2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Undergraduate major in Materials Science and Engineering

Materials Science Laboratory III

Academic unit or major: Undergraduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
Instructor(s): Shinji Muraishi / Kenichi Kawamura / Wan Ting Chiu / Equo Kobayashi / Azusa Ooi / Yoshihiro Terada / Kan Nakatsuji / Yoshihiro Gohda / Takashi Harumoto / Satoru Kobayashi / Masaki Tahara / Tso-Fu Chang / Xiao-Wen Lei / Shintaro Yasui / Yuta Kubota / Keisuke Ide / Ryunosuke Kani / Taro Kuwano / Junko Morikawa / Hidetoshi Matsumoto / Syuichi Akasaka / Tetsuji Yano
Class Format: Experiment (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): unknown
Class: -
Course Code: MAT.A252
Number of credits: 002
Course offered: 2025
Offered quarter: 4Q
Syllabus updated: Mar 19, 2025
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Students will learn fundamentals of researches on metals (M), organic materials (P) and inorganic materials (C) through learning the experimental procedures, the principles of experiments and the comparison of experimental results with theoretical predictions. Through this, students acquire and improve their skills for fundamental and advanced researches for wide variety of materials. More concretely, the aim of this class is to gain fundamental ability for structural analysis, chemical synthesis and analyses, characterization of physical properties of materials experiencing from the fabrication of specimen to applying various analytical technique. These are essential skills for the researchers of materials science and engineering.

Course description and aims

M: Student will achieves knowledge and experimental techniques necessary for investigating metallic materials in terms of microstructure observation, determination of crystalline structure, measurement of physical, chemical and mechanical properties.

P: By the end of this course, students acquire:
1. Fundamental skills of chemical and physical measurement operations
2. Understanding of chemical reactions and analysis　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
3. Understanding the concept of refractive index, light polarization, and birefringence　　　
4. Understanding of the mechanical characteristics of rubber and plastic materials　
5. Understanding of the experimental methods, data reductions and discussion based on obtained data, and learning the basics for more advanced experiments

C: This lecture aims the students to have following knowledge and experimental experiences;
Fundamental knowledges on the structure, physical and/or chemical nature of ceramics powders
Fundamental techniques on the identification of ceramics
Fundamental techniques on the characterization of physical and chemical properties of ceramic powders
Experimental technique and procedures of forming or molding of ceramic powders
Preparation procedures of ferrite ceramics
Theory and mechnisms of magnetic properties of ferrite ceramics and their characterization technique
Improve the skill to find the issue originally and to make a experimental plan to solve the issue.
Improve the communication skill and leadership through the group work of the experiment. Improve the presentation skill.

Keywords

M: microstructure of metal, tensile test, hardness, conductivity, X-ray diffraction, electrode potential
P: Material science, material engineering, organic and polymeric materials, experiment, operation of chemical experiment, analysis method, optical measurement, mechanical measurement
C: ceramics, powder, sintering, superconductivity, ferrite, magnetic property

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Students work in teams throughout this course and conduct a series of experimental themes. The learning quarters and orders of learning could be changed. Students will learn whole themes in Materials Science Laboratory I, II and III in a different order, by taking all courses of Materials Science Laboratory at 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters. The written report must be submitted by a specified date. Students must read the experiment text before the starting of each experiment to ensure safety and smooth running.

In addition,
C: According the textbook, the students learn about the functions of ceramics materials(ferrite) and its fundamental processing procedures. After the summary, they move on advanced step to make an original experimental plan by group work.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	M: Guidance, fundamental skills of experimental works, scientific ethic and report writing P: Guidance for the entire experiments on organic materials C: Introduction to the experiment on ceramics; Fundamental experiment A1: Weighing, stirring, and calcinating the raw materials	M: Students shall understand whole program of the course, fundamental skills of experimental works, scientific ethic and report writing P: Guidance explain schedule, contents and precautions. C: Students are requested to learn about the outline of this experimental study first, to know what is ceramics, and to understand how to prepare ceramics. Through an introductory experiments on ceramics, the representative properties of superconductor and ferrite ceramics will be measured.
Class 2	M: X-ray diffraction 1: X-ray diffraction of single phases P: Safety training C: Fundamental experiment A2: Milling, molding, and sintering the calcined powder	M: Students shall understand the basics of crystal-structure analysis by diffraction phenomena and identify pure metals practically. P: Learning about the safety of handling organic materials and experiments. C: Students shall learn characteristic properties of powders and their treatment techniques as the fundamentals on the ceramics processing.
Class 3	M: X-ray diffraction 2: X-ray diffraction of multiple phases P: Organic synthesis 1:Puriﬁcation of organic solvent by distillation C: Fundamental experiment A3: Observation of Meissner effect and measurement of electrical resistivity	M: Students shall understand the application of X-ray diffcation to materials with microstructures by analyzing compositions of AlCu alloys. P: Students shall learn about purification of organic solvents through the experiment on atmospheric distillation of toluene. C: Student shall not only measure the temperature dependency of electrical resistivity for the prepared superconductor, but also study the difference between metals and insulators, as well as that between superconductors and normal conductors. Experimental procedures on powder processings are learned.
Class 4	M: Electroconductivity 1: electroconductivity based on solid state electron theory P: Organic synthesis 2:Organic synthesis C: Fundamental experiment A4: Analyzing the measured results of XRD (X-ray diffraction)	M: Students shall understand the origin of the difference in electroconductivity of metals with different electronic states and impurity/dislocation density. P: Students shall synthesize 4-ethoxyphenol by Williamson ether synthesis and ester compounds by nucleophilic substitution reaction of carboxylic acid chloride. C: Chemical reactions, control of phases and their identification methods will be studied in the practical experiment procedures.
Class 5	M: Electroconductivity 2: electroconductivity of metals and semiconductors P: Organic synthesis 3:Isolation and purification of organic compound by extraction and recrystallization and analysis by thin-layer chromatography C: Fundamental experiment B1: Preparing the raw material for ferrite using coprecipitation method	M: Students shall understand the origin of the different temperature dependence in electroconductivity of metals and semiconductors. P: Students shall learn techniques for isolating organic compounds by extraction and recrystallization. Also analyze the product by thin-layer chromatography. C: Fundamentals and experimental techniques of forming and molding of ceramics powders will be studied.
Class 6	M: Experimental methods for pyrometric measurements P: Organic synthesis 4:Structure determination of organic compounds by NMR and FT-IR C: Fundamental experiment B2: Milling and calcination of the dried powder	M: Students shall learn how to operate instruments for pyrometric measurements and principals for temperature measurement with thermocouples P: Studnets shall learn the determination method for structure of the product by H-NMR and FT-IR. C: Practical experimental knowledge on calcination process and procedures will be studied.
Class 7	M: Thermal analysis and equilibrium phase diagram P: Optical properties 1: Refractive index measurement of organic compounds C: Fundamental experiment B3: Milling, molding, and sintering the calcined powder	M: Students shall learn principals and methods of thermal analysis and how to read equilibrium phase diagram P: Learn how to measure refractive indices of materials using an Abbe refractometer. C: Practical experimental knowledge on sintering process and procedures will be studied.
Class 8	M: Measurement of equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of a metallic oxide P: Optical properties 2: Introduction to light polarization C: Fundamental experiment B4: Magnetization and evaluation of magnetic properties of prepared ferrite ceramics	M: Students shall learn method to measure equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of NiO and analyze thermodynamic functions P: Learn the construction of linearly, circularly, and elliptically polarized light using optical components. C: Magnetization process, its mechanism and its characterization will be studied.
Class 9	M: Measurement of electrode potential of metal II: equilibrium electrode potential of cupper P: Optical properties 3: Introduction to polarized light microscopy and transmission spectroscopy of birefringent materials C: Advanced experiment 1: Planning the original experiment by group work	M: Students shall learn method to measure equilibrium electrode potential of Cu in an aqueos CuSO4 P: Learn how to operate a polarizing microscope and measure transmission spectra of transparent tapes. C: Original issue on the ceramics materials are considered and an experiment plane is made in order to solve the issue by group work. Each group explains the target and detailed schedules of their plan to all the students, and discussed.
Class 10	M: Preparation of alloys: preparation of specimens for characterization of microstructure and measurement of mechanical properties P: Optical properties 4: Optical retardation measurement of birefringent materials C: Advanced experiment 2: Synthesis of raw materials (Details depend on the relevant group's plan)	M: Students shall understand safety protocol and learn melting and casting aluminum alloys practically. P: Learn about various methods for evaluating birefringence of transparent tapes. C: Each group starts the experimental procedures according to the plan.
Class 11	M: Microstructure observation: optical microscopy P: Mechanical properties 1:Tensile properties of polymer products C: Advanced experiment 3: Measuring physical and chemical properties for the synthesized materials (Details depend on the relevant group's plan)	M: Students shall learn techniques for microstructural observation by optical microscopy. P: Students shall learn the fundamentals of tensile properties and testing on commercial products made of polymers. C: Each group carries out the experimental procedures according to the plan.
Class 12	M: Characterization of microstructure: digital image analysis P: Mechanical properties 2:Processing of plastics C: Advanced experiment 4: Phase analysis and evaluation of prepared ceramics (Details depend on the relevant group's plan)	M: Students shall learn editing method of digital images and how to characterize microstrucrture. P: Melt pressing, annealing and drawing of Poly lactic acid. C: Each group carries out the experimental procedures according to the plan.
Class 13	M: Measurement of mechanical properties: tensile test P: Mechanical properties 3:Tensile properties of rubber and plastic sheet C: Advanced experiment 5: Characterization of prepared ceramics - mechanical, electrical and/or magnetic properties (Details depend on the relevant group's plan)	M: Students shall learn how to measure mechanical properties of alloys. P: Students shall conduct the tensile test of rubber and plastic sheets, and learn the influence of materials and processing on it. C: Each group carries out the experimental procedures according to the plan.
Class 14	M: Safety training P: Mechanical properties 4:Stress relaxation behavior of rubber and plastic sheets C: Advanced experiment 6: Showing a presentation of each group's results, and its discussion	M: Students will learn safety issues in experiments of metallic materials. P: Students shall learn about stress relaxation behavior of rubber and plastic sheets. C: Each group will give a presentation. The obtained results will be analyzed, summarized, and discussed to show whether the issue of the experiments are solved or not.

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 50 minutes preparing for class and another 50 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Lab. course in material science (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Reference books, course materials, etc.

P: All reference books are listed in the textbook.
C: Other textbooks on the ceramics experiments will be introduced. Supporting documents for the experiments are also given in addition to the textbook.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Full attendance and completion of all experiments are compulsory. Assessment is based on the experiment procedures and presentations, the status of submission and the quality of written reports. Students may fail to take a credit if if he/she repeatedly comes to class late or delay the submission of reports too often.

Related courses

MAT.M204 ： Introduction to Metallurgy
LAS.C101 ： Basic Inorganic Chemistry
MAT.A250 ： Materials Science Laboratory I
MAT.A251 ： Materials Science Laboratory II

Prerequisites

Enrollment of related courses is recommended.

Other

Students will be divided into groups, and learn the above mentioned 42 themes by taking "Materials Science Laboratory (M, P, C) I", "Materials Science Laboratory (M, P, C) II" and "Materials Science Laboratory (M, P, C) III" throughout Q2, Q3 and Q4. Order of learning would be different for each group of students.