Professional Documents
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A. HARDNESS
- Of a material is its resistance to scratching by a hard object. It is measured by the penetration
by a hard sphere, a cone, and a pyramid that is pressed into the surface with a known force.
VARIOUS HARDNESS TESTS
1. Rockwell Hardness Tests are the most rapid and the most popular. They measure the depth of
penetration of the hard indenter under a selected load.
2. Brinell Hardness Tests one presses a sphere into the surface with the force P and measures the
diameter of the indent left after the load has been removed; it is used to test materials that have a
structure that is too coarse or have a surface that is too rough to be tested by other methods by
forging and casting.
3. Vickers Hardness Tests is the preferred method for the scientific characteristic of materials.
4. Knoop Hardness Tests is a variant of the Vickers test, designed to measure the hardness of
narrow samples (such as cross sections of thin sheets or coatings).
FRACTURE
- Is the separation of material or an object into two or more pieces under the action of stress
1. DUCTILE FRACTURE is accompanied by large strains and extensive plastic
deformation in the region of the crack tip.
2. BRITTLE FRACTURE propagates rapidly and leaves surfaces that can often be fitted
together.
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
- Is the maximum combination of stress and crack length that does not lead to propagation.
THE MEASUREMENT OF FRACTURE RESISTANCE
1. Fracture Toughness
2. Charpy and Izod Measurements of Notch Toughness
a. Charpy Test - is a standardized high strain-rate test which determines the amount of
energy absorbed by a material during fracture.
b. Izod Test - is an ASTM standard method of determining the impact resistance of
materials. A pivoting arm is raised to a specific height (constant potential energy) and
then released. The arm swings down hitting the sample, breaking the specimen.
FATIGUE
- Is the failure by fracture of structures that are subjected to repeated or cyclic loading.
CREEP
- At temperatures of about half of the melting point and above, materials undergo timedependent plastic straining when loaded.; it can occur at stress levels less than the yield
strength.
- Primary creep, secondary creep, tertiary creep
NOTES:
1. A force applied to a solid induces stresses in its interior. In a simple geometry, such as a bar, the
stress is the force divided by the cross-section of the piece. Tensile stress increase the length of
material; compressive stresses decrease its length. Shear stresses result from a couple of forces
in opposite directions.
2. Elastic deformation is instantaneous and reversible.
3. In case of metals, the yield stress is the stress at which plastic deformation starts; the ultimate
tensile stress is the largest stress that a material can sustain before fracture; the ductility is the
largest deformation of the material before fracture; and work hardening is the increase in strength
due to plastic deformation.
4. Residual stresses remain in the material in the absence of external forces. They are caused by
uneven cooling or plastic deformation.
5. In hardness tests, one measures the penetration of a hard object pressed into the surface with a
known force.
6. Ductile fracture occurs after extensive plastic deformation; it occurs by the formation and
coalescence of voids and shearing.
7. Brittle fracture occurs by the propagation of cracks that usually nucleate at the surface.
8. Resilience is the maximum energy a solid can absorb elastically. Toughness is the maximum
energy a metal can absorb by plastic deformation.
9. Fracture toughness is the resistance to fracture.
10. The fracture toughness of ceramic is well defined, the fracture stress is not a precise measure
because fracture is caused by small cracks of unknown length.
11. Steels and some other materials exhibit a fatigue limit. This is a stress below which no fatigue
failure occurs.
12. Creep is the slow plastic deformation due to diffusion of atoms at high temperatures. It occurs at
stresses below the yield stress.
B. DEFORMATION OF METALS AND CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
PLASTIC DEFORMATION is intimately related to the crystal structure of materials.
MECHANISMS OF PLASTIC DEFORMATION
1. Only crystalline metals can be deformed plastically. Amorphous metals (metglasses) are as hard
and brittle as glass.
2. The plastic deformation of metals requires surprisingly small shear stresses. Unless they are
processed specifically for high strength, pure metals are quite soft.
3. When one deforms a single crystal, one observes that plastic deformation occurs by slip of
selected crystal planes.
4. Plastic deformation of metals can occur at room temperature. The required stresses depend only
slightly on temperature, in stark contrast to the viscous flow of liquid and glasses.
5. Plastic deformation can be very rapid as evidenced by modern stamping methods. The stresses
for rapid deformation are only slightly larger than for slow deformation.
THE CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF METALS
CRYSTALS are arranged in regular, periodic, three dimensional structures.
a. HCP (Hexagonal Close Packed) Structure is obtained by placing a third layer so that its atoms
are directly above those of the first.
b. FCC (Face Centered Cubic) Structure is a cube with atoms as its corners and in the centers of
its faces.
c. BCC (Body Centered Cubic) Structure its unit cell has atoms at the corners and one in the
center of the cell
d. Atomic Radii - of a chemical element is a measure of the size of its atoms, usually the mean or
typical distance from the center of the nucleus to the boundary of the surrounding cloud of
electrons.
e. Atomic Packing Factor packing efficiency or packing fraction is the fraction of volume in a
crystal structure that is occupied by constituent particles. It is dimensionless and always less than
unity.
f. The density of the material the crystal structure allows to calculate the density of a material.
g. Allotropy is the ability of certain materials to exist in different crystal structures.
DEFECTS IN CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
POINT DEFECTS
a. Vacancies is a missing atom at a lattice site.
b. Interstitial Atoms atoms that do not occupy regular crystalline positions but sit in interstices
between regular atoms. They can be host atoms or impurities.
c. Impurities foreign atoms in the material
DISLOCATIONS
-plays a central role in plastic deformation.
a. edge dislocation can be imagined to arise by inserting an extra half plane of atoms.
b. screw dislocation can be imagined to arise by first making a cut halfway into the lattice
c.
Grain growth at elevated temperatures, the size of the larger grains increases, and the small
grains disappear.
Material selection
Annealing
Introduce compressive residual stresses
Fine grain structure
Polished surfaces
Design for fracture resistance: avoid stress concentrations
CREEP RESISTANCE sought through the development of refractory alloys with high melting
temperatures.
MECHANICAL FORMING OF METALS
a. Rolling the billet is introduced between two large rolls. Examples: sheet metals, bars, rails, and
I-beams
b. Forging the metal is hammered until it acquires the desired shape.
c. Extrusion bars of complex shape are produced by this where the metal is pushed through a die
of the desired shape by a ram.
d. Stamping used in the fabrication of car bodies and many other objects.
e. Deep drawing is the plastic deformation of a thin sheet to fabricate soda cans, cooking pans or
other deep hollow objects.
CUTTING AND MACHINING
a. Drilling - is a cutting process that uses a drill bit to cut a hole of circular cross-section in solid
materials. The drill bit is usually a rotary cutting tool, often multipoint.
b. Milling - is the machining process of using rotary cutters to remove material from a workpiece by
advancing (or feeding) in a direction at an angle with the axis of the tool. It covers a wide variety
of different operations and machines, on scales from small individual parts to large, heavy-duty
gang milling operations.
c. Sawing - a tool or device for cutting, typically a thin blade of metal with a series of sharp teeth.
d. Grinding is the removal of material from surfaces by the penetration of small very hard grains of
ceramic, often diamond.
NOTES:
1. In general, crystal defects increase the strength of a metal because they impede the movement of
dislocations.
2. Solution strengthening is the increase in strength due to foreign atoms dissolved in the host
metal.
3. In precipitation hardening grains (precipitates) of a foreign substance impede dislocation
movement.
4. Grain refining increases the strength of a metal because grain boundaries are obstacles to
dislocation movement.
5. Work hardening is the increase in the strength of metal caused by deformation. The deformation
increases the densities of dislocations which impede each others movement.
1. Interesting properties can be obtained by preventing thermal equilibrium and exploiting the
kinetics of phase transitions.
2. In a phase transition, the new phase is first nucleated; it then grows by diffusion of atoms in the
materials.
3. Nucleation is a competition between the driving force (a decrease in free energy) and an energy
barrier (the interfacial energy between new and old phase)
4. Diffusion is the random motion of atoms or molecules. Diffusion rates increase rapidly with
temperature.
5. Slow cooling causes slow nucleation and rapid diffusion; it produces coarse structures.
6. Rapid cooling causes raid nucleation and slow diffusion; it produces fine structures.
7. Quenching of steels causes a cooling rate that is too high for nucleation of pearlite and produces
martensite.
8. Martensite is a very disordered structure that is extremely hard and brittle.
9. Tempered steel is martensite that has been reheated to restore some ductility.
10. Hardenability measures the thickness of steel that can be transformed into martensite. It can be
increased by the alloying with nickel.
11. Aluminum containing 5% Cu can be hardened by a heat treatment because of the limited
solubility of Cu.
12. Alloys based on most nonferrous metals can be hardened by a precipitation heat treatment.
F. METALLIC ALLOYS AND THEIR USE
Metals are divide into:
a. Ferrous alloys are produced in tonnages 10 times those of aluminum and copper-base alloys
combined.
a.1 Steels
a.1.1 Plain carbon steels for structural applications (skycrapers and bridges); contains
0.20 to 1.2% carbon and 0.45 to 0.8% manganese,
a.2 HSLA (High-strength Low-Alloy) Steels can be achieved in steels by addition of small
amounts, usually less than 1% of chromium, nickel, tungsten, vanadium, titanium, niobium
(columbium) and aluminum.
a.2.1 Stainless steels are resistant to oxidation and other forms of corrosion;
this property is achieved by alloying them witch at least 12wt% chromium.
a. 2.1.1 ferritic stainless steels chromium crystallizes in the BCC
structure.
b. 2.1.2 austenitic stainless steels - chromium crystallizes in the FCC
structure; are used where extensive deformation is required.
c. 2.1.3 martensitic stainless steels possess FCC structure at high
temperature and BCC structure at low temperature.
a..2.2 Tool steels these are high carbon steels containing 0.85 to 1.5 wt%
carbon.
a.3 Cast irons used for engine blocks, machine tool bodies, piston rings, and manhole covers.
a.3.1 gray cast iron absorbs noise and vibrations
a.3.2 ductile cast iron overcomes the brittleness of gray cast irons.
a.3.3 white cast iron malleable cast iron
b. Non-ferrous alloys designates metals that do not contain iron.
b.1. Aluminum alloys airplanes and aluminum foil; they are wrought alloys that are intended for
shaping by rolling, extrusion, or forging.
b.2. Copper alloys an attractive property of copper and its alloys is their corrosion resistance in
air and in sea water.
b.2.1 OFHC (Oxygen-Free, High-Conductivity) copper undergoes a vacuum treatment
to remove dissolved oxygen and possesses high electrical conductivity.
b.2.2 Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc
b.2.3 Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin
b.2.4 Beryllium copper is a precipitation alloy that attains the strength of hardened
steel.
b.3. Magnesium alloys difficult to cast because it burns in air and cover fluxes must be used in
casting.
b.4 Titanium alloys very high strength even in the pure state, good creep resistance, and
extraordinary resistance to corrosion.
b.5 Superalloys consists mainly of nickel, chromium, and molybdenum; they were developed for
jet engines and maintain their strength and corrosion resistance at high temperature.
SOLIDIFICATION OF METALS
a. Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold,
which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified
part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the
process.
a.1. sand casting - also known as sand moulded casting, is a metal casting process
characterized by using sand as the mold material. The term "sand casting" can also refer
to an object produced via the sand casting process. Sand castings are produced in
specialized factories called foundries.
a.2 lost foam casting where the pattern is made of Styrofoam instead of wood.
a.3. die casting - is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal
under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened
tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly to an injection
mold during the process.
a.4 centrifugal casting - is a process that delivers castings of very high material
soundness, and thus is the technology of choice for applications like jet engine
compressor cases, petrochemical furnace tubes, many military products, and other highreliability applications.
a.5 continuous casting - is the process whereby molten steel is solidified into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Prior to the
introduction of Continuous Casting in the 1950s, steel was poured into stationary molds
to form "ingots".
b. Control of Grain size
a. heterogeneous nucleation is used in cloud seeding to make rain.
c. Making single crystals
d. The Czochraiski Single Crystal Pulling method
e. Directional Solidification of Single Crystal Turbine Blades
SURFACE PROCESSING OF STRUCTURAL MATERIALS
a. Diffusion Treatments
a.1 Carburization of steels is the most widely used diffusion surface treatment. The intent is to
boost the carbon concentration at the surface so that it can be made hard by subsequent
quenching and tempering.
b. Laser hardening it transforms a thin layer of steel into martensite.
c. Coatings
c.1 thermal barrier coatings (tbc) - are highly advanced materials systems usually applied to
metallic surfaces, such as on gas turbine or aero-engine parts, operating at elevated
temperatures, as a form of exhaust heat management.
Techniques for coatings:
1. Physical vapor deposition - describes a variety of vacuum deposition methods which can be
used to produce thin films. PVD uses physical process (such as heating or sputtering) to
produce a vapor of material, which is then deposited on the object which requires coating.
2. Sputtering - is a process whereby particles are ejected from a solid target material due to
bombardment of the target by energetic particles, particularly, in the laboratory, gas ions. It
only happens when the kinetic energy of the incoming particles is much higher than
conventional thermal energies ( 1 eV).
3. Chemical vapor deposition - is a chemical process used to produce high quality, highperformance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to
produce thin films.
4. Welded coatings - coatings that can be applied by welding
5. Thermal spray coatings - techniques are coating processes in which melted (or heated)
materials are sprayed onto a surface. The "feedstock" (coating precursor) is heated by
electrical (plasma or arc) or chemical means (combustion flame).
6. Electrochemical deposition - is a process that uses electric current to reduce dissolved
metal cations so that they form a coherent metal coating on anelectrode. The term is also
used for electrical oxidation of anions onto a solid substrate, as in the formation silver
chloride on silver wire to make silver/silver-chloride electrodes.
7. Electroless deposition - also known as chemical or auto-catalytic plating, is a nongalvanic plating method that involves several simultaneous reactions in an aqueous
solution, which occur without the use of external electrical power. It is mainly different
from electroplating by not using external electrical power.
NOTES:
1. Ferrous alloys comprise plain carbon steels; HSLA; stainless steels; tool steels; cast irons.
2. Plain carbon steels contain up to 0.9wt% carbon and a small amount of Mn. The latter serves to
scavenge the impurities sulfur and phosphorous. They are available as annealed, rolled, and
tempered steels.
3. LAHS steels contain less than 2 wt% Cr, Mo and Ni. These additions provide a strength about
50% above that of plain carbon steels.
4. Stainless steels are made corrosion resistant by the addition of about 17 wt% chromium. The
latter forms a protective Cr2O3 layer on the surface.
5. Stainless steels exist in ferritic, austenitic and martensic form.
6. Tool steels are very hard (RC 60); they are used as cutting tools in lathes, milling machines, saws
and so on.
7. White iron contains about 2% carbon and 1.2% silicon. It solidifies into ferrite and cementite. It is
abrasion resistant but very brittle.
8. Cast irons can be made ductile or malleable by treatment that gives the graphite a spherical
shape (nodular)
9. Aluminum alloys exist as wrought and heat treatable alloys.
10. Single crystals are obtained by suppressing nucleation except at one point.
11. The surface hardness, the fatigue resistance, the thermal conductivity, the resistance to
corrosion, and the appearance of a metal can be improved by modifying its surface.
12. Surface hardening can be achieved by diffusion of carbon or nitrogen, by rapid heating and
quenching with a laser beam, or by shot peening.
G. CERAMICS
- include natural stones; clays and porcelains; electric insulators; abrasives; glass and cement;
hard and brittle; they do not conduct electricity and are often transparent
THE TYPES OF CERAMICS AND THEIR DEFINING PROPERTIES
a. Traditional ceramics
a.1 stones and rocks are ceramics that have always been important building materials
a.2 clay products whiteware and structural clay products.
a.3 refractories are used for thermal insulation, crucibles and hardware in all kinds of casting
operations as well as in high temperature processing and heat treatment furnaces.
a.4 abrasives - is a material, often a mineral, that is used to shape or finish a workpiece through
rubbing which leads to part of the workpiece being worn away by friction. While finishing a
material often means polishing it to gain a smooth, reflective surface, the process can also
involve roughening as in satin, matte or beaded finishes.
b. synthetic high performance ceramics (including semiconductors) fine, advanced, or engineering
ceramic materials.
c. glass is one of the most versatile materials and also one of the oldest.. (obsidian, tempered
glass)
d. cement and concrete concrete is composed of cement, aggregates (sand, gravel, crushed rock)
and water; cement is a generic term for concrete binder (key ingredient)
PROCESSING OF CERAMICS
1. Forming the green body
a. Hand forming traditional technique used by artisans and artists to produce pottery and statues.
b. Slip casting used for industrial production of pots, a slip is first prepared.
c. Pressing combining compacting and sintering operations is also practiced to make a variety of
highly dense ceramic components.
d. Extrusion - is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile. A material is
pushed through a die of the desired cross-section. The two main advantages of this process over
other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex cross-sections, and to work
materials that are brittle, because the material only encounters compressive and shear stresses.
It also forms parts with an excellent surface finish.
e. Tape casting - is a casting process used in the manufacture of thin ceramic tapes and sheets
from ceramic slurry. The ceramic slurry is cast in a thin layer onto a flat surface and then dried
and sintered. (doctor blading and knife coating)
f. Injection molding - is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting material into a
mould.
2. Densification
a. Firing the dried green ware is fired in a furnace to densify it into a hard body.
b. Sintering - is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by heat and/or
pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
3. Fabrication of glass objects
OPERATION
Viscosity (Pa-S)
1. Glass melting and fining (bubble 5-50
elimination)
2. Pressing
50-700
3. Gathering or gobbing for forming
50-1300
4. Drawing
2000-10000
5. Blowing
1000-3000
6. Remo+++val from molds
10000-10000000
7. Annealing
10000000000000-10000000000000000
8. Use
100000000000000-10000000000000000
NOTES:
1. Ceramics are hard and brittle, electrically insulating and often transparent. They have a fully
occupied band of valence electrons.
2. Since glass does not crystallize, it does not possess a precise melting temperature but increases
in viscosity as the temperature decreases.
3. The manufacturing techniques of glassy objects are based on the high viscosity of glass.
4. The fabrication of ceramic pieces proceeds in 2 major steps: forming of a green (at room temp)
and firing. In preparation of a green: slurry; ceramics are solidified by firing.
5. The porosity of sintered ceramics is reduced or eliminated by HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressing) or by
liquid phase sintering.
H. POLYMERS
- consist of very large molecules that are made up of small molecular units or mers linked
together into chainlike or network structures.
A. Natural Polymers
- occur in nature and can be extracted; are condensation polymers, and in their formation from
monomers water is a by-product (water-based); ex. silk, wool, DNA, cellulose and proteins
1. Cellulose - tough stuff that wood and stems are made from; is also what makes fibers like
cotton and hemp that we can twist into threads and weave into clothing; it is made from glucose
and does not dissolve in water
2. Starch - is also made of glucose but dissolves in water; we make food from starches and
break it down into glucose, which can be used for energy so you can run and jump and play and
think.
3. Natural Rubber- does not handle easily (it's sticky), nor does it have very good properties or
durability (it rots); it has been harvested from trees in Central and South America for hundreds of
years
4. Protein - a natural polymer formed from molecules called amino acids; most common protein
in your body, collagen, is used for support and structure; Other protein examples are keratin, silk,
enzymes and chitin (kite-inn)
5. Bakelite (Phenol- Formaldehyde Resin) -it is a thermosetting plastic; it can be melted and
remolded again; it is cheap, durable and strong and is very temperature resistant and so used in
making cases for radios, telephones and clocks and also billiard balls
6. Polyethylene - it is the simplest polymer, which consists of ethene (ethylene) as monomer
units and the corresponding linear polymer is called high density polyethylene (HDPE)
B. Synthetic Polymers
- it can be classified as addition polymers, formed from monomer units directly joined together, or
condensation polymers, formed from monomer units combining such that a small molecule,
usually water, is produced during each reaction; ex. plastics, textiles fibers, and synthetic rubbers
APPLICATIONS OF POLYMERS
preform. The parison is a tube-like piece of plastic with a hole in one end through which
compressed air can pass.
d. Compression molding - is a method of molding in which the molding material, generally
preheated, is first placed in an open, heated mold cavity. The mold is closed with a top force or
plug member, pressure is applied to force the material into contact with all mold areas, while
heat and pressure are maintained until the molding material has cured. The process employs
thermosetting resins in a partially cured stage, either in the form of granules, putty-like masses, or
preforms.
e. Calendering - is a finishing process used on cloth, paper, or plastic film. A calender is employed,
usually to smooth, coat, or thin a material.
With textiles, fabric is passed under rollers at high temperatures and pressures. Calendering is
used on fabrics such as moire to produce its watered effect and also on cambric and some types
of sateens.
f.
I.
-
COMPOSITES
is a material that contains a physical mixture of 2 or more phases that are chemically different
and separated by a distinct interface.
NOTES:
1. A composite id s physical mixture of 2 or more materials.
2. Composites consist of a continuous matrix in which fiber or particle reinforcements are
embedded.
3. Polymer matrix composites are made of a polymer usually thermoset matrix reinforced by glass,
Kevlar, carbon, or graphite fibers.
4. Fibers are strong and fracture resistant because of their small diameter. They can be drawn to
this shape because they are made of amorphous material whose viscosity increases as it cools.
5. Several fabrication methods exist for polymer matrix composites; depending on price and
required performance. These are hand lay-up for large objects (boats); spray-up for mass
production; filament wind-up for rocket bodies; injection molding; sheet molding process used in
car bodies; and prepreg tapes that are later used in final fabrication.
6. Cermets are composites consisting of ceramic particles dispersed in a metal matrix. They
combine the hardness of ceramics with the ductility of metals.
7. Dispersion-strengthened metals are used in high-temperature applications. They consist of fine
ceramic dispersion in the metal matrix.
8. Ceramic matrix composites consist of fibers distributed in a ceramic matrix. Their aim is to
increase the fracture resistance of the material.
9. A composite is strong in a direction parallel to its fibers and weak in the normal direction. When
uniaxial strength is required as in shafts and beams; the fibers are disposed along the shaft.
When biaxial strength is required as in sheets, the fibers are arranged in 2 directions.
10. The fibers need to have a minimum length in order to strengthen the composite. This length,
however, is only a few millimeters.
11. Concrete is a composite of cement and aggregate (gravel); it has good compressive strength and
low tensile strength.
12. Reinforced concrete obtains tensile strength by the incorporation of steel rebars; the latter must
be placed where the slab is subjected to tensile stresses.
13. Wood is a natural composite that is strong along its fibers and weak across them.
14. Plywood consists of wood plies glued together with fibers in different directions. It possesses
biaxial strength.
J. CONDUCTORS, INSULATORS, SEMICONDUCTORS
TWO CLASSIFICATIONG OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING MATERIALS
1. Low resistivity or high conductivity - Material having low resistivity or high conductivity are very
useful in electrical engineering products. These material used as conductors for all kind of
windings required in electrical machines, apparatus and devices. These material are also used as
conductor in transmission and distribution of electrical energy; ex. Silver, copper, gold, aluminum
2. High Resistivity or low conductivity - Materials having High resistivity or Low conductivity
conducting are very useful for electrical engineering products. These material are used to
manufacture the filaments for incandescent lamp, heating elements for electric heaters, space
heaters and electric irons etc; ex. Tungsten, carbon, nichrome, manganin
BASIC CONCEPTS OF ELECTRIC CONDUCTION (CONDUCTORS)
1. Ohms Law
2. Electric Current is produced by the flow of particles, each carrying the electric charge.
3. The density of mobile electrons and the Pauli Exclusion Principle
4. Electron Scattering and the resistance of metals
a. Resistance increase due to impurities and alloying the effects of chemical purity or alloying
are relevant in the design of power transmission lines and heating elements. If a metal with
low resistance is wanted, for instance for the transmission of power, the engineer will choose
a pure metal; ex. Silver, copper
b. Temperature dependence of the electric resistance of metals the higher temperature, the
more pronounced the disorder introduced by thermal vibrations of atoms and the higher the
scattering frequency/and the electrical resistance.
c. Superconductors its electric resistance drops abruptly to zero; are materials that conduct
electricity with no resistance.
APPLICATION:
Properties of Conductors:
Conductors are the materials which have very high conductivity. The number of free electrons are
very high in conductor at room temperature, which is basic reason of high conductivity of
conductors. Examples: Silver, Copper, Gold, Aluminum etc.
The number of free electrons are very high in silver, which makes the silver a best conductors of
electricity. The binding force on these free valance electrons by nucleus is very low. Due to which
these electrons can be easy freed from the nucleus and can participate in flow of electricity.
"Conductor" implies that the outer electrons of the atoms are loosely bound and free to move
through the material.
When a voltage is applied, however, they move more towards the positive terminal than in any
other direction.
INSULATORS are used for their ability to withstand high voltages without conducting any
appreciable current.
1. Dielectric strength is the maximum electic field that can withstand without destruction.
2. Piezoelectricity - is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials (such as
crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA and various proteins) in
response to applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from
pressure.
Properties of insulators:
It must be mechanically strong enough to carry tension and weight of conductors.
It must have very high dielectric strength to withstand the voltage stresses in High Voltage
system.
It must possesses high Insulation Resistance to prevent leakage current to the earth.
The insulating material must be free from unwanted impurities.
It should not be porous.
There must not be any entrance on the surface of electrical insulator so that the moisture or
gases can enter in it.
There physical as well as electrical properties must be less effected by changing temperature.
Types of Insulators:
1. Porcelain insulators - Porcelain in most commonly used material for over head insulator in
present days. The porcelain is aluminium silicate.
2. Glass insulators - It has very high dielectric strength compared to porcelain.
3. Polymer insulators - As it is made of two parts, core and weather sheds, polymer insulator is
also called composite insulator. The rod shaped core is fixed with Hop dip galvanized cast steel
made end fittings in both sides.
4. Pin Insulator - consists of a non-conducting material such as porcelain, glass, plastic, polymer, or
wood that is formed into a shape that will isolate a wire from a physical support (or "pin") on
a telegraph, utility pole or other structure, providing a means to hold the insulator to the pin and
secure the conductor to the insulator. Unlike a strain insulator, the pin insulator is directly
connected to the supporting pole.
5. Suspension Insulator - In higher voltage, beyond 33KV, it becomes uneconomical to use pin
insulator because size, weight of the insulator become more. Handling and replacing bigger size
single unit insulator are quite difficult task.
6. Strain Insulator - When suspension string is used to sustain extraordinary tensile load of
conductor it is referred as string insulator.
7. Stay Insulator and shackle insulator (low voltage application)
Stay insulator - For low voltage lines, the stays are to be insulated from ground at a height. The
insulator used in the stay wire is called as the stay insulator and is usually of porcelain and is so
designed that in case of breakage of the insulator the guy-wire will not fall to the ground.
Shackle insulator - is usually used in low voltage distribution network. It can be used both in
horizontal and vertical position. The use of such insulator has decreased recently after increasing
the using of underground cable for distribution purpose.
SEMICONDUCTORS - is a substance, usually a solid chemical element or compound, that can conduct
electricity under some conditions but not others, making it a good medium for the control of electrical
current.
1. Intrinsic semiconductor in its pure form; number of electrons = number of protons
2.3.1.2 PNP Transistor - An N-type region lies between 2 P-Typed Semi Conductors
Conductors
Insulators
Semiconductors