NON METALLIC MATERIALS

Contents
1) Types of materials.
2) Selection of materials and its criteria.
3) Non-metallic Materials definition.
4) Various types of non metalic materials.
1) ceramics
2) polymers
3) composites
5) conclusion.

TYPES OF MATERIALS

SELECTION OF MATERIALS
Selection of material for the machine component is one of the most

important steps in the process of machine design.

The following factor should be considered while selecting the material
Availability- The material should be readily available in the market ,in

large enough quantity to meet the requirement

Cost- For every application, there is limiting cost beyond which the

designer cannot go. It is likely that the cost of material might be low, but
the processing may involve costly machine operation.
Mechanical properties- The important mechanical properties of materials

from the considerations of design are Strength, rigidity, toughness,

resilience, frictional properties , wear resistance, creep characteristics,
corrosion resistance, hardness etc.

These properties are measured in terms of following quantities

Strength (static load)

Ultimate tensile strength or tensile yield strength

Strength (fluctuating
load)

Endurance strength

Rigidity

Modulus of elasticity

ductility

Percentage of elongation

Hardness

Brinell or rockwell hardness number

toughness

Charpy or Izod impact value

Frictional properties

Coefficient of friction

NON METALLIC MATERIAL

Non-metallic Materials - Materials that do not have the
properties of, or do not contain, metal and that are able to combine
with hydrogen to form stable compounds, acids, acidic oxides, and
anions.

Non-metal
Ceramics

Organic polymers

Composite

 CeramicsThe word ceramic is described from Greek, Keramos through the

group of materials now so described includes glass, products, cements,
and plasters, some abrasive and cutting tool materials, building
materials such as bricks, tiles and drain pipes, various electrical
insulation materials etc.

The term ceramics is applied to a range of inorganic materials of

widely varying uses. generally these materials these materials are non
metallic and in most cases have been treated at a high temperature at
some stage during manufacture.
Ceramics materials can be classified conveniently into four main
groups1) Amorphous ceramics.
2) crystalline ceramics.
3) Bonded ceramics .
4) cements.

Types of ceramics
Amorphous Ceramics-

These are substances referred to generally as glasses . They include

those such as obsidian which occurs naturally and glasses used for the
manufacturing of bottles, windows, and lenses.
Crystalline Ceramics-

These may be single phase materials like magnesium oxide or

aluminium oxide or various mixtures of materials such as these. In
addition some carbides and nitrides belongs to this groups.
Bonded Ceramics-

Materials in which individual crystals are bonded together by a glassy

matrix as in large number of products derived from day.
Cements-

cements a number of these arte crystalline but some may contain

both crystalline and amorphous.

Properties of ceramic materials

1) Optical properties- many types of glasses have been used for the
production of windows and optical lenses. A number of special
glasses have also been employed for selective transmission or
absorption of particular wavelength such as infrared and ultraviolet.
2) Thermal properties- ceramics posses favourable properties at high
temperature and under oxidation conditions.
3) Electrical conductivity- Although many ceramics are insulators of them
of course conduct electricity quite well at room temperature and
constitute a very special class of semi-conductors.
e.g.)porcelain, steatite, forsterite, and alumina etc.
4) Mechanical propertiesa) Non-ductile stress concentration has little or no effect on
compressive strength.

b) The compressive strength several times more than the tensile strength.
c) Temp rigidity is high.
d) The ceramic materials posses ionic and covalent bonds which impact
high modulus of elasticity etc.
e) Below recrystallisation temperature, non-crystalline ceramics are fully
brittle.
f) In case of alloy consisting of two or metal, each phase many have
appreciable difference of coefficient of thermal expansion which
generate stress. This stress may then cause the metal to fail.

Application of ceramic materials1)

Ceramic materials are used in electrical and electronics industry

because of their high electrical resistivity , dielectrical strength and
magnetic properties suitable for applications such as magnets for
speakers.

2)

The capability of ceramics to maintain their strength and stiffness at

elevated temperatures makes them very attractive for high temperature
applications.
3) High resistance to wear makes them suitable for applications such as
cylinder liners, bushings, seals, and bearing.
4) Internal combustion engines are only about 30% efficient, but with
the use of ceramic components their operating performance can be
improved by at least 30%
5) Ceramic materials have been used successfully especially in gasoline
and diesel engine components and as rotors, are silicon nitride,
silicon carbide, and partially stabilised zircon.
6) High speed components for machine tools.
7) Ceramics are also used to coat metal which may be done to reduce
wear, prevent corrosion and a thermal barrier.
8) Silicon-nitride ceramics are also used as ball bearing and rollers.
because of their strength and inertness.

Polymers
Polymers means many units (poly=many, mer=units) is composed of a

large number of repetitive called monomers or simple molecules.

Thus a polymers is made up of thousands of monomers joined

chemically together to form a large molecules.

It has been observed that each molecule of polymer is either a long

chain or a network of repetitive units or monomers.

Classification of polymers
1) Thermoplastic polymers.

2) Thermosetting polymers.

A) Thermoplastic polymersThermoplastic polymers are the polymers which become soft and
deformable when heated, which is characteristic of linear polymeric
molecules.
2) Thermoplastic materials are similar to metals that again ductility a
high temperatures. It has been noted that, as with metal, the ductility
of thermoplastics polymers is reduced by cooling.
3) These polymers are noted in engineering polymers, which retain
good strength and stiffness up to 150-175 degree Celsius.
4) Although polymers can not, in general, be expected to duplicate fully
the mechanical behaviour of traditional metal alloy, a major effort is
made to produce some polymers with sufficient strength and stiffness
to be serious candidates for structural applications once dominated
by metal.
5) It has been estimated that industry has developed more than half a
million engineering polymers part design part design specifying
nylon.
1)

B) Thermosetting polymersThermosetting polymers are the polymers which are the opposite of
thermoplastics. They become hard and rigid when heating.
2) Common thermo-setting polymers which is subdivided into two
categories, thermosetting and elastomers. In this case, thermosets
refers to materials that share with the engineering polymers.
3) Significant strength and stiffness so as to be common Metal
substitutes. However , thermosets have the disadvantages of not
being recyclable and in general, having less variable techniques.
4) In addition to the many applications found. Such as films foams and
coatings. The adhesive serves to join the surfaces of two solids by
secondary faces similar to those between molecular chain in
thermoplastics.
1)

mechanical properties of polymers

Materials

Specific gravity

Tensile strength

Compressive
strength

polyamide

1.04-1.14

70

50-90

Low density
polythene

0.92-0.94

7-20

acetal

1.41-1.42

55-70

polyurethane

1.21-1.26

35-60

25-80

Teflon

2.14-2.20

10-25

10-12

C) Synthetic Rubbers
Synthetic rubbers or elastomers are manufactured from raw materials such as
coke, limestone, petroleum, natural gas, salt, alcohol, ammonia, coal tar etc.
We can say that the processing of synthetic rubbers involved approximately
the same steps as that of natural rubber. moreover, some of the properties of
the synthetic rubbers are better than those of natural rubbers.
Example, some synthetic rubbers are more resistant to sunlight than the
natural rubbers. Similarly , some synthetic rubbers have greater solvent
resistance and other have greater elasticity than that of natural rubber.
Some important synthetic rubbers are-

1)silicon rubbers
4)butadiene rubbers

2)polyurethane rubbers
5)butyl rubbers

3)nitrite rubbers
6)polychloroprenes etc.

Properties of engineering polymers

The following are the properties of engineering polymers1)
2)

3)
4)
5)
6)

7)
8)
9)
10)
11)

Polymers have good corrosion resistance.

Low density
Low co-efficient of friction.
Temperature resistance.
Poor tensile strength.
Good mouldability.
Modulus of elasticity.
Light weight.
Polymers are good thermal and electrical insulators.
Good resistance to chemicals.
High coefficient of thermal expansion.

Application of polymers
Several inorganic materials have structure composed of building
blocks connected in chain and network configurations.
2) The rear quarter panel on this sports car was a pioneering application
of an engineering polymers in a traditional structural metal
application.
3) In automotive industry engineering polymers are used.
4) Consumer and industrial products made of polymers include food
and beverage containers, packing, housewares, textiles, medical
devices foam, paints, safety, shields and toys.
5) Relative humidity is a design consideration for the use of nylons.
1)

Composite materials
Composite materials comprising two or more different materials

bonded together having combined properties of constituents are called

as composites.
In its simplest form composites consists of two independent and

dissimilar materials.
The common example of composites used in everyday life are plywood,

vehicle tyres etc. plywood is the composites of thin sheets of wood with
grains of alternate sheets perpendicular to each other and bonded
together by a polymer in between them.

Classification of composite materials

Properties of composite materials

1)

The properties such as strength resistance to heat or some other

properties of composite materials are better than the properties of
the individual materials from which they are made.

2)

The specific strength is sometimes referred to as the strength to

weight ratio.

3)

Composite materials have stiffness, toughness, creep resistance.

4)

Properties like density and heat capacity depend on the amount of

each phase and are independent of microstructure.

5)

Properties like elastic modulus, thermal and electrical conductivities

depends upon geometry of the constituents as well as to their volume
fraction.

Application of composite materials

Carboncarbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber. Carbon fiber is a material
consisting of fibers about 5-10m in diameter and composed mostly of
carbon atom.

Glassfiber glass also called glass reinforce plastic. Glass fiber Reinforced
plastic is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced
by fine fibers of glass.

AramidAramid fiber a class of heat resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They
are used in aerospace and military application.

Application of composite materials

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Composite materials to be used in certain application like space

vehicles.
Aircrafts.
Rockets.
High pressure vessels.
Building construction.
Aerospace.
Fuel efficient automobiles.

Types & uses of materials

Reinforced plastic with fibreglass

makes the material to withstand high
compressive as well as tensile stresses

References
1) Bhandari, V. B. Machine Design data book, Tata McGraw Hill
Publication Co. Ltd.

2) Material Science & Metallurgy For Engineers, Dr. V.D. Kodgire & S.
V. Kodgire,Everest Publication.
3) Engineering Metallurgy, Higgins R. A., Viva books Pvt. Ltd., 2004.
4) Material Science & Engg. Raghvan V., Prentice Hall of India , New
Delhi. 2003.