MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION

EXPERIMENT 1
Material Science Lab

Submitted By.
Alhossien Mohamed Waly 120200014
Rewan Yehia Ibrahim 120200013
Abdala Amr Mohamed 120200011
Mostafa Osama Mohamed 120200018
Ahmed Hatem Mohamed 120200012
Mennatullah Elsayed Mansour 120200009

Submitted to:
DR. Mohamed Gebriel

Date of submission

10-11-2021

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 Table of content

Introduction………………………………………………………….3-4
Objective…………………………………………………………….…4
Materials……………………………………………………………….4
Methods……………………………………………………………....5-6
Results…………………………………………………………...…...6-8
Discussion……………………………………………………...……8-10
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….10
Reference……………………………………………………………...11

List of Figures
Figure (1) Material classification………………………………………3
Figure (2) Sensitive scale………………………………………………4
Figure (3) Digital densimeter…..…………………………………...….4
Figure (4) Vernier caliper……...………………………….……………4

List of tables
Table (1) Results of the experience…………………………………….8
Table (2) Surface appearance of some common metals.……………….9
Table (3) Densities of some common metals….……………………….9

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Introduction
There are different materials on earth, and each can be used for some
specific function based on a property that it has. There are many
materials and all of them vary in properties and based on that we can
.reach the classification of the materials in general
Each class is a unique class of
:the materials property such as
Conductivity-
Strength-
Magnetic behavior-
Flexibility -
… Density -
We can identify the elements
based on their different properties. As example, if we put some elements
in water non-metallic elements have a low density that makes it flow
over the water. On the other hand, metallic elements will sink due to the
high density. Metallic elements are shinny metallic lusters. While non-
metallic elements vary in color and texture. When it comes to
transparency, metallic elements are opaque while the non-metallic may
.vary from opaque to transparent
By classification we can know the property of the element and make use
of it. If it was very conductive like the copper, we can use to make
electrical connection wire or cat cables (used for network connection
between computers). When it came down to strength property, we can
.use steel to build bridges and buildings due to its strength
And each property caused by some factor that exists in the element. If
we look at strength property of metallic elements what make it so strong
is the crystalline structure. At the same time, it is a good conductor of
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electricity and heat, that is because the nuclei are in a fixed position
while the electrons can migrate. Color property of an element is caused
by the absorption and re-emission of the light, and it depends on the
.wavelength

Objective
In this experiment we will try to identify the given unknown element by
identifying the different properties of each element
Classify the Given materials whether it was metallic, ceramics or
polymer

Materials
Different types of materials are tested in this experiment to identify the
.class of the material and trying to figure out the material itself
.We will use in that experiment several equipment
Sensitive scale-
used to get the weight of the element
Digital densimeter-
Uses Archimedes principle to get the density
Vernier Caliper-
Used to get the dimensions of the element

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Methods
To identify the material, we need to know it’s property so that we can
:class the material and then identify it. The simplest 3 methods are
.I. Visual based on color
.II. Measuring the density
III. Magnetic test

I. visual based on color.

Each element has his own color, and it could be unique. So, we can
know the element based on a known data of the element’s color.
For example:
- Stainless steel is bright silvery grey.
- Copper alloys Reddish yellow to yellowish white.
- Aluminum alloys are white.

II. Measuring the density.

The density can be known by two methods the dry method and the wet
method.
Dry method
-In the dry method we calculate the volume of the material using vernier
caliper to measure the height, width, and length.
-After getting the volume we use the sensitive scale to determine the
mass of the material.
-after that we can use the formula given below to calculate the density of
the material.
Mass
D ensity=
Volume

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Wet method
In the wet method it’s more accurate than the dry method. It uses digital
densimeter which uses the Archimedes principle to calculate the density
To operate the densimeter
- Place the desired to be calculated materials on the densimeter and
wait until the weight is saved.
- Place the material in the water.
- The device will do all the calculations for you and you’re ready to
take readings
- Calculate the error percentage.

III. Magnetic testing

We place a magnet near the materials. In this way, we can identify some
metallic elements.
Results
1. Laws and calculations:
Most of the sample materials take the shape of cuboids, cubes and cylinders.
Therefore, to calculate the volume of the materials, we used the following
formulas:
 Cylindrical volume:
𝑉 = 𝜋 𝑟2ℎ
where r is the radius of circular base and h is the height of the
cylinder.
 Cube volume:
V = length * width * height
 Cuboid volume:
V = length * width * height

(experiment value−theoritical value)

 Error percentage= theoritical value
∗100 %

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A. Material 1:
1. V =2.884∗3.148∗0.992=9.006 cm3
2. m=5.499 grams
mass 5.499 3
3. ρ= volume = 9.006 =0.611 g /cm
B. Material 2:
1. V =1.982∗1.984∗1.500=5.795 cm3
2. m=16.428 grams
mass 16.428
3. ρ= = =2.835 g /cm 3
volume 5.795
(2.837−2.835)
4. Error percentage= ∗100 %=0.07 %
2.837
C. Material 3:
1. V =0.886 cm 3
2. m=3.401 grams
mass 3.401
3. ρ= = =3.839 g/cm3
volume 0.886
(3.840−3.839)
4. Error percentage= ∗100 %=0.026 %
3.839
D. Material 4:
1. V =π∗2.958∗(1.0252−0.6552)=5.776 cm3
2. m=5.093 grams
mass 5.093
3. ρ= = =0.882 g/cm 3
volume 5.776
E. Material 5:
1. V =π∗0.4372∗1.394=0.821cm3
2. m=6.721 grams
mass 6.721 3
3. ρ= = =8.229 g/cm
volume 0.821
(8.391−8.229)
4. Error percentage= ∗100 %=1.97 %
8.229
F. Material 6:
1. V =π∗0.4 2∗2.032=1.02 cm3
2. m=7.923 grams
mass 7.923
3. ρ= = =7.768 g /cm 3
volume 1.02
(7.774−7.768)
4. Error percentage= ∗100 %=0.077 %
7.768
G. Material 7:
1. V =π∗0.2752∗1.520=0.36 cm3
2. m=6.851 grams

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 mass 6.851
3. ρ= = =19.03 g /cm 3
volume 1.52
(19.04−19.03)
4. Error percentage= ∗100 %=0.053 %
19.03

The following table summarizes all the data that was recorded during the experiment:

Material Visual Mass, Volum Dry method, Wet method, Name of

Color
code identification gm e /cm3 Density, gm/cm3 Density, gm/cm3 material
1 Brown Rough 5.499 9.006 0.6106 - Wood
2 Silver Shiny 16.428 5.795 2.835 2.837 Aluminum
Off-
3 white Smooth 3.401 0.886 3.839 3.84 Ceramics
4 Green Smooth 5.093 5.776 0.882 - Polymer
Bronz
5 e Shiny 6.721 0.821 8.229 8.391 Copper
6 Silver Shiny 7.923 1.02 7.768 7.774 Steel
Dark
7 silver Shiny 6.851 0.36 19.03 19.042 Tungsten

Table 1: results of the experiment

Discussion
All materials have physical properties that we can use to compare and
distinguish between them.
A. Identification of metals
Metals can be categories in to two groups: ferrous and non-ferrous
metals.
Ferrous metals are those that contain primarily iron (Fe) and iron
alloys.
Nonferrous metals are those that contain other element(s) other than
iron, although some nonferrous metals or alloys may contain a small
amount of iron as an impurity.
To identify a piece of metal, a variety of field identification procedures
can be utilized. Some of which are surface appearance, density,
magnetic properties, and physical properties.
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1. Surface appearance
Metals can sometimes be recognized by observing its surface
appearance.
Table 2 specifies the colors of some common metals.

Metal color
Aluminium Light grey
Brass and Bronze Reddish
Copper Reddish brown
Iron, Cast Dull grey
Nickel White
Lead Dark grey
Steel, stainless Silvery
Tungesten Steel grey
TABLE 2 : SURFACE APPEARANCE OF SOME COMMON METALS

In addition to the color of the metal, inspecting the texture of the

surface may also add another indication about its identity. As
simply, ferrous metals are normally magnetic and nonferrous are
nonmagnetic.
2. Density
Density is the measure of the relative mass of objects with a
constant volume. Density can be useful in identifying substances as
each item or material has a unique density.

The following table lists densities of some common metal elements or

compounds:
Metals Density
Mild steel 7.85
Medium carbon
steel 7.83
High carbon steel 7.81
Iron 7.87
Stainless steel 7.7-80
Aluminum 2.7

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 Copper 8.93
Brass 8.50-8.80
Lead 11.34
Nickel 8.9
Tungsten 19.3

Table 3: Densities of some common metals

3. Magnetic Test
A magnetic test is another method that aids in identifying a metal.
As simply, ferrous metal is magnetic whereas nonferrous metals are
nonmagnetic.
Accordingly, materials 2, 5, 6, and 7 were identified.

B. Identification of ceramics
A ceramic material may be defined as any inorganic crystalline material,
compounded of a metal and a non-metal such as nonmetallic oxides, nitride,
carbide silicon or carbon. Some physical properties are its relative hardness,
it is brittle in nature and although metal is stronger than ceramics, they are
on par.
Ceramics are intermediate in density between polymers (lower) and metals
(higher) in the range of 2-6 gm/cm3. Non-crystalline materials are less dense
than crystalline ones.
Based on the properties discussed above, the third material was identified as
a ceramic.

C. Identification of polymers
Polymers are long chain molecules of repeating units (monomers) that can be
organic (carbon or hydrogen) or synthetic (Oxygen, Nitrogen and Silicon).
These materials have relatively low densities. Some of their mechanical
properties are that they are not strong or stiff like metals or ceramics, but they
are compared because of their low densities.
Thus, material 6 was chosen according to the properties stated above.

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Conclusion
Each element in the nature has his own unique property that we can use to
identify it. We were able to identify 7 different unknown materials in this
experiment using methods to find a specific property for each element and
compare the results of the methods with the real material data so that we could
tell which material we have.

Reference

Lahiri A.K. (2017) Classification of Metallic Engineering Materials. In:

Applied Metallurgy and Corrosion Control. Indian Institute of Metals
Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4684-
1_2

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