Material Science and Engineering

Case Study on Mechanical Properties, Thermal

Properties and Microelectronics Design

by

Bryx William C. Garcia

MSE20-C1

Mapa Institute of Technology

October 25, 2015

 Case 1: Titanic Ship Mechanical Properties to hypothetically save the ship from sinking
and save people that perished

INTRODUCTION

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early

morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton,

UK, to New York City, US. The sinking resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew,

making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. The RMS

Titanic, the largest ship afloat at the time it entered service, was the second of three Olympic class ocean

liners operated by the White Star Line, and was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast with

Thomas Andrews as her naval architect. Andrews was among those lost in the sinking. On her maiden

voyage, she carried 2,224 passengers and crew. The wreck of Titanic remains on the seabed, split in two

and gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). Since her discovery in 1985, thousands

of artefacts have been recovered and put on display at museums around the world. Titanic has become

one of the most famous ships in history, her memory kept alive by numerous books, folk songs, films,

exhibits, and memorials. This paper intends to analyze the cause of the ships sinking in the point of

view of a Material Science Engineer and to provide hypothetical solutions to be done in order to save the

ship from sinking and to save as many of the 1,500 people that perished that night.
 BACKGROUND

Titanics Sinking

At 11:40 p.m. on 14 April (ship's time), lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately

ahead of Titanic and alerted the bridge First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered

around the obstacle and the engines to be put in reverse, but it was too late; the starboard side

of Titanic struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline. Five of the ship's watertight

compartments were breached. It soon became clear that the ship was doomed, as she could not survive

more than four compartments being flooded. Titanic began sinking bow-first, with water spilling from

compartment to compartment as her angle in the water became steeper.

Experts who have studied the disaster, including the ship's remains that were discovered on the

ocean floor in 1985, have concluded that no one single factor is to blame. Instead, they believe it was a

series of factors, called an event cascade," that caused the Titanic to sink so quickly.

For example, experts believe the ship was sailing too fast for the icy conditions. Moreover, they

think Captain Edward J. Smith paid too little attention to iceberg warnings that had been received. Some

iceberg warnings might not have even made it from the radio room to the ship's bridge. Finally, the crew

members watching for icebergs from the crow's nest didn't have binoculars.
 Metallurgical Analysis

Metallurgists who have studied the disaster believe that, despite the Titanic's advanced

technology and luxurious accommodations, its hull was fastened together with poorly-cast wrought-iron

rivets. When the ship hit the iceberg, they believe these rivets popped off, effectively unzipping" the

hull at the seams.

The holes created in the ship's hull allowed six compartments to flood, causing the allegedly

unsinkable" ship to not only sink, but to do so quickly. The Titanic disaster shocked the world and led

to several new maritime safety regulations, including ensuring enough lifeboats to carry everyone on

board.

The plates in the central 60% of the hull were held together with triple rows of mild steel rivets,

but the plates in the bow and stern were held together with double rows of wrought iron rivets which

were according to materials scientists Tim Foecke and Jennifer McCarty near their stress limits even

before the collision. These "Best" or No. 3 iron rivets had a high level of slag inclusions, making them

more brittle than the more usual "Best-Best" No. 4 iron rivets, and more prone to snapping when put

under stress, particularly in extreme cold. But Tom McCluskie, a retired archivist of Harland & Wolff,

pointed out that Olympic, Titanic's sister ship, was riveted with the same iron and served without

incident for nearly 25 years, surviving several major collisions, including being rammed by a British

cruiser. The Olympic even rammed and sank the U-boat U-103 with her bow. Thereby, the stem was

twisted and hull plates on the starboard side were buckled without impairing the hull's integrity.
 Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature

The ductile to brittle transition temperature is strongly dependent on the composition of

the metal. Steel is the most commonly used metal that shows this behavior.

For some steels the transition temperature can be around 0C, and in winter the temperature in

some parts of the world can be below this. As a result, some steel structures are very likely to fail in

winter.

The sinking of the titanic was caused primarily by the brittleness of the steel used to construct

the hull of the ship. In the icy water of the Atlantic, the steel was below the ductile to brittle transition

temperature.
 In these conditions even a small impact could have caused a large amount of damage. The

impact of an iceberg on the ship's hull resulted in brittle fracture of the bolts that were holding the steel

plates together.

Nowadays engineers know more about this phenomenon and the composition of the steels used

is much more controlled, resulting in a lower temperature at which the ductile to brittle transition occurs.
PROPOSED SOLUTION

On the presumption that I would be transported the night before RMS Titanic sank, I would

have done the following to save the ship form sinking and to save as many people that perished.

Improve the Ships Metallic Hull

Metals such as aluminum, gold, silver, and copper have an FCC (face-centered cubic) crystal

lattice structure, and most do not experience a shift from ductile to brittle behavior. Other metals, such

as iron, many steels, chromium, and tungsten, have a BCC (body-centered cubic) crystal structure and

experience a sharp, often non-linear shift in ductility. Note that austenitic stainless steels, such as SAE

200- and 300-series (e.g. 316 stainless), have an FCC structure and do not experience a ductile-brittle

transition. On the other hand, ferritic and martensitic stainless steels, such as SAE 400-series (e.g. 416

stainless), have a BCC structure and do experience a ductile-brittle transition.

Solrelmetal.com has presented a way to improve the Ductile to brittle transition of Iron.

Improving the composition

Silicon increases the yield strength, promotes ferrite and decreases the risk of carbides, but

raises the transition temperature thereby producing an embrittling effect. For this reason, limits are

imposed on Si content especially where the specified grade requires high impact strength and freedom
from carbides in thin sections. Production of this type of material having a ferritic matrix with a high

yield strength and good elonga- tion makes as-cast production sometimes difficult.

Phosphorus severely embrittles Ductile Iron and must be maintained below 0.03%. This low P

requirement imposes restrictions on possible charge materials even more pig irons contain excessive

and variable P levels and should not be used. Manganese is always maintained at low levels for as-

cast production, but can also give problems even when annealing high Mn irons, to achieve ferritic

structures.

Nickel can be used to offset some of the loss of yield strength in ferritic Ductile Iron, when

the level of Si has been reduced. For example, alloying with about 0.8% Ni can increase yield strength

by about 40 N/mm2 (5,800 psi) without significantly affecting the elongation or the transition

temperature.

Resume the Canceled Lifeboat Drill

Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the Titanic on April 14, 1912 -

the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. However, for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled the drill. If

I knew that the titanic would sink, I shall inform the captain, to initiate the Lifeboat drill.

Prevent the Collision

The collision occurred because the Titanic was moving far too fast for the conditions. A calm

clear night may seem ideal weather conditions for making a fast passage, but in fact it increased the risk

of collision considerably.
 It is uncertain how far ahead of the ship the iceberg was when Frederick Fleet reported it. The

estimation of the Court of Inquiry was approximately 500 yards (1,500 feet). As soon as Fleet rang the

bell, the First Officer, Mr. Murdoch, ordered the helm hard to starboard (turning the ship to port) and

ordered the engines to be put at full astern. At the same time, Mr. Murdoch also pulled the lever to close

the watertight doors. Although a natural reaction, this was absolutely the wrong thing to have done. At

22 knots, the ship was moving far too fast to make the turn in time. All that Murdoch accomplished was

to turn the collision from a head-on to a side impact, which resulted in the damage described above.
Case 2: Thermal Properties of Space Shuttles

The Need for Thermal Control

The need for a Thermal Control System (TCS) is dictated by the technological/functional limitations and

reliability requirements of all equipment used onboard a spacecraft and, in the case of manned missions,

by the need to provide the crew with a suitable living/working environment. Almost all sophisticated

equipment has specified temperature ranges in which it will function correctly. The role of the TCS is

therefore to maintain the temperature and temperature stability of every item onboard the spacecraft

within those predefined limits during all mission phases and thereby using a minimum of spacecraft

resources.

Temperature Requirements

Cryogenic range: all temperatures lower than 120 K

conventional range: temperatures between 120 and 420 K high-

temperature range: all temperatures higher than 420 K

Current Techniques Employed in Thermal Control

Coatings

The easiest way to modify a surface's behaviour is to coat it with paint or a layer of other suitable

material. All spacecraft make use of many different kinds of coatings, ranging from relatively simple toa

pply paints to more sophisticated chemically or physically produced conversion coatings. Coatings are

characterised by their thermooptical properties: absorptivity, emissivity, reflectivity and transparency.

MultiLayer Insulation (MLI)

When a simple coating is insufficient to avoid great heat losses or gains for a surface, multilayer

insulation can be used. It consists of a certain number of layers of plastic material (normally Mylar or

Kapton) coated on one or both sides with a layer of metallic material to reduce the radiation, and

separated by sheets of spacer material (e.g. Dacron net) to avoid direct contact between adjacent foils.

The external foil coating depends on the particular application: it can be painted or metallised, or can

even consist of a different material (e.g. glassreinforced cloth).

Louvres/shutters

A surface may only need to be protected during particular mission phases, whilst at other times it has to

be free to radiate to deep space. Louvres can be used either to provide a heat sink during phases with

Sun illumination, or to reduce the heat losses during cold (shadow) phases.
Specifications of Thermal Properties of Materials

Thermal Conductivity

Thermal conductivity is defined as a measure of the ability of a material to allow the flow of heat

from its warmer surface through the material to its colder surface, determined as the heat energy

transferred per unit of time and per unit of surface area divided by the temperature gradient, which is the

temperature difference divided by the distance between the two surfaces (the thickness of the material),

expressed in watts per kelvin per meter.

Travelling in space means that the space shuttle would have to endure high ranges of temperature

from the take-off, escaping the atmosphere and cruising the space. The heat during take-off should be

well-insulated so that the components and the crew inside the shuttle wont experience extreme heat. In

the coldness of space, the heat generated inside the shuttle must be preserved. Therefore, the shielding of

the outer layer of the space shuttle must have a low thermal conductivity.

Reinforced Carbon Functionality

The functionality of the reinforced carbon-carbon is largely due to its ability to reject heat by

external radiation (i.e., giving off heat from surface to the surroundings) and cross-radiation, which is

the internal reinforced carbon-carbon heat transfer between the lower and upper structures. Reinforced

carbon-carbon has an excellent surface emissivity and can reject heat by radiating to space similar to the

other Thermal Protection Systems. It is designed as a shell section with an open interior cavity that

promotes cross-radiation.
Heat Capacity

A material that can absorb a lot of heat without becoming very hot itself has a high specific heat.

Water has high specific heat. Silver has low specific heat. In space travel, the shuttle must have a

material with a very high specific heat capacity for it to act like a heat sink when one part of the shuttle

is experiencing extreme heat conditions.

Density

The density of the spacecraft must be low so that the energy used in running the space craft

must be minimal. Newton's second law of motion pertains to the behavior of objects for which all

existing forces are not balanced. The second law states that the acceleration of an object is dependent

upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. If theoretically the

force exerted by the craft is constant, having a lower mass will greatly increase the acceleration of the

system. This will be beneficial in conserving fuels and having a longer flight time.

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion

The coefficient of thermal expansion describes how the size of an object changes with a change

in temperature. Specifically, it measures the fractional change in size per degree change in temperature

at a constant pressure. Several types of coefficients have been developed: volumetric, area, and linear.

The material used in space travel must have a low coefficient of thermal expansion. This would ensure

that the structure of the space craft would stay rigid.

Case 3: Microelectronics Chip Desing

How Heat Affects Your Computer

Thermal radiation is just the by-product of electromagnetic movement within millions of circuits,

and the internal resistance it encounters or to put it another way, electricity powering your computer is

the simple reason why your computer becomes hot. Even LEDs produce it, though its minimal because

the amount of electricity needed to function is low. Naturally, the volume of electricity needed for each

component varies depending on the operations being performed, but there are some consistently with

higher temperature output.

A computers core, its Central Processing Unit (CPU), naturally generates heat as it carries out

algorithms, as does the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which typically handles 3D imaging for

display. Gaming can result in higher temperatures, especially as they often require GPUs to carry out

complicated calculations (in many instances, the GPU can generate more heat than the CPU). Hard disk

drives can also contribute to heat generation, especially when copying large files.

Similarly, the optical disc drive can generate large amount of heat when playing DVDs or CDs,

both as it forces discs to spin and as it reads the contents using a laser.

Its important to remember that room temperature, too, affects the internal workings of your

computer. Higher room temperatures can affect performance, especially exceeding 80F/27C since the

computers internal heat will be greater.

 As part of the PCs own cooling system, the motherboard, comprising of major components like

the CPU and memory banks, instructs intensive applications to slow down. To avoid damage, it can even

instruct components to shut down as a fail-safe. In some cases, this can cause your whole computer to

turn off without warning; in extreme circumstances, this can occur continually until a new fan is fitted.

This can particularly be a result of overclocking, running the CPU at a greater speed than intended by its

manufacturer.

High Efficiency Liquid-type Cooling For Application of Microprocessors

A new liquid cooling system with compact packaging and high operation efficiency for a

miscellaneous application of microprocessors is designed, fabricated and tested. To enhance the

efficiency of heat absorption, the feasible cold plate and pin-fan cooling structures with multi-channels

are arranged and realized to reduce flow impedance by increasing surface cooling contact area and

inducing high speed eddy flow for exchanging heat quickly. Numerical simulations of computational

fluid dynamics by finite element methods indicate that the innovation patterns can significantly increase

liquid cooling effect and the increase packaging performance. Experiment results show that proposed

cooling and packaging technologies has good heat transfer characteristic and is feasible for applications.

The best operation results and the best aspects of the developed systems are analyzed to challenge
limited pressure drop and good thermal resistance is 0.182 with better uniformity that would be applied

for miscellaneous

microprocessor applications.
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