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Chemical Properties

of Engineering
Materials

Chemical Properties
Is the characteristics of a material that relate to
its behavior in chemical reactions
Chemical properties are characteristics of a
material that become evident when the material
undergoes a chemical reaction or chemical
change. People cannot observe chemical
properties by simply viewing or touching a
sample of the material; the actual structure of
the material must be changed in order for
people to observe the chemical properties.

Chemical Composition/Alloying
Corrosion
pH
Hygroscopy
Reactivity
Flammability
Toxicity
Radioactivity

Chemical Composition
The chemical composition of engineering
material indicates the elements which are
combined together to form that material.
Chemical composition of material effects
the properties of engineering material very
much. The strength, hardness, ductility,
brittleness, corrosion resistance,
weldability etc. depend on chemical
composition of material.

Material

Chemical Composition

Steel

Fe, Cr, Ni

Brass

Cu = 90%, Ni = 10%

Bronze

90% Cu, 10% Ni

Invar

Fe = 64%, Ni = 36%

Gun Metal

Cu = 88%, Tin = 10%, Zn = 2%

German Silver or Nickel Silver or


Electrum

Cu = 50%, Zn = 30%, Ni = 20%

Nichrome

Ni = 60%, Cr = 15%, Fe = 25%

Phosphor Bronge

Cu = 89 95.50% , Tin = 3.50 -10%, P


= 1%

Manganin

Cu = 84%, Mn = 12%, Ni = 4%

Constantan

Cu = 60%, Ni = 40%

Corrosion is a natural process, which converts


a refined metal to a more stable form, such as
its oxide, hydroxide, or sulfide. It is the gradual
destruction of materials by chemical and/or
electrochemical reaction with their environment.
Corrosion of a metals is effected by many
factors such as air, industrial atmosphere, acid,
bases, slat solutions & soils etc. Corrosion has a
very adverse effect on material. Due to
corrosion, the strength & life of material is
reduced, which results.

Galvanic corrosion
Occurs when two different metals have physical
or electrical contact with each other and are
immersed in a common electrolyte, or when the
same metal is exposed to electrolyte with
different concentrations. In a galvanic couple,
the more active metal (the anode) corrodes at
an accelerated rate and the more noble metal
(the cathode) corrodes at a slower rate. When
immersed separately, each metal corrodes at its
own rate.

Corrosion Resistance
The ability of material to resist the oxidation in
atmospheric condition. Generally the pure metal such as
iron, copper, aluminum etc. get corroded in slowly in
atmosphere.Some metals are more intrinsically
resistant to corrosion than others (for some examples,
see galvanic series). Some metals have naturally slow
reaction kinetics, even though their corrosion is
thermodynamically favorable. These include such metals
as zinc, magnesium, and cadmium. While corrosion of
these metals is continuous and ongoing, it happens at an
acceptably slow rate. An extreme example is graphite,
which releases large amounts of energy upon oxidation,
but has such slow kinetics that it is effectively immune to
electrochemical corrosion under normal conditions.

Passivation
As a technique, passivation is the use of a
light coat of a protective material, such as
metal oxide, to create a shell against
corrosion. Passivation can occur only in
certain conditions, and is used in
microelectronics to enhance silicon

Applied coatings
Plating, painting, and the application of
enamel are the most common anticorrosion treatments. They work by
providing a barrier of corrosion-resistant
material between the damaging
environment and the structural material.
zinc or cadmium

Cathodic protection
Cathodic protection (CP) is a technique to
control the corrosion of a metal surface by
making that surface the cathode of an
electrochemical cell. Cathodic protection
systems are most commonly used to
protect steel, and pipelines and tanks;
steel pier piles, ships, and offshore oil
platforms.

Sacrificial anode protection


For effective CP, the potential of the steel
surface is polarized (pushed) more negative until
the metal surface has a uniform potential. With a
uniform potential, the driving force for the
corrosion reaction is halted. For galvanic CP
systems, the anode material corrodes under the
influence of the steel, and eventually it must be
replaced. The polarization is caused by the
current flow from the anode to the cathode,
driven by the difference in electrode potential
between the anode and the cathode.

Corrosion in nonmetals
Most ceramic materials are almost entirely
immune to corrosion. The strong chemical
bonds that hold them together leave very
little free chemical energy in the structure;
they can be thought of as already
corroded. When corrosion does occur, it is
almost always a simple dissolution of the
material or chemical reaction, rather than
an electrochemical process.

Acidity(pH)
A very important chemical property of
engineering materials. Material is acetic or
Alkane, it is decided by the ph value of
material. Ph value of material varies from
0 to 14. Ph value of 7 is considered to be
neutral. Ordinary water is having ph value
of 7. The material which are having ph
value below 7 are called Acetic &
Materials which are having ph value
greater than 7 are called alkane. Acidity of
Alkalinity of material indicates that how the
react with other materials.

Hygroscopy
Is the ability of a substance to attract
and hold water molecules from the
surrounding environment. This is achieved
through either Absorption or Adsorption
with the absorbing or adsorbing substance
becoming physically changed.

This could be by an increase in


volume, boiling point, viscosity or other
physical characteristic and properties of the
substance, as water molecules can become
suspended between the substance's
molecules in the process.

Absorption

Absorption is a chemical phenomenon or


a process in which atoms, molecules enter
some bulk phase gas, liquid or solid
material. Absorption is a condition in which
something takes in another substance.

Adsorption
This is a different process from
absorption, since molecules undergoing
adsorption are taken up by the surface, not
by the volume.

Reactivity
Refers to the rate at which a chemical
substance tends to undergo a chemical
reaction in time. In pure compounds,
reactivity is regulated by the physical
properties of the sample.

Reactivity in chemistry refers to


the chemical reactions of a single
substance,
the chemical reactions of two or more
substances that interact with each other,
the systematic study of sets of reactions of
these two kinds,

methodology that applies to the study of


reactivity of chemicals of all kinds,
experimental methods that are used to
observe these processes,

Flammability
How easily something will burn or
ignite, is a chemical property because you
cant tell just by looking at something how
easily it will burn. Fire testing is done to
determine how difficult or easy it will be to
get a certain material to burn.

Toxicity
How much a substance can damage an
animal, plant, cell, organ, or other organism
is its toxicity. Materials with the chemical
property of toxicity include lead, chlorine
gas, hydrofluoric acid, and mercury. Toxicity
is measured by how the lead, chlorine gas,
mercury, or other substance affects the
organism basically, by how much damage
it does to the organism and how quickly that
damage occurs

Radioactivity
The emission of radiation from an atom
with an unstable nucleus, is a chemical
property. On the periodic table of elements,
the elements that have no stable isotopes
are considered radioactive

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