Types of

Materials
Presentation by: Seat #:
1. Shafaq Salman B-19102127
2. Anmol Zahra B-19102018
3. Omama Rehman B-19102116
What according to you is a
material?
• In our daily life, when you see or
use a product, have you ever
wondered what is the material of
that product and how it was made?
Have you ever wondered what
exactly is a ‘material’ ?
 Materials
• A material is a substance or mixture of substances that
constitutes an object.
• Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living
matter.
• They can be classified based on their physical and
chemical properties.
• In short, Materials are the matter or substance that
objects are made from.
 Materials in Electronics
• In terms of their electrical properties, materials can be classified into three groups:
1. Conductors
2. Insulators
3. Semiconductors
• When atoms combine to form a solid, crystalline material, they arrange themselves
in a symmetrical pattern.
• The atoms within the crystal structure are held together by covalent bonds, which
are created by the interaction of the valence electrons of the atoms.
• Silicon is a crystalline material.
 Insulators:
• An insulator is a material that does not conduct electrical
current under normal conditions.
• Most good insulators are compounds rather than single-
element materials and have very high resistivities.
• Also, insulators are protectors. They give protection
against heat, sound and of course passage of electricity.
• Examples of insulators are rubber, wood, plastics, glass,
mica, wool and quartz.
 Insulators (continued)
• Furthermore, insulators don’t have any free electrons since
the valence electrons are tightly bound to the atoms.
• It is the main reason why they don’t conduct electricity.
• And why don’t they have free electrons?
• Its because the forbidden energy gap between the valence
and conduction band is too large, of about more than10 eV,
so the electrons in valence band require huge amount of
energy to jump to the conduction band.
 Condutors:
A conductor is a material that easily conducts electrical current.
Most metals are good conductors. The best conductors are single-
element materials, such as copper (Cu), silver (Ag), gold (Au), and
aluminum (Al), which are characterized by atoms with only one valence
electron very loosely bound to the atom.
These loosely bound valence electrons become free electrons and since
conduction and valence band have no gap between them, they overlap
each other so they do not need high amount of energy to become free.
This is the reason why conductors are able to conduct electricity.
 Semiconductors:
• Semiconductors are materials which, at room temperature, have a
conductivity between conductors (generally metals) and nonconductors or
insulators (such as most ceramics).
• The single-element semiconductors are characterized by atoms with four
valence electrons.
• In a process called doping, small amounts of impurities are added to pure
semiconductors causing large changes in the conductivity of the material.
• Silicon is the most commonly used semiconductor.
 Let’s discuss
Semiconductors in
detail.
 Thermally generated electron-hole
pair production
At 0 K, there are no electrons in the conduction band and their valence band are
completely filled. It means at 0K, a piece of semiconductive material behaves as a
perfect insulator.
However, with increase in temperature, some electrons gain sufficient energy to jump
across the small energy gap (of about 1 eV) from valence to conduction band.
This transfers some free electrons in conduction band and creates some vacancies of
electrons in the valence band.
The vacancy of electron in the valence band is known as a hole. It behaves like a
positive charge.
When electron jumps from valence band to conduction band leaving behind a positive
hole, that process is called thermally generated electron-hole pair production
 What are other semiconductive
materials apart from silicon?
• Since we all know silicon is widely used
semiconductor. Almost every electronic
device in today’s time has silicon in it.
• But there are two other common
semiconductive materials.

Can you guess them?

The answer is….
Gallium Arsenide
and
Germanium
 Gallium arsenide (GaAs)
This is a crystalline compound, not an element.
Its properties can be controlled by varying the relative amount of gallium
and arsenic.
GaAs has the advantage of making semiconductor devices that respond very
quickly to electrical signals. This makes it better than silicon for applications
like amplifying the high frequency (1 GHz to 10 GHz) signals from TV
satellites, etc.
The main disadvantage of GaAs is that it is more difficult to make and the
chemicals involved are quite often toxic!
 Germanium (Ge) and
Silicon (Si)
Both silicon and germanium have the characteristic
four valence electrons
The valence electrons in germanium are in the
fourth shell while those in silicon are in the third
shell, closer to the nucleus.
This means that the germanium valence electrons
are at higher energy levels than those in silicon and,
therefore, require a smaller amount of additional
energy to escape from the atom.
This property makes germanium more unstable at
high temperatures and results in excessive reverse
current. This is why silicon is a more widely used
semiconductive material.
 Major Classes of
Materials:
Traditionally the four major classes of materials are:
• Metals
• Polymers
• Ceramics
• Composite
These classes have quite different sources, characteristics and applications.
 Metals
• In physics, a metal is generally regarded as any
substance capable of conducting electricity at a
temperature of absolute zero. Around 95 of the
118 elements in the periodic table are metals.
Generally all metals are solids except mercury.

• Metals are those materials that can donate

electrons. The electrons in the valence shell are
donated to become stable. As the electrons in the
valence shell are highly unstable.
 Types of Metals
• There are two types of metal,
1. ferrous
2. non-ferrous.
• In simple word, ferrous metals contain iron and have a good tensile
strength( resistance of a material to breaking under tension) and durability.
• On the other hand, non-ferrous metals do not contain iron and they have higher
corrosion resistance than ferrous metals. Also, they are more malleable than
ferrous metals, which mean they are easy to be formed.
 Applications:
• Shiny metals such as copper, silver, and gold
are often used for decorative arts, jewelry,
and coins.
• Strong metals such as iron and metal alloys
such as stainless steel are used to build
structures, ships, and vehicles including
cars, trains, and trucks.
 Physical properties of metals.
• Ductility: The property of metals by which it can be drawn into wires and it
conducts electricity.
Example: Aluminum and copper wires.
• Sonorous: metals are sonorous because they produce sound.
Example: School ball.
Another activity: If you take one box of wood and another of metal and hit
both of them so metal box will produce sound.
 Physical Properties of metals
(Continued)
• Good conductors of heat and electricity: All the metals are good conductors
of heat and electricity.
Example: cooking utensils are made up of iron because it is good conductor
of heat.
• Malleability: it is the property of substance which allows them to be beaten
into flat sheets.
Example: Aluminium sheets are used in the manufacturing of aircraft
because of their light weight and strength.
 Polymers
• Mono means one and poly means many.
• Polymers are materials made up of long repeating chains of
molecules. Many monomers combine to form a polymer and
this process is called polymerization.
• Applications:
Polymers are used in almost every area of modern living.
Grocery bags, soda and water bottles, textile fibers,
phones, computers, food packaging, auto parts, and toys
all contain polymers.
 Groups of polymers:
• There are 3 groups of polymers-
1. Thermoplastics
2. Thermosetting
3. Elastomer.

• Thermoplastic can be reformed by heating, which means it can be re-melted

many times and reshaped by heat.
• Unlike thermoplastic, thermosetting cannot be reformed by heating after cured. It
will be burnt once it’s heated up again.
• Elastomer is a polymer that generally having elastic property. In simple word,
what elastomer means “rubber”.
 Examples of homo polymers:
• Polythene: It means many ethane combine to form a polymer.
Polymerization
n(CH2 = CH2) ( - CH2 - CH2 - ) n
• PVC: Poly Vinyl Cloride.
Polymerization
n(CH2 = CH) ( - CH2 - CH - ) n

Cl Cl
 Structure of polymers
• The four basic polymer structures are :
1- Linear
2- Branched
3- Cross-linked
4- Network
 CERAMICS
• The word ceramic is derived from greek
word which is translated as ‘for pottery’
• Ceramics are compounds between
metallic and non metallic elements.
• These are oxides, nitrides and carbides.
 Properties of Ceramics
• High hardness
• High melting point
• Low thermal expansion
• Good chemical resistance
 Examples of Ceramics
• Batteries and full cells
• Roads and buildings
• Electronic components; touch
screen, CPUs magnetic memory
devices, lasers and solar cells.
• Heat resistant protective titles on
the outside of space shuttles
 Composites
• A composite material is a combination of two materials with different
physical and chemical properties.
• When they are combined they create a material which is specialized to do a
certain job, for instance to become stronger, lighter or resistant to electricity.
• They can also improve strength and stiffness.
• The reason for their use over traditional materials is because they improve
the properties of their base materials and are applicable in many situations.
Properties of Composites
• Fundamental features of composite materials are
1. high strength,
2. light weight,
3. fatigue resistance,
4. high stiffness,
5. flexibility and
6. thermal resistance.
THANK
YOU!