Engineering Properties of Materials (EPM)

ABSTRACT

The course introduces the students to the most important physical properties of engineering materials, with focus on the methodological aspects to evaluate their performance. The course focuses on the description and evaluation strategies of the most relevant physical properties, such as mechanical, thermal and electrical properties.
Some selected examples about applications in materials engineering and structure-properties relations will be discussed.

After completing the course, the student will be able to:

• apply engineering approaches to select the most suitable material for a specific application;
• select suitable testing techniques to determine the main physical properties of engineering materials;
• establish the reliability and correctness of materials properties dataset available in the technical and scientific literature even in relation to the existing technical regulations (ISO and ASTM standard);
• recognize the main aspects, the experimental information provided and the suitability of each characterization technique.

 

COURSE FORMAT

The Course is taught in ENGLISH and offered

• On-site
• On-line (synchronous and asynchronous)

with video recordings, hand-outs, etc. of the lectures available off-line (*).

 

COURSE CONTENT

Introduction (2 h)
Materials properties: basic concepts and engineering approaches for materials selection.

Mechanical properties of materials (8 h)
Evaluation of the elastic behavior of engineering materials (tension, compression, flexure, torsion).
Evaluation of the viscoelastic behavior of engineering materials. Creep, relaxation, recovery. Dynamic (sinusoidal) tests: dynamic moduli, loss factor. Time-temperature superposition.
Yielding phenomena: mechanisms and experimental evaluation.
Evaluation of the impact behavior of engineering materials.
Evaluation of the fracture behavior of engineering materials. Fundamentals of linear elastic fracture mechanics. Experimental determination of the critical stress intensity factor (Kc).
Fatigue behaviour: Whoeler curves.

Thermal properties (3 h)
Evaluation of the thermal properties of engineering materials: thermal expansion coefficient, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity and diffusivity. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).

Electrical properties (2 h)
Evaluation of the electrical and dielectric properties of engineering materials.

 

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The teaching activity includes theoretical lessons, applications and exercises. The exam consists of a written test with multiple-choice questions on the topics of the course.

Slides, selected book chapters, tutorials, list of reference books and links to recommended web sites will be available.

 

FURTHER READINGS

1. M.F. Ashby, Materials selection in mechanical design. 3° Edition – Elsevier (2005).
2. M.R. Speigel and L.J. Stephens, Theory and Problems of Statistics”, 4th Edition, Schaum’s Outline Series, Mc Graw-Hill (2008).
3. H.A. Barnes, J. Fletcher Hutton, K. Walters, An Introduction to Rheology, Elsevier (1989).
4. T.M. Tritt, Thermal Conductivity: Theory, Properties, and Applications, Kluver Academic/Plenum Publisher (2004).
5. R.S. Figliola, D.E. Beasley, Theory and design for mechanical measurements 2nd ed., J.Wiley & Sons (1995).
6. T.L. Anderson, Fracture Mechanics, Fundamentals and Applications, CRC Press (1995).
7. T.Hatakeyama, F.X.Quinn “Thermal Analysis. Fundamentals and Applications to polymer Science”, John Wiley & Sons NY (1999).
8. “Thermal Analysis. Techniques & Applications”, E.L.Charsley and S.B.Warrington editors, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge (1992).
9. E.R.G.Eckert, R.J.Goldstein “Measurements in Heat Transfer” Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1970).
10. “Thermal characterization of polymeric materials. Second edition, Volume 1”, E.A.Turi editor, Academic Press, NY (1997).

For further references please contact the Teacher(s).