Lab Report Assessment for Year 1 Mechatronics – Semester one

2020/2021
Module: Engineering Materials

General instructions:

 Each group will consist of only 4 to 5 students.

 Each group must submit only one soft copy through the given Turnitin
Class.
 Kindly use the following Class of Turnitin for the submission of [ GROUP
and INDIVIDUAL] reports:

Class ID: 27639968

Enrolment Key: Materials

 No hard copy will be needed.

Please read the following requirements carefully:

ONLY One of each group will submit one document consisting of the following
through the given Turnitin Class (For Similarity check-up):

 the group lab report containing the 4 experiments  

 the individual questions of his/her team (4 questions in case of 4-member-
team and 5 questions in case of 5-member team) [ At the end of group lab
report].

- The deadline of the soft copy is at Week 11, 11:59 pm, Friday (8/1/2021).
- No submission will be allowed under any circumstances after this due date.
- The word limit for individual lab report shall be at least 1000 words
- Report should be written in an appropriate format with Times New Roman for
body content – Size 12- Line Spacing 1.15, and Times New Roman for Headings-Size 14.
- Submitted lab reports through Turnitin with high similarity will be marked
normally and a misconduct committee will be conducted for all group members as per
BUE regulations.
- The oral discussion will be conducted on Saturday 16th of January, 2021 at
materials lab schedule with specific time for each group will be sent later.

Best of Luck to all of you,

A- Group assessment (10 %)

1. LAB (1) - (20 Marks)

LAB (1A): Micro-specimen preparation and use of the metallurgical microscope
(10 marks)
1- Sketch and label the microstructure of each of the samples examined,
indicating etchant and total magnification. Identify on your sketches the
micro-constituents present and any significant features observed.
2- Define metallographic examination and state the steps followed in the lab to
prepare the sample.
3- Explain why grain boundaries are the first to be visualized on a specimen of
properly polished and etched metal under the optical microscope.

LAB (1B): The Hardness Test (10 marks)

1- Produce a simple sketch for the hardness testing device in the lab indicating
its main parts and functions. What is the type of this hardness machine?

2- For the same sample you used for microstructure examination. Report the
hardness value with its proper designation, and hence answer the following:
a- Describe the shape of the indenter.
b- Describe the shape of the indentation.
c- According to the hardness reading is this material hard or soft?
d- Compare the hardness with the microstructure of the part.

2. LAB (2): (Tension Test) (20 marks)

Complete the following table for the sample that your group tested in the
laboratory:
Load (kg) Extension (ΔL) Stress (F/AInitial) Strain (ΔL/L)
 0 0 0 0

Plot the stress-strain diagram for your specimen material, and indicate the
0.2 % yield stress, ultimate tensile strength, the % elongation, % reduction in
area, modulus of elasticity,. Use ordinary millimeter graph paper.

After finishing answer the following questions.

1. Calculate the values of % elongation and % reduction in area and indicate
their significance?
2. Calculate the elastic modulus using the slope of the linear portion of the
curve.
3. Determine the 0.2 % yield stress.
4. What property does the area under the stress-strain define?
5. Compare the stress-strain curves for the cold-rolled and annealed steel and
the aluminum specimens shown hereunder, your answer should include some
discussion in addition to describing the behaviour.

Stress-strain diagram

Cold rolled steel

Annealed steel

Aluminum alloy
 3. LAB (3): NDT Methods (20 marks)

In certain applications, the evaluation of engineering materials or structures without

impairing their properties is especially important, such as the quality control of the
products, failure analysis or prevention of the engineered systems in service. This
kind of evaluations can be carried out with Nondestructive test (NDT) methods. It is
possible to inspect and/or measure the materials or structures without destroying their
surface texture, product integrity and future usefulness. The field of NDT is a very
broad, interdisciplinary field that plays a critical role in inspecting that structural
component and systems perform their function in a reliable fashion. Certain standards
has been also implemented to assure the reliability of the NDT tests and prevent
certain errors due to either the fault in the equipment used, the miss-application of the
methods or the skill and the knowledge of the inspectors. Successful NDT tests allow
locating and characterizing material conditions and flaws that might otherwise cause
planes to crash, reactors to fail, trains to derail, pipelines to burst, and variety of less
visible, but equally troubling events. However, these techniques generally require
considerable operator skill and interpreting test results accurately may be difficult
because the results can be subjective. These methods can be performed on metals,
plastics, ceramics, composites, and coatings in order to detect cracks, internal voids,
surface cavities, delamination, incomplete defective welds and any type of flaw that
could lead to premature failure.

Requirements

You are supposed to prepare a test report for this experiment obeying the report
preparation rules. Therefore, your report should contain experimental procedures,
results, discussion, conclusion and references. The advantages and disadvantages of
each NDT method must be stated precisely in your reports.

4. LAB (4) Manufacturing & Processing Lab (20 Marks)

SHEET METAL FORMING

RESULT

1. Your finished products will be evaluated by your instructor.

QUESTION**

1. In your own words, give the definition of the terms below. You may also include figures to explain:

a. Bending
b. Shearing
c. Punching
d. Cutoff

2. Describe the process of bending a sheet metal.

 3. What is seam? Describe the different types of seams.

DISCUSSION (Minimum 1000 words) (15 Marks)

For each experiment:

1. Describe what have you observed and understand during conducting experiment.
2. Comment about the results, and also give your reason and opinion to this experiment)

CONCLUSION (Minimum 300 Words) (5 Marks)

(Based on the data and discussion, make your overall conclusion)

B- Individual assessment (10 %)

Individual discussion (10%)

The group will agree on assigning each member to answer one of the below questions.
This question will be the individual work for each student.

QUESTION (1)
The following data were collected from a test specimen of cold-rolled and
annealed brass. The specimen had an initial gage length l0 of 35 mm and an initial
cross-sectional area A0 of 10.5 mm2.

Load, N Elongation, mm Load, N Elongation l,

mm
0 0.0000 1350 5.55
66 0.0112 1720 8.15
177 0.0157 2220 13.07
327 0.0199 2690 (maximum 22.77
 load)
462 0.0240 2410 25.25 (fracture)
797 1.72

(a) Plot the engineering stress–strain curve and the true stress–strain curve. Use a
software graphing
Package.
(b) Calculate the 0.2% offset yield strength; Calculate the tensile strength; Calculate
the elastic modulus using a linear fit to the appropriate data.
(c) Can you use the equations that calculate the true stresses and true strains beyond
the ultimate tensile strength? Why? If the true stress–strain data were known past the
point of necking, what might the curve look like?
QUESTION (2)
The following data were obtained from a series of Charpy impact tests performed on
four ductile cast irons, each having a different silicon content. Plot the data and
determine
(a) the transition temperature of each (defined by the mean of the absorbed energies in
the ductile and brittle regions) and
(b) the transition temperature of each (defined as the temperature that provides 10 J of
absorbed energy).
Plot the transition temperature versus silicon content and discuss the effect of silicon
on the toughness of the cast iron. What is the maximum silicon allowed in the cast
iron if a part is to be used at 25°C?
QUESTION (3)
(a) Describe a test that you would use and the data you expect to obtain if you wanted
to measure the toughness of welded steel samples under impact conditions at
Room Temperature of 25C, would you expect the results to be valid if the steel
operates at -40C.
(b) If it is required to calculate the maximum load that may be applied to a piece of
material without causing plastic deformation, which of the following values would
you use for your calculations knowing that the material has an offset yield
strength of 345 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 420 MPa, and Young’s Modulus
E= 103 GPa. Define what is meant by each of these values.
QUESTION (4)
(a) A catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction without
participating in the reaction itself (i.e., it is not consumed). One important use
of catalysts is in catalytic converters on automobiles, which reduce the
emission of exhaust gas pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen
oxides (NOx, where x is variable), and unburned hydrocarbons. Search
literature and use proper citation to explain the adsorption sites on a catalyst
and their relation to surface defects.
(b) The grain size is often determined when the properties of a polycrystalline
material are under consideration. In this regard, there exist several techniques
by which size is specified in terms of average grain volume, diameter, or area.
Probably the most common method, however, is that devised by the American
Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The ASTM has prepared several
standard comparison charts, all having different average grain sizes. To each is
assigned a number ranging from 1 to 10, which is termed the grain size
number. A specimen must be properly prepared to reveal the grain structure,
which is photographed at a magnification of 100X. Grain size is expressed as
the grain size number of the chart that most nearly matches the grains in the
micrograph. You are asked to 1) Determine the ASTM grain size number of a
metal specimen if 45 grains per square inch are measured at a magnification of
100X. 2) For this same specimen, how many grains per square inch will there
be at a magnification of 85X?
 QUESTION (5)
(a) Using the given Fe – Fe3C phase diagram, identify the different solid phases that
exist as a result of dissolving C in Fe. List some differences between these
phases. Accordingly define the types of carbon steels relevant to their C content.
(b) Why are carbon steels more prone to corrosion than austenitic stainless steels?
Would corrosion initiate at the ferrite or pearlite? What is the product form as a
result of corrosion of carbon steels?
(c) A steel specimen from a pipe was studied for microstructure after a failure case.
The microstructure showed 62.5 % Ferrite and 37.5 % Pearlite. Predict the C %
in this steel. From the given data, sketch this microstructure.
(d) Suggest a quick method in the workshop to distinguish between two pieces of
material that you have mixed up accidently in the lab, knowing that one of them
represents stock material of low C steel, and the other represents stock material
of 0.8% C steel.