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Materials Science and Engineering Fundamentals Study Guide

This guide explores the fundamental concepts of crystalline imperfections and lattice defects in materials science. It details various types of defects, including point, line, planar, and volume defects, and explains their significant influence on the mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of materials. Learn about vacancies, dislocations, grain boundaries, and their roles in material behavior and applications.

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Fundamentals of Materials Science and Solidification

Steady State and Non-Steady State Diffusion

Principles of steady state and non-steady state diffusion including Fick's first and second laws, diffusivity, and temperature dependence.

  • Steady state diffusion
  • Fick's 1st Law
  • Flux
  • Concentration Gradient
  • Diffusivity
  • Interstitial diffusion
  • Substitutional diffusion
  • Non-steady state diffusion
  • Fick's 2nd Law
  • Case hardening
  • Gas carburization
  • Impurity diffusion
  • Activation energy

Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering

An overview of materials science and engineering covering the internal structure, properties, processing, and classification of metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and electronic materials.

  • Materials science
  • Materials engineering
  • Metals
  • Ferrous alloys
  • Non-Ferrous alloys
  • Ceramics
  • Polymers
  • Thermoplastics
  • Thermosets
  • Elastomers
  • Composite materials
  • Fibrous composites
  • Particulate composites
  • Electronic materials

Material Competition and Future Trends

Materials compete for markets based on cost and performance while advancing through smart materials, nanomaterials, and life cycle analysis.

  • Competition among materials
  • Smart materials
  • Shape memory alloys
  • Nanomaterials
  • Carbon nanotubes
  • Material selection
  • Ashby plots
  • Life cycle analysis
  • Renewable materials
  • Nonrenewable materials
  • Sustainability

Solidification and Homogenous Nucleation Mechanisms

Metals solidify through mechanisms of homogenous and heterogeneous nucleation involving changes in Gibbs free energy, volume free energy, and surface energy.

  • Solidification of metals
  • Homogenous nucleation
  • Heterogeneous nucleation
  • Embryo
  • Stable nucleus
  • Grain boundaries
  • Gibbs free energy
  • Volume free energy
  • Surface energy
  • Critical radius
  • Undercooling
  • Latent heat of fusion

Solidification and Heterogeneous Nucleation Processes

Heterogeneous nucleation occurs in molten metal on surfaces of nucleating agents to lower free energy and critical size during solidification.

  • Heterogeneous nucleation
  • Nucleating agents
  • Undercooling
  • Equiaxed grains
  • Columnar grains
  • Grain refiners
  • Single crystals
  • Czochralski process

Crystalline Imperfections and Lattice Defects

Crystalline imperfections include point defects, line defects, planar defects, and volume defects that affect mechanical, optical, chemical, and electrical properties.

  • Interstitial solid solutions
  • Point defects
  • Vacancy
  • Interstitialcy defect
  • Schottky imperfection
  • Frenkel imperfection
  • Line defects
  • Edge dislocation
  • Screw dislocation
  • Mixed dislocation
  • Burgers vector
  • Planar defects
  • Grain boundaries
  • Twin boundaries
  • Stacking faults
  • Volume defects

Metallography and Electron Microscopy Techniques

This content covers metallography specimen preparation, grain size effects on mechanical properties, and electron microscopy including SEM, TEM, and scanning probe microscopy.

  • Metallography specimen preparation
  • Grain boundaries
  • Grain size and mechanical properties
  • ASTM grain size number
  • Average grain diameter
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
  • Scanning Probe Microscopy
  • Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)
  • Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)

Fundamentals of Atomic Structure and Material Properties

Bravais Lattices and Metal Crystal Structures

Solutions regarding Bravais lattices, common metal crystal structures, polymorphism, direction vectors, repeat distance, and Miller indices.

  • Bravais lattices
  • body-centered cubic (BCC)
  • face-centered cubic (FCC)
  • polymorphism
  • direction vectors
  • repeat distance
  • Miller indices
  • crystal planes

Main Classes of Engineering Materials

An overview of metallic, polymeric, ceramic, composite, and electronic materials including their properties and applications.

  • metallic materials
  • polymeric materials
  • ceramic materials
  • composite materials
  • electronic materials
  • material properties
  • strength
  • ductility
  • electrical conductivity
  • thermal conductivity
  • hardness
  • elastic deformation

Atomic Structure and Chemical Bonding

Definitions of atomic properties, periodic trends, and the mechanisms of ionic bonding.

  • atomic number
  • atomic mass
  • mass number
  • isotopes
  • mole
  • metallic radius
  • covalent radius
  • first ionization energy
  • second ionization energy
  • oxidation number
  • electron affinity
  • metals
  • nonmetals
  • metalloids
  • electronegativity
  • ionic bonds
  • electron transfer
  • cations

Covalent, Ionic, and Metallic Bonding

Atoms form primary bonds to lower potential energy levels and become more stable through covalent, ionic, or metallic bonding.

  • Covalent bonds
  • Metallic bonds
  • Network covalent solids
  • Sea of electrons
  • Electronegativity
  • Intermetallic compounds
  • Gram-mole fractions

Diffusion Mechanisms and Fick's Laws

This document describes substitutional and interstitial diffusion mechanisms and provides equations for Fick’s first and second laws of diffusion in solid metals.

  • substitutional diffusion
  • interstitial diffusion
  • vacancy mechanism
  • Fick’s first law of diffusion
  • Fick’s second law of diffusion
  • diffusion coefficient
  • concentration gradient
  • diffusion rate
  • crystal structure
  • crystal imperfections

Metal Solidification and Solid Solutions

Distinguish between homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation, metal alloys, solid solutions, and the Czochralski process.

  • homogeneous nucleation
  • heterogeneous nucleation
  • Czochralski process
  • metal alloy
  • solid solution
  • substitutional solid solution
  • interstitial solid solution
  • ASTM grain-size number

Crystal Structures and X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

Crystal and Amorphous Structures in Materials

This topic covers crystalline and amorphous solids, including Bravais lattices, unit cells, and principal metallic crystal structures such as BCC, FCC, and HCP.

  • Crystalline solids
  • Amorphous solids
  • Long range order (LRO)
  • Short range order (SRO)
  • Bravais Lattice
  • Unit cells
  • Motif or Basis
  • Crystal systems
  • 2-D lattices
  • Unit cells
  • Body-centered cubic (BCC)
  • Face-centered cubic (FCC)
  • Atomic packing factor (APF)
  • Coordination number
  • Lattice constant
  • Cartesian coordinate system

Crystal Structures Directions and Miller Indices

This content explains how to determine direction indices, Miller indices, and Miller-Bravais indices for cubic and hexagonal unit cells, while discussing volume and planar atomic density.

  • Direction indices
  • Miller indices
  • Interplanar spacing
  • FCC and BCC
  • Volume density
  • Planar atomic density

Crystal Structures and X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

This content covers linear atomic density, polymorphism in metals like iron, and the use of X-ray diffraction to interpret crystal structures and interplanar distances.

  • Linear Atomic Density
  • Polymorphism
  • Allotropy
  • Alpha Iron (Ferrite)
  • Gamma Iron (Austenite)
  • Delta Iron
  • Phase Transformations
  • X-Ray Diffraction
  • Interplanar Distance
  • Bragg's Law
  • Cubic
  • Amorphous Materials
  • Metallic Glass

Interstitial Sites in Crystal Structures

Interstitial solid solution alloys contain solute atoms lodged within available voids or interstitial sites such as cubic, octahedral, and tetrahedral sites.

  • Interstitial solid solution alloys
  • Cubic site
  • Octahedral site
  • Tetrahedral site
  • Coordination number
  • BCC crystal structures
  • FCC crystal structures

Atomic Structure, Chemical Bonding, and Solid Properties

Atomic Structure and Bonding Fundamentals

This material covers the history of the atom, subatomic particles, and the relationship between atomic number, atomic mass, and isotopes.

  • History of Atom
  • Subatomic particles
  • Electrons
  • Protons
  • Atomic Number
  • Atomic Mass
  • Mass number
  • Avogadro Number
  • Isotope
  • Mole
  • Atomic Percentage

Atomic Structure and Planck's Quantum Theory

This content explores Planck's Quantum Theory, Bohr's Theory of electron orbits, and energy levels within the hydrogen atom.

  • Planck's Quantum Theory
  • Electromagnetic radiation
  • Principal quantum number
  • Ground state
  • Photon energy
  • Hydrogen atom energy levels
  • Ionization energy
  • Intermetallic compound formula

Atomic Structure, Quantum Numbers, and Chemical Bonding

This content explores the uncertainty principle, quantum numbers, electron configurations, periodic trends, and primary bonding types including ionic, covalent, and metallic bonds.

  • Uncertainty Principle
  • Electron Density
  • Principal Quantum Number
  • Subsidiary Quantum Number
  • Magnetic Quantum Number
  • Electron Spin Quantum Number
  • Aufbau Principle
  • Hund's Rule
  • Effective Nuclear Charge
  • Slater’s Rules
  • Atomic Size
  • Ionization Energy
  • Oxidation Number
  • Electronegativity
  • Electron Affinity
  • Metals, Metalloids, and Nonmetals
  • Ionic Bonds
  • Covalent Bonds
  • Metallic Bonds

Atomic Structure and Chemical Bonding

This topic explores ionic, covalent, metallic, and secondary bonding mechanisms, including lattice energy, hybridization, and dipole interactions.

  • Ionic bonds
  • Electronegativity
  • Cations and anions
  • Interionic force
  • Lattice energy
  • Covalent bonding
  • Nonpolar and polar covalent bonds
  • Hybridization
  • sp3 orbitals
  • Metallic bonding
  • Secondary bonding
  • Van der Waals forces
  • Fluctuating dipoles
  • Permanent dipoles
  • Hydrogen bonds

Thermally Activated Processes and Diffusion in Solids

Thermally activated processes and diffusion in solids involve the movement of atoms through crystal structures via vacancy or interstitial mechanisms.

  • Thermally activated processes
  • Diffusion in solids
  • Activation energy barrier
  • Arrhenius equation
  • Equilibrium concentration of vacancies
  • Gibbs free energy
  • Arrhenius equation
  • Vacancy or substitutional diffusion mechanism
  • Interstitial diffusion mechanism
  • Self diffusion

Metal Alloys and Solid Solutions

Metal alloys exist in single phase solid solution or multi phase mixture forms containing solute elements dispersed inside a solvent matrix.

  • Metal alloys
  • Single phase solid solution
  • Multi phase mixture
  • Substitutional solid solutions
  • Interstitial solid solutions
  • Solvent matrix
  • Solute elements
  • Solid solubility limit
  • Atomic radius difference
  • Electronegativity difference
  • Crystal structure similarity

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