Metallurgy and Design of Alloys

3 units

The design of materials used in critical structures such as in airplanes entails optimizing and balancing multiple properties (e.g., strength, fracture toughness, corrosion resistance) to satisfy often conflicting requirements (e.g., better fuel efficiency, lower cost, operation in extreme conditions). Properties of metallic materials are determined by their microstructure, which in turn is determined by their compositions and processing paths. An understanding of the multivariate relationships among compositions, processing parameters, microstructures, and properties is therefore essential to designing alloys and predicting their behavior in service. This course will discuss these relationships, with emphasis on the hierarchy of microstructural features, how they are achieved by processing, and how they interact to provide desirable property combinations -- essentially the physical metallurgy of alloys. The discussion will be based on examples from alloys used in airframes, engines, and automobiles and on their design for state-of-the-art processes such as additive manufacturing.