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MATERIALS
The 4 types of material:
- METALS
- CERAMICS
- POLYMERS
- COMPOSITES
Follow the links below for INTERACTIVE pages
METAL: a material where the molecules are arranged in neat rows...
CERAMIC: a material where the molecules are arranged in a disordered, random fashion...
POLYMER: a material made of long chains of molecules...
What you need to learn (and to demonstrate in your assignments that you have learnt!) is how the properties of different materials - elasticity, plasticity, breaking etc. come about because of how the molecules of that material are arranged...
how the molecules of that material are arranged...
how the molecules of that material are arranged...
how the molecules of that material are arranged...
how the molecules of that material are arranged!
Click here for notes on the chemistry behind all this - the 5 types of solids are... The 5 types of solid
How molecules are arranged in different ways leading to different properties is rather like how different arrangments of footballers (442, 532, etc) can lead to different styles of teams - click here for more information on Football Formations
The most important properties of materials (as far as the examiners are concerned anyway...):
- STRESS (strength, toughness)
- WEAR RESISTANCE (hardness)
- STRAIN (stretchyness, bendyness)
- THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (do the properties change as the material gets hotter or colder?)
- DENSITY (heavyness, lightness)
- COST (how expensive to make)
Follow the links below for more notes
What is this course about?
Properties of materials
Stress and Strain
The structure of matter
Composite materials
Handout on the PROPERTIES of materials
Handout on the STRUCTURE of materials
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