth is
diminished by heat treating
Adapted from Fig. 11.20(b), R.W.
Hertzberg, "Deformation and
“as-received”
Crack Growth Rate (m/s)

10-8 Fracture Mechanics of Engineering

Materials" (4th ed.), p. 505, John
Wiley and Sons, 1996. (Original
source: Markus O. Speidel, Brown
“heat treated” Boveri Co.)

10-10

load
For Aluminum alloy 7178 that is stressed while immersed in a
saturated aqueous NaCl solution, crack growth rate is reduced by
heat treating (160°C for 1 h prior to testing).
Chapter 1 - 16

Example of Materials Selection:

Artificial Hip Replacement

•  Anatomy of a
human hip joint and
adjacent skeletal
features

Chapter 1 - 17

Materials: Artificial Hip Replacement

(cont.)
Hip joint problems can be painful and disabling
•  Joint deterioration (loss of cartilage) as one ages
•  Joint fracture

arrows point to
ends of fracture line

X-ray of normal hip joint X-ray of fractured hip joint

Chapter 1 - 18

6
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Materials: Artificial Hip Replacement

(cont.)

•  Damaged and diseased hip joints can be

replaced with artificial ones
•  Materials requirements for artificial joints
–  Biocompatible – minimum rejection by surrounding
body tissues
–  Chemically inert to body fluids
–  Mechanical strength to support forces generated
–  Good lubricity and high wear resistance between
articulating surfaces

Chapter 1 - 19

Materials: Artificial Hip Replacement

(cont.)
Head
•  Femoral stem — inserted (Ball)
into top of hip bone (femur)
•  Head (Ball) — affixed to
Liner & Shell
femoral stem (Acetabular)
•  Shell — attached to pelvis Femoral
Stem
•  Liner — into which head fits

Photograph courtesy of
Zimmer, Inc., Warsaw, IN,
USA.

Chapter 1 - 20

Materials: Artificial Hip Replacement

(cont.)
•  Materials used
-  Femoral stem — titanium or CoCrMo alloy
-  Head (Ball) — CoCrMo alloy or Al2O3 (ceramic)
-  Shell — titanium alloy
-  Liner — polyethylene (polymer) or Al2O3 (ceramic)

Chapter 1 - 21

7
Chapter 1: Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering

Materials: Artificial Hip

Replacement (continued)

Acetabular
Head shell and liner
(Ball)

Schematic diagram of an X-ray of an implanted

artificial hip artificial hip
Chapter 1 - 22

SUMMARY
•  Appropriate materials and processing decisions
require engineers to understand materials and their
properties.
•  Materials' properties depend on their structures;
structures are determined by how materials are
processed
•  In terms of chemistry the three classifications of
materials are metals, ceramics, and polymers
•  Most properties of materials fall into the following six
categories: mechanical, electrical, thermal, magnetic,
optical, and deteriorative.
•  An important role of engineers is that of materials
selection.

Chapter 1 - 23