Materials Engineering
Learning Outcome 1: Be able to determine the properties and selection criteria of materials from tests and data sources.
Detail the appropriate properties and criteria for the selection of a metallic, ceramic, polymer and composite material.
Explain the characteristics related to the microstructure and macroscopic behaviour of the four categories of engineering materials.
Generate and process test data to assess material properties for two categories of material.
Investigate and assess the quality of suitable data from three different sources
Learning Outcome 2: Understand the relationships between manufacturing processes and material behaviour.
Explain how one heat treatment process and two other treatment processes affect the structure, properties and behaviour of the parent material.
Explain how one liquid processing method and two mechanical processing methods affect the structure, properties and behaviour of the parent material.
Investigate how the composition and structure of metal alloys, polymers and polymer matrix composites influence the properties of the parent material.
Assignment Brief
Assignment 1 - Weighting
Industry Scenario:
Instant Pot Manufacturer (IPM) approaches Materials Engineering Research (MER) to investigate the possibilities of redesigning her pressure-cooking pot because the material for its external pot is no longer readily available. The pot is usually used in environments with some acid, salt, and moisture in the air.
As a Junior Research Materials Engineer for MER, you are to investigate and submit reports on:
determination of properties and selection criteria for the new pot materials
manufacturing processes and material behaviour
Your report should be based on the following Tasks:
Task 1
There are about 50,000 engineering materials available to engineers for the design and production of this pot. Using suitable examples/charts, discuss
the classification of these materials.
the attributes and factors to consider when selecting any for engineering design.
Task 2
Select two parts of the pot and explain heat treatment process on these parts and how the processes affect the structure of the parts and the behaviour of the parts material.
Task 3
Investigate, for any parts, how the composition and structure of metal alloys, polymers and polymer matrix composites influence the properties of the parent material.
Laboratory Scenario:
Task 4
Describe the procedure for tensile test to be carried out on any material.
Sketch (with explanation) the forms that would be taken by the stress/strain graphs for:
strong brittle materials,
strong ductile materials,
weak ductile materials.
During a tensile test in which the starting gage length = 125.0 mm and the cross-sectional area = 62.5 mm2, the following force and gage length data were collected:
The maximum load is 28,913 N and the final data point occurred immediately before failure.
Plot the engineering stress strain curve.
Determine:
yield strength,
modulus of elasticity, and
tensile strength.
Task 5
Describe the procedures for hardness test to be carried out on any suitable material.
In a Brinell hardness test, a 1500-kg load is pressed into a specimen using a 10-mm-diameter hardened steel ball. The resulting indentation has a diameter = 3.2 mm.
Determine the Brinell hardness number for the metal.
If the specimen is steel, estimate the tensile strength of the steel.