Msci 301 Students,
Each term paper needs to include the key
areas of materials engineering:
processing, structure, properties,
performance and
cost. If you can
give a compelling reason, maybe
one of these can be
left out. Some
details about each of these areas is as follows:
Processing: such as
casting, rolling, extruding, punching, machining,
drawing, forging, grinding, sandblasting, plating,
coating, painting, etc.
Include processing done at your raw material
supplier's facility as well
as processing done at your facility on that
purchased material.
Structure: such as the
crystal lattice type, presence of alloying
atoms in substitutional or interstitial sites,
grain structure, dislocation
structure, structure and composition of precipitate
particles (coherent,
semi-coherent, non-coherent), porosity, molecular
structure, cross-
linking of molecules, etc.
Properties: This
refers to results of simple lab tests on small
samples used to qualify the material.
These properties fall into six
categories.
Mechanical: elastic constants, yield strength,
fracture resistance, density, surface roughness, residual stress, etc.;
Electrical:
conductivity, dielectric
constant, etc.; Thermal:
conductivity, heat capacity, melting point, thermal expansion;
Magnetic: permeability,
susceptibility, coercivity; Optical: color,
reflectivity, refractive index; Chemical: purity, composition,
and rate
of corrosion (or oxidation) at
a given temperature
and pH in a given
chemical environment.
Performance: This
refers to full-sized parts under realistic use
conditions, such things as stiffness, maximum load,
maximum speed,
median time to failure, etc.
Cost: Includes raw
materials and processing.
Obviously, every item listed above doesn't have to
be included in your
paper. For example, if your particular
material is an organic polymer
then you probably won't be able to
say much about the crystal lattice
(except that there
isn't one) or
about atoms in substitutional &
interstitial sites, grain structure or dislocation structure.
If your
particular material and application are
never subject
to any electric
currents or any magnetic fields (except
Earth's) then
you may not
need to mention anything about the
material's electrical or magnetic
properties. On the other
hand, if some electrical properties are
commonly measured in
the lab as an indirect indicator of material
purity or something which is important to your application then please
do mention it.
Let me know if there are any questions about
this.
Regards, Peter
Loos