Properties of Engineering Materials

Types of Engineering Materials

Broadly Engineering Materials are classified as:
Engineering Materials

Polymers Composites

Metals &Alloys Ceramics

Thermoplastic Thermosetting Elastomers

Polymers Polymer
 METAL
• A solid material which is typically hard, shiny,
malleable, fusible, and ductile, with good
electrical and thermal conductivity
• (e.g. iron, gold, silver, and aluminum, and
alloys such as steel)
 ALLOY
• An alloy is a material composed of two or
more metals or a metal and a nonmetal.
 Types of Engineering Materials
Metals & Alloys are futher classified as:
Metals & Alloys

Ferrous Non-ferrous

Steels Cu-Alloys Al-Alloys

Cast Irons
Ni-Alloys
Plain Carbon Steels White Cast Iron
Alloy Steels Malleable Cast Iron
Grey Cast Iron
S.G. Cast Iron
Chilled Cast Iron
• Ferrous: iron as main constitute
• Non ferrous: other than iron as main
constitute.
• Steel: carbon less than 2 %.
• Cast iron: carbon more than 2%.
• Cu alloy: cu as main content.
• Al alloy: Al as main content.
• Ni alloy: Ni as main content.
 POLYMER
• The word polymer means
• Poly means many and meros means units,
parts.
• Polymer means many parts or many units
 THERMOPLASTIC POLYMER
• A thermoplastic, or thermosoftening plastic,
is a plastic material, polymer, that becomes
pliable or moldable above a specific temp and
solidifies upon cooling.
• thermoplastics may be reshaped by heating
Temperature and solidifies upon cooling.
 Thermosetting polymers
• Thermosetting polymers have their chains cross linked by
covalent bonds.
• The starting materials are placed into
a mould to form the desired shape.
• The polymer is then heated (or initiated with uv light)
and chemical reactions occur to form the cross links
between the chains.
• The resulting three dimensional solid structure cannot
then be changed.
• Further heating will not cause the polymer to soften,
melt or change shape (unlike thermosoftening polymers).
 Thermosetting polymers
• The picture below shows a typical structure
for a thermosetting polymer. The red lines
represent the cross links between the chains.
 Examples

• Epoxy resins - used as coating materials,

caulks, manufacture of insulating materials,
etc ...
• Phenolic resins - tool handles, billiard balls,
sprockets, insulation, etc ...
• Unsaturated polyester resins - manufacture of
plastics reinforced fiberglass commonly
known as polyester, fillers, etc ...
 Elastomers
• Elastomer materials are those materials that
are made of polymers that are joined by
chemical bonds, acquiring a final slightly
crosslinked structure.
• Natural rubber - material used in the manufacture of
gaskets, shoe heels...
• Polyurethanes - Polyurethanes are used in the textile
industry for the manufacture of elastic clothing such as
lycra, also used as foam, wheels, etc ...
• Polybutadiene - elastomer material used on the wheels
or tires of vehicles, given the extraordinary wear
resistance.
• Neoprene - Material used primarily in the manufacture
of wetsuits is also used as wire insulation, industrial
belts, etc ...
• Silicone - Material used in a wide range of materials and
areas due their excellent thermal and chemical
resistance, silicones are used in the manufacture of
pacifiers, medical prostheses, lubricants, mold, etc ...
 Composite
• Composite materials (also called composition
materials or shortened to composites) are
materials made from two or more constituent
materials with significantly different physical
or chemical properties, that when combined,
produce a material with characteristics
different from the individual components.
Material used in the Boeing 787
 Types of Engineering Materials
Composites are futher classified as:
Composites

Laminar Particle Fibre

Reinforced Reinforced
 Types of Engineering Materials
Ceramics are further classified as:

Ceramics

Metal Oxides Nitrides Carbides

Alumina
Beryllia
Zirconia
Glass
Glass Ceramics
Ceramic s defined as any inorganic (inorganic substances do
not contain carbon or its compounds)non metallic material.
 Amorphous material
• The material have no regular arrangement of
their molecules.
• Material like glass and paraffin are example of
amorphous material.
• These material have properties of solids.
• They have definite volume and shape and
diffuse slowly.
• Amorphous carbon
 Crystalline material
• In a crystalline structure , the atoms are
arranged in three dimensional array called a
lattice.
• The lattice has a regular repeating
configuration in all direction.
 polymorphism
• A crystal is defined as an orderly array of
atoms in space.
• Normally metals are made up of number of
crystals and each crystal consist of large
number of atoms.
• Crystal structure is atomic arrangement in
solids.
• Polymorphism is the ability of solid material to
exist in more than one form or crystal
structure.
Single atom Unit Cell lattice
 Physical properties
• Density
• Density of a substance is its mass per unit volume.
• The symbol most often used for density is ρ (the lower
case Greek letter rho).
• Mathematically, density is defined as mass divided by
volume.

• where ρ is the density, m is the mass, and V is the

volume.
Density
 Melting point
• The melting point of a solid is the
temperature at which it changes state from
solid to liquid at atmospheric pressure.
• The melting point of a substance depends
(usually slightly) on pressure and is usually
specified at standard pressure.
• The melting point of ice at 1 atmosphere of
pressure is very close to 0 °C (32 °F, 273.15 K).
 Specific heat

• Energy required to change the temperature of

an object by 1degree c.
• The SI unit of heat capacity is joule per kelvin.
• Metals have lower specific heat capacity than
plastics.
• Therefore they require less heat to reach a
particular temperature than plastics.
 Thermal expansion
• Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in
volume in response to a change in temperature, through
heat transfer.
• The degree of expansion divided by the change in
temperature is called the material's coefficient of thermal
expansion and generally varies with temperature.
• (lf-l0) / l0 = 1 (Tf-To)
• Where, lf and lo are initial and final length.
• Tf and T0 are initial and final temperature.
• 1 is coefficient of thermal expansion.
• Unit is reciprocal temperature i.e. 1/c°
 Thermal conductivity
• It is the property of a material to conduct heat.
• often denoted k, λ, or κ.
• In SI units, thermal conductivity is measured in watts
per meter kelvin (W/(m·K))
• High energy generation rates within electronics or
turbines require the use of materials with high thermal
conductivity such as copper (see: Copper in heat
exchangers), aluminium, and silver.
• On the other hand, materials with low thermal
conductance, such as polystyrene and alumina, are use
in building construction or in furnaces in an effort to
slow the flow of heat, i.e. for insulation purposes
 Mechanical properties
• Strain
• Change in dimension per unit original
dimension is nothing but strain.
• Stress
• Applied force per unit area is nothing but
stress.
• σ= F/A.
• N/mm2.
• Strength
• Ability of a material to resist the externally
applied force without breaking or yielding.
• Stiffness
• It is ability of material to resist deformation under
stress.
• Elasticity
• It is property of material to regain its original
shape after deformation when the external force
are removed.
• Steel is more elastic than rubber.
• Plasticity
• It is property of a material which retains the
deformation produced under load permanently.
• Ductility
• It is ability of a material enabling it to be drawn in
to wire with the application of a tensile force.
• Steel copper aluminium nickel zinc lead tin
• Brittleness
• It is property of a material opposite to ductility.
• It is the property of breaking of material with
little permanent distortion.
• Cast iron is a brittle material
• Malleability
• It is special case of ductility which permits
materials to be rolled or hammered in to thin
sheets.
• Lead soft steel wrought iron copper aluminium.
• Toughness
• It is property of material to resist fracture due to
high impact load like hammer blow.
• Machinability
• It is property of a material which refers to relative
case with which a material can cut.
• Resilience
• It is property of a material to absorb energy and
resist shock and impact load.
• Creep
• When a part is subjected to a constant stress at
high temperature for long period of time, it will
under go slow and permanent deformation called
creep.
• Fatigue
• When a material is subjected to a repeated
stresses, it fails at a stresses below the yield point
stresses. Such type of failure of material is called
fatigue.
• Hardness
• Resistance to wear, scratching, deformation and
machinability.
• It also mean ability of material to cut another
metal.