PHY 110 (Introduction to engineering materials)

UNIT-VI

1
 PHY 110 (Introduction to engineering materials)
What we got here? UNIT-VI

 Dielectric materials definition, dielectric constant.

 Magnetic materials: dia, para, ferromagnetic materials, magnetic
data storage.
Piezoelectric materials: Direct and inverse piezoelectric methods,
materials and applications (ultrasonic sensors).
Superconducting materials: Properties, Meissner effect, Type I &
Type II superconductors and it’s applications.
Dielectric materials definition; Dielectric breakdown; Dielectric loss
Dielectric materials are poor conductors of electricity because they do not
have any loosely bound or free electrons that may drift through the
material.
Dielectric materials support dielectric polarization, which enables them to
act as dielectrics rather than conductors. This phenomenon occurs when a
dielectric is placed in an electric field and positive charges are displaced in
the direction of the electric field, while the negative charges are displaced in
the opposite direction. Such polarization creates a strong internal field,
which reduces the overall electric field within the material.
When a dielectric is placed in an electric field, the electric charges do not
flow through the material. Electric charges slightly shift from their average
equilibrium positions, causing dielectric polarisation.
 Dielectric polarisation causes positive charges to flow in the direction of the
field and negative charges to shift in the opposite direction of the field. This
phenomenon yields an internal electric field, which in turn reduces the
overall electric field within the dielectric material.
Electric susceptibility gives the measure of how easily a dielectric material
can be polarized when placed in an electric field.
Solid Dielectrics – Ceramic, Plastic, Mica,
and Glass.
Dielectric Liquid – Distilled Water.
Dielectric Gas – Dry Air, nitrogen and
helium.
Dielectic materials in an
electric field
Properties of Dielectric Material

 The energy gap in the dielectric materials is very large.

 The temperature coefficient of resistance is negative and the insulation
resistance is high.
 The dielectric materials have high resistivity.
 The attraction between the electrons and the parent nucleus is very strong.
 The electrical conductivity of these materials is very low as there are no
free electrons to carry current.
 Dielectric breakdown
It is a phenomena in which a dielectric material breaks into positive and
negative charges or it’s dipole breaks into positive and negative charges on the
application of an external electric field, which is normally high in strength.

Dielectric strength: It is the maximum electric field that can be tolerated by a

dielectric material without undergoing dielectric breakdown.
After dielectric break down an insulator behaves like a conductor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og-BHYy-fhI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edkHglTYxLQ
 Dielectric loss
Dielectric Loss refers to the Loss of energy that goes into heating a Dielectric
material in a varying electric field. It tends to depend mainly on the Dielectric
material and the frequency.

The Loss of energy involved in heating a Dielectric material in an

assorted electric domain is called Dielectric Loss. For instance, a
capacitor assimilated in an alternating-current circuit is barely
charged and discharged each half cycle. Most importantly, Dielectric
Losses generally are based on the frequency and the Dielectric
material.
 Dielectric internal electric field
In dielectric solids, the atoms or molecules experience not only the external
applied electric field but also the electric field produced by the dipoles. The
resultant electric field acting on the atoms or molecules of dielectric substance
is called the local field or an internal field.
Magnetic materials: Dia, para, ferromagnetic materials,
magnetic data storage.
All substances show some kind of magnetic
behaviour. After all, they are made up of
charged particles: electrons and protons. It is
the way in which electron clouds arrange
themselves in atoms and how groups of these
atoms behave that determines the magnetic
properties of the material. The atom (or
group of atoms) in effect becomes a magnetic
dipole or a mini bar magnet that can align
according to the magnetic field applied. The
net effect of all these dipoles determines the
magnetic properties of the magnetic
materials.
Magnetic materials are categorised as magnetically hard, or
magnetically soft materials. Magnetically soft materials are easily
magnetised but the induced magnetism is usually temporary. For
example, if you rub a permanent magnet along a nail, or a
screwdriver, the nail or screwdriver will become temporarily
magnetised and will emit their own weak magnetic field. This is
because a large number of their iron atoms are temporarily aligned
in the same direction by the external magnetic field.
Like magnetically soft materials, magnetically hard materials can be
magnetized by a strong external magnetic field, such as those
generated by an electromagnet. The difference being that
magnetically hard materials will remain magnetized indefinitely,
unless they are demagnetized by an opposing magnetic field.
Magnetically hard materials are used to create permanent magnets
made from alloys generally consisting of varying amounts of iron,
aluminum, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements samarium,
dysprosium and neodymium. The strongest permanent magnets are
known as neodymium magnets and are made from an alloy of
neodymium, iron and boron.
Intensity of Magnetisation (I)

It is positive for a paramagnetic material and negative for

a diamagnetic one
This can also be defined as the ratio of the magnetic flux density produced in
the medium to that which would be produced in a vacuum by the same
magnetizing force.
 Ferrimagnetism

A ferrimagnetic material is a material that has populations of atoms

with opposing magnetic moments, as in antiferromagnetism, but these
moments are unequal in magnitude so a spontaneous magnetization
remains. This can for example occur when the populations consist of
different atoms or ions (such as Fe2+ and Fe3+).
 FERROMAGNETIC Material
Ferromagnetic materials have some
unpaired electrons in their atoms and
therefore generate a net magnetic
field, albeit a very weak one.
This is because the individual atoms
or groups of atoms, known as
magnetic domains, are randomly
aligned cancelling each other out.
When an external magnetic field is applied to the ferromagnetic
material the individual domains are forced into alignment which
they maintain once the external field is removed therefore
maintaining their magnetism, known as remanence. Iron, nickel and
cobalt are all ferromagnetic materials.
These materials exhibit the strongest magnetic behaviour. Magnetic dipoles in these materials
are arranged into domains where the arrangements of individual magnetic dipoles are
essentially perfect that can produce strong magnetic fields. Normally, these domains are
usually randomly arranged and thus the magnetic field of each domain is cancelled by
another and the entire material does not show any magnetic behaviour.

However, when an external field is applied, the domains reorient themselves to reinforce the
external field and produce a strong internal magnetic field that is along the external field.
Upon removal of the external field, most of the domains stay put and continue to be aligned
in the direction of the magnetic field. Thus, the magnetic field of the magnetic materials
persists even when the external field disappears. This property is used to produce Permanent
magnets that we use every day. Iron, cobalt, nickel, neodymium and their alloys are usually
highly ferromagnetic and are used to make permanent magnets.
 DIAMAGNETIC MATERIAL
Diamagnetic materials repel any
externally applied magnetic field.
This occurs because their magnetic
domains realign to oppose an externally
applied magnetic field when influenced
by a magnetic field.
All materials show some diamagnetic properties, however, in most
materials the effect is extremely weak and unnoticed.
All the electrons within the atoms of diamagnetic materials are
paired, therefore they do not generate their own net magnetic field.
Most elements in the periodic table are diamagnetic.
DIAMAGNETIC MATERIAL
These materials are barely magnetised when placed in a
magnetic field. Magnetic dipoles in these substances tend to
align in opposition to the applied field. In effect, they
produce an internal magnetic field that opposes the applied
field and the substance tends to repel the external field
around it.

This opposing field disappears as soon as the external field is

removed.

Ex: Gold, water, mercury and even animals!

 PARAMAGNETIC MATERIAL
 Paramagnetic materials
have a small susceptibility to
magnetic fields meaning
that they are slightly
attracted by a magnetic
field.
However, unlike ferromagnetic materials they do not maintain their
magnetic properties once the external magnetic field is removed.
Most elements are paramagnetic, however, because their attractive
force is many thousands of times weaker than ferromagnetic
material they are also generally considered as ‘non-magnetic’.
PARAMAGNETIC
MATERIAL
 Magnetic data storage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78raYWFWv6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3BNHhfTsvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMSXQhra6hY
 Magnetic storage is one of the most
widely used digital data storage
using a magnetized medium.

Several types of magnetized medium are

used to store data such as magnetic tape,
floppy disks and hard disk drives.

The basic approach to magnetic data storage is almost similar for the different
types of media.
 Storage medium
The medium used in magnetic storage devices is coated with iron oxide, which
is a ferromagnetic material.

The storage media contains magnetic surface and it is divided into very small
regions of mostly uniform magnetization.
Basic Principle
There are two types of magnetic polarities i.e. N-S and S-N each one is used to
represent either 0 or 1.

Computer system needs to store data in digital forms consists of binary

information i.e. data in the forms of 0 or 1.

The region where data is stored in the magnetized area is denoted by 1 and in
the un-magnetized area where the data is stored is denoted by 0.
 Read-Write Head
The drive uses a motor to rotate the media at a high speed. The data is written
and read using a small device called head. Each head has a tiny electro-
magnetic sensor which consists of an iron core wrapped with wire. This head
operates very close to the magnetized material.

Writing of the data

The data signal is sent through the coil of wire which generates a magnetic
flux. At the gap (a few nano-meters), the magnetic flux forms a fringe pattern.

This flux magnetizes small regions of the oxide on the media and the
magnetization of that media changes.

The information is stored on the disk in the forms of 0s and 1s on to the un-
magnetized and magnetized regions respectively.
Piezoelectric materials: Direct and inverse piezoelectric
methods, materials and applications (ultrasonic sensors).
If you’ve ever used a lighter, experienced a medical ultrasound in a
doctor's office or turned on a gas burner, you’ve used piezoelectricity.

Piezoelectric materials are materials that have the ability to

generate internal electrical charge from applied mechanical stress.​
The term p
​ iezo​ is Greek for "push."

Several naturally occurring substances in nature demonstrate the

piezoelectric effect. These include:
Bone, Crystals, Certain ceramics, DNA, Enamel, Silk, Dentin, and
many more.
Materials that exhibit the piezoelectric effect also demonstrate the
inverse piezoelectric effect (also called the reverse or converse
piezoelectric effect). The ​inverse piezoelectric effect​ is the internal
generation of mechanical strain in response to an applied electrical
field.
If you've been writing a letter or an essay on your computer with the
help of voice recognition software, the microphone you spoke into
probably used piezoelectricity to turn the sound energy in your voice
into electrical signals your computer could interpret.
If you're a bit of an audiophile and like listening to music on vinyl,
your gramophone would have been using piezoelectricity to "read"
the sounds from your LP records. Piezoelectricity (literally, "pressing
electricity") is much simpler than it sounds: it just means using
crystals to convert mechanical energy into electricity or vice-versa.
Let's take a closer look at how it works and why it's so useful!

What is piezoelectricity?
Squeeze certain crystals (such as quartz) and you can make electricity flow
through them. The reverse is usually true as well: if you pass electricity
through the same crystals, they "squeeze themselves" by vibrating back and
forth. That's pretty much piezoelectricity in a nutshell but, for the sake of
science, let's have a formal definition:
Piezoelectric effect
Inverse-Piezoelectric effect
Piezoelectricity (also called the piezoelectric effect) is the appearance
of an electrical potential (a voltage, in other words) across the sides of
a crystal when you subject it to mechanical stress (by squeezing it).

Applications of Piezoelectric Materials

Piezoelectric materials are used in multiple industries, including:

Manufacturing
Medical devices
Telecommunications
Automotive
Information technology (IT)
High-voltage power sources:​
•Electric cigarette lighters. When you depress the button on a
lighter, the button causes a small spring-loaded hammer to
hit a piezoelectric crystal, producing a high-voltage current
that flows across a gap to heat and ignite the gas.
•Gas grills or stoves and gas burners. These work similarly to
the lighter, but on a larger scale.
•Piezoelectric transformer. This is used as an AC voltage
multiplier in cold cathode fluorescent lamps.
Piezoelectric Sensors
Ultrasound transducers are used in routine medical imaging.
A ​transducer​ is a piezoelectric device that acts as both a
sensor and an actuator. ​Ultrasound transducers​ contain a
piezoelectric element that converts an electrical signal into
mechanical vibration (transmit mode or actuator component)
and mechanical vibration into electric signal (receive mode or
sensor component).
The piezoelectric element is usually cut to 1/2 of the desired
wavelength of the ultrasound transducer.
Superconducting materials and it’s properties.
Meissner effect; Type I & Type II superconductors and
applications
Superconductivity is the property of certain materials to conduct direct current
(DC) of electricity without energy loss when they are cooled below a critical
temperature (referred to as Tc). These materials also expel magnetic fields
during their transition to the superconducting state.
• A superconductor is a material that attains superconductivity, a state of
matter with no electrical resistance.
• In a superconductor, an electric current can persist indefinitely.
• Superconductors are different from ordinary conductors, such as copper.
Unlike regular conductors whose resistance gradually reduces, the
superconductor’s resistance drops to zero below a fixed temperature,
which is known as critical temperature.
• At this temperature, a superconductor can conduct electricity with no
resistance, which means no heat, sound, or other forms of energy would
be discharged from the material when it reaches the “critical temperature”
(Tc).
• To become superconductive, most materials must be in an incredibly low
energy state (very cold).
• A study is underway to design compounds that become superconductive at
higher temperatures.
• The critical temperature for superconductors is the temperature at which
the electrical resistivity of metal falls to zero.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6FYs_AUCsQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGPb04wg_5o
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vruYFOlM1-Q
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjwF-STGtfE&t=0s
 When the temperature of the metal decreases below the critical
temperature, the electrons in the metal form bonds known as Cooper pairs
(Watch above videos). The electrons can’t offer any electrical resistance
when bonded like this—allowing electricity to flow through the metal
smoothly.

Nevertheless, this only works at low temperatures. When the metal gets warm,
the electrons gain enough energy to break the bonds of the Cooper pairs and go
back to offering resistance.
 Superconductor Types
Superconductors come in two distinct types: type
I and type II.
Type I Superconductors
The interior of a bulk superconductor cannot be penetrated by a
weak magnetic field, a phenomenon known as the Meissner effect. When the
applied magnetic field becomes too large, superconductivity breaks down.
Superconductors can be divided into two types according to how this
breakdown occurs. In type-I superconductors, superconductivity is abruptly
destroyed via a first order phase transition when the strength of the applied
field rises above a critical value Hc.
 Type I superconductors are those superconductors that lose their
superconductivity very easily or abruptly when placed in the external magnetic
field. As you can see from the graph of the intensity of magnetization (M) versus
applied magnetic field (H), when the Type I superconductor is placed in the
magnetic field, it suddenly or easily loses its superconductivity at the critical
magnetic field (Hc) (point A).
 Type II Superconductors
Type II superconductors are those superconductors that lose their superconductivity
gradually but not easily or abruptly when placed in the external magnetic field. As you
can see from the graph of the intensity of magnetization (M) versus applied magnetic
field (H), when the Type II superconductor is placed in the magnetic field, it gradually
loses its superconductivity. Type II superconductors start to lose their
superconductivity at the lower critical magnetic field (Hc1) and completely lose their
superconductivity at the upper critical magnetic field (Hc2).
The state between the lower critical magnetic field (Hc1) and upper critical
magnetic field (Hc2) is known as vortex state or intermediate state.

Type II superconductors are also known as hard superconductors because they

lose their superconductivity gradually but not easily.

Superconductor Properties

Infinite Conductivity
A material has zero resistance in the superconducting state. When the
temperature of the material is below the critical temperature, its
resistance abruptly lowers to zero. For example, Mercury shows zero
resistance below 4 kelvin.
Critical Temperature
The critical temperature is the temperature below which the material changes
from conductors to superconductors. The critical temperature is also called
transition temperature. The transition from conductors to superconductors is
sudden and complete.

Magnetic Field Expulsion

When a material transitions from the normal to the superconducting state, it
expels magnetic fields from its interior; this is called the Meissner effect.
Critical Magnetic Field,
The value of the magnetic field beyond which the superconductors
return to conducting state, is known as the critical magnetic field. The
value of the critical magnetic field is inversely proportional to the
temperature.
Applications of superconductor
 Superconductors are used in particle accelerators, generators,
transportation, computing, electric motors, medical, power transmission,
etc.
 Superconductors are primarily employed for creating powerful
electromagnets in MRI scanners.
 These conductors are used to transmit power for long distances.
 They are used in memory or storage elements.
 Meissner Effect
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRLvVkkq5GE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIjzJKnpahA
 The Meissner effect (or Meissner–Ochsenfeld effect) is the expulsion of a magnetic field
from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state when it is cooled
below the critical temperature. This expulsion will repel a nearby magnet.
 When a superconductor is placed in a weak external magnetic field H, and cooled below
its transition temperature, the magnetic field is ejected.
 The Meissner effect does not cause the field to be completely ejected but instead, the
field penetrates the superconductor but only to a very small distance, characterized by a
parameter λ, called the London penetration depth, decaying exponentially to zero within
the bulk of the material.
 The Meissner effect is a defining characteristic of superconductivity. For most
superconductors, the London penetration depth is on the order of 100 nm.
The Meissner effect is sometimes confused with the kind of diamagnetism one
would expect in a perfect electrical conductor: according to Lenz's law, when a
changing magnetic field is applied to a conductor, it will induce an electric
current in the conductor that creates an opposing magnetic field. In a perfect
conductor, an arbitrarily large current can be induced, and the resulting
magnetic field exactly cancels the applied field.

The Meissner effect is distinct from this – it is the spontaneous expulsion that
occurs during transition to superconductivity. Suppose we have a material in
its normal state, containing a constant internal magnetic field. When the
material is cooled below the critical temperature, we would observe the
abrupt expulsion of the internal magnetic field, which we would not expect
based on Lenz's law.