Properties of Materials

• Materials are chosen / selected based on the required application

• Structural, Energy, Functional applications

Steel cables and concrete should Ti alloys, Ni base superalloys should Semiconductors, Cu should
bear the load under exposed operate at high temperatures, withstand withstand stresses due to
environmental conditions vibrations and stresses electrical fields
Source: Wikipedia
 Properties of Materials
• What is a property of a material

• Related to the response of a material to a given external influence / stimulation

• External influence can be represented as Field (F), for eg: stress field, magnetic field, electric field etc.,

• Response of the material to the field can be represented as R

• Response could be deflection of beam under load, or current passing through a conductor due to applied electrical
field
• In a general sense relationship between Field (F) and Response (R) can be expressed as

𝑹 = 𝑹 (𝑭)

• Material response (R) is a function of the applied field (F)

• Materials Scientist task to figure out the kind of function

 Properties of Materials
• Assuming that the material behavior under external conditions can be expressed in mathematical terms and the
function is “ well behaved “, using Taylor series expansion (actually Madhava (of the Kerala school of mathematics)
Series, we can write around F = 0 as

𝟏 𝛛𝑹 𝟏 𝛛𝟐𝑹
𝑹 = 𝑹𝟎 + 𝑭+ 𝟐
𝑭𝟐 + ⋯
𝟏! 𝛛𝑭 𝑭=𝟎
𝟐! 𝛛𝑭
𝑭=𝟎

R0 describes response under zero field

• There are two possibilities:

• R0 = 0, No remnant response when F = 0, for eg: no strain if there is no applied stress
• R0  0, There is a remnant response even if F = 0, for eg: net magnetic moment in ferromagnetic material

• If we truncate the series after second term (as an approximation), the response function can be simplified as:

𝟏 𝝏𝑹 𝝏𝑹
𝑹 = 𝑹𝟎 + 𝑭 = 𝑹𝟎 + 𝑷𝐹 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷 =
𝟏! 𝝏𝑭 𝑭=𝟎 𝝏𝑭 𝑭=𝟎

• Above results in a linear relationship between field and response and P is the material property
 Properties of Materials
• Let us consider, a Cu wire of length ‘L’ connected to battery(V), electrical field is V/L (units V/m)is produced

• Due to this field, current flows in in the conductor (Response)

• Amount of current depends on the cross section of the conductor, So using current density (A/m 2)
(j) as a measure of current through the conductor.

• For most conductors the relationship between current density and electric field is linear

j = E
 Is known as the electrical conductivity, a material property
 Properties of Materials
• Comparing with series expansion, external field (F) is equal to Electric field (E), Response (R) is equal to j

𝟏 𝝏𝑹 𝝏𝑹
𝑹 = 𝑹𝟎 + 𝑭 = 𝑹𝟎 + 𝑷𝐹 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷 =
𝟏! 𝝏𝑭 𝑭=𝟎 𝝏𝑭 𝑭=𝟎

when there is no Voltage, there is no current i.e., R0 = j0 = 0

𝝏𝒋 𝛛𝒋
𝒋= 𝑬 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝝈 =
𝛛𝑬 𝑬=𝟎
𝛛𝑬 𝑬=𝟎

 Is the first derivative of the current density with respect to electric field
 Does not depend on j or E and is referred to as the property of the material

• In general terms, linear material property is the proportionality factor between applied field and
resulting response
 Properties of Materials
Directional dependence of properties
j = E
All 3 quantities are scalar in the above expression

• However, considering a block of material, E can be applied any faces or

corners of the block.

• This implies E has magnitude and direction (vector) and similarly current
density  too is a vector
j = E
𝛛𝒋
𝝈= Is valid only for scalar j and E. As both j and E are vectors have to be incorporated into the above equation
𝛛𝑬 𝑬=𝟎

• Both vectors have components wrt to the standard Cartesian reference frame: jx, jy, jz and Ex, Ey and Ez

• So instead of single value of , we will have 9 values

 Properties of Materials
Directional dependence of properties
𝛛𝒋𝒙
• The derivative of the x- component of current density wrt to x component of electrical field, is 𝝈𝒙𝒙 =
𝛛𝑬𝒙 𝑬=𝟎

𝛛𝒋𝒙
• The derivative of the x- component of current density wrt to y component of electrical field, is 𝝈𝒙𝐲 =
𝛛𝑬𝒚 𝑬=𝟎

𝛛𝒋𝒊
A generic expression is 𝝈𝒊𝒋 =
𝛛𝑬𝒋 𝑬=𝟎

• The relation between current density vector and electric field vector is

𝒋𝒙 = 𝝈𝒙𝒙 𝑬𝒙 + 𝝈𝒙𝒚 𝑬𝒚 + 𝝈𝒙𝒛 𝑬𝒛

𝒋𝒚 = 𝝈𝒚𝒙 𝑬𝒙 + 𝝈𝒚𝒚 𝑬𝒚 + 𝝈𝒚𝒛 𝑬𝒛
𝒋𝒛 = 𝝈𝒛𝒙 𝑬𝒙 + 𝝈𝒛𝒚 𝑬𝒚 + 𝝈𝒛𝒛 𝑬𝒛
• Each component of current density is written as a linear combination of all components of electric field vector
 Properties of Materials
Directional dependence of properties

• Material property is not always a simple scalar

• If a property connects a vector field to a vector response, the material property has nine elements, a 3  3
matrix, often referred to as a Tensor

• Scalar is a tensor of rank 0

• Vector is a tensor of rank 1
• Tensors of rank 2, 3, 4 etc.

• Do we really need all 9 numbers to define electrical conductivity,

• Answer lies in symmetry !

 Properties of Materials
Role of Symmetry
• Let us look at the 2-D crystal shown in right

• Applying a field in the x-direction, causes current flow in x-direction

• Applying the same field in the y-direction causes current flow in y-direction

• Since the structure is similar in both x and y directions, current density in both
directions will be same

• The relationship between electric field and current density in 2-D material is written as

𝒋𝒙 𝒙𝒙 𝒙𝒚 𝑬𝒙
=  𝒚𝒚
𝒋𝒚 𝒚𝒙 𝑬𝒚

• Since x and y directions are equivalent, we can interchange them

𝒋𝒙 𝒚𝒚 𝒚𝒙 𝑬𝒙
=  𝒙𝒙
𝒋𝒚 𝒙𝒚 𝑬𝒚
 Properties of Materials
Role of Symmetry
𝒙𝒙 𝒙𝒚 𝒚𝒚 𝒚𝒙
𝒚𝒙 𝒚𝒚 = 𝒙𝒚 𝒙𝒙

𝝈𝒙𝒙 = 𝝈𝒚𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝝈𝒙𝒚 = 𝝈𝒚𝒙

But actually 𝝈𝒙𝒙 = 𝝈𝒚𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝝈𝒙𝒚 = − 𝝈𝒚𝒙

• The current densities in x and y direction is equal is a consequence of the symmetry of the crystal structure

• Material properties are determined by the underlying structure i.e., precise arrangement of atoms

• To understand the material properties or to design new materials, the atomic arrangement must be understood

• Understanding the structure consists of the description of crystal structures and then actual methods to
determine the location of atoms
 Properties of Materials
• Materials properties must also satisfy the additional laws of physics (for eg: thermodynamics)

• In case of electrical conductivity, the matrix representing conductivity must be symmetric

ij= ji
But xy= - yx

• This is only possible if 𝐱𝐲 = 0

𝒋𝒙  𝟎 𝑬𝒙 𝑬𝒙
• The relationship between electrical field and current density is = = 𝝈
𝒋𝒚 𝟎  𝑬𝒚 𝑬𝒚

• For a crystal structure based on rectangular grid, xx  yy

• As the atomic arrangement in x and y direction is different

𝒋𝒙 𝒙𝒙 𝟎 𝑬𝒙
=
𝒋𝒚 𝟎 𝒚𝒚 𝑬𝒚
 Properties of Materials
• When a property is independent of the direction of the applied field , the property is isotropic

• If a property varies with the direction of the applied field, the property is anisotropic

• The electrical conductivity in square grid arrangement of atoms is isotropic

• The electrical conductivity in rectangular grid arrangement of atroms is anisotropic

• Fields can be homogeneous or heterogeneous.

• For eg:, temperature gradient, composition gradient, pressure gradient etc.,

• Properties can also be homogeneous or heterogeneous

• Heterogenous implies property is different at different locations in the crystal

(for eg: due to variations in composition)
 Properties of Materials
• What controls the magnitude of the properties (for eg: conductivity parameters)

• Symmetry and thermodynamics state which parameter should vanish and how the parameters are
related to each other

• Magnitude depends on more fundamental parameters (conductivity depends on charge distribution)

and calculations are based on quantum mechanics, a branch of solid state physics

• There are many materials properties

• Many important properties are linear i.e., direct proportionality between field and response

• Other properties are quadratic or even higher order

• Each material property is represented by a tensor

• Scalar is a tensor of rank 0

• Vector is a tensor of rank 1
• Tensors of rank 2, 3, 4 etc.
 Properties of Materials
Symbol:
Symbol used to denote the property

Field and Response:

T – Temperature difference, S – Entropy change
Ei – Electric field, Hi – Magnetic field components,
ij –Mechanical strain, Di – Electric displacement
Bi – Magnetic induction, ij – Mechanical stress
ij – Change of the impermeability tensor,
ji – Electrical current density, jT – Temperature gradient
hi – heat flux, jc – Concentration gradient, mi – Mass flux
ia – Anti-symmetry part of resistivity tensor,
is – Symmetry part of resistivity tensor,
ij – Change in the component ij of the resistivity tensor,
li – Direction cosines of electromagnetic wave direction in crystal
G – Optical gyration constant
Type:
E – Equilibrium property
T – Transport Property
The number following indicates number of parameters required to
describe the property
 Structure of Materials

Glass
Source: Wikipedia
 Structure of Materials

• X-ray diffraction is used to determine the • Peak positions and intensities are related atomic
structure of materials arrangement in the crystals
• Sharp peaks in crystalline materials and broad peaks in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djy5M9DJrnk amorphous / glassy materials