Materials and nanotechnology

Mechanical Behaviour of Materials (6 cfu)

• This course will examine how the microstructure of a material determines its mechanical behaviour ranging from the continuum description of properties to the atomistic and molecular mechanisms that confer those properties to all materials. We will cover elastic and plastic deformation, creep, fracture and fatigue of materials including crystalline and amorphous metals, semiconductors, ceramics, and (bio)polymers, and will focus on the design and processing of materials from the atomic to the macroscale to achieve desired mechanical behavior.
  
  Topics include:
  
  • Introduction to deformation behaviour: Concept of stresses and strains, engineering stresses and strains, Different types of loading and temperature encountered in applications, Tensile Test - stress-strain response for metal, ceramic and polymer, elastic region, yield point, plastic deformation, necking and fracture, Bonding and Material Behaviour, theoretical estimates of yield strength in metals and ceramics.
  • Elasticity (the State of Stress and strain, stress and strain tensor, tensor transformation, principal stress and strain, elastic stress-strain relation, anisotropy, elastic behaviour of metals, ceramics and polymers.).
  • Viscoelasticity (Molecular foundations of polymer viscoelasticity. Rouse-Bueche theory, Boltzmann superposition principle, mechanical models, distribution of relaxation and retardation times, interrelationships between mechanical spectra, the glass transition, secondary relaxations, dielectric relaxations).
  • Plasticity (Hydrostatic and Deviatoric stress, Octahedral stress, yield criteria and yield surface, texture and distortion of yield surface, Limitation of engineering strain at large deformation, true stress and true strain, effective stress, effective strain, flow rules, strain hardening, Ramberg-Osgood equation, stress -strain relation in plasticity, plastic deformation of metals and polymers).
  • Microscopic view of plastic deformation: crystals and defects, classification of defects, thermodynamics of defects, geometry of dislocations, slip and glide, dislocation generation - Frank Read and grain boundary sources, stress and strain field around dislocations, force on dislocation - self-stress, dislocation interactions, partial dislocations, twinning, dislocation movement and strain rate, deformation behavior of single crystal, critical resolved shear stress (CRSS), deformation of poly-crystals - Hall-Petch and other hardening mechanisms, grain size effect - source limited plasticity, Hall-Petch breakdown, dislocations in ceramics and glasses.
  • Effects of microstructure on the mechanics of polymeric media: deformation modes, yield, rubber toughening, alloys and blends.
  • Fracture mechanics (energetics of fracture growth, plasticity at the fracture tip, measurement of fracture toughness, - Linear fracture mechanics -KIC, elasto-plastic fracture mechanics - JIC, Measurement and ASTM standards, Design based on fracture mechanics, effect of environment, effect of microstructure on KIC and JIC, application of fracture mechanics in the design of metals, ceramics, polymers and composites, damage tolerance design, elements of fractography).
  • Fatigue (S-N curves, low- and high-cycle fatigue, laboratory testing in fatigue, residual stress, surface and environmental effects, fatigue of cracked components, designing out fatigue failure,Life cycle prediction, Fatigue in metals, ceramics, polymers and composites)
  • Creep in crystalline materials (stress-strain-time relationship, creep testing, different stages of creep, creep mechanisms and creep mechanism maps, diffusion, creep and stress rupture, creep under multi-axial loading,microstructural aspects of creep and design of creep resistant alloys, high temperature deformation of ceramics and polymers)
  
  

6 cfu a scelta nel gruppo GR3: Discipline Chimiche e Fisiche

• UNo a scelta tra: Computational Materials Science e Chemistry of Soft Matter

• Computational Materials Science (6 cfu)

  • Quantum mechanical approaches, Density Functional Theory, many-body approaches. Multiscale approaches: quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics, coarse graining, polarizable continua. Electronic properties. Excited electronic states and UV-vis spectroscopy. Vibrations, IR and Raman spectroscopy. Dynamicaleffects.
    

• Chemistry of Soft Matter (6 cfu)

  • The course aims at: -Understanding the general concepts of the chemistry of polymers, colloids and interfaces. -Knowing key methods of polymerisation, and their applicability in soft matter. -Explaining the polymeric properties, and the methods utilised to assess these properties. -Explaining the relationships between polymer preparation, structure and properties. -Describing the applications of polymers and understanding which polymers are suitable for which applications. Course outline Fundamentals of soft polymeric materials with special emphasis on the definition, classification, structure of monomers and polymers, their tacticity and molecular weight. Polymer chemistry (synthesis of polymers and the different mechanisms involved), polymer physics (the semi-crystalline state, the thermal transitions in polymers, structure-property relationships) and the mechanical behaviour of macromolecules are also described. Surface tension, adsorption and surface activity, micelle formation and colloids: examples and applications. General description of the importance of physical and chemical properties of soft matter as applied in advanced materials.
    

Computational Materials Science (6 cfu)

• Quantum mechanical approaches, Density Functional Theory, many-body approaches. Multiscale approaches: quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics, coarse graining, polarizable continua. Electronic properties. Excited electronic states and UV-vis spectroscopy. Vibrations, IR and Raman spectroscopy. Dynamicaleffects.
  

Chemistry of Soft Matter (6 cfu)

• The course aims at: -Understanding the general concepts of the chemistry of polymers, colloids and interfaces. -Knowing key methods of polymerisation, and their applicability in soft matter. -Explaining the polymeric properties, and the methods utilised to assess these properties. -Explaining the relationships between polymer preparation, structure and properties. -Describing the applications of polymers and understanding which polymers are suitable for which applications. Course outline Fundamentals of soft polymeric materials with special emphasis on the definition, classification, structure of monomers and polymers, their tacticity and molecular weight. Polymer chemistry (synthesis of polymers and the different mechanisms involved), polymer physics (the semi-crystalline state, the thermal transitions in polymers, structure-property relationships) and the mechanical behaviour of macromolecules are also described. Surface tension, adsorption and surface activity, micelle formation and colloids: examples and applications. General description of the importance of physical and chemical properties of soft matter as applied in advanced materials.
  

6 cfu a scelta nel gruppo GR4: Discipline dell'ingegneria

• Uno a scelta tra: Biomaterials, Transport Phenomena in Materials e Electron Microscopy of Nanomaterials

• Transport Phenomena in Materials (6 cfu)

  • This course deals with solid-state diffusion, homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reactions, and spinodal decomposition. Topics covered include: heat conduction in solids, convective and radiative heat transfer boundary conditions; fluid dynamics, 1-D solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations, boundary layer theory, turbulent flow, and coupling with heat conduction and diffusion in fluids to calculate heat and mass transfer coefficients. Course outline The following aspects will be treated: 1. Mathematical Review Differential operators (gradient, divergence, curl, laplacian) and tensors in cartesian and curvilinear (spherical, cylindrical) coordinates. Eulerian and Lagrangian derivatives. 2. Momentum and Heat Transport in Materials Mass conservation: the continuity equation. Momentum flux and stress tensor. Newtonian and non-newtonian fluids. Momentum conservation: the motion equation and related boundary conditions. Bernoulli’s theorem. Flow fields in ducts and past solid bodies. Creeping and potential flow. Laminar and turbulent regimes. Heat flux: Fourier’s law. Energy conservation: the internal-energy equation. Velocity and temperature pertubations in bounded and unbounded systems. Adimensional transport equations and adimensional numbers. 3. Diffusion in Multi-Component Materials Average mass and molar velocity. Absolute and relative fluxes. Mass flux: diffusion mechanisms and generalized Fick’s law. Continuity, motion and internal-energy equations for multi-component systems in dimensional and adimensional forms. Concentration perturbations. 4. Numerical Methods for Transport Equations Finite-difference methods: consistency, convergence, stability. Overview of finite-element methods. 5. Illustrative Applications in Materials Science Flow problems in polymer technology. Anisotropic flows and orientation dynamics in liquid crystals. Heterogeneous catalysts: diffusion with chemical reaction, kinetic control.
    

• Biomaterials (6 cfu)

  • This course of Biomaterials is designed to provide a general understanding of the multidisciplinary field of biomaterials, and to give a key focus on new products arising from nanotechnology. Specifically, it aims at developing in the attendants all the necessary skills as well as the fundamental theoretical and technical competences with the ultimate goal to have graduated students who can successfully interface with the multidisciplinary scenario of biomaterials-related products and technologies, both in industrial and research environments. The current and innovative applications of biomaterials will be evaluated to highlight the connections existing between material properties, function, biological responses and clinical applications. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this topic, both teamwork and self-learning will be stimulated. After the completion of the course, the students will be able to: • Understand the interaction between biomaterials and biologic systems, • Understand the fundamental principles of biomaterials and their properties, • Know the advanced biofabrication techniques (from macro-to-nanoscale), • Know the modern analytical and imaging techniques for characterization of biomaterials, • Know the most important regulatory aspects for clinical translation, • Demonstrate effective communication and teamwork skills through technical presentations and reports, • Demonstrate capability of to understand the scientific literature. Contents Biocompatibility and material-cell/tissue/organ interactions. Classes of materials used in medicine (synthetic and biologic polymers, metals, ceramics, composites, graft tissues). Properties of materials (chemical, physical, mechanical, architectural, surface). Exploiting biomaterial properties for medical purposes. Advanced biofabrication techniques (nano and microfiber manufacturing, nanoparticle and nanotube synthesis). Techniques for biomaterials characterization. Biological testing of biomaterials. Application of materials in medicine, biology and artificial organs: tissue engineering, drug delivery, nanomedicine. Regulatory aspects involving biomaterial devices.
    

• Electron Microscopy of Nanomaterials (6 cfu)

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Transport Phenomena in Materials (6 cfu)

• This course deals with solid-state diffusion, homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reactions, and spinodal decomposition. Topics covered include: heat conduction in solids, convective and radiative heat transfer boundary conditions; fluid dynamics, 1-D solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations, boundary layer theory, turbulent flow, and coupling with heat conduction and diffusion in fluids to calculate heat and mass transfer coefficients. Course outline The following aspects will be treated: 1. Mathematical Review Differential operators (gradient, divergence, curl, laplacian) and tensors in cartesian and curvilinear (spherical, cylindrical) coordinates. Eulerian and Lagrangian derivatives. 2. Momentum and Heat Transport in Materials Mass conservation: the continuity equation. Momentum flux and stress tensor. Newtonian and non-newtonian fluids. Momentum conservation: the motion equation and related boundary conditions. Bernoulli’s theorem. Flow fields in ducts and past solid bodies. Creeping and potential flow. Laminar and turbulent regimes. Heat flux: Fourier’s law. Energy conservation: the internal-energy equation. Velocity and temperature pertubations in bounded and unbounded systems. Adimensional transport equations and adimensional numbers. 3. Diffusion in Multi-Component Materials Average mass and molar velocity. Absolute and relative fluxes. Mass flux: diffusion mechanisms and generalized Fick’s law. Continuity, motion and internal-energy equations for multi-component systems in dimensional and adimensional forms. Concentration perturbations. 4. Numerical Methods for Transport Equations Finite-difference methods: consistency, convergence, stability. Overview of finite-element methods. 5. Illustrative Applications in Materials Science Flow problems in polymer technology. Anisotropic flows and orientation dynamics in liquid crystals. Heterogeneous catalysts: diffusion with chemical reaction, kinetic control.