2022/23 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

JALJ0012 Physics of Materials

10 creditsClass Size: 20

Module manager: Professor Janez Grun
Email: .

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2022/23

Pre-requisite qualifications

Min 2(i) Engineering or Physical Sciences

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

The goal of the Physics of materials course is to provide the students with in-depth knowledge and understanding of material properties from the viewpoint of crystal structure, microstructure and process. The students therefore obtain knowledge about alloys and alloy systems, about the forming of microstructures, and about the influence of primary production process of alloys and materials, such as casting, sintering, kneading, extrusion and forming. All these processes also include material data available in the manuals.

Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
The student acquires knowledge on mechanical and physical properties of materials and composites. The students attain comprehensive and theoretically supported knowledge about the materials, enabling them to successfully evaluate and compare data about different types of materials and composites in structures, based on data about the basic material properties.

Usage
The students will use the assimilated knowledge to their benefit in all specialised and theoretical courses associated with different material technologies, both in the field of production of components and in the field of machine and device design, as well as in energy and process engineering, where they will use their theoretical knowledge about physical phenomena in different types of materials and composites built into structures.

Reflection
The theoretical knowledge attained in this course and the experience gathered from practical work in the laboratory will benefit the students in understanding the other specialised courses in the field of material processing, as well as in their work designing parts and structures for different applications. The lectures will also deliver new findings about materials and new material production and joining technologies.

Transferrable skills related to more than one course
A good fundamental knowledge of materials, physics, chemistry, mechanics and manufacturing technology will ensure the students can follow the lectures well and use the assimilated knowledge in designing and building machines.

Skills outcomes
- The ability to evaluate material properties from the viewpoint of the created microstructure
- Good understanding of mechanical and other physical properties of materials from the physical point of view, according to the material state after the primary formation, as well as under different operating conditions
- The ability to evaluate microstructural changes at heat and thermomechanical material treatments for the given material and structure properties in different operating conditions
The ability to select metal and non-metal materials in scope of product design

Syllabus

-Crystal structure of metals and describing crystals: crystallographic defects and experimental methods used to describe the defects, diffusion, atomic diffusion models, diffusion mechanisms and activation energy, factors influencing the diffusivity, dislocation mechanisms in plastic forming, slipping, hardening, process annealing, thermokinetics of recovery and nucleation mechanisms. Metal/alloy hardening with phase transformations, nucleation mechanisms of solidification based on the kinetics of transformations in solid state during the formation of multiphase microstructure, precipitation and precipitation mechanisms, precipitation hardening.
- Deformation of polycrystalline materials: dislocation mechanisms, dislocation lines and substructures, formation and representation of textures, recrystallization.
- Creep: the creep phenomenon, describing the individual phases of creep, logarithmic description of deformations in the stationary zone, diffusion creep and slip, alloys resistant to creep.
- Material fatigue and failure: cohesive strength theory, creep tests, fatigue fracture morphology for different loads, microstructural change at material fatigue, macroscopic and microscopic theory of fracture, Griffiths theory of fracture, mechanisms of microcrack formation, transition from ductile to brittle fracture, radiation damage, formation of high-temperature brittleness.
- Plastic materials: reaction kinetics, polymer chain configuration, crystal and amorphous state, reaction types, types of plastic materials, additives for plastic materials, thermodynamic phases and properties, experimental methods for the characterisation of plastic materials, preparing polymer materials for processing.
- Technical ceramics: physical-chemical foundations of ceramics, phase diagrams, interphase and surface phenomena, thermo-kinetic description of sintering, preparing and processing powders, product shaping and after treatment, powder characterization, characterization of ceramic materials for different thermo-mechanical applications.
- Composites: classification of composites, composites with a metal, polymer or ceramic matrix, compositions of composites, matrices, fibres and whiskers, boundary surfaces in composites, the fundamentals of composite micromechanics, mechanical properties of composites, composite fracture mechanics, composite characterization methods, composite material techniques and technologies and structure optimization, dynamic properties and fatigue of composites.
- Corrosion: different corrosion types and mechanisms, corrosion damage, stress corrosion and material fatigue, passivation, corrosion protection, corrosion in liquids and gases at the environmental temperature and at elevated temperature, material corrosion resistance.
Theoretical foundations of material testing: theoretical foundations and an overview of mechanical and other physical-chemical material tests, quantitative evaluation of material state and the size of defects in the material, critical evaluation of defect size, material reliability in operation, designing and selecting materials in mechanical engineering.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	30	1.00	30.00
Tutorial	30	1.00	30.00
Private study hours			60.00
Total Contact hours			60.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			120.00

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Tutorial Performance	.	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	1 hr	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

There is no reading list for this module

Last updated: 29/04/2022 15:31:27

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