Material Selection for Function
This material class is chosen for furnace linings and spark plugs because of its high melting point and resistance to heat.
What are Ceramics?
This material property is the ability to deform significantly under tensile stress before fracturing.
What is Ductility?
This is the slow, permanent deformation of a material under continuous stress, especially at high temperatures in components like turbine blades.
What is Creep?
This process uses adhesives to bond multiple layers of wood into a large, strong structural member, such as a Glulam beam.
What is Laminating?
This high-volume polymer manufacturing process involves forcing melted plastic under high pressure into a mold cavity.
What is Injection Molding?
This alloy is preferred over standard steel for marine structures like offshore oil rigs due to its inherent corrosion resistance.
What is Stainless Steel?
The presence of a "cup-and-cone" shape or significant plastic deformation on a fracture surface indicates this type of failure.
What is Ductile Failure?
This failure mechanism is caused by repeated stress cycles, resulting in a crack that grows slowly until sudden failure, common in aircraft wings.
What is Fatigue?
This metal joining process involves melting the parent materials to form a true metallurgical bond, unlike soldering.
What is Welding?
In a composite hand lay-up process, this is the viscous polymer material used to wet-out and bind the reinforcing fibers together.
What is the Resin (or Polymer Matrix)?
The primary trade-off when choosing lightweight aluminum over steel in an automotive frame is a reduction in this mechanical property.
What is Stiffness (or Modulus of Elasticity)?
Abbreviated DBTT, this is the temperature below which a material's failure mode shifts from ductile to brittle.
What is the Ductile-Brittle Transition Temperature?
This type of corrosion occurs when two dissimilar metals are in contact in the presence of an electrolyte, causing one to rapidly degrade.
What is Galvanic Corrosion?
This metal-forming process uses compressive force to shape metal, resulting in a superior internal grain structure compared to casting.
What is Forging?
This ceramic processing step involves heating a powdered "green" part below its melting point to fuse the particles and increase density.
What is Sintering?
This property describes a material that is non-reactive and safe for use inside the human body, such as in joint replacements.
What is Biocompatibility
A sharp corner, tool mark, or microscopic flaw that creates a localized increase in force, leading to crack initiation.
What is a Stress Concentration?
This transparent ceramic material is often chosen over standard plastic for solar collector covers due to its superior high-temperature resistance.
What is Glass (or Fused Silica)?
This material class is cost-effective, flexible, and used as an electrical insulator in electronic housings.
What are Polymers (or Plastics)?
Cleanliness and roughness are critical aspects of this pre-bonding step, which ensures maximum strength when using structural adhesives.
What is Surface Preparation?
This composite material is chosen for high-performance bicycle frames and aircraft due to its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio.
What is Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP)?
The failure of brittle materials like ceramics when exposed to a rapid, extreme change in temperature.
What is Thermal Shock?
Exposure to UV radiation from this environmental factor is the main cause of embrittlement and chalking in outdoor polymers.
What is Sunlight (or UV Degradation)?
This is the classification for a structural member made of two or more distinct material types, like wood laminated with a steel plate.
What is a Composite Material?
PLA and ABS are commonly used in this additive manufacturing process for polymers, which works by extruding molten material layer by layer.
What is Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)?