Choose the Best Materials to Use when Building or Making Anything
Learn to manage the selection and use of different materials:
- metals, plastics, ceramics and others
- to creation and repair of a wide variety of products.
COURSE STRUCTURE
This course involves eight lessons as follows:
Lesson 1. Properties & Classification of Materials
- Mechanical Properties
- Thermal Properties
- Electrical Properties
- Environmental Properties
- Manufacturing Properties
- Economic Properties
- Classification of Materials
- Metals
- Ceramics, Polymers, Composites
- Minerals
- Silicates and Non Silicate Minerals
Lesson 2. Metals and Their Uses
- Ferrous Materials -pig iron, wrought iron, grey iron etc
- Non Ferrous Metals
- Aluminium
- Copper
- Lead
- Zinc
- Tin
- Nickel
- Rare Earth Elements
- Lanthanides
- Properties and Uses of Rare Earth Elements
- Other Metals -Titanium, Gold, Silver, Chromium, Tungsten, Antimony
Lesson 3. Metal Alloys and Their Uses
- Malleability
- Ductility
Strength
- Benefits of Alloys
- Ferrous Alloys
- Cast Irons
- Steels
- Steel Grading
- Non Ferrous Alloys: White metal, Nickel-Silver, etc
- Tin Alloys
- Copper Alloys
- Aluminium Alloys
- Titanium Alloys
- Titanium, Gold and Silver Alloys
- Rare Earth Alloys
Lesson 4. Working with Metals
- Metal work
- Gauges/Sizing
- Grades
- Bulk Forming - forging, rolling extrusion, cold sizing, bending, coining, spinning, stamping etc.
- Casting Metals - expandable and non expandable
- Cutting Metals - machining, hand cutting, burning
- Finishing
- Joining Metals - soldering, welding, brazing, riveting
Lesson 5. Non-metals and Their Uses
- Porcelain
- Earthenware
- Glass
- Brick
- Polymers
- Plastics
- Plant Fibres
- Resins
- Rubber
- Composites - concrete, ceramic matrix composites, weed composites, metal matrix composites
- Polymer Matrix Composites - fibreglass, carbon fibre
Lesson 6. Working with Ceramics (and Glass)
- Making Pottery
- Kneading and wedging
- Shaping - hand building, using a potters wheel, injection moulding, jiggering, jolleying etc
- Glazing - vitreous enamel, overglaze, underglaze, salt glazing
- Decorating
- Firing
- Making Glass - hot end, cold end etc
- Glass Sheet
- Working with Glass - Cutting, fixing, joining, blowing
Lesson 7. Working with Polymers & Composites
- Synthetic Polymers
- Plastic manufacturing
- Joining Plastics
- Plastic welding techniques
- Polymer Clay
- Natural Polymers -working rubber
- Composites - working fibreglass
Lesson 8. Safe and Sustainable Handling of Materials
- Safe Use of Materials
- Case Studies
- Sustainable Use of Materials
- Recycling
- Major PBL Project
What Materials will you Learn About?
Everything we see around us is made of materials, from buildings, roads and furniture to cars, aeroplanes, computers, refrigerators, microwave ovens, TVs, dishes, athletic equipment, DVDs, and much more. All of these require materials specifically tailored to their application. Specific properties have required that result from carefully selecting the materials and from controlling the manufacturing processes used to convert materials into the final engineered product. Exciting new product developments are possible only by new materials and their processing.
- There are many different types of each
- They all have different characteristics - mechanical, thermal, electrical, environmental, manufacturing, etc.
- Materials covered by this course include metals, ceramics, polymers, minerals and composites.
New materials technologies developed through innovation and science will continue to make surprising changes in our lives in the future. Innovative product developers deal with the science and technology of producing materials that have properties and shapes suitable for practical use.
