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MITx: Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Part 3: Time Dependent Behavior and Failure

Explore materials from the atomic to the continuum level, and apply your learning to mechanics and engineering problems.

6 weeks
11–13 hours per week
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
This course is archived
Future dates to be announced

About this course

Skip About this course

All around us, engineers are creating materials whose properties are exactly tailored to their purpose. This course is the third of three in a series of mechanics courses from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Taken together, these courses provide similar content to the MIT subject 3.032: Mechanical Behavior of Materials.

The 3.032x series provides an introduction to the mechanical behavior of materials, from both the continuum and atomistic points of view. At the continuum level, we learn how forces and displacements translate into stress and strain distributions within the material. At the atomistic level, we learn the mechanisms that control the mechanical properties of materials. Examples are drawn from metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, biomaterials, composites and cellular materials.

Part 3 covers viscoelasticity (behavior intermediate to that of an elastic solid and that of a viscous fluid), plasticity (permanent deformation), creep in crystalline materials (time dependent behavior), brittle fracture (rapid crack propagation) and fatigue (failure due to repeated loading of a material).

At a glance

  • Institution: MITx
  • Subject: Engineering
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Prerequisites:
    • Classical mechanics (or statics)
    • Chemistry at the first year university level
    • Differential equations
    • 3.032.1x and 3.032.2x or equivalent coursework in the mechanical behavior of materials
  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills:Materials Science, Ceramics, Deformation, Mechanics, Viscoelasticity, Composite Materials, Fracture Mechanics

What you'll learn

Skip What you'll learn
  • Concepts and problem solving skills relating to viscoelasticity, plasticity, and high temperature creep of crystalline solids
  • Concepts and problem solving skills relating to fracture, and fatigue
  • The relationship between the behavior of materials at an atomistic level and thecontinuum response of materials

Week 1: Linear viscoelasticity Spring-dashpot models Dynamic mechanical measurements Molecular basis for linear viscoelasticity Viscoelasticity in biomaterials
Week 2: Plasticity Yield criteria Dislocations
Week 3: Dislocation mechanics Hardening mechanisms
Week 4: Creep in crystalline materials Mechanisms of creep Deformation mechanism maps Creep fracture
Week 5: Fracture mechanics Mechanisms of fast fracture Fatigue
Week 6: Final Quiz

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners residing in one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. edX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.

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