Introduction to Material Science and Engineering | Atomic structure and Bonding + Structure of Crystalline Solids + Metallography

Assignment # 1 | Introduction to Material Science and Engineering | IDL001

Instructions:
a. Assignments to be neatly written on A4 sheet papers only
b. Submission date - August 26, 27 and 28, 2019 for respective sections
c. Answer all questions

1. Fill the table below with the physical properties of few common materials. Use handbooks or
other sources.

Material Density, Melting Coefficient of Elastic

g/cc point, oC thermal expansion modulus (E),
(CTE), K-1 GPa

1. Pure aluminium

2. Pure iron

3. Pure silicon

4. Pure magnesium

5. Alumina (Al2O3)

6. Silica (SiO2)

7. Magnesia (MgO)

8. Borosilicate glass

9. Polyethylene
terephthalate (PET)

10. Polyvinyl Chloride

(PVC)

11. Polyethylene (PE)

What can you conclude from CTE values of materials 1 to 6 above? Explain with reasons.

What do you mean by Design limiting criterion? What are the design-limiting properties for the
2.
following – a. blade of a knife, b. oven glove, c. an electric lamp filament?

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 Introduction to Material Science and Engineering | Atomic structure and Bonding + Structure of Crystalline Solids + Metallography

3. Boron has a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion than aluminium, even though both
are in 3B column of the periodic table. Explain, based on binding energy, atomic size, and
the energy well, why this difference is expected.

Boron 1s2 2s2 2p1 rB = 0.46 A0

Aluminium 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p1 rAl = 1.432 A0

4. Beryllium and magnesium, both in the 2A column of the periodic table, are lightweight

metals. Which would you expect to have the higher modulus of elasticity? Explain,
considering binding energy and atom radii and using the force versus interatomic spacing
diagram.

5. Pure steel is coated with a thin layer of alumina to help protect against corrosion. What do
you expect to happen to the coating when the temperature of the steel is increased
significantly? Explain.

6. Would you expect a material in which the atomic bonding is predominantly ionic in nature to
be more or less likely to form a non-crystalline solid upon solidification than a covalent
material? Why?

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 Introduction to Material Science and Engineering | Atomic structure and Bonding + Structure of Crystalline Solids + Metallography

7. Compute the % ionic character of the interatomic bonds for the compounds TiO2 and MgCl2.
Refer Pauling’s scale of electronegativity given in Callister.

8. Sketch the unit cells, with lattice parameters, of all the seven crystal structures.

9. Indicate Miller indices of all the faces of the cubic unit cell. Draw (110) and (111) planes in the
same unit cell. Also, draw [110] and [111] in the same unit cell.

10. A hypothetical metal has the simple cubic crystal structure. If the atomic weight is 70.4 g/mol
and the atomic radius is 0.126 nm, compute its density.

11. Below is a unit cell for a hypothetical metal.

a. To which crystal system does this unit cell belong?

b. What would this crystal structure be called?

c. Calculate the density of the material, given that its atomic weight is 141 g/mol.

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 Introduction to Material Science and Engineering | Atomic structure and Bonding + Structure of Crystalline Solids + Metallography

12. Determine the Miller indices for the planes shown in two unit cells below.

13. Below are shown three different crystallographic planes for a unit cell of some hypothetical
metal. The circles represent atoms:

a. To what crystal system does the unit cell belong?

b. What would this crystal structure be called?

c. If the density of this metal is 8.95 g/cm3, determine its atomic weight.

14. Derive the planar density expression for the following in terms of the atomic radius R.

a. HCP (0001) plane

b. FCC (100) and (111) planes

c. BCC (100) and (110) planes

15. A typical paper clip weighs 0.59 g and consists of BCC iron. Calculate (a) the number of unit
cells and (b) the number of iron atoms in the paper clip.

16. Show that the atomic packing factor for HCP unit cell is 0.74.

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 Introduction to Material Science and Engineering | Atomic structure and Bonding + Structure of Crystalline Solids + Metallography

17. Determine the indices for the planes shown in the hexagonal unit cells below. [Hint: For HCP
system, (hkil) denotes miller indices of planes. First determine h, k and l values and then
compute i = - (h+k).]

18. For both FCC and BCC crystal structures, there are two different types of interstitial sites. In
each case, one site is larger than the other, and is normally occupied by impurity atoms. For
FCC, this larger one is located at the center of each edge of the unit cell; it is termed an
octahedral interstitial site. On the other hand, with BCC the larger site type is found at 0 ½ ¼
positions - that is, lying on {100} faces, and situated midway between two unit cell edges on
this face and one-quarter of the distance between the other two unit cell edges; it is termed
a tetrahedral interstitial site. For both FCC and BCC crystal structures, compute the radius r of
an impurity atom that will just fit into one of these sites in terms of the atomic radius R of the
host atom.

19. What is the necessity for metallography? Draw the flowchart for the steps involved in
metallography.

20. Give reasons for the use of following techniques.

a. Wet abrasive cutting and dry abrasive cutting

b. Hot mounting and cold mounting
c. Etching of samples

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