The course is optional but highly recommended
The course is taught in English 

Team

   Coord. Anne-Françoise GOURGUES-LORENZON (anne-francoise.gourgues-lorenzon@mines-paristech.fr, MINES Paristech)  

Objectives

This course aims at refreshing students’ knowledge about basics in materials science. Microstructure-property relationships are the core subject of this course, especially, mechanical properties that are addressed in the master curriculum. The 15-hour course is very interactive, so that the students will check acquired skills in real time.

Main topics

Chapter 1. Fundamentals about microstructure of materials

• Introduction to the various families of materials: starting from in-service properties. Origin, typical values of these properties (Young’s modulus, thermal expansion, melting temperature...) .
• Atomic bonding. Crystal state. Amorphous state (and glass transition). Basics of crystallography.
•  Microstructure of metal alloys, of ceramics: solid solution, grains, texture, phases.
• Defects in materials: vacancies, dislocations, interfaces (and interfacial energy), cavities, inclusions...

Chapter 2. Formation des microstructures : outils thermocinétiques

• Basics of phase transformations from the material’s point of view.
• Basics of thermodynamics (thermodynamic potentials, equilibrium phase diagrams)
• Basics of kinetics: nucleation, growth, Avrami equation, thermal activation.
• Non-diffusive phase transformations.

Chapter 3. Processing of materials: a few examples

• Objective of processing steps for different families of materials.
• Ferrous alloy metallurgy (steelmaking) : electrical route, ore route. Solidification, crystal growth, solidification-induced microstructures, solidification defects.
• Cementitious materials.
• Glass manufacturing: the role of viscosity.

Chapitre 4. Linking microstructure to mechanical strength - Heat treatments

• Application to heat treatments of metal alloys; iron-carbon equilibrium diagram, TTT and CCT diagrams of steels, associated microstructures.
• Case study on precipitation: heat treatments of aluminium alloys.
• Application 1: automotive steels.
• Strengthening: solid solution strengthening; grain size strengthening (Hall-Petch equation); strain hardening; precipitation strengthening. Quantification of all of these contributions.
• Application 2: nickel-base superalloys for aircraft turbine blades.

Chapitre 5. Polymer processing and microstructures

• Introduction to polymers: macromolecules. 2D, 3D networks.
• Configuration (tacticity), conformation
• Amorphous state. Random coil.
• Crystal state: crystal structure of polymers.
• Microstructures : crystal lamellae, spherulite
• Evolution of modulus with temperature: glassy state, viscoelasticity, rubbery state, viscous flow. Interpretation of dynamic mechanical analysis measurements.
• Fibres: natural fibres, synthetic fibres : microstructures, properties (stiffness).