Electrical, optical, magnetic, and mechanical properties of metals, semiconductors, ceramics and polymers. Discussion of roles of bonding, structure (crystalline, defect, energy band and microstructure) and composition in influencing and controlling physical properties. Case studies drawn from a variety of applications including semiconductor diodes, optical detectors, sensors, thin films, biomaterials, composites, and cellular materials.

This course will focus on providing students with the tools needed to practice responsible architecture in a contemporary context. It will familiarize students with the materials currently used in responsible practice, as well as the material properties most relevant to assembly. The course will also introduce students to materials that are untested but hold promise for future usage. Finally, the course will challenge students to refine their understanding of responsible or sustainable design practice by looking at the evolution of those ideas within the field of architecture.

Linear elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics. Experimental methods. Microstructural effects on fracture in metals, ceramics, polymers, thin films, biological materials and composites. Toughening mechanisms. Crack growth resistance and creep fracture. Interface fracture mechanics. Fatigue damage and dislocation substructures in single crystals. Stress- and strain-life approach to fatigue. Fatigue crack growth models and mechanisms. Variable amplitude fatigue. Corrosion fatigue. Case studies of fracture and fatigue in structural, bioimplant, and microelectronic components.

SPARK visited veteran ceramic artist Viola Frey in the last months of her life when she continued to work from a wheelchair with the help of a mechanized lift and devoted assistants to create her monumental figures. This Educator Guide is about the history of ceramics and the contributions of Bay Area artists, including Frey.

Selection of courses to explore Chemistry at MIT.

This Web site, part of Kids in the Hall of Planet Earth, provides an interactive way to learn about the rocks and minerals found in everyday objects. Here, kids start with a clickable kitchen scene. There are more than 20 items to examine – everything from cereal and salt to porcelain plates and copper pots. For each item, students are taken to an information screen that explains the rock or mineral and how it has been used in the item.

Introduction to the interactions between cells and surfaces of biomaterials. Surface chemistry and physics of selected metals, polymers, and ceramics. Surface characterization methodology. Modification of biomaterials surfaces. Quantitative assays of cell behavior in culture. Biosensors and microarrays. Bulk properties of implants. Acute and chronic response to implanted biomaterials. Topics in biomimetics, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. Laboratory demonstrations.

Examines the ways in which people in ancient and contemporary societies have selected, evaluated, and used materials of nature, transforming them to objects of material culture. Some examples: glass in ancient Egypt and Rome; powerful metals in the Inka empire; rubber processing in ancient Mexico. Explores ideological and aesthetic criteria often influential in materials development. Laboratory/workshop sessions provide hands-on experience with materials discussed in class. Subject complements 3.091. Enrollment may be limited.

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the relationship between the mass and the weight of an object. Students will study the properties of common materials and why airplanes use specific materials.

" Here we will learn about the mechanical behavior of structures and materials, from the continuum description of properties to the atomistic and molecular mechanisms that confer those properties to all materials. We will cover elastic and plastic deformation, creep, fracture and fatigue of materials including crystalline and amorphous metals, semiconductors, ceramics, and (bio)polymers, and will focus on the design and processing of materials from the atomic to the macroscale to achieve desired mechanical behavior. We will cover special topics in mechanical behavior for material systems of your choice, with reference to current research and publications."

Phenomenology of mechanical behavior of materials at the macroscopic level. Relationship of mechanical behavior to material structure and mechanisms of deformation and failure. Topics include: elasticity, viscoelasticity, plasticity, creep, fracture, and fatigue. Case studies and examples drawn from a variety of classes of materials including: metals, ceramics, polymers, thin films, composites, and cellular materials.

Overview of mechanical properties of ceramics, metals, and polymers, emphasizing the role of processing and microstructure in controlling these properties. Basic topics in mechanics of materials including: continuum stress and strain, truss forces, torsion of a circular shaft and beam bending. Design of engineering structures from a materials point of view.

This is an educational website devoted to the famous archaeological site in Turkey of one of the oldest cities in the world. The website depicts not only end-products of discoveries and interpretations but goes through the entire history of a 25 year excavation process.

This Web site, created to complement the Petra: Lost City of Stone exhibit, looks at this once flourishing city in the heart of the ancient Near East.

Children will learn about Picasso and his ceramics.

Cement production may be classified by application into two primary groups: construction and energy services. The construction applications for cementing consume the lion’s share of cement manufactured world-wide, but the cement produced for energy services applications is an integral part of meeting the world’s energy needs and requires tighter quality control standards to meet that industry’s higher demands on control of the rheological properties of the fluid slurry state, the solid state, and especially the transition from the former state to the latter, or the setting process. Applications relating to the energy services industry are the primary focus of this work. Additionally, cement may also become central to efforts in nuclear waste management by locking radioactive material within the cementitious matrix, where rates of diffusion of waste out of the cement serve as the dominant concern. These modules explain the chemistry of Portland cement and its applications for the energy industry.

This site helps students discover materials science and the secrets of everyday stuff. Find out what happens when you heat silicon, iron, or carbon. Learn how materials science helps fight cancer, make buildings safer, improve equipment and the environment. Activities in the 60-page teachers guide challenge students to examine their material world in a different way -- through the eyes of materials scientists.

This course addresses the design of tribological systems: the interfaces between two or more bodies in relative motion. Fundamental topics include: geometric, chemical, and physical characterization of surfaces; friction and wear mechanisms for metals, polymers, and ceramics, including abrasive wear, delamination theory, tool wear, erosive wear, wear of polymers and composites; and boundary lubrication and solid-film lubrication. The course also considers the relationship between nano-tribology and macro-tribology, rolling contacts, tribological problems in magnetic recording and electrical contacts, and monitoring and diagnosis of friction and wear. Case studies are used to illustrate key points.