Unit Summary: Students will investigate the basic categories and properties of materials. Students will also perform material testing to provide evidence that a product is reliable, safe, and predictable in function.
Big Ideas:
Materials are composed of elements and areas categorized by physical and chemical properties.
Materials consist of pure elements. Compounds and mixtures are typically classified as metallic, ceramic, organic, polymeric, and composite.
Material selection is based upon mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic, and chemical properties.
Raw materials undergo various manufacturing processes in the production of consumer goods.
Material testing aids in determining a product’s reliability, safety, and predictability in function.
Engineers perform destructive and non-destructive tests on material specimens for the purpose of identifying and verifying the properties of various materials.
Tensile testing data is used to create a test sample stress strain curve; the data can be used to identify and calculate various sample material properties.
Essential Questions:
How does an engineer predict the performance and safety for a selected material?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing synthetic materials designed by engineers?
What ethical issues pertain to engineers designing synthetic materials?
What did you learn about the significance of selecting materials for product design?
How is material testing data useful?
Stress strain curve data points are useful in determining what specific material properties?
Priority TEKS
List material properties that are important to design including mechanical, chemical, electrical, and magnetic.
Know common manufacturing processes related to create a product from raw materials.
Know the steps of the product life cycle for a common product.
Conduct non-destructive tests for material properties on selected common household products including tests for continuity, ferrous metal, hardness, and flexure.
Measure or calculate weight, volume, mass, density, and surface area of selected common household products
Distinguish between stress and strain.
Distinguish between elastic and plastic deformation.
Describe the relationship between the tensile force applied to a material and the elongation of the material as it deforms elastically, plastically, and then ruptures.
Define the modulus of elasticity.
Measure axial force and elongation data of material samples and create stress-strain diagrams describing the intrinsic properties of the materials.
Identify and calculate test sample material properties using a stress-strain curve.
Activities & Projects
Materials Guided Notes
Stress-Strain Practice Problems
Materials Testing Guided Notes
Virtual Tensiometer & Stress Strain Analysis
Assessment 4