Ciencia de los Materiales

Dr. Ing. Martin Duarte Guigou

Porqu
Materiales?
Entender las propiedades de los
materiales es esencial para lograr el
mejor uso de estos.
Y esto es as desde el uso
prehistrico de la piedra hasta el
Puente de Oresund.

Porqu
Materiales?

El diseo de nuevos materiales REQUIERE el correcto entendimiento de la

estructura de los mismos.
Estructura Propiedades
Esta relacin debe comprenderse en cabalidad, desde la escala sub-nanomtrica de
las estructuras cristalinas y las dislocaciones hasta estructura de mucho mayor
escala, tales como las fases de los materiales compuestos, del orden del mm.
Entender las estructuras (especialmente las microestructuras) permite cambiar las
propiedades de los materiales de formas particulares, incluso por medio de campos
elctricos o simplemente calor.

Porqu
Materiales?
Los materiales no siempre son perfectos. Pueden
fallar, y a veces lo hacen con consecuencias serias.
Entender estos procesos debe ayudar a prevenirlos
La Ciencia e Ingeniera de los Materiales es un campo
que cambia hasta demasiado rpidamente y afecta
fuertemente el mundo a nuestro alrededor.
Se aplican enormes esfuerzos en desarrollar materiales
cada vez mas capaces, a la vez que amigables conel
medio ambiente y si es posible, recicables.
Ver el desarrollo de la Ingeniera de Materiales detras de
la vida diaria es uno de los objetivos de este curso.

Ciencia y Tecnologa de los

Materiales

A veces la decisin no est en

cual es el MEJOR material
para mi aplicacin

La mayora de las veces la

decisin esta en
CUAL ES EL MATERIAL de
QUE PUEDE HACER
EL TRABAJO AL MENOR
COSTO

Ashby - Engineering Materials (2nd ed. 1998) Volume 1 - An Introduction to their Properties and Applications

Of a total of 2,223 people, only 706 survived; 1,517 perished. The

majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 2 C water.

The pieces of steel were found to have

very high content of P and S (4x and 2x
respectively, compared to modern steel),
with manganese-sulfur ratio of 6.8:1
(compare with over 200:1 ratio for
modern steels). High content of
phosphorus initiates fractures, sulfur
forms grains of iron sulfide that
facilitate propagation of cracks, and
lack of manganese makes the steel
less ductile.

Early Liberty ships suffered hull and deck

cracks, and a few were lost to such
structural defects. During World War II,
there were nearly 1,500 instances of
significant brittle fractures.
Twelve
fractures
ships, including three of the 2710
Liberties built, broke in half without
warning. At the present day, it is
thought that the low weldability of
steel was the main cause of the
accidents.

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during
World War II.
The average ship took about 42 days to build.
The record was set by Robert E. Peary, which was launched 4
days and 15 1/2 hours after the keel was laid, although this
publicity stunt was not repeated and in fact much fitting-out and
other work remained to be done after the Peary was launched.
The ships were made assembly-line style, from prefabricated
sections. In 1943, three new Liberty ships were being completed
every day.

The fractures were not initiated by welding, but instead by

the grade of steel used which suffered from embrittlement.
The ships in the North Atlantic were exposed to
temperatures that could fall below a critical point when the
mechanism of failure changed from ductile to brittle, and
thus the hull could fracture relatively easily.
The predominantly welded (as opposed to riveted) hull
construction then allowed cracks to run for large distances
unimpeded.

2 accidents
56 killed

The principal investigator concluded, "In the light of known properties of

the aluminium alloy D.T.D. 546 or 746 of which the skin was made and
in accordance with the advice I received from my Assessors, I accept the
conclusion of RAE that this is a sufficient explanation of the failure of the
cabin skin of Yoke Uncle by fatigue after a small number, namely, 3,060
cycles of pressurisation. (1)

Engineers subjected an identical airframe, G-ALYU ("Yoke Uncle"), to repeated re-pressurisation and over-pressurisation
and after 3,057 flight cycles (1,221 actual and 1,836 simulated), Yoke Uncle failed due to metal fatigue near the front
port-side escape hatch. Investigators began considering fatigue as the most likely cause of both accidents and initiated
further research into measurable strain on the skin. Stress around the window corners was found to be much higher than
expected, "probably over 40,000 psi," and stresses on the skin were generally more than previously expected or tested.
This was due to stress concentration,
concentration a consequence of the window's square shape.
The problem was exacerbated by the punch rivet construction technique employed. The windows had been engineered to
be glued and riveted, but had been punch riveted only. Unlike drill riveting, the imperfect nature of the hole created by
punch riveting may cause the start of fatigue cracks around the rivet.
(1)

Report of the Public Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of the accident which
occurred on the 10 January 1954, to the Comet aircraft G-ALYP, Part XI (a. 69)

2 Boilers Exploded
1 Heine, 1 Sterling
Mobile Electric Company Power Plant
Mobile, Alabama, February 21, 1919
4 Killed

Tank Explosion
St Louis Hide & Tallow Co. Rendering Plant.
St. Louis, Missouri, November 13, 1918
1 Killed, 1 Injured

martin.duarte@ucu.edu.uy