Chapter 4 materials Flashcards
What are ceramic materials?
Ceramic materials are hard and brittle this includes china and pottery, concrete and more.
What are polymers?
These are plastics such as polythene. Polymers are strong in tension.
What are composite materials?
Materials designed to combine the most desirable properties of two or more different materials.
How do engineers measure how easily a material fractures?
They measure measure how easily a material fractures be measuring the energy absorbed when a prepared specimen is broken.
What is the notch test?
1) Fix a sample to the testing machine.Raise the hammer(pendulum) to a pre-determined height.This gives it potential energy.
2) Let go of the swinging hammer.It breaks the bone.Some of the energy is used to break the bone.Note the height to which the hammer rises .This tells how much potential energy is left.The difference is the energy to break the bone.
Give an example of a polymer,ceramic and metal material.
Metal-Iron,steel,bronze,copper
Ceramic-Chine,clay,concrete,bone,glass
Polymer- Polythene,collagen,rubber,
Give an example of a natural composite material and a synthetic composite.
1) Bone
2) Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic
Name two tough materials.
Steel and fibreglass.
What do compressive and tensile forces tend to do?
Compressive forces tend to squash an object.
Tensile forces tend to stretch it.
What classes of materials are there?
Ceramics,metal and polymers.
How are brittle materials different from tough materials?
Brittle materials break easily.
Tough materials require a lot of energy to break them.
Describe the properties of wood.
Wood is a natural composite material. It is composed of fibres of cellulose bound together by a substance called lignin.
-Cellulose fibres are stiff and strong,and the lignin prevents them from splitting apart.
Describe what the main foundations of a building should be like.
1) The foundations of a building must be able to support the weight of the building above so they must be strong in compression.
2) Horizontal sections of the building’s structure tend to bend under their own weight and because of the loads they have to bear.They are partly in compression and partly in tension,so a material must be chosen which is strong in tension and compression.
What material is often used for the foundations of buildings?
Concrete- Has a very high strength in compression, so it can support all the weight from the rest of the building.
What material is good for the horizontal sections of a building?
Timber is good for horizontal sections and so are metals like steel.Concrete and brick are less good because they are much weaker in tension than compression.
What is a problem with metals?
Metals “give” before they break. They reach a point where they permanently deform and start to bend and buckle.
What is the yield point?
The point at which a metal reaches its elastic limit and becomes permanently deformed. An architect must ensure that the metal does not reach this limit, if not it will bend or buckle.
What determines the useful strength of a metal?
The stress at the yield of point of a metal.
Breaking stress and yield stress are two ways of thinking about how strong a material is.
What is one pascal?
1 newton per square metre.
What is young modulus?
Measure how stretchy or stiff a material is.