Engineering Materials

At the end of this course, the students should be able to: 1. demonstrate the role of atoms and molecules (aggregates of atoms) in the building of solid/condensed matter known as engineering materials, the electrons quantum numbers and how the electrons are arranged in different atomic elements, and explain the role of electronic configuration and valence electrons in bonding; 2. define metals, alloys and metalloids, demonstrate mental picture of the solid mineral resources development as a relay race among four ‘athletes’: geologist, mining engineer, mineral processing technologist, process metallurgical engineer, and classify metallurgical engineering into 3Ps: process, physical and production; 3. explain the relationship between structure and properties of materials, characteristics, components and compositions of phase diagrams and phase transformations of solid solutions; 4. define ceramics, glass and constituents of glasses and understand application of ceramics in mining, building, art and craft industries; 5. define and classify polymers as a class of engineering materials and polymeric materials, demonstrate polymerisation reactions, their types and mechanism, and applications of polymers; 6. define properties, types and application of composite materials and fibres (synthetic and natural); 7. define and classify nanomaterials, demonstrate applications of nanomaterials, concept, design and classification of fracture mechanics, corrosion classification, including the five principal ways of controlling corrosion and metal finishing processes such as sherardising, galvanising and anodizing; and 8. identify factors affecting the performance and service life of engineering materials/metals and metallography of metals/materials (materials anatomy), which enables metallurgical and materials engineers to prescribe appropriate solutions to test metals/materials fitness in service through structure-property-application relationships.

Basic material science; atomic structure, atomic bonding and crystal structures. Engineering materials situating metals and alloys; metals and alloys, classifications of metals, metal extraction processes using iron and steel (ferrous) and aluminium (nonferrous) as examples, phase diagrams/iron carbon diagrams, and mechanical workings of metals. Selection and applications of metals and alloys for specific applications in oil, aerospace, construction, manufacturing and transportation industries, among others. Ceramics (including glass); definition, properties, structure and classifications of ceramics. Bioactive and glass – ceramics. Toughing mechanism for ceramics. Polymers; definition of polymers as engineering materials, chemistry of polymeric materials, polymer crystallisation, polymer degradation and aging. Thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers and concepts of copolymers and homopolymers. Composites; definition, classification, characterisation, properties and composite. Applications of composites. Nanomaterials; definition, classification and applications of nanomaterials as emerging technology. Processing of nanomaterials including mechanical grinding, wet chemical synthesis, gas phase synthesis, sputtered plasma processing, microwave plasma processing and laser ablation. Integrity assessment of engineering materials; effect of engineering design, engineering materials processing, selection, manufacturing and assembling on the performance and service life of engineering materials. Metallography and fractography of materials. Mechanical testing (destructive testing) of materials such as compressive test, tensile test, hardness test, impact test, endurance limit and fatigue test. Non-destructive test (NDT) such as dye penetrant, X-ray and eddy current.