Applied Science 278

Final Exam

7 December 2011

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Department of Materials Engineering
APPLIED SCIENCE 278
Engineering Materials
FINAL EXAMINATION
December 7th, 2011
This is a Closed Book Examination.
The use of calculators having stored information of relevance to this course is forbidden.
Time: 2.5 hours
Answer all questions (total marks=100). The complete exam is 7 pages in length.
Some useful formulae, material data and a phase diagram are given on the last 2 pages
of the exam. The use of sketches or schematic diagrams are encouraged wherever
these will aid in solving or discussing a problem.
Show all work !! Good Luck !
Marks
10
Q1 Sketch a typical stress-strain curve for a low carbon steel when tested at +20C.
6 (a) On the curve identify the following regions: elastic deformation, work hardening,
yield stress, ultimate stress, necking.
2 (b) With the aid of your sketch, discuss the significance of:
(i) toughness
(ii) modulus of resilience
2 (c) How would the stress strain curve differ if the test were done at 77K in liquid
nitrogen?
15

5
5
2
3

Q2. You are a performer in a country fair, and want to challenge the locals to a
strength contest. You take a bar of annealed 70% Cu 30% Zn brass and bend it.
You then challenge any local to bend it back to the original shape.
(a) If you strain the bar by an average of 20%, how much stronger does the local have
to be to straighten out the bar? (Ignore geometrical effects)
(b) can you recommend some other strain that you should bend the bar to, which would
make you look even stronger? (Hint: think about the shape of the curve)
(c) Briefly discuss why the strength increases with increased cold working.
(d) You wish to reuse the bar for future shows. What can you do?

Applied Science 278

Final Exam

7 December 2011

Figure 1 Mechanical properties as a function of cold work

15
3
3
3
3
3

Q3. A lead-tin alloy of composition 50 wt%Sn-50 wt%Pb is slowly cooled from a

temperature of 300C. See Figure 2.
(a) At what temperature does the first solid phase form?
(b) What is the composition of this solid phase?
(c) At what temperature does complete solidication of the alloy occur?
(d) What is the composition of the last liquid remaining prior to complete solidification?
(e) The resulting microstructure is shown in Figure 3. Describe the features of this
image.

Applied Science 278

Final Exam

7 December 2011

Figure 2 Pb-Sn Binary Phase diagram

Figure 3 50% Pb 50% Sn microstructure

10

Q4
3 (a)

Sketch the cellular structure of wood. Define the alignment of this structure
relative to the tree axis.
3 (b) Describe the detailed microstructure of the cell wall of wood with the aid of sketches.
4 (c) Given that the density of balsa is 0.15 g/cm3, and that of oak is 0.8 g/cm3, how
much stiffer is oak than balsa in the different directions?
3

Applied Science 278

15

Final Exam

7 December 2011

Q5
3 .(a) A cubic unit cell contains Au atoms (filled circles) at the corners and on one face
of the cell and Cu atoms (open circles) on the other faces of the cell. What is the unit
cell structure and what is the coordination number for this structure?

Figure 4 cubic unit cell

4 (b) The edges of this unit cell are all 0.3852 nm. What is the density of the solid in
g/cm3?
4 (c) A first order diffraction peak is observed at =20.26 using Cu X-radiation ( =
0.154 nm). What is the d-spacing between the planes of atoms giving this diffraction
peak?
4 (d) In a few words and/or a picture, describe the planes of atoms that are separated
by the distance in (c) (HINT: divide your answer in (c) by the edge of the unit cell.
Note that sqrt(1/ 3) = 0.5773 and sqrt(1/ 2) = 0.7071).
15

3
3
3
4
2

Q6. A continuous fibre unidirectional composite laminate has 50% by volume of glass
fibres in an epoxy resin matrix. Assume that the values of E and the UTS are 70
and 1.4 GPa for the glass fibres and 4.0 and 0.10 GPa for the epoxy.
(a) Calculate the modulus (E) of the laminate parallel to the fibres
(b) Calculate the modulus (E) of the laminate perpendicular to the fibres.
(c) Calculate the fraction of the load carried by the fibres when both the fibres and
matrix are being loaded elastically parallel to the fibres.
(d) Assuming neither the matrix or fibres deform plastically, which breaks first on
continuous loading when loaded parallel to the fibres?
(e) Sketch the deformation you will get if this unidirectional laminate is loaded at 45

Applied Science 278

10

Q7.

3
2
2
3

10
3
2
2
3

Final Exam

7 December 2011

A type 1 cement typically has the following composition:

C3S
55%
C2S
20%
12%
C3A
C4AF
9%
(a) Discuss the strengthening role of each constituent during the setting and hardening
processes.
(b) Discuss the role of air entrainment agents.
(c) What is the purpose of a slump test?
(d) Compare and contrast the failure mechanisms of concrete and reinforced concrete
when loaded in bending.
Q8
(a) Polyethylene (PE) is semicrystalline. Discuss with the aid of a sketch the nature of
its crystalline and amorphous molecular structure.
(b) Why does PE become transparent when deformed?
(c) Discuss why PE fibres such as Spectra have such high strength and modulus
values.
(d) What happens to the internal bonding of an amorphous polymeric structure at the
glass transition temperature? Sketch the modulus vs temperature curve for such
a material, and identify the Tg.

Applied Science 278

Final Exam

Useful Formulae

RT

y
x

z
z

E 2G1

s K 2 n exp

DPn nn

Mn
m

Qv
N v N exp

RT

DPw nw

Mw
m

theoretical

1
Ur y
2
2E
2
y

toughness

y u
2

T K Tn

a
k l

rate Ae Q

RT

t recrx Ae Q RT
o kyd

2r

s K 1 n
NA=6.023 x 1023 atoms/mol

rd n
or r n

min
max

M n xi M i

i.e. d

t o exp

Er ( t )

t
o

Ewll Es
s
1

Ew Es
s

Ec E f V f E mVm

Ec

K Y a
K
B 2.5 Ic
y

f y

R = 8.314 Jmol-1K-1

L Nd sin( )
2

2 E s p

n 2d sin

2 E s
c

nA / N A
Vc

a
m o 1 2

a
m 2 o
t

T ln1

d hkl

E
10

R cos cos

T 1

7 December 2011

Em E f
EmV f E f Vm

Ff
Ef Vf
=
Fm
Em Vm

Ff
E f / Em
=
E f / Em Vm / Vf
Fc

lc

*f d
2 c

Ec=KEfVf + EmVm

M w wi M i

Figure A.1 Iron Carbon Phase diagram

Element
Aluminum
Bromine
Carbon
Chlorine
Copper
Fluorine
Gold
Hydrogen
Nickel
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Titanium
Tungsten
Zinc

Symbol
Al
Br
C
Cl
Cu
F
Au
H
Ni
N
O
Ti
W
Zn

Table A1 Characteristics of selected elements

Atomic Number
Atomic Weight(gmol-1)
13
26.98
35
79.90
6
12.011
17
35.45
29
63.55
9
19.00
79
196.97
1
1.008
28
58.69
7
14.007
8
16.00
22
47.88
74
183.85
30
65.39

Density (gcm-3)
2.71
2.25
8.94
19.32
8.90
4.51
19.3
7.13