Materials Technology
The technology of producing, combining and altering materials.
Materials Technology – The technology of producing, altering and combining materials. (Producing aluminum from ore, drilling holes in wood, welding metal)
Choosing the best materials for a project is an important decision that should be made based on criteria & constraints and material properties.
Manufacturing Assembly Methods
Properties of Materials (mostly copied from Wikipedia)
Color - Color of a material is the result of physical properties such as light absorption and reflection. Different materials absorb and reflect different combinations of light waves. We see the colors that the material reflects.
Opacity - The measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. An opaque object is neither transparent (allowing all light to pass through) nor translucent (allowing some light to pass through).
Luster - the radiance, gloss, or brilliance of a material. The way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. How much a material shines.
Reflectivity - A material's effectiveness in reflecting radiant energy (light). a function of the frequency, or wavelength, of the light, its polarization, and the angle of incidence. The dependence of reflectance on the wavelength is called a reflectance spectrum or spectral reflectance curve.
Density - Mass per unit volume. Density has the same numerical value as its mass concentration. Different materials usually have different densities, and density may be relevant to buoyancy, purity and packaging.
Hardness - A measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion. When two materials a rubbed together, the harder material will scratch the less hard one. Macroscopic hardness is generally characterized by strong intermolecular bonds, but the behavior of solid materials under force is complex; therefore, there are different measurements of hardness: scratch hardness, indentation hardness, and rebound hardness.
Strength - The strength of a material is its ability to withstand an applied load without failure or plastic deformation. The degree to which a material can sustain plastic deformation under tensile stress before failure.
Mailability - A material's ability to deform plastically without failure under compressive stress.
Ductility - A mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to drawing (e.g. into wire).
Elasticity - The ability of a body to resist a distorting influence and to return to its original size and shape when that influence or force is removed.
Plasticity - The ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation, a non-reversible change of shape in response to applied forces.
Melting Point - The temperature at which a material changes state from solid to liquid.
Boiling Point - The temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid[1][2] and the liquid changes into a vapor.
Solubility - The ability of a substance to form a solution with another substance. The most common examples are materials that will dissolve in water.
Electrical Conductivity - A material's ability to conduct electric current. It is the reciprocal(opposite) of electrical resistivity.
Thermal Conductivity - A measure of a material's ability to conduct heat. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal conductivity. The reciprocal(opposite) of thermal conductivity is called thermal resistivity.
Hydraulic Conductivity - This is a property of porous materials, like soils and rocks, that describes the ease with which a fluid (usually water) can move through pore spaces or fractures.
Magnetism - Materials which are strongly attracted by magnetic fields and can be magnetized to become permanent magnets, producing magnetic fields themselves. Demagnetizing a magnet is also possible. Only a few substances are ferromagnetic; the most common ones are iron, cobalt and nickel and their alloys. The rare-earth metals neodymium and samarium are less common examples.
Reactivity - The impetus(likelihood) for which a chemical substance undergoes a chemical reaction, either by itself or with other materials, with an overall release of energy. The chemical reactivity of a substance can refer to the variety of circumstances (conditions that include temperature, pressure, presence of catalysts) in which it reacts.
Radioactivity - The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Three of the most common types of decay are alpha decay (𝛼-decay), beta decay (𝛽-decay), and gamma decay (𝛾-decay), all of which involve emitting one or more particles.
Types of Materials
Elements - A pure substance of one type of atom. chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler substances by any chemical reaction. The number of protons in the nucleus is the defining property of an element, and is referred to as its atomic number (represented by the symbol Z) – all atoms with the same atomic number are atoms of the same element.
Metals - a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically malleable (they can be hammered into thin sheets) or ductile (can be drawn into wires). A metal may be a chemical element such as iron; an alloy such as stainless steel; or a molecular compound such as polymeric sulfur nitride. Examples: copper, aluminum, iron, silver, gold.
Non-Metals - A type of chemical element generally characterized by low density, low strength, and a tendency, where applicable, to form acidic compounds. Nonmetals display more variety in color and state than do metals. About half are colored or colorless gases whereas nearly all metals are silvery-gray solids. Unlike metals, nonmetals tend to be poor conductors of heat and electricity. Examples: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, silicon, carbon, and nitrogen.
Alloy - A mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, opacity, and luster, but may have properties that differ from those of the pure metals, such as increased strength or hardness. In some cases, an alloy may reduce the overall cost of the material while preserving important properties. In other cases, the mixture imparts synergistic properties to the constituent metal elements such as corrosion resistance or mechanical strength. Examples: white gold (gold and silver), sterling silver (silver and copper), steel (iron with non-metallic carbon), solder, brass, pewter, bronze, and amalgams.
Shape Memory Alloys(SMA) -
Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) -
Graphene -
Stanene -
Carbon Nanotubes (NT) -
Compounds - a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) composed of atoms from more than one element held together by chemical bonds.
Ceramics - Ceramic material is an inorganic, non-metallic oxide, nitride, or carbide material. Some elements, such as carbon or silicon, may be considered ceramics. Ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, and weak in shearing and tension. They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in other materials subjected to acidic or caustic environments. Ceramics generally can withstand very high temperatures. Examples: Brick, Terracotta, Stoneware, Porcelain,
Aluminum oxynitride (Transparent Aluminum) Alon -
Organics - Matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product of decay, or is composed of organic compounds. Organic molecules can also be made by chemical reactions that do not involve life.[2] Basic structures are created from cellulose, tannin, cutin, and lignin, along with other various proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Examples: wood, cotton, hemp, wool, silk,
Mycelium-based materials -
Monomers - A molecule that can react together with other monomer molecules to form a larger polymer chain or three-dimensional network in a process called polymerization. Examples: glycine, caprolactam, vinyl acetate, ethylene, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol.
Polymers - Materials consisting of very large molecules, or macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential roles in everyday life. Examples: polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, synthetic rubber, phenol formaldehyde resin, neoprene, nylon, and polyacrylonitrile.
Aerogels -
Sharklet -
Elastomers - Rubber-like solids with elastic properties are called elastomers. Polymer chains are held together in these materials by relatively weak intermolecular bonds, which permit the polymers to stretch in response to macroscopic stresses. a polymer with viscoelasticity (i.e., both viscosity and elasticity), generally low Young's modulus and high failure strain compared with other materials. Their primary uses are for seals, adhesives and molded flexible parts. Examples: natural rubber, polybutadiene, butyl rubber, silicone rubber, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)
Geckskin -
Synthetics - Materials composed of multiple parts, often with the implication that they are artificial. Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis. Examples: Dacron, nylon, rayon and cellophane.
Artificial Spider Silk -
Shrilk -
Composites - a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a material with properties unlike the individual elements. Within the finished structure, the individual elements remain separate and distinct, distinguishing composites from mixtures and solid solutions.
Modular Bamboo (BLVL) -
Concrete - a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water,[2] and is the most widely used building material.
Reinforced Concrete - a versatile composite and one of the most widely used materials in modern construction. It is made up of different constituent materials with very different properties that complement each other. In the case of reinforced concrete, the component materials are almost always concrete and steel. These two materials form a strong bond together and are able to resist a variety of applied forces, effectively acting as a single structural element. Concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ductility.
Engineered Wood - A range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibers, or veneers or boards of wood, together with adhesives, or other methods of fixation to form composite material. These products are engineered to precise design specifications, which are tested to meet national or international standards and provide uniformity and predictability in their structural performance. Engineered wood products are used in a variety of applications, from home construction to commercial buildings to industrial products.
Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) - a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibers. The fibers are usually glass (in fiberglass), carbon (in carbon fiber reinforced polymer), aramid, or basalt. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic.
Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC) - a composite material composed of a variety of short or continuous fibers bound together by an organic polymer matrix. PMCs are designed to transfer loads between fibers of a matrix. Some of the advantages with PMCs include their lightweight, high stiffness and their high strength along the direction of their reinforcements. Other advantages are good abrasion resistance and good corrosion resistance.
Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC) - a subgroup of composite materials and a subgroup of ceramics. They consist of ceramic fibers embedded in a ceramic matrix. The fibers and the matrix both can consist of any ceramic material, whereby carbon and carbon fibers can also be regarded as a ceramic material.
Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) - composite materials with at least two constituent parts, one being a metal necessarily, the other material may be a different metal or another material, such as a ceramic or organic compound. When at least three materials are present, it is called a hybrid composite. There is some overlap between MMCs and cermets, with the latter typically consisting of less than 20% metal by volume.
Metamaterials -