Properties of Engineering Material

The economists are mainly concerned with the factor of industries manufacturing engineering materials which have an interest find out ways during which the engineering materials can be used or applied within the best economic way. The economist should be have working knowledge of the properties & manufacturing processes of varied engineering materials. The services of the such a economist will be of utmost use in making choice of the engineering materials under the specific conditions or to decide the road of manufacture of engineering materials from available local raw materials.

The fields of the application of the particular engineering materials are governed by characteristics & various properties of the that engineering material. Such properties are may be classified into the various categories as follows –

Chemical Properties of Engineering Materials

The chemical properties of the such material suggest the tendency of a material to combined with other substances, its reactivity, solubility & effects like corrosion, chemical composition, acidity, alkalinity, etc. The Corrosion is one of the serious problems faced by engineer in selecting the engineering materials, caused due to the chemical properties of metal. In the metals, valence electrons are loosely bound to their atoms & can be easily removed during the chemical reactions. So, when the metals are to be exposed in the atmosphere & come in contact with the gases like oxygen, chlorine etc., the chemical reactions take place. When iron reacts with it. This is called as corrosion.

Electrical Properties of Engineering Materials

 These properties signify the only ability of the a material to resist the flow of an electric current & they include conductivity, dielectric strength and resistivity of the materials.

Magnetic Properties of Engineering Materials

The study of the magnetic properties of the material like permeability, hysteresis & coercive force is required when it is to be used for generators, transformers, etc.

Mechanical Properties of Engineering Materials

The characteristics governing the behaviour of the material when external forces are applied to materials are included in these properties. Some of important mechanical properties are as follow- elasticity, hardness, plasticity, strength, etc.

Optical Properties of Engineering Materials

When the material are to be used for optical work, the knowledge of the its optical properties like as colour, light transmission, refractive index, reflectivity, etc. are necessary. When the light strikes to any material, it interacts with the its atoms and causes various types of effects. The light may be either reflected, refracted, scattered or absorbed by material. The study of the light in materials & how to use this behaviour to control the various light effects is called optics.

Physical Properties of Engineering Materials

These are the required to evaluate the condition of material without any external force acting on its and they include bulk density, durability, porosity, etc.

Thermal Properties of Engineering Materials

The knowledge of the thermal properties of the engineering material like the specific heat, thermal expansion & conductivity are helpful in knowing the response of the material to thermal changes. Thus suitable of the materials can be selected to withstand fluctuating & high temperatures.

Thermal Properties of Engineering Materials

 The properties of the metals & alloys which have a bearing on their processing or application are called as technological properties. Castability, machinability, weldability & workability are some of significant technological properties of metals and alloys