MSE 355 Materials Structure and Microstructure

1.  Introduction and Electronic Structure: crystal symmetry, anisotropy and materials properties, electron waves, Schrodinger equation, wave interference, standing waves, hydrogen atom, electronic structure of elements, structure of periodic table, electronegativity, interatomic bonding, ionic bonding, covalent bonding, metallic bonding
2. Periodic Space Lattices : definition of lattice, unit cell, 2D lattices, 3D lattices, centered lattices, 14 Bravais lattices
3. Crystallographic Computations and Metric Tensor : Distance and angle definitions in non-orthogonal axes, metric tensors, metric tensor for 7 crystal classes, generalized scalar products, vector lengths, angle between two vectors in crystal system, Miller planes, zones
4. 2D Plane Group Symmetry classes: symmetry operators, 10 point groups, group theory, 5 plane lattices, 17 plane groups, international notation
5. 3D Space Group Symmetry: symmetry operators, stereographic projections, 32 point groups, constructing 7 crystal classes, constructing14 Bravais lattices with symmetry, construction of 3D symmorphic space groups, glide and screw operators, construction of non-symmorphic space groups, reading International Tables for Crystallography
6. Elementary structure determination: x-ray diffraction, wave interference, Bragg’s law, reciprocal lattice in 2D and 3D, Ewald sphere, atomic scattering factors, structure factors, symmetry and extinctions
7. Structural Classifications – Strukturbericht Symbols (SBS), Pearson notation, De Graef notation
8. Point Defects in Crystals: vacancies and interstitials, Gibbs free energy, entropy and vacancy formation, enthalpy and entropy changes with vacancy formation,
equilibrium and non equilibrium vacancy formation, mobility of point defects, Point defect in ceramics,  Kroger-Vink notation, Schottky and Frenkel defects, random alloys and long range order parameter
9. Dislocations: Edge and screw dislocations, Burger’s vectors, deformation and dislocation motion, slip systems, critically resolved shear stress.
10. Dislocation Generation and Interactions: Frank-Read sources, dislocation loops, structure around dislocation cores, defect interactions, pinning, climb, misfit dislocation in thin films, stacking faults, twins
11. Surfaces and Grains: Grain boundaries, Crystal surface energies, Equilibrium crystal shape – Wulff shape, Grain shapes in polycrystalline materials, Grain boundary angles and interfacial energies
12. Grain Boundaries and Interfaces: grain boundary structure, high angle boundaries, low angles boundaries, interface energies, inversion boundaries, transport properties, magnetic domain walls.
13. Microstructure: Structural hierarchies, microstructure and texturing, X-ray pole figures, Solidification microstructure – dendritic growth, solid-solid transformation microstructure,  microstructural evolution, metal microstructures, thermodynamics and kinetics,
14. Nanoparticles: surface considerations, electronic structure, metal particles, nanotubes and nanowires