Academic Year

2018/19

ENG762s2 Advanced Materials

Online
E Second Attempt Coursework

Deadline For Submission: 26th July 2019 (23.59 UK time)

Hand-in Instructions: Transform your file into a PDF and submit it through the Turnitin
box on the unit Moodle site. This is a unique submission; the first
submitted document counts.

Instructions for completing Please complete all tasks in the coursework. Each question gives
assessment: 25 marks for a total of 100 marks for the coursework.

Your submission must be typed and all pages must be numbered.

Ignoring these instructions may lead to up to 10 marks deduction.

Examiners: Dr Gianluca Tozzi

Question 1
Montmorillonite clay consists of sheets of aluminosilicate approximately 1 nm thick. Describe:

a) Why the aluminosilicate sheets stick together.

[5 Marks]
b) What are gallery spaces in the clay.
[1 Mark]
c) How polymer can be used to swell the clay and cause exfoliation. Use
diagrams in your answer.
[8 Marks]
d) What ions you would use to promote exfoliation and why?
[3 Marks]
e) Why the sheets of aluminosilicate would be close to their theoretical strength.
[2 Marks]

f) How a circular hole within an individual sheet of aluminosilicate would lower

its tensile strength from a theoretical value of 30GPa to an experimental
value of 10GPa.
[6 Marks]

Question 2

Nanofibrous materials can be produced in a number of ways depending if the materials is

metallic or polymeric.

a) Metal nanowires are typically produced using vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) methods.

Describe the experimental setup for growing Germanium nanowires from VLS using a
diagram.
[7 Marks]

b) By considering a single nanowire, discuss in detail the growth mechanism for the
Germanium nanowire.
[7 Marks]

c) Describe why VLS is unsuitable for producing polymer nanowires.

[2 Marks]

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d) Electrospinning is a common method for producing polymer nanofibres. Describe the
electrospinning mechanism.
[7 Marks]

e) Electrospun fibres are found to still contain significant solvent when collected on the
ground electrode. Suggest how the solvent could be removed completely during the
electrospinning process and before collection at the ground electrode.
[2 Marks]

Question 3

An infinitesimal element in an artificial spinal disk is loaded as shown in the figure below with σx = -
2.2MPa, σy = - 1.1MPa, σz = - 0.58MPa, τxy = - 0.57MPa, τyz = - 0.33MPa, τzx = - 0.79MPa.

Determine:

a) The principal stresses using the Mohr’s circle

[11 Marks]

b) The Tresca stress for the artificial spinal disk

[8 Marks]

c) If the device is safe from yielding, being the yield strength for the implant material of 8MPa

[6 Marks]

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Question 4

Many biological materials are composed of mixtures; for example, bone may be considered a
mixture of collagen and mineral. Consider the elastic modulus of a mixture of two materials whose
individual moduli are E1 and E2. The volume fractions of materials 1 and 2 are V1 and V2,
respectively. It is known that the elastic modulus of the mixture has upper and lower limits given
by mathematical models known as Voigt and Reuss models, respectively.

a) What are the principal assumptions of such models?

[5 Marks]
Derive the following results for the modulus of the mixture:

b) Voigt model, upper bound E = V1E1 +V2 E2

[10 Marks]

E1E2
c) Reuss model, lower bound E =
V1E2 +V2 E1
[10 Marks]

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