Q.

1 Use the E chart to establish whether woods have a higher specific stiffness E / than epoxies
Answer:
Higher specific stiffness which is characterized by E/ . We can see from the graph that
normally woods have higher specific stiffness than epoxies while woods are tested in the parallel of the
grain and woods have same values as epoxies if we inspect it from the perpendicular to the grain.
Materials such as bamboo wood have higher specific stiffness than epoxies in parallel to the grain and PS
wood perpendicular to the grain have nearly same value of epoxies. Bamboo wood, PS wood, epoxies etc
are highlighted in the graph given below.

So, we can say in general woods have higher strength than epoxies which is much higher in the direction
Parallel to the grain.

Q.2 Do titanium alloys have a higher or lower specific strength (strength/density,f / than tungsten
alloys? This is important when you want strength at low weight (landing gear of aircraft, mountain bikes).
Use the chart of to decide

Answer

Titanium alloys have a higher specific strength. This is shown in by

highlighting and scaling below

Q.3 The elastic deflection at fracture (the resilience) of an elastic-brittle solid is proportional to the
failure strain, f = f / E, where is the stress that will cause a crack to propagate:

f = K / (c) ^1/2
Where, K1C is the fracture toughness and c is the length of the longest crack the materials may contain.
Materials that can deflect elastically without fracturing are therefore those with large values of K 1C / E.
Identify the class of materials with K1C > 1 MPa.m^1/2 and high values of K1C/E.
Answer:
The class of materials with Kic >1 MPa.m and having higher values of K1C/E may be found
from a fracture toughness modulus chart.
Translation: We need a material which have Kic >1 and high values Kic/E
Selection: Two criteria M1= Kic>1 and M2= Large values of Kic/E by painting them on the chart we get
ceramics , plastics and polymer for our purpose having selecting Kic/E >10 -3.. among them polymers and
elastomers have highest value . So, our choice should be a polymer .
1/2

Q.4 Bells ring because they have a low loss (or damping) coefficient, , a high damping gives a dead
sound. Use the loss coefficient-modulus ( - E) chart to identify material that should make good bells.

Keep in mind the processing limitations when working with various materials; specify (a) a material for
large church bells and (b) a material for a small ornamental bell for use as a Christmas tree decoration.
Justify your choice in each case based on minimising the ratio of / E.

Answer
At first a ( - E) chart is shown below:

For (b) Translation : a material for a small ornamental bell for use as a
Christmas tree decoration we only need low loss damping coefficient because
it is small.
Constrains: small loss coefficient
Selection: Copper alloys which are traditionally used should suffice although it has low E but cost
is low too.
For (a) Translation: a material for large church bells will be large and so should have

high stiffness E
Constrains: High stiffness and low loss coefficient
Selection: SIC is such a material which have high E but low loss
coefficient. Even silicon nitride would do too and both of them are costly

Q.5 The window through which the beam emerges from a high-powered laser must obviously be
transparent to light. Even then, some of the energy of the beam is absorbed in the window and can cause it
to heat and crack. This problem is minimized by choosing a window material with a high thermal
conductivity (to conduct the heat away) and a low expansion coefficient (to reduce thermal strains),
that is, by seeking a window material with a high values of
M=/
Use the chart to identify the best material for an ultra-high powered laser window
Answer
To find the window material of the asked criteria we need a - chart which is shown below

ratio

Translation: The material should be transparent hence glasses and have high
/ ratio.
Constrains: high / ratio and transparent
Selection: As for the window material the material should transparent our
search should be in the glass region and among the glasses there are soda
glass which have M(M= / greater than 105 Borosilicate have M nearly as 5
105 and silica glass have M greater than 106 .

So, with high transparency and with high / the material should be silica
glass.