Materials Characterization Methods. 4 credits, 5 contact hours

Catalog description

Prerequisites: MATH 211 or MATH 213 , MTEN 201 . Corequisites: MATH 225 or MATH 279 or MATH 333 or MATH 305 or IE 331 or MNET 315 or ECE 321 . This course gives an introduction to instrumentation for characterization of material structures and compositions and methods for measuring a wide range of material properties such as optical, magnetic, electrical, and thermal. Principles of microscopic imaging and the major branches of microscopy: optical, electron and scanning will be discussed. Principles of X-ray diffraction and X-ray, IR, UV, electron and ion spectroscopies will be introduced by considering interaction of materials with electromagnetic radiation, electrons, and ions. Principles of thermal analysis in which the properties of materials are studied as they change with temperature will be introduced. Characterization of hardness, strength, electrical conductivity will be discussed. Students will learn operation of analytical instrumentation and interpretation of experimental data.