MSc Advanced Engineering Materials

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Principles of Advanced Engineering Materials

Course unit fact file
Unit code MATS64301
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Offered by Department of Materials
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Many applications of advanced materials are highly tailored to give enhanced structural or functional properties. These properties are controlled by both the intrinsic material properties and the microstructure of the material. An understanding of the relationship between the properties of a material and its microstructure is important in the selection of materials for a given application or the design of a material to achieve a specific function as well as the processing routes that enable the creation of these microstructures. 

Aims

The unit aims to:

  1. Allow students to understand the key principles that underly the interaction between materials processing and materials microstructure, with an emphasis on metals and ceramics.
  2. Inform students how the microstructure influences the key mechanical and functional properties of engineering alloys and ceramics.
  3. Allow students to understand the role of defects in controlling the properties of materials and have an appreciation of the range and type of defects introduced by manufacturing processes.
  4. Introduce a range of failure mechanisms and how they relate to the materials microstructure.
  5. Give students experience on how to choose the best material and processing route for a given application, whilst balancing competing requirements.

 

Learning outcomes

A greater depth of the learning outcomes will be covered in the following sections:

  • Knowledge and understanding
  • Intellectual skills
  • Practical skills
  • Transferable skills and personal qualities

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures will be used to introduce fundamental concepts illustrated with practical examples of engineering alloys and ceramics. Three tutorials will be used allowing students to work on specific problems supported by graduate teaching assistants. Additional electronic learning resources will be provide through Blackboard. 

 

 

Knowledge and understanding

• Identify constituent phases in binary and ternary materials systems and their compositions using a phase diagram, and calculate, through use of the lever rule, the approximate phase fractions.
 
• Identify eutectic, peritectic and continuous solubility phase diagrams and describe how they can be exploited for different applications.
 
• Generate a description of the solidification sequence for metals that results in the formation of dendrites and grains, including a discussion of compositional segregation. 
 
• Recall the major processes, and the common resulting properties and microstructure, of shaping processes of metals and ceramics including: rolling, forging, wire drawing, powder route via green state. Identify and justify when you would use the different methods.
 
• Describe how the following act to strengthen an alloy: precipitate hardening, solid solution strengthening, grain size refinement, creation of single crystal/crystallographic texture inc. phase transformation toughening. Demonstrate the ability to interpret which strengthening mechanisms are present in different materials systems.
 
• Define what crystallographic texture is and explain how it influences mechanical performance. Make basic predictions of texture evolution from major processing routes i.e. rolling, wire drawing, forging.
 
• Understand how microstructure can be controlled through processing inc. recovery, crystallization and grain growth and the evolution of texture, include example key microstructures.
 
• Describe how manufacturing processes can lead to materials defects and understand the underlying processes relevant to their formation and control.
 

Intellectual skills

• Identify major failure mechanisms for brittle and ductile materials inc. microvoid coalescence, transgranular cleavage, intergranular failure and fatigue from the appearance of fracture surfaces and demonstrate understanding of how these features were formed
 
• Evaluate and choose the best material for a specific application using Ashby diagrams and further construct an appropriate processing route for performance optimization balanced via the production route.
 

Practical skills

• Discriminate between different thermomechanical processing routes and select the appropriate route to achieve certain end results through the use of TTT diagrams, and the use of quenching, ageing etc. 
 
• Define the stress concentration, k, and stress intensity factor, K, related to fracture mechanics.  Predict K and justify its appropriate application
 
• Manipulate data using statistics to understand the mechanical properties of brittle materials using Weibull modulus
 

Transferable skills and personal qualities

• Solve numerical problems.
 
• Understand the 3-dimensional nature of materials microstructure
 
• Write concise and relevant reports in an appropriate format following the guidelines given.
 

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Written exam 70%
Oral assessment/presentation 30%

Feedback methods

Feedback given written and verbally.

 

Recommended reading

F.C. Campbell (ed), Phase Diagrams - Understanding the Basics., ASM Int. (2012)

D.R. Askeland, P.P. Fulay, W.J. Wright. The Science and Engineering of Materials. 6th ed. Cengage Learning, Inc (2010)

R. E. Smallman, A. H.W. Ngan, Physical Metallurgy and Advanced Materials, 8th ed. Elsevier (2014)

R W Hertzberg, R P Vinci, J L Hertzberg, Deformation and fracture mechanics of engineering materials, 5th edition or later

D A Porter and K E Easterling, Phase transformations in metals and alloys

G E Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, 3rd Edition or later

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 30
Independent study hours
Independent study 120

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Timothy Burnett Unit coordinator

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