• 054190 - FAILURE AND CONTROL OF METALS

• Blended Learning & Flipped Classroom

The goal of the course is to enable students to apply the metallurgical knowledge in all those engineering fields that require full knowledge on materials and damage phenomena.

During the course the main metallic alloys for engineering applications will be covered, referring to their microstructure, heat treatments and manufacturing processes. In particular the properties of the main steel grades, special alloy steels, stainless and tool steels are described. Non ferrous alloys are also covered, considering Aluminium, Nickel and Titanium alloys.

The teaching activity is also aimed at facing the main service damage phenomena of mechanical parts such as fatigue, creep, brittleness, wear, corrosion, linking them to the metallurgical features and to the specific manufacturing processes.

After attending the course, the student will:

1. have a wide knowledge about the scenario of structural alloys that can be used for the design of mechanical components;
2. know how the properties of these alloys can be modified and influenced by the manufacturing processes;
3. know how the service condition may change the performance of the different classes of alloys;
4. be able to critically select the proper material for any specific design application.
5. have basic understanding about the cause of failure and about possible solutions.

1. Recall about the principles of physical and basic metallurgy (crystal structure, dislocations, strenthening mechanism, textures).
2. Production processes. Fundamental aspects of the production and transformation process of metals.
3. Steels for structural applications. Fundamentals about the steel microstructure, the effects of detrimental chemical elements and of the main alloying elements. Low carbon steels for structural application, high strength engineering steels (quenched and tempered steel, steel for carburizing, steels for nitriding, steel for surface quenching, the Life Cycle Assessment and reuse of the steel products.
4. Steels for special applications. Stainless steels (austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, duplex, precipitation hardened), tool steels, bearing steels, advanced high strength steels (DP, CP, TRIP/TWIP), high temperature steels, steels for cryogenic applications.
5. Cast irons and non-ferrous alloys. Metallurgy and applications of cast irons, Aluminium, Nickel and Titanium alloys, properties, microstructure and related heat treatments.
6. Damage phenomena and service conditions. Corrosion, wear, creep, fatigue, brittleness and embrittlement phenomena. Combination of such phenomena. Short introduction to failure analysis.

Students are required to know the basic principles of physical metallurgy, the main tests for the mechanical characterization of metals (i.e. tensile tests, hardness tests, parameters associated to the fracture mechanics, fatigue tests), the equilibrium diagrams and the Fe-C diagram, the basic steel heat treatments and the CCT and TTT diagrams.

The exam of Applied Metallurgy generally consists of a written test. The main section will consist of 2/4 questions about selected topics, where the student will summarize what learnt during the lessons. A further section, consisting in a set of multiple-choice questions may be included and an oral part may be added to discuss the results of the written part. The aim is to verify the communication effectiveness, the knowledge of the course topics and the ability to apply such knowledge in the solution of the proposed questions.