Materials Science and Engineering (edX)

Materials Science and Engineering is an engineering course aimed at delivering fundamental knowledge and skills in materials science.

It is a well-known fact that the key driver for technological progress was people’s aspiration for continuous improvement of the quality of life. As a result, the demand for new materials increased significantly and a lot of existing materials were upgraded.
Materials Science is the very course that enables people to design and develop competitive products which form the basis of any modern manufacturing. Materials scientists and engineers are one of the most highly paid and in-demand specialists in our high tech age.
In the Materials Science and Engineering course you will learn how to establish correlations between the composition, structure and properties of metal alloys and non-metal materials, as well as manage their mechanical, electrical, optical and magnetic properties, which is pivotal for the construction of new progressive materials.
The course content is closely related to chemical, mechanical, electrical, computing, and bio- and civil engineering.
This course considers:

• How the physical properties of metals, ceramics polymers and composites are correlated with their internal structures (on atomic, molecular, crystalline, micro- and macro- scales) and operational conditions (mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical and magnetic).
• Microstructure and composition analysis methods, such as X-ray diffraction analysis and Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy.
• How materials processing, e.g. mechanical working and heat treatment, affects their properties and performance.
• The latest achievements in Materials Science and Engineering.

The course is delivered by professor Alexander Mukasyan, whose exceptionally rich expertise in materials science and engineering will enable you to successfully acquire the essential basis of engineering education.

What you'll learn

• Basic materials science concepts, such as classes of materials and their primary properties.
• General information about Materials Science and its role in society.
• Elastic and thermodynamic properties of materials on the basis of the electron structure of atoms and the specific types of atomic interactions within the material.
• The major correlation between the mechanical properties of materials and their atomic structure.
• Polymorphic Transformations, Defects in Solids, Grains and Grain Boundaries on the Nano and Micro-Scales.
• General information related to the classification of crystals and correlation between mechanical properties and crystal structure of materials.
• Complex techniques which allow engineers to alter the properties of materials by modifying their microstructure.
• Basic information about the diffraction and interference of different types of rays and how to use them to analyse the crystal structure of materials.
• General information about Transmission Electron Microscopy – one of the most powerful tools of modern microscopy, capable of direct observation of atoms in materials.
• Overview of the scanning electron microscopy – from the most widely used materials investigation techniques to state-of-art integrated nano-laboratories.

Syllabus

Week 1. Classification of the Materials
Week 2. Atomic Scale: Atomic Bonding, Bond Energy, Bond Stiffness. Atomic Structure and Mechanical Properties of Materials
Week 3. Crystal Lattice Scale of the Materials: Crystal Structures and Their Properties
Week 4. How to Shape the Microstructure and the Mechanical Properties of the Materials
Week 5. X-ray Diffraction Analysis of the Materials. Transmission Electron Microscopy
Week 6. Advanced Scanning Electron Microscopy
Week 7. Final Exam