last modified: 07/03/2006

Course code: MS4061

Course name: Thermodynamics and Kinetics

This concerns a Course

In the program of  MSc MSE                                         and of 

EC (European Credits): 4 (1 EC concerns a work load of 28 hours)

Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department of

Lecturer 1: dr.ir. J. Sietsma

Tel.:  015 - 27 82284 /      

Lecturer 2:      

Lecturer 3:      

Catalog data:

thermodynamics, Gibbs free energy, binary alloys, phase diagram, chemical potential, diffusion, Fick's laws,

(semi-)coherent interfaces, incoherent interfaces

Course year:

MSc 1st year

Course language:

English

 

In case of Dutch: Please contact the lecturer about an English alternative, whenever needed.

Semester:

1A

Hours per week:

2

Other hours:

     

Assessment:

Written exam

Assessment period:

1A / August

(see academic calendar)

 

Prerequisites (course codes):

     

Follow up (course codes):

Structure of Materials (MS4041)

Properties of Materials (MS4081)

Production of Materials (MS4101)

Detailed description of topics:

The module introduces concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics in materials that are essential for understanding the formation and behaviour of materials. Thermodynamical subjects are, a.o.: Gibbs free energy, chemical potential, ideal and real solutions, phase diagrams, Gibbs phase rule, Gibbs-Thomson effect, ternary systems, phase transformations. Kinetics subjects are, a.o.: atomic mechanism of diffusion, substitutional and interstitial diffusion, high-diffusivity paths, diffusion in ternary alloys. Related subjects that are treated are crystal interfaces and microstructural phenomena.

Course material:

  • D.A. Porter and K.E. Easterling, Phase transformations in metals and alloys, Chapman & Hill, 2nd edition, 1992, chapters 1,2,3

References from literature:

  •      

Remarks assessment, entry requirements, etc.:

     

Learning goals:

The student is able to explain the essential features of thermodynamic quantities, kinetic phenomena and interface characteristics relevant to metallic microstructures, and to apply these to the processes that determine the microstructure.

 

More specifically, the student is able to:

1.   formulate the essentials of the concepts of Gibbs free energy and chemical potential, and to formulate their

      relevance to the atomic behaviour in crystalline structures

2.   apply the models for ideal and regular solutions to problems concerning the behaviour of binary alloys

3.   read binary phase diagrams and to explain the relation between phase diagrams and free energy vs.

      composition curves

4.   apply the Gibbs phase rule

5.   identify the main features of ternary phase diagrams

6.   formulate the process of atomic diffusion in a crystalline structure

7.   apply Fick’s first and second laws, formulated either in terms of concentration gradients or in terms of

      chemical-potential gradients to diffusion- and transformation-related problems

8.   formulate the essentials of interdiffusion in substitutional binary alloys, and relate these to the Kirkendall

      effect

9.   identify the significance of high-diffusion paths for the kinetics processes in metallic microstructures

10. formulate the essentials of different types of interfaces between grains of either the same of different

      crystalline structures

11. involve the effects of local strains in the description of the characteristics of interfaces

12. apply the characteristics of interfaces to the formation of second-phase particles

13. formulate the role of interfaces in the kinetics of mixed-mode phase transformations

Computer use:

none

Laboratory project(s):

none

Design content:

none