MSE 33000 Processing and Properties of Materials

Credits and Contact Hours: 3 credits. Weekly Schedule for 15 weeks: three 50 minute lectures.

Instructors or Course Coordinators: E. Slamovich and K. Trumble.

Textbook: Readings collected from a variety of textbooks.

Specific Course Information

  1. Catalog Description: An introduction to the relationships between the processing of materials and their properties. Heat treating, forming, casting, consolidation, and other more material-specific manufacturing processes. Elucidation of the role of phenomena such as heat flow, mass diffusion, nucleation, interfacial tension, elastic and plastic deformation, precipitation, recrystallization and grain growth.
  2. Prerequisites: MSE 23000.
  3. Course Status: MSE 33000 is a required course.

Specific Goals for the Course

1. All Students

A. Recognize the effect of processing variables (e.g., temperature, composition, size) on materials characteristics. Examples:

  • Effect of curvature on vapor pressure.
  • Effect of particle size on surface area/energy.
  • Effect of segregation coefficient on solute segregation and dendritic growth.
  • Effect of the amount of cold work on the recrystallization temperature.

B. Perform simple calculations to quantify material properties and microstructural characteristics. Examples:

  • Surface energy density of a powder.
  • The effect of shape factor on activation energy barrier for nucleation.
  • Calculate a segregation coefficient from a phase diagram.

C. Ability to revisit and apply concepts used in MSE 230. Examples:

  • Reading phase diagrams and recognizing invariant reactions.
  • Apply Fick’s first law to predict concentration profile of diffusing species.
  • Recognize the effects of cold-work and heat treatment on material properties.

D. Effective written communication in a Patent Review or other writing assignment.

E. Ability to made appropriate decisions regarding materials choice for applications given realistic constraints including: cost, loading conditions and processing method among other factors.

2. Most Students

A. Make appropriate qualitative judgments regarding the effects of materials characteristics and/or processing variables on microstructure, composition and properties. Examples:

  • Relationship between dendritic growth and solidification porosity.
  • Effect of interfacial energy on particle/pore shape.
  • Effect of undercooling on homogeneous nucleation.
  • Composition profile of a bar undergoing directional solidification.
  • Effect of ductility on packing density of powders.
  • Predict the effect of heat-treating parameters on microstructure.

B. Making appropriate connections between equations/calculations and physical phenomena. Examples:

  • Effect of sample size and heat transfer on the hardenability of steel.
  • Effect of invariant reactions on cooling curves.
  • Relative magnitude of gravitational and interparticle forces.
  • Effect of compaction pressure on powder packing density.

C. Perform “non-simple” calculations. Examples:

  • Quantifying composition of a directionally solidified bar of material.
  • Effect of pressure and thermal contraction on the shrinkage of injection molded polymers.
  • Effect of latent heat on cooling time during solidification.

Relation of Course to Student Outcomes:

(MSE-1, ABET-1) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex materials engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.

(MSE-2, ABET-2) an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.

(MSE-3, ABET-3) an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.

Topics Covered: Interfaces: surface energy and tension, solid surfaces, internal interfaces, curved surfaces and interfaces, equilibrium of interfaces, wetting and capillarity; Nucleation: homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation; Solidification of Metals: casting processes, solute segregation, dendritic growth, effects of microstructure on castings; Deformation Processing of Metals: strain hardening, rolling, wire drawing; Thermal Processing of Metals: recrystallization, TTT diagrams. precipitation strengthening, hardening of steels; Polymer Processing: polymerization, extrusion, injection molding, fiber spinning; Ceramic Processing: powder consolidation and shaping, sintering and densification.