Many technological developments depend on advancements in materials research. This is particularly the case in applications that require materials to withstand increasingly higher loads and temperatures. For instance the speeds of aircraft are often limited by the creep resistance of materials used for the turbine blades in the engines. While there are many handbooks and databases available that contain descriptions and properties of commonly used materials, there are many newly developed materials that are only contained in research literature. It is important for engineers working in leading edge applications to keep on top of current research to determine whether there are any developments they can exploit.

Assignment: Locate relevant information and submit a research review report for BOTH of the two applications below that contain the following information:

• Describe the application and identify ALL of the key mechanical property requirements of the material in the application?

• What are the important failure mechanisms that MUST be considered in material selection for this application?

• Choose three different commonly used materials for this application and describe the EXACT composition and microstructure of each material (to do this you will need to choose a specific grade of each commonly used material).

• Explain how the microstructure of your three commonly used material grades gives the necessary properties to meet the key mechanical property requirements that you identified.

• Describe one example of a surface engineering approach (coating or treatment) used in this application to improve the properties or assist in preventing failure.

• Identify one NEW material using scientific journal literature that is not widely used at present for this application, but is currently being researched for such. Describe the microstructure of the material and clearly explain why it may potentially be an improvement over current materials.