MS&E 601 Chemistry of Materials
Course develops an understanding of materials properties from the perspective of sophisticated chemical concepts. Specific topics include: bonding and hybridization, HOMO/LUMO levels and band gaps, group theory and symmetry, redox chemistry and electrochemistry, inorganic chemistry, bio/organic chemistry (including simple organic reactions, the molecules of life, enzymes, the lock and key concept, etc), and interfacial chemistry.
MS&E 602 Elasticity, Plastic Flow & Fracture
An advanced overview of mechanical properties of materials combining concepts from continuum mechanics, atomic structure, thermodynamics, and kinetics. Topics include: elastic properties of crystals, glasses, and polymers; mechanical damping; plastic deformation in metals and polymers; creep deformation; fracture in brittle and ductile materials; the effects of temperature, time, and thermomechanical history on properties; metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites; and models and scaling laws for mechanical behavior.
MS&E 603 Thermodynamics of Materials
Topics include: basic statistical thermodynamics, partition functions and thermodynamic state functions, distributions, laws of thermodynamics, free-energy functions and conditions of equilibrium, chemical reactions, statistics of electrons in crystals, heat capacity, heterogeneous systems and phase transitions, and lattice models of 1-, 2-, and 3- dimensional interacting systems. Also covers: statistical thermodynamics of alloys, free-energy and phase diagrams, order-disorder phenomena, point defects in crystals, and statistical thermodynamics of interfaces.
MS&E 604 Kinetics of Reactions in Condensed Matter
Phenomenology and microscopic aspects of diffusion in fluids, both simple and polymeric, and in metallic, ionic, semiconductor, and polymeric solids. Cartesian tensors are utilized for fields and properties. Covers phase stability and transformations; nucleation and growth, spinodal decomposition and displasive transformations; phase coursening processes, recrystallization, and grain growth; diffusion-controlled growth, interfacial reactions, moving boundary problems; grain-boundary migration controlled kinetics; viscosity, anelasticity, and diffusional creep.