PH22035: Material physics
[Page last updated: 03 June 2024]
| Academic Year: | 2024/25 |
| Owning Department/School: | Department of Physics |
| Credits: | 5 [equivalent to 10 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 100 |
| Level: | Intermediate (FHEQ level 5) |
| Period: |
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| Assessment Summary: | EXOB 100% |
| Assessment Detail: |
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
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| Requisites: | Before or while taking this module you must take PH22006 |
| Learning Outcomes: |
After taking this unit the student should be able to:
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| Synopsis: | This course introduces the properties of real solid materials that do not exist in perfect crystalline lattices when their physical properties are influenced by defects such as dislocations, grain boundaries and impurities. You will learn about the phase chemistry, granular structure and defect formation in real bulk and thin film materials and how the microstructure affects properties at much larger scales, such as mechanical strength, optical absorption, electrical and thermal conductivity. |
| Content: | Structure-property relationship of ideal solid materials (3 lecture hours): Review of the atomic structure of crystalline metals, semiconductors, insulators and glasses. Description of how this influences their physical properties including elasticity, hardness, strength, optical absorption, ferromagnetism, piezoelectricity, electrical and thermal conductivity.
Defects and other types of disorder in real materials (2 lecture hours): Bulk and thin film growth techniques. Formation of defects and impurities. Material microstructure and granularity.
Macroscopic physical properties determined by defects and disorder (7 lecture hours): Elasticity, hardness and strength determined by mobility of dislocations in crystalline materials and cracks in glasses. Role of impurities in optical absorption and spectroscopy. Role of defects and domain structure in ferromagnetic materials. Importance of microstructure in electrical and thermal conductivity of bulk samples and films.
Degradation of material properties over time (4 lecture hours): Mechanical failure due to creep and fatigue. Corrosion in solid materials. Degradation of physical properties due to exposure to heat or various types of radiation. Different modes of degradation and contribution of defects to them.
Materials characterisation tools (4 lecture hours): Introduction to operation principles underlying several routine materials characterisation tools. This includes electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, Raman spectroscopy, Optical spectroscopy. Understanding of how to analyse results to reveal information about defects and microstructure in real materials. |
| Course availability: |
PH22035 is Optional on the following courses:Department of Physics
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