SYLLABUS
MSE 512 Mechanical Properties of Materials
Fall 2013
Meeting Times & Location
Tuesdays & Thursdays
12:00 – 1:15 PM
Engineering Building Room 314
Meets August 27 – December 12
Course Web Site: Blackboard
Instructor
Dr. Janelle Wharry
janellewharry@boisestate.edu
(208) 426-5659
Office Location: MEC 403A
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:30 – 3:30 PM
Texts
R.W. Hertzberg, et al., Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials.
Wiley, 5th ed., 2013.
Other useful references:
(i)
G.E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy. McGraw-Hill, 3rd ed., 1986.
(ii)
W.F. Hosford, Mechanical Behavior of Materials. Univ. of Michigan, 2002.
(iii)
M.A. Meyers and K.K. Chawla, Mechanical Behavior of Materials.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 2nd ed., 2008.
Grading
This is a 3 credit course. Grades will be determined based on the following weights:
Homework
30%
Quiz 1 (17 Oct)
25%
Quiz 2 (12 Dec)
25%
Final Project
20%
Letter grades will be based on the following scale:
90–100%
A- through A+ range
80–89%
B- through B+ range
70–79%
C- through C+ range
60–69%
D- through D+ range
<60%
F
SYLLABUS – MSE 512, Fall 2013
Homework
Homework sets will be assigned approximately every 2 weeks. Assignments will be
given in class; solutions will be made available on the course web site. Students are
permitted to work together to solve homework problems, but everyone must turn in his or
her own solutions.
Topics to be Covered
Mechanisms and Foundations
Elasticity vs. Plasticity
Stresses and Strains
Vectors, Tensors, Scalars
Tensile Response, Young’s Modulus, Generalized Hooke’s Law
Single Crystal Mechanics
Defects
Anisotropy
Strengthening Mechanisms
Mechanical Properties and Failure
Fracture and Fractography
Fracture Toughness
Toughening and Embrittlement
Fatigue and Failure Analysis
Creep
Environmental Effects on Mechanical Properties
Other Materials
Polymers
Composites and Cellular Solids
SYLLABUS – MSE 512, Fall 2013
Final Project
Identify an engineering materials mechanical failure relevant to both this course and your
specialized area of research. Put yourself in the shoes of the first scientist tasked with
identifying the root cause of the failure – this means you don’t know everything that is
currently known/published about this failure; you just know what happened and you have
some background information. Develop a research approach for identifying the root
cause of the failure. Consider the following when developing your approach:
•
What is known about the system that failed, the environment in which in
failed, the testing that was done on the system before it was constructed?
What are the fundamentals of the system?
•
What factors (external stresses, environmental factors, etc.) were present?
Could any of them have contributed to or caused the failure? How so?
•
Which factor(s) do you hypothesize as being the most significant contributors
to the failure? Why? How does this factor(s) contributes to the failure?
•
How can I test the effects of these aforementioned factors on my system? Can
I isolate the effects of one factor?
•
Are there models or theories that can confirm my hypothesis? How can I
implement them?
•
Proving your hypothesis not only requires confirmation of your ideas, but also
disproving competing ideas. So what are some competing hypotheses? How
can I test them?
The project deliverables are:
•
Topic Proposal. This should take the form of an abstract (~300 words).
Discuss the topic you have selected; provide some background information;
explain the societal impact of the failure; suggest your initial hypotheses.
DUE: 12 November
•
Presentation of your Research Approach. This should be similar to the
doctoral thesis proposal. Each student will have 20 minutes + 5 minutes for
questions.
DUE: We will hold the presentations during finals week.
A Few Topic Ideas
Creep fracture of steam generator tubes
Railway wheel rim hardened by braking
Stress Corrosion Cracking in any multitude of applications
Failure of NiCr/Ni thermocouples
The Comet disasters (British aircraft)
Environmental attack of concrete structures
Fatigue fracture in a harvester thresher shaft
Nuclear fuel pellet-clad interactions
Nuclear fuel assembly bowing
See Hertzberg, et al., Chapter 11 for further examples