• Semester 1 (Day)
• Semester 1 (External)
• Semester 2 (Day)
• Semester 2 (External)

Synopsis

Materials science and engineering has come into its own as a field  of
endeavour  during  the  past  25 years.  The  central  theme  in  this
development  is  the concept that the properties and  behaviour  of  a
material  are  closely  related  to the  internal  structure  of  that
material.

The properties (which may be regarded as the responses of the material
to its immediate environment) are functions of :

(i)  the kinds of atoms present and the type of bonding among them,
     and

(ii) the geometrical arrangement of large numbers of atoms,
     microstructure and macrostructure.

As  a  result, in order to modify properties, appropriate changes must
be  made  in  the internal structure. Also, if processing  or  service
conditions  alter the structure, the characteristics of  the  material
are altered.

Over  the  same  period noticeable changes have  taken  place  in  the
teaching   of  engineering  materials  to  the  engineering   student.
Previously, elementary courses emphasised the mechanical properties of
materials  with  long  dull  lists  of  chemical  specifications   and
descriptions of processing. More recently, elementary courses seek  to
provide  a  thorough  grasp  of  the  structures  encountered  in  the
principal families of materials - metals, ceramics and polymers -  and
then  to  show  how the properties of important engineering  materials
depend on these structures.

This unit seeks to provide a background knowledge of the more commonly
used  engineering  materials. This will be achieved  by  promoting  an
understanding of the interrelation of structure and properties in  the
principal  families  of  materials and the  mechanisms  by  which  the
structural changes may be accomplished.

Only  when  the  student  has  obtained a  firm  grasp  of  the  basic
principles  underlying the behaviour and properties of materials  will
the  many  factors involved in the proper selection of a material  and
its processing schedule become clear.

Units  later in the course will cover some aspects of this unit  to  a
greater depth.