Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Provide an understanding of materials processing technology for the manufacture of products.
• Consider the integrated nature of design, material and processing in the manufacture of products.
• Illustrate the processing factors that influence selection in design.
• Relate processing to microstructure evolution and product failure.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Have a broad appreciation of the different materials processing methods used for metals, ceramics, polymers and composites.
• Understand the main interactions between process and material in design and process selection, for each of the main classes of material.
• Understand the factors which control the microstructure of shaped castings, and their consequences for final properties and design for casting.
• Know the main classes of polymers and composites, and understand the processing and design considerations in selecting these for a given component.
• Know the main deformation processes for wrought alloys, and be able to conduct simple upper bound analysis of plastic deformation.
• Know the microstructural characteristics of wrought alloys, and the reasons for alloying and heat treatment, with examples from Al alloys and steels.
• Understand hardenability of steels, using CCT diagrams to select steels and heat treatments for a given component specification.
• Understand the processes and issues in the manufacture of powder metallurgy and ceramic products.
• Understand the importance of surface treatments and joining technologies, and know the main factors to consider in process selection.
• Appreciate the current potential and limitations of additive manufacturing methods.
• Be able to apply their knowledge of materials processing, microstructure evolution, and the mechanisms of material degradation to analyse and predict failures and to improve product design.

Content

Introduction (1L, Dr H Shercliff)

• Classification of manufacturing processes.
• Coupled problems in design and manufacturing: the interaction between material, process and design parameters.

Metal Casting (2L, Dr HR Shercliff)

• Ingot and shaped casting technology.
• Revision of phase diagrams and transformations applied to solidification: segregation, constitutional supercooling, casting alloys and microstructures.
• Casting defects and design of shaped castings.

Deformation Processing of Wrought Alloys, Heat treatment (2L, Dr H Shercliff; 2L, Dr G McShane)

• Revision of phase transformations and TTT diagrams.
• CCT diagrams and hardenability for steels.
• Wrought alloy processing and microstructure evolution.
• Simple modelling of plastic forming processes (upper bound method).
• Application of plasticity analysis to rolling, forging, extrusion, machining of metals; case studies.

Powder Processing, Processing of Polymers and Composites (3L, Dr CY Barlow)

• Sintering, HIPing and other processing technologies for powder metals and ceramics.
• Polymer and composite processing technology.
• Design, material and process selection for polymers and composites.

Surface Engineering, Additive Manufacturing, Joining and Welding (2L, Dr HR Shercliff; 1L, Dr M Seita)

• Surface engineering processes and their applications.
• Welding technology (fusion, friction, laser, ultrasonic), and other joining processes (mechanical, adhesives).
• Selection of surface engineering and joining processes in design.
• Additive manufacturing (AM) methods and their current potential.

Design against Failure (4L, Dr CY Barlow)

• Processing as the origin of defects and failures (microstructure, damage, residual stress).
• Environmental factors in failure of materials.
• Analysis and case studies of failures.

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

 
Last modified: 20/07/2023 14:05