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Intro To Materials Eng - Merged

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10 views

Intro To Materials Eng - Merged

Uploaded by

eli
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Materials Engineers can solve quite diverse problems, problems

related to food packaging, space exploration, and even the human


body!

To determine what type of material is best for a certain use, Materials


Engineers have classified all materials in the world into 5 distinct
categories: Metals, Polymers, Ceramics, Composites, and
Semiconductors. These materials all have unique compositions that
make them suitable for certain applications.
THE
MATERIALS ENGINEERING
TETRAHEDRON illustrates the five key components
of Materials Engineering.

Performance

How well a material


works in its intended
use (e.g. does the pan
heat up on the
stovetop when heat is
added?)

Structure Properties

The way a material’s The measurable


components are characteristics of a
arranged at different material that make it
scales (e.g. the way unique (e.g. colour,
atoms are arranged in mass, energy,
a molecule) strength)

Processing

Any way a material is


altered in order to
make it more useful
(e.g. recycling,
purifying, forging)

Characterization
In Materials Engineering, Characterization is the process of analyzing and understanding the performance, properties,
processing, and structure of a material. Characterization is the act of measuring a material at different scales to
determine its chemical, physical, mechanical, and electrical attributes. This analysis is important for understanding
the behaviour of a material, and for developing new materials with certain properties (e.g. taking a temperature or
collapsing a model bridge).
Think of any material (this could
be anything: glass, concrete, Performance
rubber, etc.) and a use for that
material (ex. glass for a windshield
or concrete for the sidewalk).
Begin to describe your material
using all elements of the Materials
Engineering Tetrahedron.

Structure Properties

Processing

Characterization

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