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Ingram School of Engineering

Materials Engineering 2300, Spring 2022

Group Project

Due: 4/25/2022

Requirements:

• Cover Page

• 12-point font, double spaced, 1-inch margins

• Numbered pages

• At least 2000 words

• Must use at least 10 references

o At least 5 of these references must be from journal articles or reviews

o Use APA formatting for citations and references

• Tables and Figures must have captions (and references if applicable)

• Use the following format for section breaks

1. Heading 1

a. Subheading

Topics:

• Fiber Composites

• Nanocomposites

• Metal Matrix Composites

• Cast Irons

• Titanium Alloys

• Super Alloys

• High-Performance Polymers

• Biopolymers

• Aerospace Ceramics

• Bioceramics

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Suggested Sections (and helpful guidelines):

1. Introduction

• What is your selected topic and why is it important in today’s world?

2. Composition

• What elements, materials, molecular structure, and/or crystal structure

make up your selected topic?

• What is the distinction that separates your material from others?

• For metals – What are the common grades? What do the

microstructures look like?

• For ceramics, composites, polymers – what about the molecular

structure or components classifies it in the specific category? What are

some common examples and what are their chemical or industry

names?

3. Manufacturing/Processing

• How are these materials manufactured?

• Does manufacturing change based on application?

• Does a certain manufacturing method save time but sacrifice

performance? In other words, what are the tradeoffs between different

methods?

• Are there different ways to achieve the same result? Why choose one

method over another?

• Does the microstructure or crystal structure change during

manufacturing?

4. Mechanical Properties

• What is the general range of mechanical properties?

• How does manufacturing and processing influence these?

• How does processing influence the desired properties? Are there

different ways to achieve the same result?

• For metals – does heat treatment affect the mechanical properties?

• For composites – what is the influence of the filler? Do different filler

lengths, orientations, aspect ratios, etc. affect the mechanical

properties differently?

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5. Material Selection/Design Consideration

• Why do we use these materials in certain applications?

• Is there a cost advantage? Performance advantage? Weight

advantage? Eco-friendly advantage?

• What are the alternatives? Did these materials replace another

material because they were better in a certain property?

• Depending on the material, an Ashby Diagram may be helpful to show

why these materials are better than others.

6. Applications

• Based on what you said in the previous sections, what are some

applications of your materials?

• What problems did they address that the previous material solution did

not solve?

• How did the discovery/creation/improvement of these materials move

technology forward in these applications?

• How does the material meet the property requirements (mechanical,

bio, thermal, etc.) of these applications?

7. Conclusion

• What were the highlights of your topic material?

• What are still some of the problems/drawbacks?

• How are these drawbacks being addressed in current research?

• What does the future and future research look like for these materials?

Rubric:

Introduction 10%

Body – Content 30%

Body – Technical Depth 30%

Conclusion 10%

References & In-Text Citations 10%

Grammar, Spelling, Formatting, and Cohesiveness

10%