CHE 17 new properties that have changed

how we build things

Introduction Materials Science and
Engineering Types of Properties

Material Science  Mechanical: elastic modulus,

strength
 Study of the relationships that exist
 Electrical: electrical conductivity
between structures and properties
 Thermal: thermal conductivity, heat
of materials
capacity
Structure  Magnetic: ferromagnetism
 Arrangements of internal  Optical: index of reflection,
components reflectivity
 How atoms are arranged within a  Deteriorative (Chemical): resistance
material to corrosion

Property Key Relationships:

 A material trait in terms of the kind  Material properties depend on the

and magnitude of response to a material microstructure, which in
specific imposed stimulus turn results from its composition
and processing
 Properties < Microstructure

Approach:

 Study microstructures, starting with

the smallest, and working up
 Connect how microstructure relates
to properties
 Look at the effect of processing on
microstructure

Why study material science & engineering

 Everything is made out of something

 The properties of the available
materials determine how it can be
used
 Recent advances have resulted in a
wide variety of new materials with
Where to start?

 The atom
 Atomic bonding
 The different ways that atoms bond
to each other affects their properties
 The different classes of materials are
different because they are bonded
together differently Kinds of Materials
Kinds of Materials  Composite: structures of 2 or more
 Metals: atoms are located in materials combined to produce a
regularly defined, repeating pattern new material whose properties
throughout the structure could not be achieved by convention
means

Special Materials

 Semiconductors: materials with

electrical properties that are
intermediate between electrical
conductor and insulator
 Biomaterials: employed in
components implanted into human
 Ceramics: compounds between body
metallic and non-metallic elements What properties are characteristic of each
(e.g., NaCl, Metal Oxides) material type?

 Polymers: long chain molecules with

repeating groups that are largely
covalently bonded
  Composites are a combination of
properties
 Semiconductors have unique
electrical properties
Materials Science Tetrahedron
 Processing: is a term that
encompasses every way in which the
material is changed. This can include
recycling, mining raw ore, purifying
the material, shaping the material,
and more.
Two Types of Processing
 Primary: includes all of the
processing steps to create usable
material. This means digging the raw
material from the ground,
chemically separating the useful
bits, purifying the useful bits, and
somehow creating a mass of
material that someone else will buy.
 Secondary: includes all of the
processing steps after you have the
“final” material. This means forging,
rolling, milling, cutting, extruding,
polishing, heating, quenching, and
possibly even doping.
 For example, steel starts as iron ore
and carbon dioxide. The ore needs
to be mined, separated from not-
iron in the ore, alloyed, combined
with carbon, and purified.
Everything up until now was primary
processing. Only one would you call
the material “steel.”
 Since you have the final product, the
next steps are secondary processing.
The steel may be cast into large
ingots to sell to people. A factory
may buy some of the steel, shape it,
heat treat it, or coat it.
 There is a small gray area where
secondary processing changes the
chemical structure. Continuing with
the steel, the company might add
additional elements to the surface
(as in case – hardening or doping).
 Depending on the degree that the
material is redefined by the change,
it’s possible that this change would
still be primary processing (so
everything that happened earlier –
since it was necessary for this
change, is also primary processing).
 Processing refers to all steps in
which the material is changed to Diamond
become more useful and is the way  Has a special crystalline
we affect the material’s structure. arrangement of atoms called
 Structure: refers to the way the “diamond cubic.”
material is arranged at different
length scales. This can be differences
in atomic bonding, grains,
precipitate arrangement, or even
macro-scale architecture.

The difference in their structure leads to

different properties

 Graphite’s 2D layered structure

makes it quite soft because the
layers can slide past each other. That
makes it excellent for lubrication.
The most often-used example of structural
 Diamond’s crystal structure is
difference is diamond vs. graphite. Both
especially good for strength. That is
diamond and graphite have the same
part of why diamond is the hardest
chemical makeup (carbon), but vastly
naturally-occurring material.
different atomic structures

Graphite

 The carbon is bonded into 2-

dimensional sheets

We can also consider structure at a higher
level. If graphite is made of many 2D sheets,
what happens if we stack those sheets so
they are aligned? They will have different
properties than if they were randomized.
 Anisotropic Property: If the sheets
are aligned, graphite will exhibit this
property. That means they are not
the same in every direction. For
example, arranging graphite like this
could allow good conductivity in the
plane, but poor conductivity out of
the plane. I’ll trust your imagination
to see why this is useful.
Common Structures
 Interstitial: when we look at groups
of atoms, we can consider defects.
We cover defects later in this series
on materials science fundamentals
but defects are places where atoms
don’t belong. For example, the
material may have vacancies.
 Doping: adding extra atoms with
different valence electrons
 Matrix: when can also consider
phases – or different groups of
atoms with the same ratios of
elements. Usually, a material will
have main (ductile) phase
 Precipitates: small and harder
phases
If you have a mixture of 90% iron and 10%
carbon, you will actually get phases of Fe
and Fe3C (in other words, 100% iron phase
and 75% iron phase). The final result would
be 60% Fe matrix and 40% Fe3C
precipitates.
 As we increase the length scale
(microstructure), it’s important to
consider grains.
 Grains: groups of atoms that all have
the same crystallographic direction.
Each grain is a single crystal.
 Gemstones: are a single grain, while
most materials – including virtually
all metals – are polycrystalline. That
means they are made of many
different grains.
At the macroscopic scale, our material may
have voids, or unintentional holes. This is
always bad, and processing plays an
important role in avoiding voids.
 The material may also be
composite–it could be a porous
foam (with intentional holes
 designed to decrease weight), or a Examples of intrinsic properties: color,
combination of different materials density, conductivity, strength, melting
designed to balance each other out. point.
For example, concrete has rocks and
Examples of extrinsic properties: volume,
cement (cheap and great for
mass, energy, entropy.
compressive strength) mixed with
steel rebar (more expensive, but  For the sake of accuracy sometimes
adds needed tensile strength). intrinsic properties can become
 A materials scientist would consider extrinsic. For example, ice cubes of
structures in concrete at every level: different sizes may appear to have
the grains and precipitates in the different colors.
steel, the size and bonding in the  For a more universal example,
concrete, and the macro-scale conductivity is related to the
interaction between steel and number of defects in a material per
concrete that balances for the volume, which is generally constant
desired properties. at all volumes. However, when
 Structure refers to the way sub- dealing with extremely small
components of a material are amounts of a material, there may be
arranged, especially on different no defects at all, so your material
length scales. may be much more conductive. In
this case, you could make an
 A fundamental assumption in
argument that nearly all properties
materials science is that all
are extrinsic. But that’s not very
properties are derived from the
useful, so we keep our common-
material’s structure (we can stretch
sense meaning of “intrinsic
this to include chemistry and
properties.”
chemical bonding by referring to
electronic structure as well).
 Properties: are anything
measurable about a material. In
materials science, we typically focus
on intrinsic or intensive properties.
These are properties that are
fundamental to the material,
regardless of how much material
there is. In contrast, we can also talk
Which properties are used in materials
about extrinsic or extensive
science?
properties, which depend on how
much material you have.
 Mechanical: properties that are
related to a material’s interaction
with stress (for per area). Examples,
strength, hardness, ductility,
elasticity, toughness, creep-
resistance, fatigue-resistance
 Electronic: properties related to the
material’s interaction with electrons.
(Thus, some people might consider
magnetic properties to be a subset
of electronic properties). Some
people might distinguish electrical
properties as related to conductors,
and electronic properties as related
to semiconductors. Examples,
electric conductivity/resistivity,
dielectric constant, band gap,
piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity,
thermoelectricity, seebeck
coefficient, mean free path.
 Magnetic: properties related to
electron spin arrangements.
Examples, ferromagnetism,
diamagnetism, paramagnetism,
ferrimagnetism,
antiferromagnetism, susceptibility,
permeability, Curie temperature,
Neel temperature.
 Thermal: properties related to
atomic vibrations in the material
(remember that temperature is a
measure of atomic kinetic energy,
i.e., Vibrations). Examples, thermal
conductivity, coefficient of thermal
expansion, Curie temperature, Néel
temperature, melting point,
photoelectric effect, specific heat.
Notice that Curie and Néel
temperature could be classified as
either temperature or magnetic
properties.
 Optical: properties related to light or
the electromagnetic spectrum.
Examples, speed of light in material,
reflectivity, transmissivity,
absorptivity, opacity/transparency,
diffractivity.
 Chemical: properties relate to the
atoms’ chemical interaction with
other atoms. Examples, Chemical
reactivity, oxidation resistance,
corrosion resistance, bond strength,
adhesion, cohesion, etchability,
biocompatibility, bioactivity,
biodegradability, diffusivity.
 Processing: vague set of properties
related to processing techniques.
These are often mechanical or
thermal. Examples, weldability,
castability, extrudability, rollability,
3D printability, machinability,
recyclability.
 Others: speed of sound in material,
viscosity, coefficient of friction,
phase changes, cost.
 Properties are important because
the material’s ultimate performance
is dictated by its combination of
properties.
 Performance: how well a material
functions in its intended role . Also, it
is directly related to the material’s
combination of properties. The
material with the best performance
is chosen for the application.

 For example: which material is best
to use for power lines? If you are
simply looking for the best
conductor, silver is the answer. Of
course, nobody would use silver for
a power line because silver is way
too expensive. The great
conductivity is outweighed by the
poor cost, so silver has an overall
poor performance
 The next material that comes to
mind might be copper. Copper has
the 2nd highest conductivity, and it’s
much cheaper, so you’re probably
used to seeing copper as electrical
wire in many situations. Copper has
been traditionally used in power
lines. However, copper is also
relatively dense (and becoming
expensive). Since power lines need
to be strung in the air, density and
strength are quite important.
 The newest power lines are typically
made with a combination of steel
and aluminum. Aluminum is a
lightweight conductor, and steel can
help carry aluminum’s weight. Both
steel and aluminum are extremely
cheap.
 Since a composite of aluminum and
steel have the best combination of
strength, density, and conductivity,
they have the optimal performance
for power lines.
 The field of materials science that
most considers material
performance is materials selection.
Scientists and engineers working on
materials selection need to consider
the tradeoff between different
material properties (usually weight,
cost, and some additional criteria).
 Performance is how well a material
fulfills a certain application. It is
important because it’s where the
money is at. Company owners and
grant awards primary care about
how a material will perform. If you
can argue that your material will
make money or improve society,
you will probably get funded.
 Characterization: the act of
measuring your material. That
means that it’s inherently tied to
properties, so I’m not sure if it really
belongs in the center of the
 materials tetrahedron. Also, it is the
main tool which allows different
points on the tetrahedron to
interact.
Two Types of Characterization
 Destructive: usually provides more
information than non-destructive
characterization, but it’s often used
because it’s faster or cheaper if the
material is inexpensive.
 Non-Destructive:  doesn’t harm
your sample and is cool because you
can repeat experiments with the
exact same sample. It’s also easier to
convince people to let you
characterize historical artifacts if
you’re using non-destructive
characterization.
Specialized characterization techniques
have been developed to measure each set
of properties listed in the properties
section, but rather than go through all the
different scientific equipment you’ll ever
encounter, let me just list a few of the
most-used ones.
 Optical Microscope: is one of the
most basic–and oldest–scientific
tools. You’ve probably used one in a
high school laboratory. Modern
materials science was made possible
by advancing past visible light, but
optical microscopes are cheap and
can tell us basic information quickly.
 SEM (Scanning Electron
Microscope): is a microscope that
uses electrons, instead of photons,
to “see.” Since the wavelength of
electrons is much smaller than the
wavelength of visible light, SEMs
allow us to observe much smaller
details than OMs. Since SEMs can
provide a lot of information, but are
cheaper than TEMs, many materials
scientists find that the SEM is their
most-used tool.
 TEM (Transition Electron
Microscope): another kind of
electron microscope. TEMs pass
electrons directly through the
sample, which results in even higher
resolutions than SEMs. In the TEM,
it’s possible to see individual
columns of atoms. However,
preparing samples for TEM is very
tedious, so most people try to avoid
using the machine if SEM is good
enough.
 X-Ray Diffraction: a technique that
can measure the spacing between
atoms. The machine shoots x-rays at
your material, rotates the angle, and
observes the diffraction angle.
Bragg’s law allows us to calculate
the atomic structure and spacing.
 Spectroscopy: measures the
interaction between material and
electromagnetic radiation. Four
common types of spectroscopy are
Raman, FTIR (Fourier-Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy), EDS or EDX
(Energy Dispersive X-ray
Spectroscopy) and XPS (X-ray
Photoelectron Spectroscopy).
 - Raman Spectroscopy: measures
inelastic scattering of photons
against the material.
- FTIR: measures how much light
the material absorbs at each
wavelength.
- EDS: measures excited rejected
x-rays and–combined with SEM–
can tell you the elemental
makeup of a material.
- XPS: measures excited rejected
electrons and can tell you the
near-surface elemental makeup
of a material.
 Mechanical Testing: is really broad
and measures all the basic
mechanical properties including. I’m
a bit biased because I work in
mechanical properties but a few
examples are hardness testing,
creep testing, tensile strength
testing, charpy impact testing, K1C
fracture toughness testing, fatigue
testing, and tribology testing
(friction).
How do the “legs” of the Materials
Tetrahedron Interact?
 Differential Scanning Calorimetry: a
machine that inputs thermal energy
and measures the temperature
change. This can measure specific
heat, but more importantly, it can
identify phase changes. Since
changing phases often requires
energy, the material will absorb the
thermal energy but won’t increase in
temperature. We can use this
information to figure out when
phase changes happen.
 Thermal Gravimetric Analysis: a
technique that measures the mass
of your material as the temperature
changes. This is especially useful for
polymers that might degrade (or
burn!) at high temperatures, but it
can also measure weight gain from a
sample oxidizing.
 Atom Probe: an advanced technique
that most people probably won’t
use, but it’s important to my
research so I’m going to talk about
it. The atom probe shoots a laser at
your sample to blast atoms away,
then it captures those atoms and
digitally recreates the sample. In
theory, it can tell us the position of
every atom in the sample.
- Characterization is measuring or
observing the material. It is
important because it’s how we learn
information about the material.
- Materials science is defined by the
space between the four corners of
the materials science tetrahedron.
Some scientists or engineers work
 more closely with one corner than
the others. Many times, materials
scientists are especially focused on
the relationship between two points
on the tetrahedron.
This is a broad generalization, but I think it’s
reasonable to assign a specific job within
materials science to each leg of the
tetrahedron.
 Structure-Properties: Materials
Research – A lot of scientists
working in the lab to discover more
about materials are trying to figure
out the relationship between
structure and properties. Usually,
pure research is not focused on the
outcome of the properties, and they
usually don’t care how the structure
came to be. Research just wants to
know how structure affects
properties.
 Processing-Structure: Materials
Development – It’s called R&D
(Research and Development) for a
reason. These fields are usually
combined. While research wants to
know the reason properties exist,
development wants to take that
research and create better
properties (via structures). Usually,
research and development work
together: research figures out which
structures produce good properties,
and development figures out how to
optimize processing to create these
optimal structures.
 Properties-Performance: Materials
Selection – Materials engineers
perform “materials selection” when
they tell a company which material a
product should be made of. These
engineers need to have a wide
knowledge (or software and a
database) of properties of many
materials. They need to decide what
combination of properties will result
in the best performance.
 Processing-Performance: Materials
Design – Materials design hits all
four points of the tetrahedron, but it
focuses on the beginning and ending
steps. Materials design means
designing a process for a material
such that the end result has the best
performance. To do that requires
also passing by structure and
properties, of course. Materials
design is a very engineering,
application-minded approach to
materials science.
 Processing-Properties: Quality
Control - is the sub-field of materials
science that most operates in the
processing-properties leg. Engineers
performing quality control need to
ensure that processes are creating
the correct properties.
 Structure-Performance: Failure
Analysis – Engineers performing
failure analysis will look at what
broke and figure out why it
happened. They look at some failure
in the material performance, and
figure out what structure caused the
failure.