Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka

MME 445 Metallic Alloys and Materials Selection

July 2016 Term

Assignment #1
Submit a hard copy of your answer on 05 November 2016

1. Are the fracture toughness, K1C, of the common polymers such as polycarbonate, ABS, or
polystyrene larger or smaller than the engineering ceramic alumina, Al2O3? Are their
toughness G = K1C2 / E larger or smaller?

2. A material is required for the blade of a rotary lawn-mower. Cost is a consideration. For
safety reasons, the designer specified a minimum fracture toughness for the blade: it is K1C >
30 MPa m1/2. The other mechanical requirement is for high hardness, H, to minimize blade
wear. Hardness, in applications like this one, is related to strength: H 3y , where y is the
yield strength. Identify three materials that have K1C > 30 MPa m1/2 and the highest possible
strength.

3. A material is required for a heat exchanger to extract heat from geo-thermally heated, saline,
water at 120C (and thus under pressure). List function and constraints; set the objective to
minimize cost and the free variables to choice of material.

4. Start each of the four parts of this problem involving elastic beams with differing constraints
(Figure 1) by listing the function, the objective and the constraints. You will need the
equations for the deflection of a cantilever beam with a square cross-section t x t, given in
Appendix B, Section B3. The two that matter are that for the deflection of a beam of
length L under an end load F:
3
=
3

and that for the deflection of a beam

under a distributed load f per unit length:
4
=
8
4
where I = t /12 .
For a self-loaded beam f = A g , where
is the density of the material of the
beam, A its cross-sectional area and g the
acceleration due to gravity.

Figure 1
 (a) Show that the best material for a cantilever beam of given length L and given (i.e. fixed)
square cross-section (t x t) that will deflect least under a given end load F is that with the
largest value of the index M = E, where E is Young's modulus (neglect self-weight).
(Figure 1a.)
(b) Show that the best material choice for a cantilever beam of given length L and with a
given section (t x t) that will deflect least under its own self-weight is that with the largest
value of M = E/, where is the density. (Figure 1b.)
(c) Show that the material index for the lightest cantilever beam of length L and square
section (not given, i.e., the area is a free variable) that will not deflect by more than
under its own weight is M = E /2 . (Figure 1c.)
(d) Show that the lightest cantilever beam of length L and square section (area free) that will
not deflect by more than under an end load F is that made of the material with the
largest value of M = E1/ 2 / (neglect self weight). (Figure 1d.)

5. Aircraft and space structures make use of plates and shells. The index depends on the
configuration. Here you are asked to derive the material index for (a) a circular plate of
radius a carrying a central load W with a prescribed stiffness S =W / and of minimum
mass, and (b) a hemispherical shell of radius a carrying a central load W with a prescribed
stiffness S =W / and of minimum mass, as shown in the figures. Once the material index
is determined, select the top five candidate materials for each case.

Use the two results listed below for the mid-point deflection of a plate or spherical shell
under a load W applied over a small central, circular area.
3 2 2
3+
Circular plate: = 1
4 3 1+

Hemispherical shell: = 1 2
2
in which A0.35 is a constant. Here E is Youngs modulus, t is the thickness of the plate or
shell and is Poissons ratio. Poissons ratio is almost the same for all structural materials
and can be treated as a constant. The table summarizes the requirements.

Function Stiff circular plate, or stiff hemispherical shell

Constraints Stiffness S under central load W specified
Radius a of plate or shell specified
Objective Minimise the mass or the plate or shell
Free variables Plate or shell thickness t
Choice of material