Materials Engineering

Structure of matter. Physical and mechanical properties of materials including metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and electronic materials. Equilibrium diagrams. Heat treatments, materials selection and corrosion phenomena

Materials Laboratory I, II, III

Focus on processing-structure-properties relationships of materials, including crystal structures, electronic properties of materials, materials selection, phase diagrams, corrosion, mechanical properties of polymers, cold work and annealing of alloys and heat treatments of steels.

Process-structure relationships of materials. Introduction to materials characterization techniques including differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray diffraction, and metallography. Emphasis on materials engineering professional practices and written communication.

Mechanical property testing by tensile tests and hardness tests. Emphasis of data interpretation and analysis with structureproperty relationships of materials. Continued materials engineering professional practices.

Materials Selection Life Cycle

Materials selection for sustainable product design. Use of material selection software and techniques to solve design problems with multiple objectives and constraints. Focus on Triple Bottom Line design including functionality, economic viability, and sustainability. Principles and tools for weighted property optimization, production cost modeling, and life cycle analysis introduced through project-based learning mode.

Materials, Ethics, and Society

 

Materials Engineering principles through the context of historical and current events. Ethics and systems thinking are integrated in the study of the impacts of materials and technology on society during the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Ages, as well as today's world. Topics include crystallography, phase diagrams, microstructures, processing techniques, and nanotechnology.

Noncrystalline Material Systems

Design and synthesis of noncrystalline material systems. Synthesis, processing techniques, properties and fabrication methods of organic and inorganic polymeric materials.

Transport Phenomena I, II, III

 

 

Directed group laboratory study of energy transport. Focus on conduction and convection. 

Directed group laboratory study of fluid static and dynamic properties and behavior. Focus on non-compressible conditions. 

Introduction to radiative heat transfer and the material properties that control it.

Electronic Materials Systems

Design of electronic materials systems utilizing the basic concepts in electron theory of solids, electrical properties and conduction in materials, magnetic phenomena and optical properties in materials. 

Structural Materials Systems

Design of structural materials systems. Topics include continuum mechanics - stress, strain, elasticity, anelasticity, plasticity, fracture and fatigue.

Metallurgical Materials System

Physical metallurgy of engineering alloys including ferrous (steel) and nonferrous (aluminum, copper) systems. Connection to phase diagrams, microstructural development and phase transformations, physical and mechanical properties, precipitation hardening, cold work and annealing treated in detail. Laboratory focuses on microstructure development in steels and aluminum alloy casting.

Thermodynamics and Physical Chemistry

Thermodynamics concepts related to materials engineering systems and processes: process flowsheets, mass and energy balances, Ellingham diagrams. Physical chemistry concepts related to materials engineering: ideal gases, systems and surroundings, first through third laws of thermodynamics, phase equilibria, chemical reactions.

Advanced Ceramics

Development, utilization, and control of properties in ceramic materials (inorganic-nonmetallic solids). Emphasis on application on processing to achieve structure and properties. Structure of crystalline ceramics and of glasses. Mechanical, thermal, optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. Application of ceramics in technology. Physical chemistry of ceramics.

Composite Materials Systems

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Properties, design and applications of composite material systems, concentrating on polymer-matrix, ceramic-fiber composites. Materials(matrices, fibers), mechanical behavior and properties, and manufacturing methods treated in detail. Laboratory practice concentrates on the mechanical testing of fiber-reinforced composite materials

Kinetics: Materials & Process

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Design of processes for engineering materials. Topics include kinetics in materials: solid-state diffusion (steady-state and non-steady-state), nucleation and growth kinetics, solid state phase transformations