Lecture 3

Engineering
Materials and
Their Properties

Jayant Jain
Department of Applied Mechanics,
IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, 110016

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby

Menu of Engineering Materials

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby

Examples of Each Material Family

Our daily life uses most of them in some form

or the other!!
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
Ceramics
• Stiff – high E
• Hard
• Abrasion resistant
• Good high temperature strength
• Good corrosion resistance
• Brittle
Glasses
• Hard
• Corrosion resistant
• Electrically insulating
• Transparent
• Brittle – low KIC
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
Polymers
• Light – low ρ
• Easily shaped
• High strength per unit weight (σ/ρ)
• Lack stiffness – low E (50X less than metals)
• Properties highly sensitive to temperature

Elastomers
• Lack stiffness – low E (500 – 5000X less than
metals)
• Able to retain initial shape after being stretched
• Relatively strong and tough
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
Metals
• Tough – high KIC
• Stiff – high E
• Ductile
• Wide range of strengths depending on composition and
processing
• Thermally and electrically conductive
• Reactive – low corrosion resistance

Hybrids
• Expensive
• Difficult to shape and join
• Properties dependent on combination of
materials
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
 Material properties (with units)

 Each material can be thought of as

having a set of attributes or properties

 The combination that characterizes a

given material is its property profile

 It is the favorable property profile that

qualifies the material to be as one of the
“potential choice”

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition © 2010 Michael Ashby

 Mechanical Properties

1. Stiffness, Elastic modulus

2. Yield strength
3. Tensile strength and
ductility
4. Fracture toughness
5. Density
 Thermal Properties

1. Maximum service temperature

(creep) Metals – upto 800 ˚C;
polymers – 150 ˚C

2. Thermal expansion coefficient

3. Thermal conductivity
- high for cooking pans
- low for insulating homes, or
enable space vehicle to re-enter
earth’s atmosphere
 Electrical, Magnetic and Optical
Properties

1. Conductivity, Resistivity and

dielectric properties
2. Magnetism – Remanence (measure of
intensity of retained magnetism)
- Hard and soft magnetic materials
3. Optical – response to light
opaque material – reflect
transparent material – refract
 Chemical Properties

Resistance to:
1. Water (corrosion, erosion)
2. Acids
3. Alkalis
4. Organic solvents
5. Oxidation
6. Radiation
 Lets start with very basic physical
property density

Very important in the modern context

Density of solids

rmetals > rceramics > rpolymers

Why metals are heavy??

Why polymers are light??

Why ceramics are slightly lighter than

metals

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby

 Density of engineering materials
Factors that affect the density of solid

1. Mass and size of the atoms that make them up

2. Efficiency with which they are packed to fill the space

Metals: atoms are heavy and close packed

Polymers: less close packed, C, H, O atoms are light

Ceramics: also contains light atoms O, N and C, atoms are

packed closely

Composites: densities are average of the materials of which

they are made
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby
How to measure density of solids?

Volumetric method:
weight of the solid/measured Volume
of the solid
(works reasonable for regular solids)

What about irregular solids?

Hydrostatic weighing method:

Archimedes principle
- By weighing in air and in a fluid of known density
 Elastic moduli
It is resistance of material to elastic or springy deformation

Stretching rubber band as opposed to steel piece

Hooke’s law

Do we get this response for all materials?

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby
Non-linear elastic solids

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby

How do we measure elastic modulus of materials?
 Tensile test

Need a precise measurement of elastic strain, stretching of

test fixture: data needs to be compliance corrected,
cannot be used for all materials

 3 point bend test

Particularly good for brittle materials

As you cannot load them in tension

 Measure the velocity of sound wave in the material

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th Edition, © 2010 Michael Ashby