Materials

The course unit is organised in lectures, theoretical-practical lessons and laboratory practices.
The lecturing sessions are primarily dedicated to presenting contents, using the board and the projection of slides with auxiliary pictures, diagrams, schemes or tables. In conducting these classes, student participation is often raised by formulating questions that lead them to reflect on the subject matter and create opportunities for clarifying concepts.
It is reserved for the theoretical-practical lessons the presentation and exploitation of specific parts of the unit syllabus whose nature provides a more applied and interactive approach.
In practical classes, students take contact with components of different materials and get acquainted with equipments and experimental methods used in the evaluation of mechanical properties.

The main objectives of this course unit are: To familiarise the students with different types of engineering materials and their typical applications; To provide basic knowledge in materials science, necessary to understand the relationships between composition, structure and properties of materials; To introduce the students to experimental methods commonly used in the evaluation of mechanical properties of materials.
Upon completion of this unit, the students should be able to: Know a wide range of engineering materials and their classification; Describe the structure and general properties of the main classes of materials; Understand fundamental aspects of the relationships between composition, structure and properties of materials; Know and understand specific properties and potential applications of the most common engineering materials; Perform tests to evaluate mechanical properties of materials and interpret their results.

Classes of materials and their main properties: Metallic materials; Polymers; Ceramics; Composites; Electronic materials.
Mechanical properties of materials: Stress and strain; Elastic and plastic deformation; Tensile test; Hardness tests;
Fracture of materials – impact tests and fracture toughness tests. Physical and chemical properties of materials.
Atomic structure and chemical bonds.
Atomic arrangements in solids: Crystalline and amorphous solids; Crystal structure; Structure of metals, ceramics and polymers; Imperfections in crystalline solids.
Metal alloy phase diagrams.
Ferrous alloys: Production of iron and steel; Phase diagrams of the iron-carbon system; Microstructures of iron-carbon alloys; Non-alloy and alloy steels; Cast irons.
Non-ferrous metals and alloys.
Ceramic materials: Traditional ceramics; Technical ceramics; Glasses.
Polymeric materials: Thermoplastic polymers; Thermosetting polymers; Elastomers.
Composite materials.

NAO